Tuesday.

Had a lovely day today. Our good friend Eileen took three of us (Ann, myself, and our mutual friend Heather) out to lunch at the Shepherd and Dog, a very good little hostelry a few miles the far side of Stowmarket to thank the two ladies for their help when Eileen was convalescent a few weeks ago. I'm not sure why I was asked along, but did not query this and tagged along very gratefully. We stopped off in Stowmarket for Eileen and Ann to call into a local jewellery shop as they both had items of jewellery that was in need of care and attention and the shop has a reputation for supplying this. While we were in Stowmarket a cloudburst was taking place, and the same conditions prevailed all the time we were out interspersed with the od bright sunny spell. These were however always surrounded by threatening and dramatic clouds of the sort that Mr. Noah must have got used to immediately before his major work was launched. Had a soooper lunch and on the way home stopped off to explore Hitcham Church, because Eileen and Heather had recently been to a lecture on John Stevens Henlow, who had tutored Charles Darwin at Cambridge, and later been ordained rector at Hitcham. It is a lovely church surrounded by trees, and we stood outside the church porch admiring the flint flushwork in the sunlight whilst the thunder growled around us and a pair of swallows who had nested in the high porch dared us and the weather in order to feed their brood. Eventually the thunder won, and we went inside the church and explored, until the weather brightened up enough for us to dash to the car, and we drove home through alternate bright sunshine and gloomily dramatic stormclouds. It was a lovely few hours break in the middle of the day. Hard at work since then getting ready for Long Melford tomorrow. Good night.