Oliver and Amy are with us. But before that… Last Wednesday was dry and fairly warm, though windy. I spent the morning catching up with e-mails, rejigging the rota and putting it in the calendar and on the NCMC site. Helped Dot prepare for Des and Chris, who came round at 6pm for a meal, beautifully prepared by my wife. We watched England beat Denmark 2-1 AET in the Euros semi-final (og and Kane), which turned out to be the high point. Federer was knocked out of Wimbledon in straight sets.
Thursday was warm but breezy at first; rain later. Julia and Allan came over for lunch. Sat in the garden to start with, then transferred indoors. Bridget arrived to do cleaning about three minutes after they left. Later Sean left his car in our drive because the road was packed, but we didn’t know that till the next morning, when Chris was hit by a car coming out of a garage at the bottom of road. These two events are unconnected. Had a good time with the Higbees.
Friday started warm, but very heavy showers in the afternoon as we drove to Dereham to see Phil and Joy’s new bungalow at Eckling Grange. Heavy traffic meant it took ages to get out of Norwich, and we were half an hour late. No 19 was very nice, spacious and well furnished. Now all they have to do is get rid of stuff from 36 Anchor Street and sell the house. Earlier, Paul came round: he seemed a bit better than a last time, but very uncertain as to what to do about M. Earlier still Dot went to have her feet done in the city, then walked to Anna’s for a violin lesson. I picked her up, but again heavy traffic caused by a lane closure on the flyover that looked totally unnecessary. Meanwhile I walked up to St Stephens post office in attempt to sort out renewal of my driving licence, which DVLA have totally cocked up. But this was fruitless too.
Saturday was fairly warm, but with drops of rain in the air. Did a lot of catching up on the computer in the morning, and as a result did a very low number of steps. Kim B came round for cup of tea at 3pm, and we had a long and fascinating conversation, telling her most of our life story. She didn’t go till after 6pm. David rang later and we had another long conversation. Watched first episode of Time, which was well acted but pretty grim. Then a bit of cricket. Bed late.
Sunday was again quite warm, but with rain in the evening. Led service in the morning with new assistant priest (Graham) in congregation. Howard was late for first choral song because he was fetching Phyllis. Afterwards we had a discussion about future Covid restrictions – Graham very nervous because he has only been vaccinated once. Judy also wanted to continue wearing masks, and Debbie was so convoluted no-one knew what she wanted.
Lot of preparation in afternoon for Oliver and Amy coming tomorrow. I cut a lot of ivy down, and Dot prepared beds. Djokovic won Wimbledon again and England predictably lost on penalties to Italy In Euro final because after scoring early on they didn’t press. They then brought on two penalty specialists two minutes from the end, and both of them missed. Bad management. Texting David, Oliver and Amy throughout. Elements of crowd pretty unpleasant.
Some rain on Monday, but nowhere near as much as forecast. Warm again. My 76th birthday. Sorted out stuff preparatory to visit of Oliver and Amy, then went to Morrisons, filled up with petrol and stocked up with food. Put bins out, and O & A arrived about midday. We walked up to the Ivy for lunch, a birthday present from Dot! Had duck liver pate and fish cake, plus two glasses of wine. Then to Lakeland and bought a very expensive frying pan; home via Book Hive, where Oliver bought book for Amy. David FTd, and we had conversation, but I felt quite ill and went and lay on bed for over an hour. Dehydration maybe. After tea went outside despite drops of rain and had a drink – whisky in my case. Others played table tennis, and then we played YouTube songs to each other. (Dot bought me some books and a clock for the study. O & A bought me an Owl.) Oliver has sorted out Word and a couple of other things on my iPad.
Today was grey at first, but when we got to Winterton the sky brightened, and it was warm with some blue sky. Walked towards Hemsby and then had a picnic. Beach cafe has vanished, but toilets have vastly improved. Then walked the other way. Oliver drove us. Called in at Hemsby on the way home. In the evening Dot went to a meeting at the Coach and Horses on safeguarding with Howard, Graham and Fran from St Luke’s. Oliver and I went too at a separate table, but Amy stayed at home. Lost to Oliver at table tennis, then cooked supper and cleared away. Pretty tired.