Tag Archives: menita

A kind of farewell

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The Rev Heather in the cloisters with Suzi Heybourne

Plenty of socialising in the last few days, with pleasant weather to accompany it. Matt is now lodging with us – so that’s continual socialising, though he is out most of the time (London for the weekend). He’s absolutely no trouble, even when he forgets his keys. But in addition…

On Saturday, a glorious summer day, Heather C was ordained deacon in the Cathedral in a magnificent two-hour service (with mitres) which featured my favourite hymn (I the Lord of sea and sky) and possibly my top Bible reading (Isaiah 6). I went with Matt, but several other St Aug people were at the Cathedral, chatting in the Cloisters and then at the Maid’s Head afterwards for a congenial party. Other friends too – including Mark and Suzi Heybourne, with whom I had a long chat – and to my surprise Philip Butcher, former chaplain at Norwich School Chapel, who coincidentally is married to the Rev Heather who is Heather C’s new boss: ie vicar at Cringleford. Delighted to see him. He’s hardly changed. Great party, which continued till 3.30, after which I walked home in the blazing sun and flopped out. Dot was unfortunately not with us, as she was at a Teach First exhibition and focus group at Reading on behalf of Philosophy4Children – also very successful, so a good day all round.

Peter Jary and Clive Wright

Another party on Sunday afternoon, this time at Poringland Comunity Centre for Peter Wright’s 75th birthday, and his son Clive’s 40th. Had long talks with former friends and neighbours from the village, including people from David’s generation – Barty, Keith and Peter Jary, as well as Elaine and Clive, of course. Clive is now living in Tuckswood with Sharon, a former parent of Dot’s (as she would put it) at Tuckswood School. Peter has a new partner, Helen, and a new baby. Keith has a girl friend in Mauritius, and Barty is now studying plant science. Also spent time with Jarys, Barbara, Bernard and Mary and of course Denise and Peter.  Really enjoyable in a nostalgic way.

Yesterday, after a very hectic day which included Dot spring-cleaning the house, we entertained Menita and Regis for a kind of farewell meal: they are leaving for Paris at the end of the month. Went very well (starters outside in the garden), despite their arriving about half an hour after we thought they were due, which meant the food was less than hot. Delightful evening, with Menita very Italian and surprisingly passionate about politics while Regis tried to keep the lid on in a very French laid back way. We now have a standing invitation to their French home, Naples and so on.

Aunt Kathleen, who died aged 90

The reason it had been such a hectic day was that my aunt Kathleen died early in the morning. We had been to see her on Friday, when she found it very hard to communicate, and we felt she was on the brink. As it happened, we were probably the last people apart from the nursing home staff to speak to her. When Paul was called on the Saturday morning because she was “deteriorating”, she was already unconscious and never came to again, as far as we can tell. She was 90 and had been struggling; so death must have been a relief to her. During yesterday I contacted various people, including her stepdaughter in South Africa, and dealt with several calls from Paul. I also collected the death certificate from Bowthorpe health centre – a real trek in the severe traffic which has been engulfing the city recently, with people looking for new routes because of several road closures.

Today we have just had our hair cut, and I am due to register Kathleen’s death this afternoon, before dropping off the certificate to Paul. Other tasks yesterday included buying a Homebase voucher for Donna (I was reminded by a chance phone call from Howard, to whom I later delivered it), dropping off clothes for cleaning, and then paying in cheques, getting some more currency and buying a football to take to Canada as  present. I should be getting enough exercise.

 

Brave lads beaten by snow

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Wintry glimpse through our front door at night

And so the new cold-type winter continues. Dashed out to A Ethel’s on Thursday to fetch forgotten item to be relayed elsewhere, and got back just in time to enable Dot to take the front-wheel-drive car to Thurton for a farewell do at the school. Snow was forecast, and there was sleet on the bypass, so it seemed sensible not to take the MX5, but in the event she was able to get there and back fairly easily. I gather she spent much of the time with one of her old admirers, who is rather well known around Norwich, so I had better not reveal his name. She has so many old admirers, unsurprisingly.

Snow overnight put the Archant Christmas Lunch at risk, and the brave lads from EDP subs all declined to risk the journey. So I found myself on a table dominated by Evening News subs, which was a bit unnerving. But I had my former training colleague Frances Burrows to my right, together with ex-electronics engineer Ken Prentice, who is quite a talker. So we held fast, even during a speech by Archant Norfolk chief executive Stephan Phillips which didn’t quite catch the mood, although I thought it was amusing.

Very cold on Saturday, so Dot and I walked to Morrisons and found that walking on packed snow was relatively easy. However, we didn’t fancy taking the car to Menita’s in the evening for her annual Christmas party, which consisted largely of sweet and sticky Euro-cake, mulled wine and the Italian version of tombola. So we got an A2B taxi, which didn’t fancy coming up our hill, so we met it at the bottom. Pleasant couple of hours in a multi-national way: sat next to Italian woman with almost perfect English. France and Germany were also represented.  Eugenia was away in Italy with Francesca, so her husband Roberto stood in. He is from South America and speaks Portuguese. Needless to say everyone could speak English, and did. Taxi took us home by about 11.30 and although tired, we watched highlights of Norwich City’s win earlier in the day before going to bed.

Today was hectic: our St Augustine’s alternative carol service, followed by  Christmas lunch. Unloading the car at the outset took an age, because Dot was supplying some of the food, plus table dressings, and then there were the musical instruments, stands and a few presents and cards. Nicholas was already there with Harriet, so the place was warm.

I was slightly panicky about the organisation of the service, which was in my hands as usual. Because it’s impossible to get anyone to rehearse, we had to plunge right into it, and I was leading, playing music, singing (sometimes) and taking part in the drama. My guitar playing wasn’t up to much, but we got through, and everyone seemed to think it had gone well, to my amazement. I used a couple of my songs, a couple of my poems and a new drama I’d written. It’s nice to have the opportunity, but I do wonder sometimes if I’m monopolising the whole thing. The fact is that they seem to like my getting on with it, because it means no-one else has to worry.

The lunch was a joint effort because Vicky had just produced a baby boy, George, and is in no position… It all went very well; too many cooks did not spoil the broth, and the food was delicious. Very nice to have the two Green girls, Anandi and Bethany, there. Had quite a long chat with Beth, who is thinking of applying to Oxbridge to read geography, but a bit worried about the work involved.

Spent much of the afternoon and early evening wrapping presents. Still very cold outside. Our haircuts have been postponed until Wednesday. What kind of margin for error does that leave us?

Extra shot with room

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yompers
Bruce, Shelagh, Brian (with Marian), Robin, Cynthia, Brian and Marian before setting off on a short walk at Caistor St Edmund

Hazy few days: think I’ve just about got back on to an even keel, but never quite sure. We had a fun evening with Menita and Regis – the continental way of eating, which lasted all evening till after 11pm – and just about made it to bed before going to sleep. On Monday I had my temporary crown replaced with a permanent one. Sad, really. The temporary one was doing really well, and the replacement process turned out to be painful. Two lots of anaesthetic needed to drill away the cement, leaving my mouth sore. Happily, the effects only lasted the rest of the day. I gave chess a miss.

On Tuesday we had a large group of ten, and Dot cooked roasted vegetables to go with my fried bacon and some goat’s cheese. Good meal, and fruitful conversation. Earlier Dot and I went out to North Walsham to leave flowers in the cemetery and to visit Jessie. This was after calling at the garage, where they managed to fix Dot’s defective door release by reprogramming it very simply. The mechanic also told me how to sort out my problem with the electronic windows; so a useful visit. I managed to leave my mobile phone at Jessie’s (it fell out of my pocket), so had to return yesterday to pick it up after going into Norwich with Dot to buy a suit and tie  from Marks and Spencers for the wedding. Went for a grey one for a change: I think it works all right. Afterwards called in at Starbucks on The Walk, and Dot asked for a tall americano and an extra shot with room, thus fulfilling a recent ambition. They knew what that meant, but when she asked for half-and-half, the assistant thought she wanted to pay half cash and half on card, which is a bit bizarre. Another assistant, however, was able to supply the half -cream, half-milk required. Boringly, I had a boring tea, which was boring. Ran into Adrian busking on London Street and bought one of his CDs.

The weather has been milder this week, and today I joined some former colleagues for a yomplet at Venta Icenorum. Not exactly strenuous, but a pleasant hour before I had to hurry back home to take a call from a hospital nurse about my recurring technical problem. Dot meanwhile was at Park Farm and then at her aunt’s. I’m still catching up with mail and other things. We are off to a meal with the Robinsons this evening, and tomorrow we head for Portsmouth and the wedding of my god-daughter Holly. Of which more later.

11 March 2008

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A rather nice picture of Dot – one of many I took in the garden the other day. Is it surprising that the woman in the bank today asked if we were over 50? Well yes, it’s extremely surprising in my case, but she was trying to persuade us to open a new account. Not so surprising in Dot’s case.

A very busy few days. What happened to those long hours of relaxation that retirement was supposed to provide? On Saturday we had two social events – the first at Hingham, where a former EDP colleague was bidding farewell to a few friends before departing to do some work in the Seychelles. Disappointingly good buffet, so I couldn’t sit back and ignore it. Ralph and Lynne were the hosts, and most of the guests were sub-editors or former sub-editors (or their spouses): Graham and Glenys Bradshaw, now resident in Leicestershire; Bruce and Cynthia Robinson (Sheringham), Robin and Shelagh Limmer (Denton), Brian Caldecott and Tricia (Old Catton); Simon and Anna Procter (Hockham); Tracey Bagshaw (Ormesby); and two of Lynne’s friends. Really enjoyable afternoon. In the evening we were at Menita and Regis’ home in Norwich, with a cosmopolitan bunch including three French, two Italians and a Brazilian, plus someone born in Glasgow (hang on, that was Dot). Excellent continental food, as you might expect, and some nice wine, as you also might expect, but I had to restrict myself severely, as I was driving. I could pick up quite a bit of the French, but when Menita started talking to her Italian friend, and I had to give up. Interesting listening to a conversation where you can’t understand a single word. Regis’ sister, who came from Lyon with her husband Gilles, wanted advice on what to call her upmarket interior design company. Apparently it’s quite chic in France to have an English name, which has to be the height of irony, since the opposite is the case here.

There was another meal at church on Sunday, but I managed to resist the trifle, largely because trifle is not high on my list of favourite foods. Watched too much television again, taking in the odd FA Cup tie and some rugby, in which Scotland beat England in a less than enthralling game (I actually didn’t watch that till yesterday) and Ireland lost to Wales.

There was quite a storm on Sunday night, though it was less severe here than in the south-west. Still, extremely wet and windy: not the sort of weather you’d want to be out in. It lingered a bit into Monday, but I braved the elements to get some website training at the vicarage. Most of it was pretty straightforward, but I was hampered a bit by the fact that the system involved didn’t run very well on either Safari or Firefox, which is not too impressive for a system nowadays. There were four of us learning it, including the vicar, who is clearly happier training than being trained! I think I’m going to be moderating the site when it goes live, though it’s going to be difficult keeping any sort of control.

In the afternoon we eventually managed to bring the motor insurance horror to an end by visiting a local broker, telling the story and showing him the documents. He fixed us up with a new policy at quite a reasonable price: it was such a relief to be able to talk to someone face to face. I wrote letters to Direct Line, who had cancelled our policy, and to Zurich, who had messed us about for two or three weeks and caused the problem in the first place. I hope that will be the end of it.

An amazing number of friends and relatives have been having problems recently. Must be something in the air. I had a really bad night again last night, for no apparent reason. I now have a date for my biopsy – April 17 which, coincidentally, is my father’s birthday. Tomorrow I have to go to the hospital to check if I am healthy enough to lose consciousness.

We went up into the city earlier today to switch Dot’s ISA to online and, as I anticipated, couldn’t avoid opening a current account there after the adviser told us how wonderful it was. I try to keep financial matters as simple as possible, but it’s getting more and more difficult to do so.

The weather improved for a while earlier today, but it’s now got worse again, and gales are threatened in a different part of the country. We may get away with it a second time.