As it turned out, Dot got home comfortably before David and the children arrived on Thursday, and we had a really enjoyable weekend, despite some less-than-perfect weather. Most of it was cold and almost as much was wet too. During a particularly fierce hailstorm on Saturday, water came into the living room via a hole behind one of the wall lights. Nothing very excessive: something similar happened many, many years ago and put itself right without any building work being required. But I’ll keep an eye on it.
On Good Friday we had the compulsory Easter egg hunt in the garden after considering and rejecting a couple of professional events elsewhere. The children insisted that the home-grown variety was what was required, and amazingly we collected as many eggs as we hid. Several times. Amy had a tendency to tell everyone where the eggs were, but this didn’t detract from the fun. The weather failed to dry out, so we played games indoors in the afternoon, and I introduced Oliver to table curling (don’t ask) and Tri-Tactics. He took to both, despite the latter being quite complex. At bedtime he was allowed by his Dad to watch the first 20 minutes of the Norwich game on his iPhone, but City failed to respond and went down 3-1 to lowly Tranmere, thanks to some memorably bizarre refereeing decisions. This rather put the damper on things following a triumphalist party he and Amy had organised earlier in the day to mark the team’s achievements this season. He is probably Norwich City’s biggest supporter in Caddington, if not Bedfordshire.
On Saturday we visited A Ethel for a short while and then went to the Castle Museum. Highlight there was a guy in the keep giving a brilliant talk on weaponry over the years, featuring longbows and the different types of arrow. I learnt a lot (including the revelation that the army that turned up at Agincourt would have beaten the one at Waterloo easily, because the arrows had so much greater range: get that into a song, Abba). Oliver was fascinated, but Amy was keen to keep moving. Some split supervision resulted. Eventually David and I visited John Lewis to look at scanners: an unnecessary excursion, as David later mended my current scanner. He then disappeared in search of other items and I went to pick up Dot’s shoes, which I had taken for repair on Thursday.
Yesterday I was leading the Easter service at church, and Oliver came with me to help set the room up. Dot and Amy arrived later, and there was a reasonably large congregation of 18, including four children. Phil was there; so I was able to concentrate on leading instead of playing guitar as well. Both children were brilliant: Amy played quietly throughout, and Oliver paid close attention. He was invited by John Easton (presiding at Communion) to pour water in the cup, and did so very professionally! After the service we proceed to the Red Lion at Eaton for what has become a traditional meal organised by Birgit. Twelve attended: apart from us there was Birgit and Joe, Phil and Joy, Birgit’s mother, her brother Joe and his wife Ilona. Lasted well over two hours and required some running games outside during the latter stages. Excellent food.
David and the children left around 7pm: Oliver and Amy are heading to Scarborough today with their mother. Dot and I, after some clearing up – mainly by Dot – watched the Bahrain Grand Prix and Match of the Day. This morning the rain relented and Dot and I went to North Walsham to see Jessie and insert flowers into the cemetery. Had some over so visited the Rosary and pout some on Mum and Dad’s grave too.
During Dot’s inspection at Hickling she met my old friend Lily, who now plays piano for the school. During our visit to Jessie today we saw several goldfinches, which I had never met before.