Severe weather turned out not to be as severe in Norfolk as elsewhere, so we were able to travel south on Saturday, first to pick up Annette and Mike from Burston, near Diss, and then to proceed onwards to Aldeburgh. There had been heavy rain overnight, and it was certainly pretty windy, but no real problem until we almost got back to Burston, when we picked up a small but persistent branch underneath the car. I extracted it later by torchlight. The journey down through Suffolk was easy enough, and it was nice to return to Aldeburgh so soon. We were there to see the Orford Ness 2009 exhibition, in which friend Martin Laurance was exhibiting, He and his friend Ali Hollingsworth were part of the Stone Eye group, who had been given unusual access to Orford Ness by the National Trust in order to respond to it artistically. The result was an impressive exhibition – some brilliant paintings from Martin, and some quiet different but also fine work from Ali, who also makes books, combining words and pictures. Martin and Ali were invigilating, and we had quite a chat with them both. The show was in the Peter Pears gallery, which was totally transformed from when we saw it as part of the Poetry Festival: now open, airy and perfect for showing the work.

We drove back in the dark, but the rain had eased until it had almost stopped, and the wind has also dropped. Had curry with Mike and Annette and a long talk to the accompaniment of Leonard Cohen. Tried to persuade them to join Twitter, but don’t think I got very far. Annette showed us some of her new work, and so did Mike. His drawings are absolutely brilliant. If there were any justice, he would be making loads of money. Got back to Norwich earlier than I’d expected because I was going by the clock on their DVD recorder, which was still BST. Still, that was probably a Good Thing. Quiet day today after a good Holy Communion this morning. Music seemed to go well.