Mum – Shampooed lounge carpet. Alan went to Drayton & repaired one windmill. Tidied lounge up. P polished furniture. Went to see Mike Cook in aft – advises me to get divorce – thinks £120 a month from Roy very poor indeed. Went to Holy Week service at night. Only 17 there. No-one from St Thomas’s except Rev & Mrs Ives. Poured with rain from 5.30 onwards. First for long time. Sinus pain off & on all day. 1S.
Roger – Had breakfast after fetching some croissants from the shop. Walked all but 3km to Montinac when a bloke who was going to the bank picked us up. We changed some money and bought some food, then got another lift to Le Lardin. Used a garage’s toilets and the owner got quite cross as we hadn’t got a car, but we managed to get a lift to Periguex. Looked round there. Lots of Roman ruins. Got a lift to Les Ayzies and then walked. Had drinks with Kusters the Dutch Camp-site owner than went to bed.
Notes
Lounge
Mum and Tricia had decorated our lounge, see Chapter 126, which was the downstairs room at the front of the house. As one of the final steps, mum shampooed the carpet. She also tidied up and Tricia (P for Patricia) polished the furniture.
Windmill
Alan refers to my younger brother. He went to grandma’s in Drayton and repaired one of grandad’s windmills, see Chapter 126, Grandad had made a number of windmills in the late sixties, see Chapter 94, and they required a lot of maintenance and repair. Grandad had done this while he was alive and able but, over time, others were needed to help with this.
Mike Cook
In the afternoon (aft), mum went to see Mike Cook who was a lawyer with the firm Mills and Reeve, see Chapter 114. Mum noted that he advised her to get a divorce and he also thought the monthly amount dad (Roy) was giving mum of £120 was “very poor indeed“. This response is perhaps predictable from a solicitor who would be expected to represent mum’s best interests. I suspect she was just being affirming of what mum told him and the views she expressed.
Holy Week Service
Mum went to a Holy Week service at night, see Chapter 124. I assume this was at St Peter’s Park Lane Methodist Church and was a joint service with St Thomas’s Anglican church. However, mum noted that there were only 17 people there and there was no-one from St Thomas’s apart from the Minister, Rev Ives and his wife.
St Thomas’s
During this period, St Peter’s had fairly close ties with St Thomas’s Anglican church on Earlham Road. The vicar, Rev William Ives, spoke at St Peter’s in January 1976. Mum went there for communion at least twice, both times on Maundy Thursday in 1977 and 1978. In 1977, she acted as communion steward. She commented that year that the church was very, very cold.
Rev William I Ives
Rev William I Ives was the Anglican Vicar at St Thomas’s Church on Earlham Road. Born in 1915, he studied at Lincoln Theological College from 1947. He was ordained as a priest in 1949 and served as a curate in North Walsham from 1948 to 1951. From 1951 to 1954, he was a chaplain to the armed forces. From 1954 to 1967, he was Rector of Kirstead-with-Langhale and Brooke, also in Norfolk, before becoming Vicar of St Thomas’s in Norwich in 1967.
Note on Weather
Mum noted that it poured with rain from 5.30 onwards, She commented that this was the first rain they had had for a long time.
Sinus Pain
Mum sometimes complained of sinus pain during the late seventies, see Chapter 116. On this occasion, she had such pain on and off all day.
Senokot
Mum took one Senokot (S) presumably for constipation, see Chapter 116. Senokot is a senna-containing medicine for the treatment of constipation.
School Camping Trip in France
It was the third full day of our school camping trip in France, see Chapter 118. I noted that we had breakfast after fetching some croissants from the shop. We then walked all but 3km to Montignac when someone who was going to the bank picked us up. The total distance would be about 13kms so perhaps we walked 10kms. We changed some money and bought some food, then got another lift to Le Lardin.
I noted that we used the toilets at a garage and that the owner got “quite cross” as we hadn’t got a car! Nevertheless, we then managed to get a lift to Périgueux. We looked round there and I noted that there were lots of Roman ruins. We got a lift to Les Eyzies and then walked, which was about 12kms.
That evening, we had drinks with the Kusters, the Dutch campsite owners, then went to bed. “Le Paradis” was and remains a family-run business focused on promoting companionship, conviviality and sharing. Started in 1967 by Wim and Fien Kusters, it is still run by their son and his wife, Ellen and Gé Kusters.