Peter Ball is …….

Today I went to see a friend in hospital. He had in the last few days had major surgery to remove cancer on the right hand side of his neck. This involved removing his voice box and putting something in its place.

I was amazed to find him sitting in a corridor in Addenbrookes hospital in Cambridge using a tablet and stylus to chat with the person in the next room. He was jolly and pleased to see me.

We retired to his room to spend around 2 hours chatting. It was pleasant to catch up although he really spent most of the time asking about what I had been doing since we last worked together in 2015. I had helped him set up a team of sales people to sell solar panels and trained all the staff. At the time I had broken my leg and was living in Thetford which meant they had to come to me.

“Ant” has lived in Silsoe, just outside of Luton for many years. We met in 2007 when I came back from Australia and he allowed me to stay with him as I was struggling with my marriage.

I left him after a very pleasant meet and no doubt I will return in the next few weeks.

Today Val and I went to a matinee of Hamnet. I loved “Shakespeare in Love” which came out in 1998. Val’s never seen it…… I’ll correct that. It’s one of my favourite films ever.

I didn’t know what to expect. I was immediately impressed by the way it had been filmed but was a little confused. It’s a good film, beautifully filmed, the acting is great but ther’s not much of a story.

The children actors are terrific.

The whole film makes sense in the last fifteen minutes. I’ll say I enjoyed it even if I found it a tad slow

Today I received a pair of Vivo boots. These are very special for foot health

They allow feet to spread naturally as of you were walking barefoot on the ground with no socks or shoes bringing feet back to a natural and strong state.

Vivo market these on a rather unusual way as they are quite expensive. They allow a purchaser to keep them and return them within 100 days of they do not suit for whatever reason. This gives a huge opportunity to find out if they work for you.

I have to until now had a couple of pairs that I have subsequently sent back as they weren’t comfortable. I have been suffering from neuromas in both my feet and I’ve been working to sort it out for a couple of years now.  Initially I had Morton’s neuroma in my right foot. I managed to reduce that after some time by wearing toe socks. The left foot has subsequently started giving me grief but the toe socks are helping

I’m hoping the new boots and the socks will allow me to keep these. We leave for the second part of the Portuguese Camino in a few weeks…. Toes crossed😁

We started today doing our usual chores; me making Kefir, Val making Sauerkraut. She then left the house to go and help with a litter pick on our estate; I clambered onto my cross trainer to try and do my usual stint. For me the exercise on the cross trainer or elliptical exerciser is not a labour of love. In the first 20 minutes all I want to do is stop!!! Then my target is 30 minutes and above. Currently I’m aiming at around 1 hour and I’ve been doing that pretty much every day since Aug 2025.

I finished at around 11.15 and did my usual ablutions before Val arrived home and we decided to go and get a few steps and some fresh air. I don’t know why but Val suggested a wood near a friends house . The wood is called Broadland Country Park. Its very beautiful but not huge. We drove the around 7 miles and managed to park and then walked. We stopped in the church of St Margaret’s of Antioch. A small church with a delightfully small organ.

Today was an important day for retail stores. The first day after Christmas that stores were open and had sales on.

Val and I went into Norwich to stretch our legs and browse. We really weren’t looking to buy anything other than rather good garlic bulbs at a Chinese store we frequent.

The garlic was 65p per bulb and excellent. We wandered in and out of several stores, had coffee in Marks and Spencer but didn’t spend a penny.

Val and I finished our stint at the King’s Centre at 2pm. It was a worthwhile but tiring time. I spent most of my time on the front door meeting and greeting incoming people. They came from all walks of life and it was a worthwhile experience.

Val and I will be helping out on Christmas Day as part of Norwich open Christmas.

See

Norwich Open Christmas – Home https://share.google/cY7USB2aYD09lERHZ

I’ll be doing the welcome at the door and Val will be helping plate up food….A very responsible job.

We aim to feed around 4-500 people. We are also able to let them choose clothing from our clothes bank. We have noticed in past years that homeless people tend to take few items but will choose a thick jumper, a good coat where people who come who have somewhere will take several bags of clothes. We do have some presents for children who come but normally there aren’t many. Some homeless come with their dogs. When they leave we give them a bundle of food to take away. Generally dried and tinned food.

We’ll have our Christmas dinner tonight and our Christmas at home later in the day when we’re done🙂

Many years ago I was at St John’s College in Cambridge with David. We were both members of the choir and boarded at the school attached to the college on Grange road. David’s family lived in Papworth Everard.

David and I were close and on the odd weekend when we had a day off David invited me to come and spend the day with his family. His father was the vicar of the local church.

We drifted apart and didn’t see each other until the summer of 1991 when Doctor George Guest retired from the role of director of music at St John’s.

Since then we re established our relationship. In 1991 we re established the Choir Association with a small team of which David was a part. We had regular meetings and quickly started what we called “The London Lunch” which was initially held on any Friday the 13th…. and eventually was established in Dec as near to David’s birthday as possible. This year it was 12th Dec which no one was able to attend….