Tag Archives: essex

Surprises all round

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Hectic couple of days. Monday was completed by a walk to Howard’s, where I formed part of an advisory group for Carrie’s activities. This was followed by a meal with Howard and Dot, who had just arrived, and that was followed by a DCC meeting.

A surprise attender at the DCC meeting was Liz, who had a couple of complicated proposals as usual. We sort of agreed the first one, concerning her use of the hall for meditation sessions, but the second was so obscure that after she had presented it for about ten minutes, no-one knew what she was talking about. We suggested she produce a one-page paper on it.

I presented my financial report, and we agreed to contribute whatever was necessary to make up St Luke’s shortfall on their parish share, since we had received an £18,000 legacy and were temporarily affluent. Dot and I walked home afterwards. Very cold. Wished I hadn’t taken the large lever arch file.

Yesterday I visited Lucy after dropping Dot off for her ladies’ lunch at the Mercure Hotel on the ring road. Had a pleasant time with Lucy and Naomi, both of whom seemed quite well, and I now seem to have Lucy’s computer to take in for repair.

Back in Norwich, I picked up Dot and Sue from the lunch and dropped Sue in town. I then walked back into town to pick up the watch I had left for a new battery when I went in earlier to pay in cheques. On the way home I was asked directions to Earlham crematorium by three Essex people in a car. Since they were so far away from where they needed to be, I saw no alternative but to travel with them.

While doing so I discovered that they were already so late for the crematorium that it was pointless going, and so I took them to the Eagle pub on Newmarket Road for the wake. They were profusely grateful, but I declined a pint.

I then walked home again, met chess colleague Jon Burrows on the way and caught a bus outside Debenhams for the last section. Dot didn’t seem to have been too concerned about where I was (she had been at Morrison’s).

I then cooked my own dinner (if you remember, Dot had had a Christmas lunch with the ladies) and compiled a Christmas Compline from sources on the internet and elsewhere. At 8pm Judy, Vicky and the Archers arrived and we had some Christmas nibbles and mulled wine before listening to Dylan Thomas’s superb A Child’s Christmas in Wales, which David Archer had brought on CD, and then doing the Compline. Exhausted, Dot and I then watched A Question of Sport. I don’t know why.

Today she is at a DCC meeting at Diocesan House.

Here and (mainly) there

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Dot and Sue celebrate their conquest of the Cairnwell
Dot and Sue celebrate their conquest of the Cairnwell

The meal at Glen Lui last Friday was excellent, and a good way to end our holiday. The walk there and back was in quite steady rain, though. At the meal Dot spoke to a man from Yorkshire who was cycling in the hills, and we had a good conversation.

We left just before the 11am deadline on Saturday  and had a straightforward journey to Killington Lake, stopping briefly at Stirling services and at the Farm Shop at Tebay, as well as for lunch at Abington (steak and ale pie). Killington Lake had been given a bit of a makeover since last year, but unfortunately they had replaced the restaurant with a McDonald’s; so, like Lockerbie, no decent breakfast. Rather sad, and the room was a bit shabby too. It’s beginning to look as if Day’s Inn are going down a very American-style road, which means we shall have to go back to Premier Inn.

I drove the first part of the journey to Keynsham on Sunday, with no real problems until a much-heralded jam near Birmingham, where Dot spotted (and our satnav confirmed) a detour that looked very reasonable, involving part of the M54. It turned out very well, and we reached services on the M5 with no further problems. Big police presence here for no apparent reason. We had a lunch of sandwiches and continued south on the M5, Dot driving.

The first few miles from here were blighted by a 40mph speed limit (with cameras) that went on and on for no apparent reason. There were obviously roadworks in progress, but no-one was doing anything, and just about everyone was overtaking us. If the cameras were not in use, why didn’t they say so? This sort of thing makes me very angry.

We relied totally on the satnav to reach Dot’s accommodation in Keynsham, just south of Bristol, and the only time we went wrong (briefly) was when we ignored it. The room was in a rather basic pub: Barbara was already there. It wouldn’t have been my choice: the shower room looked awful. Still, it turned out OK apart from that.

I continued on my own (Dot was doing a P4C nearby the next morning, and she and Barbara were then travelling to Essex to do another one on the Tuesday). The satnav triumphed again, leading me on to the M4 near Chippenham, and the motorway turned out to be less fraught than I had anticipated. I stopped once for petrol and there was one minor hold-up near Reading, but this time I ignored – rightly – the suggested detour. Generally traffic was very heavy, but the only hold-up was in accessing the M25. Once on it, traffic moved well, and I reached Caddington in good time – just before Oliver, in fact. David had been retrieving the children from Vicky somewhere on the road to Aylesbury.

Had a lovely time with them, including an Indian takeaway, and then a good night’s sleep. They had to leave early the next morning for a familiarisation visit to Aylesbury (Oliver starts his new school today), and I set off for Norwich in wet and unappealing weather, which continued pretty much all the way, though it wasn’t quite so bad in Norfolk.

Felt pretty tired, but did a lot of unpacking and sorting out in the customary fashion. Then went to the chess club for a game with my old adversary Chris Tuffin in the club knockout tournament. I didn’t hold out a lot of hope, but did some preparation, looking at a couple of games he’d played in a line he favoured. He played the same line again, and I was able to play the first dozen moves or so without thinking much, following the ideas of his previous stronger opponent, who beat him in quite a short game. As anticipated, Chris deviated before the move where he’d made the big mistake before, and we got into a pretty level position, but at the time control he allowed a Queen exchange that gave me some advantage. I won a pawn and was able to convert the subsequent rook ending, helped by my advantage in time.

Still felt tired the next day, but caught up with a lot of admin stuff and did some washing. Dot rang to say both her sessions had gone well, and we arranged to meet at the Scole Inn at 3.20pm. This went according to plan, and we tried to drop off a shirt Roger had left at Ballater, but they were out. So we proceeded home and after a while took Joy’s birthday presents round, spending a pleasant hour or so there. Sadly we discovered that Lucy is still quite ill: her mother is with her much of the time.

In the evening we finished watching a serial on television and went to bed quite early. This afternoon I head for Coventry for a meeting about Andrew’s finances.