Tag Archives: prezzo

Crawling into another year

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Amy helping Daddy to relax in Prezzo's
Amy helping Daddy to relax in Prezzo’s

Feeling very down and tired, which is not the ideal start to a new year. Slept very little last night, stirred myself just enough to get Dot a cup of tea at 7.20am before she left for a P4C session at Heather Avenue, then lay awake till after 9.30. Eventually had a bath and crawled downstairs about 11.30am. Cannot work up enthusiasm for anything.

We did have a lovely time with David and the children, managing to do something every day. Last Tuesday (the 30th) we visited Jessie, and on the way there I dropped off and delivered a cheque to Rob Knee, having a brief chat with him and Penny before walking the rest of the way. Cold but moderately invigorating, I seem to remember.

On New Year’s Eve we had a pizza and drink at the Hendersons’ at lunch time. In the evening Roger came round for a meal, and the festivities included the mandatory quizzes – including two very hard photo quizzes from the children which took us up to midnight. There was a brief concert from Queen on TV, with their new (very good) lead singer.

On New Year’s Day, after something of a lie-in, we all went to see The Penguins of Madagascar at the cinema, and I only dozed off once or twice. It was actually quite reasonable, and the children enjoyed it.

The next day Birgit and Joe came round in the morning, and after a light lunch we headed for the Maddermarket to see The Borrowers, which was really excellent, making light of the obvious problems in staging. The actors were superb, and it was just the right length. By accident we got five seats behind each other downstairs, and this caused some concern until it became clear that the adjacent seats were not going to be filled, and so David and the children were able to sit together.

On Saturday Richard, Maddy and Darcy came round both before and after lunch at Prezzo’s, and when they departed in late afternoon, David and the children packed and headed home while we did a bit in the house.

On Sunday we woke to a frozen street, and it took me some time to get the car going. Even when it did it insisted on telling us that the tyre pressure was wrong: not sure yet if this was a result of the cold, or if there is indeed a genuine problem. A visual check revealed nothing obvious.

Rather an odd morning at church, or maybe it was just me. Eleanor, who was presiding at Communion, had a bad cough and so Dot distributed the bread while I sang. Phil was away, as were several other people, but we got a few from Carrie’s group there, plus a Latvian couple who wanted to have their baby baptised. When we left, Anna and a helping group were solving a problem with one of the curtains.

I had a quick look for a stopcock, which Stuart has been writing e-mails about, but couldn’t see anything obvious. Back home I tried to get the new Apple TV to work (David kindly bought it for us at Christmas), but after some partial success failed almost completely. On the plus side, we can now watch YouTube and see Flickr on the TV.

Oxnead event fulfils hope

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Oliver at the wheel of a fast-moving Ferrari.
Oliver at the wheel of a fast-moving Ferrari.

After months of planning, the big Paston event at Oxnead Hall slotted neatly into place on Friday. The weather was fine – often sunny – dry and warm, and the 80 or so invited guests were able to explore the extensive gardens without recourse to umbrellas or wellington boots. They were welcome by Rob, sitting by the car park, checking them off his list – one of his few moments of relaxation.

Interestingly, the Eagles arrived very early, largely because they had the time wrong. But many others drove in before the official start time, including some distinguished Paston experts like Jean Agnew. So much like Jean Agnew, in fact, that it was Jean Agnew – author of A Whirlpool of Misadventures, a collection of Robert Paston’s letters.

We arrived at 10am, helped with the setting up and did a full rehearsal at 11am, which went pretty well, under the watchful eye of Dot. Among our friends who attended: the Hendersons; the Archers; Jessie, Roger and Jude; Claire Carrington; the Kibbles; the O’dells; Lucy Edwards; Karen Smyth and Liz McDonald from UEA; and of course the Eagles. Not the band.

We had forgotten to bring a packed lunch; so at about 1pm we nipped into North Walsham to get some sandwiches from Waitrose – and used the opportunity to purchase a bouquet for Penny (we had already got four other bouquets for Lucy, Oxnead owner Beverley Aspinall, Ann and Ruth at Rob’s request).

The performance itself went smoothly, and I felt reasonably confident in my 17C costume (a sentence I never thought I would write). Dot and I combined well on our song, and we got some good responses afterwards. We also got some amazing PHS food – a veritable high tea which included a chocolate and rum cake made by Dot. Rob gave a brief speech and I trotted on with the bouquets, including our surprise one for wardrobe mistress and set designer Penny. Lucy came with Naomi for the last half-hour or so: she was quite ill and should have been in Papworth, but it was good that she was able to put in an appearance, what with her being the PHS founder, and the event being (among other things) a celebration of its 21st birthday.

After chatting to as many people as we could, we spent quite a long time clearing up, which included chair removal, washing up and transferring a great deal of stuff into waiting cars. Felt pretty much exhausted at the end.

The next day Colin gave our hedge a good cutting, and the garden looks much more attractive. Dot couldn’t resist a great deal of tidying up in his wake (not that he left it in a mess: he’s very thorough), and I’ve cut back the foliage around the kitchen window. Dot has also bought some new plants, mainly for the front garden.

On Sunday Nicholas made one of his last appearances at St Augustine’s. He’s just received the go-ahead for his visa, and should be leaving in early November. Afterwards we called on Elvira at her invitation for a cup of tea, but largely so that she could show us her new flat. Later still we had a meal at Prezzos with Neville and Mary Thrower (Neville is a former CNS contemporary, and Mary is in the orchestra with Dot). Very enjoyable, but I’m a little worried, because all three of them were getting over bad colds, which naturally makes you feel you’re catching them.

Meanwhile the scaffolding in our back garden awaits the arrival of the builder to work on the roof. Dot is out all day at various schools, and Barbara is due to visit after that for a P4C consultation. In other news, I have put together the bones of a book on Iona featuring poems and pictures, and Oliver has driven a Ferrari at 100mph, apparently earning praise from his tutor. It was a birthday present from his mother (I think). What a star! As long as he doesn’t get too much of a taste for fast cars…

The godfather: a sequel

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Holly a few years ago

Holiday approaching fast. Dot is completing her packing today – or at least making a list –  prior to a day in London with Anne.  I will be packing too, but I have a “dress” rehearsal with Chronicle this afternoon.

Last night I met my god-daughter Holly for the first time since her wedding. She is now divorced and seems very happy: we had a lovely evening with her and her parents, Paul and Maryta, at Prezzos. The waiter was excellent, and Paul insisted on paying. How much better could it get? They also spent some time with us before and after the meal, and I discovered that Holly is a science fiction fan, especially Iain M Banks and Alastair Reynolds. I recommended Robert Holdstock’s Lavondyss and Mythago Wood, and lent her copies.

Dot was particularly pleased to have a good meal, because she had been fasting over Monday night in preparation for a blood test early yesterday. This meant that she was not able to have either the tea or the cake at Bridget and David’s during our monthly “cake and compline” gathering. Still, she could do the compline. Judy took us in her new car because she was a bit worried about parking it next to ours. So she had to park it at the Archers’, which is even more of a challenge.

On arrival home we forgot to retrieve the child seats which she had left at ours, so I took them to her yesterday morning while Dot was waiting for her blood test.

On Sunday we had another downpour or two – the biggest one as church ended. We were afraid that our living room would be flooded again, and were relieved (and surprised) to discover no water at all on the floor when we got home. The rain and wind were  apparently the tail end of Hurricane Bertha – much worse in some other parts of the country.

We were a bit hesitant about fulfilling our scheduled visit to Walpole Old Chapel, near Halesworth, in the late afternoon for a poetry reading. But in Suffolk there had been little rain, and it was sunny and quite warm (though a bit windy). We were amazed at the number of people there – probably around a couple of dozen or more reading – and we all got to read three shortish poems or two long ones.

I read Something is required, Flood levels and Pelican, and they seemed to be well received. Mike Bannister, the organiser, was very welcoming and wanted me to read again at another Suffolk group. Another woman (wife of Hebridean poet James Knox Whittet) was convinced she knew me, but we couldn’t work out where or how. The whole affair lasted about 2½ hours. The chapel itself was amazing.

All this followed a full Saturday, which started with Dot visiting the doctor and getting a positive response to her complaint about her thyroxin tablets being cut. (She had been feeling under the weather, apparently as a result.) This doctor restored her former dose and said she could quote him if they tried to cut it again.

From here we proceeded to Jessie’s and then to the Gunton Arms, where we had an unexpectedly  full lunch. I had been anticipating a sandwich, but we were sat at a restaurant table, so I felt I had to order a proper meal. This was a mistake, but quite typical of me. However, the shoulder of lamb was excellent. I shouldn’t have had the cheese and biscuits, though. Felt too full the rest of the day, which included Denise’s 70th birthday party in the evening.

This was fun, despite our not knowing many of the people there: it is after all 30 years since we lived in Yelverton. We chatted with the Jarys and especially enjoyed catching up with Keith, Clive and Elaine. I also had a longish chat with Barbara, who is not well but remains cheerful. It was also nice to talk to the Wrights’ new next-door neighbours, a youngish couple (though they have an 18-year-old boy who is interested in journalism).