Visitors

Spain, November 2016

Another step has been taken towards the finished kitchen - Ilf has done all the required paintwork of kitchen and utility room walls, ceilings, doors, sills and skirting, put up a shelf and added a doorstop. He even reproached me for a mark I'd accidentally made on one of the freshly-painted doors, and repainted it for me. Now there's only tiling left to do, and I've started measuring and photographing so I'll be more prepared when I go to the tile shops. I also need to clean the windows now that everything inside is so clean and fresh. It is beautiful, and the sun came out and the kitchen is the brightest room in the house.

Lola II and Mr M visited just before the final wall colour went on. Those who know Lola II will be aware that she is, how can I put this, not altogether comfortable in low temperatures. She tends to avoid Lola Towers between the months of November and February. But mid-March, that should be fine, shouldn't it? Unfortunately no, the Second Coming of the Beast from the East meant sub-zero temperatures and many duvets and hot water bottles. She managed, just.

Due to the demise of the television we went out to the cinema on Saturday night to see 'The Shape of Water', which I think I liked more than Lola II or Mr M did. We took hot water bottles with us. Other activities included visiting a wool and accessories shop to feed Lola II's current obsession with crochet, and playing a new game that we were shown at New Year called 'Codenames'. It was lovely to be able to play in comfort in the kitchen.

Mr and Mrs MXF have also visited. Mr MXF is my multimedia consultant (and friend), and was very patient and repeated all the information many times until I worked out what it all meant. As far as modern technology is concerned I am apparently living in the Stone Age, which doesn't surprise me because in order to stay up to date one needs to own a teenager or work in the TV and Movie Bizniss like Mr MXF does.

Mr and Mrs MXF are very keen on voice activation, which I am resisting at the moment. There was an amusing interlude at Currys when a poor employee who looked about 15 years old tried to tell us that the voice activation devices do not store the conversation that they hear, and was very much put right on that matter. I now have many options to equip my house with the modern audio and video systems I crave. Mrs MXF is in a similar position to myself not only vis-a-vis modern technology but also in the way that she loves the work she does but not the people with whom she does it.

There has been lots of badminton, and work provides unusable blog material from the usual clinics and education sessions that I can't write about. We are, however, expecting a visit from the Care Quality Commission, which is the body that oversees good practice in healthcare institutions. Our last inspection revealed some flaws so we are being brainwashed with messages about Values, Pride, Safeguards, the Mental Capacity Act and rather a lot of other issues that don't apply in the outpatient department where I work.

As part of this focus on quality there was a three-line whip for all dietitians to attend a very important meeting about an issue arising from the death of a patient and subsequent investigation where nutrition played a part. I couldn't get out of a prior commitment, which turned out to be lucky because while it is true that lessons could be learned from the investigation, they were not lessons that had any relevance at all to my role.