Thursday, February 19 – Weather terrible – grey, misty, wet, chilly. Dot had a very bad night and decided not to go to her cousin John’s funeral at Hepworth – a decision I fully backed. So I went instead and managed to get lost between Diss and Hepworth, mainly because I took the road through Diss and not the A143. Miraculously managed to get there in time, after reaching the village and being unable to find the church. Asked passer-by, who was torn between telling me and running away in case I tried to drag her into my car.
Parked opposite church in a “car park” where everyone was mutually blocked. So had to get away quickly afterwards instead of staying for refreshments. Still, everyone seemed pleased I was there. Not a sparkling service, but I discovered lots of things about John that I didn’t know. Road home was quite easy, and I managed to get home before Bridget left. Felt cold during afternoon; so took vest off. Sounds silly, but it worked. Wrote up blog. Watched a lot of curling: GB got through to final. Cooked supper, cleared up and watched a bit of football.
Friday – More rain and greyness, softened slightly by promises of imminent warmer temperatures. Dot had a good night (me not too bad) despite knowing we had to be up by 9am for Linda to cut our hair. It all worked, and Dot had highlights and me a trim, followed by a bath (on my own). Had a slightly less than perfect avocado with our last eggs for lunch and ordered some replacement Papermate pencils for Dot. Watched a lot of Winter Olympics again, and I had a look at Parish Pump material. We went over to Des and Chris for drink in view of abysmal weather and had a couple of hour’s chat with them and Sarah (Mark went back to Brazil this week).
Saturday – Not quite unremittingly wet, but not all that dry either. Warmer, though. Drove Dot to Boots at the end of the morning, and went in with her to buy a variety of items, not unincluding sandwiches. Traffic surprisingly ok, despite Norwich match looming – they lost 2-1 to Birmingham. On the plus side, Ireland beat England at rugby by a large score. Felt very Irish. Scotland beat Wales – just. Penultimate day of Winter Olympics. GB managed to avoid winning gold in curling but at least got a silver.
Wrote two pieces for Parish Pump – one on Francis Bacon and the other on Richard D’Oyly Carte. Anna and Howard called in unexpectedly on way home from station to say hello and were impressed with Dot’s progress. Watched Death in Paradise and some football. After we’d been in bed for a while Dot saw an email which seemed to indicate her coffee had been delivered earlier. So she made me go outside and look for it. While I was outside she realised she had overlooked another email which said the delivery guy had missed us and the parcel had been dropped off at Matalan. I decided not to go and knock Matalan up.
Sunday – Weather a bit more pleasant – dry and quite warm. Bit windy towards evening. Another very odd day, doubling as the final day of the Winter Olympics. We got a bronze in the half-pipe for women skiers, largely because the judging was totally arbitrary, as is most judging. Looked good for gold to me. USA beat Canada in ice hockey final, mainly because the Canadians missed two or three open goals. Watched a bit of rugby, France beating Italy fairly easily. Got very annoyed with my different Apple machines failing to sync Mail. No idea why. Arsenal beat Spurs 4-1; so not a great sporting weekend. Head/neck felt very heavy. Watched final bit of documentary on guy who swam round Iceland. Completely mad. Oh: it was Sunday, so we listened to a morning service, watched Songs of Praise and took in an episode of The Chosen.
Monday – Some blue sky and quite mild, though the wind was a bit chilly. Rain later. Sorted out problems with Mail and then, after Dot had showered and washed her hair, we drove to Morrisons, calling in at Matalan first to pick up the coffee that had been left there (drop-off point). Dot was feeling a bit tired; so had a coffee at the Morrisons coffee bar halfway through while I finished the shopping. After lunch dealt with a few e-mails, having watched last night’s Match of the Day and agreed with the pundits that Spurs disallowed goal at 2-1 should have stood. (I’d already thought that.) played through some chess games in the afternoon, then cooked lasagne. Watched first two episodes of The Lady, about the Duchess of York’s crazy dresser, which was excellent. No Winter Olympics!