Last Thursday (Oct 10) was a pretty dull day, and damp too. Janet left her car in our drive to go and visit the set of Call the Midwife in South-East London – returned around 10pm. Later Bridget came to clean, which was a bit complicated because we were transferring the rug from the kitchen into the study, and in the process (if that wasn’t hard enough) sorting out all the stuff that had accumulated in there.Almost finished the heavy stuff but need to sort out a pile of papers, as well as putting my old Paston stuff into the garage. Should probably just throw it away.
Strenuous work because it involved getting on to floor and reaching stuff under the main tops. Ironically I achieved less than half the steps than I had managed on any other day this month, though the energy expenditure was much higher. Meanwhile England scored over 800 against Pakistan, with Harry Brook hitting over 300 – not quite matched by our footballers, who lost 2-1 to Greece at Wembley – a record of another kind. Oliver is now in Canada – staying at Kingston, presumably with Sophie. Meanwhile Captiva has been hit by the hurricane, with the Mucky Duck apparently badly damaged.
Friday – Weather much improved. Bright sunshine, though temperature down slightly. Apparently impressive northern lights last night.Missed them. Finished sorting out stuff from my room with help from Dot, though Thelma’s box is still in the living room. Not all that much in it except for some jewellery and photos. Dot went to shop for food while I waited in for Amazon, delivering a music book for Dot and some cleaning liquid. Oliver now in Waterloo. Street meet as usual: Des, Chris, Jonathan, John, Matt, Mark (for a while, till he went out for meal with Sarah and his son). Sean and Ciara confined to barracks with bad colds. Tara in quite a bad way, according to John. Mark may be getting solar panels. Angela mended Dot’s jeans for free (allegedly because I let Matt have some cassettes for nothing).
Saturday – Dull but dry at first, then heavy rain in afternoon. Dry again in later evening. Coolish. Dot spent much of day cooking and preparing for visit of Mary and Neville in the evening. Cooked fish pie. I did a bit to help here and there. Put Thelma’s stuff in the spare room wardrobe and wrote a bit for Diderot based on a couple of T’s photographs. Then converted a boxful of slides into pix and imported them on to Photos. Felt a bit shaky but took paracetamol and was much better for rest of day. Neville and Mary arrived about 7pm, bringing very nice red wine. Dot had cooked a fish pie, and we also had starter and pavlova. Very enjoyable evening. They left about 10.15, and Dot and I did our usual lightning clearaway.
Sunday – Light cloud; dry; a little cool. Felt a bit fragile but managed to complete a normal day! Drove to church in the morning – Communion service, which I led, with Graham preaching and presiding. Good attendance, including Nikki and Phoebe: average age coming down a bit! Took Ray home as usual. Angel Road remains thankfully open.
After lunch we dropped a couple of birthday cards off for Heather and had a brief chat. She seems to have a type of long Covid or ME. Very frustrating. We continued through The Close and Dot did the part of the treasure trail she missed last weekend when she went to the football. She was pretty good at it. In Queen Street we met Paul Henderson – and at first neither of us recognised him! Just out of context, I think. He was on his way to Cathedral Evensong. After finishing the trail we walked down the rehashed Haymarket, which looked ok but not spectacular. Then we called in for tea/coffee at the Cornish Bakery… and walked home. Watched Finland v England, which finished 1-3 and was less than compelling. Later finished yesterday’s fish pie.
And watched the penultimate episode of Joan – after chatting to David and Oliver on FaceTime. They both seem fine, but Amy is not too well and is lying low.
Monday – Wet start, but improving. Uneasy night. Linda arrived slightly early for haircut. In afternoon quite bright so walked by a circuitous route to Morrisons to buy some tea. Very tired when I got back. Watched The Big Sleep and a documentary about finding the wreck of a U-boat and a Q-boat that sunk each other off the Channel Islands during the First World War. Oliver and David at Palmer Circle, then later Oliver was in Toronto. Mysterious. Amy texted to ask how to cook tender roast chicken, as she and her flatmate were having a Thanksgiving Dinner in Southampton. Happily she’s feeling better.