Life is good

Oxford, January 2019

In life outside diabetes, nothing much of note is going on. I play badminton a lot; we win matches and lose matches. I have been hosting the Buddhist group while the usual hall is running an introductory course for newcomers. I had four guests altogether, so not an overwhelming number, but it was very lovely and it is clear that Lola Towers is finally open to visitors.

Speaking of visitors, I welcomed Bee Lady and Landrover Man for an overnight stay. Very unusual to see them outside their normal habitat, but they seemed to manage admirably. There was lots of cake, because I felt that in order not to be outdone I ought to make a cake, and Bee Lady also brought a cake presumably assuming that there wasn't a chance that I would make one. So we had two. Lola II and Mr M also came along, and I took Mr M out to the wine merchant shop where there were some whiskies to be tasted. We tried three at about 2pm, which made me much less stressed about the whole course of the evening. The final guests were my two friends (A and S) with whom I have been to the Christmas markets in Germany for the past two years.

The doorbell rang while I was waiting for all these guests, but it was a stranger who looked very puzzled when I answered, clearly expecting to see someone else. As usual I pointed out the same numbered house in the adjacent Road rather than in my Street, an error made every now and then by all manner of tradesmen and delivery drivers. He apologised and introduced himself as my Member of Parliament (Labour). Which gave me the chance to let off some steam about the state of the nation as well as local politics. I still despair at the lack of any party which will allow me to support an anti-Brexit ticket, if (god help us) there should be an election. Her Majesty's Opposition shows little sign of opposing the biggest and most divisive issue I have faced in my lifetime.

Anyway, the evening's entertainment was enjoyed by all with food being eaten, drink being drunk and games being played. And then it was midnight and time for bed, but I managed to get up next day ready for a morning walk and a pub lunch with BL and LRM and other old friends from early Midlands badminton days and it was lovely. And one evening after work I met another old friend from RNIB times who is doing very well in almost every aspect of her life, which is also lovely. And another day I met Lola II in Oxford and in between the lunch and the puddings we managed to squeeze in a couple of exhibits in the Boddleian Library, one showing boxes that books were kept in (some of them from the 15th century) and the other all about the achievements of women, coinciding with the anniversary of women's suffrage. And this day, too, was lovely.

So that's it, another diary entry style of blog which I may read again one day and remember the odd snippet, but is otherwise of little or no interest. Sorry about that, but it does highlight that there's much less to say when life is good.

A poem

Flysch rock formation, Playa de Sakoneta, September 2018 (photo by Mr M)

While the writing of my epic three-part saga of the holiday progressed, life went on in the background with more mundane everyday activities - the usual work, badminton, meditation, films and trips to see people and places. I have travelled to Nottingham, Altrincham, Woodford and Lea (near Ross-on-Wye), played in a couple of matches, supervised another student for an afternoon, met the new Dietitian hired to replace the last one that left, and attended a meeting about a potential diabetes app.

One of my work colleagues (a Diabetes Nurse not a Dietitian) attended some sort of event where she was encouraged to submit an idea for a phone app. She chose to include a half-baked idea about weight management, and then when the company asked to meet up to discuss her idea she came to me. I have no interest in her idea, but this seems to cut no ice. As with everything else at work nowadays, I will try to just sit back and see what happens.

Usually the result is 'nothing happens', but in one department the Clinical Commissioning Group have succeeded in taking a positive step forward. The Structured Education for Type 2 Diabetes, DESMOND, had all but lapsed in our area, mostly due to staff changes. The CCG stepped in, and despite our scepticism they have set up a new procedure which looks like it may work. We have advance notice that they will soon turn their attention to Type 1 education, so we're on our toes now and paying attention.

Home news: the washing machine engineer arrived to diagnose the fault with the washing machine. Despite everything we tried it refused to perform, and consistently and reliably failed to demonstrate any water leak whatsoever. The engineer kindly noted that the reason for the callout was that the packaging had not been correctly removed, otherwise I would have had to pay for his visit. So the good news is that the washing machine is not leaking, and the bad news is that I wasn't hallucinating when I found water on the floor so I fear it will start leaking again at some future time. When it does, I will take pictures.

I went to visit Landrover Man and Bee Lady, and because they actually read this blog I have been instructed to report on the visit. There was cake, dinner, a film, breakfast, a walk, a Sunday roast, plenty of talk and all of it was wonderful. There, that's slightly more than the "I went to see them and it was nice" that I threatened to write. Bee Lady still has bees (it's winter so they don't go out much) but Landrover Man no longer has Landrovers.

BL and LRM in front of Big View West

On my visit to Altrincham, cousin H showed me two poems he has written and gave permission for me to share them. I know as much about Poetry as I do about Art, but here is my favourite of the two:

Alzheimer's

It works like this. Each time he sees a thing
That's just the start. He has to process it
Through several departments of the brain.
To recognise it. Work out what it is.
Give it a name, and know how it fits in.
Responding needs another set of functions -
Making a choice from several office menus,
While holding all the options in a list.
Then he can send a message in reply
Not yet though. First he has to formulate
The answer, and then put it into words
And (in a separate office) make the sounds.
I sometimes think he recognises me.

Sun + rain = camping + walking

Sudeley Castle, August 2015

It's been a rainy Bank Holiday weekend, although to be fair, some of Saturday wasn't bad. As I write, I hear muffled clapping, cheering and shouts of encouragement or triumph from the bowling greens, where we are reaching the end of a month of National Bowling action. Our period of exclusive entry to our little trio of streets guarded by high-vis-vest-clad doormen is nearly over.

In the past couple of weeks I've had quite a few evening appointments, including appearing on a panel for a different Diabetes UK local group from the one I used to attend until I'd had enough of their rudeness. The demographic was very similar - nobody under 50, a couple of opinionated and outspoken members, polite attention and some interesting questions. The panel consisted of two podiatrists, an optometrist, me, and a retired local GP who is fairly eminent in the Diabetes professional world. People were very interested in what the podiatrists had to say and much less interested in my contribution. I expect it's because someone's always banging on at them about food, whereas they have few opportunities to raise questions about feet.

I also enjoyed a weekend away camping with Lola II. The campsite was fine, including excellent hot showers but with fields mostly on a slope. I managed to find a relatively flat bit to pitch the tent before collecting Lola II from the station. We did a bit of campsite cooking and some eating out, but I'd brought quite a lot of salad ingredients, because a) that's what I had in the fridge, b) it's supposed to be summer and c) Lola II and I are both grappling with weight management.

We visited an old prison and a castle. The prison also contained a Cotswolds information centre, and Sudeley Castle (and Gardens) was staging an event including re-enactment of the period of Richard III, including costumes, armour, archery and music. The castle was home to Henry VIII's last wife, Katherine Parr, and she is buried there too - the only Queen of England to be buried in the grounds of a private home. There are gardens as well as the castle, and exhibitions on all sorts of aspects of historical interest. We were there for hours and didn't see everything - there was plenty to keep us occupied, and it was really hot.

On Sunday we met up with Landrover Man and Bee Lady for a lovely walk in the countryside. LRM can always be relied on to plan a route and guide us around it, thus saving endless hours of getting lost which would happen if I were in charge.

The Weather Gods had a hand in the loveliness of the countryside, providing torrential rain halfway through when we were in the middle of a field, far from shelter. I had been too lazy to bother wearing proper boots so I was in trainers, and could wring my socks out at the end, but it was worth it - not cold, and good to catch up with bees, farmyard machinery, sheep and septic tanks. I can vouch for the impressive improvement to the vista chez LRM and BL because we were sent 'before' and 'after' pictures of the septic tank cover.

So that was a good weekend away. For the Bank Holiday weekend I decided I had procrastinated long enough and it was time to put in a bit of effort into choosing and buying a car. So early on Saturday I got up and did a Parkrun instead. I find that buying a car (or in fact buying anything except food and charity shop clothes) is really difficult and fairly unpleasant, but I found one in the end and it's probable that the ordeal will be over in a month or so. The dreadful experience is too fresh to write about now, but I'm sure I'll manage to bring further vehicular news at some point.

Sudeley Castle again

Not at work

Groombridge Place, June 2013

See what happens when I don't have to go to work and I'm not away from home? Blogs happen, that's what. And I am told that Lola II is working towards her contribution to the Wedding Presence camping trip blog post (I think Mr M has done his, although he hasn't sent it through yet). So we are backing up a little now to report news from a week ago...

At work, I agreed to cover the ante-natal clinic, which takes place in the other Trust hospital - we don't have any maternity services where I usually work. As regular readers may remember, I am not a fan of ante-natal clinics, and this was no exception. There are too many patients and not enough time, and I felt rather exploited although the consultant and the nurse took care to thank me very appreciatively. Next time I will be more 'assertive' about time-keeping.

Back at my usual hospital I observed a patient being started with an insulin pump, which took quite a long time but wasn't very complicated really. I think that the hard work starts afterwards, to try and fine tune the background delivery of insulin to match the patient's needs from hour to hour. Being away from work this week I'm missing that part of the job, but I'll try and catch up with a different patient some time, to see the follow up.

And then there were a few things not related to work. It was a red letter day on Thursday: the first time I managed to run 5 km in under 30 minutes (all on flat tarmac). My timed runs on Saturday mornings with Parkrun are getting faster too, but despite planning to go out this week, I haven't felt up to it yet, partly because of the trip at the weekend, to see Landrover Man (LRM) and Bee Lady (BL).

This was actually me gatecrashing one of Mr M and Lola II's wedding presence, and it was lovely as usual. BL provided an extensive food preference questionnaire which also included attitudinal questions to see if she should be sticking with conventional choices or going a bit experimental. After a tour of the LRM/BL mansion and grounds, then the enormous and delicious dinner followed by games on Saturday night, we were looking forward to the usual standard of walking on Sunday. We only got a bit lost once and had to do a bit of off-piste mountaineering (Lola II was very brave and I got stung by nettles) but it was excellent, if exhausting. I had to have a sleep on the motorway on the way home, and was very glad not to be going to work on Monday. I think I felt the effects of the indulgence followed by the exertion for a few more days, but it may be the unaccustomed freedom of not being at work.

[Bee Facts: there were many, mostly about how to manage your hives - BL doesn't like killing a perfectly good queen just in order to limit the number. So she has ended up with ten hives, which is A Lot. LRM was very patient and listened to many, many Bee Facts without much complaint. Unfortunately it isn't quite so interesting to hear about his energy management spreadsheets.]

So this week I have welcomed my tradesmen about whom I have already written, and the latest carpenter says the job isn't big enough and has suggested another carpenter. I have donated blood without incident, and even managed to visit the charity shops for long enough to acquire the clothes that I was after. Yesterday I made an enormous effort and cleared out about two thirds of the clutter that was getting in my way, and then it was time for badminton. Today I had lunch with an old friend, and I am looking forward to the weekend, which holds the annual Food & Drink Festival.

Mostly walking and a bit of running

Canterbury pub

As usual, quite a lot going on, but little inclination to document everything. I remember when I used to write a lot about social stuff and holidays, but for some reason I'm not doing this so much. I suppose I feel a little exposed because anybody at all can read this blog, and while my family and friends may like to know more personal stuff, those who are more interested in the professional stuff may be put off. I need to spend some time thinking about who my target audience is, and who I'd like it to be, and how comfortable people I know might be if I feature them here. But I don't think I use anyone's real name any more, so perhaps it doesn't matter.

Last week, on the spur of the moment, Mr A and I contacted our old friends Landrover Man and Bee Lady, whom we see approximately once a year (if you go by the number of mentions they get on this blog). It was a beautiful day and we had a nice long walk and a lovely pub lunch and it was brilliant. We're going to try and get them over here a bit sooner than in a year's time, but it may still be a month or two away. We're working on it.

My 'Couch to 5k' plan is still going quite well, and I'm on target to be able to run 5 kilometres by the end of May, all being well. It's an interesting programme, with just 60 seconds running at a time at the beginning, and I've now managed to run very slowly for 20 minutes in one go without ill effect. I'm starting to see how I will be able to run 5 km by the end of the series, which I always believed but didn't quite comprehend how it might be achieved.

On the other hand, badminton is going through a difficult period, with my Club C in abeyance due to hall refurbishment, and lots of end-of-season administration with Club A because I am Secretary. Club C doesn't play over the summer, but Club B (where I used to play a year ago) does - but I took a break from Club B because of a few annoying members. I shall be going back to Club B over the summer to see if I can put up with said annoying members, and then decide which of them to join for next season along with Club A. It's complicated.

Mr A and I have just returned from a few days camping in Kent. We went on Saturday, arriving quite late, and then it rained all day Sunday so we went for as much indoor activity as possible, starting in Rochester with their local museum. The highlight for Mr A was a camera mounted on top of the building which you could control from inside - eventually he had to relinquish control to a visiting child. Because it was still raining we spent the afternoon watching a film, then it was still raining and getting dark and we couldn't read any more in the tent and it was getting cold too, so obviously we went to a pub to get warm, which happened to have friendly locals and live music.

On Monday the sun came out, so we went to Whitstable for our traditional Guinness, oysters and crab sandwiches on the beach. We walked along the beach all the way to Seasalter, then went back to the campsite to take advantage of the better weather in order to sit and read. Unfortunately, it started to rain again on Monday night, and didn't stop all night. For some reason Mr A woke up very early this morning and decided to make tea without looking at the time. When he told me my tea was ready I asked him if he realised it was only 6.40 a.m? We packed everything up in the rain, loaded it into the car in the rain and drove back in the rain - there's going to be a fair bit of drying out needed when it's a bit less damp outside.

Holiday and home

Great Glasshouse, National Botanic Garden of Wales, May 2013

Have you been waiting impatiently for a report from our holiday? Or are you more interested in that teaser for the gestational diabetes blog? Or perhaps you are just one of the elite readers (for 'elite' read 'very few') who continues to support my blog despite its increasingly dry and technical content, either because you know me or because we are directly related? You are all heroes to me. As are other readers, although I doubt that there are any.

Cardiff pub

The holiday was pretty good, it didn't rain, we stayed with friends (Thank you, Bee Lady and Landrover Man!), then in a B&B, and then in a tent. It was mostly in Wales, and the highlights (in brief) were a lovely long walk with BL and LRM, the Cardiff pub nearest to our B&B, and the trip to the National Botanic Garden of Wales. This last has supplied me with many lovely images that will be presented on these pages in future posts. I'm not short of blog images at the moment; I've still got plenty from the German holiday, some from the park up the road during an unexpected bike race, and even some from the cruise back in October last year.

Local cuisine

We came home for the bank holiday weekend, which remained fine and even warm at times, and I did quite a bit of tidying up in the garden while Mr A mowed the meadow. Lady Decorator will repaint the hall starting next week, and we are waiting for the saintly Alf to come back to us with a date when he can start some work which should hopefully cure a chronic damp problem in one of the outside walls. So the deterioration of Lola Towers may be halted for a brief interlude before entropy kicks in again without mercy.

Since coming home from the holiday, I have finally decided to give in and look for a room to stay in for work during the week. I went to view one this week, which would be a Monday-Friday rental for about the same cost as the fuel I'm using to drive back and forth. The main downside is that I will have to leave my current badminton clubs and find new ones, but I will gain precious hours of leisure time and be much less tired, especially towards the end of the week.

Bute Park, Cardiff, May 2013

Birthday walk

Cubbington, Feb 2012

Lola II came to visit for her birthday, with Mr M. Lola II loves surprises, Mr M loves Lola II, so surprises are called for. Of course, I love Lola II as well, but I am too lazy/busy/preoccupied with my own troubles (delete as you think fit) to bother with surprises very much, in addition to the fact that I can't keep a secret to save my life, and Mr A isn't much better.

Surprises planned by Mr M:

• Getting Skype installed on a computer at mum and dad's house in advance so they could Skype Lola II on her birthday
• Creating masks with the face of Lola II for mum and dad to wear for the Skype call
• Producing more Lola II masks to be utilised at any appropriate time
• Arranging for our American/Israeli cousin to Skype Lola II
• Producing calorie-free green peas, which consisted of the letter P cut out of green cardboard
• Getting the music and playing the piano part of an Adele song so Lola II could sing along
• A tiny birthday cake
• About six or seven birthday presents.

Surprises planned by me:

• A walk in the countryside and a pub lunch with seven other people
• A packet of Durian crisps.

I think this indicates clearly the amount of effort each of us is prepared to put into the task of creating surprises for someone with a birthday. I did manage to assist with the green P's, scheduling the Skype call from our cousin, and practising the song.

Things started to fall apart when Mr M couldn't get Skype installed successfully for mum and dad, but sister D and family were going to be visiting on Sunday and might be able to complete the installation. Then the Skype call from our cousin didn't turn up on schedule at 6 p.m. our time, but my mobile rang at midnight (Lola II had sensibly turned hers off), waking me up enough to answer but not enough to hold any sort of meaningful conversation. Our cousin had thought we would be awake and celebrating - he obviously knows us less well than we thought. And as we drove off to the start of the walk, Mr A let the cat out of the bag by asking "Have your parents Skyped you yet?"

Millennium Way walk, Feb 2012

The walk and pub lunch were wonderful, the weather was perfect, and Landrover Man navigated with distinction. I learned a new Bee Fact: you can transport bees in their hives inside a car, but it's a good idea to wear protective gear while you're driving just in case they get out.