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.