Tag Archives: hedge

Party for Paul mixes different emotions

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Jon Welch, someone else I should probably know, Shaun Lowthorpe and Helen Ashworth
Jon Welch, someone else I should probably know, Shaun Lowthorpe and Helen Ashworth

Very warm couple of days this weekend, dissolving into heavy rain around teatime today. Dot has just gone out to the Greens’ for a “girls’ night out” involving Vicky and Ruth, and I stayed in to play host to Maryta, Paul and Holly and their stem ginger cake. We went round the Hendersons’ last night for a meal, and Holly was supposed to be there for that, but she had a stomach problem and didn’t arrive till today: glad I was able to see her.

Earlier yesterday there was an unusual event at the home of Pat and Lesley Prekopp at Burgh, near Aylsham. Paul Durrant, former EDP news editor, has been diagnosed with cancer (oesophagus, I think) and has only a few months to live; so they arranged for him to be at this party and for as many of his old colleagues as possible to come and see him. He was quite gaunt but in reasonably good spirits, though obviously emotional, and he gave a good speech. I spoke to him as Maryta and I left and I said it had been a real pleasure. It was clear that he had tears in his eyes, which may seem an obvious thing to say, but I found it moving.

Paul 'Duzza' Durrant, legend of the newsroom
Paul ‘Duzza’ Durrant, legend of the newsroom

I took Maryta; Brian had been intending to come but was too ill, and Robin had a previous engagement. The setting was beautiful and the weather extremely warm; the food was good too. Met a number of former colleagues/friends: Tony Wenham, Ian Clarke, Trevor Burton, Emma Lee, Annette Hudson, Sarah Hardy, Stacia Briggs, Helen Ashworth, Louisa Griffith-Jones, Ian Bullock, Bill Woodcock, Sarah Brealey, James Goffin, Pete Kelley, Jon Welch, Rachel Moore, Mike Pollitt, Denise Bradley, Alison Croose, Andrew Stronach, Shaun Lowthorpe, Mark Harrop and others too numerous to mention or who I’ve forgotten. Left after 2½ hours but would probably have stayed longer if I’d been alone: Maryta, of course, knew far fewer people than I did. Apparently when Duzza left he got a round of applause.

Even earlier yesterday Colin and his youngest son Jordan came and cut our hedge, which gave us more light into the kitchen and garden, as well as a rather smug feeling, which dissipated when he pointed out that Dot’s car had a flat tyre. However, I’ve pumped it up and it seems to be staying up – at the moment.

On Friday we had a surprise when  Bronwen Edwards of InPrint fame came round out of the blue and stayed for a drink. She was staying in a hotel on Prince of Wales Road. Hope to see her again.

Thursday saw us on the Broads in the afternoon. We hired a day boat for a couple of hours with Fred and Sue and sailed down to Salhouse Broad. We had a cup of tea while we waited and a meal in the Hotel Wrexham when we returned – fish and chips for Dot and me. A really pleasant afternoon which made us wonder why we don’t do it more often.

Oxnead event fulfils hope

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Oliver at the wheel of a fast-moving Ferrari.
Oliver at the wheel of a fast-moving Ferrari.

After months of planning, the big Paston event at Oxnead Hall slotted neatly into place on Friday. The weather was fine – often sunny – dry and warm, and the 80 or so invited guests were able to explore the extensive gardens without recourse to umbrellas or wellington boots. They were welcome by Rob, sitting by the car park, checking them off his list – one of his few moments of relaxation.

Interestingly, the Eagles arrived very early, largely because they had the time wrong. But many others drove in before the official start time, including some distinguished Paston experts like Jean Agnew. So much like Jean Agnew, in fact, that it was Jean Agnew – author of A Whirlpool of Misadventures, a collection of Robert Paston’s letters.

We arrived at 10am, helped with the setting up and did a full rehearsal at 11am, which went pretty well, under the watchful eye of Dot. Among our friends who attended: the Hendersons; the Archers; Jessie, Roger and Jude; Claire Carrington; the Kibbles; the O’dells; Lucy Edwards; Karen Smyth and Liz McDonald from UEA; and of course the Eagles. Not the band.

We had forgotten to bring a packed lunch; so at about 1pm we nipped into North Walsham to get some sandwiches from Waitrose – and used the opportunity to purchase a bouquet for Penny (we had already got four other bouquets for Lucy, Oxnead owner Beverley Aspinall, Ann and Ruth at Rob’s request).

The performance itself went smoothly, and I felt reasonably confident in my 17C costume (a sentence I never thought I would write). Dot and I combined well on our song, and we got some good responses afterwards. We also got some amazing PHS food – a veritable high tea which included a chocolate and rum cake made by Dot. Rob gave a brief speech and I trotted on with the bouquets, including our surprise one for wardrobe mistress and set designer Penny. Lucy came with Naomi for the last half-hour or so: she was quite ill and should have been in Papworth, but it was good that she was able to put in an appearance, what with her being the PHS founder, and the event being (among other things) a celebration of its 21st birthday.

After chatting to as many people as we could, we spent quite a long time clearing up, which included chair removal, washing up and transferring a great deal of stuff into waiting cars. Felt pretty much exhausted at the end.

The next day Colin gave our hedge a good cutting, and the garden looks much more attractive. Dot couldn’t resist a great deal of tidying up in his wake (not that he left it in a mess: he’s very thorough), and I’ve cut back the foliage around the kitchen window. Dot has also bought some new plants, mainly for the front garden.

On Sunday Nicholas made one of his last appearances at St Augustine’s. He’s just received the go-ahead for his visa, and should be leaving in early November. Afterwards we called on Elvira at her invitation for a cup of tea, but largely so that she could show us her new flat. Later still we had a meal at Prezzos with Neville and Mary Thrower (Neville is a former CNS contemporary, and Mary is in the orchestra with Dot). Very enjoyable, but I’m a little worried, because all three of them were getting over bad colds, which naturally makes you feel you’re catching them.

Meanwhile the scaffolding in our back garden awaits the arrival of the builder to work on the roof. Dot is out all day at various schools, and Barbara is due to visit after that for a P4C consultation. In other news, I have put together the bones of a book on Iona featuring poems and pictures, and Oliver has driven a Ferrari at 100mph, apparently earning praise from his tutor. It was a birthday present from his mother (I think). What a star! As long as he doesn’t get too much of a taste for fast cars…

Hethersett: end of an era

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Auntie Ethel's bungalow at Hethersett, after several weeks' work
Auntie Ethel’s bungalow at Hethersett, after several weeks’ work cleaning and clearing

Summer lingers on, though there’s a touch of autumn in the air. Today we had our hedge cut by Colin, after a slight alarm when the Norfolk Wildlife Trust said they had no-one to open the gate. Bet they’d have found someone if a great-crested newt was in trouble. Anyway, Colin managed by climbing over the wall and erecting his platform, assisted by his son Jordan, one of Dot’s former pupils.

Also this morning Paston Heritage Society’s UEA intern David Whittle dropped in to pick up leaflets for distribution. At least, that’s what I thought he was doing, but he stayed for a good while, consuming tea and biscuits and taking notes. Dot is now out on the town with Anne, and tonight we’re going to an organ concert at St Andrew’s Hall, featuring the Mozart Orchestra.

The car’s air-conditioning is still unfixed. The garage had the car most of Tuesday, then rang me to say the compressor they’d ordered didn’t fit. And so it goes on. I’d walked back home from the garage, calling on Nicholas to get him to sign some cheques and then at the church hall to read the meter and retrieve last Sunday’s collection. After happening on Phil at Fye Bridge and reporting on Andrew’s condition, I was rather late home and had to rush to Dragon Hall for a talk on Robert Toppes that turned out to be very good. Some Paston references, so I bought the book.

The Seagull had an unusual weekday version of their poetry and music event on Thursday:  Dot and I (she “fresh” from a DSSO day at Letton Hall) went, and I read three poems I had written based on our stay in Yorkshire. Dot also helped read a couple of tanka strings.

On Friday we both went to Hethersett to pick up some of the last stuff from A Ethel’s bungalow. My last visit, so I took a couple of pictures: amazing how big the rooms seemed. Afterwards we went to Park Farm for lunch and glimpsed chess player Steve Moore also partaking. Dot went on to one of her schools at Tasburgh, while I fulfilled my mission of getting her pills from the chemist.

Tomorrow we will visit A Jessie, so it is imperative we locate the missing photographs that she’s asked for. They are in the house somewhere…

Short order

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Short back and sides: the finished job

Dot is on her way home from Gateshead after a successful time with Philosophy4Children at the BBC 3 Free Thinking Festival, and I am sitting her feeling pretty exposed after a thorough attack on our hedge by Colin and Matthew. At our request, of course, and I’m pretty pleased with the outcome, but the garden does look very bare – as well as quite a bit bigger.

I contributed to the desolation by cutting back the rose outside the back door rather drastically, taking the opportunity to get rid of the resulting rubbish on Colin’s lorry. This was particularly important because our brown bin wasn’t emptied last week, and there’s now some dispute about whether we’ve renewed our payment for the service. Embarrassingly, I don’t actually know.

The week started embarrassingly too, with a pretty inept loss to Martin Woolnough in the Dons chess knockout competition. I wasn’t feeling like playing, and it showed. Or maybe I’m just getting old. On the plus side, though, I’m feeling quite a lot better: I think I must have had a virus of some kind. And Norwich City have had a good week: Dot and I saw them beat Spurs 2-1 in the Capital Cup on Wednesday evening, and today in our absence they beat Stoke 1-0.

Dot has been working hard all week, preparing various Philosophy sessions that are coming up, and on Tuesday she spent most of the day at Barbara’s; so I put the evening meal together for the Tuesday Group. Nothing special, obviously.  On Wednesday, in preparation for the evening football, we had our hair cut: this is not interesting, just a matter of record.

On Thursday, while Dot went out to Hethersett I visited an ailing Lucy at Paston, returning some of the stuff I’d brought home from Mannington Hall (but not all of it, obviously: that would have been too sensible) and sharing a cup of tea. Later Anne visited Aspland Road, providing some light relief for Dot (and me).

I took Dot down to the Scole Inn on Friday afternoon, where she transferred to Barbara’s car for the journey to Gateshead. Last day of half term; so lots of traffic in the city. I felt it advisable therefore to return home in pretty short order. Not much else happened. I shall now cook a pizza, because I can’t be bothered to go out and buy fish and chips. This is what it comes to.

About as perfect as it gets

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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.

Alternative route

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Oliver demonstrating skill at... oh... whatever that thing is.
Oliver demonstrating skill at... oh... whatever that thing is.

The start of a new week, and the roof men are still hard at it. They would have finished, but for two things: I woke up in the middle of the night on Thursday and had this sudden feeling that they hadn’t put the gutter-guard in to protect the gutters from the huge amounts of leaves we get from the trees behind our property. This turned out to be true, though how I knew and why I woke up thinking about it remain mysteries. This was going to add a couple of hours to the job, and while one of the guys was off getting the materials from the yard, the other one cut himself really deeply on the hand, and we had to get him to hospital. So no more work that day. I was quite worried that he might have damaged tendons, or something, but happily he had “only” nicked a vein, and he is back today with a handful of stitches and a certain amount of pain. I asked him if he thought he should be working. He thought he should. What can I say? It will be nice to have it finished.

The hedge has been cut too – on Saturday morning, by Colin – and we suddenly have light in the kitchen. No injuries reported.

Back to Friday night, when I had an invitation to the Twenty Group’s FourSite saga… sorry, I mean party… to celebrate the end of their Bally exhibition. Dot came for the start and left me chatting and wandering around while she picked up a present for Oliver from A Ethel for an hour or so before returning and picking me up. Most of them I didn’t know, but I chatted to John Rance, his wife Caroline and daughter Rachel, plus Hilary Mellon, Liz Clark, Kate, Philippa Fawcett and Ruthli. No sign of any InPrint members. When Dot returned she stepped in for a few minutes and found herself, amazingly, talking to someone (Caroline) who was involved in an educational issue she had been discussing with a head teacher earlier in the day.

After the hedge was finished we had a quick lunch and shot off to Caddington. Very quick journey and a lovely weekend. All three of them were a lot healthier than they’d been earlier in the week, and Oliver was keen to get to grips with his presents, which included a walking pole and a Lego Star Wars model. Despite the walking pole he showed no inclination to leave the house, and spent most of the weekend building the model and playing with it (he’s a talented builder) and then playing Wii games, partly against David and partly against me. I performed pretty miserably, which I think suited him. He’s amazingly proficient at them. Amy is still more interested in her invented doll games, which are wonderful, and is saying some really bright things. Left after they were asleep (Dot read them The Tunnel by Anthony Browne on the first night, and I read Oliver some of The Hobbit on the Sunday). Good journey home by the alternative route, because the previous day we’d seen a notice warning of night closure of a key road. Dot drove, and although it was about ten miles further, it didn’t take much longer because there are some fast sections.

The weather has improved again: over the weekend it was pretty warm and today it’s quite pleasant. Dot has gone off to rendezvous with Jessie as she alights from the bus at Anglia Square (a mission fraught with hazards), after which she is taking her to see the other aunt (Ethel) at Hethersett.

8 September 2008

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This is the bowl that Allan Higbee made for us for our ruby wedding anniversary. We also received a lovely orchid from Hazel Savigny, some roses from the Coomes, a lovely bottle of Benedictine in a spectacular tin from Dave and Julia, three bottles of wine and three bottles of champagne, among other things. If this is what happens when you say “no presents”, I wonder what might have happened if we hadn’t. People are very kind.

Have had a lot of frustration in the last few days with my broadband connection, which comes and goes at random. When it’s on, it’s often very slow, and will drift in and out constantly. It was off all day Saturday. I haven’t got anywhere with BT yet, but I discovered from Martin, who lives opposite, that he and others nearby have been having similar problems. I am writing this blog on TextEdit and will paste it in when I can catch the connection. It seems to be on at the moment, but… anyway, it won’t matter after Wednesday, when the Large Hadron Collider experiment in Switzerland will probably create a black hole that will destroy the world, or at least disrupt our holiday on Swiss railways later this month. I’m looking on the pessimistic side, of course. Alternatively, it may reveal new secrets about the universe.

Our hedge has had its annual clipping, together with much else in the garden. Let Colin loose with a pair of clippers, and nothing is safe. Result: the house seems much lighter and the garden has that “just had a haircut” feel, which is actually good. Colin is coming again next month to do some more work, Large Hadron Collider permitting.

On Friday, while Dot visited her aunt in Hethersett, I went to a chess simultaneous display at St John’s Cathedral, which was supposed to be given by Owen Hindle, but he had to go to Scotland because of family illness, and David LeMoir took on 32 people instead – in aid of John Charman, a leading light in Norfolk chess and editor of En Passant. I arrived at about 7.15pm and stayed for just over two hours, by which time he’d beaten two people. I could see it lasting long into the night, so I came home. Nice to see some familiar faces, though. Back into the new season tonight, when I play Chris Tuffin in the club knockout competition. He’s a hard man to beat.

I’m getting nearer to completing a book I’m putting together for Oliver’s birthday, combining my first Little story with some photographs, most of which are in place. I have to take a few more, but the weather is not good. It’s grey again today, with occasional light drizzle, which is not good photography weather. Hope the sun might break through this afternoon.

Nicholas preached a good sermon on prayer yesterday, and we stayed for church lunch. In the evening we also went to the Ambient Wonder review meeting, when “wine and nibbles” turned out to be a full-scale buffet. Pity we’d just had a normal-sized tea…

9 July 2007

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This is a rather lovely work of art composed of hazel branches and on show at the Welborne Festival. Provides a nice frame for a shot of the mid-Norfolk countryside.

Happily, I’ve now completed my tax return. Less happily, Dot hasn’t. That’s a pleasure to come. Always nice to do mine, though: never as complicated as anticipated.

We’ve also been out to Poringland to see the Walpoles, over from Canada. Had a Chinese, and discussed education, among other things. They seem in good form – are thinking of moving further south, because their forest home is getting to be too much work.

Meanwhile our hedge has been cut, and everything is much brighter. Acres of foliage have gone, as have several bags of leaves, which I suddenly thought Colin could take away with him. Bit like having a haircut: quite satisfying. Almost as satisfying as watching Jamie Murray and Jelena Jankovic win the Wimbledon mixed doubles. which was a really exciting experience and much more interesting than Federer winning the men’s singles for the fifth time, though I have to say his match against Nadal was an epic encounter. And the Tour de France has started too – really annoying that I’m going to miss so much of it, but I am recording the various stages to look back on.

Dot’s ear operation was this afternoon – new holes!

Weather’s been a bit better, but showers still every day.