Last day of August, and the Murrays and Vanderkooys return to Canada. We have seen nothing of them since Sunday, but we spoke to Caddington on FaceTime last night. We had kept today free in case David and Chrissy needed extra help to get everyone plus luggage to Heathrow, but apparently everything is in hand.
The weather has turned chillier, but today is vastly superior to yesterday, when it rained fairly hard most of the day. We had arranged to meet the Redgraves at their holiday hideaway just outside Lyng, but took ages getting out of Norwich. Still we would have made it by noon if we could have found it, but one wrong turning took us round in circles. Postcodes cover such a wide area in rural parts.
Eventually we met up, had a cup of tea, chatted and then went for lunch at the Fox in Lyng, generously paid for by the Redgraves. Very good lunch – I had a burger and Eton Mess. The Redgraves had Archie with them – he’s now 15 – plus a small dog called Bear, which was much too lively for my liking. Libby was doing summer work at home. We left after delivering them back to Holly Cottage because it was getting late and we had a hair appointment with Linda (postponed from the day before).
Back in Norwich the traffic was just as bad, this time going down Prince of Wales Road, which must have taken about 20 minutes. It seemed to be caused mainly by the usual blockage in Riverside (and the rain) but someone said on Facebook that there was also a burst water main. Don’t know where. Must have been hard to tell with all the precipitation.
Anyway we made it back in time for Linda, and I had a bath afterwards and went to sleep in it. It was a very wet day altogether.
The day before had been overcast and muggy, but dry. Dot and I went for a longish walk through the Rosary, Lion Wood and down to Thorpe Green, where we had tea and coffee in the cafe before walking over in the marshes, where the neighbourhood has deteriorated badly. Some extremely scruffy boats are moored by the path, and Norfolk Wildlife Trust has taken it on itself to stop people accessing the smaller Broad after the recent drownings. This has been done by creating a stagnant ditch and dumping assorted foliage so that it is not only inaccessible but looks awful.
We got a bus part of the way home. Later I picked up some bowls from Anna. We had lent them for the recent speaker event, which took place while we were away. While knocking on Anna’s door, I was accosted by Andrea Cope from St Luke’s, who appeared to live next door. I couldn’t remember her name, but was rescued from too much embarrassment by Anna, who said I was her friend and Andrea couldn’t have me, which made me feel quite good. Yes, it was a joke.
The previous evening (Monday) we went to the Hendersons for a meal, which was very nice, though it’s hard to relax there.