Our neighbours’ get-together last Thursday went very well. Mary brought her son Felix and his fiancée Eloise; Sean brought Freddie and Phoebe and her friend Nicole – sadly Ciera was at work in London; Des brought Chris; Luke brought Michelle; and I brought Dot, who supplied a great variety of foodstuffs and drinks. Mairead’s children were upbeat, I’m happy to say: Freddie revealed an in-depth knowledge of Norwich City stats.
Friday proved a hectic day: we visited Jessie and then delivered presents to Jonathan and Lesley. Earlier we also went to Sainbury’s and the cemetery. North Walsham was crammed, mainly because they had closed a section of Mundesley Road, which meant you had to go miles round to get anywhere. Goodness knows how anyone who didn’t know North Walsham would have managed. Tired out by the end of it and didn’t go to the prayer meeting at church which I’d been planning to attend.
I was worried about what might happen on Saturday, when Dot and I were visiting Andrew in Coventry, but the traffic turned out to be much less than I had imagined, and the weather was good, for a change. We shared the driving and stopped each way at Cambridge Services. In Coventry Andrew was in a dreadful state to start with, saying he was ill, couldn’t breathe and had no energy. He also had diarrhoea. One of the carers gave him some tablets and after half an hour he improved markedly.
He opened our presents but didn’t pay them much attention; kept Phil’s for Christmas Day. Had a chat with Daisy, who said he talked about Mary a lot. She suggested that he could come to Norwich with a carer, as we wouldn’t be able to cope. I said I’d raise it with Helen. We were given several presents from him, but had to sort them out by part-guesswork at home because they were labelled a bit randomly.
The Alternative Carol Service on Sunday was rather more dramatic than usual, as Liz Cannon collapsed in the middle of it, and paramedics had to be called. This was not the effect I was looking for, but we survived via a period of silence and some music from Howard on the piano. Eventually Liz was revived, and we continued, with Howard as a news editor on the Bethlehem Bugle (Dot was Editor) and Judy as an angel attempting Mastermind. All went well, and we eventually reached the Christmas meal, supervised by Eleanor. This was delicious.
Unfortunately we had to leave before everything was cleared away, because Dot had arranged for us to visit Rosie in mid-afternoon. The weather was awful – cold and wet – and the traffic was surprisingly prolific. Rosie was a bit under the weather but very welcoming, and we left when Roger arrived. On the way back we dropped in Phil and Joy’s presents from Andrew (and a couple of late ones from us).
No rest on Christmas Eve. We were expecting Paul H around 10.15 (after an early morning call), but M unexpectedly came too. She was of course very happy and upbeat (Oh no she wasn’t), and we had a coffee before they left after a short stay. I then drove to my Uncle Paul’s care home at Horsford to deliver a card. It was the first time I’d been there. I found him in the dining room/lounge, standing, hunched up, with a stick, and looking rather the worse for wear. He is 95. Eventually we sat down together, but before that he became aggressive toward another resident and had to be restrained by a carer. After he sat down and was given a coffee we had quite a good chat: he remembered the days when we played football together.
After this I drove to Bowthorpe to exchange presents with Lucy, who seemed in quite good form. Then home for lunch, during which a text from David revealed that he was about to leave. As result we decided that I should collect the cake from Marion while Dot went to the shop for last-minute food and stuff. Marion was looking very well, and on the way home I dropped in on my aunt Thelma again, rousing her after several knocks at two doors and a window and taking a picture for my cousin Sandra. Thelma said for her Christmas was a normal day.
Back home, David arrived and I cooked salmon. Dot and I went to the midnight Communion, and I read the Gospel. The music was a bit flat, but it was nice to see Steve Fiske and Mark (Eddie) Campling, Martin and Sam (Pittam) Smith, Carrie, Howard, among others, plus Chris Denton and Zoe – who was home for a fortnight from Australia. We walked back to the car with the latter two. It was a frosty, sparkling night.
As I write David is cooking out Christmas dinner. We have had Prosecco and breakfast. It is a beautiful day, though cold.