Tuesday, July 28 – Quite warm, except in Morrisons. Had to go back to car to get a jumper (which I’d just taken off). On coming back I ran into Madeline Jary, with Peter’s older brother and his two sons – or possibly grandsons. Had quite a long chat. Then when we came out we ran into Steven from St Augustine’s. Did some shopping too.
In the afternoon wrote three pieces for Parish Pump – on John Wisden and his Almanack; Buddy Holly; and Frank Hornby of Meccano and Dinky fame. Meanwhile Dot cleaned up the house in preparation for visit of Oliver and Sophie tomorrow. Felt quite down after writing Pump pieces, but recovered during evening as usual. After cooking and eating salmon en croute we went over and watered Des’s plants. Watched Commonwealth Games and were not enthralled. Watched most of a programme on finding Egyptian cities lost under Sahara because of global warming – I blame Bedouin emissions. Slept during much of it, but Dot enjoyed it.
Wednesday – Hot. Oliver and Sophie arrived at 11.20, and we managed to get to the station to meet them. Had a really good day with them – first a lunch at home, then they went into town and bought some books. After that we looked at some pictures and had a chat before walking down to Gem and having cocktails and a main: I had garlic mushrooms and tiramisu (separately) followed by Turkish tea, which was a bit strong. They both seem happy and relaxed. I saw them off on the 8pm train and saw that they had arrived home at Stratford. Watched Commonwealth Games and a bit of a Netflix series, The Man Inside, which was quite funny. Still very warm as we went to bed at 11pm.
Thursday – Warm and dry till evening, when out of the blue it rained – quite heavily. Very welcome, of course. Anne came round at 11am and went into city with Dot. They had lunch, and Dot bought some sandals and a dress – very smart – but her leg is still bad. Not sure about her next move. I read quite a bit of Clown Town and took my last antibiotic pill, after which I felt odd. Better later but still have some pain in my jaw, more irritating than agonising. Because Dot had lunch in town we had bacon and egg for supper, watched Commonwealth Games highlights and first two episodes of Staircase, a true crime drama.
Friday – Pleasantly warm and dry. Got Dot up to walk-in centre by about 9.20 and there was no-one waiting! She had been having trouble with her leg, and she was diagnosed with what I suspected – a pulled tendon. She has to cut down on exercises and do short walks on smooth surfaces! Also got some pain-killing ointment from Boots and a heel-raising insert. The latter turned out to be too large; so after having our hair cut (and a bath for me) we called in at Boots again to change it. That was ok, but the traffic was horrendous; so we were a bit late for the talk at Christ Church on Julian. Quite good, though we weren’t sure if the speaker was male or female. Mainly female characteristics, but name was Josiah. Ho hum. Had an interesting talk afterwards with a bloke who worked at the EDP in the 80s – though at the Thorpe printing area. Also had chat with Bridget and David of course.
Forgot to take birthday card for Linda S which I had intended to drop off afterwards; so after a brief break I took the bus up to St Stephen’s and dropped it off, having a short chat with her and Reg. Walked back to Red Lion Street and caught 26, arriving home a couple of minutes before going out for street meet, in our drive where we all sat down: Matt, Angela, Ciara and Mary joined us, and we had a good time. Afterwards I cooked Lasagne and we watched the Commonwealth Games followed by Murder Benidorm, a crime comedy which improved just in time to stop us turning it off.
Saturday – It’s August! Pleasantly warm. Colin arrived before 9 to cut our hedge, and I took him out a cup of tea. Discussed future possibities re hedge, ivy and roses, basically involving a drastic cutback in all cases. But that won’t happen till late autumn or winter. Walked over to station to get cash for ColIn – pretty busy over there. Paid Colin £170. After lunch spent an hour- plus tidying the garden, cutting back roses and sweeping up. Dot still looking after her leg; so I wouldn’t let her do much. Cooked salmon for supper with potatoes and courgettes. Watched Bergerac and Endeavour, plus Commonwealth Games (earlier). Got some nice pictures of a dragonfly, and a spider in its web.
Sunday – Warm and dry. Had a quick bath before going to church. Smallish congregation. Liz leading; excellent sermon from Eleanor about Jacob wrestling with God. Greens away. Chat with Amanda afterwards. After lunch went to St Luke’s for celebration of Al’s life (Carrie’s husband). Bit odd because we didn’t know many people there – just Carrie, Judy, Sophie and Graham. I didn’t know Al very well but had met him a few times.
Home about 5pm – finished reading Clown Town (excellent), then went to sleep till nearly 7pm. Dot did cheese on toast as we’d had food at St Luke’s. Watched Commonwealth Games then Staircase and a new Van der Valk, which was very good. As it was a two-hour story we had to break off in the middle to go to bed.