Tag Archives: judy

In the footsteps of Anne Boleyn – up to a point

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Hever Castle – childhood home of a Queen

On the brink of being ill for several days last week, but seem to have fought it off, though I’m not 100%. Main problem was an irritated upper respiratory tract, but also had an upset stomach and was feeling very tired. However…we made it to Hever Castle, Kent, home of the young Anne Boleyn and once owned, I’ve just discovered , by Sir John Fastalf, of Paston fame. It came to him through his wife, Millicent Scrope, and left him before he died.

Beautiful place, too. We had a large room with massive double bed, and the castle gardens were stunning in the late afternoon sun on Monday, when we arrived. In the evening we went to the King William VIII pub just outside the main entrance and had crayfish and steak pie (two separate items). Earlier we had the best Victoria sponge I can remember in the castle’s restaurant.

The journey down was straightforward until we got within about five miles of the Dartford crossing, when the traffic became very, very slow – often stationary. Fortunately we had plenty of time and arrived here less than half an hour after the earliest admission time. There is a billiard room and a luxurious lounge.

Yesterday was much chillier, but we made the most of the sun in the morning to walk round the lake after conquering the water maze! Felt pretty exhausted afterwards, for some reason, but Dot left me lying on the bed and went to the shop, after which we had a meal in the cafe. Dot;’s was apparently very nice, but my fish and chips was on the cool side.

Afterwards we went round the castle itself, which was quite impressive. From Anne Boleyn’s bedroom window we could see our bedroom window, but we didn’t lose our heads. In the evening we stayed in our room, ate sandwiches, read and watched a bit of TV.  Not all at once.

After some more walking in the grounds this morning, involuting a visit to the regimental museum and the church where Queen Elizabeth’s grandfather was buried, we had a cup of tea in the cafe and departed north. A very easy journey this time, stopping at the M11 services for a drink and a bite to eat, plus a bit of petrol and pumping up the tyres.

Last Wednesday we went to June Wallace’s funeral at the Hungate (Methodist) Church in Beccles. Nice service, and good to see Ian and William again. Had quite a long chat with William, who is living in an unconverted barn in Sussex and has a pet jackdaw. He is still creating leather and copper art for very rich people, has problems with his kidneys but is very positive. Amazing bloke. Ian has two teenage children and is divorced. He is a self-employed lorry driver. His ex-wife was there but didn’t sit with him or with the children. We stayed for refreshments.

On Friday Dot was rehearsing with the orchestra; so I took Judy to the Octagon Chapel for an event called The Sound of Silents. It consisted of old films of Norwich accompanied by local bands: Mammal Hands and Birds of Hell (which is one bloke with guests). Interesting audience split: young people who came to hear the bands and couldn’t really appreciate the films on one side, and older people who lived the films but found the music intrusive on the other. I liked the music, but found it a bit loud at times. Glad I went, though.

Then there was the weekend with the Coomes, which went well but quite quickly. Contrary to the weather forecast, the Saturday was not pleasant and pretty wet, off and on. Dot and I went to Morrisons in the morning, and we had a light lunch when the Coomes arrived. Then at 5pm we had a meal at Prezzo, followed by the concert at St Cuthberts. The latter went very well: the best I’ve heard them. Judy was there again, as were Fred and Sue, plus of course Neville and Mary.

We took the Coomes to church on Sunday as usual. The vicar spoke about Edith Cavell: today was the 100th anniversary of her death. Afterwards we went to Prezzo again (!) and then walked along the riverside path, where we encountered Ian Bullock briefly. The weather had changed to sunny and very pleasant. The Coomes left at around 4.30pm, and Dot and I watched rugby world cup and then Formula 1, then more television. We were pretty flaked out.

So all out packing was left to Monday  morning. But it worked pretty well really. My only worry was that I discovered a small leak in the bathroom before we left. I left towels on the floor and hoped it didn’t escalate. When we got back today the towels were soaked, but nothing worse. I rang up Anglian Water, with whom we have insurance, and as I write a plumber is trying to sort it out.

Speeding at Scarborough

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The finest view in England (they're looking at it).
The finest view in England.

My shoulders are much better, despite (or possibly because of) strenuous exercise in Scarborough. Still, I think I will go to see Sharon on Wednesday and see what she says.

Pre-Scarborough, we enjoyed a compline and cake evening at Howard and Anna’s with Vicky, Judy and the Archers, which was as convivial as regular readers (Dot and I ) would expect. This was followed by something almost as exciting – the Archant pensioners’ coffee morning, though the only editorial presence apart from myself were Robin and Shelagh. We had quite a long chat with Hazel, Alan’s widow.

Dot and I took the train to Scarborough, and the journey up there was very pleasant, with plenty of room in the trains and everything on time. The Evetts met us at the station at about 2.15pm, and after refreshments we walked into town from their flat by the high-level route, which we hadn’t done before, and after a snack in M&S (and purchase of wine and biscuits) got the No.7 bus back– our only casualty being a seagull bomb attack on Julia’s jacket.

The next day was pleasantly warm, and we walked in to town by way of the beach, stopping en route for tea/coffee at the Palm Court cafe and buying hats  to protect us from the sun. After lunch at the Cafe Columbus it was suggested (I cannot say by whom) that we talk a ride on the speedboat advertised opposite. Julia demurred, but the rest of us went for it and found ourselves on the faster of the two vessels – the Rocket. It was an exciting ride round into North Bay and back: only ten minutes but pretty exhilarating, with plenty of up and down as well as side to side. Happily, we did not get wet.

Afterwards, we walked round the harbour and had an ice cream before walking back up into the town (quite a climb) to catch the bus home. Quite along wait for the bus on this occasion.

Friday dawned much duller and with a spot of rain to start with. However, that was not repeated and by the time we had driven to Cedar Barn, near Thornton le Dale, the sun was shining so much that our outdoor snack with Janet and John (not the famous literary drop, but friends of Julia and Dave) was eaten under considerable heat. Dot and I had a Sally Lunn (an agreeable kind of Yorkshire teacake).

After leaving J & J we travelled to Sutton Bank (just under 1000ft), where we took in the “finest view in England” (James Herriott) before undertaking quite a strenuous walk to the Kilburn White Horse. This landed us too close to said horse to see it clearly; so after returning to the visitors’ centre for refreshment we drove to Kilburn itself for a fine view of it, thence returning to Scarborough past Byland Abbey and through Ampleforth.

We returned to Norwich on Saturday, a windy but quite pleasant day. This journey was more trying as the trains were pretty full. On the first stretch to York we sat next to two young couples who disposed of two bottles of wine in 45 minutes; on the next stretch (after our own modest refreshment at Costa) our neighbours were sharing what appeared to be champagne and looking extremely guilty. On the final stretch we were adjacent to a woman who had left her “vital” valuables in a hotel safe and was making arrangements over the phone to retrieve them.

In the evening we had arranged to go to a performance by Adrian and Bridget Plass at the Central Baptist Church. We went with Judy and met the Archers there. The new vicar-elect was also present, with some St Luke’s members, and we were introduced to him. Janet and Graham of Montauroux fame were also there. Had the opportunity to chat with Adrian and Bridget and bought the new book. It was an excellent evening, extremely funny at times but also moving.

It was a rare Sunday, as I was neither leading nor preaching, and I managed to avoid falling asleep (we were still both very tired after the journey and Dot had proclaimed a “2” day – we are on a 5-2 diet. In the evening however we were invited in impromptu manner to the Hendersons’ for a drink and both had a glass of wine there. But I had only one crisp.

Today is very pleasant. We discovered an attempted break-in yesterday that had damaged the garage door at the back; so it was fortunate indeed that builder Colin was due to come today to look at a few jobs that needed doing. He arrived while I was in the bath; so I had to get out to speak to him. I then got back into the bath while Dot went to a meeting at Thorpe High School, and Colin came back again to remove the door handle for comparison purposes. So I had to get out of the bath again. What fun.

The best news of the week happened before we went to Scarborough. Dot visited the doctor to get the results of a blood test and was told she did not have diabetes, and the relevant readings were all down. A weight off our minds.

Problems with access

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Maddison and Darcy Beales on a visit to Aspland Road last week.
Maddison and Darcy Beales on a visit to Aspland Road last week.

After a warm day yesterday (albeit with a slightly chilly breeze), today turned cooler again under a grey sky. Certain people say this is the hottest April on record, but I don’t know where they’re standing.

On Sunday I was preaching again, standing in for the rota person, who was hard-pressed. I was also leading the service (as per rota), and before that chairing the DCC agm in the absence of a vicar and the churchwarden, who is in Sri Lanka. The vicar-elect is in Marrakesh, but that’s another story. The DCC was pretty straightforward and no-one queried why Ian was standing down. No election was necessary, because all the gaps were filled, with Judy and Eleanor being new DCC members.

Afterwards we had a Far Cry rehearsal, which went fairly well.

On Monday I was up at the Forum by just after 10am for a PHS trustees’ meeting with Karen about the new bid (Discovering Paston Footprints). Went well up to a point, then degenerated into chaos as usual. Lucy has shingles, though this wasn’t known (even by her) until after the meeting.

A new private website has been created to get all the bid material together. I spent ages trying to access it and failing until it occurred to me this evening that my two websites (this one and back2sq1) are not WordPress.com sites but just built on WordPress software. Rang David to confirm this, and then I was able to reach the Paston/UEA site by pretending to create a new WordPress.com site. At least, I think that’s what I did.

Later on Monday Dot and I went to Morrisons, who were woefully understaffed on the tills, and in the evening to the cinema, which had a similar problem: tickets could be purchased only at the ice cream or popcorn counters. Wonderful. We saw The Water Diviner, which was very good,  though quite gruesome in the war scenes (Gallipoli). Russell Crowe and Olga Kurylenko were excellent, as was Dylan Georgiades as Olga’s young son. Thought he must be Turkish (or Greek), but he’s actually Australian. Yilmaz Erdogan (a Kurd) was also good as the Turkish Major Hasam.

Yesterday Dot went to see Dr Dar, who said she was diabetic (blood count) but had no symptoms. She is going to be monitored at the moment and will probably have to have a pill to correct what appears to be a problem with the pancreas. Later we went to Poringland, where Dot had a violin practice with Janet Smith from the orchestra and I went for a long walk with her husband Graham, who has a train set in his back garden. They are coming to the South of France with us.

In the evening Vicky, Bridget and Judy came round for tea cakes and compline. David is in a bit of a bad way with his swallowing problem and had to be taken to A&E a couple of nights ago. This may turn out well because he now has to see a doctor and get it sorted out.

Today was the Archant agm, held this time at the Forum, where the buffet was not quite so good. However the new CEO, John Henry, gave a very good presentation and reacted well afterwards when Dot pointed out that the EDP had too many mistakes in it. During the meeting itself Maryta asked about demographics and was misunderstood. She also asked for a job, and this was understood. Robin was there, but not Brian, and apparently Bruce is in a bad way with a lung infection (possibly pleurisy).

Dot had to leave early in the buffet to go to Hopton for a school Ofsted feedback, but I hung around until the bitter end and had two glasses of white wine, which wasn’t bad.

Walking with the Romans

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Amy, oliver, Paul, David and Dot at Caistor St Edmund, hunting for fragments of pottery
Amy, Oliver, Paul, David and Dot at Caistor St Edmund, hunting for fragments of pottery

Unusual follow-up to one of Dot’s meetings, in that it led to the exposure of someone putting in false expenses – who claimed to be there, but wasn’t. Despite his prolonged and protested innocence, it was eventually proved that he was lying in his teeth. As a result he was “embarrassed”. Can’t say who it was, or where the meeting.

On Tuesday last week we had a compline and hot cross bun at Judy’s in the company of the Archers. A nice evening, except that the cool temperature (18C) led to my suffering a bit of a relapse. In fact I’m still not right, and nor is Dot. We both have a bit of a cough, have few reserves of strength and (in my case) tend to shiver and (in Dot’s) get too hot. Still, we have managed to carry on, because mostly it’s not too bad. Very irritating, though, as it affects our sleeping too.

Despite that we had a great time with the grandchildren and with David. We picked Oliver and Amy up at lunchtime on Wednesday and got the bonus of a very nice potato and leak soup from David. Good journey home and a rather late night after watching some of The Ark on TV.

The next day we visited Gressenhall. The weather was unexpectedly good – sunny and not too cold – and we were outside most of the time, taking pictures and making videos in the wood, and going for a lovely walk by the river and an exceedingly boring tractor ride. The cafe was pretty good, and there were some interesting old things to be seen, like a schoolroom and a shop. Also saw a horse ploughing in the distance. Drive home was rather convoluted after I avoided going through Dereham (probably unnecessarily). Saw the rest of The Ark. Pretty good.

On Good Friday Dot was helping some people from church with some singing on the Haymarket. After David arrived in late morning, Oliver and I went to meet her, and we all went to the museum to gather material for a project for Amy.  Built bridges and arches and played old games.

The Hendersons invited us to walk with them at Caistor St Edmund on Saturday, and we just made it before they gave us up (10.35). Pleasant walk, encompassing the new bridge and field across the Tas. Paul very good at teaching Oliver and Amy Roman things. He has a real gift. Afterwards we had lunch (pizza and salad) at theirs. Later we had a roast meal at home.

On Sunday, despite feeling pretty awful when I got up, I went to church to play music and do the prayers for the Easter Communion. By the time I got there I wasn’t too bad. Adrian arrived and accompanied me on his acoustic bass, and Howard joined in on the piano for the final traditional Easter hymn (Christ the Lord is risen today). Howard took the service, and Eleanor preached. All very lovely;  I found myself last to leave, which was not what I had intended at all.

David and the children left in late afternoon after a second shot at Amy’s new game, which involved setting up shops and telling stories and making money. She is quite a girl.

Today I took some flowers up to the Rosary while Dot went to watch Norwich City beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 and moved to second in the Championship. I think we’re safe from relegation now.

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.

Hockey near Otterspool

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And here we are in Caddington. Amy is programming something on Google, Oliver is on Facetime from Aylesbury and Dot is cooking fajitas. I have just finished a John Le Carre book, which ended up in a predictably depressing way that I guess is realistic as far as the Congo is concerned. I picked it up at Edingthorpe Church while showing Dave and Julia one of the Paston walks.

We drove down here yesterday, stopping off to see Aunt Ethel on the way. She was healthy enough but a bit concerned that she and John were being asked to take on the running of the home following their arranged marriage. Interesting idea.

We arrived in plenty of time to have a bite to eat and then drive down to Aldenham to watch Amy playing hockey at Edge Grove School. We met Emma and had a chat, than after the game – in which Amy looked pretty good to me – all the parents / grandparents were invited for  a match tea: sandwiches, cakelets and hot drinks. Very civilised.

On the way home we drove in to neighbouring Wall Hall College, which is now private roads and pricey dwellings for the super-rich. Once back on the M1 we could catch a glimpse of Otterspool, which I understand has suffered much the same fate.

We got home to Caddington around 4.45pm, and Dot cooked chicken chasseur with pasta. Then, following a plan we had only just found out about, I drove to the Travellers’ Rest at Edlesborough to meet Vicky (and Oliver) and take delivery of various bags of clothing and other items. By now it was raining hard as forecast, but this had dispersed by the time we woke up this morning, shortly before 7am.

We were more or less spectators as Amy got herself breakfast, and we left around 7.40pm. Despite being held up by a rear-end shunt (not us), a traffic jam on the A505 and a bin lorry in the narrow streets of Markyate, we made it to school in good time, and Amy disappeared in search of her school shoes which she – in common, it turned out, with several other girls – had left behind when setting off for her hockey match the day before. These duly turned up, but she is now minus a sock.

We turned up early to meet Amy out of school, and the journey both out and in was uneventful. Grace popped round for a bit, then Amy went to hers, then Grace came back … and eventually was fetched by her father. Amy had a bath and we watched some catch-up TV on Dot’s laptop; then had an early night. Earlier in the day we had visited Sainsburys and spoke to a woman who had to get up at 5am to get her granddaughter to school. Going a bit far, in several ways.

Before our journey south, on Monday we were given a lift by the Archers to Judy’s for our occasional cake and compline. In a later e-mail David A said he had felt “below par” and thought I was too. I didn’t know that.

New car in the post

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Bird-watching on Cley beach, looking over the marshes.
Bird-watching on Cley beach, looking over the marshes.

Seems a long time ago since I posted something. Let me see, what has happened? Oh yes, I have become 69. I am in my 70th year. Three score years and ten on the horizon. I suppose getting this far has been good, but it all went by so quickly, and the more it went by, the quicker it went.

So I was feeling a bit down on my birthday, which was last Saturday, as I recall. Maybe this was partly because the previous four years I had been on holiday when my birthday came round: this one seemed strangely flat. That was until I bought a new car.

We called in at the garage on the way to the North Norfolk coast for a late afternoon visit, and things soon got out of hand. We took a Mazda2 for a test drive – both of us had a go, and it seemed really nice, light and nippy. We sat down to talk to the salesman/general manager, who we know quite well, and before we knew what we were doing we had ordered one.

Things I forgot to check: whether I could get my guitar in the boot. Bit worried too about how I’ll cope with the much smaller engine and loss of Sport boost, but on the plus side it’s much cheaper to tax and insure, and it uses far less fuel.

Afterwards I was driven to Holt by my wife and we had tea and cake there before moving on to Cley, where we visited the beach and then the Three Swallows before ending up at the church for a performance of Caroline’s Pepys extravaganza, which was brilliant and worthy of being seen by many more people. She seemed pleased to see us. The rest of the audience were very weird, so we fitted right in. One of them had bought a dining table for £8500, apparently. I didn’t mention the car.

The next day I had to preach at St Luke’s. Happily Karen was leading the service and Steve was the worship band, so I felt quite at home, and the talk (on No condemnation) went OK, despite a large man on the front row who tried to join in. He was also in the front row at a concert there in the afternoon to raise money for Carrie’s work, and kept trying to draw attention to himself. He tried to engage me in conversation in the interval, but I was giving nothing away (we had already had a brief discussion after the service, where I obstinately refused to agree with anything he said). He brings out the worst in me.

There was a fierce rainstorm during the concert, and water started to get in, but they soldiered on. Very enjoyable, actually, especially Dvorak’s New World symphony. Dot and I escaped by the side door afterwards to avoid encountering Mr Big in the foyer. Also Dot was anxious to get home to continue with a mammoth clean-up that has been going on all week. The garden is now stunning and the kitchen repainted, rearranged and generally just right for a party, should one happen to occur.

Coincidentally, Chrissy has arrived in the country and will be joining us on Wednesday with David and the children. Oliver has a new phone and texts us quite a lot, which is nice. We also get more of an idea what’s going on.

My birthday meal was on Friday evening. We went to Cafe Rouge, and the meal included a free bottle of champagne, as it was for my birthday. This kind of generosity might help to explain why the place is closing down shortly – something we learnt by chance, overhearing a conversation while we were there. Our waitress, who was an opera singer, said that the group was cutting back, which is a pity, because Cafe Rouge in Exchange Street has a very particular kind of charm that I’m sure you don’t get in other Cafes Rouges.

Earlier we’d popped out to Mundesley to see Lucy, who amazingly was able to let us have the ISBN number for the Oxnead book. She seemed quite well, and her house looked very nice. Not sure what’s going on there. The cat and rabbit look innocent.

On Wednesday last week we went to Muspole Street to pick up my other birthday present, which is a picture by Martin Laurance that I’d expressed an interest in and which suddenly became available. Nothing too expansive or expensive, but it looks good on the newly painted wall with the other two of his that we have. I also called in to see Nick Gorvin about printing the Oxnead book. He gave me quite a reasonable quote.

Going way back, a week ago as I write we were at Judy’s enjoying cake and compline, but without the compline, because no-one had prepared it. Lovely evening though, including the Archers, who took us.

Back to today: I’ve been in the city paying in cheques. Weather very warm. On the way back I looked at David Holgate’s carving of Julian on the Cathedral, which is impressive. He has just died, and his funeral is this week. I have been in touch with his assistant, Philippa, who I know a bit. Also bumped into Margaret and Martin on the way home and had quite a long chat about his worries concerning Mairead’s house, which he fears may be sold for bedsits. We agreed that this must not happen, but had no idea how to prevent it.

Oh yes, there was a World Cup Final. Germany won. Nice goal.

Exploring Oxnead

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Part of the original Oxnead Hall buildings
Part of the original Oxnead Hall buildings

It’s that difficult time when you’re almost ready to go on holiday, but not quite. In fact in about 90 minutes’ time I shall be showing a visiting author round the Norwich Paston sites, which will take up most of the afternoon, so that should take my mind off it. There has also been some dramatic and unexpected news from church, but I can’t reveal what it was – yet.

We have had our hair cut, so we are ready for anything. I was even ready for another request from Parish Pump to write a 300-word piece for May – this time on Gerard Manley Hopkins, who happens to be one of my favourite poets. Managed to put the words together yesterday, and they’ve been accepted.

Monday was quite exciting, and not just because it rained extremely hard in the evening. Caroline, Rob and I visited Oxnead Hall in the morning to look at where and how we could put on a Chronicle performance in September (26th).  The piece will centre on the history of the hall, and afterwards we rehearsed the first draft and made some improvements, which I have to work in on my return from Florida.

The hall’s owner, Beverley Aspinall, made us very welcome and showed us round the gardens and into a couple of amazing performance spaces they have available – one in what were the barns, and the other in the orangery.

In the evening we went with Judy to Vicky’s, where we were joined by David and Bridget for tea, wine, cakes and compline. I forgot I wasn’t driving, so didn’t have any wine. I really think senility is setting in.

Yesterday we spent preparing for the holiday, partly by catching up with paperwork and partly (mainly Dot) getting the clothes together.  Which leaves Saturday and Sunday, during which the Norwich City manager was sacked following a poor display at home to West Brom (0-1) and we had a really nice service at church, with Phil leading. I did the sermon and prayers, and Dot read a long passage about the raising of Lazarus. Several people said they liked the sermon, which was nice, and in the afternoon we went out to see Jessie at North Walsham, which was also nice.

I have the American dollars, and unfortunately Oliver has impetigo, which means he has to go to the doctor’s tomorrow (he’s been once). Hope it doesn’t prevent him enjoying the holiday. We have fed the fish for Sam while they were away and woke them up this morning (Sam and Ellie, not the fish) to make sure they were back when we saw a strange man wandering in and out of their house. Turns out he was fixing the boiler.

Queen Dot, approximately

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Lovely picture of Dot taken by the head teacher at Little Plumstead school. Yes, that is a pine cone on her head. Don’t ask.

That was a rough week, bringing with it the return of the dreaded upper respiratory tract infection, which caused me so much grief in my younger years. Thought it had gone for good, but it all came back again with the usual unpleasant symptoms, and I was in bed for three days with everything streaming. In essence I think it was the virus Dot had (and she had it bad enough) but it seems to debilitate me completely. I am now feeling OK, though rather tired, and a little clogged up. Dot still hasn’t got rid of her cough.

I missed leading the service and the visit to Oxnead Hall on Sunday, and a meeting at the Norfolk Record Office and the Launch of 26 in Norwich (Paston connection) on Monday, all of which was disappointing. Dot went to Oxnead, Phil took the service, and Rob went to NRO (which he would have done anyway).

While the virus was getting into me, and before it reached its three-day apex, I went with Dot to Judy’s for supper on Thursday – lovely fish pie and Eton mess, amusing cat – and paid a misguided, fleeting visit to Welborne Arts Festival on Saturday while Dot was visiting Auntie Ethel in hospital (yes, she’s still there – Ethel, not Dot). The weather was chill and coming on to rain, but I had a brief chat with organiser Mike and, unexpectedly, top artist Kate Coleman, who had a small tentful of paintings. Then I ran for the hills, getting back to the hospital just in time to give Dot a lift home.

That reminds me, I ‘ve written a new song called The Rolling Hills of Pakefield, which I like quite a lot.

I’ve spent the last couple of days completing preparations for Sunday (though I made a brief foray into town today to pay in cheques and buy paper). An unexpected complication – and I realise I’m looking at this from completely the wrong point of view – is that our friend and church member Geoff Saunders is on the critical list in Papworth following an operation to replace his aorta. Nicholas rang, concerned that my leading of the service on Sunday would be affected if he dies, and it certainly would, but I think I could cope. Hope I don’t have to, of course. (Nicholas himself is leading a Developing Consciousness course at St Luke’s and so can’t step in.)

Half a dozen of us had a prayer meeting at St Luke’s yesterday during the operation.

Dot and car both unable to go out

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A rare picture of our new wall (usually inaccessible or hidden behind Wildlife vehicles)

Ok, that’s far too long a gap – yet again. In self-justification, I was going to do it at the weekend, but someone decided late on Saturday afternoon that they weren’t going to be able to do a sermon the next morning, so I had to write one. As part of my sermon was about how self-justification is unnecessary and not very appealing, you can ignore that last bit. Oh dear: too late.

Dot has been ill too. She gets really bad colds that don’t normally last all that long but are extremely unpleasant for her while they last. They’re also quite frightening, especially when she can’t stop coughing and can’t breathe. She’s been in bed for a couple of days, but is now improving (though still in bed at the moment).

Last night of course she was unable to go to the final concert of the Norfolk and Norwich Festival at St Andrew’s Hall – a performance of Verdi’s Requiem by the London Philharmonic and the Festival Chorus. I took Judy instead, and she was most appreciative. Rightly so, because it was  superb. This is really not my sort of music, but it was top quality. I was particularly impressed by the soprano. At the end one of the cellists mouthed to one of her colleagues that it had been a good performance. She was right.

We saw the Cracknells in passing. Wouldn’t have thought it was their sort of thing either, but their eclecticism shouldn’t surprise me any more.

The weather yesterday and today is really summery. It wasn’t too bad on Saturday, but there was a cool wind while Colin and his son were rebuilding part of our wall at the back and erecting a new trellis. I have to say it looked really good, despite Dot’s not being able to supervise.

Dot’s car is ill too. It sprung a leak in the power steering fluid reservoir, which had to be replaced, but it will apparently take three weeks to do so; so we are a one-car family. I have looked carefully at our diaries, and I think we shall be able to cope. Perhaps we only need one car… Dot doesn’t think so.

It went into the garage last Monday, and the same evening I played my last game of chess this season, beating Andy Pandian (Oh yes) to reach 6/8 in my tournament. I still don’t know if this will be enough to win it. I suspect not. But as it may be my last game for a while, and it features a very nice finish, here it is (well, the finish, anyway):

At this point I envisaged a nice sacrificial finish, but I had to persuade him to allow it, so I played 40 Qd6. Exchanging queens would give me an easily superior position, so as I expected, he played 40…Qc3, whereupon I played 41 f6. This wins whatever he does, but happily he didn’t see the main threat and played 41…axb, and on my 42 Qxf8+ he resigned immediately. He has to take the Queen, when 43 Rd8 is mate. Not difficult, but quite pleasant.

Longish meeting of the Paston Trustees on a very chilly Thursday. Dot dropped me at Rob’s while she took Jessie to the crematorium at Horsham St Faith’s (it was the anniversary of Frank’s death), and Rob gave me a lift to Paston. Much discussion on many issues, which I somehow managed to translate the next day into coherent minutes. My preparations for Dragon Hall seem OK (I had seen Sarah again) and they were fairly impressed by my new flyers. I’m OK at producing publicity, but I’m not sure what to do with it.

Much else going on in the background. A has now been transferred to a smaller ward after he had become very hostile to other patients for no apparent reason, but on the plus side he is now getting visits from church friends who I got in touch with. Phil is in Southampton with Sam, who has just got a new job at St Swithun’s Girls’ School in Winchester, which should suit him down to the ground. Meanwhile I’m taking Joy to Ditchingham this afternoon for a five-day retreat.