Pause. Catch breath. Dot is at a meeting at Diocesan House, and Naomi will not arrive until this afternoon. She wants to talk to us, as so many people do. I am not complaining about this. It is lovely to have so many friends. Anne came yesterday afternoon, and instead of getting some work done while she talked to Dot, I found myself joining in the talk. The problem with me is that I have no discipline. One of the problems.
The big event yesterday was Oliver’s 16th. It is unbelievable that he is now legally old enough to marry. Fortunately he has no immediate ambitions in that direction – as far as I know. At 16 he should be a sullen adolescent, but instead he is as nice as ever. We went to Caddington on Saturday to celebrate his impending birthday, sharing the event with the Coomes family. We ended up playing football and netball on the hard court over the road – miraculously without injury. Dot and I took some buffet food for lunch, and David and I went to Sainsburys to buy sausages and a few other things for an evening meal.
Really nice day, during which we discussed David’s plans concerning Canada. He is intending to put his house on the market and buy an apartment in Canada, renting a place in Aylesbury while the children are still at school. At present they are decluttering the house and getting rid of quite a lot of stuff. Obviously a huge change for everyone, but I think it could work out well.
Returning to yesterday, I also went up to the Castle to hear a talk on the Pastons and their treasure by Dr Spike Bucklow, which was extremely good, containing material I didn’t know and also well delivered. The placed was absolutely packed. Met Anna on way in, but she went in the staff entrance; so I didn’t see her again.
Later I spent a great deal of time reinstating a rail in the wardrobe in the guest room, which had broken its retaining fixtures. The replacement ones I bought were a tight fit, and getting the whole thing up again was very testing, especially as my electric screwdriver appears to have broken. The result was not as good as I would have liked, but I don’t think it’s going to fall down in a hurry.
We’ve been to see Jessie twice in the last week – first last Friday (fish and chips) and then on Monday. She doesn’t seem too bad and can walk around the garden using her stick, but the district nurse came when we were there on Monday, and Jessie told her she had four months to live – not something she had ever told us, though she did say she wasn’t worrying about Christmas presents. Very nice nurse (Tamsin): Jessie is certainly getting a lot of help. Roger is back from Cornwall, but we haven’t seen him. I think he sees his mother nearly every day.
Last Thursday we went to watch the England Under-21s game against the Netherlands at Carrow Road. Not a great day: it rained and actually got cold in the evening. Fortunately we had anticipated this and dressed accordingly, but the match was pretty awful – 0-0.
On Sunday, with Dot busy preparing for today’s meeting, I drove to Lowestoft and read some poems at the Seagull. Ten people performing; so it lasted a long time. Most of the usual suspects were there, doing the usual things. They may have to change the title (“Fresh Words, New Voices”) soon. I read After the Coyote, Wolves, Canadian Insects, Ancient Cedars, Island Lake, and Since You Left – the first five inspired by Canada and the last one about Kristine and David Coomes. All were quite well received.
The other major event of the last week involved my ears. I went for a hearing test at Boots (with Dot, whose hearing was predictably OK), and was told I had so much wax they couldn’t do it: I had to go to my GP practice to get it removed. First, I needed a couple of weeks’ treatment with olive oil to soften it. I hope you’re following this.
I rang the GP, who said they didn’t do it any more, but Boots did. I rang Boots back, and they said they didn’t, but were training people. So what should I do? I could ring Nick, who had a mobile number, but no address and no surname. Putting aside my qualms, I did this, and found that he was a nurse specialising in ear problems and did have an address, In Magdalen Street. I fixed an appointment with him and asked about the olive oil. Don’t do it, he said. It makes matters worse.
So I stopped doing it. After some trouble, I found the address in Magdalen Street, but having gained access to the building by tailgating I couldn’t find Nick, and there was no receptionist. I wandered round for a bit and eventually (after a couple of failures) found someone who knew where the Ear Clinic was. So I zeroed in on it and opened the door, to find Nick in the middle of an interview with another patient.
Not put off by the no-frills approach, I waited, and Nick turned out to be Greek (this is a guess, but I wouldn’t mind betting), and a very pleasant guy, who lost little time in removing my wax. Apparently olive oil just gets behind it and hardens, though it’s perfectly OK to use it if you don’t have wax – once a month or so, to keep things lubricated. Apparently I have a very narrow ear canal. I now have another appointment at Boots, tomorrow. A whole new ball game. My ears are quite crackly. I think it’s the olive oil.