Very, very wet today. Drove Dot down to the Scole Inn for 10.30, where she met Barbara, and they proceeded in Barbara’s car to St Helen’s for a P4C session tomorrow. Made good time despite the weather.
Yesterday was exciting: I went to church in the morning while Dot cooked a roast chicken lunch for David and the children, who arrived separately. David drove up from Caddington, but the children had spent the night at the Wensum Valley Hotel, following a wedding at Reepham the day before (Kerry from Bury), involving a train and a drone taking pictures. Vicky dropped them off and picked them up again at 3pm after lunch and a quick game of Dixit, which they had bought me for my birthday.
David also bought me three books and a protective screen for my iPhone. Amy and Oliver also brought me some biscuits from France.
After the children had gone David went through loads of stuff in the garage and loft with us, looking for stuff he wanted us to keep, and stuff we could get rid of. The latter was in the majority. He left quite late.
Dot’s Aunt Ethel has died. It was quite sudden in the end. Angela rang during lunch yesterday to say she was not well, and when she spoke to Dot later, it was all over. No doubt there will be chaos over the will: no-one knows if she made one or, if she did, where it might be.
Maddison and Darcy Beales on a visit to Aspland Road last week.
After a warm day yesterday (albeit with a slightly chilly breeze), today turned cooler again under a grey sky. Certain people say this is the hottest April on record, but I don’t know where they’re standing.
On Sunday I was preaching again, standing in for the rota person, who was hard-pressed. I was also leading the service (as per rota), and before that chairing the DCC agm in the absence of a vicar and the churchwarden, who is in Sri Lanka. The vicar-elect is in Marrakesh, but that’s another story. The DCC was pretty straightforward and no-one queried why Ian was standing down. No election was necessary, because all the gaps were filled, with Judy and Eleanor being new DCC members.
Afterwards we had a Far Cry rehearsal, which went fairly well.
On Monday I was up at the Forum by just after 10am for a PHS trustees’ meeting with Karen about the new bid (Discovering Paston Footprints). Went well up to a point, then degenerated into chaos as usual. Lucy has shingles, though this wasn’t known (even by her) until after the meeting.
A new private website has been created to get all the bid material together. I spent ages trying to access it and failing until it occurred to me this evening that my two websites (this one and back2sq1) are not WordPress.com sites but just built on WordPress software. Rang David to confirm this, and then I was able to reach the Paston/UEA site by pretending to create a new WordPress.com site. At least, I think that’s what I did.
Later on Monday Dot and I went to Morrisons, who were woefully understaffed on the tills, and in the evening to the cinema, which had a similar problem: tickets could be purchased only at the ice cream or popcorn counters. Wonderful. We saw The Water Diviner, which was very good, though quite gruesome in the war scenes (Gallipoli). Russell Crowe and Olga Kurylenko were excellent, as was Dylan Georgiades as Olga’s young son. Thought he must be Turkish (or Greek), but he’s actually Australian. Yilmaz Erdogan (a Kurd) was also good as the Turkish Major Hasam.
Yesterday Dot went to see Dr Dar, who said she was diabetic (blood count) but had no symptoms. She is going to be monitored at the moment and will probably have to have a pill to correct what appears to be a problem with the pancreas. Later we went to Poringland, where Dot had a violin practice with Janet Smith from the orchestra and I went for a long walk with her husband Graham, who has a train set in his back garden. They are coming to the South of France with us.
In the evening Vicky, Bridget and Judy came round for tea cakes and compline. David is in a bit of a bad way with his swallowing problem and had to be taken to A&E a couple of nights ago. This may turn out well because he now has to see a doctor and get it sorted out.
Today was the Archant agm, held this time at the Forum, where the buffet was not quite so good. However the new CEO, John Henry, gave a very good presentation and reacted well afterwards when Dot pointed out that the EDP had too many mistakes in it. During the meeting itself Maryta asked about demographics and was misunderstood. She also asked for a job, and this was understood. Robin was there, but not Brian, and apparently Bruce is in a bad way with a lung infection (possibly pleurisy).
Dot had to leave early in the buffet to go to Hopton for a school Ofsted feedback, but I hung around until the bitter end and had two glasses of white wine, which wasn’t bad.
On the brink of Christmas. Tomorrow comes the traditional drive to Coventry to fetch Andrew. Today featured the big shop at Waitrose, with Roger due to pop round later.
Back in Caddington several days to go, I took David to Heathrow with quite a lot to spare, thanks to very reasonable traffic, and got back to Caddington even quicker, taking advantage of the spare time to fill up with petrol before having a bath. (That didn’t come out quite how I meant it to.) Later we transported the lovely Amy to Aylesbury: her directions were immaculate, but there was a lot of traffic in the town, and Oliver was home well before we got there.
We waited for Vicky to get back, heard evidence of Oliver’s huge improvement at keyboards, and I shared some TV watching with Amy. We left soon after Vicky got home and headed for Milton Keynes to take advantage of the beautiful A421. Sadly that road had been violated and abused, and there was a 40mph speed limit for almost its entire length, for no obvious reason.
We turned off to try to find a pub, but could find only a Chinese restaurant, and eventually we made do with a Little Chef as we joined the A1. I had an excellent Olympic breakfast, while Dot had something much more sensible. She was driving, and the journey after that was straightforward.
The next evening we joined the Hendersons and friends for a pre-Christmas party and had a good time, meeting people we’d lost touch with, such as Philip and Heather Butcher, Chris and Caroline Brown (David’s old head), Neil and Harriet from Saxlingham and the Dowdeswells. Relaxing, and with some nice things to eat.
I can’t remember what happened the next day. Perhaps Phil came round. I was undoubtedly catching up with countless Christmassy things, making sure all was prepared for the Alternative Christmas Truce Carol Service, and Dot was certainly very busy. I believe she got some service sheets printed for Christmas Eve at some point.
The ACTCS actually went very well, and Geoff and Sophie came along, which was extraordinary – and extremely encouraging. He seemed considerably better. Vicky II was also there with Amy II. The meal was pretty good, and afterwards we shot off to North-East Norfolk, calling in briefly on Sheila, who had a bad cold; then putting flowers in the cemetery; then diverting to Mundesley to return Lucy’s computer and pick up her cheque; and finally arriving at Jessie’s for tea and mince pies.
Yesterday I went into the city to pay in cheques, buy a lock for the church gates and obtain some presents for Amy. I then made the mistake 🙂 of calling in at M&S to find Dot and Anne in the cafe, following which we bought some crackers in BHS (interminable queue) and looked for a globe light for Dot for Christmas. Failing this, we repaired to Jarrolds, where Dot wanted to buy me a book, and on the way out we stumbled across some coffee machines, following which Dot didn’t want a globe light any more. The coffee machine was quite heavy, but apparently it suits requirements. Certainly looks nice.
Later I dropped Andy and Joy’s present in, and while I was there David Street and his girlfriend Sasha called; so we had a brief reminisce. In the evening I played in the Bob Royall Christmas event at the chess club, featuring a number of types of variant chess (knight can’t take pawn, nothing can move backward, no checks unless it’s mate and queen can’t take any piece, etc). Did predictably badly at this, though two or three of my losses were on time. One good game and a couple of wins.
Julia and Alan Higbee called this morning and were the first to sample the new coffee. Following this we headed for Waitrose, which was predictably stormy but not unnavigable. We purchased a chicken and some salmon and numerous supporting cast. Later we finished wrapping the presents, but before that remembered we had to pick up my jumper from the dry cleaners and take a couple more items to Dipples. In doing this we discovered that the traffic in the city was pretty bad. Ah well, it’s Christmas. Nearly.
Hectic couple of days. Monday was completed by a walk to Howard’s, where I formed part of an advisory group for Carrie’s activities. This was followed by a meal with Howard and Dot, who had just arrived, and that was followed by a DCC meeting.
A surprise attender at the DCC meeting was Liz, who had a couple of complicated proposals as usual. We sort of agreed the first one, concerning her use of the hall for meditation sessions, but the second was so obscure that after she had presented it for about ten minutes, no-one knew what she was talking about. We suggested she produce a one-page paper on it.
I presented my financial report, and we agreed to contribute whatever was necessary to make up St Luke’s shortfall on their parish share, since we had received an £18,000 legacy and were temporarily affluent. Dot and I walked home afterwards. Very cold. Wished I hadn’t taken the large lever arch file.
Yesterday I visited Lucy after dropping Dot off for her ladies’ lunch at the Mercure Hotel on the ring road. Had a pleasant time with Lucy and Naomi, both of whom seemed quite well, and I now seem to have Lucy’s computer to take in for repair.
Back in Norwich, I picked up Dot and Sue from the lunch and dropped Sue in town. I then walked back into town to pick up the watch I had left for a new battery when I went in earlier to pay in cheques. On the way home I was asked directions to Earlham crematorium by three Essex people in a car. Since they were so far away from where they needed to be, I saw no alternative but to travel with them.
While doing so I discovered that they were already so late for the crematorium that it was pointless going, and so I took them to the Eagle pub on Newmarket Road for the wake. They were profusely grateful, but I declined a pint.
I then walked home again, met chess colleague Jon Burrows on the way and caught a bus outside Debenhams for the last section. Dot didn’t seem to have been too concerned about where I was (she had been at Morrison’s).
I then cooked my own dinner (if you remember, Dot had had a Christmas lunch with the ladies) and compiled a Christmas Compline from sources on the internet and elsewhere. At 8pm Judy, Vicky and the Archers arrived and we had some Christmas nibbles and mulled wine before listening to Dylan Thomas’s superb A Child’s Christmas in Wales, which David Archer had brought on CD, and then doing the Compline. Exhausted, Dot and I then watched A Question of Sport. I don’t know why.
Back in Norwich, with plenty of sleep to catch up on. Not Amy’s fault: she was a model child, and could probably have looked after herself if she could drive. It was the early mornings and the multiple journeys: I seem to have covered a good chunk of Hertfordshire, plus pieces of neighbouring counties.
Friday was an interesting day. The journey to school was smooth, with none of the problems of the previous day. Dot settled down to cleaning limescale off the shower, and I did a bit of reading. We picked up Amy at 4.15pm, and I saw Becky (Amelie’s mother) arrive and meet her parents, who appeared to be taking Amelie’s brother Sebastian somewhere while Becky waited for the girls. We decided to take Amy home and collect a change of clothes (as a precaution) before heading towards Felden, just the other side of Hemel Hempstead.
The M1 was fine, but the bits before and after were crowded, and we seemed to take an age getting through Hemel Hempstead with its famously weird (but efficient) roundabout. Amy was worried about being late, but in fact we arrived ten minutes before Becky and the other girls and chatted to Becky’s parents or sat quietly in the car, depending on who we were.
Not wanting to go back on to the M1 on a Friday evening in rush hour, we reset the satnav for “shortest” instead of “fastest” and ruled out motorways. At first this backfired badly, as it kept returning us to where we started, but in the end it guided us through some side streets and on to the Leighton Buzzard road, when we arrived quickly and surprisingly at Water End, not far from Beechwood Park. Dot started on cooking the lasagne, and we decided it was best if I picked up Oliver from the Travellers’ Rest.
This went well, and I delivered him back to Caddington for his meal. I had a bite or two before setting off for Felden again, using the new route, which again worked well. I was only a minute or two late to pick up Amy at just after 8.30pm. I was invited in: the house was beautiful and in a lovely setting on Felden ridge. Becky chatted for a while about schools and other things, and then Amy and I drove back again to Caddington, where I fell upon my lasagne and, shortly afterwards, into bed.
Not quite such an early start on Saturday. We were at Dunstable Leisure Centre in good time for Amy’s swimming lesson at 9am, followed by Oliver’s at 9.30. We met Claire, a chartered surveyor, whose son James is in Oliver’s group, and enjoyed a hot drink. Afterwards we returned to Caddington, where Amy unwrapped her presents and got a visit from Grace. Amy seemed to like her sponsored snow leopard. I found that Grace had also sponsored one; so snow leopards are safe in Caddington.
Next up was the birthday lunch at Flamstead Harvester. Very pleasant, though it’s hard to resist eating too much of the free salad. The waitress was excellent. Returning to the house, Grace came round again, before heading off to Dubai. Amazing. The four of us then set off for Aylesbury, following the satnav route until it was overruled by Oliver directing us to his school, which we caught a glimpse of as we turned back to Vicky’s house.
We found this with the combined help of Oliver and the satnav, and Vicky invited us in for a cup of tea. The children invited us to look round the house, and then we had a viewing of the rather frightening video of Oliver driving a Ferrari at 100mph. It was nice to see where the children spent half their time.
Heading back to Caddington, we had to divert when police blocked the Whipsnade road where, it transpired later, a motorcyclist had been killed in a crash. This just put us back on to the road over Dunstable Downs, where I got some quite nice pictures of the sunset.
We set off for home just before 7pm and had an easy journey – Dot driving – arriving about 9.15pm after calling in at the Hitchin garage for petrol, food and flowers (a bouquet for Heather the next day). Both totally shattered when we got to Norwich: watched a bit of TV and didn’t unpack till today…
…missing out Sunday completely. But we still had to get up reasonably early to reach St Luke’s by 9.30am for a rehearsal with their worship band (four guitars, keyboards, flute, violin, viola – and that was without Phil, who didn’t make it). This Communion service was the final appearance by Nicholas before his departure for Aspen at the beginning of next month, and included a bring-and-share lunch, for which Nicholas sat me next to Stuart, presumably so that I could talk to him. Other than playing our instruments, we didn’t take any leading role in the service, but being in such a big music group was fun.
Afterwards, with autumn hastening on, we more or less collapsed into the sofa and watched lots of television. Today we were late up and have been slowly unravelling. Although it was tiring, we loved being with Amy and being part of her routine, and spending a day with Oliver too.
It’s now raining, and there is the promise of strong winds later. I got out just in time to pay in some church cheques, and Dot picked up her pills. David no doubt is recovering from his journey. We spoke at length on FaceTime yesterday, and he seemed pretty well. Today is Amy’s birthday, but we have been unable to contact her yet.
A very hectic week started with a delightful barbecue last Saturday at Vicky’s house, to mark her 40th birthday. David and Bridget were there, plus the Streets and the Cumberlands, and of course Vicky’s parents, both sprightly. In fact Derek did most (if not all) of the barbecue meat, which was exceptionally good.
The rain arrived late enough not to spoil things, and the children did a dance in it. Amy and George are growing quickly. Exhibiting similar qualities: Florence and Mabel Street and Emily Cumberland. A further Cumberland was too small to exhibit much growth – a matter of weeks in this world, and not sure what to make of it.
On Sunday we had a special service in the old church to mark the start of world war one, and I read one of my poems, Shadows (available on back2sq1.co.uk). Howard was on the organ. Afterwards Stuart was selling copies of his book They Are Not Dead (manifestly untrue) about parishioners from St Augustine’s who were killed. A couple of people wanted copies of my poem, which was nice. Later Dot and I walked up to our actual parish church, St Matthew’s, to see an advertised exhibition, but this was not as exciting as we anticipated. Still, I bought a CD about the history of Thorpe Hamlet.
The next day we had anticipated taking delivery of our new car, and I had devised a cunning plan whereby we drove down to Caddington in both cars, and then on to Coventry in the new one, leaving David with our old car. This failed because the new car did not arrive; so I had to devise a new, slightly less cunning, plan.
We drove down to Caddington in the old car on Tuesday, catching a last glimpse of the children before their departure for Italy with the other grandparents and their mother. We then continued to Coventry, where we stayed the night at an excellent, friendly hotel called the Old Mill at Baginton.
On the Wednesday – Andrew’s birthday – we picked him up at 10.15 and walked into town, which was a bit of a revelation: it’s ages since I’d been there, and it’s really quite attractive. We bought Andrew a new shaver, some shoe laces, a toilet bag and a coffee. While wondering round looking for the Co-op (Andrew had vouchers) we met a couple of people that Andrew knew.
Afterwards we drove to Kenilworth Castle (via 79 The Chesils and 191 Beanfield Avenue) and spent a couple of hours looking round. I can’t remember ever having been there, and it’s quite spectacular. When everyone started getting tired, we moved on back to the hotel and had a late lunch / early dinner in the attached Chef and Brewer. This was again very good value: Andrew had the full three courses, but Dot and I were more than sated after two (first-class steak and ale pie).
We then returned Andrew to Minster Lodge and sorted him out. They all seem very pleasant helpers there, and well organised. Drove home, leaving Coventry during the rush hour fairly successfully. I did that bit, but Dot drove most of the way. Not a bad journey: brief stop at Cambridge Services.
Phil was happy for us to do the birthday honours, because he is too fatigued and in pain from his legs to be able to drive to Coventry. During the journeys I fielded calls from Elaine, Andrew’s carer, who was trying to set up a meeting about Andrew’s finances (we eventually did so, for early September) and on the way back from Jenny Baxi, who had called on Andrew just after we left. This was tricky because of the poor reception.
At last (Thursday) we could take delivery of our new red Mazda 2. Dot took me to the garage and then left to go to the dentist. It took about an hour to sort out all the paperwork, but I was home by about 11.30, having filled up with petrol at Morrisons. After Dot’s return and a brief lunch we left (in both cars of course) for Caddington. Dot went ahead in the old car, leaving me at the traffic lights, and I also stopped on the bypass to ring David. But I caught her by Thetford – she was moderating her speed – and we continued together, arriving at Caddington just after 3pm.
Stayed for a cup of tea and a chat (Chrissy was on the line) and then drove home – Dot first, then me. Haven’t quite got to the bottom of the satnav/radio/music combination, but it was a nice drive, though the engine is notably less powerful. Still, it’s a light car, and very nippy.
After fish and chips I rang up the Hendersons because I felt bad about not being in Norwich when they were moving in. They had just had fish and chips too; we ended up going round for a glass of champagne: took them a card and a house-warming bottle. Impressive house, but a nightmare to get sorted.
Today has been notably calmer. I’ve caught up with a bit of paperwork, posted some stuff to David and the city council (re our parking permit) and called in at the printer to give the go-ahead on the Oxnead book. David rang to say his garage man said the car needed a new pair of tyres and its rear brake discs fitted, but otherwise fine.
It’s that difficult time when you’re almost ready to go on holiday, but not quite. In fact in about 90 minutes’ time I shall be showing a visiting author round the Norwich Paston sites, which will take up most of the afternoon, so that should take my mind off it. There has also been some dramatic and unexpected news from church, but I can’t reveal what it was – yet.
We have had our hair cut, so we are ready for anything. I was even ready for another request from Parish Pump to write a 300-word piece for May – this time on Gerard Manley Hopkins, who happens to be one of my favourite poets. Managed to put the words together yesterday, and they’ve been accepted.
Monday was quite exciting, and not just because it rained extremely hard in the evening. Caroline, Rob and I visited Oxnead Hall in the morning to look at where and how we could put on a Chronicle performance in September (26th). The piece will centre on the history of the hall, and afterwards we rehearsed the first draft and made some improvements, which I have to work in on my return from Florida.
The hall’s owner, Beverley Aspinall, made us very welcome and showed us round the gardens and into a couple of amazing performance spaces they have available – one in what were the barns, and the other in the orangery.
In the evening we went with Judy to Vicky’s, where we were joined by David and Bridget for tea, wine, cakes and compline. I forgot I wasn’t driving, so didn’t have any wine. I really think senility is setting in.
Yesterday we spent preparing for the holiday, partly by catching up with paperwork and partly (mainly Dot) getting the clothes together. Which leaves Saturday and Sunday, during which the Norwich City manager was sacked following a poor display at home to West Brom (0-1) and we had a really nice service at church, with Phil leading. I did the sermon and prayers, and Dot read a long passage about the raising of Lazarus. Several people said they liked the sermon, which was nice, and in the afternoon we went out to see Jessie at North Walsham, which was also nice.
I have the American dollars, and unfortunately Oliver has impetigo, which means he has to go to the doctor’s tomorrow (he’s been once). Hope it doesn’t prevent him enjoying the holiday. We have fed the fish for Sam while they were away and woke them up this morning (Sam and Ellie, not the fish) to make sure they were back when we saw a strange man wandering in and out of their house. Turns out he was fixing the boiler.
And so the new cold-type winter continues. Dashed out to A Ethel’s on Thursday to fetch forgotten item to be relayed elsewhere, and got back just in time to enable Dot to take the front-wheel-drive car to Thurton for a farewell do at the school. Snow was forecast, and there was sleet on the bypass, so it seemed sensible not to take the MX5, but in the event she was able to get there and back fairly easily. I gather she spent much of the time with one of her old admirers, who is rather well known around Norwich, so I had better not reveal his name. She has so many old admirers, unsurprisingly.
Snow overnight put the Archant Christmas Lunch at risk, and the brave lads from EDP subs all declined to risk the journey. So I found myself on a table dominated by Evening News subs, which was a bit unnerving. But I had my former training colleague Frances Burrows to my right, together with ex-electronics engineer Ken Prentice, who is quite a talker. So we held fast, even during a speech by Archant Norfolk chief executive Stephan Phillips which didn’t quite catch the mood, although I thought it was amusing.
Very cold on Saturday, so Dot and I walked to Morrisons and found that walking on packed snow was relatively easy. However, we didn’t fancy taking the car to Menita’s in the evening for her annual Christmas party, which consisted largely of sweet and sticky Euro-cake, mulled wine and the Italian version of tombola. So we got an A2B taxi, which didn’t fancy coming up our hill, so we met it at the bottom. Pleasant couple of hours in a multi-national way: sat next to Italian woman with almost perfect English. France and Germany were also represented. Eugenia was away in Italy with Francesca, so her husband Roberto stood in. He is from South America and speaks Portuguese. Needless to say everyone could speak English, and did. Taxi took us home by about 11.30 and although tired, we watched highlights of Norwich City’s win earlier in the day before going to bed.
Today was hectic: our St Augustine’s alternative carol service, followed by Christmas lunch. Unloading the car at the outset took an age, because Dot was supplying some of the food, plus table dressings, and then there were the musical instruments, stands and a few presents and cards. Nicholas was already there with Harriet, so the place was warm.
I was slightly panicky about the organisation of the service, which was in my hands as usual. Because it’s impossible to get anyone to rehearse, we had to plunge right into it, and I was leading, playing music, singing (sometimes) and taking part in the drama. My guitar playing wasn’t up to much, but we got through, and everyone seemed to think it had gone well, to my amazement. I used a couple of my songs, a couple of my poems and a new drama I’d written. It’s nice to have the opportunity, but I do wonder sometimes if I’m monopolising the whole thing. The fact is that they seem to like my getting on with it, because it means no-one else has to worry.
The lunch was a joint effort because Vicky had just produced a baby boy, George, and is in no position… It all went very well; too many cooks did not spoil the broth, and the food was delicious. Very nice to have the two Green girls, Anandi and Bethany, there. Had quite a long chat with Beth, who is thinking of applying to Oxbridge to read geography, but a bit worried about the work involved.
Spent much of the afternoon and early evening wrapping presents. Still very cold outside. Our haircuts have been postponed until Wednesday. What kind of margin for error does that leave us?
Dot sunning herself on the balcony outside our room at the Manor Hotel, Blakeney, not long ago
Spent a warm and sunny day at Mangreen Hall on Sunday. More than 30 of us from the church made it, which makes you wonder why our average congregation is about 14. We were discussing how to change our Sunday service – if at all. Being radical and notoriously keen on change, I proposed that we stay the same, with a few amendments. Others went for moving it to the evening or making the liturgy more traditional, which is a bit odd, since we have traditional liturgy already, including a bit of Celtic and a bit of translation from the Aramaic. Anyway, it will all be discussed on Thursday at the DCC. Fortunately (or unfortunately) we shall be leaving for Wales the next day for our holiday with David and the grandchildren. Will we recognise the church on our return?
In the afternoon we had a kind of service at which several of us contributed songs, poems or readings. I sang Man in the Mask, which I wrote some years ago and lost the music to. Happily I came up with another tune a few days ago, and it seemed to work quite well. It’s a song I’ve always been pleased with, and it was nice to give it an airing. I also read one of my poems – This is not home. Ruth sang a beautiful Shaker song, and some of the children read.
Today it was very slightly cooler, though not much. Dot was doing a church school inspection at Ellingham, so I decided to embark on some multi-tasking. I started by walking to St Augustine’s to take back the music stand we’d borrowed for Sunday, together with one of the hymn books. Shortly before I arrived a bumped into Anne, who seemed a little less than her usual sunny self. I’m a little worried about her. Then when I reached the church I coincided with Vicky, who was picking up collection money to bank it and had lost her key. I was able to give her mine, as I have a spare. We walked back to Magdalen Street together; she had a bright Amy with her.
From Magdalen Street I got a bus to Costessey. At least, I meant to. In fact I got on the wrong one and almost got locked into a bus on St Stephens. I transferred quickly to Theatre Street on this being pointed out, and caught a number 16 (and not 26) to the Bowthorpe roundabout, from where I walked up to Costessey Junior School and returned a “Visitor” tag that I had walked off with some months ago. It may take me a bit of time, but I eventually get round to returning things… Took the bus back into the city, called in at WHS for a refill for my Parker ballpen, and walked home, calling in at Budgens for bread and fruit on the way. Nearly four miles altogether. Quite tired after early rising.
An enthusiastic Amy tries to put a spring in Oliver's steps
At last the weather has turned warmer. Walked three miles back from Joe’s at lunchtime after beating him 3-0 at chess (the first luckily on time, but the other two quite good games), and stepped into John Lewis’s to research TVs for Andrew, adding a diversion to Timberhill to buy Claxton Opera tickets. Very pleasant. The weather was quite good at the weekend too, which we spent at Caddington to celebrate prematurely David’s 38th birthday – actually today. On the Saturday we were joined by Philip Coomes and family, and had a really good time, rather too much of it spent playing football in the garden, which meant I was exhausted in the evening and went to sleep through Dr Who.
Oliver is developing into a really good little footballer, and Lydia and Alistair aren’t bad either. Meanwhile Amy has developed a French accent, though only while talking to her dolls. The various French numbers feature strongly, but although I didn’t recognise any other words, they sounded as if they ought to be proper French words, even if they weren’t. Taught Oliver a bit of guitar after I managed to get it roughly in tune and Dot finished it off. Oliver is also learning cello, and Vicky came round in the evening to give him a lesson. Amy has a keyboard in her bedroom, so it’s just a question of time… On the Sunday we had lunch at the Harvester nearby: just right for a family, though Oliver was feeling rather poorly, with a cold suddenly developing. Had a decent steak.
On the way home we decided on the spur of the moment to call in to see Joan at Baldock. Against the odds, she was in and had a couple of friends with her. They insisted we stay, so we had a pleasant hour or so there. The female friend had been to Wall Hall College, so she and Dot had something in common, though they weren’t there at the same time. Joan has just had another granddaughter (Harriet’s) and is going up to Leeds to see her today.
Yesterday Dot had to go to Acle school in the morning, but she got back in time to come with me to the lunchtime Norfolk and Norwich Festival concert we’d booked for at the Assembly House. Good value at £7. Superb cellist Jessica Hayes paired with Polish accordionist Rafal Luc. An unlikely team, but I thought it worked well, though Dot was not as convinced. Both agreed that the accordion solo of Mendelssohn’s Organ Sonata No 6 was brilliant, sounding just like an organ: tremendous force and amazing dexterity and feeling. Called in at John Lewis afterwards for tea and looking for an iPod dock, but couldn’t find what we wanted: similarly failed later at the Apple Store.
We’ve been fortunate with our Festival choices: on Friday we went to St Andrew’s Hall for the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, which was absolutely brilliant, especially during the opening Borodin. The final Shostakovich I found less memorable, though it was technically well-nigh perfect. Violinist Chloe Hanslip was great (except in actual stature) for her performance of Philip Glass’s Violin Concerto No 1, which I thought was brilliant. At the end the orchestra did a couple or encores featuring their livewire redhead drummer Alla Mamyko. The percussionists were fascinating throughout.
