And so life returns to normal, if by normal you mean frightening. But we were fortunate to have a few days where life was extraordinary and beautiful – and not just because it was sunny. It was the enjoyment of seeing our wider family and having our son with us.

Sunday was warm and dry, but then so was the rest of the week. Parish barbecue day, but missed it (and church) because David was still here, and we wanted to do stuff with him. Spent a while sorting out the garage so that we could easily get at all parts of it. Pile of stuff to be chucked out – mainly recyclable, often cardboard. David also transferred quite a few slides to computer, and we got them up on my study TV, after putting a new battery in the remote and resetting the Apple ID password. Nice to have a tech expert with you.

Late lunch, then off to North Walsham after putting some flowers in the Rosary for Andrew and Mum and Dad. David remarked on he narrowness of the roads. We put flowers on the graves in the cemetery there; then David and Dot walked into town. I intended to park in the market place, but you can’t do that any more; so I paid 50p to park by the library and went and found them on Yarmouth Road after an excursion into the market place. Drove home via NDR and  Plumstead Road, taking in a brief tour of Tombland.

Dot created a chicken patty meal which went well with my potatoes and peas. Afterwards David went to have a drink with Kevin at the Red Lion, and no sooner had he left than Amy Facetimed and arranged to come to see us in early August. Watched cricket and some news. Hezbollah seem to be attacking northern Israel. Nothing new there.

Monday – you guessed it – was very warm and dry, but not unpleasant. Breakfast with David in the garden again. He left on the 11.32, and had a meal in London with Lorraine before travelling to Gatwick for an overnight stay. Meanwhile I was catching up with e-mails, payments and various other things. Watched a bit of Olympics, especially Tom Pidcock winning mountain biking in spectacular fashion. Also a couple of episodes of The Turkish Detective. Put out rubbish and cooked a meal of leftovers, including fried potatoes and mince, with eggs. Walked up to post office to post birthday card to Linda Shingles. Did a bit extra for steps. 

Tuesday was, oh yes, very warm and sunny. Read quite a bit of Israelophobia book – very good. Followed David’s flight home. He arrived on schedule and was driven back to Waterloo. I sorted out some books and put David’s special ones in the spare bedroom. Also uploaded a couple of boxes of slides. We went to Morrisons and stocked up. Watched quite a lot of Olympics, especially tennis – Murray scraping through again – and swimming –a great win by the 4×200 relay team. Also gold in shooting (trap). Anna came round to teach violin and had tea in garden. She’s still not quite well. 

Wednesday – aha! Warm and dry again. Very busy day. Jude came round to see The Chosen 3:2. Bridget arrived near the end, and Debbie rang Jude to say she’d be late at church. Resultant confusion meant I set off for church on my own. Met Steve outside, but lack of a key meant we couldn’t get in until Jude and Dot arrived. Then did Bible study with Ellie, Jude, Dot and Steve: think it went pretty well. I drove home, leaving Dot to walk home after meditation. Was able to have a chat with Bridget before she left ,and Dot rang to say she wanted a lift from Tombland: she was tired and quite hot.

Kim arrived about 3.30 for tea in the garden: Dot had meanwhile invited Ellie, and she turned up a bit later. Very long conversation: Ellie is a bit hard work, though she comes from Huddersfield. At the moment she’s wanting to move, but is unsure about how to go about it. While we were talking Howard came to look at our bathroom floor and was quite reassuring. He is going to regrout one of the tiles. Kim stayed quite a while after Ellie left. She invited us to Norway. Not sure…. Watched a bit of Olympics – mainly swimming, but gold for Alex Yes in triathlon. Dot kept a watching brief while I did the washing up. 

Thursday – Thunderstorm warning but…nothing happened. Still very warm and dry. Got up early (7.40) to give train-bound Howard his laptop which he left yesterday by mistake. Chose hymns for Sunday and printed out Psalm for Anna. In the afternoon we drove up to Thorpewood, and I picked up my pills and arranged a medication review. Then we went for a walk on Mousehold. Traffic on Gurney Road really bad: idiots at council have shut Plumstead Road again because their new roundabout is dangerous. Also road works on Rosary Road in case you go that way.

Wrote a piece for my website on how I regretted not attending my graduation ceremony, in the light of Warwick. Watched more Olympics, including Murray’s last match, which was a bit of an anti-climax – loss in straight sets. American opponents applauded him. Amy said the train ticket was expensive: we offered to pay, but in fact Vicky is paying. Dot did loads of washing and ironing. Jeannie rang up about coming up with others in a couple of weeks. My left eye is a bit funny, but I expect it will pass. Possibly pollen. Feel a bit better generally.