Heady feeling

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Another picture from Lisa's party, with daughter Blossom bemused by her large portion of pizza. Or more accurately, the large plate of pizza that had inadvertently been placed in front of her.
Another picture from Lisa's party, with daughter Blossom bemused by her large portion of pizza. Or more accurately, the large plate of pizza that had inadvertently been placed in front of her.

Strange heady feeling at the moment. This could be down to some sort of virus, or the fact that I won a chess game this morning in 17 moves. I was playing Andy Pandian (oh yes I was), who was kind enough to come round to my house to play a much-postponed club knockout game. After a fairly innocuous opening he allowed a winning pawn sacrifice. In fact it was so winning that it wasn’t even a sacrifice.

After 13 f6, White must win a piece.
After 13 f6, White must win a piece.

Quite a relief after a series of long games, most of them lost, like the one yesterday against William Boulton of Norfolk & Norwich club, who is a really top-rate junior. Good game, but he had the edge almost all the time. One of my recent games has been annotated by our star annotator Mike Read, for inclusion in the January edition of En Passant, the Norfolk chess magazine. He is very complimentary, but as I suspected, I missed a couple of things. Using “couple” in a rather loose sense.

Spent most of Sunday recovering from Saturday’s lunch, but then had a date with a curry on Magdalen Street. With the curry came Heather, Simon and Sam – Heather with a new dark-haired look, as well as a new no-smoking lifestyle, and a new intention to move in with Simon. Sam is very pleased with this, as it means he gets a larger room. They all go very well together. Good curry, too, at Ali Tandoori, where the waiters quickly become personal friends, which is sort of extremely nice and rather over-the-top at the same time. Had my usual Biryani, which was as usual good. Not much to eat at all yesterday. Caught up on phone calls, in-tray etc.

Dot is now off to see Barbara, leaving me to organise tonight’s Tuesday Group meal, which will be quite fun and extremely straightforward. When it comes to meals I only do straightforward. I may be earning a little money again soon. Three of my poems have been bought for a website, and a teacher has offered me a fee to go in and talk about poetry. I am also planning a course for church magazine editors with Anne Coomes, who runs the website in question. This will not be paid for initially but could lead to some income later. Dot’s accountant was round here yesterday finalising her accounts for the year. His daughter has written a book, and I was able to direct her to the right place to get some publicity in the EDP. I hope.

Weather is slightly warmer than yesterday, but very cloudy, in an anticyclonic sort of way.

Long lunch

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Poet Lisa D'Onofrio, founder-member of InPrint due to return to her native Australia next month. Children Blossom and Dashiel modestly avoiding camera in foreground.
Poet Lisa D'Onofrio, founder-member of InPrint due to return to her native Australia next month. Children Blossom and Dashiel modestly avoiding camera in foreground.

Recently returned from West Norfolk, when we had a very long lunch at Congham, home of Sue and Richard Moore. Gave a lift to Teri and Sidney Lockton. Also present: Jo and Mike Stone. Very inventive vegetarian food from Sue, climaxing in a stunning pavlova with lichees. Much talk on various topics, with some political disagreement. Not me, mate. I stay well out of all that. Teri is a stained-glass artist who had produced a lovely window for Sue and Richard. Before we set off I drove to Swardeston to deliver some poetry leaflets for the Edith Cavell festival. Had some difficulty finding Nick Miller’s house and am still not sure if I delivered them to the right place! (As it turns out, I did.)

On Thursday had a small party for Lisa, who departs for Australia next month. Excellent food by Dot. For more details, see the InPrint website. Earlier that day paid another visit to the hospital for demonstration of an interesting device that might help complete my recovery. Afterwards walked across to the university and then over Eaton Park before catching a bus full of students which made its slow but irresistible way through the city and delivered me to Thorpe Road, tired but quietly satisfied. Also went for a walk on Mousehold yesterday, covering two miles plus. I wonder if anyone but me would go for a walk if dogs didn’t exist. Looked out for lost cat whose owner spoke to us earlier in the week, but no sign of course. I suspect one of the dogs had it, though of course I have no evidence…

Hotel in Venice now sorted, by the way. All systems go.

Chess and darlings

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Dave, Julia and Dot on a fishing pier at Yarmouth. Low tide.
Dave, Julia and Dot on a fishing pier at Yarmouth. Low tide.

Clash between god-daughter’s wedding and Italian holiday appears to be resolved. I have made myself unpopular in Canada by pushing the holiday forward a week. Barbara has changed the villa dates, and I have e-mailed the hotel in Venice. Awaiting a reply, but should be OK. Have also just paid off the roof work, which is a relief. Glad that’s over.

Much has happened since I last posted. I had lunch with Lucy last Friday and conveyed Naomi to the station afterwards, for her onward journey back to Durham University. Lucy seems quite a bit better. Over the weekend I played in the Norfolk Chess Championship. I’d forgotten how tiring that is, and I’m still suffering from the after-effects. I played some good games, but only won one. As the people I lost to were all stronger than me, my grading wasn’t affected much. The tournament was in the Tithe Barn at Horstead – which would be a perfect venue if it had a couple more toilets. Handy for the chip shop, and tea and biscuits were free. Good atmosphere throughout: Norfolk chess players are pretty pleasant people – none more so than the winner, Mike Harris. He won on tie-break from Caius Turner, who I lost to in Round Two. I had lost to his father, Terry Turner, in Round One: used to play against him when I was at school. Took a bye in the fourth round so that I could go to church: happily it was also church lunch.

Dave and Julia have been with us since Monday, returning home after lunch today. The weather turned out to be much better than forecast,and we dodged what rain there was. Walked in the city on Monday afternoon and went to Caffe Uno for dinner. Yesterday we went to Yarmouth and the marvellous Time and Tide museum, followed by a snack in the Silver Darlings cafe, a walk on the seafront and a drive to Caister, where Julia apparently spent time in a caravan when she was a child. The seafront there now is bleak and unappealing, possibly the least appealing in Norfolk, though Happisburgh runs it close. Signs of dereliction everywhere, with walls and stone falling apart. People appeared to be living in the caravan park, but otherwise it was pretty empty. On the plus side, the car parking was free. Today we walked on Mousehold Heath, autumnal and soggy after overnight rain, and had lunch at Frankie and Benny’s after inspecting the new footbridge over the Wensum. Extensive research by Dot and Julia (they asked a workman) established that it was a swing bridge.

Going back

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Fish on Cromer pier on Sunday: no sign of loaves
Fish on Cromer pier on Sunday: no sign of loaves

My major achievement this week has been to retune the TV for the new digital set-up. Rather more accurately, I pressed a few buttons, and the TV retuned itself. Now we can get some new channels, as if we needed them. Tonight, for instance, I can’t find anything at all worth looking at. Not that I’ve been trying very hard. I’ve just had my hair cut, and Linda and Dot are discussing the pitfalls of teaching (Linda teaches hairdressing at City College). These pitfalls seem to be (a) the students and (b) the staff.

Earlier today I visited my aunt Kathleen (88) to show her some pictures that an Australian guy had sent (see earlier post) of his father and an anonymous farm scene. His father had visited the Lentons at Caistor Lane towards the end of the war, and Kathleen does remember him, but she hasn’t been able to help with any of the pictures. However, I did persuade her to tell me about her own life, during which she has lived in various parts of Africa,from the former Bechuanaland to Zimbabwe. She married twice, and both of her husbands died tragically young. Now she is back in one of the less exciting parts of Norwich and really hankering for Africa, I guess. I discovered that she looked after me when I was 10 and my father had just died. Apparently I was indignant when I discovered from the death notice that my father was 42: he had always told me he was 21 and a bit. She also revealed that she let me take my brothers on the bus to meet my mother from Coventry station, a move my mother did not much appreciate. Kathleen is going strong, with only one brother remaining: Paul, who is 86. His wife Thelma is now very ill in hospital with severe complications from Alzheimer’s Disease, but he seems as fit as ever.

During my chat with John on Sunday he mentioned that there was a site that gave distribution of surnames in the UK. It’s hosted by the National Trust, and it reveals that Lentons were roughly where I had imagined they would be – in the Peterborough area and more to the west, around Coventry and Northamptonshire. In fact the biggest concentration is in the Coventry area, but I have this theory that they originated in Nottingham, where there is a Lenton district, and moved south pretty quickly, then spread out from there. It would be fascinating to be able to go back further. In 1881, there were virtually no Lentons further north than Linicolnshire, none in Norfolk, and none in Scotland or Wales. Of course statistics can be misleading. In 1953, for instance, our family were in Coventry, but in fact my grandfather was born near Peterborough and my father in Norwich: we moved to Coventry when he got a job there as assistant education officer. All fascinating stuff. The Cousens – my wife’s maiden name – were mainly in the Southampton area in 1881: nothing in east Norfolk at all, whereas the Beales (her mother’s name ) were solid Norfolk.

The other thing I have achieved today is to book flights with British Airways to Toronto in February next year (and back in March). Always makes me a bit nervous: what if… what if…   On the down side I have discovered my god-daughter is getting married on June 5, when I am in the middle of an Italian holiday. What is she thinking of?

Getting together

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Ed cuts the cake, with his fiancee Jenny taking a keen interest, and Dot in the background
Ed cuts the cake, with his fiancee Jenny taking a keen interest, and Dot in the background

Dot is in the garden, filling the brown bin. I’ve been in the city paying in the odd cheque – specifically one to cover payment of our roof work. Barclays inform me this cheque will not be cleared till Tuesday, which seems ridiculous. Still, I’ve discovered that I can pay the entire bill without a horrendous penalty, so by this time next week it should all be done and dusted. I hate having large sums hanging over me – unless they fall into my lap, of course. But you can never rest: I have booked a hotel in Venice for next June, and am about to start looking at flights to and from Toronto for February/March.

One of my former colleagues at Archant – Julia Carter – has just died. She had had cancer for a while, and I’d visited her some time ago in Aylsham hospital. Last saw her at the BUPA hospital in July when I was in for my third operation. She was walking past and seemed in good spirits. Apparently she died in her sleep after her most recent session of chemotherapy and a blood transfusion. The funeral is in a couple of weeks, and I shall be there, barring accidents. I heard about it from Yarmouth reporter Stephen Pullinger on Monday evening: his team was playing our B team at the Gas Club, and I was waiting vainly for another player to play a knockout game. I emailed Martin Throssell, who already knew, and I have since been rung up by both Ivor Harvey and Bernadette. Meanwhile Lucy had a bad reaction to her chemotherapy and had to be rushed back into hospital with a lot of pain from a sinus infection. She is now home, but very weak. On the bright side her white cell count is dramatically down, from 50 to 4. Which is good, I understand.

On another bright note, two of our friends have got engaged – Ed Reed and Jenny Weston. Ed has been coming to our Tuesday Group for a long time and has been going out with Jenny for a while now. Bridget brought a cake and we had a celebration last night.

On Sunday Dot and I went to Cromer because it was such a nice afternoon. We had a stroll on the beach and on the pier: very warm and relaxing couple of hours. In the evening we had an Ambient Wonder social gathering at the Workshop cafe bar on Earlham Road, which turned out to be very pleasant. Had a long chat with Annie and her ex-boyfriend John, as well as with Anna, Paul and Heather. Annie is going to Haiti to do some health work, and we said we’d be interested in giving her some support. Dot already has ideas of going there.

On Monday we drove to Metfield for a P4C meeting with Barbara, and while they discussed various esoteric possibilities I wrote a couple of stories intended for their assemblies folder. Pretty pleased with them. Helped Caroline a little with an arts proposal which Lucy instigated but was too ill to complete. The idea is to extend the Paston project into new areas, mainly outside. Have finished a self-imposed course of antibiotics and am feeling quite a lot better. There’s a robin in the garden which comes up close to Dot when she’s working: lots of birds in the hedge, and I spend a bit of time watching them. Much more valuable than most of the things I spend time doing.

Chess and tea

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Dot, Mick Stedman, Anne Robinson, Philip Robinson and Gill Stedman drinking tea at Poringland
Dot, Mick Stedman, Anne Robinson, Philip Robinson and Gill Stedman drinking tea at Poringland

Just back from Poringland, where we enjoyed lunch with the Stedmans and Robinsons, followed by afternoon tea on the lawn – well on a table on the lawn. So you can tell that the weather is pretty warm, though it was turning chilly towards the end. We’ve known each other since the mid-70s, when Mick Stedman was a vicar in the Bramerton Group, and the Robinsons’ home was in Alpington, the adjoining village. We lived in Holly Bank at Yelverton for 12 years. Dot is about to go on a girls’ night out: she never stops.

Here’s the game I played last night:

1 c4 e5 2 g3 Nf6 3 Bg2 Nc6 4 Nc3 Bc5 5 e3 0-0 6 a3 a6 7 Nge2 Re8 8 0-0 Ne7 9 d4 exd 10 exd Ba7 11 Bg5 Ng6 12 Nd5 c6 13 Nxf6+ gxf 14 Bf4?! d5 15 cxd cxd 16 Rc1 Bg4 17 f3 Qe7 18 fxg! Qxe2  19 Rc2! (Having foreseen the coming sacrifice) Bxd4+ 20 Qxd4 (Kh1 is also possible) Qxc2 21 Bh6! Re2 22 Bxd5 Ne5 23 Rxf6 (With all kinds of threats) Rd8 24 Rxf7!

Position after 24 Rxf7
Position after 24 Rxf7

Rg2+ 25 Bxg2 Qd1+ 26 Qxd1 Rxd1+ 27 Rf1 Rd8 28 Bd5+ Kh8 (If Rxd5, Rf8 is mate) 29 Rf8+ Rxf8 30 Bxf8 Nxg4 31 Bc5 Kg7 32 Bxb7 1-0. Of course, the most exciting possibilities never happen on the board.


Long bath

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A robin giving itself a thorough wash in our garden.
A robin giving itself a thorough wash in our garden.

Saturday morning, and we’re about to go to the Robinsons’ for lunch with them and the Stedmans. Feeling a bit better. Have just been watching a robin washing itself in a bowl of water in our garden. It spent almost as long in the bath as I do.

Yesterday Dot went to Ipswich for the launch of a philosophy folder which has her name in it, because she helped to put it together. By the time she got back, I had left for North Walsham and the private view of Lucy’s latest exhibition at the Griffon Gallery. I was first there and got at the cheese and crisps outside, because it was a warm evening. Nice selection of prints: some new, some older. Spoke to Sue Willis, one of the helpers and to Lucy when she eventually arrived with Jonathan and Naomi, who looked very striking. Caroline also arrived while I was there, and no doubt there were others, but I had to leave after half an hour to travel to Wymondham, where I had a chess game for Dons B against the Eagles. Played Andrew Donnelly, who is graded about the same as me, and managed to win a very exciting and tactical game, which was extremely satisfying. Earlier in the day went round Brian’s with the key again, but still  no answer. Suspect something has happened.

On Thursday had what I believe is called a long lunch with poet Joy McCall at the Rushcutters  in which she elicited so much information from me that I suspect she is writing my biography. Don’t buy it – it’s not true.

Another story

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Dot, Amy and bear cuddle up.
Dot, Amy and bear cuddle up.

You’ll be relieved to hear that Jessie’s bus and Dot managed to be in roughly the same place at the same time, and as a result of some inventive parking by Dot, the rendezvous was achieved, as was lunch with A Ethel. I was at home, because you don’t want to interfere with that sort of thing. Meanwhile the roof saga came to a conclusion, and I have to say the result is impressive. Yesterday the final bits of scaffolding were removed and, what with the shorn hedge, the house seems quite naked, without cover of any kind – except of course the roof. When it rains properly (there were a few drops this evening) we’ll see how well the new system copes.

Barbara also came round yesterday for lunch with Dot and a conversation with the accountant. Both worked out well, as did subsequent discussion on the publishing venture. I had written a story which turned out to be not quite what they wanted as an introductory piece, and the two of them have now worked out a more coherent structure. Now I have to write a coherent story, which is not my strong point. Still…

My chess game on Monday was aborted because the guy I was playing was double-booked, and I ended up playing progressive chess against Joe Bell, a precocious youngster from the Norfolk & Norwich club. As I had no idea what I was doing, the games didn’t last long. We also had some rapid games of normal chess, and I managed to win three of them (but lost several more). Haven’t been sleeping well, and today I feel listless and disorganised. I was tired at Tuesday Group last night, as spotted by the perceptive Bridget, but since several people had their eyes closed during the CD and there was the odd snore, I was evidently not alone in this.

Have received numerous e-mails from Barbara about our holidays next year. Terrifying. She’s booked a hotel in Venice that looks rather nice. Or upscale, as I believe they say in upscale circles. Dot and I have both switched our ISAs to get more interest, which means we may be able to afford it.

Amusing story in the EDP yesterday morning under the heading “Council draws up a radical transport blueprint for city”. The first sentence reads: “Radical changes to the way people get around Norwich are on the cards as transport chiefs look to cut gridlock by closing roads…”  Yes, that should work. Is gridlock something that can be cut anyway? Doesn’t it have to blown up? Or simply avoided?

Alternative route

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Oliver demonstrating skill at... oh... whatever that thing is.
Oliver demonstrating skill at... oh... whatever that thing is.

The start of a new week, and the roof men are still hard at it. They would have finished, but for two things: I woke up in the middle of the night on Thursday and had this sudden feeling that they hadn’t put the gutter-guard in to protect the gutters from the huge amounts of leaves we get from the trees behind our property. This turned out to be true, though how I knew and why I woke up thinking about it remain mysteries. This was going to add a couple of hours to the job, and while one of the guys was off getting the materials from the yard, the other one cut himself really deeply on the hand, and we had to get him to hospital. So no more work that day. I was quite worried that he might have damaged tendons, or something, but happily he had “only” nicked a vein, and he is back today with a handful of stitches and a certain amount of pain. I asked him if he thought he should be working. He thought he should. What can I say? It will be nice to have it finished.

The hedge has been cut too – on Saturday morning, by Colin – and we suddenly have light in the kitchen. No injuries reported.

Back to Friday night, when I had an invitation to the Twenty Group’s FourSite saga… sorry, I mean party… to celebrate the end of their Bally exhibition. Dot came for the start and left me chatting and wandering around while she picked up a present for Oliver from A Ethel for an hour or so before returning and picking me up. Most of them I didn’t know, but I chatted to John Rance, his wife Caroline and daughter Rachel, plus Hilary Mellon, Liz Clark, Kate, Philippa Fawcett and Ruthli. No sign of any InPrint members. When Dot returned she stepped in for a few minutes and found herself, amazingly, talking to someone (Caroline) who was involved in an educational issue she had been discussing with a head teacher earlier in the day.

After the hedge was finished we had a quick lunch and shot off to Caddington. Very quick journey and a lovely weekend. All three of them were a lot healthier than they’d been earlier in the week, and Oliver was keen to get to grips with his presents, which included a walking pole and a Lego Star Wars model. Despite the walking pole he showed no inclination to leave the house, and spent most of the weekend building the model and playing with it (he’s a talented builder) and then playing Wii games, partly against David and partly against me. I performed pretty miserably, which I think suited him. He’s amazingly proficient at them. Amy is still more interested in her invented doll games, which are wonderful, and is saying some really bright things. Left after they were asleep (Dot read them The Tunnel by Anthony Browne on the first night, and I read Oliver some of The Hobbit on the Sunday). Good journey home by the alternative route, because the previous day we’d seen a notice warning of night closure of a key road. Dot drove, and although it was about ten miles further, it didn’t take much longer because there are some fast sections.

The weather has improved again: over the weekend it was pretty warm and today it’s quite pleasant. Dot has gone off to rendezvous with Jessie as she alights from the bus at Anglia Square (a mission fraught with hazards), after which she is taking her to see the other aunt (Ethel) at Hethersett.

Noble service

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Attempting unsuccessfully to disguise itself as natural foliage, some scaffolding makes a front assault on our house.
Attempting unsuccessfully to disguise itself as natural foliage, some scaffolding makes a frontal assault on our house.

I am surrounded by scaffolding and vehicles carrying ladders. The house is midway through its transformation, with nearly a half of the new bargeboards and fascia boards in place and the street nicely disrupted. The district manager of the company came round yesterday, and suddenly it became necessary to erect proper scaffolding at the top end of the house. This is also in progress as I write, with the scaffolding lorry at first blocking exit from the Wildlife Trust but now tight in behind the company van. Two cups of tea, two of coffee just delivered. Wife in south Norfolk, visiting a school and about to return for lunch if she can find somewhere to park. Autumn still in the air but in more benevolent mood, with rain threatening but holding off and the temperature up a bit. Hoping the wall doesn’t fall down as the scaffolders clamber over it.

The roof guys were here yesterday too, and completed quite a bit before dashing off to Watton to deliver a water butt. Dot was at Yarmouth for lunch with Anne and the perennial challenge of finding her way out of the town afterwards. For some reason this takes much longer than it should. We have consulted maps and plan a new approach next time, but I have to agree that the signs in Yarmouth are considerably less than helpful. # I put that # in because I just discovered how to do it on a Mac keyboard, which strangely doesn’t have it as a dedicated key. It’s alt+3, in case you were wondering.

Vicar Nicholas came round for tea. He is pretending not to be in the city, because he is still on sabbatical, but he made an exception for the tea and for going to see Quadrophenia with me at the Theatre Royal. He has just written the first draft of his book on Developing Consciousness, and has left it for me to look at. Quadrophenia was very impressive both musically and as theatre, with four actors/singers playing the lead role and some extremely clever direction. Always liked The Who, and the music was easily identifiable as theirs. The drummer was not Keith Moon, said Nicholas. He was correct. Keith Moon is dead. I did have this slight feeling while watching it that one attitude fostered by it – that a job serving other people is for some reason degrading – might be symptomatic of one of the faults in our society. Everyone wants to be served, but no-one wants to serve. Can’t work, can it? Service is a noble calling.

Tuesday was asbestos day, with a company from London coming up and identifying the guilty substance in its various guises, and then removing it. Much sucking of teeth at first, but it didn’t take them too long to get rid of it and head off back to Epping. Barbara V was also here, and she and Dot (with a little help from me) looked at how they were going to approach the publishing project centering on assemblies using Philosophy4Children. It was decided I would attempt to supply a series of stories based on six diverse characters. So I will attempt that. Inspiration, you may strike here.

I’ve been feeling a little tired since Monday evening, when I had a mammoth 71-move chess game against a guy from Thetford. I was at a disadvantage for most of it, but hung in until I had three or four minutes left and he had about one, when he made a slight miscalculation and I scraped a draw with an intermezzo check from my knight enabling me to get back and cover a pawn which had been about to queen. He was a bit upset, and so would I have been. As it was, I was delighted but so strung out that I found it very hard to sleep, especially as I was feeling a bit sick, for some reason. Still, I guess it was worth it. How can you tell?