Spent the first part of Saturday writing my sermon, which went more easily than I expected, though there were only 11 people there to hear it yesterday. Norwich City again played brilliantly but failed to score, drawing 0-0 at home with Cardiff.
On Sunday afternoon we went to visit Geoff and Sophie at their home. Geoff got up when we arrived about 3pm, and is making pretty good progress, but Sophie is feeling the strain, to put it mildly.
The support for her from the NHS has been minimal. It appears that the better you seem to be coping, the less they are inclined to do for you. I suspect that if she had appeared to be near a nervous breakdown, everything would have been done for her; but because she puts up a brave front and visited Geoff every day, they assume she will be able to sort everything out. I felt very sorry for her. Happily she is getting much more help this week (which she arranged herself).
A massive storm predicted for the rush hour this morning failed to materialise in Norwich, though I believe other areas have been harder hit. It has rained a lot, and it’s windy, but that’s about it.
I have more or less finished the tanka book and am hoping that things will get less hectic now. David is back from Canada, landing ahead of the storm. He seemed to have a really good time.
Paul Henderson (left) with Chessie and Jozef at their engagement party
It’s coming up to 7am, and I’ve been awake since 4 – up and about since 5.15. This is an aftermath of my endeavours in the last two days to book a flight to Florida for next April: a process that drove me so crazy I had to lie down under the bedclothes yesterday evening with blood rushing round my head. In the end I was making repeated online attempts to confirm that it had gone through, together with numerous calls to both the website operators and Barclaycard. During all this I also booked a car which was probably too expensive, but I had lost the will to even discuss it.
This came after about a week of not getting enough sleep, which is worrying as I know this makes me prone to illness, but there’s nothing I can do about it. Things just seem to pile up.
A week ago we had a Paston trustees’ meeting out at Dayspring. The journey out there was pretty awful, obstructed by a series of dawdling drivers, but the meeting was OK. Unfortunately I haven’t had time since to write the minutes, and as I rely quite a lot on remembering what was said to fill out my notes, this is rather worrying. I feel sure there were some other things I had to do as a result of the meeting, but let’s hope that’s in my notes.
On the Wednesday we had Sophie round for lunch – in the garden – and afterwards I went with her to visit Geoff, who is making more progress. His left side is a bit more mobile, and the doctor was optimistic about his feet. It became clear too that he can read, though he finds it difficult to read aloud and still forgets a lot of words. Sophie took in a cassette player for him. Since then he has been moved to the West Norwich Hospital and according to Sophie is getting a lot of therapeutic help. I am trying to contribute by organising visits, but not with a great deal of success.
After leaving the hospital I called in on Margaret Comerford, who had some money for the church from her meditation group. We sat in her tiny garden in King Street surrounded by bees.
On Thursday Phil drove me to Coventry, and we took Andrew out for lunch. He is vastly improved. He suggested the Post House at Allesley, but on the way there we saw a Harvester and ate there. A very good meal: I like the Harvester system. Afterwards we drove to Corley (where else?) and then to Memorial Park before returning Andrew to Minster Lodge. The journey both ways was pretty straightforward, but of course tiring. I now have to contact the council again to sort out his money, which will reach a critical level again within a couple of months or less.
While I was in Coventry the car went in for a new condenser, and Dot collected it after spending a few hours sorting out papers and photographs with Angela at A Ethel’s place in Hethersett. Meanwhile Amanda has died suddenly, after suffering pancreatitis and a chest infection. Her funeral has been fixed for this Thursday, unfortunately, when we are tied up taking Anna to Houghton Hall for the St Petersburg exhibition. We have sent flowers, and Angela is representing us.
Andrew and Phil at Corley Rocks
Friday was a bit different, not least in that it rained quite a bit, but mainly in that I spent most of it filming in the city with Peter Stibbons for the Paston DVD. We started in the Briton’s Arms and took in most of the Paston sites. It was quite strange standing in the street speaking to a camera that was not always totally adjacent. Sadly, no-one asked for my autograph, but a group of lads on the Julian Bridge did want to know which channel we would be on. We had lunch at home and ended with a cup of tea there. A fascinating experience. The filming, not the tea.
In the evening we were on the move again, up to Loch Fyne for my birthday meal with the Robinsons, only a month or so late. Again excellent food and friendly service, but very slow. With four of us, it didn’t matter much. Had some excellent halibut. Late birthday gifts of prosecco and chocolate: perfect.
On the road again on Saturday, starting fairly early for a trip to Mottingham, where the Hendersons were putting on an engagement party for Jozef and Chessie. All very agreeable: had some interesting conversations with people from Norfolk and with Maryta’s sister and niece, as well as with Paul and Maryta themselves. Got cut off in the middle of a promising conversation with former head Chris Brown, but ended up talking in depth with Chessie’s mother, from New York State, and her friend Béatrice from Avignon. Click here if you read French. Then we raced the rain back to Norfolk, and won.
Since then I’ve been trying to catch up with e-mails and paperwork. Before the flights fiasco I was spending most of my time sorting out church finances, and I paid some cheques into the bank yesterday. The weather continues warm, which enabled me to slot in a bit of bush-trimming in the front garden, so that the brown bin was suitably charged, ready for emptying today. Yesterday this account was hacked by some Bangladeshis, but fortunately David was able to save the day and sort it out.
Amy shelters from the sun at Beechwood School speech day
Another eventful week, though not as intense as some – not all the time anyway. Most intense day for me was Thursday, when I drove to Warwick to see Andrew, who is still not making much sense, but is calmer. He is making regular visits to Minster Lodge and according to the manager, Helen, is quite a comedy turn there. So that’s all good.
I actually went to Minster Lodge to see Jan Sneath, from Coventry City Council, about Andrew’s money, which turned out to be even more complicated than I thought it was. The arrears that I was assured in 2011 were not counted as savings now are (they were arrears for a year only), so this could have had implications looking back. However, the council has decided to ignore this, which means he is self-supporting for another three or four months, when it will all have to be worked out again. Oh joy.
On the way home I called at Papworth Hospital, where our friend Geoff had not recovered from his operation, largely because it was rapidly followed by two others when they discovered other things wrong. As I was parking the car I met his wife Sophie. She took me up to see him. I was in the intensive care area for about 5-10 minutes before all visitors were ushered out as someone had a bad moment. Geoff was unconscious, sedated, and did not look good.
Afterwards I met Sophie by the duckpond – a beautiful spot in lovely weather – and we had a long chat before repairing to the restaurant for a light meal. She was very calm considering, but very tired too. The next day she left for a rest at home, only to be called back when Geoff had a “massive stroke”. He was transferred to Addenbrooke’s for an operation to stop the bleed, where he remains as I write. Sophie is with her daughter in Tunbridge Wells, hoping for a miracle.
As for me, I left her at 6pm and arrived home 90 minutes later. On Sunday we sung my new song, All will be well, at a service which really centred on Geoff and Sophie, and was a beautiful experience. It seems trivial to add that in the afternoon we watched Andy Murray become the first man in several thousand years to win the men’s championship at Wimbledon, surprisingly outplaying Djokovic. Media reaction continues at a high level today.
We had a lovely evening yesterday with Heather, Simon and Sam – first at the King’s Head and then at the Ali Tandoori. Again a very warm evening, and the conversation and food were of high quality. We all get on very well.
The highlight of the week, however, was on Saturday, when Dot and I travelled down to Markyate for Beechwood School’s speech day. We missed the speeches, happily, but enjoyed the end of a picnic on the grass (we ate our sandwiches at David’s house), then had a tour of the classrooms and a chat with one or two teachers. Very hot weather, and when the day ended with a visit to the Cafe du Lion, with Oliver one of the chefs, the tent was quite stifling. The tea and cakes were good, though. Vicky and her parents were there too, but afterwards the children, David and we went back to his house for fish and chips. We headed home around 9pm after a game of cricket with Oliver, who looks a useful bowler.
Today has been spent packing for our excursion north tomorrow. We seem to be taking most of our clothes.
Amy hands the crabbing net to her assistant during our visit to Sheringham earlier in the month
Four years ago I was coming out of hospital after my radical prostatectomy operation and feeling very fragile. I would like to say I’m now fighting fit, and indeed a blood test showed last week that there is no sign of the cancer re-emerging. A further test also revealed that my blood pressure has fallen dramatically to 140/75, which is not far off normal. So of course I have to keep taking the pills. But I’m also taking antibiotics at the moment , following root canal work last Tuesday. That seemed to go OK, but the infection still appears to be there; so I thought I’d give the pills a go. Not sure if that was the right decision. What can you do?
Just back from a foray into the city to pay in some cheques and cash for the church. This morning’s rain has gone, and the temperature definitely rose between my leaving the house and getting back again. So perhaps we’re due for another dash of summer. Ran into Sophie, who is resplendently pregnant and looking wonderful, and then the Eagles, who were looking pretty good too and searching for a pirate ship birthday cake. Well, you never know when you’re going to run into one. In fact, I see form the website that M&S sell them, but as I don’t have the Eagles’ mobile number I can’t let them know.
Yesterday we went straight from church to North Walsham, taking in Sainsbury’s, the cemetery and Jessie, in that order. We ate our sandwich lunch in Jessie’s summerhouse with her tea and cakes, which was extremely pleasant, then on the way home we put some flowers on my parents’ grave at the Rosary. Earlier in the week (Monday) I had visited my aunt Josephine, who was on quite good form but looking a little frailer than before Joyce died. On the subject of death, Pete S rang me after I e-mailed him following Jan’s death, and we had a chat.
It was a busy week for Dot, who stayed overnight at The Old Bell at Grimston on Wednesday before inspecting the village school at Ashwicken. B&B highly recommended. She also had various other schools to visit during the week and has just returned from one at Bradwell. Meanwhile England are still in Euro 2012, having beaten Sweden unexpectedly 3-2 and drawing 1-1 with France. Of course when they lose to Ukraine tomorrow, they will still have to go home. In other news, wrote a new song called Far Cry. Quite pleased with it.
