Beautiful day here in Norwich, though David tells us it’s foggy and verging on rain in the Caddington area. Dot and I walked up to Carrow Road this morning to buy some tickets for a “beam back” of the away game against Stoke on Easter Monday. Not sure if the boys will be able to come up, but the tickets are only £5 each.

A week ago it was just as bright but very, very cold at Cromer, where I went for a Paston Database meeting with Peter and Rob. Afterwards I walked down to the pier, and the wind off the sea was very chilly. The following day (Tuesday) was a bit better: Dot and I walked up to Prospect House for the Archant pensioners’ coffee morning, then went food shopping, and in the afternoon Paul and Maryta came round. Maryta seems to have quite a bit of difficulty walking, which may mean the illness is getting worse.

In the evening Cake and Compline was at our house; Claire did a bit of centering prayer, and I did the compline. Dot did the cake.

On Thursday Dot got back from Verena’s (and the garden centre) just in time for us to drive to the Norfolk Record Office for a talk on Norwich in the war and a look at the historic bombing map. The event was marred slightly by a failure to get the microphone pointed in the right direction and a further failure to get the film to work at all, but it was still pretty interesting. The best bit was Sarah Mitchell talking about doing the research to make her wartime novel The Lost Letters more authentic.

In the evening Paul came round on his own, having booked a carer for Maryta in the belief that he had a choir practice. We had a good talk, and he suggested Warwick might be the right university for Oliver. However, today Oliver is going to Cambridge to have a look round there.

Most of Friday was spent preparing a meal for the Knees and Eagles in the evening – egg curry, mackerel pate and poached pears, though not necessarily in that order. It was a really enjoyable evening, and although Rob and Penny had to catch a train at about 11pm, Sue and Roger were here till well after midnight. We crawled into bed at about 1.15am…

…and crawled out again pretty late the next morning, but in time to greet Fred, who had driven over from Beeston Regis, where he was staying with Sue and two granddaughters, for Norwich’s match against QPR. I walked up two Carrow Road with him and Dot, and then came home to watch it on television. Happily, City won 4-0. Dot waited a bit till the traffic cleared before driving to Eaton for a rehearsal for her concert in the evening. Parking at Waitrose, concert in St Andrew’s.

She drove home for a snack (left-over curry), and then we both returned for the concert, which turned out very well, despite having an animals theme. A baritone did good versions of Tit Willow (from The Mikado) and The Hippopotamus Song (Flanders and Swann). I sat with Robin and Shelagh, and Paul and Maryta also came. We all spoke during the long refreshments break.

Yesterday started wet and miserable. I took the morning service and also preached, with various interjections from Adrian, who seemed in quite bad shape. Despite that people seemed to like it, and a man with a dog thanked me for making it so friendly. Martin Wyatt also thanked me, which was nice.

Immediately afterwards we drove to Cantley and eventually found White Lilacs, despite the postcode we were given, which was roughly Sevenoaks in Kent. Other also had problems. White Lilacs was the home of Mairead’s lovely friend Rachel, and the occasion was a party to celebrate what would have been Mairead’s fiftieth.

We were invited as neighbours who had been close to her: Des and Chris, Mary and Bob and Maureen were also there, as were – of course – Sean, Ciera, Freddie and Phoebe. I spent some time talking to Peter, who it eventually dawned me was – as well as being head of Radio Norfolk at one time – Rachel’s father and the Deacon at the Roman Catholic Cathedral who had conducted three funerals we had been to. Most of the time, though, we talked to Des, Chris, Mary, Bob and Maureen. There was some lovely food that included curry and much else. We are going through an unintended curry phase at the moment.