I managed to do the Norwich Paston walk on Tuesday, despite my ankle still being swollen and a very nasty shade of blue-black. In fact it wasn’t really very painful, just a bit sore. It was also a cold evening, but my new coat worked really well, and I wasn’t too uncomfortable. Meanwhile several of the City Guides who I was guiding abandoned before the end because of the cold. At least, that’s what they said. They were all very appreciative, though.

The guy who had fixed it all up – Paul Dickson – was ill (probably caught Rob’s virus); so I had to meet a group of people I didn’t know outside St Andrew’s Hall. From there, for the record, we went to St Peter Hungate, down Elm Hill, Past the Maid’s Head to Whitefriars Bridge, round the back of the Cathedral to the ruins of the Lady Chapel, then up to King Street and along to Heydon’s House, Dragon Hall and the Music House.

Earlier that day I had a blood test at the surgery, and yesterday I had a rare appointment with Dr Hampsheir, mainly to check the blood test and talk about my medication. I was amazed to discover that the blood test results were through (I’d had to postpone the test  because of earlier snow) and very good. My cholesterol level is fine, and my kidneys in much better condition than I’d been led to believe.

As I was there, I showed him my ankle, which didn’t seem to be making much progress and contained a large very black bruise. He examined it and said I should go up to A&E for an x-ray, which I did, being a compliant sort of guy. I was in A&E for two and a half hours, and the x-ray showed I had a small crack fracture at the bottom of that bone there – fibula, lateral malleolus; call it what you will. Plus a rather bad sprain. Happily, this didn’t require any drastic action: none at all, in fact. I could carry on walking, but nothing too extreme and on the flat.

Everyone in A&E was very friendly, except the woman on x-ray reception, but the reception to the minor injuries unit was shut, which confused everyone. There were instructions to put our card in the tray (which card? one or both?), and it would be picked up by a member of staff. I sat opposite it to make sure, and the member of staff turned up 45 minutes later, which as far as I was concerned was at least 35 minutes too late, raising anxiety to unnecessarily high levels. You don’t mind waiting if you think everyone is paying attention.

I got the bus home, but didn’t go upstairs. In the evening we went to an exhibition of Joe’s photographs in Colegate, which were as impressive as I thought they’d be. Phil and Joy were there too. It was Sam’s birthday. He was in Southampton. By the end of the evening I was exhausted, for some reason.

Last Saturday we went to a Norwich Philharmonic concert which featured Paul in the choir. It was snowing again, and because of my ankle we decided to drive up and park in the Monastery car park, grabbing one of the last couple of places. Strange concert. The first half lasted about 15 minutes and the second half (Mendelssohn) about an hour and a quarter. Judy was stewarding, and in the interval we met Sue and Roger Eagle, plus Maryta, who was sitting towards the back. Afterwards we drove to the Hendersons’ for a bite to eat.

On the Sunday I led the service, and Anna (back from India) led a lectio divina. Still very cold then. Quite warm now in comparison, but they say it’s going to get cold again, which I for one could do without.