Tag Archives: whitlingham

Ann and Jim meet Paul

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Ann ventures into the Yare, enticed by a dreadful compulsion
Ann ventures into the Yare, enticed by a dreadful compulsion

My cousin Ann and her husband Jim from Liverpool have been with us since Monday. They arrived at about 1pm, roughly ten hours before Dot got back from her successful P4C visit to Essex and Kent. I’ve been feeling pretty mediocre, but no problem in carrying on – not that we’ve done much. They seem very happy to do a minimal amount, but perhaps that’s not surprising , as they’re 75 and 87 respectively. Suits me! I have booked a urology consultation at Cromer in November.

On Tuesday we went round to see Paul, but he was out; so we drove on to Earlham Park, where we had an ice cream after sitting by the river bank. Ann actually paddled in the Yare  for a while, as she can’t resist water, apparently. The situation would have been idyllic had it not been for a number of rather ugly dogs and their owners frolicking in the vicinity.

Later I walked down to the Rivergarden pub at Thorpe for the launch of Trevor Nuthall’s new history of Thorpe St Andrew. He gave a nice talk, and the book turns out to have a lot of information on Thorpe Hall, a former Paston seat – which is what I had hoped. Also present were EDP photographer Denise Bradley, unbelievably a grandmother now, and Nick Williams from St Peter Hungate. Among others.

On Wednesday all four of us walked up to the Castle, hoping to see the Birds exhibition, only to discover that it had just finished. So we looked round generally, had a light lunch and bumped into Caroline and her two brothers. Some drama as a woman collapsed in the cafe. I overheard a member of staff observe that the person dealing with it had two speeds: stop and slow. It did seem to be a long time before she was dealt with.

Dot left early to do some work at home, and I took Ann and Jim round the pretty way over the Julian Bridge – “pretty” being a totally inapt description of the approaches to it, which are still in a disgusting state.

Yesterday we did manage to find Paul in – I had phoned to fix an appointment the day before, but he didn’t respond to our ringing the bell and knocking until I phoned him from outside, and he still claimed not to be able to see us from the bedroom window. However, once he came down we had a good chat for about 45 minutes; so it was worth while.

Earlier we had gone with Dot to Whitlingham, where we had a short walk and then a snack from the cafe. It was very hot again, but once more the setting was spoiled by a huge number of dogs, many of them just as ugly as the ones at Earlham.  Dot walked part of the way home as part of her exercise, and the rest of us continued to Paul’s.

In the evening we went to Oaklands for a carvery, which was a bit of a curate’s egg. Possibly 5pm is not a good time to catch the food right. Coincidentally (or not) I had diarrhoea during the evening, but that could have been a plum that had gone off. I also wrote most of my sermon for Sunday.

Today I went for a blood test, and experienced a world record, in that it was early. That just never happens. Dot then went to give Sam and Jessica Vesey some P4C experience as part of their home schooling: I was due to go to the UEA with Rob, but Karen was unwell; so it was postponed. Instead I took Ann and Jim for a ride on the route they will have to take to reach the A11 tomorrow and then dropped them in the city. They still have not found their way home. Dot is in the city with Anne. I am due to go to Halesworth this evening to read some poetry.

Set to a different tune

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Dot among the snowdrops at Whitlingham
Dot among the snowdrops at Whitlingham

The rain has abated for a while, and it’s fairly safe to venture out. In fact the sun is shining. Juliet Corbett from the Diocese has just been round for lunch and a DSSO meeting with Dot. Discovered she is very interested in poetry, and her husband (Tom) is a poet. She took away my recent book and a couple of others.

We have disbanded the Tuesday Group for various reasons and after many years. As a finale last Tuesday we all went to the Playhouse to see John Newton: Amazing Grace, performed by the Saltmine Theatre Company. I wasn’t sure how they would handle the material, but they did very well, with plenty of songs and climaxing, of course, with a beautiful performance of Amazing Grace – originally no 41 in the Olney Hymnal and not particularly popular, until it was taken to American and set to a different tune. The rest is history. I chose it as one of our hymns on Sunday.

The next day Dot and I dodged the rain to catch a special performance of Philomena at the Odeon for seniors : £6 for the two of us, plus a free cup of tea! The film was very moving, both Judi Dench and Steve Coogan were excellent, and I had trouble holding back the tears. In fact I was a complete failure at it.

On Thursday I accompanied Dot on a DSSO visit to Hickling, hoping to run into Lily, who is an old friend and who plays piano for their assemblies. This didn’t materialise, but I had a good walk over to the Broad and back in sunny but chilly conditions. I have since discovered that Lily is married to the churchwarden and lives in The Street.

The next day – Valentine’s Day – I had a meeting of Paston trustees in the afternoon which turned out to be even more incoherent than usual. Nevertheless, I produced some minutes  which seem to have met with approval, if silence can be deemed to be approval. Rob liked them, anyway. In the evening Dot and I had a celebratory meal from Waitrose, with some very pleasant sparkling rosé. I bought Dot an M&S bag that she had coveted.

The weekend was relatively quiet: I led the service again and had to prepare an emergency “sermon” in case Carrie was detained at the last minute. Fortunately she wasn’t. It was a lovely day, and so after Dot had done some work in the garden, tidying up after a gale on Friday night, and I had hoovered the entire house, we went to Whitlingham for a walk along the lane, taking in a fair number of snowdrops. By the end I was totally exhausted. Not sure why.

Yesterday, by contrast, Dot arrived back from a meeting with Barbara totally exhausted, while I was feeling more or less OK. In the evening we went to the ballet at the Theatre Royal: Sleeping Beauty, by the Russian State Ballet of Siberia. The tickets had been my present to Dot at her last birthday, and the performance was striking. The staging was brilliantly colourful and clever, not to say witty, and while from a narrative point of view the structure fell apart after the interval, the dancing was stunning. I say this as someone who is not at all into ballet.

The uphill walk to the theatre was avoided as Bridget and David pulled up in our drive as we were leaving. They were bringing us flowers and a card to thank us for running the Tuesday Group for so long. Very thoughtful. They also gave us a lift up to John Lewis, from where it was a short and easy walk to the theatre.

1 February 2008

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Two roses in front of quite a lot of thorns. Amy and Dot walking the Whitlingham path last weekend. Today the weather has been sunny but bitterly cold, and snow is apparently on the way. Yesterday was extremely wintry, with sleet and high winds, but I managed to get into a break between the showers, and bussed up to get Andrew’s money.

Today I drove down to Annette’s then – after picking up her car from a “garage” in the middle of several fields at the end of a track, and after she then taxed it – she drove us to Colchester to pick up the PVM from The Minories. We were given a hand to transport it to the car via Rupert’s trolley. The Minories is being abandoned because its lease has come to an end, and the spectacular new building isn’t finished yet. The PVM made a measly £27 during its six-week stay, and I didn’t sell any books.

Had a chat with Annette about the future of InPrint. The feeling generally seems to be that we may be heading for a looser group with less ongoing commitment. But we’ll see at the meeting tomorrow. Sadly, I seem to be getting a cold, which is not helpful.

On Tuesday I went by train to Hull to assess the four reporters at the Hull Daily Mail. Weather was quite good both days – especially so on the way back, and the trains were amazingly prompt. Going up I had one change at Grantham, which was about as good as it gets. Coming back earlier than I had anticipated, I had to change three times, at Doncaster, Peterborough and Ely. All trains were pretty full, especially the Stansted Express (Peterborough-Ely). Best run was Doncaster-Peterborough on the very fast National Express to King’s Cross. These are very frequent, quite luxurious and make you realise what you’re missing living on an outcrop like Norfolk.

I was favourably impressed by Hull Trains – clean and modern – and by the station staff. I went to the inquiry desk to ask where I had to change on the way back, and the clerk quickly (very quickly: I had hardly finished talking) produced a slip of paper with all the details very clearly set out. At the Pumpkin buffet on the station the woman in charge was also highly efficient and clear about what was on offer. The Ibis Hotel was good too, though basic. Had fish and chips in the evening which was excellent, as was the continental breakfast. What they offered generally was limited but quite sufficient, and just the job, really.

The trainees did very well, and three of the four just have to complete their shorthand to finish their NVQs. Sadly, this may not be as easy as they think it will be. The date of my next visit has been left open.

29 January 2008

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We enjoyed Whitlingham so much that we returned there on Sunday with Vicky and the children while David watched Spurs lose 3-1 to Liverpool in the FA Cup. Parts of it are very picturesque, the only problem being that it tends to be overrun by welly-wearing dog walkers talking intensely about cultural matters. Oliver went on ahead, and we found this lovely spot by the Broad as the sun was progressing down the sky: a small wooden landing stage about 30 yards off the main path. I shot the picture into the sun (of course) and told Oliver that he would be in shadow, which intrigued him. He didn’t seem to like the idea, but it made a good photo. Well, I like it.

Had a really good weekend altogether – went into the city on the Saturday to swap one of Oliver’s Christmas presents at John Lewis (he’d been given the same thing by two different people: I’m amazed it doesn’t happen more often). I used the opportunity to buy a new guitar tuner before rushing home in advance of the others to turn on the lamb stew. Quite nice weather, though coldish.

Went to church on the Sunday in the morning to do the music and wished I hadn’t. The two of them would have done just as well without me – “just as well” in this case meaning pretty bad. Tendency to rehearse in meticulous detail and then forget it entirely during the actual service.

Actually won a chess game last night: I was offered a draw in a position where my opponent had lots of pressure, but decided to carry on because I couldn’t see anything forcing and assumed he couldn’t either. Eventually won a long endgame, which was satisfying.

Today I head north to Hull – by train for the first time. The weather forecast is not good, but at the moment it’s fine here.

Still nothing in the EDP about my page ending, and no sign of the last one as promised – even though they had a stand-in piece today. I have tried to ring the deputy editor, but he’s not there. Again.

And Rupert has resigned from InPrint, which is a tremendous blow, as he was the driving force. I think he became fed up with being the driving force. So a few of us are having a meeting on Saturday to see where we’re going. More news when we find out.

22 January 2008

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This is Eddie, my cousin’s daughter’s child, who paid us a visit on Saturday, together with his grandparents and mum and dad. To me he looks exactly as his father (also Eddie) did when he was a child. They all came for a meal, and he was extremely well behaved and quite delightful. The five of them were up in Norwich for the weekend, which was bad luck as far as the weather went. For many days now – until today – it has been overbearingly grey, with plenty of rain.

Today we had some blue sky, the wind dropped, and it was pleasant. Dot and I took the opportunity to get out of the house and walked round the Broad at Whitlingham. I took a few pictures, some of which turned out very well. I have invested in a new fast memory card and a gorillapod – a small tripod that can be used to stabilise the camera practically anywhere.

Last night I travelled to Lowestoft to play chess – and lost again after getting a reasonably good position. Either my judgement is totally shot, or I’m getting too old to sustain concentration, or I’m very unlucky. The last is obviously favourite. Gave a lift to a teammate who I discovered is a paramedic: clearly I shall have to give him more lifts. Just in case.

I’ve sorted out my photographs on iPhoto up to the Event stage: I now have 56 events, and my next task is to tag all the pictures. Put three of this afternoon’s pictures on Flickr.

On Sunday we had an alternative guy called Adrian joining us on guitar – in short space of time he managed to upset pretty well everybody, and I have to hope he doesn’t show up next week. Not the right attitude, I know. The evening’s Ambient Wonder event was excellent, with a good attendance despite teeming rain. The theme was “new beginnings”: not strikingly original, but it was refreshingly unusual and left everyone – as far as one could tell – feeling optimistic.

This feeling disappeared for me yesterday when there was still no mention of my page ending in the paper, and no sign of the final page appearing. Felt quite low most of the day, alleviated in the afternoon by a visit to Jessie’s. Today my replacement was described as our “controversial new columnist”, but I haven’t seen him write anything controversial yet. Even Ms P R Bland-Bland still has her page. Bitter? Me?