Tag Archives: maddermarket

Rattling around as usual

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Fireworks at the Castle, as seen from Aspland RoadFireworks at the Castle, as seen from Aspland Road

As I sit here writing this, my wife is mixing with Royalty. A governor of Little Plumstead Primary School, she is meeting Prince Edward (Earl of Wessex) as he visits the school as part of a Norfolk tour. She was panicking slightly as she left because she had just received an e-mail saying that all the parking places were booked and she should park at the church. She wasn’t sure where that was, but no doubt it all turned out all right.

The weather has remained fairly wintry – or at least autumny. I guess it will remain so till about next May. Not sure humans were ever meant to live at these latitudes. Things have been quite hectic, even without the royalty.

Last Saturday I secured an appointment with my uncle Paul and delivered a version of our family tree that he had requested. Needless to say, he didn’t remember requesting it, but he remembers very little nowadays except who people are. When I rang him to arrange the visit, my cousin Stephen was with him, and I had a quick chat with him. He was very upbeat, despite worsening MS. After a pleasant half an hour, I left Paul to his Wiltshire Farms meal and the opportunity to examine the tree. I’ve had no feedback yet, but he was very appreciative of all my efforts. I said I had enjoyed doing it, which was true.

In the evening we visited another Paul – Henderson of that ilk – who was singing in the Philharmonic at St Andrew’s Hall at the time. Good programme: Debussy’s La Mer (orchestra only), then Lloyd’s Mass, which was excellent. Afterwards Paul and Maryta came back for coffee as the rain beat down, and I drove them home.

Another busy day on Sunday: first the Remembrance Communion at church, led by Howard and with Eleanor officiating and preaching. Reading of the names was emotional as always. Phil had called off both church and the Seagull because of work pressures; so in the afternoon Dot and I drove to Aldeburgh to see James Knox Whittet’s exhibition of sonnets and pictures relating to Islay. Although we missed the opening, we were there in time to see James and his wife – and sample some Islay whisky.

We followed this with fish and chips next door at the Galleon (also excellent) and a brief walk on the seafront in the darkness before heading north to Lowestoft. Dot remembered where there was a Morrisons garage and so we were able to save some money on petrol (we had a voucher). We arrived in Pakefield early and so drove down to the harbour and got a drink at the Harbour Inn, which was unexpected and pleasant. Then on to the Seagull, where we rehearsed for a while. Very few people present; so I got an opportunity to sing three songs and read two poems. Dot accompanied me on two of the songs, but declined on the third.

When we set off for Norwich I left my glasses behind. After searching exhaustively for them at home on Wednesday (after managing without them for a couple of days, assuming they’d turn up) I e-mailed Ian, who not only had found them but was about to travel to Norwich; so he dropped them off yesterday afternoon, while I was out but Dot wasn’t.

Travelled to North Walsham on Monday for a meeting of the Paston Trustees, during which Lucy outlined plans for yet another grant bid – this time for a project that had to be completed by the end of March next year. I pointed out the ridiculously short time frame, but to no avail. She is bidding for the money.

In the early evening Naomi arrived to stay for a couple of nights while she completed some work at the UEA. She planned to leave at 8.30 the following morning, but it was after 9.30 before she appeared. Still, all apparently went well. In the afternoon I had my urology appointment at Cromer. They were running nearly an hour late, and none of the expected things like x-ray and scanning happened. I had a flow test, which was OK, and a bit of an examination, but failed to convince the doctor that anything was wrong. So no change there, then.

Yesterday we took the MX5  in to the garage because of a rattle that I had been worried about for some time. I went for a run with mechanic Wayne (nice bloke), who diagnosed it en route as a loose caliber pin sheath (not sure that’s the right word) on the left front wheel. We left it while he packed it with grease and made sure there was no risk of anything going wrong when Dot travels to Liverpool in about ten days. When we picked it up again in late afternoon, it was much better: Dot also got some new mats, which were remarkably cheap, given the cost of everything else with the name Mazda on it.

While the car was in the garage I paid some cheques in and then went to see The Pity of War, a short piece written by and starring David Newham on the friendship between Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen and including (of course) some of their work. While waiting to go in I bumped into Sue and Roger, and sat with them. Also said hello to Trevor Burton, another ex-colleague and actor, afterwards, as well as congratulating David.

Unfortunately, though, I had to rush off, because I had an appointment to meet Joy McCall and Nick Gorvin at 3pm to discuss plans for my Iona book, which Joy insists on financing. First time I’ve been to her house, which is impressive – especially the Garden Room. All specially adapted so that she can move around freely in her wheelchair. Also met her husband Andy for the first time and was able to check that he didn’t mind his wife spending her money in producing a book for me. He didn’t.

After some deep discussion and a brief chat about the book, I have agreed to make it thicker so that it can be perfect bound. Joy insists. I think Nick is a bit bemused by the whole thing. I suppose I am really.

Short hair, broken fan

Uncategorized, , , , , , ,
Another shot from our Whitlingham walk
Another shot from our Whitlingham walk

Here I am waiting to have a sigmoidoscopy. It doesn’t happen till early this afternoon, but already my stomach is churning (actually it’s being doing it for days). Not sure if it’s foreboding or an actual stomach upset. The operation is minor, of course, but it’s the bit before and after I’m not keen on. I’ll keep you posted if I survive.

Dot is out visiting a school but will be back to accompany me to the hospital, in case I need sedation, which I am much in favour of. I am totally against unnecessary pain, and I’m not all that much in favour of necessary pain.

Happily our heating is back on. The boiler fan broke on Tuesday, leaving us with an electrically powered group meal in the evening. Quite cosy in fact, but the rest of the house was decidedly chilly. The gas man turned up the next day at 10am, at precisely the same time as our hairdresser, who had been rescheduled from Monday. He took some time to work out the problem, but then happily was able to fix it.

Meanwhile Dot was rather nervously having her hair cut short: it looks good. Mine is pretty short too, but it pales into insignificance beside Dot’s. Hair and boiler were both sorted in time for Dot and I to drive to the NRO to hear Anna’s “Paston Treasure” talk, which as very good. Judy was also there and so, surprisingly, was Lucy, rising from her sickbed and driven by Diana.

In the evening, while Dot was at orchestra, I walked up to the Maddermarket and got a ticket to see The Seagull, in which two of my former colleagues at ECN were performing. The theatre was sparsely populated, but the acting was good, though I think the guy who shot himself at the end (spoiler alert) should have done it much earlier. Trevor Burton was excellent, as was David Newham. The older woman/famous actress didn’t help the plot by being clearly more attractive than the young Nina who was supposed to be luring Trevor away from her.

I nearly missed the opportunity of seeing the play because I was unexpectedly asked to play chess for the A team in the evening, but this proved to be a false alarm: one of the regular players recovered from a bad back and beat the Norfolk champion. So that was all good.

Yesterday I called on the parish treasurer, Susannah, who lives in a house overlooking Carey’s Meadow in Thorpe. A totally stunning view. We had a conversation about splitting the parish share, which we agreed should be 70-30. I have no idea whether this is right or not. I suspect not. (Definitely not. – Ed. mf)

Later, while Dot was shopping after lunch with Sue Eagle and friends, I drove to Paston for a meeting of the trustees. A painfully slow process – and that was just getting there. The meeting itself was OK, though I was surprised to hear that Lucy was disputing the bill from the UEA, although  she’d told me she was paying it. I am having nothing more to do with it.

Long journey into Norfolk

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , ,
Oliver gets down to some serious photography

Later on the 22nd, I walked up the hill and along the path to Ilfracombe, which opened up to give nice views. Met the craft shop crew on the way back, and later in the day we all went to Woolacombe again. It was cooler and windier than before, but still pleasant enough for me to go into the sea with Oliver and Amy as they did some surfing: Dot hired an extra board for Amy, and I quite enjoyed myself.

Afterwards we took everything away from the beach hut and locked up, but it was too late to deposit the key, so Dot and I dropped it in the next morning, reclaiming the deposit. We then continued down the coast to Croyde, where I had spent a holiday as a child, but nothing rang a bell. It wasn’t far, but it was a very slow journey because of the narrow roads. When one queue met another queue, things got tricky, especially when there was a bus involved.

In the afternoon we all went down to the cove as the tide went out and made our way quite a good distance along the beach, looking for paths between the rocks that avoided deep pools. Amy took on the role of tour guide for a while, and Oliver took lots of photographs. He has a good eye for an effective picture. On the way back I took a different route and ended up having to jump the river, wall to wall.

In the evening we all went down to the Grampus for a meal, preceded by some outdoor table tennis. The food was exceptionally good: Oliver and I had steaks, and Roger had a second slice of banoffee pie. Very pleasant pub, to be recommended, which I did in the Daymer Cottage Guest Book.

Elegant Amy, at ease in any situation

On the Friday it rained as we packed up the cars, but it eased off as we left, about 9.45am. It was a bank holiday weekend, so the traffic was predictably bad, but we managed to stay together for the first services on the M4, where we had lunch and said goodbye to David and the children. We still stayed more or less together, though, until they left the M25 at the M1 junction. The M25 hadn’t been too bad (though it was pretty solid going the other way) until then, but it was getting worse as we reached the A1, so I took that route, up to Baldock and along the A505 to the A11. We managed to keep moving well enough until we reached Barton Mills, where there was a queue leaving the roundabout, so we took the normal evasive action through some nice Suffolk countryside and arrived home around 6pm.

On Saturday we decided to go to the Maddermarket for a production of A Murder is Announced, by Agatha Christie. This was remarkable in that it is the first time I have been to a play at the Maddermarket that was badly acted; it was pretty amateurish all round, and it was hard to know where to pin the blame. The director? Key roles? On the bright side, I ran into a couple of ex-Archant library people: Maureen Green and Frances Pearce. Had quite a long chat with Frances, who now lives in Aurania Avenue, behind my childhood home in Brian Avenue.

Yesterday I led the service, and Howard preached about the nature of holy places (everywhere). Unfortunately Dot had developed a sore throat and wasn’t feeling well, so she stayed in bed. However, she managed to come with us to the King’s Head and Ali Tandoori in the evening, with Heather and Simon, and we had a really good time.

Today Dot stayed in bed till late, but then got up, though she isn’t much better. The sore throat is less severe, but she’s developed a cough. Barbara and Roger have been visiting her sister and are just back (6.30pm). I cleaned the car out, getting rid of most of the sand, and did some food shopping. Also caught up with email backlog and the post. Now I will get us all some tea.

25 June 2009

Uncategorized,

baconsdot

Dot emerging from Baconsthorpe Castle, one of Norfolk’s great undiscovered ruins. Undiscovered by me, that is.

Today has been frustrating. I haven’t been able to get down to anything useful, largely because I keep putting off things I ought to do. Dot has had a busy day, with too many appointments to mention. She is now at Gillingham, or possibly on her way back. Earlier, while she was at a Diocesan House reception, I was helping to prepare St Luke’s for the visit of Martin Laird tomorrow and Saturday. Picked up some stuff from St Augustine’s with Howard and put some labels together with Margaret after long chat with Steve Fiske about his visit to Download, which I think is a music festival.

Last night saw Habeas Corpus with Dot at the Maddermarket. Brilliant Alan Bennett play, splendidly acted: really enjoyable with a very funny script. Weather very warm last two days.

27 February 2008

Uncategorized, , , , ,

Three in a row and a bonus point. My two grandchildren, Oliver and Amy, with their friend Alastair, all entranced by a Wii computer game. We spent a weekend in Caddington, and Alastair came round on the Sunday, bringing with him his sister Lydia, and his parents Phil and Jane. Quite a while since we’d seen them: I used to work with Phil’s father David on The Christian newspaper in London in the mid-60s.

And another similar relationship: last night Dot and I went to the Maddermarket again to see a play which included Sam, the son of Nigel, my best friend at university, also in the mid-60s. Sam is clearly an actor of some promise, and the play – The Musicians – was very well done. Sam and his mum Heather came back for coffee afterwards.

On Monday the vicar came round for tea, and we had a chat about life, the universe and anything. The church – or to give it its alias, the Norwich Christian Meditation Centre – will soon be having a website, and I shall probably be having some oversight of it, which could be interesting. In the evening I scored what must be one of the luckiest wins of my chess career, having been dead lost for most of the game. My opponent panicked in time trouble and let me mate him. The team captain, who had stepped out briefly, couldn’t believe I had won, and I was of much the same view. It was rather like a football match in which one team is stuck in its own penalty area for 89 minutes, then breaks upfield, the ball hits someone and ends in the opposing team’s net. Well, maybe not quite that bad. I did make a couple of quite nice moves, but it should have been all over by then.

Speaking of football, Spurs managed to win a cup at last – the Carling Cup, beating Chelsea 2-1 on Sunday. David, Phil and I were sneakily listening on radio for much of the match.

Yesterday I spent 2-3 hours with Annette, talking about our Paston workshop, and got some interesting ideas together. I will make a proper note of them when I’ve finished this and send them off to Lucy, via Annette. Had lunch there after Annette and I had picked up some eggs from a roadside stall. Showed Mike how to put images on the InPrint website. Dot meanwhile was checking out places we could have our ruby wedding anniversary party in August, and it seems likely to be Dunston Hall. We had a big party for relatives a couple of years ago: this will be for friends (with the odd exception).

Today – bright though chilly – J is with us again, having visited her husband in hospital. They’re beginning the painful process of working out where he will live and who will pay for it. There’s a chance it will be the NHS, but you can never be totally sure. It’s now after lunch, J and Dot are in the city, and I’m waiting for the insurance company to ring back about the dispute we’re engaged in about whether I cancelled my policy last year ot not. I’ve supplied paperwork, but they seem reluctant to admit they’re wrong. It’s important because of the no claims bonus issue. Over £400 hangs on it.

There was an earthquake last night. It woke and frightened Dot, and she woke me up. A reasonably large quake for England (around 5 on the Richter scale and centred in Market Rasen, Lincolnshire), but no-one injured and no damage in our area. Very little damage elsewhere. Annoyingly I couldn’t get back to sleep properly afterwards – thinking about that insurance thing – and after lying awake for ages, I got up at 5.20 and watched TV for the next two and a half hours – stuff I’d recorded, not the rubbish you normally get on in the middle of the night. Now, of course, I’m very tired. Why can’t you fall asleep in front of the TV when you actually want to?