Tag Archives: mx5

Return of the black car

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The railway carriage in which Edith Cavell's body was brought back to England, together with the unknown soldier.
The railway carriage in which Edith Cavell’s body was brought back to England, together with the unknown soldier.

At last our MX5 arrived back this morning, and it seems in good nick, though we haven’t driven it anywhere yet. We got a call from the garage just after 8am, and after trying to persuade them to deliver it this afternoon, we settled for as early as possible – around 10am. It eventually arrived at 10.30am, by which time Dot had left for the Archant coffee morning. After signing a few documents and paying some money I followed her up and arrived around 10.50am, to find Maryta and Paul, and Tricia and Brian already there, with the Limmers following soon after. A very large gathering altogether, and we booked for the Christmas lunch in the canteen.

The Hendersons came back for tea/coffee, and on the way home I picked up our new cordless vacuum cleaner from Doddle in the station (a drop-off shop). I am developing a cold-type thing, which is getting irritating – sparked off by dust from the garage clear-out, I think. Got tired out walking home yesterday and had to lie down. Slept for over an hour.

We had been to Jamie’s to meet Audrey and Bent for lunch, which was excellent: steak frites and a blackberry and apply pavlova. Afterwards we said goodbye to Audrey and Bent (who are buying a caravan at Beeston Regis) outside Jarrolds, paid in some cheques, visited the Forum for an architecture exhibition in which Roger’s redesign of Jessie’s bathroom features, popped in to a mini-display about Edith Cavell in a railway carriage parked outside, bought some birthday cards in Jarrolds and walked home.

Not much happened earlier in the week except for the garage clear-out, which was pretty tiring and is not yet finished. I have had some interest on freecycle for old tapes and German books, but nothing definite yet. Still, we’ve thrown away a lot of paper and have plans for disposing of more stuff.  But the weather today and yesterday has not been inspiring, with much drizzle and gloom.

I preached on Sunday morning and got good reviews, and on Saturday Dot watched Norwich lose 2-1 to Leicester, thanks to more bad refereeing. The England rugby team also knocked themselves out of the world cup in a predictable kind of way.

By rail to Coventry

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My form photo, probably from 1960-61, recently unearthed. The form teacher is Neddy Carter, and I can remember almost all the boys' names. I am standing almost on my own, on the left.
My form photo, probably from 1960-61, recently unearthed. The form teacher is Neddy Carter, and I can remember almost all the boys’ names. I am standing almost on my own, on the left.

We haven’t quite lost summer yet: today is warmish and Dot has gone for a walk in the city. While there she bought a lot of printer paper, and I went up in the car to pick it up. Earlier this morning, the MX5 was at last taken away to be repaired, and we have a Nissan Micra in the drive. Surprisingly, the man who fetched the MX5 drove it away. I warned him the front had fallen off once, and the back tyre was losing air, but he didn’t seem worried. Not after I gave him a cup of tea, anyway.

Yesterday I spent mainly getting to Coventry and back, with a brief break around 4.40pm when I spoke to Andrew in hospital for about 40 minutes, and had a chat with the senior nurse. Andrew doesn’t seem too bad. He has a large bear. I went to Coventry by rail, starting at 12.30 and transferring to Euston by tube before a one-hour journey to Coventry. From there it was about a half-hour bus trip to the hospital. On the way back I got an earlier and faster train than I had expected, but unfortunately it was delayed because of a signalling problem between Rugby and Milton Keynes. Still, I got home about 10.45pm and finished one of my birthday books, Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. Good prize-winning SF with some very original ideas.

On Tuesday I had expected a quiet day but Philip Robinson was very anxious to get on Facebook so that he could contact (or be contacted by) someone he met on holiday. So I spent a couple of hours fixing him up with a Facebook account and a couple of friends. He found the guy he was looking for, and we sent him a Friend Request.

The excitement on Monday centred on the DCC meeting. I spent much of the day writing a Finance Report and sorting out a few other details. The meeting was at Howard’s and so featured much wine and nibbles, which I’m not sure the vicar was expecting. As it turned out, the meeting was the longest I’ve ever experienced, finishing at 10.10, when Judy gave us a lift home (we’d walked there). No doubt things will quieten down, but I guess this is the sort of thing that happens when the vicar is single and has too much spare time.

The drama about the water leak continues, with Stuart complaining about more or less everything but at least arranging for progress to made. He’s had Colin digging up the neighbour’s garden and searching for absent stopcocks, and is now complaining about the insurance policy, which looks fine to me. I think he’d really like the church to be liable to pay huge amounts of money…

As I mentioned last time, I went to the Seagull last Sunday on my own, as Dot was not feeling too well and Phil was under a lot of pressure from various sources (though not Anglian Water or Stuart). I read half a dozen poems which seemed to be well received. Well, no-one threw anything.

No time to catch breath

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Heather and some other guy
Heather and some guy

Forget what I’ve said about busy weeks in the past. This week just never stopped. On Tuesday Dot was in Liverpool, philosophising very successfully. In the morning I went to the Archant coffee morning and exchanged photos with Brian and Robin. Meanwhile the Hendersons borrowed out permit while they went to Buckingham Palace (on a tour). In the afternoon I was up in the Forum with Rob, Peter, and Karen, discussing the bid for our forthcoming project and becoming more and more doubtful that we would be able to complete the work in time. Afterwards I stayed in the city (bought birthday card and book for Oliver) until the launch of a book at Mandells Gallery: Searle on Norfolk School etchings, published by Susan Currran’s company.

Earlier in the day I had almost sorted out the saga of the MX5, and the photographer came and took pictures at 7pm. The next morning I rang the insurance company to find they had at last done something quickly and had looked at the pictures and agreed the car was repairable. However their nearest approved repairer was in Halesworth (unbelievable).  I agreed to go along with this: said repairer was due to ring me back, but instead they rang Dot’s mobile (unbelievable). She was at Aldborough, delivering more philosophy, but managed to give me their number. I rang back and we fixed a time for them to pick the car up: Thursday the 10th!! (unbelievable) It’s a good job we have another car.

When the man from British Gas came to overhaul our system the following day, he pointed out that one of the tyres on the MX5 was flat! This was a new tyre, and it couldn’t have been affected by the accident. So another problem to sort out. On the plus side, he seems to have done a very good job on the radiators, though there is  weird trickling sound…

While he was working Liz Day came round for a cup of tea and in-depth discussion. All discussions with Liz are in depth. Later Dot went to the funeral directors with Rodney and Angel and took a couple of hours to sort out details of the funeral, before returning home just in time for Linda to cut our hair. Later we went to Morrisons to stock up on food for two lots of visitors.

On Friday I delivered the Paston magazines to Rob’s at North Walsham and then picked up Dot’s pills from the chemist. In the afternoon I called to see poet Joy and her husband Andy, where I had a cup of tea and pleasant talk. Before I left Nick from the printer happened to call round and I was able to tell him how everyone at Paston had admired the mags. At some time that day I believe I had a longish talk with a lady at Coventry about Andrew, during which I agreed to represent him in any discussion about what was best for him.

In the evening our neighbours Bob and Mary and Des and Chris came round for drinks and nibbles, and we demolished four bottles of red wine between us, though I feel that neither Dot nor I had a sixth of the total. Pleasant evening, ending at 11.40, when Des and Chris went home.

Yesterday, with the weather pretty chilly (as it is today) Heather and Simon came for lunch, but not before I had walked to Morrisons and got some last-minute food. Had a really nice time with them, and we ended by walking up with them to the Jeff Koons exhibition at the Castle, which ends today. On the whole, it was better than I thought it would be. Later Anne called round for tea and talk.

Today started with my leading the service, preaching and writing the prayers for Dot, who is feeling a bit under the weather. Afterwards she drove home while I went to a PV at Mandells Gallery by Kate Coleman and chatted with Martin Laurance (and Kate). To be honest, I’m not feeling 100% either, but thought I’d go to the Seagull tonight to round the week off! Dot is staying at home.

One under on Mousehold

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Three figures in a haze on Scarborough beach.
Three figures in a haze on Scarborough beach.

Colin still hasn’t returned with our new handle for the garage door, but Dot has devised a cunning method of opening and closing it. Pretty exciting – but even more excitingly,  we have a blue recycling bin. It only took one e-mail to Norwich City Council and it suddenly appeared today, at roughly the same time as the window cleaner, who is recovering from quite a serious operation.

On Wednesday I went to see Sharon, and we agreed that my shoulder was all right now, so “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. She tested my reach and made some suggestions but didn’t charge me anything, which is more than reasonable.

The second half of the week (up to a very wet today) was warm and sunny. On Thursday we took the MX5 in for a service and MOT, then in the afternoon took the radical step of taking in a pitch-and-putt game on Mousehold. Bit worried when we turned up to find ourselves behind five teenagers, but they very kindly asked us to go first, which made the tee-off a bit tense but worked out very well afterwards, as we completed a round without any problems. We both played reasonably well and ended up minus one ball, which is pretty good considering that we lost three. I was a bit worried about my shoulder, but there have been no drastic repercussions.

Yesterday was even warmer, and I felt a bit silly carrying a jacket to the cinema to see Far From the Madding Crowd. As anticipated, however, the cinema was considerably cooler than outside, despite the warmth generated by us and the two other people watching the film 🙂 Good film, though I felt the wrong man was playing Sgt Troy – he was on the brink of being a Monty Python parody.

This morning we are preparing to go to a birthday meal for Mary Thrower – wife of one of my classmates at the CNS and a colleague of Dot’s in the Sillars Orchestra. Can’t imagine we shall know anyone apart from those two.

I did not shoot the Sheriff

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Dot with her friend William
Dot with her friend William

We are now the proud if temporary possessors of a brand new Corsa, lent to us while the MX5 is repaired. I was taken to pick it up from Enterprise in Heigham Street on Friday afternoon. The traffic both ways was so bad that it took nearly an hour altogether, and my driver on the outward journey was not slow to point to the Grapes Hill roundabout as the problem.

The car has been on the drive since then, apart from two short trips – one to church yesterday, and one to the doctor’s today. I would also have driven it to the supermarket, but decided to wait till tomorrow because of the forecast heavy rain that annoyingly failed to materialise. Instead I watched the film Bitter Lake for the second time while Dot watched it for the first time. Still good, and available on iPlayer! It explains everything.

The visit to the doctor was routine, and had the added bonus of revealing a reduction in my blood pressure to 136/88. I had a discussion about the advisability of remaining on two Lanzoprasole tablets: the main reason for the visit. I feel better when on two a day; so naturally I have to try to get it back to one. Last Thursday, in a thinly related health event, I went to the hospital to see a urology nurse, which turned out to be a complete waste of time. She didn’t know why I was there, and nor did I (other than receiving a letter telling me to attend). On the plus side, I seem to be OK. On the minus side, she didn’t like me criticising her inaccurate diagram, and I didn’t like going in half an hour late.

When I got back from the doctor’s today I did some cutting and pulling in the garden to get something in our brown bin, which made me quite tired, but I’m sure it was good for me. Last week was a record as far as walking was concerned. When I say record, I mean the best week in the past month. Even counting Buxton.

Last Friday Dot and I went to a house somewhere in the middle of a field. I think it was Framingham Pigot, but it could have been Bixley or some other, nameless part of South Norfolk. The event was a brunch to celebrate the success of a charity run by one of Dot’s friends, Helen (a former head teacher), which involved collecting sugar for homeless shelters. Don’t ask. Anyway it was a nice event. Helen is lovely, her husband Chris was a nice bloke, and I spent much of the time talking to Sue and Roger Eagle, though not Louise, as Louise pointed out. She is the secretary of the charity, and a nurse, I believe. Probably not urology. The food was excellent.

We had to rush back to get the MX5 in place to be collected by the body repairers. It was duly carted off, and will not be seen again until next week. Dot has arranged for them to do another dent unrelated to the recent car park mishap, which will end up costing us over £300. So that’s all good.

In the evening we went to the centenary dinner of St Augustine’s Hall, which was honoured by the presence of the Sheriff of Norwich, William Armstrong OBE, the former Norwich Coroner who used to go out with Dot when they were both at City College. So obviously she chatted him up. His wife Monica was very nice. Obviously I didn’t chat her up. Or shoot the Sheriff, though I’m saying nothing about his deputy. Nice meal provided by Carrie’s crowd, and I helped with the washing up. The plaque looked good – a rare example of a suggestion of mine coming to fruition.

On Valentine’s Day Dot went to see Norwich City beat Wolves 2-0, which made her happy and relieved that she was not an unmitigated jinx. In the evening I cooked her an M&S meal that I had bought earlier. It came with fizzy stuff and was quite tasty.

On Sunday after church we were prepared to go and see Jessie, but it turned out she was spending the afternoon with Roger; so we stayed in. I walked up to the Rosary while Dot did some sewing. I know that’s hard to believe. Also hard to believe is the fact that I sent off for and have now fixed a new letterbox. It wasn’t easy, of course. The fittings were not quite right (although they looked right on the diagram), and I had to cut off some plastic bits and screw in where nothing had been screwed before. I amaze myself. The cut in my hand was not very deep.

Rattling around as usual

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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.

Hard day in the recording studio

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No, we haven’t moved. This is Dot at Adrian Ward’s 60th party in the garden of his rather impressive house. There were a lot of people there, but not in the picture (obviously).

Summer has gone temporarily absent, and it’s raining as Dot prepares to depart for her orchestra rehearsal. She has been at Barbara’s all day, discussing future P4C activity. I went for a session with Sharon, armed with my “normal” x-ray results. It does seem to be getting better.

I was pretty tired, though, following a hard day yesterday in the recording studio at Katy’s Cottage, Wood Dalling, otherwise known as the home of Kay and David Riggs. We managed to get through the entire performance of what has recently been known as “The Magnificent Margaret” , taking one speech, poem or song at a time and then re-recording when the girls managed to hear some tiny interference on several tracks that was indiscernible to the men.

I even recorded my song – guitar first, then vocal. An interesting experience. It was quite warm and we ate outdoors. Had a stomach upset during the night and early this morning, but that was probably a coincidence.

Eventually retrieved Dot’s MX5 from the garage on Monday, but it cost us over £1000, largely because everything was done at once: new power steering fluid reservoir from Japan, service, brakes, renewal of roadside assistance… Gave a bloke a lift from the garage into Norwich who turned out to be from North Walsham and (inevitably) a former pupils of Jessie’s. Michael Self.

Later that same day, while Dot was at a governors’ meeting, I went to a private view of the annual 20 Group’s nudes exhibition; I was invited by Hilary. Not very impressive, to tell the truth, but free wine, and I ran into Rosemary Dixon from Archant library who, I was informed by a passer-by, is a fiddle player. She didn’t seem entirely sure.

The big event of the week, of course, was the joint service at St Augustine’s on Sunday, about which I had been having bad dreams for some time. It turned out to be OK, though, with the visiting clergy person, the Rev Eleanor Langan – lead chaplain at the N&N Hospital – turning out to be a sweetie.

Quite a big congregation; the church hadn’t been swept, and I didn’t follow precisely the guidance I’d been given, in that I forgot the second chalice and neglected to put the collection plate in the right place at the end (not strictly my fault, that). I also refused to use the ugly makeshift shelf for the pulpit and rigged up a music stand for EL’s notes instead. And I forgot to light the candles on the altar.

But on the plus side, the leading of the service was fine, and everyone was happy afterwards. Dot and Steve did an excellent job with the music. EL left her coat behind, and I delivered it to the Chaplaincy letterbox at the hospital in the evening while delivering Dot to see A Ethel, who is still in situ. EL was quite impressed by this.

Geoff’s operation at Papworth didn’t go too well, and he was unconscious for several days, but he has now woken up and will hopefully start improving, though we have no details.