Bright autumnal day today. Bit of a chill in the wind, but temperature hovered around 12C. Dot and I drove to Felbrigg Hall, had takeaway lunch (parsnip and apple soup for me) and went for a longish walk round the grounds, taking in the lake. Beautiful outlook. Afterwards we drove back to Norwich, and Dot queued for quite a while outside the chemist’s before she was allowed in to pick up her pills – apparently people getting flu jabs were causing hold-ups. We then called in at Sainsbury’s to get some oil for frying, and some sorbet lollipops. Earlier Des had delivered our weekly shopping from Morrisons – feel a bit guilty, but he seems to like doing it.
Later, after darkness fell, Amazon delivered our new phone. The old one had been going haywire; so I hope this one will be OK. At the moment it’s charging for 16 hours. I should say “they are charging”, because there are three handsets – one for the lounge, so that we don’t have to rush out of the room when the phone rings while we’re watching television.
Before this, Anne Coomes rang (after having e-mailed earlier) to stay that her Parish Pump website is in financial trouble, and would I mind cutting my normal three (or four items) monthly to two. I said yes, of course. Problem for her is that many churches are stopping their parish magazines because no-one is going to church during Covid restrictions, and many church mag editors are not tech-savvy enough to adapt to providing it online. Also, of course, nothing much is happening with the churches shut.
Yesterday Colin was here with his father to work on the back garden, replacing small gravel with pebbles and crazy paving set in concrete. It is now setting, and we have to avoid standing on it. Discovered that Colin’s mum had died of breast cancer about a month ago, not long after she discovered she had it. Dot had a Zoom meeting with a head in late morning, and at teatime went to a safeguarding meeting at St Luke’s. Later we watched the film I was Monty’s Double, which was surprisingly good. Amy also FaceTimed us to talk about Christmas. She is very organised.
On Tuesday Anne came to see Dot, and they went for a walk to Riverside, calling in to Boots for various purchases. More shops are open than in the previous lockdown, and the restrictions seem not to be as severe. Later I went for a walk round the Whitefriars complex, looking for a place where we might put a plaque to commemorate the burying of several Pastons there. Took several pictures and had a few ideas. Pretty tired when I got home, to find Dot leaving with documents for her accountants. Later we watched the film Midway, which I thought was excellent. It was on Amazon Prime.
Dot spent most of Monday doing housework, but in the evening we had Cake and Compline, to which everyone turned up, which was nice – and a refreshing change from the fiasco on Sunday, when almost no-one turned up for the St Augustine’s Zoom Remembrance service because they “didn’t have the link” – although it was provided on the notices given out the previous week. Just goes to show that people don’t read things. Dot and I were joined by Carrie and Judy, plus Matt; Sarah gave a good sermon which included an appreciation of St Augustine’s – it was her last service with us.
Had a long talk with David and Chrissy on FaceTime, and afterwards with Amy. We also watched The Spy who Came in from the Cold, which was good in many ways, but with a rubbish ending that I’m sure we’ve seen before. On Saturday we watched the latest two episodes of DNA, the Danish thriller which is really good. In a rather less thrilling encounter, Norwich managed to beat Swansea 1-0 and go third in the table – behind Watford only on the number of goals scored.