That was an extremely odd Christmas. With David, Oliver and Amy having a very noisy time in Canada, we expected to be quiet and relaxed, but it was anything but. It started last Sunday with the alternative carol service, which as usual – and by popular demand (ie no-one else wanted to do it) – I wrote and directed.
It seemed to go very well and received multiple plaudits. Sarah was there but was manifestly unwell. Howard was ill in bed, but Matt took on his role as first angel. Dot and I were certainly not 100% but both thankful to be up and running – or at least walking slowly. The service was followed by a lengthy meal. We’d forgotten the Yorkshire puddings, but their absence was not a huge problem.
We didn’t do much the rest of the day, but the next day we visited Rosie, getting the usual Christmas cake and sherry, both very rich. Rosie seemed on form, although she obviously has back problems. Had an interesting talk.
We called at Morrisons in Catton to buy some top-up food, and were back home in time to greet Philip, who called in with presents and received ours for him and his sons’ families. Then we had to prepare for the Neighbourly Nibbles, which went surprisingly well. All our neighbours turned up and were joined by Denise and Peter. All our neighbours =Jonathan; Mark and Sarah; John and his three children; Des and Chris; Mary, Bob and Oscar, who was home for a few days and who had a surprisingly good time; and Sean, Ciera, Freddie and Phoebe. A surprising number of bottles of wine were drunk, but as most of them were brought by visitors, that was no problem!
On Christmas Eve (I think) Roger and Debbie dropped in for a couple of hours. Later we were off to the Hendersons’ for another nibble evening. Chatted to Harriet and Neil, as well as to Jozef and Holly, but not so much to Paul and practically not at all to Maryta, who went to bed before we left. Dot drove, but I drank hardly anything. I don’t know why.
Last night we went to the Midnight Communion at St Augustine’s. Had to be there a bit early to take the Advent Candles, and I got landed with reading the Gospel, which I like doing as it goes (yes, there was a Gavin and Stacey Christmas Special). All good: spoke to Steve Fiske and to Chris Denton and her two children – a rare occurrence seeing them together, as Zoe lives in Melbourne and Ben in Guam. Lovely to speak to them afterwards. Didn’t get to bed till well after 1am and had to be up fairly early to help at the church on Christmas morning.
We weren’t in time for the said Communion at 9.15am, but we had breakfast there and helped with the buffet afterwards, speaking to some interesting and quite alternative people, including Chris, who had some interesting views on St Thomas’s and Park Road Methodist church; Tara, who had extraordinary fingernails; and Erica, a German who lived most of her life in Scotland. Judy was there, and Dot fetched Phyllis. There were others. Helped with washing up, and it was well into the afternoon by the time we got home.
We then cooked a Christmas meal for early evening, and it turned out to be very nice. We watched a bit of TV.
The next two days were Andrew-centric. We set off around 11, and called in at Sainsbury’s Pound Lane to get some petrol (we had a voucher) and something for the staff at Minster Lodge. Dot drove at first. It was pretty awful weather all the way: darkly overcast and mainly raining. We stopped at Cambridge Services and were pleasantly surprised shortly afterwards to find ourselves on the new section of the A14, which was brilliant, probably saving 10-15 minutes.
We got to Andrew’s just before 3pm, gave him his presents and then progressed to the Old Mill Hotel at Baginton, where we had an unexpectedly big evening meal. We had intended to have fish and chips but instead found ourselves faced with a Boxing Day set menu: three courses that we just survived. Watched TV afterwards, of course., but didn’t sleep very well, although I had brought my new pillow (a present from Dot).
Just about managed to get up in time for breakfast and got to Andrew’s at about 10.40. Took him out for a drive, but not before calling in at Oak Furniture Land and buying him a chair for his room. We then drove round where we used to live (Beanfield Avenue and The Chesils) and stopped for a walk to the Pond at Quinton Park. Andrew was obviously very tired and breathless, as he was both times we saw him. He looked better on this occasion, with a proper jacket and trousers instead of yesterday’s track suit bottoms.
Drove back in time for lunch just after noon and we left him appearing rather ill at ease. Possibly disruption of routine, or the complication of the chair… Dot drove the first leg home in much better weather (though still grey), and got on to the new stretch of the A14 without incident. The effect was ruined however by a huge queue as we reached the old section of the road, and we crawled for two or three miles before getting into Cambridge Services – which were full! Judging by the number of children, it looked like this was a regular spot for a family outing.
I eventually managed to locate a parking spot, and Dot bought a coffee, which she brought back into the car. But as I took an alternative route via Boxworth and on to the A14 near Cambourne, she found it hard to drink (rather bumpy). But it all worked out in the end. The A14 was the usual 40mph funeral for some miles, but after that there was no real problem apart from a short diversion near Barton Mills. We got home about 4pm, had another Christmas meal and watched some more TV. We fell asleep of course, but woke in time to see a good documentary on Fleetwood Mac’s Christine Perfect.
Today I have mainly been writing tomorrow’s sermon, but Naomi turned up to have a drink before accompanying Dot to the Norwich-Spurs match, which Norwich were cheated out of winning by inept VAR. It ended 2-2. I am cooking another Christmas meal as Dot makes her way home.