It did get colder. The past few days have been hovering around freezing but dry. Dot has developed a cold and I’m feeling a bit fragile, but nothing serious.
Last Friday, however, I decided not to go to the Mangreen Christmas celebrations because I was feeling distinctly shaky. Dot had been to King’s Lynn on a Religious Education Quality Mark assessment and was very tired, but went anyway, starting at the Eagles and then continuing for the singing etc.
The next day was pretty quiet: Dot went to see Norwich City beat Bolton 3-2, again scoring in the last minute. We both felt well enough not to cancel Kristine, who arrived at 10.40 on Sunday morning and was met by Dot. With Anna in bed after a Philharmonic concert the previous day, and Phil in Cambridge, this meant I was sorting out pretty much everything: music, Communion equipment, toys for children, Advent candles (which we’d bought from Revelation because the church ones had gone missing). The only thing I didn’t check was the service sheet, and this caused chaos because several different ones were distributed, with panic ensuing after five minutes of the service.
At the end of the service (led by Eleanor, with Sarah preaching) no-one could get the combination padlock to work; so I fetched a “manual” one from home as a temporary measure, leaving a note with my phone number in case of emergency. Needless to say this alarmed Stuart, who wanted to put a cheque in the safe but didn’t think it was an emergency, and so Carrie bought a new combination padlock the next day. I told her where I’d hidden the key so that she could unlock the temporary one, but she couldn’t find it; so I had to go up to the church hall to unlock the old one and fit the new one. The key was where I left it. I hope you’re following this.
Back on Sunday, we decided not to go to Blofield to hear Hexachordia, because it would have left too little time for Kristine to catch the train she’d booked. Right decision, I think. It was nice to see her.
On Monday , with frost on the ground, I took the MX5 up to Harvey Lane to get its dents fixed, then walked home via Pilling Park, Lion Wood and the Rosary. Quite crisp, except where it was muddy.
The next day was the Archant Christmas lunch, where the company was much better than the food. Fortunately M didn’t show up; it would have been too loud for her. Andy Russell and Tony Wenham came over and had a chat, which was nice. I took a few pictures, but they weren’t very good. On the way home we met M, who had clearly been attempting to catch us in, but she caught a bus instead of coming home with us. At home the piano tuner (Joe Logan) was waiting for us – it was only 2pm, and we’d said 2.15pm. He charged £92. I said we would soon not be able to afford him. While he was there Paul came round: he had been seeing off his old chaplain from Eltham College, who had come up on a pastoral visit.
In the evening the usual suspects came round for Cake and Compline. Dot had provided plenty of nibbles and more, but everyone brought something, which was very nice. Really good evening, ending upstairs with a Northumbrian Evening Prayer I found on the internet.
Yesterday was solid Paston Heritage Society. In the morning Rob and Peter came round for mince pies and a trustees’ meeting (while Dot was at Morrisons’ cafe, meeting Valerie Fairhead and Karen Dukes). Afterwards I gave R & P lunch from leftovers the previous evening and then Peter drove us up to the UEA for a Footprints Steering Committee meeting. This proved a little fractious at times, with Rob and Peter clashing with Matt, the project manager, over education plans and the website. Karen was well enough to be there, and Rebecca was there too. Rob was a bit annoyed because he’d discovered that Matt and Rebecca knew each other from way back – which had not been disclosed at interview. There’s a suggestion that Matt is manipulating various things to suit himself and his friends, but it may be that he’s simply making use of people he knows can do things.
Peter stayed for a coffee after returning us to Aspland Road. Rob caught a train. During the remains of the day (and while Dot was at orchestra rehearsal) I managed to complete the minutes of both meetings, which was something of a relief.