Jessie is in hospital, having had one of her lungs removed to get rid of her lung cancer. This was a bit more drastic than we had anticipated, but according to Roger she’s in good spirits. We will probably visit her on Monday. We did see her on Tuesday before she went into hospital, taking a trip out to North Walsham after Dot had been to the dentist to have her implant completed, at a mere snip (£1900). That’s not the total cost; it’s the last instalment. We shall not be having much dental work done in the near future.

On Thursday we went to London to see the Coomes. Kristine seemed perky, but David is deteriorating visibly, and is having more trouble with his speech, though he appears to be in reasonable spirits – at least for the 150 minutes we were with them. When we left we were forced into a detour by a road closure and followed the satnav until we were about to get on to the A12 – which would have been disastrous, because we needed petrol. Eventually I found a way back to a petrol station. We lost about 15-20 minutes, I should think.

Yesterday we had our hair cut by Linda, and in the evening I went to Pinky’s at Halesworth, again being hampered by a road closure. I made it in time, but the room was really crowded with a record attendance. I read three of my recent poems: Somewhere to Fall, Family Tree and Clouds of Glory.

Today the Hendersons came round for coffee at about 11am, because Maryta was collecting cash for Age UK before the match. Paul and I walked her down to the meeting point – Carrow Park – and killed some time in Morrisons because she was too early. Dot is at the match as I write (we are drawing 1-1), and I have just driven Maryta home. She seemed very positive about her bucket work, but cold. I gave her some coffee.