Wednesday, August 6 was Andrew’s birthday. Sent messages to various people about St Augustine’s, and rang Ray. After lunch drove up to the Rosary and put some roses (courtesy of Dot) on Andrew’s grave after substituting a new holder for one that had been broken. Took bus up to Castle Meadow for evening meal at Côte Brasserie, one of my favourite restaurants. Had a really nice meal (steak frites de luxe and crème brûlée)and risked a Grand Marnier coffee. Chatted to couple at neighbouring table. Earlier had conversation with surgery (Donna) but still no blood test results. Ho hum. Watched a couple of things on TV, including a Songs of Praise featuring Keith Getty.
Thursday – Bit of cloud, but mainly sunny and dry. Slept late and had a bath, but we were up in time for Bridget, who had switched from afternoon to morning for her cleaning. Felt unaccountably crappy for a while in the afternooon, but improved when David FaceTimed and we talked about his projects, among other things. Had fruit salad with bread, butter and paracetamol before catching the bus up to the city for a visit to the Maddermarket, where they were putting on Dad’s Army, including “Don’t tell him, Pike” and the Brief Encounter classics, starring my former colleagues Trevor Burton and David Newham, both of whom I said hello to afterwards. Met Bridget and David in bar, and had ice cream at half time. Pleasant walk home brought me up to more than 4000 again.
Friday – or rather Saturday, as we’ve only just got to bed after driving home from Snape, and it’s past midnight. But we’ll stick with Friday. It’s been warm all day. Quite late in bed this morning, and Dot watered the garden. I edited a few pix. Left for Snape just after 3pm after taking papers over to Des and telling him how good Dad’s Army was. Missed street meet, of course. Stopped at Two Magpies for drink and two sausage rolls, which we ate on our arrival at Snape. Also had a couple of glasses of wine from riverside hut. Very relaxing. Amazed everything else was closed.
Went for a short walk, then back to auditorium, but no entry until after a choir had sung outside. Not my sort of thing, but very fine of its kind. Bought some water and got to our seats, which were excellent – as they should be for the price. Everyone very friendly. National Youth Orchestra 160 strong and with flamboyant female conductor who was very good. They played Star Wars stuff and a piece called The Observatory, by Caroline Shaw. Very well done. After the interval Holst’s Planets Suite, which was terrific, especially Jupiter. Great to hear 160 young people put everything they had into what was effectively I Vow to Thee my Country! Terrific tune, and not the only one in/on Jupiter. Getting out of Snape car park was a slow business, and so was the journey home. Accident in front of us, where a van hit a car at badly lit road works at junction with A12. Eventually made it home and grabbed some cheese and biscuits. As you do.
Saturday – very warm and dry. Went with Dot to Morrisons in morning to stock up. After lunch walked with her to Carrow Road. She went early in the hope of getting a free drink, but she didn’t qualify. Unexpectedly Jonathan and Naomi were there: she seemed quite well, but Jonathan is suffering from shingles. I walked back by the river and was exhausted. Lay down for a while. Cooked an instant chicken meal which was a bit tasteless. Watched Annika, but it seemed as if we’d seen it before.
Sunday – very warm. Odd not going to church, but we watched a documentary about the spirituality of islands, which was interesting. In the afternoon parked on Oak Street and walked down to visit Kim for tea and cake. She is having real trouble with an injured leg that doesn’t seem to be improving, but as always we had an interesting talk and a really nice time. Watched quite a bit of TV later, including a new series of Beck which was excellent. Then did a bit of reading, and had a brief FaceTime chat with David, until he had to sort out a problem for Amy.
I finished the second of two excellent books Dot got me for my birthday. The first was The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd, which is a highly original look at the Cairngorms; the second was The Place of Tides by James Rebanks, which is even more unusual and set in the islands of north-west Norway. Both very highly recommended.