Cooler this morning, with quite a lot of rain. But sunny now, and Dot has gone to the shops. It’s about 5pm, and I redid some of my sermon this morning as well as catching up on e-mails and similar beasts. Still feeling fatigued but otherwise OK. At lunchtime we watched the first two episodes of an Australia-based comedy called Spreadsheet, starring Katharine Parkinson, which turned out to be surprisingly good in every aspect: script, direction, acting (including a couple of brilliant children).
Back on Monday, the second half of the day was still overcast but warm, though breezy. Dot came back from her interview panel at Brooke just after 4pm. In the evening we watched the rest of Queen of Katwe, which turned out to be a brilliant film about an African girl who was a chess-playing prodigy from a slum in Uganda. True story and superbly done – real depth.
Tuesday was sunny and very warm. I finished reading Middlemarch – 838 pages. Mixture of delight and occasional frustration. Wonderful book, funny but very dense. We ate lunch in the garden. Strangely quiet. Wrote poem to read at Jurnet Zoom session in the evening. Theme was work: poem was Poetry at Work. Also read another one – Walking at my own speed. General standard not high, I have to say – unless I wasn’t paying attention, which is possible.
Wednesday was overcast but warm, with a threat of rain overnight. David’s 50th birthday – he FaceTimed at lunchtime. He got our card. Dot feels he should be younger – and he certainly looks younger. Wrote sermon but in need of a bit of editing. Wine and Hello Fresh arrived. Dot did lots of washing, and in the evening I took her to orchestra and walked back. Felt extremely tired – on bed for an hour afterwards. Accidentally watched a documentary on Highland wildlife.
Light rain at first yesterday, then sunny. Quite warm. Went to see the new Downton Abbey film, which was quite good, though I could have done with more of Tuppence Middleton. Got home just after Bridget arrived to do the cleaning. Earlier I had chosen hymns, and during the day I put a sketchy rota together and found a Compline to photocopy. Bridget had a ready meal with us (or at least in Dot’s study) while she revised for a maths test, and we had Hello Fresh sausages. Then we all walked up to Eleanor’s for Cake and Compline. Meanwhile David Archer was collecting Claire from Stoke (her parents’ place), where she has been recuperating from a broken ankle. All present for C&C.
Earlier David FaceTimed and sent us pix of his birthday celebrations – Cake and steak burgers, though probably not in that order. Watched last episode of Chivalry. Never really worked out what it was about, but it was mildly amusing. Mark is home.