Tag Archives: mass

Wanderers in the Cathedral

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , ,

IMG_2215

I still have a bit of a cough, but am feeling considerably better most of the time. The meal a week ago at the Sugar Beat in Swainsthorpe with Julia and Allan was first class, and in a very pleasant setting. So nice, in fact, that we considered booking it for the visit of David and Kristine, but by the time I got round to it (worrying a bit about possible cancellations), there was no room at the inn.

Instead we were lucky to be able to book at the Norfolk Mead in Coltishall for Saturday night, and this turned out to be excellent. Again, the setting was superb, and the food was very good indeed, though I didn’t like their interpretation of an “Eaton” Mess. The service was also near-perfect and worth the extra expense. The place is now under new management and attracting a much bigger clientele than it used to.

Our weekend with the Coomes was beset by bad weather, but we managed to get up to the Cathedral on the Saturday afternoon, where we saw the very moving sculpture installation  currently in residence, as pictured above. They are Ana Maria Pacheco’s Shadows of the Wanderer. Sculpture is not normally my thing, but this was sensational.

We lingered in the Cathedral out of the cold wind, listening to a rehearsal of St John’s Passion and visiting the shop, when we happened upon Mick and Gill Stedman, who must be around 80 but seemed very sprightly. We arranged for them to stay with us in September.

On the Sunday David and Kristine came to church with us as usual, where by some mishandling of the rota, I was down to preach. I managed to get through without David heckling, though Adrian did interrupt to ask who Ruth was. Actually it all went pretty well, and we returned home for one of Dot’s special salads with blueberries and chicken. Some furious squalls of rain and wind during the afternoon, but by the time they left things were improving, and their journey home went pretty well.

Yesterday I remembered just in time to go to the Requiem Mass for Alan Atherton at St George’s Church on Sprowston Road. Huge turnout. I entered with Mike Pollitt and sat with the Limmers, but many others from Archant were there. Afterwards I had quite a chat with Gerald Nunn, then with others from the former copy-taking pool, the ex-librarians – Frances, a couple of Pats and a couple of others whose names I’ve forgotten. Also there were Eric from the stone; Patrick, a Mercury sub; plus Ann Crane, Bob Easter and Johnny Hustler, who surprisingly gave one of the eulogies.

Just before I left Philip arrived to park his car while he went over to the station and bought a ticket for his upcoming visit to Sam’s (actually for the journey back, because he will be travelling down with Sam). On Friday I had given Joy a lift to the dentist’s and back, shortly before Linda came round to cut our hair. What a social whirl 🙂

Dot has been quite busy. Yesterday she spent most of the day at Barbara’s preparing for upcoming events, including the university one at the end of next month. Click here. On Thursday she was at the Cathedral for a very good head teachers’ conference.

Blocked in

Uncategorized, , , , , ,
Dot on a hill in Wales, probably the Berwyns
Dot on a hill in Wales, probably the Berwyns

One weighty item out of the way: we now have travel insurance for April. After several false starts, someone rung me who not only spoke recognisable English, but actually made sense. We completed the whole thing on the phone in less than a quarter of an hour. Changing the church account is still uncompleted. I have a lot of forms on the kitchen table.

On Friday we woke up to find a Mini Cooper parked across our driveway. As our car was parked in the drive, and there was no way to squeeze it out, we were stuck. After waiting a while, I rang the police, who suggested helpfully I should go round to neighbouring businesses (it had a business permit). After doing this and knocking up the neighbours too, I rang the police back with the registration number, and they eventually contacted the driver’s mother, who had lent her daughter the permit. The daughter was in London, and the mother had no car key.

All this had taken 2-3 hours, so I didn’t get to Joy’s mother’s funeral at Dereham. As there were 300 people there, this was not a tragedy. But we also had to pick up Dot’s pills and  Andrew’s jacket (from the cleaners) and visit Go Outdoors to get me a new jacket. We managed all this because Bob next door came home after lunch and moved his car down a bit, so that I could manoeuvre our car out.

The mother, who came round and knocked at the door, was apologetic but not convincing. Next day we found the coping stone on our wall removed and broken on the pavement. Was this a coincidence?

We had a lovely evening on the Friday with the Higbees, and then on Saturday went down to London to stay with the Coomes at Leyton, which turned out to be an action-packed couple of days.

After  lunch we travelled by taxi and Dockland Light Railway to Greenwich, where we visited the Turner & The Sea exhibition in the National Maritime Museum. This was scintillating: I love Turner’s work, especially the later pictures, and am not sure there’s anyone to compare with him. From there we returned briefly home before travelling by taxi and tube to Covent Garden and an extremely pleasant French restaurant.

Back at Leyton we saw Norwich win against Hull. The following day we went to a Roman Catholic Mass somewhere near Bond Street, followed by a visit to a nearby bookshop and clothes shop, where Dot bought a top. Then by tube to Stratford and the Westfield Centre, which was horrifically crowded with Sunday shoppers but contained an oasis of calm masquerading as a Lebanese restaurant. We had lunch there and then returned to Leyton for tea before setting off home – a quick and easy journey. The weather had been fine throughout.

Yesterday we saw Gravity at the Odeon: a remarkable film (in 3D) that left you wondering how they could possibly have made it, set as it was in a weightless environment. But although the storyline was very straightforward, the acting by George Clooney and Sandra Bullock (especially) was excellent.

On returning from London, incidentally, we found that our water tank was overflowing (through the overflow pipe) into the back garden.  I clambered around in the loft, checked with the internet and sprayed the ball valve with WD40. I also tried to bend the arm slightly, but not sure if I succeeded. The overflow has stopped, but I’m not sure if this is a permanent repair. Obviously if you’re using the water on a regular basis, the overflow is going to be minimal. Still, I’m hoping. Very cold tonight.