Friday, October 10 – Dry and not too cool. Sunny at first, cloud later. Dot did a lot of work in the garden and some violin practice. I went out for walk in the afternoon (along river and up to Cathedral) and reached well over 4000 for the day. Watched the goals from Scotland match and later first two episodes of Frauds, a thriller set in Spain. Paid vehicle tax. Street meet included Des, Chris, John, Matt, Angela and Sam. Fish and chips courtesy of Des. Mark is away. 

New lights in shower room and kitchen: first job for Saturday after shave and bath. Eventually found the right bulbs and right elevation to get them fixed. Wrote to Paul and Colin – the latter to try for a less drastic repair of the front wall. After lunch went for a walk, perhaps unwisely gave some cash to a couple of guys – one of them Rumanian with very little English  – then met Dot at Morrisons to stock up again. Spoke to David on FaceTIme to avoid duplication of present for Amy: he is going to talk to Oliver, who has been playing baseball today. Cooked fish Kiev – a first for me: we weren’t  sure it quite worked. Then watched the film The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which is brilliant. The fact that we had been to Guernsey recently gave it something extra this time (we had seen it before). Dot has done more in garden: it looks terrific. 

Sunday –  Overcast; a bit chilly in Norwich but warmer on the coast. Listened to a couple of things on radio – mainly about conversions in prison, and then a service where the Bishop of Chelmsford spoke about Christians in Iran (Persia). In the afternoon drove to North Walsham and put flowers on the graves, then continued to Walcott, where we walked along the seafront and on the beach, cunningly avoiding dogs. Took a few pictures, including a couple of some birds that may have been ruddy turnstones. Then drove home via Wroxham. In the evening had pies, then quite a long conversation with Oliver on FaceTime. Told him all about Canada flight. He may come up next month. He’s also getting quite involved with baseball at Finsbury Park. 

Monday – Overcast again, with very light rain early on and in the evening. After lunch drove up to the Rosary with Dot and put flowers on the graves. While Dot was arranging flowers I had long conversation with a guy complaining about grass cutting  on the gravestones. He took it on himself to wash a lot of it off  and also put crosses on war graves on Remembrance Day. He was quite pleasant to talk to – obviously loved the place. Left car outside and walked to Ketts Heights, which seemed a long way. Definitely getting old. Dot’s ankle was a bit sore on the way back. At home watched the final of Young Chorister of the Year. Got the junior right, but not the senior. Dot cooked a blackberry and apple crumble with added blueberries and plums. Quite big. I got a call from urology at the hospital arranging a phone appointment for Thursday. It will soon be quicker to note the days I don’t have appointments. Earlier had unexpected call from Nikki, who’s coming round tomorrow. Today Jewish hostages were released by Hamas, and Palestinian prisoners released by Israel. Combination of joy and uncertainty about the future. After cold mackerel fillet watched various TV programmes, including a brilliant one on wildlife photography in UK by Hamza Yassin. Great shots of bitterns. Only once, of course (twice shy). 

Tuesday – Still overcast with a few drops of rain. Anticyclonic gloom. Hardly went out but managed 4000 steps indoors. Nikki came round this morning and said lots of nice things about us and about St Augustine’s. Just time for quick lunch before Paul H came round, and we told him probably more than he wanted to know about Canada (with pictures). He told us about his recent solo trip to Algeria, which turns out to be much bigger than I thought it was. They also hate France, apparently. In the evening I cooked sausages and we watched England beat Latvia 5-0. David has booked his flights to and from England next month. He is in the diary!