Tag Archives: debbie

Alarming influx of digital devices

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Dot on one of the more remote paths at Hever Castle.
Dot on one of the more remote paths at Hever Castle.

The plumber did sort the leak out, but he discovered that we need a new stopcock. Meanwhile, we have bought a new 48″ TV (Samsung 4K), a BT YouView replacement for our Humax box and a Sony CD player. We managed to get them all home from John Lewis in our car, though it was a much tighter fit than I thought it would be. It’s a taken few days, but I now have them up and running, together with our Apple TV,  though the day-to-day operation is far from smooth. It goes without saying that we are not using any of them to their full potential, or even correctly.

The whole operation was so all-consuming  that we totally forgot that we had tickets to see Brian Patten at Halesworth on Sunday before Dot had arrange to have an evening meal with Jessie, Roger and Debbie. Clearly Brian Patten couldn’t compete. I offered the tickets on Facebook and rang a couple of people, but sadly they went to waste. Still, we had a good time at North Walsham. Jessie’s cousin Margaret and the Vicar of Suffield came round to discuss family history, with particular reference to Lacey Pike, who was killed at Gallipoli. I was able to contribute a small amount, but not much. Lacey was Dot’s grandmother’s brother, unless I’ve very much mistaken.

As I write Dot is in Hull with Barbara, training some teachers there in Philosophy4Children. After she left yesterday (at about 3pm) I walked up to Revelation with a heavy bag of secondhand books, then continued to the church hall, where I found Carrie and Sophie. I was able to retrieve some cash from the safe and remembered at the last minute to check the meters: I need to speak to British Gas at some point soon.

From there I progressed to Halfords and bought a digital tyre inflator, which I felt we needed, and then proceeded home via the Riverside Path and The Close. Pretty tired at the  end of all that. I found I’d done over 4 miles in the day. So I cooked myself a pie and watched Norwich lose 6-2 to Newcastle without looking at all bad, and Ireland and Scotland lose in the rugby world cup quarter-finals, the latter because of a very bad refereeing decision.

I forgot to mention that last Thursday, in the midst of my electrical challenges, I went up to the Theatre Royal to see Martin Laurance’s new exhibition (Dot decided to give it a miss). Very good selection of pictures; if I hadn’t just bought a television, I might have been tempted. Ran into Rupert Mallin, who was in rude health, and on the way out poet Hilary Mellon.

 

Valley of death, but more expensive

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Dot on the heath at Beacon Hill
Dot on the heath at Beacon Hill

We’ve had the builder round to look at the roof. I climbed his ladder and had a look too, and we agreed it was the valley of death. So he’s going to fix that, as well as replace the felt along the back wall, after which hopefully no water will come in. The cost will be just over £2000; so the water had better not come in.

Naomi Care came to stay with us for one night last week, because she needed to be at the UEA early to see her friends graduate. We managed to supply food that did not irritate her  intestines, and she seemed pretty upbeat, or pretty and upbeat. Nice to have a fairly long talk with her about her family.

The next day (23rd) I went to Wiveton to see Godfrey Sayers about the book he wanted me to proof-read. It is basically about the North Norfolk coast and his life there from about the 1950s. I found it compulsive. Before visiting him I walked on Cley beach towards Blakeney Point, and afterwards I discovered the true nature of Roman Camp (or Beacon Hill), which instead of being the entrance to a caravan park as I thought, tuned out to be a beautiful wooded heath.

Eventually I agreed to proof-read an improved version of the book, and I returned it to him today. He still needs to do some work on it, and I doubt if he will get it launched by October, as he wants to. Still, he is good at launching… I spent much of this week working on it, and I got paid £150 and six fresh eggs, which can’t be bad. Godfrey is a big fan of Robert Macfarlane. I am too, and I was delighted Dot found a radio programme of him exploring the Cairngorms. Listened to it this morning in bed.

The next day Debbie House came for lunch, which we had outdoors, and I had a chat with her about her new role as occasional leader of services. I introduced her to Bible Gateway, and we had an interesting chat about meditation and body prayer, among other things.

Speaking of bodies, we had our hair cut on Friday last week, and there next day Dot had a pneumonia jab after I threatened the nurse with dire consequences if she had side-effects of our wedding anniversary the next day. I don’t think the nurse was too amused.

From there we travelled on to North Walsham, where we visited Jessie and the cemetery: both seemed to be in good shape. Then on to the Gunton Arms for a snack lunch, which we ate outside. As we were about to leave, a helicopter landed, carrying a group of young men. Rumours started flying. Was it One Direction? No, it wasn’t. As we left, two of them were standing in the doorway, smoking. Dot, being Dot, commented that it was a good way to make an entrance, and one of them said it was a stag do. Apparently the first part of the celebrations, in London the day before, had been marred by rain. I thought you’d like to know that.

On we went, back to newly discovered Roman Camp, which we explored for a while, finding parts that few others had reached. Lovely day, if a bit cooler than when I’d visited a few days earlier. We ended our day out at the Pretty Corner Tea Rooms, which were rather lovely.

Nicholas, freshly returned from Turkey, spoke at Communion the next day on our willingness not to know, saying that it was only when we relinquished control that God could guide and interact with us. To me it seemed a brilliant talk, aimed specially at me; oddly, most of the congregation felt the same, so perhaps we’re all trying too hard to be in control. Except Dot.

This was our 46th wedding anniversary, and in the evening we went to Jamie’s for our celebration meal, which included Prosecco and steak. Very good, and the waitress was also excellent.

It was so good in fact that I decided to have a blood pressure monitor fitted the next day. That’s not exactly true: the doctor insisted I have it fitted or he would give me another pill, which I didn’t want. It was on for nearly 24 hours, and when it beeped I went into a very calm state. As result, the figures seemed to be quite low. Not sure if the doctor will see it like that.

On Wednesday I went into the garage to sign the finance and insurance documents and discovered that the new car should be ready on Monday. Since then Dot has had the old car thoroughly cleaned (this morning, while I took Godfrey’s book back). Yesterday we went up to Santander to sort out our ISAs and close a couple of old accounts. This went surprisingly well, and we celebrated by visiting Presto, chatting with Kathy and Roberto and having tea and a delicious piece of Sicilian confectionery.

I have also rung Geoff Saunders and discovered he is making reasonable progress. Will try to visit him soon. Meanwhile I think we have eventually managed to come to an agreement with British Gas about the church’s direct debits. They kept sending me letters, but hopefully it’s now sorted.

About as perfect as it gets

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , ,
Dave and Anandi Brennan

At last summer has arrived, and we are bathed in warm sunshine. Yesterday Adrian and Clarissa arrived in their Potter Heigham boat, Gliding Light, and moored at the bottom of the road. We joined them for a drink in the Compleat Angler (bottom deck), and later they  came up to ours for a kind of high tea in the garden – sitting outside till about 10pm! They had their friends Brian and Celia with them, and we had a good evening. The weather is set to continue as we pick up Oliver and Amy later today.

An eventful few days, it must be said, starting last Thursday with a haircut and visit to a poetry session on John Betjeman in the Narthex at St John’s RC Cathedral. Still cool and wet then, and the session was not brilliant. The members of the group were less than inspiring, and leader Hilary M was not at her best, feeling the effects of blood sugar loss and having problems with the equipment.

Friday was brilliant, however. The surveyor eventually turned up and didn’t inspire an awful lot of confidence. We decided to let the insurers supply a builder for the ceiling repairs (skimming, replacing some plasterboard, and making the ceiling good), but the roof is not covered (if you see what I mean). So I have contacted Mr Bunn the Builder – well, he’s a roofer, actually. He came this morning and did inspire confidence. He’s going to make the roof watertight in the next couple of days and do a complete job on the “valley” and tiles a couple of weeks later. Needless to say the roof featured things he had never seen before.

But that’s not why Friday was brilliant. That was down to Anandi’s wedding at the Cathedral, which was a one-off. Not that it was perfect: the sermon was too long, we couldn’t see clearly, and we had difficulty hearing the speeches at the reception because Blackfriars Hall has lousy acoustics. But it was a fine day and it all had a lovely naturalness and simplicity – for instance, the bride and groom walked from the cathedral to Blackfriars. After the service we had champagne and nibbles in the cloisters for quite a long time: lots of people from St Augustine’s were there, but only Dot and I (plus the vicar and his wife) were invited to the reception. In the cloisters we had music from an a cappella group which had appeared on TV but which was composed mainly of friends of the groom – who sang a little bit as a tribute to his wife! Both Anandi and her new husband Dave are so likeable it’s frightening.

Debbie and Neil with (the Rev) Heather Cracknell, who took the service

On Saturday another “wedding”: this time a renewal of vows after 25 years by Debbie and Neil, two friends from St Luke’s. By now the weather was stunning, and the setting – Ranworth Church on the Broads – was equally gorgeous. Debbie went the whole hog with a white dress, bridesmaids and all the trimmings – we think because their actual wedding had been a registry office affair and very low-key. Cake and tea afterwards in the church grounds (it has a church hall cafe) completed the picture, together with a trip up the church tower, with its spectacular views.

Earlier in the day Colin came round and cut the hedge, and I went to the launch of Joe’s book, Journeying with Abraham, at St Andrew’s Church, Eaton. Couple of dozen people there, which was encouraging for him, and I had a chat with both him and Birgit. Then at the end of a very packed day, Dot and I went round to the Higbees for a meal, which was very relaxing. As a result of that, Alan H came round yesterday to put right a problem with the lighting in the loft that he had installed.

Bright day on Sunday: after a nice service at church, with Geoff debuting as preacher, we relaxed. Dot spent a lot of time gardening, and I watched quite a bit of the Open and saw the end of the Tour de France, with Wiggins in yellow, Froome second and Cavendish winning the final sprint. Which is about as perfect as it gets in the world of cycling.