The Canadian saga comes to an end:
Thursday, October 6 – Went to bed at 8.30pm after both falling asleep during Shetland. An. exhausting day, which started as Wednesday. After a nice meal supplied by Barbara, David and Chrissy drove us to the airport, parking expertly very close to Terminal 3 and taking us in, directing us to the baggage drop and then security , where there was a huge queue. Got through eventually – D&C waved goodbye after about 20 minutes.
We went and sat in the Gate area (39) after buying a banana each. Eventually boarded and thought we might have an empty seat next to us again, but eventually a youngish woman who might have been a Russian spy came and sat in it. She was very quiet except for one trip to the toilet. Rubbish meal and pretty uncomfortable flight, but did get a small bottle of wine. Watched Cry Macho, starring Clint Eastwood, which was pretty good, but I went to sleep halfway through. Not for long, though. Watched second half towards end of flight.
Easy at Gatwick; caught Purple Parking bus (lively driver) and reached car easily. Now 11am Thursday, and sunny. Drove home – long queue on M25 because of failed traffic lights on A12, apparently – and stopped at M11 services. Sandwiches at Starbucks in fairly leisurely fashion. Carried on driving because I felt Ok despite streaming nose, which was very irritating and still hasn’t stopped. Dot took over at War Memorial. Unpacked my case, and we both made some essential payments and did some sorting out.
Friday – overcast with rain in the evening. Woke at 9.15, just in time for Linda coming to do our hair at 10. Had bath afterwards. Harriet came round in afternoon and at 5.30 we went out for the usual drink, despite promised rain, which arrived shortly afterwards. Quite chilly. We retreated to underneath shelter of roof. Mark , Sarah, Ciara, Matthew and John, plus Des and Chris. Quite political. Home for omelette and baked beans before making another attempt to watch last episode of Shetland. This time successful. Earlier FTd Amy because I thought her birthday was the 10th for some reason, and started panicking about presents. She put us right, and we discovered she is coming up to UEA for visit on the 22nd! She may be going there, because she likes the course!
Saturday – Bit chillier: four layers at football, which Norwich lost 3-2 against Preston, rather unluckily. Gradually catching up with stuff. Phil let me know about his operation, which was successful but painful. Wrote prayers for tomorrow and practised some music. Not particularly good. Watched a couple of episodes of Doc Martin. David FTd – he’d seen most of the match. I recognised his house. Very tired at end of evening.
Sunday – not a good night. Legs still itchy. Woke Dot up in time to get to church, where I did the prayers. Liz had “vision” towards end of Chris in golden robes – not like Liz at all. Strangely Dot and I had just sung in Communion “I will fill this house with glory”, one of my short songs. Meeting of DCC afterwards to discuss building hire rates: managed to miss most of it by saying hello to Ed, who dropped in, then taking Ray and Chris home. After meeting practised music for ceilidh. Phil worried about his hands. After lunch FTd Amy, who is coming up to UEA in a couple of weeks and wants us to look round the campus with her, because her mum is not well. We said we’d pick her up on the Friday if necessary. Watched all available episodes of Doc Martin and caught up with Norwich football on TV. Bed fairly early.
Monday – Still feeling very tired. Rain overnight, but sunny later. Chilly wind. Dot dropped me at church, then drove home and eventually took a taxi up to the hospital because the buses were abysmal and therefore too risky. She had an annual eye test; so couldn’t drive. Session at church was OK, but no Bible study. Had long talk with Carrie afterwards about function of hall – agreed with her that it shouldn’t be run as a business. Walked home (small part of way with Robert), and got there before Dot because bus was very slow. After lunch caught up with football on TV, and then both of us were immersed in catching up with other stuff.