Happily, the passport, driving licence and birth certificate all came back safely, but Phil K is far from comfortable about sending his off. I now have a certificate; so I am DBS-certified, which must be reassuring to someone. Dot and I meanwhile are still under the weather with catarrh and a cough – hers rather worse than mine. It came back last Thursday, but despite that we had Neville and Mary Thrower round for a meal, which took Dot an awfully long time to prepare but was delicious. Very pleasant evening.
On Friday evening I was well enough to drive to Halesworth despite the still persistent windy weather, and read three poems at the Swan. Good quality evening: chatted to Kaaren, Sue and Nina, as well as the Dutchman and Mike Bannister, who fell off his chair while we were talking. I don’t usually have that effect, but I think he was OK.
Earlier that day Paul came round with Maryta, who is now out of hospital (obviously). She seemed a bit subdued but not too bad. Joe arrived at the station to be met by his father while we looked after Maryta. That seemed to go OK. Paul has relinquished his flat, as he has come to the end of his lease.
On Saturday the weather was as bad as ever; so I drove us up to St Andrew’s Hall, despite Dot’s cough being quite bad, for a performance of Verdi’s Requiem by the Norwich Philharmonic (with some help from Koblenz). Parked successfully in the Monastery car park. Halfway through the first half Dot had to go out because of her cough and spent the rest of the performance (before and after the interval) in a chair by the door. During the interval we spoke to Howard, who had forgotten he was preaching the next day. Anna was second violin, and Paul was a bass. In the Requiem, not the church.
We also saw Sue and Roger Eagle and Neil and Harriet from Saxlingham, with whom I had quite a long chat. They and the man sitting beside us were all quite concerned about Dot. Probably thought I was a heartless husband for staying in my seat. But she wasn’t in need of succour: just coughing.
Yesterday I led the service, and Howard turned up with a really good sermon. Impressive. On the minus side, our BT TV box seems to have given up the ghost, but I have been using the BT player via my phone and on to the screen; so no real disaster. However, I guess I have to do something about it.
Norwich are still top of the Championship, and there was an amazing game in the Six Nations, with England 31-7 up at half-time against Scotland, and in the end scoring a conversion with the last kick of the match to salvage a 38-38 draw. Wales won the Grand Slam, but that wasn’t nearly as interesting.
Today Dot is slightly better and has done an REQM assessment at Harleston – getting there just in time after I forgot to warn her that the road was closed at Hempnall Green. She is also, as I write, at a centring prayer session. Hope she isn’t doing too much.