Have suddenly started feeling very tired for no apparent reason and have been looking up things like post-polio syndrome on the internet. Of course I’m probably just tired, but I do tend to suspect the worst. It’s one of many character flaws. My mother said I had polio (mildly) as a child, but I don’t really remember anything about it.
Walked up to the Millennium Library today for a talk on researching family history and felt shattered when I got back, despite having walked a total of only a couple of miles. Spent most of the rest of the afternoon researching family history and discovered my great-grandmother was a housemaid to noted chemist Charles Savory in Regent Street in 1861.
Of course there has been a certain amount of stress recently, which might account for the tiredness: I’m still in the midst of trying to change the church account to another bank. Went into Nationwide, and they said they didn’t do it. Went into Natwest, and they gave me a phone to speak to someone in Rotherham. I am now awaiting a letter and a phone call at home, hopefully in that order.
Still no news about Andrew’s money. Rang Minster Lodge today, extracted a promise of a ring back, but nothing happened. Meanwhile Dot and I went to Swinton to discuss travel insurance, and they said they couldn’t deal with people over 64 in the office; that had to be done by phone too. What is wrong with these people?
Then went to Currys against my better judgement to look for a new printer, but the two assistants we spoke to clearly knew absolutely nothing about printers. This reminded me why I stopped going to Currys many years ago, and we made our excuses and left. Have now realised we don’t need a new printer, because Dot’s is in the same room and perfectly OK. We have even saved quite a bit of space.
The weather has been reasonably mild (compared with the United States, for instance) but with a tendency to rain. On Sunday I was down to preach, which I did, but had to lead too as Ruth was not well. Quite enjoyed it.
On Monday Dot and I decided to go the cinema for a change (instead of just talking about it); we found ourselves in the vicinity during the afternoon and bought tickets. We saw Hobbit 2: The Desolation of Smaug in iMAX, and it was stunning in very way, even including a very good song by Ed Sheeran at the end. The screenwriter introduced a new elf, played by Evangeline Lilly, and she was wonderful: great action scenes too. Tolkien is brilliant on the nature of evil.
Have been transferring quite a few slides to computer, using my Christmas present. Not great quality, but what can you expect from 40-year-old slides? Some very nice ones of a young and gorgeous Dot. Not that she isn’t gorgeous now. Oh no.