St Peter’s, Carlton Colville
For once, I should have trusted my satnav – or at the very least reminded myself of the exact location of Carlton Colville in relation to Lowestoft before I set off. I thought I had plenty of time, but my decision to drive through Herringfleet into Lowestoft made the journey nearly half an hour longer than it should have been, in part due to a single-track-road delay caused by an astonishingly large herd of farm machinery. But thankfully there were no serious consequences: only a few people had stayed on after the service, wandering about the church in no rush for anything to happen, as far as I could see. Which was a relief, as I felt pretty rough this morning. My church appointments had to be kept, but it had occurred to me that I didn’t actually need to get home today. I didn’t fancy a long drive after my church visits were over, and I hadn’t yet managed a walk in Loddon, where I was staying – which seemed a grave omission – so that morning I’d arranged to stay an extra night to enjoy a leisurely Sunday afternoon.
The church interior was decidedly ordinary, not helped by the tape stuck to the floor; but the acoustic was good. I started playing to an almost empty church, and gradually it filled as those attending the 10.30am service arrived, some perhaps early on purpose to hear the music. I played three movements of the Bach G major suite instead of the whole thing, and the usual two Irish airs - an abridged version of the previous day’s programme, of which I was glad, as my performance stamina left something to be desired. It was a friendly, understated visit, which entirely suited my Sunday morning physical and mental capacity.