At long last a bit of sunshine over the last couple of days, and today Dot is in Yarmouth. I would be there too, but Joe Logan is here tuning the piano, and Hello Fresh are knocking at the door. They also serve who only stand and wait. Despite the sun, it’s pretty chilly.

Our dishwasher is still broken, but we have been out for a couple of meals recently; so it’s not making a huge impact. Yesterday evening we went to the Cottage on Thunder Lane with Des and Chris and had a roast, which was unpretentious but very nice. They came in for a coffee afterwards. Earlier Dot had been to watch Norwich draw 2-2 with Arsenal in a really good game that City could easily have won, but for a brilliant display by the Arsenal goalkeeper. I watched it on NOW TV. Earlier still I preached at St Augustine’s: it was Advent Sunday.

Dot is in Yarmouth today because Carrie, who was leading the service yesterday, took a party of people for lunch at Dale’s B&B hotel. He is keen to host a weekend or something for church people, partly because we are nice to his mother and his neighbours, and partly because the hotel is empty out of season. We might suggest it to our Cake and Compline group.

On Saturday Caren came round for coffee (Phil was not feeling so good; so he stayed at home). We took her along the riverside footpath to St Andrew’s Hall, where there was an Art Fair. Being American, she loved the riverside path. No, I mean she really loved it. The Art Fair was pretty packed, mainly with artists, because it cost £3.50 to get in if you weren’t one. There was some good stuff, but a lot of it was hugely expensive. We chatted to a few of the artists, but the only ones I knew were Martin Mitchell and Sarah Cannell. I didn’t chat to them, but not because I don’t like them.

Afterwards we went to Jarrolds for lunch, running into my former trainee Abigail Saltmarsh on the way, which was nice. Dot and Caren had Croque Monsieur, and I had Croque Madame (with duck egg). On the way out we ran into Kim from Carrie’s book club, who is lovely and probably Irish, I wouldn’t wonder. I went to the loo as Dot and Caren walked home, and arrived back just as Caren was about to leave.

The week as a whole had been quite satisfying, as I got through a long list of stuff and then realised I didn’t have to file a tax return because I’m earning too little. Which is good and bad simultaneously.

On Monday we also had a meal with Angela and Rodney at Gem, the new restaurant that has replaces Prezzo and Sasses. It’s sort of Eastern Mediterranean, but I chose the only dish with chips. Surprisingly, the chips were superb, as was the chicken. The others had moussaka, which they liked. Dot and I had a sharing sweet, which included baklava.

On Tuesday David went to Canada for Christmas, and Dot went to the ballet (Cinderella) with Ruth. On Wednesday the Hendersons came round in the afternoon for a brief cup of tea/coffee, and in the evening I had drinks in the pub with Neville while Dot rehearsed. Cold and wet, as I recall. The weather, not Neville. Or Dot.

The next day we went to the Book Club, but it wasn’t terribly inspiring. Much more inspiring was Friday evening, when we went to Choral Evensong at the Cathedral before the meeting of participants in the Holy Land pilgrimage, which is scheduled for the end of February. At the Evensong we sat in the choir, which proved quite fascinating – almost as fascinating as the fact that we were joined there by Ann and James (Knox) Whittet, who will also be on the trip. James is a very good poet who comes from Islay and has worked a bit on the Paston stuff. Ann works for the Bishop of Lynn, who is also coming.

From the Cathedral we walked to the Westron Room for the meeting, with Dot engaging in a chat with the Dean, who then took us all through the itinerary, using slides. I sat next to a lady called Sarah, who was very pleasant. Her husband didn’t want to go, which is interesting, because neither James nor I was all that keen, but our wives both were. Is it a sex thing? We are flying from Luton Airport. If only we knew someone who lives near Luton…

Actually, it doesn’t matter, because we are likely to travel to Luton by coach. There is a list of people who want to. We signed it.