Tag Archives: chess

If it’s not one thing, it’s another

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David, Kristine and Dot at Strumpshaw Fen

Not so much a hiatus, more of an abyss. Been working hard for days (I know it doesn’t sound like me) and I’ve still got piles to do. Don’t really know how it happened. Also I haven’t been sleeping well: watching wrens in the garden at about 6am today. So I’ve let the blog/diary slip a bit.

It started with the Paston Open Day a couple of weekends ago. There was the set-up on the Friday, which wasn’t too bad, followed by a full day on the Saturday. That was also quite enjoyable. With Caroline and Rob read a couple of letters and poems from the pulpit, then partook of a tour of Paston Hall grounds with guidance from Lucy and the owners, Mr and Mrs Clark, an accommodating couple who also let us see into their cellars. There’s obviously still lots to be dug up in the garden of historical significance, but I’m not sure how much of their garden they want dug up. Been very good about it so far. It matters very much to certain of our society exactly where the hall used to be, but I can’t get worked up about it.

In the evening of the same day Dot and I went to Prezzos with the Robinsons and their friends, Jean and Alan from London, to celebrate Philip’s birthday. Had a Fiorentina pizza purely to refute Philip’s announcement that I had nothing else but pollo al funghi, and very nice too. we indulged in prosecco beforehand and they all returned for coffee afterwards, so it was quite a full day.

On the Sunday I preached in the morning in the absence of Dot, who had a concert at Hindolveston in the afternoon with the Sillars Orchestra. She needed to get there in good time to rehearse, so went on her own. I joined her about 15 minutes before the concert began at 2.15pm, and sat with my old school colleague Neville Thrower, whose wife Mary is also in the orchestra. Enjoyed the mixed music: the violins sounded particularly good.

All through the week I was catching up with mainly Paston paperwork: for instance, I had to write an hour’s talk which I am giving to the Norwich Blue Badge guides this week. It’s written, but I have to try to work out some pictures, if I can get hold of a projector. Then on Friday I was presented with some stuff to edit from South Norfolk Healthcare, and I also put together a brochure on the Pastons in Norwich and wrote a piece for my website, but I’m not sure about that yet. I’ve also been updating the Paston website, which threw a frustrating wobbly at one stage.

Meanwhile I won a good win at chess on the Monday (against Yosif Antonov) and attended the Paston Heritage Society annual meeting on the Tuesday (with Dot). This meant missing the church agm, but it was a good evening, with excellent sandwiches afterwards and some cider in the bar with Rob and Penny before. Good attendance of 19: I said a few words about Dragon Hall, and Peter Stibbons put on a much lengthier presentation about his research website and the DVD he’s putting together.

On Thursday (with the weather all week sunny and reasonably warm) I had another session with Sharon, who decided to book me in for an x-ray, as the shoulder was not showing much improvement. Afterwards Dot and I had lunch with the Eagles (Sue and Roger, not the group) at Mambo Jambo in Lower Goat Lane: they had a voucher and treated us. Really good time (we get on very well), and good food, but I took the rest of the day to recover from it. Sort of Mexican-American, and very filling.

A lapwing at Strumpshaw

On the Friday we had booked a tour of the Cathedral Library, which turned out to be extremely interesting, being much more extensive than I thought. It was led by librarian Gudrun Warren, who cuts an unlikely figure for a Cathedral librarian, but is very knowledgeable and helpful. I must pop up to the library one day and have a browse. The tour ended with scone and tea in the Hostry that was worth the price on its own (£5). Got talking to a nice couple from Beccles.

So a nice relaxing weekend? Not exactly, though it was very pleasant, except for the disappointment of Norwich City managing to lose to Aston Villa at home and put themselves in real danger of relegation. We heard this when we were walking around Strumpshaw Fen with David and Kristine, who were up for the weekend. This had meant of course that Dot couldn’t go to the match, so we used the ticket (from Jonathan) for Fred, who happened to ask on the offchance and picked it up just after lunch.

Another warm day, and Strumpshaw Fen was beautiful, though I was pretty tired by the end. Dot cooked in the evening, but on Sunday we had lunch at Prezzos after going to church and listening afterwards to a talk on Lady Julian by Denise Treissman, who was very stimulating and has a nice manner. After lunch we walked up to Julian’s shrine, which was surprisingly empty (it was Bank Holiday weekend, and Julian Week starts today). Popped into the garden afterwards. Very peaceful.

On Saturday morning, pre-Coomes, I had a call from Andrew’s named nurse Vicky at Warwick to see if we were coming over because they needed more clothes for him. Happily, they were willing to fetch them from The Langleys themselves. Feel I ought to go over, but not sure I have the energy. He has an additional medical problem, but we’re not sure if he might be trying it on. The nurse says that a prospective place for him had been located: Minster Lodge in Earlsdon. No doubt a visit will be arranged there for Andrew soon. He will have to agree it, and then there will be all the problem of moving his stuff. Phil is feeling better, and is keen to help, so that’s all good.

Nostalgia and a good buffet

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Banner outside Paston Great Barn, affixed by Rob and myself

Started the week by playing two chess games in a day: the first one, in the afternoon, I played at Andy Pandian’s flat and managed to win. Then in the evening I played Yosif Antonov at the club and drew after not being able to make anything of an advantage. Now I have 3/5 in the club tournament, and three games with white to go. Even if I win them all, I may not win the tournament, because Chris has 4½/6. And I probably won’t win them all.

So I was pretty tired after that, and the week didn’t get any easier. On Tuesday I went to the Archant annual meeting, which was quite entertaining. Spent some time chatting to the Look East business editor, Richard Bond, who I know very well from my EDP days. Also several others, including Mike Almond, Ivor Harvey and Doug Bird, who introduced me to director Mike Walsh. Chatted to him for a while, and he expressed an interest in what Dot is doing, so I’ve sent him her website address (at his request). The meeting was rather more exciting than usual, with some rather pointed and challenging questions.

Good buffet as usual, but staff too keen to take away my wine when I put it on the table. Left with James Goffin, a former trainee made good, and on the way back to the UEA to catch the bus ran into Peter Jeffery, a face from so far in the past that I almost didn’t recognise him: he was an EDP sub way back in the 70s. Warm day. I did a couple of things in the city and got so hot I ended up with hay fever: not a common thing nowadays. Still, I managed to get to the Archers for our Tuesday Group.

On Wednesday I went with Phil to St Michael’s Hospital,Warwick, to see Andrew, who was not in a good state. Made little sense at first and clearly thought we’d come to take him away. We left to get him some clothes and his diary from The Langleys. When we got back he was a little more lucid, but not much. Also his missing clothes had reappeared from the laundry, so he now has more than he needs. We weren’t allowed to take him out.

Phil and I drove home via Northampton and had a meal at the Thrapston Little Chef. I had an Olympic Breakfast that was beautifully cooked. Surprised but grateful.

Pretty tired after all that and again didn’t sleep well. had to be awake and up by 9.30 the next day for the man from Sonata to service our alarm, which needed a new battery. I knew the feeling. Later had another session with Sharon, which was less painful than last time. Today I had a bit of pain, but it has gone now. During the last couple of days I’ve managed to write a sermon for Sunday and pick the hymns.

This afternoon I drove out to Paston to help set up the church for the open day tomorrow. Sunny in the main, but quite a bit cooler. Dot met several colleagues for lunch in the Waffle House and got home after I did, getting ambushed by a shower on the last stretch.

Singing at the Seagull again

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Dot at Strumpshaw Fen with her new short haircut.

Feeling a bit down; not sure why. Went to the UEA with Rob this morning on Paston business. The UEA half of the conversation (or two-thirds, to be precise) were very keen to create new projects for which they might get additional funding, which was quite exciting, though I may have to juggle creatively to accommodate one of them into Dragon Hall and the NRO.

Then to Paston in the afternoon for a trustees meeting, which was equally full of potential life-consuming items. After supper, went out for a walk while Dot was at orchestra rehearsal and returned too tired to get to grips with the many things that demanded my attention; so watched two or three Bob Dylan videos. Not satisfactory at all, especially with another busy day tomorrow. And my teeth hurt.

The weekend was quite busy too. On Saturday, after a delightful walk at Strumpshaw Fen and then listening to Norwich City getting cheated out of a win against Arsenal by incompetent refereeing, we went to Cafe Rouge for a meal with Angela and Rodney, primarily to discuss Aunt E. Nice meal, though, and A & R came back for coffee afterwards. I invited them, not reflecting carefully enough on the state of the house, as Dot pointed out.

On Sunday I led the service, and in the evening Dot and I went to the Seagull Theatre at Lowestoft and played four of my songs for the assembled thronglet. We had to manage without our lead guitarist, but it seemed to go OK. We sang my new song, Woman at the Window, inspired by a Dali painting, and then Man in the Mask, Sunset Woman and The Band Played On.

While we were there Dot unexpectedly arranged with Ian to visit the theatre again the following evening for a concert by Brian Houston: she was doing P4C at Gorleston in the afternoon, then had a meal at Ian’s and went on to the Seagull.

Meanwhile I was playing chess, trying to catch up with my tournament games. I managed a draw against Chris Tuffin after getting an advantage and being on the brink of losing. Hard work. But hey, at least spring has arrived.

On the minus side, Andrew has been admitted into hospital at Warwick (no beds in Coventry). The manager at The Langleys was concerned that he was not safe following his drugs regime change instigated by a new doctor. He was apparently so affected by drugs that he might have walked into the road. So we now wait to see where they might place him on a more permanent basis.

The women, not the drugs

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Dot in the grounds of the UEA during a recent walk. Can’t explain the sun.

Not a week that will trouble my top ten. For some reason I was feeling down at the start of it, and this was exacerbated when I got a good position in my chess game on Monday and, needing only a draw for a team win, proceeded to lose concentration completely and go under very quickly in a pawns-and-bishop ending.

The week “ended” with a visit to the doctor yesterday. My blood pressure has gone down – thanks to my daily walks – but he still thinks I need another pill, as well as some work on my arm/shoulder, which has been giving me trouble. At the moment I am resisting the additional pill (I didn’t take it this morning) but he thinks I’m taking it, which is not the best situation. He is working on statistics, which I don’t have the greatest faith in.

I also messed up Thursday, when I could have gone to see the new Archbishop at the Forum and/or the Cathedral, followed by Sam S playing with his band, The Upgrade, at the Waterfront in the evening. Both opportunities were squandered in typical fashion. Instead, I got a mysterious call from A Ethel’s number in the evening while Dot was at a governors’ meeting, and when I tried to ring back (the call ended after a couple of rings) it just rang and rang. After consulting with Angela, I went with Dot (who had just got home) to see what the problem was and found Ethel sitting on a chair in her petticoat, with the apparently broken phone in her hands and saying she hadn’t rung us. So that was fine. No, it really was.

In other news, I have managed to complete a flyer for the Dragon Hall day, barring a few minor additional bits of information. On Monday I went with Rob to the Norfolk Record Office for a progress meeting for the autumn exhibition there, and that went quite well. Lucy couldn’t go as she is in a bad way with another infection and a bad prognosis from her doctor.

My nephew Sam stayed with us for a couple of nights, but spent most of the time with his parents, of course, organising the purchase of a new laptop for Joy and a new gaming computer for Phil. It was Phil’s birthday on Tuesday: he is 61. I got him a CD he requested, some wine and a rather esoteric book about remote islands which took my fancy in Waterstones.

I’ve finished a biography of Leonard Cohen – I’m Your Man, by Sylvie Simmons – which was beautifully written and compulsive, as well as telling me various things about LC that I didn’t know. I had an idea about the number of women, but not the quantity of drugs. That’s where I went wrong.

I e-mailed the UEA lecturer who spoke to us about translation and attached my “translation” of the Lord’s Prayer from Aramaic. She asked me to do a guest blog on it, which can’t be bad.

Natural break … Just had our hair cut, and this evening we are participating in a Quiz and Chips Night as part of the Roger Mason-Liz French-George-and-Fiona team. Jude is setting the questions, so it should be interesting.

Spring about to disintegrate

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Edingthorpe Church from the lychgate

Almost springlike today, with blue skies and a distinct rise in the temperature. Sadly, it is all forecast to disintegrate tomorrow, with rain sweeping in. It was lovely yesterday too, when I drove out to Paston in response to a call from Lucy. Afterwards I called at Edingthorpe Church, which is a beautiful spot, then walked a bit down the Weavers’ Way, from the point where the Yarmouth Road meets the North Walsham bypass. Yes, I’m keeping up my walking routine, but not losing any weight. My blood pressure just better be down…

Of course forgetting to take my pills yesterday, and then losing at chess, didn’t help. I played pretty badly against Chris Tuffin until I lost a piece, then pretty well, but it was too late. Unfortunately, he followed the same pattern but didn’t lose the piece.

Still writing tanka with Joy, though I’m a bit late with the final one in the current series. Must get down to it. On Sunday I read five poems at the Seagull, which seemed to go down well. Hope to do some songs next time, if Phil can fit it into his now busy schedule.

On Saturday we visited North Walsham, refurbishing the flowers at the cemetery and dropping off a cardigan to Sheila (she had lent it to Ethel at the funeral). We then spent most of the afternoon with Jessie, listening to Norwich lose 4-0 to Manchester Utd. The tea and cake made it worthwhile. Called in at Waitrose afterwards, and Dot got a refund on some flour – together with more flour. What nice people.

In need of an expensive leveller

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Flashback to autumn: Julia, Dot and Dave at the Gunton Arms after a warming lunch.

For some reason we seem to be ahead of ourselves in the run-up to Christmas. Most of the cards and presents are ready, if not dispatched. And this despite my illness earlier, and Dot’s being indisposed on Tuesday this week, when she had a sore throat and stayed in bed instead of going to Barbara’s. This gave her a chance to become familiar with her new iPhone5, and she started asking Siri (her electronic friend) philosophical questions. Ah, well.

On Sunday I led the service and Liz preached – rather well, it has to be said. She spoke about righteousness meaning primarily right relationships. On Monday I played my first game of serious chess for some time, standing in as a guest on Board 4 for the A team in the Williamson Cup against Norfolk & Norwich A, the strongest team ion the league. Amazingly I won against a player graded 177, and the team won too, 3½-½.

For all you chess fanatics, here is the game:

White, Tim Lenton; Black, Gabriel Barr.

1 g3 f5 2 c4 d6 3 d4 Nf6 4 Nc3 g6 5 Bg2 Bg7 6 Nf3 0-0 7 0-0 Qe8 8 Re1 Na6 9 a3 (probably not necessary) c5 10 d5 h6 11 Qc2 e5 12 dxe Bxe6 13 Nd2 (Bf4 is probably better) Qf7 14 e4 (looking to strongpoint e4) Nc7 15 exf (planning two self-pins on the strongpoint square) Bxf5 16 Nce4 Rae8 (afterwards Gabriel suggested Ng4 for Black here, with an intended sacrifice on f2; White may be able to play Nf3) 17 Nxf6+ Qxf6 18 Ne4 Qd4 19 Bf4 Qxb2 20 Qxb2 Bxb2 21 Rab1 Bxa3 22 Rxb7 Ne6 23 Nxd6 (Bxh6 is also strong) Nxf4 24 Nxe8 Nxg2 25 Ree7 Bb2 26 Rxb2 Bd7 27 Rxd7 Rxe8 28 Kxg2 1-0.

On Tuesday I kept an eye on Dot and then took Ian, Harriet and Judy to Vicky’s for Tuesday Group. Quite a carful, but fortunately the suspension held up. Yesterday Dot was better and resumed her perambulations around Norfolk schools, while I went into the city to pay in some cash, as well as posting some cards. Today, with the weather still crisp and sunny, we travelled to Mundesley, where we had tea and coffee in the Royal Hotel’s new cafe, combined with an open meeting of the Paston Heritage Society. Not as many present as expected, but all went well. Peter Sissons was there, plus Maria Vincent and Patricia, our new trustee. And, of course, Penny, Rob and Lucy.

Afterwards Dot and I called in at the garage and discovered that, as expected, we need a new automatic headlight leveller, which will set us back in the region of £500.  Onwards to pick up pills from the chemist and post parcels at the sorting office. Then some printing of booklets for Sunday’s service while Dot went out to get a couple of small things for Menita’s children, and to buy some petrol. Oh yes, however advanced you are, it’s still all go.

Short order

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Short back and sides: the finished job

Dot is on her way home from Gateshead after a successful time with Philosophy4Children at the BBC 3 Free Thinking Festival, and I am sitting her feeling pretty exposed after a thorough attack on our hedge by Colin and Matthew. At our request, of course, and I’m pretty pleased with the outcome, but the garden does look very bare – as well as quite a bit bigger.

I contributed to the desolation by cutting back the rose outside the back door rather drastically, taking the opportunity to get rid of the resulting rubbish on Colin’s lorry. This was particularly important because our brown bin wasn’t emptied last week, and there’s now some dispute about whether we’ve renewed our payment for the service. Embarrassingly, I don’t actually know.

The week started embarrassingly too, with a pretty inept loss to Martin Woolnough in the Dons chess knockout competition. I wasn’t feeling like playing, and it showed. Or maybe I’m just getting old. On the plus side, though, I’m feeling quite a lot better: I think I must have had a virus of some kind. And Norwich City have had a good week: Dot and I saw them beat Spurs 2-1 in the Capital Cup on Wednesday evening, and today in our absence they beat Stoke 1-0.

Dot has been working hard all week, preparing various Philosophy sessions that are coming up, and on Tuesday she spent most of the day at Barbara’s; so I put the evening meal together for the Tuesday Group. Nothing special, obviously.  On Wednesday, in preparation for the evening football, we had our hair cut: this is not interesting, just a matter of record.

On Thursday, while Dot went out to Hethersett I visited an ailing Lucy at Paston, returning some of the stuff I’d brought home from Mannington Hall (but not all of it, obviously: that would have been too sensible) and sharing a cup of tea. Later Anne visited Aspland Road, providing some light relief for Dot (and me).

I took Dot down to the Scole Inn on Friday afternoon, where she transferred to Barbara’s car for the journey to Gateshead. Last day of half term; so lots of traffic in the city. I felt it advisable therefore to return home in pretty short order. Not much else happened. I shall now cook a pizza, because I can’t be bothered to go out and buy fish and chips. This is what it comes to.

Farewell to Joan Beales

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Peter and Joan’s wedding

The remnants of summer hung on for Joan Beales’ funeral at Attleborough on Friday. When the sun was out it was pleasant, but dark clouds brought a bit of a chill, which penetrated the church and brought a shiver to the cemetery. We arrived early, which was just as well because the car park was already full and we were lucky to find a slot where someone was just leaving.

So we were in the church over half an hour early, sitting at the back of the central section, in front of Rosie and Billy Wright. It then got rather confusing, because Angela arrived and said that Peter wanted us down the front. Because there wasn’t a huge amount of space there, and we didn’t want the immediate family to run out of seats, Angela and Dot sat at the front together, with me sitting further back next to Rodney, and Vicki elsewhere. Not ideal, especially as the funeral directors produced an extra row of seats which went unused.

It was a lovely service, though, with a really nice and thorough eulogy from Margaret White, a friend of Joan’s from her acting group. There were also recordings of Joan singing and then Laura singing (Fields of Gold). The burial was at the cemetery, across the car park, and we then went to a reception at Peter Beales Roses. The rain held off, and we enjoyed food, punch and conversation with other members of the family, including Donna, who had made the trip from Wolverhampton that morning and was returning to see a show in Birmingham in the evening. That’s what I call a full day.

At the reception I kept expecting Joan to come round every corner. She was a lovely woman, and will be much missed. Afterwards Dot and I called in on Auntie Ethel, who was understandably upset that she hadn’t been able to go. But it would have been too difficult. We were relieved after a while by Angela and Rodney, who had been to Waitrose.

Yesterday, while Dot was in the city, talking to Anne and buying a new suitcase, I finished sorting out my old chess games (up to a point) and wrote an article for En Passant, featuring the game I won for the school chess championship in 1962!  After a bad night with a dodgy stomach, I delivered my sermon this morning and then – with help from Howard and Phil – cleared up some paint that had been thrown over the paving stones outside the hall. As autumn finally arrived in early afternoon, with a chill heavy rain, Dot and I  decided to stay in the house for the rest of the day, spending part of it rewriting stuff on Dot’s P4C page, using html.

Down to the Plantation Garden

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Jessie and Dot in the Plantation Garden (iPhone picture)

At last the furniture has returned, and after a few minor alarms, it turned out to be all complete, including brackets and screws. The bookshelves proved a bit tricky to get right, but everything else was pretty straightforward, if a bit tiring. So now we have a spanking brand new room, and the roof is repaired. And so far we haven’t paid a penny. This will change shortly, 0f course.

After getting everything in order, I relaxed by playing a tournament chess game against Norman Thomas, and won fairly easily. My game score totally vanished on its way home, and I had to reconstruct the game while I could remember it. I even returned to the club in case I’d left it there, but no…

On Tuesday we restarted the Tuesday Group, which went pretty well, with much catch-up talk. Then yesterday Jessie came up by bus for lunch, and we all visited the impressive sunken Plantation Garden off Earlham Road in the afternoon. There was an autumnal wind, but quite a bit of sun, so it was a pleasant excursion, especially as I had never actually seen the garden. Bit of a challenge parking in the area, but still… After tea I drove Dot and Jessie to North Walsham, and Dot stayed with her while I attended a meeting of the Paston Trustees, where I took the minutes. Lucy seemed a bit better, but Jo is very stressed. Rob was calm as ever.

Today I have spent much of my time writing a sermon for Sunday. It came rather more easily than the last one; I’m not sure whether that’s a good thing or not. Tomorrow it’s Joan’s funeral, and I’ve just heard that my “uncle” Richard – the widower of my aunt Vi in South Africa – has also died. I didn’t know him very well, and he was in his nineties, but it’s always sad when someone in your family goes.

Chilly wind blowing round Mr Bunn

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Dot at sunny Southwold

The weather has turned to autumn, with a chilly wind blowing around Mr Bunn, who has been on the roof for the last couple of days, repairing our valley and replacing some tiles. He should finish later today, as should Tim the decorator (no, not me: this one’s from Yarmouth and knows what he’s doing). Both very pleasant and helpful guys. Tim woke me at 8am yesterday, but today I was ready for him, despite having a lousy night for some reason. Dot is out at Acle school, but I’m expecting her back soon.

So the living room should be completed and dry by tomorrow. Unfortunately we can’t get the furniture back till Monday, but that’s a minor thing really.

On Saturday, when it was still relatively warm, we had our hair cut and then went to Southwold to celebrate the Robinsons’ ruby wedding. We arrived a couple of hours early and after driving round by the harbour (spoiled visually by a lot of construction work going on) we parked on the seafront and walked down to the pier, where we had a cup of tea in a cafe out of the wind. Then we drove up to the Swan and negotiated its parking challenge (the most contorted parking area I’ve ever come across) before Dot went into the loo and changed into her dinner party clothes. The Robinson family duly arrived – children earlier than parents, who brought Francine with them. Eleven of us in all, and a very nice meal.

I was preaching at church on Sunday and completed my preparation less than an hour before the service started. Still, it went OK, and afterwards I sat in the church for an hour waiting to see if anyone wanted to look round – it was Heritage Day. One woman did, the sparse attendance possibly down to a mistake in the Heritage booklet, which had us open only on the Saturday. When Claire arrived to take over, Dot and I made for North Walsham via Morrisons (I was almost out of petrol) and took in the cemetery before visiting Jessie and supplementing our lunchtime sandwiches with a piece of cake. The cemetery was at its best – really warm in the afternoon sun.

Last night I replayed my knockout chess game against Greg, which was again an up-and-down affair. I emerged eventually with a clear advantage, but in time trouble couldn’t be sure of the winning line. I messed it up, but he obliged by taking so long over his calculations that he lost on time. So I am through to the next round.