Lilly, without penguin.
Chris, without Anne.
Very strange Christmas. Dot has been ill since Friday with a heavy cold and has been in bed much of the time. She gets quite severe symptoms, much as I do, and these are not always understood by people who just “soldier on” with a cold. At times she is coughing so much she can hardly breathe, her nose and sinuses are full and she can’t stop sneezing. This is not flu, and she has no really high temperature, but it is completely debilitating, as well as being exhausting.
I am nowhere near 100% but am hoping to avoid catching it for obvious reasons, not the least of which is that it’s extremely unpleasant.
It started affecting her on Thursday night, when we had our neighbours round for what was otherwise a very successful evening – so successful, in fact, that people didn’t go home till 1.40am. Mairead was in hospital because of an infection relating to her breast cancer treatment, Bob was in Leeds and Michael and Margaret couldn’t make it; so we had Mary; Des and Chris; Sam, Chris and Ellie; and Jon. Dot didn’t say she wasn’t feeling well; so I didn’t notice in the general hubbub. Not that there was anything I could have done, other than throw everyone out.
The next day we were due for a buffet at the Hendersons at 6pm, which I mistook for 7pm. Dot wasn’t well enough to come, but I spent much of the time talking to Robin and Shelagh, and Neil and Harriet, as well as Paul. Had a brief chat with Maryta and Holly and Philip Butcher.
By Saturday Dot was really unwell, and I had to so some shopping for Phil and Joy, as well as get some Yorkshire puddings for the church meal yesterday. We had planned to see Rosie, Sheila and Lucy, but I decided not to go on my own; I was feeling pretty tired anyway. However, I did go to the Midnight Communion, at which I read the opening verses of St John’s Gospel, one of my favourite biblical passages. Sat with Judy, who read the Old Testament passage and assisted with the Communion (a privilege I declined).
Not a very big attendance, but quite a nice service. Afterwards had a long chat with Chris Denton, Anne’s mother, who wanted to get a picture of me in the church to show Anne. Apparently the latter is deteriorating somewhat and cannot really get to church now. I then fixed the closure notices to the gates and managed to miss Carrie, who needed to take the keys after I’d locked up. But she caught me as I arrived home; so that was all right.
Yesterday Dot wasn’t at all well, so I made sure she was OK before I went off to the church to help with the Christmas dinner for the homeless and needy. Peeled a lot of potatoes with someone called Suzanne and gave a present of a penguin to Lilly, young daughter of Sarah, who Dot met by chance in Sahara when having lunch with Carrie. (The Sahara is a cafe on Magdalen Street – Ed)
Preparations were a bit chaotic because no-one knew how many people would turn up. In the end Carrie forgot the Yorkshire puddings I’d brought; so I cooked them myself and took them round, which worked quite well. I also carved the turkey. Given the chaos, the meal turned out well. A few people came from Thetford to help, but Robert decided he was needed at St Andrew’s Hall, which he clearly wasn’t.
Afterwards I took a woman and her two boys home to near Eaton Park. They had just been to Tenerife and came to the meal at Carrie’s invitation. Before the meal, incidentally, I rang Andrew in Coventry to wish him a Happy Christmas and warn him we might not be coming today. He was not happy. I asked him if he got his present (a wildlife diary). He said: “Yes.”
At the end of the day – just after 11.30pm – I drove to the church to open the gates and remove the notices. There was no-one about, but there was a loud bang. I think it might have been a firework, or possibly a gunshot. I came home.