Tuesday Jan 31 saw a cool wind, but was otherwise quite pleasant. After lunch I walked to Surrey Chapel to have a look round, and I managed to have a word with the Pastor, who said they could deal with mp3 files for the funeral; so later I purchased the relevant files from Amazon and sent them to him. Also had a look at the room we’ll use, which is really nice. Walked back via The Close, of course, and looked at an exhibition in the Hostry about a very old cloister – now covered by the new one. To be honest, it wasn’t very exciting.
Continuing to read the latest Leonard Cohen book – a novel and short stories – which I got for Christmas. Very interesting, though unsettling. Just before 7pm Steve Fiske rang to say his mother Christine had just died, peacefully in her sleep. Glad we were able to see her yesterday. Had chat with Kim on phone and agreed to meet on Friday. Also had a call from Sheila, who keeps an eye on my Aunt Thelma, to say that Thelma has vascular dementia and is getting much worse. All very death-orientated. So to stay in the mood, we watched Silent Witness.
Wednesday was cool but dry. Dot spent most of the day with Anne in the city, and I wrote quite a lot of my sermon for Sunday. In the afternoon went to see Thelma, who was not as bad as I expected, but it was hard work. She finds difficulty hearing, which means I have to shout, and she repeats herself over and over again. I lasted three-quarters of an hour and found it hard to locate a member of staff to let me out. In the evening went with Des and Chris to a wine-tasting evening, which didn’t include much food. Still it turned out to be interesting, because we met a couple of women, one of whom worked at Archant and the other in education. They recognised both of us, though only in a vague sort of way. We all got on well and the four of us promised to visit their walled garden at Little Plumstead. On the minus side, I think I left my glasses there. Watched a bit of a programme on moss but fell asleep.
I didn’t leave my glasses there. I found them on the kitchen table on Thursday morning. Bright spells, bit windy but not too cold. Dot went to Hickling in the morning for a school visit. I thought I’d finished my sermon, but then realised it needed reorganising. Aargh ! Walked to church in the afternoon to photograph a part of the churchyard wall that had fallen down (or been knocked down). Then Dot picked me up and we spent about 90 minutes with Ray, during which he told us a number of stories and gave us a cup of tea. Home in time to catch Bridget, then cooked lamb chops, which turned out surprisingly well spent a bit of time on final choice of hymns – and rang Liz Cannon to check it wasn’t Communion. Feeling quite stressed at end of evening and had a strange pain in my head. Probably just catarrh.
Friday was again fairly mild and dry. We walked into the city in the morning and had tea/e with Kim in Yalm, then walked to Jarrolds and had lunch in their fish restaurant on the second floor. Had a plate of smoked salmon and a couple of poached eggs on sourdough toast. Walked home through the Close, and Kim came back for another cup of tea with me while Dot finished her talk for Monday.
Mild enough to meet in the street at 5.30 – in this case our driveway, because Des and Chris have a new electric car in their drive. They’re moving it into our drive so that a prospective buyer of their old car, who’s arriving tomorrow from London, doesn’t know it’s theirs. Don’t ask. John also joined us. At 7 Des got us fish and chips, and we repaired to eat it . Watched the last three episodes of Bad Sisters on Netflix. Brilliant. David FTd us, which was just as well, because he revealed that tomorrow’s match starts at 12.30, not 3.
Saturday – Cloudy but dry. Not too cold. Having been alerted to the early match time, (12.30) I took Dot down there: for some reason Naomi’s friends, who had been scheduled, didn’t turn up, but they didn’t miss anything. Norwich lost 3-0 to Burnley. Krul gave away a goal , and they conceded from two corners. Had a rest, watched the remainder of a fascinating programme on moss, cleared up and walked down to meet Dot. Back at house watched Six Nations: Wales lost heavily to Scotland. Practised hymns and watched a bit from Iolanthe that David Archer had sent us. Also Death in Paradise and Hotel Portofino, plus a chunk of Amazing Spaces. Never knowingly understated.
Yesterday was bright and dry, but a bit chilly. Church as usual – great to see Ray there. As a result changed one of the hymns to Amazing Grace – his favourite. I preached, and got quite a good response. Hold-up on Riverside Road because of yet more ill-thought out roadworks. Dot spent a lot of time preparing for her P4C talk. I went for walk down by river and along King Street and ended up very tired. Watched quite a lot of TV – rugby, football (Spurs beat Man City 1-0), Call the Midwife and the finale of Happy Valley, which was not as exciting as it might have been, but did wrap it all up.
Today was colder but bright and dry. Walked to church and did a Bible Study with Steve, Debbie and Jude: Acts 3. Went pretty well. Stayed for lunch, which was mediocre, and afterwards Dot gave a talk on philosophy for children (thinking skills). Thought it went really well. Kim came along specially. About 15 there. I had parked the car in the car park using an app – quite expensive, but I didn’t know when we were going to finish. Returned about an hour later (and after Dot had retrieved some papers from the accountants) to find her sunglasses, which were on the piano. Watched Vera and a rather beautiful animated film called A Boy, a Mole, a Fox and a Horse, which was lovely and very Christian. Then spent quite a long time clearing up in the kitchen and putting the bins out. Too much detail?