No sign of a drought. Weather has been very rainy over the past few days, and the forecast is for more to come. Snow in the north: going off the idea of living in Scotland. Dot has been at Diocesan House all morning, and I’ve seized on a momentary dry interlude to put rubbish in the car ready for excursion to the tip. I’ve also tidied up the garden a bit so that the brown bin can be emptied on Thursday. As we pay for this over and above our council tax, it’s vital that we have something to put in it, of course. Dot had intended to do some gardening but is only just recovering from her mugginess, which was combined with a painful leg. Both of us skipped Ambient Wonder on Sunday (not easy with a bad leg). However we did both get to the morning Communion service, which was nice. In the afternoon I called in on a friend whose son has had a really bad time with a virus which won’t go away; he is getting a lot of pain and is feeling very down, understandably. It was his 16th birthday.

Yesterday evening we met Howard and Anna at Beluga, which is neither a whale nor caviar (Facebook comments) but a rather nice restaurant on King Street, opposite the Cathedral. Very pleasant meal, but even better conversation. Extremely efficient waitress, who features strongly on the website (3/17). Walked home afterwards in pouring rain. Earlier in the day Barbara, Dot’s business partner, had been round, as had a man to fix the downstairs cistern which, annoyingly, failed to malfunction as badly as it should have and had been. We agreed in the end that it was a pressure problem: I had seen Anglian Water letting out loads of water on to the street at the end of last week, which may have solved it. Still, our man replaced a bit which should prevent it happen again (the malfunction, not Anglian Water activities). British Gas guy also called to service our boiler: he helpfully discussed the possibility of installing radiators upstairs and asked if we wanted our water hotter. I was about to say yes when it occurred to me that this might cost more. So it stays the same: it’s quite hot enough. Both men were extremely pleasant and helpful: there seems to be a trend in this direction.

It’s now mid-afternoon, and I’ve been to the tip, because the rain unaccountably stopped. You just never know where you are with rain. Tonight the Tuesday Group is at Ed’s, which will be a nice change – possibly the last time he will host before his wedding!