It was overcast at first, becoming brighter, on Saturday, April 11. Dry, too. Day of the big match against Ipswich, with large numbers of police on duty  and roads closed. Not sure how that was supposed to help: in fact when I drove Dot, Jonathan and Naomi to Carrow Road it was much, much easier than it had been last time, and the drive home was easy too. Played through En Passant chess games while the match was on. These included a win by me in 1976 against Laurie Pott, annotated generously by Mike. Meanwhile Norwich lost 2-0 to Ipswich, thanks partly to a very dubious penalty. D, J and N walked back surprisingly quickly.

Managed to work out how to review the guy who sold our new door to us, and did so – some of it written by Dot. Had light meal in the evening and watched two episodes of The Copenhagen Test before catching up with e-mails and clearing up. Earlier watched Grand National: my pick fell early on. Bit of a Panic Attack. 

Sunday – Bright with a cool wind. A few drops of rain around teatime. Dot left early for Wensum Valley hotel at Taverham and spent all day there for a Sillars centenary event – playing music with different conductors from the past and including some musicians from the past. Apparently I could have gone at the end for the performance, but I didn’t know that. Only a very few people did.

As Dot had the car I had to walk to church – chatted with Ciara on the way. Met Liz Cannon at entrance and had a chat with her too. Small congregation for Communion with Anna, Martin and Phil in band. Graham led and preached. People generally seemed pleased to see me. Walked back with Anna then crossed flyover on foot, which I think is prohibited, to get pix of Anglia Square buildings in process of demolition. Then on past Puppet Theatre and cut through to river through a new complex of streets and buildings, including Printworks Drive and Typesetters Way, or possibly vice versa. Crossed Jarrolds bridge and proceeded home. Very tired towards end. Over 7000 steps at that point.

Feet still hurt when I went to bed. Read a bit and recorded a few programmes. Dot home around 5.30. Had avocado and eggs around 7pm and watched last two episodes of The Other Bennet Sister (excellent) and The Capture (compelling but not convincing). Oh, and we watched EFL highlights. Penalty against Norwich very dubious, and one opponent  – Nunez – should definitely have been red-carded. 

Monday – Dry, reasonably warm. Caught up with a few phone tasks / texts, and after a very small lunch drove Dot to her violin lesson with Anna. Anna had been coming to ours, but she has a painful knee. While Dot was there I went for a short walk in Waterloo Park, which is much bigger than I thought, and then called on Ray, where we had a longish chat and a cup of tea. While I was there Judy called in with a meal for him.

Picked up Dot, who was waiting outside Anna’s – I was delayed by a closed road. They had a good time – I think Anna recognises how good Dot is, and Dot gets a lot out of her advice. Cooked salmon en croute, spoiled somewhat by dodgy vegetables. Later watched Match of the Day, with Spurs sliding into oblivion, where, barring miracles, they will play us next season. Arsenal are not looking much good either , and as for Werder Bremen (Kristine’s team)… Dot and I did some clearing up in the garden, and had a chat with Mark. Des and Chris got back from France, but I haven’t seen them yet. New back door scheduled for first two weeks in May. Feeling quite tired: feet sore. Dot still a bit swollen. 

Tuesday – Mainly sunny; quite warm. Had a bath, then Dot took car to be cleaned and to go to Boots. I meanwhile walked to Morrisons, where she joined me and we did some shopping. Then sat for a while in closed coffee shop before walking over to pick up car. They did a good job. I got in bins and reorganised interior of car. Then got the commode and walking frame ready to be picked up, which it was – half an hour early. Watched last two episodes of Hidden Assets, which were pretty good. Also University Challenge and a couple of other things. Cooked pies.

Earlier Des came round and we had a chat about his holiday, which was pretty good. Interestingly they have also had a puncture. Is there a tyre piercer about?  Could do without that. Dot did some washing. FaceTimed David around 10pm, and spoke to Amy too. She still has a cold but didn’t seem too bad. Spoke about Diderot design and football, among other things. 

Wednesday –   Largely dry and sunny, becoming cloudy in the evening. Dot left just before 10.30 to go and see Anne and have lunch with her at Woodton. Shortly afterwards, Bridget came to do the cleaning. We had quite a long chat about various matters, including church, her retirement and retreats we had been on, especially Little Gidding. She said she had erected a placard in her garden excouraging people to vote for the Liberal Democrats, because their candidate was a nice chap who went to their church. You can’t argue with that. As a result I wrote my first article for months, resurrecting all my favourite characters, such Henry (Fred) “Shrimp” Houseago.

Dot got back mid-afternoon, and as she had had lunch I did avocado and egg for supper. Meanwhile I had switched my Apple TV to the Barclays Bank free version, tried it out and it seemed much better. Hope they don’t keep charging me for the other one. Dot was picked up by Janet (and Nova) just after 7pm. She had a good session but forgot to take her phone; so I couldn’t track her coming home and couldn’t greet her at the door as I normally do. Watched European football before bed: Bayern Munich superb against Real Madrid, and Liverpool lost. Arsenal went through but didn’t look good. 

Thursday – Dry and reasonably warm. Took bus up to dentist with Dot and had check-up. She has no problem, but I need to have some decay removed on April 30; so put off cleaning till then. Afterwards went to John Lewis, bought a pillow and had a fruit scone each. Then walked down to Red Lion Street to catch bus, which contained Mary. I mentioned how the antibiotic nitrofurantoin affected me badly last November, and she knew of others who had had real problems with it. Dentist said it was not something he would prescribe (but then it’s not intended for oral problems). 

Back at home used leaf blower to get rid of tree seeds covering our front drive and slope. Very powerful. Then tried to fix shower fastening, but it defeated me. May have to get someone in. Frustrating. Can still use shower though. Shagged out, but cooked sausages for supper. Watched final three episodes of The Copenhagen Test, which was intriguing but not entirely convincing. Spoke to Mark earlier: his car is the same age as ours, and he was having to construct part of one of the indicator lights that had broken: impossible to get replacement.