The shortest day of the year yesterday, and a really unpleasant one. Heavily overcast all day, with rain the air, and now heavier rain. I had been hoping to see the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn just after sunset, but no chance.Before that I walked up to the post office to post a parcel to Andrew and had to wait ages because a young woman not only had a long series of parcels to post but had to to write registration slips (or something) for all of them. No consideration.
I managed to write my Parish Pump pieces – on Keats and the RSV – and made a start on a piece on medieval Norwich for the Paston website. We also watched The Eagle has Landed, which was excellent. That made two exceptional films un two days: yesterday we watched Forrest Gump, which we both thought was brilliant: Tom Hanks really nailed it.
Earlier Paul came round for a cup of tea and present exchange. M is getting a bit worse. Dot has finished putting up decorations! I also had a chat with Amy on FaceTime about a Christmas quiz. Fixed it provisionally for Boxing Day.
Sunday was the Alternative Carol Service. Only 15 of us, but it went really well. Star performance was Judy and Dot as two sheep. Everyone seemed to appreciate it. Afterwards we went outside and sang a couple of carols to the neighbours, who had told Carrie they’d come out and listen. They might have listened, but they didn’t come out; so Carrie took some presents round to local children. She doesn’t give up.
In the afternoon we drove down to Alburgh and collected our Christmas cake from Marion – a very small version, as I’m not really supposed to eat it, and she only charged £5, though we put that right. Later we had a long chat with David and Chrissy, which was nice. Incidentally, we’ve agreed not to send Oliver and Amy’s presents but to wait till we see them. Don’t know how long that will be with the latest scare – a new strain of covid has stopped us seeing them this week – and Andrew of course. I’ve decided to post his, but not all at once. We are still in Tier 2, but Aylesbury and Coventry are in Tiers 4 and 3.
On Saturday, to take our minds off tiers, we watched a quite interesting film called The Beguiled, set in the American Civil War. As a further boost, Norwich beat Cardiff 2-0 and are now wen clear at the top of the Championship.
The day before, I picked up my pills from the chemist after waiting in line outside again – fortunately in the dry, though it was chilly. Later David got in touch to say Dot’s present was ready to pick up. It was getting late, but it seemed a good idea to strike while the iron was hot. She drove me up to Bank Plain and I made the pick-up. Miraculously she still doesn’t know what it was, or even where I picked it up from.
Later we watched KIng of Kings, which was surprisingly moving, though not meticulously accurate, making strange leaps. The acting was good.