Yesterday was so good.
In the morning I took two services for a priest colleague who is away. One service had just three elderly ladies, plus Ed and me. One lady played the organ, one acted as churchwarden, and one supported them both!
The other service was better attended, with around sixty people including a group of young Germans who were on a houseboat on the Broads for ten days.
Then it was back to our own church for a BBQ.
In the evening, we had an outing on the Broads (the Norfolk Broads are small lakes and inlets connected by rivers, and an area of outstanding natural beauty) on a boat chartered by our neighbours. To mark Malcolm’s retirement (for the fourth time, but that’s another story) he and his wife invited 80 guests to join them on the Queen of the Broads for a party. (We live very close to the Broads, so it was only a ten minute car journey to reach the landing stage.)
We chugged slowly down the river through three or four broads, listening to music, waving to anyone we passed, watching the wild life (loads of herons and sea birds), admiring the property (for the wealthy) dancing a bit, chatting to friends, and then enjoying a buffet supper, washed down with wine.
Altogether it was four hour trip, and great fun. Nothing like good neighbours, is there?
Ed and I have had such a lovely day. We drove over to Fi and Stu’s, where four-year-old granddaughter was splashing about naked in their inflatable “swimming pool”. She was having a wonderful time, and since the temperature today has been 30 degrees, it was probably the best place to be.
Fi wanted to take us into Bury St Edmunds, where a whole new shopping complex has been opened. Our granddaughter suggested a picnic in the Abbey gardens, which was a great idea.
Off we went, found a shady spot under a spreading chestnut tree (or something), strangely enough overlooking the children’s play area. Granddaughter soon made lots of friends and had a whale of a time.
After lunch we ambled around the new shops. Fi bought a pair of shoes (with four inch stilettos) and I bought a bolero and a pair of shoes (without four inch stilettos).
Then it was a frappé in an air-conditioned café before driving home.
It’s been a really great day.
I hope everyone who celebrates it, had a really good fourth of July. It was a hot day here again (which means it was in the 70s) and I’d burned across my shoulders the day before, so spent yesterday indoors.
It’s this new dress, see. Ed and I have ruby wedding coming up next month, which we’re celebrating with over sixty friends and family, so I bought a new dress for the occasion. Yes, it’s red. No, I don’t usually wear dresses – happier in jeans.
So I tried the dress on again, just to make sure I could still squeeze into it, and discovered I resembled a Neapolitan ice-cream – mahogany arms, face and tiny V of neck from playing golf in a polo shirt, then a layer of coffee on my upper arms (shorter sleeves in some shirts than others) and pasty white on top of upper arms and around rest of neck. Not nice. I had to do something.
I sat in the garden for a couple of hours on Saturday morning, until the laptop battery died, then maybe another hour later until it was too hot to breathe, but discovered in the evening that perhaps it was a smidgeon too long.
I’m now mahogany, coffee and scarlet.
Still not nice.