Tag Archives: andrew

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.

Bit of manipulation

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Andrew wrapped up against the cold at Ranworth

It isn’t getting any warmer. It snowed briefly this morning, but the main factor throughout the week has been the biting east wind, which as my friend Sandra would say is a lazy wind, because it can’t be bothered to go round you – it goes right through you. Despite this, life goes on: I guess you’d get used to living with it eventually. As another friend, Kevin, said, it’s not bad weather, it’s the wrong clothes. Not sure that’s entirely right (puts on extra jumper).

On Monday another Paston trustees’ meeting at Dayspring. I went a bit early to chat to an afflicted Lucy, but not sure I helped much. The meeting went well, and I agreed to help at the Paston Day at the end of April, organising some Chronicle stuff, or as we prefer to put it, reading out some poems and letters.

Drove to Coventry to fetch Andrew on Wednesday. Phil is having a bad time at the moment, so he couldn’t assist. No real problem in the driving, and A was much better than expected. On the Thursday we braved the wind and cold and went to Ranworth: had a sandwich or two at the staithe and then walked to the revamped wildlife centre on the edge of the Broad. Pretty much on our own there, which was quite nice in a way. Good views; but the staff had spent the morning unpacking and weren’t really in full flow. I wanted to buy a map, but no-one knew how much it cost. In the end I said I’d leave it and come back next week (which we might do, with the grandchildren).

Andrew and I then climbed Ranworth Church tower and found ourselves on top with a family of four: grandparents and two young children. We took each other’s photographs, but didn’t hang around long. Earlier I had walked over to the Riverside shops with Andrew and bought him two pairs of new shoes as well as some other items of clothing. On the way back from Ranworth we called at the Rosary, which he didn’t recognise for some time as we were approaching it from the wrong direction.

On Good Friday we walked up to the Castle Museum and spent a couple of hours looking round, starting with the wildlife section and proceeding to the basement by way of the keep. After lunch at home Phil walked down to see him. Andrew and I left for Coventry at about 3.303pm and stopped for a meal at Thrapston Little Chef before reaching The Langleys just after 6.30pm.

Unusually he wanted me to help him unpack and sort himself out; so I didn’t start for home till well after 7pm. But despite being delayed by alleged animals on the road near Newmarket (the police stopped traffic and were searching along the edges) it was a really easy ride back , and I was home by about 9.45pm.

I have omitted to mention that while Andrew was in Norwich I had my first session with Sharon Gibbons at the Oasis, when she got a life history and did some manipulation of my shoulder, which is quite painful at times. Not sure what caused it: she suggests a problem with a complex of muscles in that area. Sounded convincing, and the manipulation felt good.

The whole appointment took longer than I anticipated (over an hour) and I was late back for our meal, which made Dot late for her visit to Carrie. Oh well. (Fleetwood Mac again).

Today we enjoyed an extensive bit of shopping at the supermarket, and I checked one of my car tyres again that I thought might have a slow puncture. It probably has, but it’s very, very slow. Now anticipating the artival of David and the children late this afternoon. According to our tracking device, they have arrived safely at the Co0omes’ house in Bishop’s Stortford for lunch.

Dot has a new job as an RE Quality Mark assessor. It remains to be seen how much more time this will take, but it shows how highly thought of she is. Not surprisingly.

Wine, women and song

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Relaxing moment on the cliff between Mundesley and Paston during the wet and windy walk at the end of April.

On the brink of our holiday in Scotland: Andrew is staying with us for a couple of nights, and we’re dropping him off on the way north tomorrow afternoon. We’ve just been for a walk down the Riverside path, taking in the new bridge, and I also got him a new pair of slippers. Yesterday Phil drove me to Coventry to pick him up, and everything went pretty smoothly, except the usual Elveden chaos, which we avoided (once we could reach the roundabout) by taking the pretty route via West Stow, Ingham and Barnham.

Not much rain in the last couple of days, but it’s been very cold (for May). Still, mustn’t grumble. It will probably snow in Scotland. As I write Dot is up at the garage, who are having a second look at her car after failing to fix it yesterday. They replaced some kind of coil, but the mystery light came on again at Coltishall after her visit to North Walsham. She was not happy.

Other news this week: an unexpected pregnancy. I cannot say whose pregnancy (in the style of Walt Whitman) but it landed us a bottle of champagne, so we were delighted. At the pregnancy, too. On the same day we had a meal at Cafe Rouge with Angela and Rodney to discuss the Ethel situation, which we did. Nice meal.

Earlier in the week: on Monday I took my massive Division Two champion trophy back to the chess club and took part on the John Swan Rapidplay, where I scored a pretty normal 50%, losing to two of the joint winners and drawing with the winner of the grading prize. My best game was in fact a loss to Jeff Dawson. Found it all very tiring, though. On Wednesday I took one of my games from earlier in the season to Mike Read so that he can annotate it for En Passant (if he thinks it’s worth it). Had a cup of tea with him and indulged in a bit of nostalgia.

On Tuesday, prior to a rather depleted Tuesday Group, Caroline and Rob came here again to  discuss further the Paston event at St Peter Hungate in June. Think we’re getting there – I even sang my song, The Ballad of Gresham Town – and we decided to invite Kay to join us for our next meeting at the end of the month.

Dolphins on a silver field

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Oliver with Canary-coloured bow tie, created at Bewilderwood

Dot is still not feeling great, but her coughing seems to be subsiding a smidgeon: she went to the doctor on Tuesday, and he said it was a virus and could linger on indefinitely, which is encouraging. However, he did tell her that her potential cyst had just about vanished, and she no longer needed it cut out. So that’s all good, as they would say on Twenty Twelve. In fact Dot is now out with Anne in the city. There has been plenty of rain in the last two days, but it’s sunny at the moment.

I cancelled Andrew’s visit completely after debating whether to go over and take him our for a day instead; the weather forecast was horrible, and I wasn’t feeling brilliant. I’m much better now and have managed to write the narration for our Paston event – at least, the first draft thereof. Caroline was also ill, so Rob and I met on Tuesday and allocated a few tasks. He is is researching publicity.

Otherwise it’s been a quiet week. We had our hair cut, and I’ve been to the supermarket and into the city to pay in some cheques while Dot has rested, by which I mean done extensive sprucing-up work in the house. I wrote a rather bad sonnet for the poetry group, but it wasn’t as bad as one or two other things that were presented to us. NG and TN, however, made a good job of theirs. Especially NG, for whom I have a growing admiration. Meanwhile I have had a poem published on the webzine Ink Sweat and Tears, which is nice. The fact, not the poem.

The computer is going well. David did a trick with Dropbox which got my capacity down to nearly 80%, so that’s now working at no further cost. I am toying with the idea of deleting all the pictures in my Pictures file to reduce it even further. After all, they’re just duplicates of ones in iPhoto which I’ve exported for various reasons.

I took some old books up to the Christian Resource Centre and also left them a box of my poetry books, which I said they could sell for whatever price they liked. I still have three boxes!

I have discovered, thanks to Genes Reunited, that the name Lenton is a very early English locational surname, and derives from the places called Lenton, one in Lincolnshire and the other in Nottinghamshire. The former is recorded as “Lavintone” in the Domesday Book of 1086 and means “Leofa’s village”, derived from the Olde English pre– 7th Century personal name “Leofa”, meaning “dear, or beloved” and “tun”, a settlement or farm.

John Leynton (1455 – 1505) represented the Borough of Cambridge in the Parliaments of 1489 – 1490 and 1491 – 1492 during the reign of King Henry V11. He was the first Recorder of Cambridge in 1494. Rather pleased to discover that in 1584 Arms were granted to the Lentons of Aldwinkle in Northants (where I visited the church a few years ago). These have the blazon of a silver field, a bend between two gold dolphins embowed.

Oliver would be pleased. He likes dolphins.

Limping towards the end of the year

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It’s the last day of the year, and half-hearted grey rain is just about managing to fall from a half-hearted grey sky. It’s as if the year is struggling to make it to the end and may not quite get there. Dot and I are on our own. David is still in Caddington, where he has revamped the children’s rooms (viewed on Facetime), and I believe Oliver and Amy are returning from Lapland some time today. Our projected New Year’s Eve dinner with the Robinsons has been called off because Philip is unwell, but as compensation we have two Robinson tickets for Norwich v Fulham this afternoon (Norwich lost 2-0 to Spurs on Dec 27 – see last post).

I have just had a letter complaining that Siemens have been unable to effect entry to our property to check our gas meter and making vaguely threatening noises about applying to the court for a warrant. This is nonsense, as as far as I’m aware they haven’t made any attempt to look at the meter. When I rang them they couldn’t change their unilaterally arranged visit because their system was down. I think I shall apply to the court for a warrant to ensure that I have access to their system. Or I may ring back later.

Oddly, I don't have a usable picture of Dot's Uncle Frank, who died this week, but this is Oliver and Jessie during our visit there last week. Oliver is sitting in Frank's chair.

Sadly, we have lost a family member over Christmas: Dot’s Uncle Frank, who has been suffering from Alzheimer’s for years, died of pneumonia at Wroxham late on Wednesday. I had to travel to Coventry with Phil to take Andrew back on the Thursday, but Dot went out in the evening to spend some time with her aunt, and we’re visiting her tomorrow afternoon.

The journey to Coventry went smoothly enough, though the weather was indifferent: after leaving Andrew we stopped for a meal at the usual Chef on the way back. While he was with us in Norwich we took him to buy some new clothes (mainly underwear), and we made the customary trips to Dunston Common and the Rosary  – where David, Dot, Oliver, Amy and I had put some flowers on Dad and Mum’s grave earlier. I also took him on a drive to Loddon, Hardley, Langley, Claxton, Rockland, Bramerton and Wood’s End, where the skies were clear and the place was deserted. Beautiful sunset seen from Hardley, where we also visited a very cold church. Andrew himself was OK much of the time, but finds it difficult to deal with change in routine, so in future we may more often visit him in Coventry and take him out for drives, rather than transplant him to Norwich. He has few remaining acquaintances here.

I should mention that during his visit Phil brought Sam and Lucy round, and Sam gave me a copy of his new book, It was the tree’s fault – a collection of monologues.

Last night Dot and I ventured out into the rain to go to the cinema, where we saw the new version of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which was riveting, though disturbingly violent in places. Daniel Craig and his co-star Rooney Mara – in fact, all the cast – were sharp and compelling.

Dot is still suffering from problems with dizziness – a particularly bad bout while washing her hair this morning – and will have to go back to the doctor. Happily, she is not feeling ill in between the bouts, which are not frequent.

Fresh air and ginger beer

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One of the easier clues in the picture quiz

Blink and you’ve missed it. Yes, Christmas Day is over, Boxing Day followed swiftly after, and now the day after Boxing Day is moving towards a close. Andrew is with us, and this morning we replenished his wardrobe, much of which had mysteriously gone missing when I picked him up from Coventry on Monday. So new socks, pants, shirts, pyjamas… Where are the originals? No-one knows.

We finished off  the turkey at lunchtime and tonight polished off some steak. Between the two Andrew and I drove to the Rosary and then to Dunston Common, just for a change. Now Dot is listening to Norwich v Spurs: it’s coming up to halftime, and the score is 0-0. Andrew is watching Pride and Prejudice. I can’t remember what I’m doing.

The grandchildren are in Lapland, and David is in Caddington. We had a really nice Christmas Day together, with David’s health gradually improving. More picture quizzes and lots of exciting present-opening. Amy observed that it might be a good idea to have a present a day through the year instead of opening them all on one day. I’m not sure if she’s calculated that she would get  more that way…

The three of them left at noon on Boxing Day, and I left for Coventry at the same time. Lots of cars on the road, but because there were almost no lorries, things moved pretty smoothly, and the journey both ways was easy. Only problem was that I felt very tired on the way back and had to stop a couple of times for fresh air and a swig of ginger beer.

Fieldwalking: too many explanations

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The starting line, with one person hanging back...

Autumn is on its way: chillier times forecast for the rest of this week. But we’ve been fortunate over the last few days, when we’ve had a lot of sun and warmish weather. The Paston poetry book is on its way to being completed. I have got just about everything to David, and I’m pretty excited about the way it’s looking. It’s involved quite a lot of work, but it should be worth it. After delivering early versions on CD to Rob and Lucy, I took one to UEA to give to Caroline on Thursday, had a chat with her about it, and in the evening we were able to duscuss her reactions (and everyone else’s) at the Paston trustees’ meeting.

That set me up nicely for a visit to Coventry on the Friday, with Phil driving. Really easy journey over there in glorious weather, and the meeting went well, all of us agreeing on maintaining the status quo. Andrew again seemed very well; we took him to buy some jeans at Matalan afterwards, and then for a very good meal at Fridays, followed by a trip down Memory Lane – the lane in this case involving Beanfield Avenue, The Chesils and certain parts of north Coventry which I did not know before or during our visit there. Yes, we got lost – but not seriously, and Andrew was actually able to guide us back towards the end. He was in good form.

During the trip we just avoided a nasty accident when a car pulled out in front of us: Phil managed to avoid both the car and a crowd of women on the nearside pavement, which was quite an achievement. Later, as we were about to enter the M6, another car shot round from our left and in front of us. The slower the speed limits, the crazier the drivers. Happily, Joy was praying for us. The journey home was not bad, though we had to detour around Elveden as usual.

On Saturday Dot and I went fieldwalking in Paston as part of the latest project. I suspected this might not be my cup of tea, and it wasn’t – but I’m glad we gave it a go. It was another lovely day, and it would have been nice to spend longer than the ten minutes or so that we devoted to actually finding artefacts. Richard Hoggett, who was in charge, was if anything too thorough in his preparation and said the same things several times. But a lot of it was interesting. On the whole, though, I am not all that enthused by bits of things from a long time ago: there always seems to me to be too many possible explanations for things being what and where they are, and the ones settled on are too random. (Dot managed to listen to the Norwich City game while fieldwalking: we beat Swansea 3-1.)

Sunday was a quieter day after another child-friendly communion service, though we did manage to lock ourselves out of the hall after Elizabeth bolted the kitchen door and the Yale-operated main door slammed shut. Had to fetch the Yale key from the vicarage , but no real problem.

Acting independently

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Andrew at Winterton

Andrew is safely back in Coventry, and The Langleys have just rung to say they’re getting him a new bus pass and would like his National Insurance number. The rest of the weekend passed in a bit of a haze as far as I was concerned. Three of us made it to a really excellent meal at the Rushcutters (Andrew, Phil and myself). Dot was too ill with tonsillitis and is only now on the road to recovery, having been to see a nurse practitioner on Monday morning. The latter was shocked at the state of Dot’s throat and prescribed her some penicillin, which she has been taking and which seems to have worked efficiently.

It was with some trepidation that I embarked on Sunday. Phil didn’t feel able to take Andrew to Surrey after their plumbing ordeal had left both him and Joy very tired; so he came with me to St Augustine’s, and this went surprisingly well, even though I was the sole member of the worship group as well as preaching and leading the intercessions. He sat himself away from me and chatted to other members. I didn’t feel I had prepared the sermon very well, but I got a good response from people, so I presume God had been acting independently of me, as it were. Spent the rest of the day looking after Dot and Andrew, though he and I did venture out for a walk up to the Rosary. Didn’t walk very far, but he seemed quite tired.

On Monday after taking Dot to the nurse (which consumed over an hour), I took Andrew for a drive to Winterton. We fitted in a two-mile walk, but again he seemed tired, which is surprising for someone who apparently does long walks at home. Phil had recovered enough to drive us to Coventry, which was a bit of a relief, and the roads were good, probably because we didn’t leave till after 3pm and had a meal at Thrapston; so our return journey was in the evening, and traffic was light. On the way out we dropped off some sugar at Ethel’s. Sweet, or what? She looked surprisingly well.

Worked on financial matters most of yesterday, but did manage a two-mile walk. I’m trying to fit in a walk every day: today I went to the bank and would have taken a more circuitous route home if it hadn’t started to rain. Dot is up and has done some washing, but I am keeping a close eye to make sure she doesn’t overdo it.