Tuesday – Rain, and Dot sent me a message that she had left Nice on the train, and they had good seats. I was still in bed. Tuned my guitar, after remembering I had a tuning app on my phone. How could I forget that? Very worrying. Had a bath.
Drove Des to xray place out on Earlham Road near the garden cemetery. Traffic not bad. Parked while he went in – discovered he was also seeing a consultant, which would take longer of course. I had brought the Rodney Green book on Revelation, which I finished quite quickly. Very interesting and generally good: combination of devotional and commentary but, being home published, difficult to handle. Didn’t agree with bit on conspiracy theories for the usual reasons. Perhaps I should write an article on conspiracy theories: need to get together with a small group of other weirdos…
On the way home I gave him practically my whole life story: it started out by explaining about Surrey Chapel – which is getting isolated by the demolition of Anglia Square – and progressed into working in London etc etc etc. Bridget came round to do the cleaning not long after we got back. She curtailed it a bit because she’s going to see The Marriage of Figaro tonight.
Had long exchange of messages with Dot, who was worried that they’d miss the Eurostar (which they caught by a whisker) and then that they wouldn’t be able to get to Liverpool Street in time. I was a bit blasé about the Eurostar bit because I’d forgotten they were an hour ahead (or behind) and thought they had plenty of time….
Anyway, I went up to the sorting office and posted off a cheque, then came back to cook myself a steak and ale pie. Before that I gave Angela the poster for Saturday’s boot sale at St Luke’s. Had to reassure Dot again that the world would not end if they missed the London connection. We’ll never know if it would have ended, because they caught the connection after retrieving Anne’s bag from the hotel she’d left it in and then travelling by tube. Again someone gave Dot a hand with her case up some steps. Train arrived on time in Norwich, and I met them. Anne shot off almost immediately, and we were very late in bed after she gave me a rundown on the holiday.
Wednesday – Dry, but cloudy and a bit chilly. Had to get up early because Barry came round about 8.45 to discuss some painting Dot wanted him to do. I joined them for discussion in the kitchen and a cup of tea. Then had breakfast and went to Morrisons to stock up with food. Had fruit for lunch. Both very tired in the afternoon and had a sleep on the bed – felt much better afterwards.
Cooked trout for supper – very nice indeed – and tidied food away. Dot had a shower after doing some washing, which we left outside to dry overnight. In the evening we went to Carrow Road and saw Norwich beat Birmingham 2-1. Very close match. Des was sitting in the row behind, and some friend of Jonathan’s next to me (Lesley ‘s brother?). We walked home with Des, then watched the Test Match – Pakistan looked very downcast. In bed very late again and lay down at 12.20 after writing blog.
Thursday – Mainly dry, but rain in late evening. Felt quite odd most of the day – headache and very tired. In fact had quite a long sleep in the afternoon after cooking lunch – steak and ale pie again. Had a bath in the morning. Dot did a lot of washing, and I moved car into the road so that people coming to Cake and Compline could park. Des also let Judy park in his drive, and David and Bridget couldn’t come (rehearsal, cold); nor did Phil and Nikky. Lots of discussion about Vicky’s children: Amy seems in a bad way. Watched a bit of football on TV. Spoke briefly to David after I FaceTimed him by mistake and he FaceTimed back. Bit worried about Dot’s legs – cellulitis? She is planning to go to walk-in centre tomorrow.
Friday – Rain overnight, but dry and quite warm the rest of the day. Got Dot to walk-in centre at around 9pm. Rang surgery in response to their call about my test results and booked an appointment for October 2! Hope this means it’s not urgent. A few hours later got a call from a doctor about my blood pressure; he wants to increase my dose of Perindropril. he also said something about cancelling the other appointment, but I’m ignoring that.
Oliver’s birthday today – he’s 24. Unbelievable. I was married at that age and moving from our flat in Stoke Newington to Winchmore Hill. Of course, Oliver is in London too… Sent him a message: he should also have received our card. Anyway, picked up Dot around 10.30 – she may have a mild case of cellulitis. Prescribed ointment, antihistamines and antibiotics. Took her to Boots, but they didn’t have the antibiotics. So took her to Morrisons pharmacy, and they didn’t have the ointment. We’re going back for it tomorrow. Popped into the main Morrisons and ran into Chris and Des, whose car is still hors de combat. So we gave them a lift home. Felt quite tired and achy. Watched Euro football. Street meet well attended: Des, Chris, Matt, Mark, Sarah, Jon, Ciara, Sam, Joe and Sean. And us of course. Des got us fish and chips, and we watched cricket, Vuelta, Ludwig and Would I Lie to You? Somewhere in the middle of all that Dot did the ironing and I cleared up the house, as well as going for a short walk up to the cinema and back through the station.
Saturday – Dry and quite warm till evening, when we had some rain. After lunch drove Dot to Morrisons pharmacy to pick up the last bit of her prescription – cream/ointment for her leg. Had quite a long phone conversation with my cousin Barbara, who is surviving through faith while refusing medicine and heart operations. She’s amazing really. Think I might follow in her footsteps. Listened to Norwich City losing in the last minutes to Middlesbrough 4-3, after scoring in the first minute. England bear Pakistan after being 0 for 2 in the first over. Might have been closer if Root hadn’t been “out” to a no-ball.
Dot has been working out how and when to take her pills. Had chicken forestière for supper. Rather nice. Watched usual stuff on TV, including a Professor T episode and the news. Also caught a bit of the Last Night of the Proms. Holst’s Jupiter is brilliant. Showed Dot how bank accounts on phone work.
Discovered an amazing piece of music – Country Boy by Albert Lee – one of the all-time great guitarists in my opinion. This links to it, I hope. Pretty good pianist too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXuZpVin7Hs&list=RDzXuZpVin7Hs&start_radio=1