Left you teetering on the brink last time: I can now reveal that we did go to theatre (in a taxi) and managed to get through it without any explosive outbursts of coughing, sneezing or screaming. The show was Sunset Boulevard, and the reason we were there was because Linda, the dentist’s wife who we’ve known for thousands of years, had the lead role. She was very good too, as were the male lead and the younger love interest, but the show itself is not brilliant. Some good choreography and chorus work, and probably the one memorable song, which I’ve now forgotten. During the interval we had drinks with the Hendersons, and in the circle we sat behind Ross (the dentist) and his daughter, so were able to make approving noises which should find their way back to Linda.

That was on Monday last week. The next day Dot went on a retreat with Anna to Clare Priory in Suffolk. She was still far from well (with the additional problem of diarrhoea caused by the antibiotics) but really enjoyed her two-day stay. While she was there I took my brother Phil to Bowthorpe hospital (with Joy) for orthopaedic triage – he has problems wth his spine. He is now officially under the surgeon, though this doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll have an operation.

On Friday we felt well enough for our scheduled weekend in Buxton with the Evetts, though I’d warned them that we had few reserves of energy, and seven-mile walks were probably out of the question. In the event we didn’t walk very far. On the Saturday we drove through the Winant’s Pass to Castleton, which brought back memories of one of our youthful haunts, though we couldn’t locate where we used to stay. The sky was blue but there was a bitter wind, and later on it started snowing. We did a tour of the Peak Cavern, which has a very low section that I vaguely remember. We then had a pub lunch and walked round the town in the snow until we found an outdoors shop and I bought a proper cap, which was certainly more appropriate than my baseball cap.

More snow was  promised, but in fact most of it vanished overnight, and on Sunday it just rained incessantly. It was quite a bit warmer, which I believe is known as small compensation, because “warm” is a relative term and wet is wet. However Dave came up trumps with a visit to Hathersage and David Mellor’s design factory, which kept us safely indoors for most of the day. There was an excellent cafe and a kitchen shop that even I found interesting. We also went on a tour of the unique cutlery factory, built on the site of a gas holder.

Returning home on Monday, we stopped at a cafe in Darley Dale with the Evetts (not sure why) and then went our separate ways. Dot and I ended up in Coventry to see Andrew, who seemed a bit bemused as to why we’d come. However he seemed pleased when we took him out for a short walk. It was still very blustery, but not too cold, and he got a look at a building site that interested him. Afterwards Dot and I drove home, stopping at Cambridge Services for a Kentucky Fried Chicken and arriving in Norwich before 7pm.

We could have done with a quiet day after that, but no such luck. At 10.30 yesterday we were at the Archant Coffee Morning, which was quite pleasant, and afterwards Dot had a quite long meeting at Little Plumstead. In the evening she went and watched Norwich lose 3-0 to Spurs, rather as expected. If we go down it will be because we threw away the win over Liverpool.

While she was there I went to the Book Hive for the launch of Keiron Pim’s book on David Litvinoff. The place was packed. I chatted to Steve and Sandra Snelling and a couple of other people, and later to Rowan (Keiron’s wife) and briefly to Pete Kelley. The Hive hadn’t got enough books in to cope with demand, and so I’ve ordered it from Amazon. Keiron was interviewed by a fellow author and came over very well. When I was editorial training manager at Archant I recruited both Keiron and Rowan. They now have three daughters, and Rowan is a teacher.

I’m glad to say that both Dot and I are appreciably better, though by no means 100%. We still cough quite a bit, but our energy levels are up.

Remember the cough? I still have it, and I’m getting pretty fed up, I can tell you. My head is still not clear. Even worse, Dot’s symptoms came back with a vengeance and she was in bed nearly all day yesterday, coughing, sneezing and taking Paracetamol. We are supposed to be going to the theatre tonight, and Dot is as ever optimistic, but I’m not sure how she intends to suppress her spluttering. I’m also a bit nervous about having a coughing fit myself. Oh, joy.

To complicate matters, Dot’s cyst on her thigh has also grown again. She went to see the nurse, and she’s now on antibiotics.

She did cancel her UEA diabetes-research appointment this morning, and we had our hair cut last Thursday, which encouraged us a little. Dot went into the city with Anne on Friday, which may not have been a good idea. Philip’s test results were not the best he could have hoped for, which is a bit worrying.

On Saturday Dot was keen to go and order the other sofa at Better Furniture, which we did – having been reassured by the manager about the colour. After hesitating, we also bought a velvet chair in the same style. Yes, we are squandering our son’s inheritance.

In the afternoon I went to Mundesley for the final short story workshop, after watching the first half of the Norwich-Liverpool match on BT sport. We were winning 2-1, and later managed 3-1, but nevertheless managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and lost 5-4, following a 95th-minute goal, thus adding to the prevailing gloom aroused by Dot’s returning symptoms. I don’t think I slept more than an hour on Saturday night.

I did get to church, though. This was a bit of a struggle, because everyone who could sing wasn’t there. I can normally sing a bit, but the cough plays havoc with my voice. Despite this, I had to do Dot’s prayers, read the first lesson and lead the chants as well. Nightmare. The vicar did a sermon on the inclusive love of God. Afterwards I waited till he’d gone before telling Ray, Chris and Elizabeth about one of his reasons for doing this. This sounds sneaky, but it’s not a secret; he knew the congregation would be told and he could have told them himself. It would have fitted nicely in his sermon. All very confusing.

The sky is blue this morning. I think I may have to go to the shop and buy some food. Dot is out of bed and dressed but still upstairs. I have sent off the final version of my short story and declined a couple of dates to visit the Coomes, while offering others.

Evening at Bramerton Woods End, after Geoff Saunders’ funeral.

Dot and I continue to make some improvement and have been out and about, purchasing a new sofa and a new bed from Oakfurnitureland. I don’t know what wood they’re made of – oh, wait…yes, I do. The bed will be delivered in a few weeks, but the sofa is handmade and won’t be ready till May. We looked at a leather sofa in another shop but hesitated at the last minute when the colour on the swatch didn’t match the sofa on show.

We completed the purchase today after reconnoitring on Tuesday. Today we also went to see Auntie Jessie on her birthday and had sausage rolls. Afterwards we went to the cemetery and also to the Rosary, leaving daffodils in our wake. After that Dot cleaned the roof of her car and then came in and had her hair cut. Me too, of course.

Yesterday we had a mammoth shop at Morrisons, and on Tuesday we went to Cake and Compline at the Archers’. A very pleasant evening, except that Bridget had a bad cold. The weather has been very cold too: snow in Caddington, but not here. Frost on the windscreen, though.

Monday was quite intense, starting for me with a Paston trustees’ meeting at Mundesley and continuing for both of us with a strange DCC meeting at Howard’s. We went through a huge amount of business – including my finance report – knowing that there was an elephant in the room. I think that’s the phrase. At last the vicar said in his closing points that he was proposing to set up in a civil partnership with a young Ghanaian who needed a visa to get into the country. We agreed to discuss it as a congregation in a couple of weeks’ time. Lots of disquiet.

Church on Sunday had been enjoyable, with a lovely sermon from Eleanor, and I managed to play the hymns without coughing. The cough is still lurking, however.

We did make it to the Julian meeting, and it proved very enjoyable. Anandi was there, and so was Elaine from St Luke’s, plus Vicky, Judy, Debbie and of course the Greens, who were their usual hospitable selves. Unfortunately we didn’t feel well enough to walk; so I had to restrict my wine intake.

Since then Dot has managed to fulfil all her appointments while still being far from fit. I seemed to be getting better but now feel worse again. I had to get up early on Thursday to get to an 8.40 hospital eye appointment, which went all right (I have a small cyst on my retina that is apparently “insignificant”, according to the Russian doctor).

That wasn’t too bad, but I didn’t feel like doing much afterwards. Yesterday we took Anna and Liz to Geoff Saunders’ funeral at Surlingham: weather was sunny but cold, and we came out of the church to find our car jammed in at the back of a huge agglomeration of cars in a farmyard being used as a car park. Had to wait, of course, but then drove to Woods End for the wake (having left Liz to find her own way home) and had a pleasant chat with an 84-year-old Czech lady from Bergh Apton.

Afterwards Anna came back for another cup of tea and a bit of a discussion about the future of the church, and then Dot and I went to the Hendersons’ for a meal. About that time I started to feel quite ill, and eventually I had diarrhoea – after which I felt a bit better.

Today, after a poor night, I have a headache and feel cold, and I still haven’t got rid of my cough. My stomach also feels a bit fragile. I’m getting pretty fed up with feeling ill.

On the plus side a contact through Genes Reunited sent me a picture of Dot’s grandmother Emma with her father Oliver, a few months old, on her lap. Lovely picture.

Disappointingly, I’m still far from well. My cough keeps threatening to clear up, then decides not to. I never feel quite warm enough, and my head is fuzzy. I also have a sore eye, which is a novelty. Fortunately I have an unrelated eye appointment at the hospital on Thursday morning at some unearthly hour; so I shall at least be able to ask about it.

I haven’t been out much, but have been to the shops a couple of times. Dot is now up and about but still coughing quite a bit; however, she seems to be progressing a bit more than I am, though that may be because she’s better at hiding feeling ill. She did go to Park Farm this morning and called at Morrisons afterwards.

I have, however, been to Coventry. I got a call on Saturday from Minster Lodge saying Andrew was in a bad way. I spoke to Andrew, and he didn’t seem too bad, but I thought I ought to go and see him, especially as I hadn’t been able to give him his Christmas presents because of my illness. Happily it was an easy journey in reasonable weather, and I didn’t really have any problems.

I was with him for about an hour and a half, and gave him his presents and had quite long chat. I don’t think there was any real need for me to have gone, but it was a relief to have got the journey over with. I also dropped off Joe and Birgit’s Christmas present on the way!

The journey back wasn’t quite so easy, and it started raining after I’d stopped at Cambridge Services, but there was no real problem, though I was very tired, of course. Having trouble remembering when I didn’t feel tired, in fact.

Obviously I’m able to do things (unlike the first week) and have managed to complete the church financial report, which is a bit of a relief. Tonight we’re supposed to be going to he Greens’ for a Julian meeting, but not sure if we’ll make it. Part of me thinks if I just stay indoors I’ll never get better…

I see I was a bit optimistic there. Still feeling decidedly less than hunky dory, though I am able to move around and have even left the house twice: yesterday to get a puncture fixed on my car and today to go to the shop and buy us some supper, which I later cooked. Roast leg of lamb, since you ask.

I still have a lot of tiredness and congestion, though it’s looser and will no doubt clear up soon. (See how the optimism keeps creeping back.) Dot, however, is full of catarrh and has almost all the symptoms I had, plus a sore throat. Determined not to let people down, she fulfilled her P4C date in north London yesterday, but was in a sad state when she got back. She has been in bed since, apart from brief visits to the living room.

Everything on the horizon has been cancelled, including a performance by our band on Friday and a visit to London on Saturday (to meet Heather and Simon). Happily Geoff Saunders’ funeral is not till Friday week; so we should make that.

Just made it to the last post of the year. I’ve been in bed for the last three days with a really bad upper respiratory tract infection – my personal vote for hell on earth – but it retreated overnight, and I now have just have a very bad cough, a tight feeling in my chest and general fragility in the upper body area. It arrived late on Sunday, just after David and the children left, and necessitated the cancelling of my eye appointment at hospital yesterday  and the end-of-year celebrations planned for tonight.

I’m overwhelmingly grateful that it didn’t arrive earlier and spoil the Christmas celebrations with our family. They arrived as scheduled on the 21st, and the children loved the new room arrangements, with Oliver in my study and Amy in Dot’s study.

The next few days were busy, but we managed to fit in some games and a couple of quizzes, as well visits to the Maddermarket to see The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (cold theatre, but excellent production) and the Odeon to see the latest Star Wars. The latter was nothing short of superb. David and I both wanted to see it again.

On the Tuesday we also fitted in visits to Rosie, the cemetery, Auntie Sheila (fleeting) and Jessie, who supplied her usual excellent mince pies.

On Christmas Eve we were invited to the Hendersons’ for a buffet supper, which was very pleasant, especially as my god-daughter Holly was present. Also some old acquaintances from Saxlingham and the Butchers from Cringleford. As I was leaving I was introduced to Robin Myerscough, who had some fond memories of my Aunt Dorothea. He had the Philip Butcher role of Chaplain at Norwich School for some time many years ago.

Christmas Day was lovely: Dot provided an excellent Waitrose turkey repast, and the children got advanced gadgets: Amy a laptop and Oliver a Playstation game and a Bluetooth version of Scalextrix that was a considerable improvement on the original. After this it proved increasingly difficult to access the TV, and the only thing Dot and I saw over Christmas was Downton Abbey.

David bought us an Apple wi-fi extension that enables us to hear music from our phones played through our hi-fi set-up – brilliant – and thanks to an extension cable, enables us to access things like iPlayer directly from the TV.

On Boxing Day Kevin, Lisa and Matthew came over for the afternoon: Kevin’s new job seems to be going well. On the Sunday (when we gave the joint service at St Luke’s a miss) Richard came over with Maddy and Darcy and stayed for lunch. On Monday, Norwich beat Aston Villa 2-0; so everything was hunky dory. Hopeful in a day or two I may be feeling hunky dory too.

We missed Jack Earl’s funeral, because no-one told us when it was, and it was much sooner than I expected it to be. It was in fact last Wednesday at Southrepps, while Dot was having lunch with Carrie. Later in the afternoon, oblivious, we had our hair cut and in the evening went to the orchestra Christmas dinner at Cosmo’s, which has replaced Habitat on London Street.

The latter was interesting, because it was a serve-yourself, eat-anything restaurant that tempts you to eat far too much, with food ranging from Chinese to roast beef, and suchi. You are served with drinks,and everything is cleaned away very efficiently so that you can have another shot. I liked it. I sat at the end opposite Yvonne, who plays bass clarinet and comes from Scotland but now lives on Newmarket Road. She was very interested in what Dot does (who isn’t?), and we had an interesting conversation.

The next day, the Higbees came for lunch, but not before Dot and I drove to Hempnall to load up some sugar for the Eagles as part of rather sweet charity event. Then Dot drove with them to Rodham (three cars) while I returned home in her car and cooked some chilli con carne. It all came together when Dot arrived only moments after the Higbees. The lunch was OK, and we had a pleasant afternoon.

They left just before 4pm, and about a quarter of an hour after they went and just as I’d finished getting rid of the dirty dishes, Jude knocked on the door with a card; I invited her in, and she stayed for an hour and a half, drinking sherry. As she’s extremely entertaining, this was a bonus.

On Friday, the hectic activity continued. We both went to the PHS Christmas get-together which – in the absence of Rob and Penny, who were in Kent supervising the birth of their grandchild Enid – was a bit chaotic. Lucy had gone to sleep and was half an hour late; we had to buy our own drinks and mince pies, and the whole thing would probably never have got going if I hadn’t persuaded late arrival Lucy to stand up and introduce it. After she had done so (very effectively), Peter showed some excellent videos, in one of which (not quite so excellent) I read a Paston letter. It was around this point that I asked Lucy when the funeral was going to be, and discovered it had taken place two days earlier.

In the evening Dot and I went for a light meal with the Robinsons, which featured some excellent salmon. Philip is anticipating much medical intervention: a prostate biopsy and a new hip. I felt quite sorry for him: he is booked on a cruise in January and intends to go.

Much of Saturday morning was taken up with last-minute Christmas shopping, during which we had a break in M&S cafe. We managed to get home in time for Dot to hear most of Norwich City’s game at Manchester United, and she was totally over the moon when we won 2-1. A real Christmas present for her. I don’t feel I have to buy her anything now.

Yesterday saw our usual Alternative Carol Service, which I wrote and presented. It went surprisingly well in view of our lack of rehearsal, and we got a very good response from the 24 or so present, who included Vicky and her mum and dad, plus Liz and David Cannon. This was followed by an exceptionally good Christmas meal.

My attempts over the weekend to get in touch with Joe and Birgit fell on straight-to-voicemail ears; I decided at the last minute that taking their present to Hethersett was a waste of time as they had probably left early for Germany. So I left a message on their phone, but I still haven’t had a reply.

This morning Dot and did all the food shopping at Waitrose and got home just before it poured with rain, and not long before we took delivery of a parcel for David. Quite relieved that we were home when it arrived. We are now awaiting the arrival of David, O)liver and Amy, who appear to be on the A11.

Unsurprisingly, much time has been consumed  over the past week with wrapping presents and writing cards, plus quite a bit of furniture rearrangement. After a false dawn on Saturday, Colin eventually came on Monday morning and transferred the shelves upstairs; so Dot and I now have separate studies, and I think both rooms look quite good. Hope the children agree.

It was a very wet weekend. On Saturday I drove to Mundesley for the third of the Paston Heritage Society writing workshops at a the Royal Hotel. I left slightly late because Norwich City were playing Everton on BT Sport. Dot was at the match, but I watched a bit before I left. Norwich City were playing very badly, and I was amazed later to find they had drawn 1-1 and could easily have won. So I was a few minutes late at Mundesley, and only five of us were there (including the tutor). It was quite interesting; I put up a vigorous defence of my use of commas and dashes, which was fun.

Later Dot and I went by bus with Anne and Philip to Jamie’s for a meal. No doubt because of the proximity to Christmas, this was much rowdier than usual, and the meal wasn’t as good as we expected. The free elements (on Dot’s gold card) were by far the best – a taste of pumpkin soup (with amoretto) to start and a mince pie to finish. However, our waitress was excellent. Philip and I waited for a bus back, but the women walked – beating us only because they ran, and Philip can only walk very slowly nowadays. Unsportsmanlike, I call it.

Yesterday seemed an odd day to me, but it started in lively enough fashion with the Archant canteen Christmas lunch. This was a bit heavy (possibly because I opted for the wrong things) but again the starter was very good and the canteen staff very friendly and helpful. Brian and Tricia, Robin and Shelagh and Paul and Maryta were there with quite a goodly number of others.  Afterwards Dot and I went and bought a printer from Ryman’s, and I ran into Richard “Batso” Batson doing a bit of shopping. He has recently “retired” from Archant and is working for a different company in a PR role, which he seems to be enjoying.

Meanwhile Dot was busy buying a white printer to match the decor of the bedroom, and when we got out of the shop there was an unpleasant drizzle in the air which made the walk home unpleasant and seemed to literally put a damper on the day, which gave up the ghost. It was almost dark before 3pm.

At home I installed the printer (resorting to reading the instructions after an initial fail), and it now seems to be OK, though the print is not as clean as it should be. Spent some time trying to work out how to clean the nozzle. Haven’t cracked it yet. On the plus side, it does fit the decor of the room, and it does work wirelessly, though I have a connecting wire in reserve.

Dot has been out and about today and is now at Little Plumstead for a governors’ meeting of some kind. It’s a toss-up whether she gets back before she’s due to have her hair cut. No word from Linda.

Very sad news yesterday: Geoff Saunders has died after a long struggle to recover from his operation and subsequent stroke. He had a couple of falls, breaking his arm and then getting a blood infection. He then had a heart attack while in a nursing home. I had visited him several times when he was in hospital and then at home afterwards, but thought he was recovering.

The newish vicar and our friend Judy came to an evening meal on Friday last week, and it was a pleasant time. He wasn’t feeling on top of the world, and I forgot to mention a couple of things I meant to, but apart from that it was OK.  We showed them a few of our pictures, purely because David (the vicar) had previously asked us when we were going to invite him round to see our pictures. Two can play at that game 🙂

The next day we saw him (and Judy) again when we went carol-singing in Anglia Square. There had been a lot of confusion leading up to this as to prospective musicians; so I didn’t take my guitar, which turned out to be a good decision. We had one guitarist, a guy named Richard from St Luke’s, and with amplification that worked well. There were about 14 of us – an equal number from each church – plus the vicar, who was pretty pro-active with carol sheets and giveaways for watching children. We both enjoyed it, as did most people who came by. About £80 was collected for refugees.

Before we started, Dot ran into Rupert Mallin, and we had a chat. Good to see him.

That evening Joe and Birgit came round for supper. Both of them seemed in good health compared to recent months, and Joe’s business seems to be getting somewhere. They are going to Germany for Christmas. Phil and Joy are going to Southampton to be with Sam, Lucy and Elliott for nearly a fortnight; so I guess they must be feeling better too.

On Sunday I preached and followed it up by assisting Dot in dramatically changing the rooms round to accommodate Oliver’s bed downstairs. We put the big filing cabinet in the hall, where it looks surprisingly  in place, and I used the opportunity (both on Sunday and Monday) to weed out lots of redundant paper from the files. I have now been through the top three drawers and will leave the bottom drawer until the new year and I’ve forgotten how painful the other three drawers were. The bookcase went into the kitchen and then upstairs. I have now contacted Colin (At Your Convenience) to come and move the shelves on Saturday, so that Dot has a study upstairs. I will of course have to buy her a printer, preferably one which uses the same cartridges as mine.

That still leaves the garage to be restored to some sort of order…

Also on Monday I went up to Boots to collect my new glasses, which are rather startling frame-wise, but fortunately Dot is happy with them. My eyes seem reasonably happy too, though they have been watering a lot over recent weeks. I have a hospital appointment on December 30, after having been booked into the wrong clinic by mistake on a different day. No problem with my vision, I’m happy to say.

A couple of frustrating days followed, when I was unable to get to grips with stuff I needed to do for various reasons. But on Tuesday we had a Christmas “meal and compline” at our house, with David, Bridget, Judy and Vicky. We all supplied part of the meal.

Yesterday, while Dot was attending a DSSO meeting at Easton with Paul, I posted a wildlife magazine and letter to Andrew and then bought some flowers for Mum’s grave, as it was her 104th birthday. I took them up to the Rosary in the afternoon while Dot was shopping. I also managed to almost finish my Paston short story and got a reasonable ending out of it.

Meanwhile, sad to say that Jack Earl has died – aged, I believe, 102.