Here we are in August. I have just posted a birthday card to my brother Andrew and called in at the Rosary afterwards. Still feeling very tired; so I kept to the bottom quarter of the cemetery, but it was very beautiful. Sat for a while, then wandered home. Wish I didn’t feel so tired. They have cut a lot of the top of the tree in the car park of the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, and out kitchen is much brighter. Dot has been working on the garden so that we can have eight people round (including us) for Cake and Compline next week. I think she’s succeeded.

Yesterday was a good day, though I worried that I might be taking on too much. We went to church, which was the St Augustine’s community meeting at St Luke’s, because it’s much bigger. Went pretty well. I did the sermon, and Dot did the prayers. Quite a large number of people there, including Jenny. Phil was leading. Afterwards we hung around outside and chatted for a bit, then went home for lunch.

In the afternoon we drove to Beachamwell, just the other side of Swaffham, which is about 50 minutes away, to have tea and scones with Anne and James Whittet, with whom we had been to Israel. We already knew them quite well, because James is a poet and worked with us on some of the Paston stuff. He comes from Islay and is very quiet. He writes a lot of sonnets. Also there was Sarah Carter, who also came to Israel and lives at Litcham. She is training to become a vicar and will make a very good one, I should think. We all had a really interesting conversation because we shared the same background and interests.

We sat in Anne and James’ garden, which was very rural and beautiful. Next to us was a big lavender bush covered with bees. The weather was just right: warm but not too hot, and enough cloud to avoid our getting sunburn.

The previous day was the Cup Final, in which Arsenal beat Chelsea 2-1 (the wrong result for Spurs). The day before we had a visit from an electrician, who proved to be alarmingly thorough. We told him what we wanted, and he told us what was wrong with our electrical system. I can see a lot of expense looming.

Highlight of the week, however ( you see how I’ve been leading up to this?) was David and Chrissy’s wedding last Wednesday. In normal times we would have been there, but because of the Covid restrictions, they had to have a small ceremony at Waterloo City Hall, followed by a celebration at their house with four of their friends and Chrissy’s children. Even Barbara and Roger, who only live an hour and a half away, were unable to go.

We Zoomed in on the rejoicings and had a drink with them – Cava supplied by Paul Henderson. Dot wore a long dress but no hat, despite my encouragement 🙂 They were clearly very happy, which was great to see, and they sent us some pictures the next day. Oliver and Amy joined in on FaceTime later, but we didn’t see them. We did have quite a long chat with Amy on FaceTime yesterday, and have also spoken at some length with Julia and Dave.