Tag Archives: everest

In the park at Heydon

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Rob, Penny, Ann and James in Heydon Park.
Rob, Penny, Ann and James in Heydon Park.

Not much movement this week, except for Dot, who drove to Northampton and back for p4c on Sunday and Monday. To be accurate she stayed in Market Harborough at a friend of Barbara’s on the Sunday. Her journey both ways was very slow, but on the plus side Barbara didn’t have food poisoning as she did in Wimbledon.

Before Dot left we had lunch with the Knox-Whittets at Heydon: a lovely meal of leak and chicken pie (among other things). There was some discussion about the next Chronicle episode, and we agreed a date to meet after I’ve sorted out the narrative a bit more more. I’ve spent most of the week getting round to it, but have been pre-empted by filing an income tax return; writing an unexpected article for Parish Pump on Prisons Week and a sermon for Sunday; visiting  Bracon Ash to photograph the church and grave for Keith and Mary Chapman at Kingston; and two visits to the cinema.

After Dot left, the remaining five of us (James and Ann; Rob and Penny; and me) went for a walk into the estate. The sun was beautiful and although we walked only a short distance, we got a close-up of some cattle and the big house, and good views of two herons and a barn owl.

Everest was a good film, which we saw in iMax for £28.50. Dot had to rush out as the film was starting when we discovered that our 3D glasses were not the same as iMax ones. Really! Anyway the effects were very good indeed, though it was predictably hard to tell who was who once they had their mountain gear on, especially when the weather turned bad. Felt sorry for the climb leader, who (SPOILER ALERT) would have survived if he hadn’t been surrounded by idiots.

Two days later we were back in the cinema for an 11am Silver Cinema showing of Spooks: the Greater Good. This cost us £6, with a cup of tea thrown in. Well, not exactly thrown. It would be hard to recommend this film too highly. It was brilliant in every way if you like spy stories. No spoiler alert this time.

Today I went to the chemist to pick up some pills and discovered that the owner, a really nice guy called David Hamblin, had decided to retire, and it was his last day. We’ve always got on really well, and we swapped e-mail addresses. He lives in Claxton. Back at home Dot painted part of the wall by the stairs, and then we had our hair cut. This was followed swiftly by her exit to Little Plumstead for a governors’ meeting, which means we’re having a late supper. Probably very late, as there were about 30 items on the agenda. Ridiculous? Indeed.

There was a super-moon on Sunday night, but I missed it. I woke up at 1.30am and it was behind the trees. I nearly got up and went out, but didn’t. I woke up at 4.30am and it was in the sky but behind clouds, and when it poked through it was neither very big nor orange. Nor eclipsed. Dot didn’t see it either. She had forgotten about it.

Incompetence behind the lines

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Oliver reaches a summit in Lion Wood

House feels very empty today. Dot is out working under her free governor’s hat, I haven’t done much except put a BBC producer in touch with a St Peter Hungate trustee, and David and the children are back home (or in two cases, at school). They arrived here on Thursday, and we had a relaxing three days, because it was too cold to do anything much outdoors. Nevertheless Oliver and I did manage a lovely 2½-mile walk up through the cemetery and Lion Wood, while Dot and Amy went shopping and David ventured into the city.

We also fitted in a very nice lunch at Prezzos on the Saturday, before listening to Norwich beat Everton 2-1 with a goal in the last seconds. Amy and Dot made a cake, and several games were played. Oliver is progressing well with his chess. He took away my old iMac: not sure his father was overjoyed by this idea, because it’s quite big, but Oliver seemed happy enough, though Amy wanted half of it to go with the new clothes Nana had bought her. Both children still delightful and growing up quickly: both enjoy writing and are creative as well as lovely. After a bit of uncertainty, they left at around 7pm on the Saturday and had a straightforward journey home.

Sunday featured the first of our projected post-service talks, and it was an impressive start. Louise Øhrstrøm spoke on St Julian, who she has translated into Danish, and there must have been about 60 people there, about a third of whom attended the Communion beforehand. Nicholas was in his impresario mood, which I have to say he does very well. Louise’s talk was very good, despite being quite difficult to listen to because foreigners, however good their English, always have a different intonation and flow. Good response generally.

Earlier in the week, on Wednesday, we had an evening meal with the Higbees at Newton Flotman after having difficulty getting out of Norwich because of road works on King Street, creating traffic jams. Not feeling at my best ( I was a bit below par all week), but an enjoyable time as always.

Have finished Into the Silence, a book by Wade Davis on the attempts on Everest in the 1920s. Fascinating stuff and very thorough research. I learnt a lot about Tibet and the huge organisation that seemed to be required to even get near the mountain. The book casts doubt on several reputations, and makes others. The early section on the Great War left me extremely angry at the arrogant  incompetence of the generals, especially Haig, but there was plenty of incompetence during the Everest expedition, not least from the people organising it safely at home (as Haig was safely behind the lines).

Having read the book, I doubt that Mallory and irvine reached the summit, though it’s not totally impossible. Amazing that Reinhold Messner (my favourite mountaineer) did the whole thing on his own without oxygen in 1980.