18 January 2008

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A nice picture of grandson Oliver in serious mood. He and Amy are now taking swimming lessons.

I have some kind of scalp irritation around my right ear which makes it difficult to wear my glasses. As I can’t see close up without them, this is rather annoying. Still, it’s not painful, and I feel quite good otherwise. I’m down to 12st 5lb, which is not bad going.

We were going to have some friends round on Wednesday, but they could not come for family reasons – her father is very ill – so we were on our own after LD called with a letter of thanks about the Rohr event and stayed for tea and chat while Dot finished the ironing. Earlier I had patched up some wood on our back porch that was seriously coming apart, using wood filler that I moulded around the problem and then discovered shouldn’t come into contact with my skin. However, I have pretty resilient skin, and nothing seems to be amiss. Both hands are still attached to my arms. The result looks a mess but is rock solid: I see it as temporary until we can get the wood replaced. Dot is now thinking of swapping the contents of two of the upstairs bedrooms, which would involve a carpenter since her work area is attached to the wall. Maybe we would be able to combine the two jobs…

Meanwhile she is moving furniture round the living room – an activity she prefers to writing a book, which is understandable. She has a tape measure and is measuring everything. Bit unsettling.

Yesterday was Powerflush Day. Not a new national holiday, but a cleaning out of our central heating system. Clearly we had left it far too long. Huge amounts of sludge emerged, and the already big job expanded into something massive, with new pump and various other items. Fortunately we are over 60 and get it at about half price, but it’s still pretty expensive. On the plus side, the radiators now seem to be working: they had been gradually falling by the wayside. The British Gas engineer was extremely friendly and helpful, and rang back today to make sure everything was OK. I think it is.

While he was here he discovered that the lagging on our big cold tank was waterlogged – ie it had fallen into the water. Did it fall or was it pushed? If it was pushed, it must have been a long time ago. Getting it out was a tricky job, but I managed it with some help from Dot and only a small amount of water dripping down the pipe into the airing cupboard. It is now drying out in the garage, but we’ll probably get a new set, as we professionals call tank lagging.

Today I’ve started work on a book based on the characters in my EDP page. Working title: The Houseago Prophecy. Yesterday there was a letter in the EDP taking my name in vain for no apparent reason, so I replied to it, mentioning that alert readers might have noticed that my page had come to an end, expired, ceased to be, etc. This provoked a couple of e-mails sympathising – one from Bruce and one from a fairly regular correspondent – which was nice.

The weather both yesterday and today has been pretty awful – steady rain and overbearing greyness. Having the heating off yesterday was unpleasant, and its return today extremely welcome. We’re alone again tonight, but tomorrow cousin Eddie and his wife are coming for a meal.

16 January 2008

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Heavy rain on Friday last week didn’t worry us too much, but Howard was the car park attendant. Well, you can’t win them all.

Dot is off for the day on an Exclusions Board, hearing an appeal by the parents of a boy who has been excluded from high school. She spent most of yesterday reading the related papers, which led to the cancellation of our normal Tuesday evening meal – that and the many apologies for absence. In the end we couldn’t reach H, who turned up, and so we did her a baked potato before Dot returned to her study.

Earlier in the day we had lunch at Park Farm before calling in to see A Ethel, who had been rumoured to be very ill. In fact she was in bed but in good spirits and quite lively, except that she couldn’t move. Her leg is very bad – probably fluid on it – and something will need to be done soon. Nevertheless we had a good chat, and left when Rodney and Angela arrived to move some of her furniture – it has to be thinned out on doctor’s orders, so that she can use a walking frame.

Afterwards we went to Waitrose, then I dropped Dot off in the city to get some boots repaired. A wet day in general: happily today is quite bright. I went to see the nurse late in the afternoon. Everything Ok, though my blood pressure is still higher than she would like. I said I didn’t want to take blood pressure tablets unless it was absolutely necessary, as I have an aversion to going on something you can’t come off. She seemed to understand this.

So it was a quiet evening. I finished a mainly graphic novel that I got for Christmas – Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Fascinating stuff, and beautifully drawn.

BTW, I managed to lose another chess game on Monday. Yet again I got a really good position – this time against someone graded higher than me – and made a knight sacrifice which he said afterwards “should have won”. But I followed it up inaccurately, and left my king too exposed. When he just managed to get to the time control, I had to resign.

Nearly as bad as Norwich City, who went out of the FA Cup against a poor division two side (Bury) after scraping a replay at home and having to travel north. Still, Spurs are through, beating Reading 1-0 despite the absence through illness of Berbatov. They are starting to look quite reasonable in defence, but will have to be more than that in the next round at Old Trafford.

14 January 2008

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End of an error, as Keith Skipper would say. My page in the EDP is occupied by someone else, and they haven’t even included an explanatory line as promised. So having ignored my retirement, it seems they’re now going to ignore my 11 years of writing a page for them. I shall not be waiting for my obituary with bated breath. Tried to ring the deputy editor, but he’s not there. Nor am I.

Meanwhile life goes on. Life for three days last week was Richard Rohr, a Franciscan monk from New Mexico, who visited Norwich to give a two-day course on contemplative Christianity, for which 150 people from all over the country converged on St Luke’s Centre. The event was “put on” by St Augustine’s, the sister church, which has very limited space, so we used the excellent facilities at St Luke’s.

Dot and I were closely involved, because Dot was in charge of all the volunteers. She is pictured in the upstairs kitchen with Howard, hard at work. Providing enough seating, eating, drinking and other facilities for that many people was quite a challenge, especially as some tables and chairs had to be transported in from St Augustine’s Hall. We borrowed a van from Besom. It’s garaged on the Larkman estate in a garage that can only be accessed through a vicarage. So we had to meet someone there, leave our car in the garage (the Larkman estate is not the safest place in Norwich) and drive to St A, where we picked up the furniture, with help from three or four others. We then drove to St Luke’s, unloaded, repeated for extra chairs, and then returned the van to the Larkman and retrieved our car. I quite enjoyed driving the van, but not carrying the furniture, though I think I avoided damaging my back.

That was on Thursday. The whole process had to be repeated on the Saturday, of course, when we had help from Ed and David. In between we did more physical work that we had done for years, setting up the furniture, laying the tables, washing up, carrying crates of crockery, assisting with cooking. Fortunately we had an amazing cook, Suzanne, who produced delicious soup, including a mushroom soup that I actually loved (previously I never liked mushroom soup at all). The team of volunteers worked really well together and formed close friendships. Dot was extremely efficient, of course, and amazingly calm.

On the Thursday, in a state of near exhaustion, we had attended a Eucharist at the Julian shrine led by Richard Rohr. This was extremely moving – there were fewer than a couple of dozen of us. RR had always been an admirer of Julian, and it was clearly a big experience for him. In the evening (after I’d cooked chilli con carne for four, including the stupendous cook – aargh) we went to an RR talk at the Cathedral, which had an audience of about 500. Inspiring stuff, too. It was the only time during the three days we heard him give a complete talk.

The two days ended with a Eucharist which wasn’t on the original programme, which was a bit hair-raising as Dot and I were requisitioned to play music with Liz and Ruth. Did one of my songs, which may be on the official CD – or it may not. The Eucharist was celebrated Iona-style, with a long table down the middle, and each person serving the bread and wine to the person opposite, who then returns the favour. The guy opposite me was a young man from Northern Ireland who has one of those faces that seem almost serenely happy, in a totally good way.

Just as we were coming up to lunch on the first day, Suzanne’s son was rushed into hospital and she received a rather anguished phone call from her mother which resulted in my driving her to hospital and leaving the assistants to serve the soup. If it had happened an hour earlier it would have been extremely difficult, but it worked OK. Her son had to have an infected foot drained, but he was well enough for her to return at the end of the afternoon to prepare for the following day.

After returning the van to the Larkman on Saturday, Dot and I went out for a meal. Prezzo’s was full so we essayed the Nelson, which turned out to be surprisingly good, despite a fair proportion of lads and ladettes in attendance. I had a good steak and Dot had an excellent fish dish, both washed down with a little too much wine. But we made it home. The last four nights, I have slept straight through.

Yesterday was a bit slower, but we managed to get to church, which is just as well, as I was leading the prayers. Rest of the day we took it pretty easy and didn’t move any furniture at all. I did cook a roast dinner, though.

The weather throughout wasn’t too bad. Happily the day of heavy rain was Friday, when we weren’t moving chairs and tables. Today it’s windy, and there have been floods in other parts of the country, with worse forecast.

7 January 2008

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Amy gets enthusiastic in Wollaton Hall deer park. Today is wild and stormy, and NASA and the Space and Science Research Center in Florida are saying that their research into sun spot changes indicates that we are in for a quarter-century cold period not unlike the Little Ice Age at the end of the eighteenth century. We shall see.

Thought I’d share with you a letter from the Sunday Telegraph:

Congratulations to the scientists who have developed technology that enables mobile phones to be used under water. Perhaps they could now invent technology that enables mobile phones to be used in north Norfolk.

Amy appears to be having a similar problem, but in her case it may be the type of mobile phone (the “Princess”) that’s the key.

6 January 2008

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Not feeling too good: rather achey and stuffed up. Didn’t go to church this morning, although maybe I should have – the weather looked very good from inside, and I like Epiphany.

Yesterday I wasn’t feeling wonderful either, though I had to get my act together, as my cousin-once-removed Beverley eventually got here at lunch time, accompanied by her delightful daughter Palmira (14) and her sister’s ex-husband Neville, who lives in Bexleyheath and had provided transport. We had a meal (see picture) accompanied by my brother and sister-in-law (P & J) and there was much discussion about various relatives. I brought out my family tree and printed out a fresh version for Palmira, then got information from Bev on some of her relatives – though I was surprised how little she knew about the generation above her, especially her aunt Anne. This was perhaps because Bev’s father Howard – Leonard’s eldest – had pretty much constructed an entire family tree on his own, having been married “at least” four times. This did come as a bit of a surprise to me, as no other Lenton I’ve come across has been married more than twice. For the record, his wives’ names in order were Norma, Coral (Bev’s mother), Doris and Sandra. Bev is married to a Portuguese man, Tony, and has three children: Palmira and two much older boys, Leonard and Howard. I will eventually get round to inserting these on the family tree on Genes Reunited.

Anyway, everyone left at the end of the afternoon, with Neville, Bev and Palmira heading for Thurton to visit another cousin of hers – Anton Kruger, who I believe is an optician. As they left not too long after the football crowds started emerging, I suspect it may have taken a little longer than usual.

The previous night Dot and had a superb evening with Heather & Sam, getting a taxi home so that we didn’t have to worry about drinking too much. However, despite its being a terrific evening, a little worrying wouldn’t have gone amiss, as I had another very bad night, with my stomach refusing to accept gravity or stillness of any kind. Heather has inspired both Dot and myself to try to produce a book or two.

4 January 2008

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It’s a new year, and here is Oliver putting on a show, despite his broken arm, on New Year’s Eve. Shark meets squid, with the inevitable result. Convivial evening which left me entering 2008 with the usual otherworldly feeling. Oliver was most put out that we had had a party without him: the poppers all over the floor were a bit of a giveaway, together with people crawling into the kitchen about 10am. Or later, in some cases.

In the afternoon we visited Wollaton Hall, a 16th century Tudor building set in a deer park. The weather was misty but not too cold. It would be more accurate to say we visited the park, but the building made a lot of itself, and we did circumnavigate it. Lots of people wandering around, and quite a few deer too. Oliver got a close-up when a small group crossed the path in front of him (he was way ahead of the bunch with Daddy).

On the way back D & J took us past the Hemlock Stone, an impressive outcrop on Stapleford Hill seemingly unrelated to its surroundings. Many myths and legends about its name, but I like the Danish one: apparently many Danes settled in the Nottinghamshire area in the 9th century, and the old Danish word hemmelig means a cover or overhanging.

David and Vicky and family left late on New Year’s Day , and the rest of us were planning to go for a walk on January 2, as well as drop in at Ambience Art and then get some food from M & S. But before we started out Julia got a call to say her eye operation could be scheduled that day, and we persuaded her to go for it. So we missed out on the walk and Dave dropped us at Ambience Art while he took Julia to the hospital. Amazing place (AA, not the hospital). Some wonderful art work, clothes, jewellery and other things, plus a pleasant cafe, which we patronised when Dave returned. Dot and I bought a necklace and ear-rings (she’ll probably wear them more than I will) and a tall wooden vase, with some artificial flowers. Impressive stuff. M & S was quite good too.

We had a good journey home, and Julia’s operation went well, although she was last in and had a painful injection at the end. Snow came to Nottinghamshire the following day, but omitted Norfolk. The M & S food was intended to feed a visitor from South Africa – my cousin once removed, Beverley (Howard’s daughter), who was scheduled to arrive the next day – or so I thought. However, I contacted her halfway through yesterday after a couple of visits to the station and discovered she was at her brother-in-law’s at Bexleyheath. She is now due to come here on Saturday, with her daughter and brother-in-law, and I have added to the food in the fridge.

Tonight we are going to Heather and Sam’s for a meal, and we are being picked up at 6.30pm. This is so that we can both have a drink and get a taxi back. I have a feeling there was something else…

Oh, yes. My eleven years and three months as an EDP columnist have come to an end. I had a phone call from the deputy editor this morning when I was in the bath, and he said they were “making some changes”. This did not come as a big surprise, since I had suggested to the editor that I should be paid a little more than the derisory amount I have been paid the last five years. I have written a “farewell” page, but it may not go in. Either way, it will go on my website (back2sq1.co.uk). I have tried to include all the characters I made up over the years, but probably forgot some.

I now feel a strange mixture of disappointment and relief, as Quentin Tarantino might say. It will be odd not having an outlet for my outrageous opinions and esoteric humour, but maybe I will get down to writing something more substantial. Dot has taken it badly…

30 December 2007

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Yes, well, it’s been a bit busy. Can’t think why: must be the time of year. The picture is a clue: Dot with two lovely grandchildren enjoying Christmas in Bedfordshire. Oliver making light of his broken wrist and Amy making light of anything that moves.

Drove down on Christmas Eve. Traffic heavy, but no hold-ups, and we were there for lunch. Oliver had his arm set in the afternoon, and we amused Amy. She also amused us. Christmas Day and Boxing Day were a cornucopia of delights of different kinds: delicious food, exciting presents – a really lovely time. I got several books and a camera, plus an electronic sudoku from Dot. When I ordered the camera, I neglected to get a memory card, so was restricted to only six pictures before I had to download them to Dot’s computer. Why don’t they tell you need a memory card? I eventually got a 1G card from Comet on Friday, when I was back in Norwich and had been to chiropractor. Good news there – I am back to a monthly visit. Dot and I also had our hair cut at Reepham. I had none off the top but warned Linda I might have to come in for an emergency appointment… While Dot was having hers done I went to Aylsham to deliver the Potters’ presents from D & V, and had a cup of tea and a chat with Kevin. Lisa and Matthew were out shopping. At least, Lisa was shopping: I suppose Matthew might have had his eye on something. He’s nearly three.

Then Dot and I went to Waitrose’s in Eaton, had a sandwich and a drink and then did the shopping for the evening, when Phil and Joy came round for a meal, bringing Andrew, who had been with them all day. I forgot to mention that on the 27th I had picked him up from Coventry and brought him back to Beds for lunch and to see the children. He got on well with them, though it’s quite a while since he saw them.

Yesterday we went into the city and did some shopping. The duck from Waitrose was superb on the Friday, and the lamb was equally good yesterday. The longshore cod off the market rounded off three excellent meals, so not a bad week really, gastronomically speaking! We bought some cheese to take to Nottingham and one or two other things.

This morning I preached at St Augustine’s on the subject of Jesus wanting to hold us and sustain us instead of judge us, as many people seem to think. DA was leading for the first time, and the atmosphere was terrific as usual.

This afternoon we took Andrew out to Rosie’s to deliver a present from Bedfordshire and had a cup of tea and some cake. R was in good spirits, as was A. Very pleasant hour and a half. Must take grandchildren out there next year.

A couple of irritations on the financial front. Got an e-mail from British Gas to say our electricity bill was overdue, though my bank statement showed we’d paid it more than a fortnight ago. Then I tried to renew car insurance on Dot’s car, to be told by Zurich that the insurance on it had lapsed a year ago – despite my having a certificate in front of me showing we were insured up to Jan 2, 2008. The call centre could offer nothing except repeating that we weren’t on their computer, so I told them I’d take my business elsewhere, and I have done so.

Pretty annoying, as both companies had been very good up to that point. Must be something in the air.

Tomorrow we head for Coventry and then Nottingham, where we’re spending the new year. R says it will snow on Thursday, but we should be back by then. Grey and a bit soggy today.

23 December 2007

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Oliver again, who has just broken his wrist in a fall at a friend’s house. We are travelling down to see them all tomorrow and spend Christmas and Boxing Day there. He will not be able to play with the Christmas present we brought him for a while, but we hope to make sure he has a lot of fun anyway. Amy will have to be persuaded to be gentle with him!

Today the temperature has hovered around freezing, and there has been quite thick fog around most of the day. I hope it lifts by tomorrow morning. On Friday the north Norfolk run went very well, except that we ate more than we should, starting off badly at Rosie’s with two mince pies and a beef pasty (me) and 1+1 (Dot). Later we had a salad lunch at Sheila’s, including a pork pie, but I resisted sweet. Also featuring were the cemetery at North Walsham, a present drop-off at Paston and a visit to J & F. All this was done in the MX5 while my car was getting a service, during which they took a seat out to find one of Dot’s earrings.

Yesterday was fairly quiet: I ventured out to pick up a parcel from the sorting office, but the rest of the day was spent catching up and writing most of my column. Today we went to church in the morning and dropped in at Phil and Joy’s for a present exchange. Dot has injured her neck wrapping presents, which should make playing with the grandchildren interesting.

I’ve got a bit further with the family tree following Friday’s tour and will get back to it after the festive season.

20 December 2007

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This a view from under the Humber Bridge on Hessle foreshore, taken about a month ago. I went to Hull again yesterday to assess some young journalists – stayed the night at an excellent Premier Inn with an equally good Brewer’s Fayre restaurant adjoining (chicken and leek pie). And a view of this bridge in the distance. Spent most of the evening on Tuesday catching up with newspapers and magazines I’d been meaning to read, when apparently I should have been watching Spurs beat Manchester City in the Carling Cup. It’s so hard to keep up with what’s going on.

Journey up was pretty straightforward, via the A47, Peterborough and the A1. On the way back I decided on the shortest route, over the bridge and down the A15, but at Lincoln I got fed up with the funereal progress behind crawling HGVs and veered off back to Newark and the A1. The trip was still about 12 miles shorter, but half an hour longer, not helped by a hold-up near Stamford. Because only two of the journalists were available to be assessed, I got home at teatime and spent too much time watching TV, when I should have gone out for a brisk walk. But the weather is still very cold, the air is damp, and it’s not inviting. As I write this in my study, the house is mysteriously chilly – partly because two of the radiators are half-cold. This is something I shall have to get sorted in the new year.

At the end of last week we had a couple of good evenings with friends – the first with the Greens, who are the perfect hosts, and the second at home to four other friends who we know far less well. On Sunday my drama-cum-carol service was extremely well received; a new song I wrote was even clapped! The barely rehearsed actor-readers were all pretty good, the music went well and the atmosphere was warm. It was followed by a superb meal cooked by Vicky and Jared – the sort of Christmas fare you might expect to have been cooked for three or four people rather than a roomful. Delicious.

I played in the Christmas chess event on Monday while Dot went to a leaving do for Marion at Alburgh. Wrong choice by me: I scored only 3.5 out of 8, and the leaving-do was a lot of fun, apparently. Dot gave a speech which was much appreciated. She gave it to me before she went, and I have to say it was excellent. Well, I don’t have to, but I will.

Before I went to Hull I called in at Prospect House to internally verify a portfolio for Bernadette and chatted to a couple of people, including J, who is much improved and working part-time. Tonight we are off to close friends Salmon Fillet for nibbles, and tomorrow we will be doing the North Walsham run.

13 December 2007

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And continuing the theme, here is my cousin Pat at her surprise 60th birthday party. Especially surprising as she’s not 60 yet: I do know when her birthday is, but I can’t reveal it in case everyone who reads this sends her a present. I mean, what would she do with two presents?

Yesterday InPrint did a poetry reading at The Minories (firstsite) in Colchester, and the four poets departed from Norwich – with friend Julie – on the 4pm train, picking up artist Annette at Diss. The walk from the station at Colchester took about 40 minutes and included quite a steep hill, which was invigorating, especially as the weather was literally freezing. The Minories was very welcoming, and there were refreshments, including mince pies. The reading itself was fun , all of us reading five or six poems in all to an audience of about a dozen – which is pretty good, and 12 more than none at all.

After posing for pictures at the end we made our way to the station – Rupert going on ahead because he had to make a connection at Norwich. We thought this was being a bit too careful, but as it turned out, it was merely prudent. Caroline and I, walking briskly, joined him with five minutes or so to spare, but the other three, who started off just behind us, dropped back so much that they went the wrong way – which was not easy, as it was a straight road. After a phone call they got back on track, but we still thought they hadn’t made it. But they jumped on by the skin of their teeth (unfortunately no photo) and in a packed train we managed to get quite close to each other.

A pleasant excursion: we munched mince pies from a goodie bag and got back to Norwich about 9pm.

Today was still cold. I managed to catch up with quite a bit of stuff – the poetry leaflet didn’t make it – and picked up the pictures I’d bought from Bally. Wrote some more Christmas cards and ordered my Christmas present – a camera – from Amazon, after discovering I would get triple Nectar points, whatever they are. Took a Christmas present up to Menita and Regis and picked up six bottles of wine they’d brought from France for us. Fortunately I had enough cash with me, because I’d forgotten about it. Dot left for Newmarket, where she’s doing a church school inspection tomorrow, about 3.30, and I wrote most of my page for the EDP. Tomorrow I need to finish it and make sure all is ready for Sunday’s carol service.