12 November 2008

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A surreal sign in the dunes at Winterton.

I managed to win my chess game on Monday night, and the team won 5-1. I gave Jonathan Wells a lift home afterwards. I’ve known him since he was a schoolboy player thousands of years ago. He is now very strong and plays on top board for North Norfolk, though he lost on Monday. My game on Board 5 against Peter Hodkinson ( I was White) went like this: 1 c4 c5 2 g3 g6 3 Bg2 Bg7 4 Nc3 Nc6 5 Nf3 Nf6 6 d4 cd 7 Nxd4 0-0 8 0-0 a6 9 e3 e6 10 b3 Qa5 11 Bd2 Qc7 12 Rc1 d6 13 Qe2 Bd7 14 Rfd1 Rfe8 15 Be1 Rad8 16 b4! Nxb4 17 Ncb5 ab 18 cb Qb6 (if Qa5, Bxb7 and the knight cannot be saved) 19 Bxb4 d5 20 a4 Rc8 21 a5 Qa7 22 Nb3 Bf8 23 Bc3! Nh5 24 Bd4 Qb8 25 Nc5 Bxc5 26 Bxc5 Ng7 27 Qb2 Nf5 28 e4 Ne7 29 Qf6 Rxc5 (if Kf8, Qh8 is mate, and White was also threatening Bd4) 30 Rxc5 Qd6 31 Rcc1 Bxb5 32 ed Bd7 33 de Qxe6 34 Qxe6 Bxe6 35 Bxb7 1-0 With the exchange up and the a-pawn about to queen, White wins easily.

Yesterday I wasn’t feeling too good – couldn’t get warm – but while Barbara and Dot were in in-depth discussion about Philosophy4Children I drove down to Bally and picked up the two pictures I’d bought from Rupert: one of his own and one of his mother’s. In doing this I discovered it actually was very cold, which made me feel a bit better, especially after we lit a fire when I got home. Before that I called in at Morrisons to pick up food for the evening meal – for which we had six, including us.

Today I felt quite a lot better. We had our hair cut by Linda in the morning, and then Dot went into the city to meet Carrie while I filled our garden waste bin with leaves. Surprisingly I felt OK after this.

10 November 2008

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Autumn has arrived with a vengeance. The leaves started falling with some determination towards the end of last week; this tree is in North Walsham cemetery, where Dot and I went last Friday on our way to visit Jessie. Not a bad day, with a stunning sunset that I couldn’t quite get in a position to photograph on the way home. Huge numbers of leaves have fallen since then, and it has turned very damp, with a quite a strong wind overnight. Dot and I stayed in today – seemed odd, slightly removed from reality. I am still not back to health, though going in the right direction, and Dot has a stomach upset, which I hope is just that.

We have got out a bit over the past few days. Saw two films on Thursday and Friday – Burn after Reading (Coen Brothers) and Quantum of Solace, the peculiarly named new Bond movie. Both were worth seeing without being mind-blowing. The first was funny and the second vigorous, though I do think covering Gemma Arterton with oil was a shocking waste.

Went out for an evening meal at Birgit and Joe’s on Saturday. Had been feeling rather ill all day, but improved during the evening. Joe cooked an excellent Indian meal, and we had a long talk. Then to church yesterday for Remembrance Sunday – so traditional hymns not much suited to guitar. This evening I’ve agreed to play chess for our club team in the Norfolk and Suffolk Cup, so hope I don’t get too tired.

6 November 2008

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Amy completes the blowing out of candles on her fourth birthday cake, with Nana and Daddy looking on. Seems a long time ago now.

I did manage to get to church on Sunday and preach: I also played the guitar and stayed for lunch, but spent the rest of the day on the sofa watching television. Next day I didn’t feel so good, and this week has been very up and down. Yesterday I managed without any paracetamol, but today I’ve just taken a couple. Very difficult to pin down what’s wrong: just feeling fragile, with occasional headaches and stomach more peculiar than anything. What’s really annoying is that I have no stamina. I walked into the city once and felt very tired indeed afterwards. Today I’ve walked to the sorting office and round the block – not more than half a mile or so altogether – and feel quite fuzzy and tired. Annoying when I really enjoy walking and can normally do four or five miles with no trouble at all. I’ve just bought a new pair of shoes as a sort of vote of confidence in my recovery.

No doubt it will all pass and be quickly forgotten. We are due to go to Scarborough in just over two weeks, so I hope I’m feeling OK by then. Today Dot has been at a conference. Yesterday I drove up to Diocesan House with her and didn’t feel too bad afterwards. Tuesday we had ten (including us) for a meal, and it went off well.

1 November 2008

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Long time no post – and no wall, either, after a builder’s lorry slightly misjudged the corner. This happened while I was in the bath and Dot was in London, The builder guy was very apologetic, and it has been measured up for rebuilding.

That came in the middle of an awful ten days or so. We had a nice weekend in Caddington for Amy’s fourth, staying over to the Monday – her actual birthday. But I was feeling under the weather and didn’t accompany them to Milton Keynes. Nothing I could really put my finger on, but it wouldn’t go away. We came home on Monday evening and had a pleasant journey with Dot driving, but I was extremely tired by the time we got home and into bed. The next morning I was feeling awful in just about every area and went to the doctor’s, who thought it was flu or something viral. Of course.

Paracetamol barely touched it, and the next two or three days were very unpleasant, but it seemed to be easing off by Friday, when I managed to eat a meal with Jessie and Roger and Adrian and Clarissa, who were staying with us for the Norwich-Doncaster match. But then I felt so bad I had to go back to bed, and didn’t get out again, despite the free tickets for Carrow Road. On the Saturday I couldn’t stop shivering, and Dot called the emergency health line. A doctor came out around 5.30pm and said he was pretty sure it was influenza: he gave me some cocodamol tablets and some antibiotics (“just in case”). The cocodamol did have an effect, though not as dramatic as he indicated they would. I stopped shivering and slipped into a sort of alternate reality where I just lay very still for a long time. No appetite at all.

Not a lot of progress before A & C went, though I managed to have a brief chat from my bed. I had to cancel my poetry reading, of course, also my chess game, Tuesday night, visit to UEA with Nicholas to hear David Hare, Ambient Wonder involvement and so on. Though not in that order. Dot rang surgery on the Monday to get my blood results, but they insisted on speaking to me, and eventually I spoke to another doctor (Dr Holt) who said my blood test was OK, but I could see him on the Wednesday if I wanted to. I did. In the meantime Dot went to London on the Tuesday to meet Chris and Jan Stokes and was delayed on the way back by a trolley on the line.

On the Wednesday the doctor said he was sure it was flu, and it would take me quite a long time to recover fully. I completed the antibiotics but don’t think they had any effect and it really was (is) viral. Now I am taking tablets off and on, feeling pretty OK one minute and not at all right the next. On the plus side, recovery from my operation seems to be unaffected. I am supposed to be preaching at church tomorrow, which I think should be OK, but I’m writing it out in case Dot has to deliver it!

17 October 2008

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An atmospheric picture from the Paston weekend: clash of centuries? Second right is Martin Laurance, whose terrific images went with a couple of my poems in the Paston book. Tonight Dot and I went to Rupert Mallin’s big show, Pleasurance, at the Art Factory for the Private View, and Martin was there. He has given me one of his full-size prints, which I will have framed. Annette and Mike were also there. I bought one of Rupert’s small pictures and one of his mother’s. Also there was a former lecturer from City College, Roger Whittaker, who I worked with in the past. He and Dot spent some time putting the educational world to rights. They seem to be pretty much on an identical wavelength.

Earlier today went to see Mr Sethia and took a catheter, which he admitted didn’t actually have a hole in it and functioned as a pipe-cleaner, which was what I had maintained previously. Also discovered that I had probably been putting it in too far and irritating the bladder. I had actually asked the nurse if I could put it in too far, and she said no. He wouldn’t give me antibiotics for what I thought was a urine infection and said it might be just a minor inflammation. Personally I would have gone for the worst case scenario, but that’s probably because (or why) I’m not a doctor. So I am left unmedicated over the weekend, hoping that he’s right. My next date with him is in March, so he must think I’m doing OK.

Yesterday Dot and I took Andrew back to Coventry after I’d taken him to Winterton in the morning. The previous day had been very wet, so we couldn’t do much other than buy him some clothes. Winterton was very pleasant, but with a chilly wind. I had a quick brush with some near-quicksand, but nothing too frightening. The journey back saw Dot at the wheel, and we stopped for a drink and dessert at Thrapston, then tried for a Little Chef on the Coventry bypass, only to find it was closed. We went by a very circuitous route to avoid rush-hour traffic and eventually ended up at TGI Friday’s, where Andrew and I had very nice steaks. Dropped him off just after seven and returned by my special route avoiding the M6-A14 junction, but tried a short cut too many and ended up driving round the lanes of Northamptonshire in the dark. Still, nice lanes, and eventually we located the A14, which turned out to be where it always was. And as it was evening, it wasn’t plagued by lorry drivers with one brain cell pulling out and taking ten minutes to overtake each other.

15 October 2008

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Pictured are Keith and Mary, who spent a few hours with us during a visit from Canada (see earlier post). They are pictured at Dot’s Aunt Ethel’s house, a temporary centre of reminiscing and nostalgia.

Good news on the diabetes front: I don’t have it. The blood test was clear, as I discovered after hanging on for several minutes while my important call was in a queue (I quote). So nothing to stop me from being really fit, and I do feel much better in myself, though the technical side is not quite as it should be. But it will be soon. Yesterday Phil took me in his Mercedes to pick up Andrew, and apart from dozing off for about 20 minutes on the way back, I had no problems. That wasn’t a problem either, of course, though it would have been if I’d been driving.

Most of Andrew’s clothes have mysteriously disappeared, together with his holdall. The staff at The Langleys say he throws them away, which is quite possible. His shoes had a big hole in them and most of his remaining clothes were defective in some way, so I’ve spent most of a very rainy day re-equipping him. His coat has gone to the cleaners, and I bought him over £300 worth of new clothes, including a jacket, shirts, pants, socks, pyjamas, slippers, shoes, trousers and a belt. Add on a new bag, an electric razor and two toothbrushes, and his account has taken a bit of a whack. But of course that’s what it’s for. I wanted to buy him some more shoes, but he was reluctant, so we put it off. A review may be necessary at Christmas.

We also drove up to the cemetery, but it was raining too much to do anything. The grave is still there. Last night Dot went to a Tuesday Group meeting at Vicky’s while I showed Andrew a selection of our photographs, suddenly realising how useful the Front Row feature on my Mac was for this. Oh, I should have mentioned: I have a new Flip. It seems to work OK. I must give it a thorough test, but what shall I video? Maybe something at the weekend.

13 October 2008

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Just completed a really busy week and an even busier weekend. During it all the weather brightened up and became quite summery, with blue skies and a real warmth in the sun. This made the Paston Project exhibition at St Margaret’s Church really enjoyable: even inside the church (colder than outside) was not at all unpleasant. I refrained from medieval dress, because I am not really a medieval sort of person, but quite a few people did indulge. Details will appear soon on the InPrint website, but pictured are four key players – Ruth, head of catering and great bun-maker; Neil, heir to the throne of the Paston Heritage Society; Brigette, a true medieval star; and Lucy, chairperson of the Society, who brought the whole thing into being.

I was there on Thursday to help set up. The saga of the van stuck in the mud not once but twice appears on the InPrint site, together with exciting pictures of people carrying things. Then again Friday evening for the Private View, which went very well indeed and included Siri-Susanna’s fascinating film of the making of the book, plus a poetry reading. I was there just about all day Saturday, which included two other poetry readings. Lisa gave me a lift up to Knapton (so that I could give her easy directions home) and I walked back across the fields, disturbing a muntjac deer that was lying in the grass and made off at high speed across a dry ploughed field. I think it was a muntjac, though it was quite substantial in its hind quarters. In the evening we had another Latin Compline, to which Dot came with sandwiches and Judith turned up from Bacton. Jack Earl was in good voice, and it was another interesting experience though, as Judith said, there were too many technical matters demanding concentration (Latin pronunciation, plainsong tunes) for it to function well as any kind of worship. Still, words have power, don’t they?

On Sunday – after I had led the morning worship at St Augustine’s, and preached an emergency sermon when the designated preacher failed to show up – I went over to Paston again around 3pm, when the EDP in the shape of Adrian Judd was taking pictures, and a reporter was in attendance (not one I knew). Stayed for about an hour then returned to Norwich for a break before Dot and I returned to Paston for an evening concert by Horses Brawl, exponents of medieval music. They did 18 songs, including an antiphon discovered in Paston Church in 1920 which almost certainly hadn’t been heard since the time of the Pastons. Again, a fascinating experience, though I’m not sure how deeply I could get into medieval music: I suspect it’s more fascinating for its exponents than for an audience, though one or two songs had some amazing rhythms.

During the weekend the £850 hand-made book was on show, and Annette did a really good job of explaining it to small groups, turning the pages and talking about each one. Astonishingly, two people ordered a copy, which will keep Annette busy printing for a while. All in all, a great experience and one that commanded two page-threes in the EDP, on the Friday and the Monday.

Plenty of other things happened last week. We had our shower room refurbished, and it now looks quite sophisticated and even bigger! Dot is thrilled with it. We also had lunch at Dunston Hall on Tuesday with Mary and Keith Chapman, who we stayed with at Kingston in Canada on our first visit in 1991. They are friends of Dot’s Aunt Ethel, and we took them to visit her afterwards. On the Friday I had a blood test to see if I have diabetes: I shall be very surprised if I have. I think the doctor is trying to cover everything after my brush with prostate cancer.

I have just been to the dentist to have a hole plugged, and the anaesthetic is beginning to wear off. I also called in at Langleys and Waterstones to buy some stuff for Amy, whose fourth birthday is next Monday. We will be travelling down to Caddington at the weekend to see them all, but before that – tomorrow, in fact – Andrew is coming to stay for a couple of days. Phil and I are going to fetch him. Meanwhile, Colin is in the garden, breaking up the cement at each side of the house in order to relay it properly. He has also power-washed the path and patio, which look like new. Dot is in the city meeting Carrie.

6 October 2008

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The three wise men of Chamonix – aka two members of our tour group with the tour manager (left), in one of the main shopping streets of Chamonix. Seems long, long ago. Quite wintry here now, though today at least it’s dry. The shower room transformation is in progress: Dot was in the city for about three hours – partly with Carrie, partly buying me a long-arm stapler to facilitate my publishing activities. I now have 20 leaflets of Paston Poems ready to go, and this morning I printed out 20 A4 leaflets for the exhibition, giviing artists’ and poets’ notes.

Saturday was quite interesting. I was due to speak at a Christian Writers’ meeting at Lowestoft at 2pm – so I thought. I had a call at 11.10am telling me the meeting started then and went on till 2pm, including lunch. This had never been vouchsafed to me, but I offered to go immediately, which I did, arriving at high noon. I gave my talk to four people, then we had a quite nice lunch and chat. I arrived home around 5pm after dropping off Catherine Mapes at her home in York Street and then getting stuck unexpectedly in city traffic.

Another lunch out on Sunday – at church this time – followed by an afternoon catching up on television. It was too wet to do anything else. Ambient Wonder in the evening, with some interesting global input from Anna and Howard following their round-half-the-world trip. Sweet tea and something spicy in pastry featured strongly. All strangely effective.

3 October 2008

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Yes, it’s the Matterhorn, on a beautiful day last week. This week by contrast has seen a lot of rain and very blustery weather, and today it’s quite cold. I still feel as if I’m catching up, but really it’s because I’ve had extra stuff to do for our Paston project: I’m now producing a leaflet with artists’ and poets’ notes on it, as well as putting together some copies of my own Paston poems, which needed some tidying up.

We had quite a crowd round for our regular meal on Tuesday: much more of this and we might have to start rethinking the format, which may or may not be a good thing. And that was without three of our regulars. Dot had her first meeting at Diocesan House on Wednesday, sorting out her new job, and it went pretty well. Yesterday was busy: I had a dental check-up in the morning followed by lunch with Keiron at 18 Bedford Street. Excellent meal and a good chat: Rowan is expecting her first child on October 25. In the evening Dot came home early from a governors’ meeting at Gillingham so that we could go to Cinema City with Menita and Regis: the film started about 9pm. A superb French film: Il y a longtemps que je t’aime. Out just too late to get drinks, but we had a good chat afterwards: they used to live in Mulhouse, where we stayed on holiday.

Today Dot has been clearing out the shower room in preparation for its refurbishment next week.

30 September 2008

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Back from Switzerland yesterday after an amazing week. The picture was in fact taken in Italy – at Tirano, our furthest point south, after crossing the Bernina Pass on a one-day excursion. Just time for a truly average pizza, then back again. The people with Dot are Glenda and Peter, with whom we spent a lot of our time. They live near Chelmsford. We had a really good time together.

We spent the first Saturday night at a Travelodge in King’s Cross, which was not bad. We travelled there by taxi, and the driver very helpfully found the right place for us instead of the one I would probably have ended up at. Walked down to St Pancras, had a glass of champagne in the famous bar, and then a meal at an Italian restaurant. Very early start the next day, though once we had reached St Pancras at 6.45 and handed in our Eurostar tickets, we had to hang around till about 9 before boarding. The train left at 9.20. Clocks forward an hour for the Continent. At Paris we walked form the Gare du Nord to the Gare d’Est, where we had a snack, as did a large number of very tame sparrows. The tour manager was Paul Irving, a former geography teacher froom Newcastle but without a Geordie accent. He proved to be first-class, going out of his way to be helpful. At Paris he guarded our suitcases while we got snacks, and he did this on other occasions too. We got to know Glenda and Peter from Essex, and we struck up a friendship with them through the holiday: we had most of our meals together, and the four of us went to Zermatt on our own one-day excursion later. From Paris by TGV to Mulhouse: not terribly exciting scenery, but an impressive train, more comfortable than Eurostar. Got into Mulhouse at tea time and had a very good meal in the hotel; had some trouble with my usual problem, but used a second catheter to solve it, and after that the holiday was trouble-free in that as in all other areas.

On the Monday we set the alarm an hour too late but still made both breakfast and the local train to Basel. A dull and chilly start quickly warmed and brightened up as we travelled from Basel to Chur on a double-decker train, arriving early afternoon. After booking into a delightful room in the Drei Koenige Hotel in the old town, we strolled round and had a wonderful cake each at a cafe. Then walked up the mountainside for a view of the town. Evening meal at the hotel – Rostli – and an early night followed.

Tuesday was an amazing day on the Bernina Express. The weather was not promising, and by Pontresina it had started snowing. But this gave us some fantastic views, contrasted with when we came back, when the sun shone brightly and a lot of the snow had melted. Finished off the day with a meal at a Greek restaurant. The following day was bright and warm for the journey on the Glacier Express across the Gotthard pass to Sierre, passing close by the cable car to Bettmeralp, where we spent a fortnight in 1971. From Sierre we transferred by coach to Crans Montana – the Mont Paisible Hotel, which was very impressive. Sadly we didn’t get a room with a view, but it was still excellent, and the restaurant was first-class.

Every day was good, but the next two were absolutely stunning. On the Thursday we went by coach to Chamonix (because there were engineering works on the railway), and from Chamonix up by cable car to the summit of the Aiguille du Midi at 3842 metres (12,605 feet), comfortably higher than anywhere I’ve been on land before. (Even our hotel was higher than Ben Nevis!) The views from the summit were absolutely brilliant, and we took the lift to the very top. Dot felt a bit dizzy with the altitude, and so did I for a moment, but we were surprisingly OK generally. On the way down I managed to get a picture from the cable car of a Brocken spectre (shadow of cable car projected on to cloud and sourrounded by a halo-rainbow) which just about put the icing on the cake. Back in Chamonix we had a meal and then looked round the town, buying one or two things. At the hotel we made the mistake of ordering Chateaubriand for two, and after finishing a first plate we received another! A little bit de trop.

Friday was even brighter and just as warm. Glenda, Peter and the two of us took on a trip to Zermatt on our own. No-one else was interested, despite urging by Paul. We left just before 10 and took the funicular to Sierre, where we got a train for Visp, changing there for Zermatt. Lovely rail journey to Zermatt followed by something even better – a cog railway ride up to Gornergrat, which was over 10,000 feet. On this we had a “wow” moment even more striking than seeing Mont Blanc from Chamonix. We had been trying to make out which of many mountains might be the Matterhorn when we rounded a curve, and there it was – massive, clear and totally unmistakeable: a truly remarkable mountain and looking quite unclimbable. At Gornergrat we had cheese fondu and beer and would have liked more time, because the view was fantastic. But we had to catch the connections back to our hotel – all carefully worked out for us by Paul. And it went like clockwork. The walk from the funicular was hard going, but we made it in good spirits and even manage a reasonable meal – taking care to avoid anything excessive like Chateaubriand.

Very early start homewards on the Saturday, with the coach leaving the hotel at 7.35am and taking us to Sierre. Connection to Brig, from where we got a tilty train to Basel, which was very, very quick. I suspect it also left us feeling a bit ill, but maybe we were just exhausted. We got to Mulhouse just after lunchtime and walked into the town, deciding to have lunch at the the Auberge du Vieux Mulhouse, which we discovered later has quite an enviable reputation. I had some nice duck, but Glenda got something which claimed to be rabbit but was largely uneatable. Afterwards we had a drink with some other Treyn people in the main square and then looked at an interesting exhibition – The Word in Art – in the big church there. A choir and orchestra were practising for a performance later, and Glenda and Peter went back for it, but Dot and I were feeling totally whacked out. My head was going round, and we both had a bath and lay down for a while. Had a light evening meal in the hotel with Glenda and Peter, then another early night.

The final Sunday was again bright and warm, only getting very cloudy and threatening rain as we approached Norwich. We left Mulhouse at 8.28 on the TGV and were through Paris like a breeze, the Eurostar arriving at St Pancras at 2.40. We shared a taxi with Glenda and Peter and parted from them on the concourse at Liverpool Street, catching the 15.30 to Norwich – which, needless to say, was late leaving (though it arrived on time). We arrived home just after 5.30pm.

We spent Monday catching up. I played chess against Yarmouth in the evening and drew with Kevin Shaw on Board 4 in a not-very-interesting game. Today has been rain all the way, with more catching up. Tim Mace, our house-sitter, called in to return the key on his way to London!