Big day today – we’ve had our first vaccination against covid. Happily the weather was good – sunny and not too freezing – because we had to queue up outside, and the whole process took nearly an hour. But it was very well organised. The possible side-effects were a bit alarming, not so much in their seriousness but in the likelihood that you’d get them – headache, very sore arm, very tired – or of course you might not. We didn’t get the Oxford one, which would have been my first choice, but never mind. Before having the vaccine we took the car for a bit of a drive because it had been standing unused for about a fortnight. We didn’t go far.
Monday was cold and damp; so we resisted the non-temptation to go for a walk. Watched the classic Withnail and I and a couple of episodes of serials, and listened to the first of a new season of Veronica Mary Rolf – this time on the Psalms. I have to say it was very good and inspired us to read a Psalm a day. We haven’t done that, of course, but we have made a start.
Haven’t watched many films this week, but we did watch the irresistible Fargo on Tuesday. It was even better than I remembered. I walked up to the Rosary while Dot had a violin lesson on Zoom from Anna: she is making big strides, I think. We also watched the animation film Early Man, which was quite funny. During this week I have read two short stories that Dot got from David for Christmas – Mrs Fox, by Sarah Hall and The Part-Time Job, by P D James. The first was interesting but bizarre, and the second was brilliant. I have also started reading a book by James Boyce, which he had delivered to me. it’s called Born Bad, and is about original sin, which doesn’t sound enthralling, but from what I’ve read so far it’s very promising.
I’ve also done five Paston letters, one of them from scratch and the other editing Peter’s first drafts. I’m still playing chess against David, Oliver and Amy. I beat the random man only because he lost on time. Don’t know why. I’m winning against Oliver and Amy at the moment, but the one with David is a bit crazy, and I’m not sure who’s winning. I have decided to recycle a 2012 sermon for Sunday: it’s on Cana.
On Wednesday Dot was inspired to have a big change-round in the guest bedroom. She has switched the wardrobe and the chest of drawers, but now we have books and magazines all over the place. I am going to get rid of some of them. Storm Christoph had a similar effect on the rest of the country, but was much wetter: lots of flooding, notably in Corwen, where Tish and Nigel have both had the River Dee in their houses. Not so bad here, though we had a bit of rain and quite a lot of wind. No snow.
Norwich beat Bristol City 2-0 and played very well. I did a lot of work on my poetry book and wrote an introduction and some notes. Watched a strange film called One of our Aircraft is Missing, which I think was supposed to be morale-boosting. Not sure why, because basically six men jumped out of a plane unnecessarily – it made it back to England on its own and crashed into an electricity pylon – and were taken in hand by the local Dutch people, six of whom were executed as a result. I have to say the Dutch made a much better impression than the English, who were a very strange and – as written – not very bright bunch.
Yesterday was quite busy, especially Dot, who did more sorting out and cleaning. Still a cold wind, though not so strong. We went for a walk up to Bishop Bridge and up to the Great Hospital, then back through the short-cut to The Close, where we bumped into David Newham and had a chat, probably illegally. He had been in the lead role in an Agatha Christie play at the Maddermarket which had reached the dress rehearsal stage when covid locked it down. He said he still remembered the words!
In the evening we had a 90-minute Zoom DCC, which went reasonably well after I’d persuaded them not to waste time producing another Parish Profile which probably wouldn’t be used. Spoke to Paul on the phone and offered him some magazines, which he declined, and then to David on FaceTime.