Tag Archives: paston

Bears walking off the shelves

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One of the two award-winning dens, with its creators

Delightful week, despite the chill wind for much of it. Son and grandchildren visited, and Philip and Jane and their two children camped nearby in the Premier Inn; we spent most of the time together, and I even missed an Archant agm, I was having so much fun.

Our family arrived on Monday. I was due to play chess against Yosif in the evening, but typically he didn’t show up, and I returned for a quiet evening. On Tuesday the Coomes arrived, and we organised lunch and supper for nine. In the afternoon most of us walked into the city by way of the Cathedral Close (leaving Dot fixing the evening food) and then went to the Museum, followed by the Norwich City shop, where I bought a Canaries bag for Oliver and two teddy bears for Amy – one pink and one a traditional yellow. Apparently the NCFC teddy bears are walking off the shelves in the current climate of optimism. As I write City are 2-1 up against Nottingham Forest, being watched by Dot, who got a free ticket from the Robinsons.

On Wednesday we all went to Bewilderwood and survived the chill quite well, considering. Ended up in a den-making competition, with Dot spearheading one, and Phil and David leading the other. Both did exceptionally well, I thought. Another meal at ours in the evening, but the trend changed on Thursday, which was a bit warmer, in a relative sort of way. Everyone except me went to Cromer (Dot by train), bercause I had to wait for the alarm to be serviced and then go to the dentist to have a crown fitted. Not an actual crown, though that would probably have been cheaper. The process (with earlier preparation) left me with little change from £1200, which is about £1000 too much for any tooth work, in my opinion. Of course, I wouldn’t tell the dentist that. They have drills.

Owing to an earlier blunder, I had booked Dot and me into the Maddermarket in the evening, so instead of enjoying a leisurely meal in the Premier Inn with the others, we had a quick starter and then hurtled up to the theatre for an excellent performance of Alan Bennett’s 40 Years On. Sat next to James Goffin – to whom I owe my four years’ teaching at UEA (I took over his course) – and afterwards had a chat with David Newham, another former colleague and long-established Maddermarket actor, who said he was hoping for a part in the forthcoming Under Milk Wood.

Today was much warmer, but it was also the day of departure for our visitors. In the morning we took them up to Mousehold and had a game of football which I feel may take me several days to recover from. Good fun, though. Oliver is dead keen, and very skilful too. Amy organised a party lunch with some assistance from Dot (or should that be the other way round?), and I said goodbye early to meet Anna at the Castle. We were supposed to proceed to Dragon Hall for a meeting on Paston plans, but Sarah at Dragon Hall postponed twice within 24 hours, so I had to spend almost an hour with Anna, which was of course a real trial, not to say very pleasant indeed. Someone needs to get an armlock on Sarah, though.

Blue sky, cold wind

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David and Kristine Coomes at Blakeney

That blue sky is still with us – or with us again, depending on when you last looked. Reasonably warm today, so the visiting Coomes took a walk with us in the Rosary (Kristine is big on cemeteries) before heading home. Earlier we’d been to church, where I led the service and was relieved that Paul Cracknell, scheduled to preach, rose from his sick bed to join us. Odd sequence of events leading up to this: Howard was down to preach but had arranged a visit to a nephew in Scotland; apologised that he’d found no-one to take his place; at Dot’s suggestion I asked Margaret to do it, and she accepted, albeit reluctantly. Then, midweek, I got a call from Paul telling me what he would be preaching on: apparently Howard had effected a swap with him but hadn’t mentioned it to me. After discussions with both Paul and Margaret it was agreed that Paul would do it, as it was his last opportunity before he and Heather left the church. Then, on Saturday morning, I saw a general Tweet from his wife Heather saying he’d taken to his bed with flu. Cue panic from me and an attempt to work together a brief talk in case he failed to recover. But he did make it, and gave what I thought was an inspiring sermon.

Not a good week for organising things. Earlier had made several attempts to fix a date for five Paston poets to meet to discuss project; I went offline for an evening and in my absence they settled on a date I couldn’t do. So I came back with an alternative, and now I think we’re fixed on the afternoon of June 26. But it was a bit of an effort.

Back to the Coomes: they arrived on Saturday afternoon, and after coffee and biscuits we went to Blakeney for tea and scones at the Blakeney Hotel first-floor lounge, with its famous view over the marshes. Following this a brief walk out along the cut, but there was a bitterly cold wind despite the inviting blue sky. So in fairly quick order we drove on to Salthouse, where we enjoyed a brief foray on to the beach over the shingle bank, then on through Cromer to the cemetery at North Walsham. You remember that Kristine likes cemeteries? This one featured in a poem I wrote, and so there was a literary link. Not quite so cold there, but it wasn’t long before we proceeded via Field Lane (literary link number two) and through Wroxham home. Enjoyed a late dinner at Bishop’s and the revealing walk back along Prince of Wales Road just after 11pm.

Two more walks last week: on Wednesday I did the Paston walk around Norwich and got very tired in warm sunshine. Took a long time over it, though it’s probably less than three miles. St Peter Hungate was unfortunately shut when it shouldn’t have been, and I couldn’t find William Paston’s grave in the Cathedral, despite asking. Wasn’t feeling very well that day. The next day I did a 2-3-mile walk with Dot along the River Tiffey from Wymondham Abbey after a visit to Park Farm. Quite a bit cooler, but still pleasant, though the walk was not one I would recommend: too much wire, and the circular aspect was closed “due to lambing”. Everyone we met had a dog, and the Abbey itself was shut. What’s that all about?

On Friday we took a load of stuff to the tip, which was only slightly less picturesque. Got rid of an old box, which I suddenly felt sentimental about, because it harked back to my childhood. Wrote a poem about it.

Fish, chips and curry

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Walking meditation

Just back from a brief visit to the chess club. I had been due to play a Bulgarian (Yosif) in the club tournament, but he rang to say he couldn’t make it. However, I was second reserve in our cup team, so I thought I’d better put in an appearance. Had a quick offhand game, then CP put in an appearance and said he was “fighting off flu”, which I guess is OK if you’re particularly self-centred. I turned down an offer to play him and his flu army, and returned home.

Quite relieved at not having to play, actually, as I’ve had a busy day catching up and preparing stuff to take to Coventry tomorrow for an interview with a woman from the council finance department. Andrew has just reached the stage where his money has reduced to such an extent that the council will have to pay his residential fees, and this has to be discussed. I also had to summarise some Board minutes for HG as well as fill in a Gift Aid form for church. And so on.

The catching up arose because Dot and I spent a couple of days assisting at a speaker event. The visitor this time was Fr Robert Kennedy from New York, who has some interesting ideas on zen and Christianity. Some of these ideas prompted me to write some poems, which got read out on the second day, but generally he was a little too radical for me, seeming unwilling to commit himself to anything, which I suppose is very zen. It clearly worked for him (and for some others) but not for me, despite the poetry. The poetry worked OK. The first-day weather was beautiful, which was fortunate because part of his “thing” was walking meditation, in which the entire audience (about 100) processed around the car park in Japanese style. On the second day it rained, and the walking meditation ended up indoors, which was a bit crowded. To be honest it all looked a bit silly, but I guess that’s a failure of imagination on my part.

The weather had also turned colder again, and it was still cold on Sunday – but dry, which was fortunate as we had to walk up to Magdalen Street to meet Heather, Sam and Simon with their friends Luke and Jenny. After a beer in the King’s Head we proceeded to the Ali Tandoori as usual for a curry. I was a bit nervous about this, as some unexpected fish and chips the previous night (first for ages) had given me a very bad night with acid reflux. But the curry worked out all right, perhaps because I took an extra pill. Or maybe I didn’t take the first pill. Who knows?

Had a very jolly time at Ali’s, ending with a sambuca. Luke and Jenny are moving to Loughborough, so it may be the last time we see them. However, I am now following Jenny on Twitter. The curry was in celebration of Sam’s 17th birthday and is becoming traditional. Hope his grandfather, with whom I went to university and played golf on Wimbledon Common, would approve.

Getting back to last Thursday, my dental appointment for crown preparation went surprisingly well. No pain, just rather lengthy discomfort – especially when taking the impression. No problems since with the temporary crown, despite my partaking enthusiastically of the sandwiches the same evening at the Ship Inn, Mundesley, venue for the Paston Heritage Society’s agm. Quite a pleasant evening. Chatted with Rob and Penny Knee for a while, and with others for a bit less of a while. We are getting to be almost regulars at the Ship Inn.

Breathtaking walk along the river

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Ducking the issue: looking for a handout at Thurne Staithe

It seems spring is really here – for a while, at least. Yesterday I even found myself reading outdoors, on a warm, sunny seat by the University Broad. I was on my way back from the hospital, where I had been told that I didn’t need what my GP had described as a “telescope up the bum”, because my mild abdominal discomfort was a result of scar tissue from the operation, which is what I thought. Relief, mainly.

The walk back through the university grounds and along the river to Cringleford was beautiful. I paused to watch a ladies’ soccer match early on, but it wasn’t really very good. The students had overflowed out of the university and were enjoying the sun, so I assume there were no lectures going on. The river was dead calm and the whole scene approaching Cringleford was pretty breathtaking.

In the evening we went to see a staging of Under Milk Wood by Crude Apache at Dragon Hall. Lovely setting in the medieval merchant house upstairs hall, with spectators sitting within inches of the actors! Really good performance.

Earlier in the week my Twitter contact Ryan came and did some aerial magic for us so that we can get digital in both bedrooms (if we get digital TVs, that is). Could be useful. The digital switchover for our area is this November.

On Monday I spent much of the afternoon at Blofield Church with Lucy, Jo and a couple of local enthusiasts, planning a Heritage Day featuring the Paston connection. Two later Paston tombs in the church, one of which (Margaret, late 17C) has a poem by Dryden on it. All sounded very promising, not least because they are very well organised as far as publicity goes. Meanwhile we are taking steps to move the Paston website somewhere nearer Paston where (more importantly) the content can be easily updated.

Blunder after the sandwich break

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Amy with picnic in the living room

Very little time in the past week to do anything very constructive in the way of writing. Not sure why that should be, since Dot was away for a day and a half at Dudley, doing her P4C thing. I did manage to write a poem, just in time to make the deadline for entry to the Norwich Writers’ Circle competition, which I won last year. In fact I entered seven poems and walked them up to the secretary’s house the other side of Colman Road to make sure they got there in time. It was also an excuse for a decent walk, and happily the weather was sunny, though cold. Managed a similar-length walk (just under four miles) the next day – Tuesday – after I dropped the car off for £500 worth of work (service, brakes, bodywork, MOT, European Assistance).

The following day Dot and I had a lie-in, watching a tape that Phil had lent me some time ago. During this I began to feel pretty ill, with a bad headache and sore eye, plus tiredness. Strange. Took several doses of paracetamol, which meant I had recovered sufficiently to drive to Diss in the evening for a chess match. Got a good position but blundered and lost following the sandwich break. Together with my draw on Monday, this brought to an end my unlikely run of five wins. Sad, but not as sad as the death of Phyllis Todd, the oldest member of our congregation, who was 100. Glad I saw her last week.

Oliver entirely without picnic in the living room

Happier times earlier in the past week, when David and the children came up to see us on Saturday and stayed overnight. The children came to church with us, and Oliver sat next to me and took it all in – or as much of it as he could. Not a tremendously child-friendly sermon, and he was the only child there, apart from Amy, who was upstairs with Dot. Afterwards we went to Prezzos for lunch. And the previous day we had a visit from Glenda and Peter, with whom we shared the train holiday in Switzerland two years ago. Lovely to see them again. Apparently not one of the four of us had changed a bit.

Later that day I went to a Paston trustees’ meeting at which it was decided – with some prompting from me and Jonathan – to demand an answer from the PCC and Trunch team about our potential lease of the church. They have spent huge amounts of time contradicting each other and dithering. We are now threatening to withdraw, which we hope will concentrate their minds.

Yesterday Dot and I went to the Assembly House for afternoon tea – a Christmas present bought for us by the Archers. Lovely food in a nice setting, though the service was a little slow and there was a great deal of rearranging the room while we were eating. Still, we really enjoyed it. I had previously visited our financial advisers to sign papers for a surrender of a policy which I thought I’d already surrendered, which means we will receive some unexpected money. Not a huge amount, but worth having.

Today we bought some paint and have spent time painting one of the walls in preparation for the new bookcase. Hope to finish tomorrow – in fact will have to, because I’ve just remembered we’re having people round for a meal tomorrow evening, a fact that had somehow got omitted from my diary, otherwise we probably wouldn’t have started on the painting. Ho hum. Wish I felt a bit more lively.

Chopping up vegetables

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Julia and Dot tackle a steep section towards the end of last Saturday's walk in Lyme Park

All is well again. Van man with fan turned up again and fixed the boiler, which is now running smoothly, and I think whatever was wrong with me has probably gone away. It’s also a beautiful sunny winter’s day, and I intend to go out for a walk this afternoon in an attempt to get some weight off. Did a couple of miles on Sunday and nearly four yesterday. Admittedly, the kettle is broken, but you can’t have everything.

Had a really good lunch at the Ship Inn, Mundesley, on Saturday to celebrate Jo Berry’s birthday. She didn’t say which one, and it would be rude to guess. There were about 40 people there, including Jonathan and Lucy; Rob Knee and his wife Penny; and unexpectedly Richard Batson, chief reporter at Cromer, and his wife Angie. Excellent food, and some good conversation, but the weather was pretty dull: grey and spattering with cold rain, carried on an enthusiastic wind. Turns out Jo is local correspondent for the EDP/North Norfolk News. Her husband John is a steam train enthusiast.

Spent much of the previous day chopping up vegetables: Dot was providing the soup for church lunch on Sunday – it could have been easy, but she likes to choose interesting recipes, and an alternative. I have to say the result was excellent, despite a minor panic on the day, when the soup refused to warm up as quickly as one might have liked. One being Dot, in this case.

Won another chess game last night, making five in a row. This one was particularly lucky, as my opponent, Steve Crane, overlooked a very promising sequence that I had calculated the wrong way round. He then went on to lose on time, as usual. If there were no time limit, his playing strength would soar. Earlier I took some cheques to pay in, in my new role as church treasurer-elect: these included a €55 one from Ireland, which called forth a staggering amount of paperwork and a £5 fee. You might think that in this day and age there might be a smoother system for coping with euros.

Look East last night poured all their immense resources (very little) into covering the English Defence League march in Luton, which managed to shut the town down without doing anything much at all. To be more accurate, the police shut the town down. Newsman Stewart meanwhile did the usual appalling job of interviewing the EDL leader, generating about ten times as much heat as light and refusing to let him answer any questions without interruption. I’m sure this generates more sympathy for extreme groups than exposing them by letting them speak. I ended up wanting to kick Stewart, which poses some interesting questions about what exactly provokes violence.

HIgh price of levelled lights

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Dot with the chest relocated to the garage. Quite a lot of captions rejected there.

Approaching the end of November and very wintry – apparently the earliest snow for 17 years. Not too much of it here – it barely settles and then disappears – but lots in the north (eg Scarborough) and our usual haunts in Scotland are badly hit. Still a bit uncertain how our journey to London will go tomorrow; according to the forecast, we should be all right if we can get out of Norfolk.

Enjoyed our lunch on Tuesday with Lucy and her friends, which showed signs of going on into the evening, but we had to go to the supermarket and then Tuesday Group at the Archers; so we left around 4pm. No time to call in at the garage, but we did that the next day after a visit to the tip to deposit some failed electrical items. Discovered a new automatic light leveller would cost £340: the service guy at the garage was as shocked as we were, and he’s booked the car in next week to see if some other method can be found of fixing it. Meanwhile, of course, no problem with it. We’ll see what happens on the way back from London on Sunday, after our much-postponed visit to the Coomes’.

We went to see 100-year-old Phyllis on same day and shared Communion with her, her daughter Janet, Nicholas and Elvira, in her little flat at Doughty’s Hospital while it poured with rain outside. Later, with exquisite timing, had our hair cut. Yesterday I went into the city and tried to get some sense out of the O2 shop regarding switching my old mobile phone data to my new one, including the number. Had three attempts and wasn’t happy with what they said, so I’ve decided to use the number that came with the iPhone. Now have to let everyone know, but as the people who actually ring me on my mobile can be counted on the toes of one foot, this shouldn’t be too arduous. For anyone who’s interested, the new number is 07543 804041.

Today our new unit for the hi-fi was delivered, and Dot has spent much of the day, with some help from me, rearranging and tidying up the house. The living room certainly looks good. Discovered loads of David’s old school and college stuff (including a monitor) in the old chest which is now relocated in the garage.

Glorious autumn – for one day only

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Stormy sky above Aldeburgh last weekend

Decided to go to Coventry on Wednesday, because it was forecast to be the only half-decent day this week. Didn’t start out too well, but in Coventry after a good drive the sun was shining and everything was glorious autumn. Andrew was in good form, and Julia came over to The Langleys to have a chat with us while I was there (I had remembered to phone her while en route, and fortunately she was free). The house seemed in better nick, especially Andrew’s room. After Julia left, Andrew and I went to Friday’s for a steak lunch. He had a gigantic sundae intended for two. Afterwards got some petrol and checked the tyres, which were strangely very low on one side. It may be that this was the cause of a problem with the automatic levelling of the headlights, because when I was on the way home, halfway across the Fens, the levelling suddenly sorted itself out, and has been OK ever since *touches wood*.

Journey back was not good. The A14 was solid after the A1: I realised just in time and turned north up the A1 before skirting north of Huntingdon and reaching the A141. There was another hold-up at Chatteris (heavy traffic at roundabout), but I thought I was making good progress when I reached Nordelph to find that the road to Downham Market was arbitrarily shut. No advance warning. Using my vast knowledge of the area 😉 I eventually located the totally unsigned alternative route via Barroway Drove.

Weather took a nose-dive on Thursday, with high winds and rain, but I managed to get to Paston in the evening for a trustees’ meeting. Slightly nervous journey home because wind was very strong, but no problem. Earlier Dot had become trapped in the Longwater shopping complex after the southern bypass was closed by an accident and traffic was gridlocked on the exit road into Norwich. It took more than an hour to clear, but fortunately Dot spotted that she could get back on to the bypass instead of travelling into Norwich, as most drivers were doing.

Today still very windy but dry, and I walked into the city to buy Dot’s birthday present, plus a couple of books, while she took the car for a valeting by some non-English and therefore very hardworking guys off Aylsham road. Great job!  She then had a meeting with head teacher friends in the city, and I went to Morrisons to restock an empty fridge. When Dot got home she was excited by a piece of furniture, so we drove up, caught its owners just before they shut up shop and bought it. It is a corner unit in oak which will hold our television and a few other things. It will be delivered next Friday. A bargain, I have to say. Well, I don’t, but I will. As I had just paid our house insurance for the year, it turned out to be an expensive day.

Unsticking the pump

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The Thames at Henley, from a couple of weeks back

Feeling shattered this morning after a terrible night. Dot woke me in the early hours to say the central heating had failed to switch off again: I managed to unstick the pump valve by hitting it (yes, that is the approved method), but by then I was too awake to go back to sleep, and very little sleep followed at all, despite a busy day yesterday.

I had taken an hour to get out to Paston after getting stuck behind a very slow-moving convoy of agricultural vehicles on a road (Salhouse-Wroxham) where there was no alternative route. Went on and on, and when there was an alternative, leaving Wroxham, I found myself in tiny lanes behind another vehicle (a car this time) travelling less than 20mph! I was not in a good mood by the time I arrived for the Paston Heritage Society trustees’ meeting (Lucy, Jo and me), which lasted for nearly two hours. Journey back was much easier, but after a brief meal I was out again, this time with Dot, to the First Thursdays Ambient Wonder meeting at the Workshop cafe. Can’t pretend I enjoyed this – noisy discussions are not my forte – but Dot had a good time, I think. This morning she is at a Diocesan team-building meeting at the King of Hearts, where I delivered her shortly after 9am. When I pick her up at about 3.30pm, we will be off for a weekend at Aldeburgh. Feel more like a weekend in bed.

British Summer Time is over, and the weather turned wintry immediately, though it’s now milder. Dark early evenings are not much fun. On the bright side, David came up on Monday and stayed the night. He went to two meetings – one with NAfPHT and one with Howard’s company to chat about making a website tender. (I have been doing more work for Howard too.) David not only gave me his old iPhone as a late birthday present but kindly queued up at the O2 shop to sort out a sim card for me. I am now technologically at the cutting edge, or at least slightly nearer to it. Sadly I was pre-booked for a chess match at Lowestoft on the Monday evening, so I had to leave mother and son alone together, which I’m sure was nice for them. Despite knowing Lowestoft quite well, I managed to get lost while trying to find the venue and arrived late; on the plus side I won the game, and we drew the match 2-2.

Last weekend Dot and I took sandwiches to church and ate them with a cup of tea before shooting off to Wroxham to visit her Uncle Frank, who seemed physically in quite good shape. Afterwards we took Jessie home and stayed for tea and delicious mince pies. You don’t get shortcrust pastry like that just anywhere.

Digging for water

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Tackling a leak outside our house.

Fortunately for Norwich City manager Paul Lambert, his team won last Saturday (1-0 against Middlesbrough). Dot was in the stands, so I wouldn’t have liked to be in his shoes if they’d lost. She doesn’t go often, but Jonathan had a spare ticket. I didn’t go, because I had a poetry reading at Cromer, as part of the COAST festival. The Paston travelling exhibition had a small room in the Garden Gallery, next to Mary Jane’s renowned fish and chip shop, which was unfortunately a bigger attraction, especially as the weather was cold, wet and windy. Still, we had a good time: I read a couple of poems, and Jo did a really lively talk in the absence of Lucy (in hospital again with a serious infection). Caroline was also there. She has just won the EDP-Jarrolds East Anglian Book Award for poetry, which is well-deserved. She’s a very deep writer. I myself have just entered another couple of competitions and am getting back into the habit of writing poems, which must be good.

On Monday I performed my first function as a Paston Heritage Society trustee and attended a meeting in the parish church between the PCC and PHS members. Very strange atmosphere and extremely cold too. I had my maximum winter clothing on, and it’s still October. The meeting went off well, though, and there was a general feeling of agreement about the way things would go – except of course for the pews. I sometimes feel that removal of pews is the main theological issue facing churches in the 21st century. Someone is always against it. OK, it’s not theological. I don’t know what it is.

The cold weather continued into Tuesday, when we had to host the Tuesday Group at the last moment because Vicky wasn’t too well: she’s having a hard time (baby due early December). Small group but a good discussion on using our gifts. People who don’t normally say much had an opportunity to speak because people who normally do weren’t there. Not Vicky, since you ask.

Weather turned warm suddenly on Wednesday, which was good timing as we had our hair cut. Huge difference in temperature: both Dot and I went out with too many clothes on and got back sweating, if you’ll pardon the expression. Yesterday and today a bit chillier. Sue and Roger came round for lunch yesterday and we had a great time putting the world to rights, talking until about 6pm. Recommended David’s website expertise, and showed off our Apple TV, which Sue was much taken with.

In the evening I finally booked a man to put in a couple of radiators in mid-November, though I’m still a little uneasy, as I always am when we have something big done. As I speak, May Gurney on behalf of Anglian Water are digging up the road outside, which doesn’t comfort me at all. And as usual the recycling stuff hasn’t been collected. Dot is probably en route from Beccles having given a lift to one of our carless church members to visit her niece, who coincidentally is the former head teacher of David’s primary school. Who’d have thought it?