Tag Archives: sillars

Am I hearing you right?

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June is continuing along its dull and generally unpleasant path as far as the weather is concerned. Today is very grey, and there are occasional spots of rain. Dot is having lunch at Biddy’s with her friends Sue and Helen, and I will shortly be transporting Phil and Joy to the opticians. I have a bit of trouble with my ears and called in at the surgery this morning to see about an appointment with a nurse. It was suggested that I ring up for an on-the-day appointment or go to a walk-in centre. I thought maybe there was something wrong with my hearing…

James Finley came to St Luke’s for a return visit on Friday and Saturday, and this went well even without Nicholas. I was assisting with various day-to-day things, and I also managed to get Agape to record it, and the Christian Resource Centre to come with their bookstall; so that was good. Cathy from Agape bought six of my Iona books, and someone else bought one too, which was an unexpected bonus.

Dot was not there on the Saturday because she was rehearsing for a Sillars concert at Salthouse in the evening. But before that Colin came round to fix the garage door again, and he also fixed the gate and provided a new coping stone. I went to the concert, of course, as did Anne and Philip and Maryta and Paul. Sounded pretty good to me, but of course my hearing is deficient at the moment. Dot took a guest clarinettist, Tammy, in her car.

On the Sunday I was leading the service again, as Eleanor had a double booking. Dot decided this was one of our 2 days (in our 5-2 diet), but this proved difficult to maintain in view of the stuff we were doing, which included a little bit in the garden.

Yesterday we dodged the showers and went up and had a giant teacake each at Jarrolds. I paid in the church cheques and Dot went on to do a bit of shopping and cooking while I made some real headway on the talk I’m giving on the EDP to my CNS colleagues next month. I now have a 30-slide PowerPoint presentation in place and just need to get the final version of the speech sorted out.

Amy has just spent a week on the Isle of Wight with her school, which seemed to go very well. Oliver is having trouble with his dental brace and with his skin (impetigo?), but apparently he now has help with both of these and is feeling happier.

Going for ride after a fall

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Dot looking lovely in the garden
Dot looking lovely in the garden

Winter is reluctant to let us go; still a chilly wind today, though it was very pleasant (as it often is) at the top of the Rosary when  I called in on the way back from fetching my pills from the chemist.

This was my second visit to the Rosary in less than  a week: on Thursday I walked up there and fell over while greeting a woman who was looking for her aunt’s grave. Did some damage to my hand and wrist, as well as spraining my ankle. Bruising has spread in strange ways: bits that were bruised to start with now aren’t, while bits that weren’t (inner wrist and outside of thumb) are now badly discoloured. Still quite painful if I get it in the wrong position, but on the plus side (for me) I can still play the guitar and (for the woman I was greeting) I found the grave she was looking for. She was very concerned about me and gave me her bottle of water.

Dot is up at the UEA today giving her presentation as party of a UEA/Schools philosophy conference. She has been very nervous about it. Later I shall be going to St Luke’s for the parish agm and dinner.

After falling over last Thursday I went with Dot to the Paston annual meeting, at which the sandwiches were very good; so as there were only 13 of us, we took some home. All the usual suspects except Lucy, who has shingles. Fred has shingles too, and we’re going on holiday with him in about ten days. Lots of it about. Well, two lots so far. The annual meeting was fine, though the room got rather cold later on. Nice view of the sea.

Big surprise on Friday, when Linda didn’t change the time of our hair appointment. In the evening we went with the Robinsons to the Red Lion at Eaton to celebrate Philip’s birthday. He thinks it’s the best food in Norwich, but it’s not really in Norwich, and I’m not sure about the quality either. Nevertheless it was very good. I confined myself to fish on the assumption (probably correct) that I wouldn’t be able to cut much with my injured hand. Spreading butter was not easy either. Afterwards they came back here for coffee, and I think I went to sleep. Must have been the stress. No-one seemed to mind.

On Saturday, as Norwich City FC threw away their chance of automatic promotion by getting a man sent off and drawing 1-1 with Rotherham, Dot spent most of the day at Acle – rehearsing in the afternoon and performing in the church in the evening with Sillars Orchestra. Obviously I attended the latter, which was very good indeed, especially the second half. I sat with Graham, who we’re going on holiday with, and Neville, who thought the second half should have been first. I definitely didn’t. Refreshments at half time too!

Another busy day on Sunday when, after I preached in the morning and notching up a hat-trick of Sunday sermons, Phil came round in the afternoon to rehearse and eat, before all three of us went the Seagull Theatre and performed three songs. I think Dot was flaked out, but she performed heroically, and it was well received. I also read a poem, and Kaaren filled me in on what was required for the Suffolk Poetry Festival (five minutes).

Yesterday, despite the chilly wind, Dot and I went for a 35-minute walk round the riverside path and, after lunch and a rest, called in at Morrisons for £100 worth of food, plus a new kettle. Then we watched quite a lot of TV.

Problem with the vagus

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View from the Julian Bridge last week.

The week continued on its breakneck course, with plenty of Christmas preparation: cards, presents, carol service preparation and so on. The weather has turned very cold, with a brisk wind, but it is happily bright and dry, both of which get my vote.

On Thursday we went to Sue and Roger Eagle’s in Hempnall for lunch, preceded by a brisk but chilling walk round the village. Then came an excellent spicy cauliflower soup, which would have been enough for me. However, it was followed by a pork main course and a  small but rich sweet – at the end of which Dot had one of her funny turns, where she goes into a cold sweat and can’t move. I got her to the loo and she recovered, but not really enough to stay, and I took her home, where she collapsed on the sofa.

From disparate sources we later discovered that this was a case of overstimulation of the vagus nerve, where the the overfed stomach demands too much blood, and leaves too little for the brain. It doesn’t last long, but it’s pretty frightening when it happens. This is the third time Dot has had it. In her life, that is. The most recent time was in the Last Wine Bar.

On Friday she had pretty much recovered and drove me to the Archant pensioners’ lunch after I’d dashed to the supermarket to slot in a £40 shop (thus obtaining an essential voucher) and dropped a Christmas pudding on someone’s foot. Luckily, being a northerner, he hardly felt it.

The pensioners’ lunch was the usual traditional affair, with the wine on offer dwindling to a trickle. Sat on a depleted subs’ table with Robin Limmer and Bruce Robinson on my left,  and John Kitson and Terry Reeve on my right. Mr Kitson proved remarkably entertaining. Also present: Sue, Frances, Julie… Sadly absent: Brian Caldecott, attending the N&N for some kind of operation. Shock of the day: among 16 pensioners reported dead in the past year was stone hand Martin Rodwell, who I had met not long ago at Blakeney and who had looked really well. Apparently he got cancer in his liver and pancreas, and died within 11 weeks of the diagnosis. A sobering thought. He was a nice bloke. Always got on well with him.

On Saturday, Norwich City scored three goals in six minutes while I was taking my brother Phil home from a walking visit. He finds it hard to walk more than one way now, which is rather sad. Norwich City beat Huddersfield 5-0. Later I drove Dot up to the Methodist Church on Chapelfield, braving the homegoing football drivers, so that she could rehearse for her evening concert there.

I left the car in the (free) car park and walked home, buying a hook for the bathroom on the way; cooked some food (I had earlier cooked some for Dot); fixed the hook on the bathroom door; and then walked back, arriving with about ten minutes to spare. (The hook is to ensure privacy for Naomi, who is staying with us tonight and tomorrow night; the main lock is defective.)

At the concert I sat with Maryta and Paul, having greeted Neville Thrower, whose wife Mary was on clarinet. It was a good concert, with Dot on second violin looking very good. Tea and biscuits at the interval, and a chat with the oboeist, who is Peter Bussey’s sister. All these CNS connections… Speaking of which, we have been invited to Adrian O’dell’s 70th next May. We know all the top people. After the concert Dot and I went back to the Hendersons’ for wine, tea, cheese and biscuits. Very nice.

This morning had a Communion led by Eleanor, with Howard preaching on the Magnificat. Dot has been dealing with cards and presents this afternoon. I have completed my allocation, but there is still much to do. Like a leaflet for the Midnight Communion, for instance.

After the storm surge

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Uneven floor

After the storm surge, we drove out to the coast last Thursday to survey the damage. We started at Hemsby, where I spent many a week in my youth, wandering the valley between the dunes and playing cricket in the rare smooth bit. Idyllic times. The valley is still there, though we usually approach it from the Winterton end, but the dunes on the seaward side have been eaten away by the sea and are much lower.

In the recent surge the damage was done south of the Gap, where we rarely ventured when I was young. I got some quite dramatic pictures of semi-demolished houses (one with a washing machine hanging on by its power cord). We then moved on to Happisburgh, where only one house now remains in the road to nowhere: a lot of land lost along the cliffs to the south. Then Walcott, where the road was opened. The sea wall was OK, but there was quite bit of damage to properties across the road. We had fish and chips at Bacton and drove home.

Bedroom with sea view
Bedroom with sea view

On the way home the car started making a strange rattling noise underneath. So the next day, on the way to the Archant pensioners’ Christmas dinner,  I called in at the garage – and while I was eating my meal and chatting to former colleagues, they fixed it. The protective shield under the engine had come loose.  The meal was average, but it was nice to see the colleagues. It was raining.

Preached on Sunday on John the Baptist and spent much of the weekend writing cards, with very little walking. However I have made up for it since, having achieved nearly 15 miles since Monday. This included much shopping, but also a walk up to the vicarage to pick up an urgent cheque that had to be paid into the bank.

Dot had a blood test early on Monday, and had to avoid alcohol over the weekend, which was of course quite difficult. We await the results. On the ending I made a rare visit to the chess club, where I took part in the Bob Royall Christmas event, which featured such rare variations as extermination chess, Fischer random, diagonal pawns and team chess. Despite being handed a defeat in round one, where we had to move to a new board halfway through, and the board I moved to was completely lost, I managed to finish equal third out of 12. I was particularly pleased because I found some key moves in the team chess and set up wins.

However, I was very tired afterwards, and found it hard to sleep. That was the main reason I stopped playing regularly, so it wasn’t too encouraging. Good evening, though.

A full attendance at the Tuesday Group on Tuesday, for which I cooked chilli con quorn, a well known Christmas dish. Judy brought some stolen; so all was not lost.

Yesterday Dot forgot to look in her diary and arrived at Barbara’s around 11am, or roughly two hours too early. Meanwhile I was delivering cards and buying more presents. Dot got back in time to take the bus up to Chapelfield and queue to obtain certain footballers’ autograph on a ball. Took Dot’s picture with said footballers.

After this we hastened home to get ready for the Sillars Orchestra Christmas outing at Merge, a Malaysian restaurant at the junction of Dereham Road and Grapes Hill. Quite a pleasant evening, though Dot was much keener on the food than I was. I had a chat with the conductor and others, and afterwards we were invited for coffee by Neville and Mary (Clarinet) Thrower. I was in the same class as Neville at school, though he wasn’t Neville then of course: he was Thrower, or occasionally Chucker.

Performing for each other

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Two performances in two days: the first at Cromer with Chronicle, at the invitation of the Friends of Cromer Museum. There were well over 50 people in the hall, and the songs got clapped! I think it was our best performance yet: we even managed to answer a few questions at the end. We had our new CD on sale. Only sold one, unfortunately – we weren’t really organised in selling mode, but we did sell two books as well.

We had rehearsed at Rob’s house in North Walsham, with food supplied by Penny, and Dot travelled by train to Cromer to hear us (had a bit of trouble finding the hall, but I found her near the fish and chip shop). Our old friend Beryl (from Barn days) was in the audience.

The second performance was by the Sillars Orchestra at Tasburgh Church. Dot went early to rehearse and I arrived about 7.10. It was dark, of course, and nobody had bothered to signpost the unobtrusive car park, so cars were scattered over the verges of a narrow approach road. I scattered mine there too: a fortuitous space opened up for me. Nice performance by the orchestra: I sat with Neville Thrower from the CNS and his cousin-in-law. These details are fascinating, aren’t they?

Wine and nibbles were provided at the break. The vicar bookended the performance very nervously, and Dot followed me home. I didn’t realise it was her until she drew level at the Trowse bypass slip road lights.

Now we are about to head for church, and I have received a text from UPS to say the leaflets are arriving today and can I arrange for someone to be here. Couldn’t be worse, of course. No-one is going to be here practically all day, because after church we are heading for Caddington to pick up the grandchildren. It’s Amy’s birthday, and they’re staying with us till Wednesday while David is in Canada. I may have to approach the neighbours. But which neighbours?