Back to Old Clee

Woke at 8.30 a.m. this morning (what would have been 7.30 a.m. if we hadn't put the clocks forward). I made tea for Mum and myself and took her a cup. I went back to bed briefly to read my devotionals before showering and coming down for breakfast (bacon and tomato with a yoghurt). I walked to church for the 11 a.m. Service of the Word which was delivered by a Licensed Lay Minister which I observed with great care. After the service it was good to chat to some of the congregation over a quick coffee and to reminisce about my times as a chorister at the church and some of the characters in the choir, clergy and congregation at that time. They were a very friendly crowd and made me feel very welcome. I think they were somewhat disappointed that I didn't live locally or wanted to rejoin the choir! Mum had cooked a chicken casserole with cabbage and other vegetable which was very tasty and healthy. I finally left Grimsby at 2 p.m. and calle din on Tim briefly to deliver the other football ticket which I had forgotten to take with me last night. I drove over to Lincoln via Louth and Wragby and joined the A46 down to Leicester and Coventry. The road between Newark and Leicester is currently being upgraded and will cut my journey time up to Grimsby quite a bit when finished. I arrived home at 7.15 p.m. after a couple of short stops and Christina and Nigel (my old friends from Corporation of London days) called round to see Sara and me before we all went off for a drink in the Lion's Head. Richard joined us after Rockface and after Christina and Nigel left we carried on chatting over a couple more glasses of wine (I'm still off the beer for Lent). Back home I watched an interesting documentary about the comedian Ken Dodd before finally going to bed at 12.30 a.m.

Goodbye Grimsby

My final day in Grimsby. Woke early again and made tea for Mum and me. Breakfast today consisted of poached Grimsby Haddock with a poached egg and a croissant washed down with coffee. I spent the morning packing and also took Mum to her doctors to put in a prescription for some more tablets. I left Grimsby after a light snack of a cold pork sandwich and set off for Winterslow along the A180. I called in at the Brigg Garden Centre to pick up a few presents including a couple of meerkat statues for the children. Unfortunately, since Friday when we had called in, the two small ones I wanted to get had been sold - apparently there was a rush on meerkats over the weekend. I returned to Winterslow via Lincoln, Newark, Leicester, Northampton and Oxford. I got back home at 6.10 p.m. and Sara prepared a supper of Mexican fajitas before she went off to Southampton to attend a Vie at Home branch meeting. She received a prize for being Consultant of the Month with all her charity shows. Richard came round and we had a few beers whilst putting the world to rights and arranging to play golf tomorrow morning. He might also come to the match at Southampton tomorrow night. I had quite a bit of mail which I still need to open. One which did look interesting I opened to find it was a letter from the Sussex Provincial Grand Secretary advising me that I was being offered a Provincial promotion to Past Provincial Grand Sword Bearer -a good first promotion.

Tragedies and Happiness

Up to Dorking today - first time since Monday. I heard on the radio as I was driving in that Natashia Richardson, daughter of Vanessa Redgrave and wife of Liam Neeson, had died following a fall during a beginner's skiing lesson in Canada. She was just 45. A devastating blow to the family. Today also saw the verdict and sentencing of Josef Fritzel, the Austrian father who imprisoned his daughter and children by her in a cellar under his house. An absolutely bizarre case and such evil! He was found guilty after he had changed his plea to guilty on all counts and sentenced to life in a psychiatric establishment. I spent the day in the office attending to a number of matters and received an opinion from our counsel on the Madoff problems. A new employment tribunal case also arrived on my desk in the afternoon. I had seen the case before but didn't know that the individual had been dismissed. It looks like a difficult case and will require some considerable time and work to draft a defence within the next 28 days. I have a meeting in Salisbury tomorrow to discuss it further. The tribunal will be heard in Croydon - not my favourite tribunal centre but a frequent one. I arrived back home just before 8 p.m. - in time for our house group. Tonight we reviewed The Pursuit of Happyness. We discussed a number of issues arising out of it and inspired by it - especially the question of what happiness is and whether the current financial crisis will make people re-evaluate their lives and what really does make people happy. Perhaps money will not be seen as the most important thing in creating happiness. Sara and I were reminded of Danny Abse's play on Radio 4 yesterday in which he described the feeling of loss when his wife was killed in a car accident on their way back to Ogmore (incidentally where I stood for Parliament in 1987) from Porthcawl. Klynn stayed behind for his usual glass of whisky (only one tonight, Susan, honestly!). I described my strange dream of last night in which I met Harry Seacombe in Grimsby Old Market Place by the old Corn Exchange (now both demolished) and gave him and others (indistinguishable) a lift up to Old Clee. Stopping off to see Mum at the house in Carr Lane I was greeted by Dad who offered me a cup of tea and said that Mum was not there yet but to come in. We debated on its meaning but concluded that dreams are often just a muddle of past memories.