Friday 12 April – Mild and dry. The scaffolders finished taking their stuff away, and we went for a walk down Bungalow Lane by the marshes – all very run down, but we found Thorpe Ferry and a cafe that we didn’t know existed, run by a very nice Thai woman. Had tea and coffee then walked back. I finished my En Passant chess games. Out for street meet – Des, Chris (who has a chest infection and went to the walk-in centre), Mark, John, Jonathan, Matt. Des got us fish and chips, which were excellent, and we watched TV.
Saturday was again mild and dry. Went up to podiatrist with Dot, and while she had her other ingrowing toenail dealt with I walked up to the cemetery and had a stroll round. Am trying to get my walking up again. In the afternoon Dot worked in the garden. Bob brought us a second bottle of wine to compensate for the trouble we’ve had with scaffolders working in our garden. Not much trouble really. Also flowers! Norwich beat Preston 1-0 away, scoring very late on. Watched Grand National. Had sea bass.
Sunday – Still fairly mild, but with the hint of a cool breeze. Dry. Drove to church and led the service, with Anna doing lectio. After fried lunch walked up to Rosary with Dot and removed dead flowers. Bluebells looking good. Reached over 4500 steps for third day running, but had backache, which I hope is muscles rather than kidney. Had pizza in the evening. Watched a couple of episodes of scandi noir and the final one of Criminal Record on Apple TV, which was good. Also a Chaplin film, The Kid, which was brilliant.
Monday – Complete change in the weather. Cold, very windy and some heavy rain, including hail. A few bright intervals. Linda came and cut our hair. I had a bath and felt very tired afterwards. Reading The Rest is History, which is a strange mixture of the fascinating and the trivial. Printed out some liturgy pages. Graham came round for safeguarding meeting with Dot and Howard, but Howard forgot to come. He took part by phone. In the evening we gave Judy a lift to Bridget’s for Cake and Compline. Should have been at Eleanor’s, but she was ill. Phil didn’t come. Nice scones.
Yesterday was still pretty chilly, with wind and a fair bit of rain. Went to Morrisons in the morning, then after a quick lunch we drove to Sainsbury’s at Thorpe to take part in an NHS cancer test by giving blood. Later Dot walked up into the city and bought a bra, followed by a meal with Kim and a performance of Edward Scissorhands – a modern ballet, which they both enjoyed. Dot walked home afterwards: it had stopped raining.
Today was no real improvement, weatherwise. Generally pretty damp, but with some dry spells. Drove to church for Bible study, which turned into a free-ranging discussion with both Ellie and Judy absent. I then drove home while Dot stayed, but just after I fried some potatoes I got a call from Dot, who had had a very bad coughing fit. I drove up to fetch her and took her to the walk-in centre. They said 45 minutes, but it was nearer half an hour.
I drove home but was again called by Dot pretty quickly. She has a chest infection and was prescribed antibiotics – specifically from her chemist on Heartsease: so we drove up there. She has been taking it fairly easy for the rest of the day, though she says she doesn’t feel really ill. I’ve been feeling pretty ropey, but I’m not sure why. Not bad enough to get out of looking after Dot, I’m happy to say. I walked up to the post office and posted a birthday card to Angela, too. Watched first episode of new series of Blue Lights, which was excellent. Also watched Midsomer Murders to see if it was as bad as I remembered. It is, but I don’t know why. Bad acting? Bad directing? Bad script? General disbelief? Who knows?
Almost forgot – it’s my father’s birthday. He would have been 111.