Last Friday (22nd) – the final day of our Derbyshire break – was a bit of a nightmare, but dry. It took ages to drive home from Buxton, firstly because a fatal crash closed the M1, then by funereally slow traffic on the A52, our escape route, then by hold-ups on the A1, the Newmarket bypass, the A11 and the Norwich southern bypass. We were both exhausted by the time we got home.
One bright spot was afternoon tea at the lovely village of Corby Glen, off the A1, in a tea shop recommended by a cleaner in McDonalds, where we’d stopped under the impression it was general services and then used its loos. An earlier stop at Trawell services on The M1 was a vision of society falling apart. We left quickly. Later we stopped at Cambridge Services, which were at least civilised. We got home at 5.30pm and almost immediately were street-meeting with neighbours – Mark, Jonathan, John and Ciara. Des and Chris are in Egypt.
Back indoors we watched a little TV until Dot suddenly got vertigo again. She hasn’t had it at all on holiday. Couldn’t work out why this should be. After a quick bite she went to bed, and I did some clearing up before joining her. To cap if all I got a ticket for speeding – my first ever. Aaargh!
Saturday was very cold, but mainly dry. Some rain in the evening. Both of us felt below par. Dot had a bad attack of diarrhoea and was feeling very delicate generally. Nevertheless she came with me to Morrisons in the evening, as we were nearly out of food. I spent most of day writing four articles for Parish Pump – on Beethoven’s 9th, Rock Around the Clock, G K Chesterton and two mile-record holders – Roger Bannister and Diane Leather. Took a blood thinner, which I think made me feel worse – cold and achy.
Sunday was dry but still fairly chilly. Drove Dot to church and then had to park on Oak Street – getting to be normal. Didn’t play guitar; quite a nice Palm Sunday service. Nikki and Luke there. Interesting chat with Nikki afterwards. Took Ray home; held up by traffic on Riverside afterwards, which meant I had to hurry lunch before rushing off to Beccles for Lynne Nesbit’s concert at the Hungate Church. Very enjoyable though not my usual thing. Operatic songs and poetry (hers, read by someone else). Met Ian Fosten afterwards and had a chat: Lynne introduced us to her son – nice bloke. Drove home – held up by traffic on Riverside. Getting to be a theme. David FaceTimed shortly after I got home and talked about his new car. Seems very pleased with it. Later did most of church rota and watched a bit of Schitts Creek, which we’re watching for the second time.
Monday was cold but dry. Had a bad night and felt rather below par all day. Dot woke before me and made a cup of tea, mainly because the landing clock was slow and I thought it was much earlier. After finishing reading Damnation Alley by Roger Zelazny in the bath, I drove Dot to Anna’s for her violin lesson, then progressed to the chemist’s by way of two long hold-ups on Salhouse Road. The chemist gave me some antibiotics which it transpired the doctor had prescribed for a UTI that I didn’t have. Had to go back for the pills I really wanted, but hung on to the antibiotics just in case.
Later walked up to Jarrolds to meet Kim, and we were joined later by Dot and had a cheese/paté board and some wine, followed by coffee/tea. Good talk with Kim, as always. Walked home in very cold wind, then finished church rota while Dot wrote letters. Very tired.
Tuesday – Dry most of day; not quite so cold. Rain in the evening. Have what I suppose is a cold, though it’s nowhere near as bad as the ones I used to get (yet). Despite that we drove to Swaffham for lunch with the Higbees. Inevitably Julia said I was looking well. Very nice meal – moussaka. Their daughter Alex popped in afterwards. I thought she looked quite a lot like Chrissy, but Dot didn’t. Earlier Dot had driven up to the surgery to get her pre-diabetes tests, which were all good. I didn’t feel too great in the evening, but we watched a fair bit of television, including a really good BBC4 documentary on Warsaw by Dan Cruickshank. On the plus side, Dot has not had vertigo again.