Have just discovered that Helen Champion, the brilliant manager at Andrew’s care home in Coventry, is leaving next week. Very sad news: she is a superb organiser and extremely kind. Things are changing all round. Phil rang the other day to say they had a place at Eckling Grange in Dereham, and they would probably be moving in May or June. He is a bit stressed about everything that has to be done before then, but who wouldn’t be? The same morning Dot’s cousin Roger rang to say that he and Debbie would be moving to North Walsham. They have been living at Heartsease, but Debbie is retiring (her eyes are very bad), and North Walsham has many advantages for them, as well as being his birthplace, of course. Su Lee is moving from Bacton after many years (I worked with her on the EDP), and of course Lucy is moving from Bowthorpe to Horstead.
Today I had a Zoom meeting with Rob and Peter about the future of the Paston Heritage Society. Bit unclear about what’s going to happen, but Rob is putting together some proposals, which involve him stepping down as chairman and possibly the PHS being dissolved. But we shall see. It’s hard to get people interested in being members, let alone trustees. I am likely to step down too at the end of the year, at least as an active member.
When the batteries in my PINsentry went flat mid-transaction this morning, Dot and I went for a walk and called in at Boots and Morrisons to get replacements. I wasn’t too happy at what was on offer, though they eventually turned out to be the right ones, and Dot went back for them while I was Zooming. But on the way back first time we bumped into Paul Dickson on the Julian Bridge: he is now doing virtual tours online, and we’re going to tune into one on Wednesday. May be able to persuade him to do a Paston one.
Meanwhile Robin has sent me his logbook of the yomps we did between 1996 and 2000, which proved very interesting as well as containing a very unflattering picture of me. I have submitted four tanka to the “On a Knife Edge” project being run by some Lettering organisation which is working with the Suffolk Poetry Society. I was persuaded to get my finger out by Lynne Nesbit, who is the copy editor for the project.
On Saturday Norwich won 1-0 against Rotherham, but should have won about 5-0. Thanks to other top championship teams losing unexpectedly, it turned out to be a very, very good result. Sadly Spurs have not yet come out of their poor run, though they played well in the second half yesterday against West Ham, losing 2-1.
Dot and I have been doing quite a lot of walking, much of it involving the Rosary. The weather is extremely spring-like. I was actually too warm on a couple of the walks. Yesterday I preached on Zoom at our church meeting. Bit odd because of the lack of visible reaction (no eggs or tomatoes). Later watched Finding Alice, a TV serial that seemed particularly pointless. Surprised Keeley Hawes went for it. Have finished reading Born Bad, a book on original sin by James Boyce, who used to come to St Augustine’s before returning to Tasmania. Interesting book, though I have one or two questions…