Haven’t been out of the house today: spent quite a bit of time writing Christmas cards, which is admittedly a bit of a chore, but on the plus side, it is nice to know we have that many friends. I have to prepare a sermon for Sunday, but so far haven’t got much further than choosing the hymns; however, I do have one or two ideas that I shall probably feel compelled to share. Yesterday’s Tuesday Group had a new member, Katherine, and a total of ten, which is about the most we can handle and remain comfortable. Am getting to be quite a dab hand on jacket potatoes: you may think there is nowhere to go wrong with jacket potatoes, but mine are becoming legendary – that’s not far short of mythical.

On Monday I played probably the worst game of chess I’ve played for a long time, missing two easy wins and then failing to mate with king and rook against rook because I was just too short of time. So it was a draw, and we play again in the new year, because it was a knockout competition. I can’t believe the things I overlooked. Is this the beginning of the end?

Saw the doctor the same day, and kept him busy for about 20 minutes. Pretty reassuring generally. Earlier went into town to buy some Christmas cards. Charity cards in the Forum and the Assembly House were less than seductive, so I decided to try the Christian Resources Centre, which came up trumps, with some excellent Tear Fund cards. Walked back through the cathedral, taking in the new hostry (sic), which is quite impressive. On Sunday we had toyed with the idea of going to Paston for a medieval Christmas concert, but managed to resist the temptation.  Saturday night turned out to be unexpectedly pleasant when we invited the next-door neighbours round on the spur of the moment for nibbles and drinks. They hit both with some enthusiasm, and the conversation was good too.