Tag Archives: joe

Crawling into another year

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Amy helping Daddy to relax in Prezzo's
Amy helping Daddy to relax in Prezzo’s

Feeling very down and tired, which is not the ideal start to a new year. Slept very little last night, stirred myself just enough to get Dot a cup of tea at 7.20am before she left for a P4C session at Heather Avenue, then lay awake till after 9.30. Eventually had a bath and crawled downstairs about 11.30am. Cannot work up enthusiasm for anything.

We did have a lovely time with David and the children, managing to do something every day. Last Tuesday (the 30th) we visited Jessie, and on the way there I dropped off and delivered a cheque to Rob Knee, having a brief chat with him and Penny before walking the rest of the way. Cold but moderately invigorating, I seem to remember.

On New Year’s Eve we had a pizza and drink at the Hendersons’ at lunch time. In the evening Roger came round for a meal, and the festivities included the mandatory quizzes – including two very hard photo quizzes from the children which took us up to midnight. There was a brief concert from Queen on TV, with their new (very good) lead singer.

On New Year’s Day, after something of a lie-in, we all went to see The Penguins of Madagascar at the cinema, and I only dozed off once or twice. It was actually quite reasonable, and the children enjoyed it.

The next day Birgit and Joe came round in the morning, and after a light lunch we headed for the Maddermarket to see The Borrowers, which was really excellent, making light of the obvious problems in staging. The actors were superb, and it was just the right length. By accident we got five seats behind each other downstairs, and this caused some concern until it became clear that the adjacent seats were not going to be filled, and so David and the children were able to sit together.

On Saturday Richard, Maddy and Darcy came round both before and after lunch at Prezzo’s, and when they departed in late afternoon, David and the children packed and headed home while we did a bit in the house.

On Sunday we woke to a frozen street, and it took me some time to get the car going. Even when it did it insisted on telling us that the tyre pressure was wrong: not sure yet if this was a result of the cold, or if there is indeed a genuine problem. A visual check revealed nothing obvious.

Rather an odd morning at church, or maybe it was just me. Eleanor, who was presiding at Communion, had a bad cough and so Dot distributed the bread while I sang. Phil was away, as were several other people, but we got a few from Carrie’s group there, plus a Latvian couple who wanted to have their baby baptised. When we left, Anna and a helping group were solving a problem with one of the curtains.

I had a quick look for a stopcock, which Stuart has been writing e-mails about, but couldn’t see anything obvious. Back home I tried to get the new Apple TV to work (David kindly bought it for us at Christmas), but after some partial success failed almost completely. On the plus side, we can now watch YouTube and see Flickr on the TV.

Houghton Hall visited

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Anna and Dot leave Skyscape at Houghton Hall
Anna and Dot leave Skyscape in the grounds of Houghton Hall

The weather continues warm, but the dryness isn’t what it was. In fact, sometimes the dryness is wet – as yesterday, when after having our hair cut we stayed indoors most of the day and moped, especially after Norwich City FC, replete with new stars, managed to lose 1-0 to Hull after Hull had been reduced to ten men for two-thirds of the match. Nevertheless, we have tickets for Tuesday’s game against Bury, captained by Dot’s cousin Gareth. Adrian and Clarissa are coming over.

It had poured during Friday night, and it even rained a bit when we took Anna on Thursday to Houghton Hall Revisited: a major Norfolk event of the year, running for several months. The idea is to show off pictures sold by Britain’s first prime minister and Houghton Hall owner Sir Robert Walpole to Catherine the Great in the 18th century – now lent back to the hall by Russia and replaced (mainly) where they originally hung.

Houghton Hall is a beautiful building in a stunning setting, but while some of the pictures were impressive, many of them weren’t. However, we really enjoyed the visit – a brief account of which can be found here.

Dot had spent the day in London on Wednesday, accompanied by her friend Anne. They travelled first class and ate in two rather nice restaurants. Dot also bought a hat for an upcoming family wedding. Meanwhile I frittered away much of the time but did manage to get some work done, largely my sermon for today.

On Friday, after Dot had managed to get an appointment at the doctor’s for a few routine matters, we eventually entertained Joe and Birgit to lunch. They both seemed on good form, with Birgit looking much better than recent reports had suggested. She looked very good indeed, in fact, and we had a lovely evening – some of it out in the garden.

Looking over my shoulder

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Chronicle in action at Dragon Hall. From left, Rob Knee, Caroline Gilfillan, Kay Riggs, Tim Lenton

Well, it happened. Reading the Pastons dawned sunny and reasonably warm last Friday, and everything fell into place. The speakers all turned up and did a good job; I operated the laptop for the pictures and struggled through after one or two initial blips. The two performances by Chronicle (the first to about 25-30, the second to half a dozen) went well and got good feedback. The exhibition and re-enactors performed well.

Dot brought Jessie, and Jude came too. From church Ray and Christine were joined by David Archer. At least two people came from London, including a man who used to be admired by Dot at primary school; unfortunately she wasn’t feeling well enough to chat him up: her catarrh lingered on, and still does to a much lesser extent. Anna’s sister Nicola also put in an appearance.

In the afternoon a number of USAF children came and joined in the re-enacting as well as one or two other things. The favourable weather meant that we could spill into the garden and was also good for Rob’s tour of the Norwich Paston sites. For more information, click here.

Afterwards Dot and I had a meal with Jessie back at 22, and we then took her home, continuing on to Paston to deliver various items to the Barn. Lucy was still not too good (she hadn’t been well enough to come), but she showed us details of a couple of houses in Bacton she was interested in.

Elizabeth had left her memory stick behind, so on Saturday I delivered it to her home in Little Melton before driving dow to see nephew Joe’s photos at a New Buckenham Photo Exhibition. Liked his stuff very much, and there were other good photos on show too. Dot would have enjoyed it, but she was still suffering a bit, so didn’t come. Bought some cards.

From New Buckenham I drove across country via Hapton and Hempnall to Ditchingham, where I picked up Joy from her retreat house. Arrived a bit early (I hadn’t been sure how long it would take), but Joy was pretty much ready. Drove her home, buying some milk on the way.

Meanwhile Andrew had taken a turn for the worst and was sectioned because they felt he wasn’t in a position to remain at the hospital voluntarily. Apparently he has been quite hostile to staff. I decided to go over to see him on the Monday, partly because I was worried about what was happening to his stuff. In the end I didn’t go because A Ethel was taken ill and had to go into hospital, where she remains. Dot and I saw her last night in the company of Angela and Rodney, who returned here afterwards for coffee.

I managed to get in touch with one of the carers (Paul), who assured me that Andrew’s stuff was being taken care of, and I’ve now decided to go over next Monday, in the company of Phil, who had been in Southampton last week while Joy was in Ditchingham. I spent most of yesterday dealing with church money and taking it to the bank, then sending out invoices for hall use. We also finally got a visit from a gas person, who serviced our system. It was OK, though of course we were urged to buy a new boiler, and of course we didn’t.

Today I shall be heading to the hospital shortly for an x-ray on my left shoulder. Or a look over my shoulder, you might say.

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.

Sudden death of college friend

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Dot's college friends pictured by Pete Stokes at our ruby wedding anniversary. Jan (Pete's wife) is fourth from the right.

Not a happy start to the week: Liz Stabler rang as Dot was leaving the house on Monday and told us that Dot’s college friend Jan Stokes (formerly Kidd) had died 0f cancer. Huge shock: we didn’t even know she was ill. Apparently she herself didn’t know about the cancer until a couple of months ago.

Then we discovered that our nephew Joe has multiple sclerosis: fortunately the less severe kind – intermittent instead of progressive – but still a tremendous blow for him and Birgit, and for his parents.

Third, and rather less seriously, I got a phone call late in the evening from Lucy to tell us that the consort of viols from Cambridge had decided not to play in the evening on June 9, but in the afternoon, thus making a nonsense of all our publicity. Ironically I had distributed some flyers to the tourist information centre, St Peter Mancroft and several businesses on Elm Hill when we checked the venue on Saturday. Ho hum.

The three of us met (with Kay) at Fakenham today to decide what we’d do about it and – mainly – to rehearse the script. The latter went well – Caroline had written a new song – and we decided to just forge ahead and do our own thing in the evening on the 9th, letting the viols get on with it in the afternoon. Out, viol spot.

Dot hasn’t been well, but is now better. We went to a concert by Duke Special at the Open on Sunday night, and she felt ill on the way there and the following day. The concert was nevertheless brilliant: DS is a great live artist and a top songwriter. The Cracknells and Heybournes were also there. We got there about 7.15, but there were two support acts before DS took the stage at about 9.15pm. One of them was local and not my kind of thing at all; the other was Foreign Slippers, who were quirky and pretty good. Great evening: even made Dot feel better, though she relapsed afterwards.

Had our hair cut yesterday, and in the evening Steve Fiske came round to sort out the worship songs for June 10, when the Archdeacon is paying a visit and we have a joint service at St Luke’s. Brought back memories of when we used to play together at St Augustine’s.

After several days of warm sunshine,today is cooler, with rain promised.

The Lawrence experience

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Julia, Dave and Dot view the Hemlock Stone on Stapleford Hill

Just back from Eastwood, a few miles from Nottingham and the birthplace of D H Lawrence. It’s been a misty day, quite cool, and at 4.15pm the sun is only just breaking through. We visited the birthplace museum, where Janice gave us a thorough and interesting tour, and then the heritage centre, which was showing an exhibition of Lawrence’s first novel, The White Peacock. Interestingly at neither place was this novel on sale, which is not the greatest marketing achievement I have ever come across.

In passing, I should note that Eastwood is also quite close to Mansfield, early home of my paternal grandparents and birthplace of the eldest three of my uncles. Why they ended up there is a bit of a mystery.

This is the third day of our visit to Toton. Julia is seeming a lot better, although her ankle still looks rather forbidding, and she manages to get around very well. Yesterday she spent some time shopping in the Westfield Centre at Derby with Dot, while Dave and I walked across town to the Silk Mill – the first factory anywhere, apparently, and now hosting a photographic exhibition and a number of aero engines, about which Dave was able to enlighten me. We had sandwiches in a nearby pub and then met up with Dot and Julia again in M&S, to discover Dot had bought me a shirt and two trousers. That’s good, obviously. I was able to wear the shirt and one pair of trousers to a meal at Creme in Stapleford with Alan and Rosemary the same evening: amazingly we had run into them at Westfield (Thorntons cafe) earlier in the day. Just a coincidence – the (excellent) evening meal had already been arranged.

We got to Toton for lunch on Monday after a straightforward journey. In the afternoon we walked to the Hemlock Stone on Stapleford Hill, which I found quite haunting.

One or two other highlights from the past few days. On Friday Dot and I went up to Mousehold to play pitch and putt, only to find that the course was not yet open. The weather was very pleasant, so we went for a three-mile walk on the heath instead. Then I went to the doctor’s to have my blood pressure checked and found that it had improved markedly. Of course I still need to take the tablets, and will have it checked again in a couple of months.

On Saturday evening we went to the annual celebration of Norwich Youth for Christ, which was unexpectedly enjoyable. It was at Eaton Church, and Heather and Paul Cracknell were there. Mark Tuma’s final event for NYFC, and one of Dot’s final appearances as a trustee.

On Sunday I preached (not terribly well, I suspect) on the Ten Commandments and then we took Joy and Phil for the latter’s birthday lunch at Joe’s. We supplied pavlova and wine, plus transport, and the fun lingered on until dark. Phil is 60, and we had a good look at his new bike as well as a tour of Joe and Birgit’s new house.

26 July 2008

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My nephew Joe and his wife Birgit, who came round on Thursday night with Birgit’s brother (also Joe) and his wife Ilona. Very pleasant 40 minutes or so in the garden before they left for Phil and Joy’s. It continues very warm – pleasant in the day, unpleasant at night, and I’ve not been sleeping very well. However, I am generally feeling better.

Thursday afternoon proved a long session at Paston, deciding what goes in the book, but it turned out to be unstressful. Everything we wanted to get in looks as if it’s going in, and we managed to marry up poems and images quite nicely. Today Lucy came round and printed off some acetates. I had thought she was going to do something much more complicated with them, but in the end I could easily have done what she did. In fact, I did. She just happened to be here at the time – after buying the acetates first, of course.

Yesterday, after a really bad night, I was going round in a daze, though getting one or two things done. Phil and Joy came round to use the computer: Phil found a dead Lenton in the Telegraph with Norwich connections, but she is no-one I know. There are far too many Lentons around to keep track of now.

Today, after Lucy did her stuff, Heather Savigny came round with her friend Simon, and we all went to the Coach and Horses round the corner for lunch. Surprisingly good. They came back for coffee/tea afterwards, and I managed not to get in a discussion about climate change with Simon, who works in the carbon reduction industry. He has a good sense of humour, and we had an excellent time.

Tomorrow is our ruby wedding anniversary, and we’ve booked into the Victoria at Holkham for a couple of nights. That’s after renewing our vows at church in the morning. Apparently they run out after 40 years.