What a busy November it’s turning out to be. If I had been at Mundesley now (as I would have been if I had not discovered that Lucy has a bad cold), I would have been out every day for one reason or another.
On the second day of the month I went to see Andrew at Coventry. I went by train and all the connections worked well. I was with him for about an hour and a half: he started off very down but perked up quickly. I tried to fix his new video player and managed to extract a jammed disk, but it still wouldn’t work. He accompanied me part of the way back to the station, but soon wanted to go back. Three days later he was taken to Hearsall Baptist Church by Mrs Baxi (I was rung for permission) and apparently it went well. So that’s all good.
On Friday we took advantage of Norwich Restaurant Week by walking up to a new Norwich restaurant, the Orford Flat Iron, with neighbours Des and Chris and having a very good lunch. I had a top-class steak followed by a top-class creme brûlée. The waitress came from Hamilton, Ontario, and the chef was French.
I spent most of Saturday at Blofield Church, where they were holding a History Day which included input from the Paston Heritage Society. I had put together a leaflet for them on how the Blofield Pastons fitted in with the rest of the family. During its creation I had got immersed in several fascinating byways, but it turned out all right. At least, they seemed to like it. The re-enactors were present. Afterwards I went for a short walk through the churchyard and up a hill so that I maintained my record of doing at least two miles a day where possible. This is working quite well at the moment.
On Sunday, in addition to leading the service, I went to St Luke’s to assist in interviewing the three candidates for the treasurer’s job. This was not too difficult, as Simon Snell did all the heavy lifting (Tony Barton also assisted), but it dragged on a bit, and I didn’t get home till well after 5pm. We were all agreed on the choice.
I spent much of Monday and yesterday putting together some stuff for our upcoming weekend retreat at Little Gidding, but had to break off for a couple of things. On Monday it was the PCC meeting, which lasted till 10pm and featured the odd disagreement, mainly because the vicar tends to run the church like a business and tends not to listen to what people are saying. However, we got an absolutely full turnout, which I don’t think has happened before.
Yesterday Dot and I went to the Archant coffee morning. The usual suspects attended, except the Hendersons. Paul was up north for an uncle’s funeral, and Maryta doesn’t tend to come on her own. In the evening we went to the beautiful Oxnead Hall for a talk by Rob Knee for the Bure Navigation Conservation Trust. This was basically the standard Paston talk with brief references to the Bure (on whose banks Oxnead Hall stands), but it was enjoyable. I think I could probably have given it myself, though I would have lacked the status. Also present: Rob’s wife Penny, Liz and a friend from UEA, and the Aspinalls, who own the Hall and are both rich and supportive of the PHS – a good combination.