Friday was an exciting day. First, our new passports arrived, and we signed them. We can now leave the country. Well, we can’t, of course, but if we could, we have the documentation.
Very satisfying. Then the package from Cley Smokehouse came. Not only did this have some splendid fish in it, but it made me reorganise the freezer in the garage, which was an interesting experience. I think it was the first time I have been burned by something cold. For some reason we have almost 20 ice packs in our freezer – or we had. I have thinned them out, but in doing so I had a fingers problem. In the end I had to go and get my gloves. Still, the conclusion of the reorganisation was very satisfying. It was bit like the feeding of the five thousand, except there were a lot more fish than people.
Later , after a shortish walk (I met Dot, who did a longer one), we watched Whisky Galore, filmed on Eriskay, which we drove through a few years ago when we island-hopped in the Outer Hebrides. The film was beautiful and funny, and the bureaucrat got thoroughly done-over. I suspect that Captain Mainwaring from Dad’s Army was based on him, at least as far as the pomposity went.
We also saw Black Widow, a documentary about a woman who tried to persuade men to kill her former husband and who was so controlling that she made me very, very angry. I can’t say more, because she is still in prison and will eventually be let out. She might ask someone to kill me.
Oh, and we have been scheduled for a covid vaccination next Friday at Lionwood. I told you it was exciting.
Saturday saw the first snow of the year – at least in Aspland Road. Quite impressive at first, but it soon turned to sleet and rain, as predicted by Dot. Did quite a bit of work on my poetry book and then watched Norwich beat Cardiff 2-1, after looking as if they were going to win 5-0. Had to pay to watch, because it was an away match. Mark arrived home from the States, and I got involved with a lot of chess games. I am now playing David, Oliver and Amy and a random guy I got paired with by mistake. He could be anywhere in the world.
Over the weekend we watched Traces, a drama series about a cold case murder and a forensic team in Scotland, which was pretty good: six hour-long episodes. Also two more episodes of Spiral.
Not much snow left on Sunday except in the Rosary, where we went for a walk and found some remains on the high ground, including a collapsed snowman. We got up late, largely because Dot had finished her book, The Thursday Murder Club, in the early hours. Had a Zoom church meeting at 6pm, during which I did the prayers, and Howard did a talk during which he mentioned abortion – and wished he hadn’t. Don’t know why he did really. But that’s Howard for you… Watched an old episode of Endeavour and then Match of the Day 2 as usual.
Today is cold (of course), but the promised rain hasn’t arrived yet. Phil “Wall of Sound” Spector is dead – he once pulled a gun on Leonard Cohen and was convicted of murdering an actress. Read the meters this morning: our gas bill will be over £200 for the month. Well, it’s been cold.