Quite a pleasant day again today, and we will probably go to the coast this afternoon. Things are getting back to normal, though we are still not 100%. However, our energy has returned – just in time.
On Sunday I led the service (Eleanor was preaching) and after some of Anna’s birthday cake – delicious, made by Dot – and then lunch we went to North Walsham, visiting the cemetery and Jessie. Jessie had a diagram of part of her family tree supplied by Ron Fiske, and I have since looked at it and compared it to what I’ve got. It’s mostly similar, But Ron has a few mistakes, I think. However, he has mentioned a couple of things that I can add to mine.
In the evening, because it seemed to be raining, we got a taxi to the Greens’ for Anna’s birthday party. Had a really good time. I even – against expectations – quite liked the South Indian gluten-free, vegan buffet. Other guests included Sophie, who runs a business bulletin in the Golden Triangle; Robert and Robin, who did some work on the house many years ago and have remained friends since; Jane, from Trowse, who is about to move to Aylsham and who we’d met before; and Roger and Nola (?) – Nola was the only one I didn’t really talk to, but Roger works at the UEA in the languages department and knew Heather Savigny. Very nice chap. Most enjoyable conversation and wine. We walked home.
The next evening we were out again, with Judy to a “religion and science” lecture at Holy Trinity. Very big audience for a talk on Science and Miracles. The speaker wasn’t the best, but there was a lot of interesting stuff. I think if he’d stayed away from David Hume and probability theory it would have been much better. Hume liked himself far too much, and probability theory is basically rubbish. You may think that’s because I don’t understand it, but I think it’s because I do.
Tuesday was even busier. We went to the Archant coffee morning with the usual suspects, except Shelagh and Robin, who had a migraine. I left slightly early because I had to guide a couple of guys round the Paston sites in Norwich. One was a travel writer from Newton Pagnell and the other a lawyer from Bacton. They were both called Richard and in fact were friends who hadn’t seen each other for 3-4 years. Inevitably this meant that they spent much of the time catching up on each other’s news and when I wanted to tell them something, it felt as if I was interrupting.
Nevertheless, we got round, and we had lunch with Rob in the Ribs of Beef, which was quite pleasant. Richard Meredith had had trouble finding the starting point, travelling to various points in Norwich before parking at the Forum and getting lost on the way to Elm Hill. However, Richard Barr talked him in, and I spotted him outside St Andrew’s Hall; so that was all right.
After I left Richard M at the Forum car park at the end (I couldn’t trust him to find it on his own), I walked home and encountered chess player Johnny Danger in the market, looking like a down-and-out with very dodgy teeth. We had a talk about the relevant merits of Broadland and Norfolk and Norwich chess clubs (he’s walked out on Broadland). I quite like him: he’s totally eccentric and probably needs looking after.
Yesterday evening, while Dot was at orchestra, I paid another visit to Phil in hospital after getting lost after going in the wrong entrance and finding parts that I didn’t knew existed. Phil seemed upbeat, though he had been expecting me much earlier and had almost given up. A lot of people expect me earlier, but even more don’t expect me at all. I spent nearly two hours talking to him about various deep issues, including the relative merits of different types of film. This arose because Dot and I went to see Hidden Figures at the Odeon earlier (half price, thanks to a code from Des over the road). In my humble opinion the film is totally brilliant in almost every way, including the title. I cried quite a lot. Goodness affects me like that.