Start of a new week (if you’re a Monday person), and Dot was up early because Anne is arriving for a walk – or possibly a shop, or both – in the not-too-distant future. It’s sunny after a cloudy start and still chilly, though it’s forecast to get quite warm later in the day. I’m tempted to go out and start the car, because the battery went dead yesterday and, although it was charged and I took it for a 30-minute drive, there’s always that smidgeon of doubt…
I’ll come back to the battery later. Meanwhile, last Tuesday was a bit chilly but dry, with quite a bit of sun. After lunch I walked with Dot up to Boots for her eye test (no problems) and then left her there and walked back through the Close, Bishopgate and along the riverside path. I was pretty tired at the end. Dot didn’t get back till about 4.30. We watched Too Close, a new thriller that was very well done, though I wasn’t entirely convinced by the storyline. We also watched Alien: Covenant, which was also well done but quite frightening, and then a good documentary by Gyles Brandreth on Jane Austen. Had five peppered mackerel between us because they come in packs of five.
Wednesday was a mixture of sun and cloud, with quite a cold wind. Nearly finished writing my sermon for Sunday, then after lunch drove to Caistor and we had a longish walk at Venta Icenorum. I was not impressed by the Norfolk Archaeological Trust, who locked the gate at the END of a path across the main site while leaving the one at the beginning of it open: so we had to climb over a gate to get back to car. There’s much more walking available there now: we crossed the river and walked along the bank on other side. There’s a new entrance, too.
We watched the postponed Masterchef final – all three finalists were excellent, but it was clear who was going to win, and the other two knew it as well. Returned a call to Ray and Chris in querying about our health, and Dot did lots of violin practice. I booked a virtual trip in Jerusalem and a week at Snape in October.
There was a cold wind on Thursday, with showers. Walked up to the Forum with Dot to meet Janet Bower for coffee, which we drank legally outside but mostly under the overhanging roof. It lasted an hour and a half, and we got quite cold towards the end. Picked up groceries from Des on way back. After lunch I drove to the chemist to pick up my pills: when I got back Sonata man had arrived with split-second timing to service the alarm. Nice bloke. Later we watched My Cousin Rachel, from the novel by Daphne du Maurier. It was pretty good, but the hero was an idiot. Finished writing my sermon and practised hymns with Dot. In the evening we Zoomed with Heather, Simon and Sam for an hour and 20 minutes, which was very enjoyable.
Still a keen north-east wind on Friday, and I touched up the sermon (bit of a theme here) while Dot Zoomed with Barbara. After lunch we went for a heygo trip on the border of Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Very wordy with not much movement, but quite compelling, giving us the Israeli view of the situation but in a very fair way (he urged us to take a Palestinian virtual trip too). Then we walked to the Rosary. The in-street drink was revived at 5.30pm. We split into two groups because of our numbers and I spoke to Phoebe, Freddie, Mary and Bob at some length. Dot had fishnchips, supplied by Des as usual; I had smoked salmon and boiled eggs. We watched Live and Let Die – great boat chase – and then Rewrite, a Hugh Grant romcom that I really enjoyed.
Saturday was not so cold, and sunny with very little wind. Dot spent a lot of time recording her Sillars violin piece and then trying to convert the file to mp3. I wasn’t really able to help, but in the end David happened to FaceTime, and he did it for her. He told us about the tighter lockdown over there, which is a bit disappointing, but they all seem well.
It was my father’s birthday; so I walked up to the Rosary and put three daffodils from our garden on the grave. Then we watched the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral, led by the Dean of Windsor, who couldn’t have looked more miserable. Music was quite good, though. Norwich were promoted despite losing 3-1 to Bournemouth in evening after having a man sent off – wrongly, I think, because the Bournemouth player’s tackle was reckless. Pukki was injured too, and so was Handley, though he kept playing. Riotous celebrations outside Carrow Road, apparently.
Sunday was sunny and reasonably warm, but cold out of the sun towards evening. As mentioned, the car had a dead battery; so Des took us to church and we walked home, tired and hungry. I borrowed Carrie’s guitar and preached, though not at the same time. Sad news from Phil: he has bladder cancer, and is awaiting an operation. Obviously distressed. We spent some time with him afterwards.
On arriving home I called Mazda European Assistance after checking that I had renewed our membership. A guy with an impressive van arrived about 5pm after I’d told them there was no hurry. It transpired the battery was dead because the bonnet was open. I had filled up with petrol the previous day and pulled the bonnet catch instead of the filler cap catch by mistake. I meant to push the bonnet back down but forgot, and when we got home I didn’t notice that the car refused to lock. Apparently this was sufficient to drain the battery overnight, because it kept sending signals to itself that the car wasn’t locked and the bonnet was open.
After he recharged the battery and carried out various checks, I drove out through Thorpe to the bypass, then to the A140, Dunston Common, Stoke, Caistor, Trowse and back through the city. Almost exactly 30 minutes, as recommended. Before the Mazda man arrived I tok the opportunity to ring Alan and Rosemary and had quite a chat with Rosemary, who is suffering a lot with her stent, which keeps getting infected. The hospital won’t remove it despite the nurses and GP saying that it needs doing.
In the evening I cooked chilli con carne, and we watched the start of a new series of Call the Midwife, preceded by an exciting grand prix in Italy, won by Verstappen, with Hamilton second and Norris third.