Unrelated items

Norfolk, July 2011

Have you noticed how long it is since there was a post on what I've been reading? This is because I don't seem to have time to do reading nowadays, or, more accurately, I use the time previously allocated to reading for less intellectually strenuous activity: watching DVDs or doing mindless puzzles. Working all day makes the active acquisition of knowledge in the evening much less attractive. Even novels don't make the cut at the moment. And if I were reading, there'd be even less time for blogging, and that's getting very little of my attention at the moment as well.

I still haven't worked on all the pictures I took while I was on holiday in May/June, to get them ready for display here. I've just had a quick look, and there are about twenty pictures from Sissinghurst that are fit for the purpose, some of them very lovely indeed, and a few from the weekend when we returned to the Falconry Centre. That was a lovely trip, because the weather was just about perfect for the falcons (not really breezy enough for the heavy birds like the eagles and vultures) and I very nearly saw a falcon stoop to the lure, i.e. plummet from a great height catching its prey on the way down. I missed the full flight because I lost the bird into the sun for a second, and couldn't spot it again until it opened its wings in the last stages of the stoop. But I'm planning another trip to the Centre in a couple of weeks, so I hope the weather remains fine.

I'm still Not Very Well. This is separate from the touch of sunburn that I acquired at the Falconry Centre, which is gently fading; it started last Saturday with a sore throat and progressed to congestion and an odd pain in my back when I breathe in too deeply. I think it is a chest infection, but am not sure. It is the first illness I've had (apart from broken leg) that has stopped me playing badminton. I've even taken time off work, which has helped with the reading and blogging (see above).

At work, I seem to have the same number of patients and referrals as ever, while my two colleagues report that their workload has dropped off significantly. Even their clinics are poorly attended, while for the first time ever in my clinic this week, everybody who was listed actually came. If it had been a full clinic, the medal would have been mine. As it was, there were still seven patients, while my colleagues have had two or three. What with feeling ill as well, I was feeling rather persecuted, but taking a day off has restored the balance somewhat. I will be sharing out my caseload a bit more equitably soon.

So now these unrelated items have been related, and I shall return to my sick bed, or perhaps the sofa.