We did drive to Holt last Wednesday as advertised, had a scone in Byfords and bought a new strip light from our favourite lighting shop, which has everything electrical that you can’t get in Norwich. Also picked up my replacement jumper from Bakers and Larners: the assistant suggested that it was probably the washing machine that had caused the holes; so we bought a special washing bag. And some food, though there was no suggestion that food had caused the holes.
At some point during the last few days we noticed that a tyre on Dot’s car looked flat; so after filling the tank with petrol we checked the tyres and found that the one in question was 8 psi, when it should be 25. Another was in the mid-teens. I suspect two very slow punctures, which I shall have to keep an eye on. Reassuringly, the tyres on my car were fine, but we seem to have lost the chargers from both cars. Dot suspects the cleaners.
On Thursday we had a visit from Sam and Lucy, together with the irrepressible Elliott (3), who had a go on my guitar and generally ran amok. Fortunately, he didn’t break or lose anything. Nice to see them: a fairly rare event, as the rip from Southampton is not easy.
Ini the afternoon we went to a meeting at the Smiths on Aylsham Road to discuss the future (I love these small agendas). Also present were Carol, a retired Anglican vicar and hippie who goes to C3, Andrew Partridge and Simon Snell. We talked about the different congregations and what they did or didn’t have in common. Surprisingly interesting.
On Friday we both attended Chris Wakeley’s funeral at St Mary’s, Ditchingham. Dot got there by a circuitous route from a Yarmouth school where she had attended morning assembly, and I went direct. It was at 11am. Actually it was over a quarter of an hour late starting, and quite bizarre, in a C of E sort of way. Many were dressed in Norwich City colours, and the opening music was On the Ball, City. The vicar didn’t seem to be fully engaged, which is not surprising, but on the plus side, Dot went to school with his wife. We didn’t know anyone else there apart from Katy, Chris’s daughter, but the church was packed. Our connection with Chris and Katy is that Chris’s mother was Maud Lincoln, who was a stalwart of St Augustine’s when we first went there, and as a result Chris and Katy used to come occasionally, though they haven’t been for quite a while. Katy is in a wheelchair with chronic ME.
Afterwards we returned to Norwich in time to get our hair cut by Linda. This was a highlight – or several highlights, in Dot’s case – and nicely timed for her concert with the Sillars Orchestra on the Saturday, not to mention the Friday night game at Carol Road, which she attended while I watched it on NOW TV, after I’d missed the first half-hour trying to figure out why it didn’t work. It turned out to be Apple’s brilliant new security system, which supplied me with a verification code but nowhere to insert it. I turned the BNSS off and saw the rest of the match.
Dot attended the rehearsal at 2.15pm on Saturday and during the break between then and the performance called in to see the Hendersons and eat smoked salmon sandwiches. Meanwhile I caught up on some tidying, tried unsuccessfully to get the printer to work, and went to the performance in the company of Judy. We parked on Mansfield Lane and walked up through the churchyard, thus avoiding the parking mayhem up top. However, this did mean we had to walk down a steep path in the dark afterwards, which was fun.
The performance was excellent, with all the usual suspects in attendance. I particularly liked Peter Warlock’s Capriol Suite and Edward German’s Henry VIII Suite. I could have done without the music from A Chorus Line, though it was well performed. In the raffle, Judy won a purse, and Maryta a bottle of Pinot Gris.
More excitement yesterday when, after a Holy Communion that included healing prayers for Christine and Ray, Dot and I departed hot-foot for the Brome Grange Hotel, south of Scole on the A140, where we celebrated Angela’s 60th birthday with Rodney, Andy and Donna, Victoria Rose and John and Margaret. An extremely convivial occasion, with excellent food. Highly recommended if you’re in the area.
Later, when we were too tired to concentrate properly, we received a phone call from Maryta asking us to go for a walk at Felbrigg this afternoon. Dot agreed to this, and we are still trying to think of ways to avoid it in view of the inclement weather. This morning I got a call from Andrew’s CPN, who had been to see him. Apparently Andrew told her he hadn’t seen me for a long time. Hmmm.