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.