I have fallen in love with Norwich again. It’s a joy, every time I go there. I used to love it many years ago, but it had lost its magic for various reasons. Now, it’s simply a treat to have the occasional visit. Sad that there are so many empty shops, though.

Wink went for her eye test – she’s had one already this year, at her old optician in Warminster. She wasn’t very happy with her new glasses and the specialist didn’t think they were suitable either. The person she saw today was very helpful, said that her old glasses are still fine for driving and the lenses in the new ones will be changed. The divide in the bifocals was very sharp and she found it very disconcerting to look down, then up. She fell over a kerb last week and is still recovering from badly grazed legs.

She took me out for a late lunch and we chose an independent pizza restaurant, which was a good choice. As we left, we looked at the sky and thought we’d better hurry. The rain started before we got to the shopping mall, but we scurried in and didn’t really get wet – I saw in the online local paper that the torrential rain caused that same mall to flood an hour later, along with various other Norwich roads. We were very lucky. Most of the way home, the roads were dry, but it rained hard for twenty minutes here, Tim said.

He cooked dinner tonight, a beef Rogan Josh. I’d bought fresh peas on the market, so we each had a bowlful as a starter. Naan bread out of the freezer, warmed in the microwave (as the Aga is still off) and dinner was sorted. With a few Kent cherries to follow.

Tomorrow, not much is planned. I moved the hen run to its new location today, so they’ve had a lovely time scratching in the new earth and eating fresh grass. I see there’s an artichoke ready to cut. It’s likely to rain.

The rain had wetted a saucer of dry cat food outside – the five barn cats are friendly and eat together to an extent, but some get squeezed out by others, so I spread the food about a bit. I thought they’d not eat wet kibble, so I’d give it to the chickens. There was a large slug on the saucer too, so that would be a bonus treat. But then I saw it opening its mouth and ingesting a large piece of soaked kibble and it looked so happy that I couldn’t feed it to a chicken. I left it. It’s welcome.