Loose ends

Witley Court Gardens, May 2021

Vaccination

My last vaccination shift wasn't cancelled, and I discovered a little about what's going on. Because we're not a public vaccination hub our customers are all front-line healthcare workers. Nearly all have had both vaccines by now, so it was decided to close most weekday operations and open only on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So all my weekday shifts have been cancelled - the one that I managed to book was a 'late' on Saturday running from 2 to 8 p.m. so I'm guessing not a popular time for many.

The nurse in charge told me that there was an idea that we would try to become a public-facing local vaccination hub which would potentially allow GPs to return to normal business (it's shocking how many GPs have not yet restored their services). But until this happens, each time I look at the online roster system there are no available shifts. It may be that my short-lived vaccination career is about to come to a premature end. Before I even get paid. I was contacted this week to ask for a form that I'd already submitted three weeks ago.

LTRP

In LTRP news, Olf's mate the plumber came on round with his mate to have a look at the stain on the upstairs hall ceiling which is not growing particularly fast but is located underneath the water tank in the loft. They poked about for quite a long time before finding anything that could be the root cause, but eventually found that the overflow for both that tank and the central heating header tank runs uphill. This makes sense, as the stain would only grow in the event of overflow. They cleaned the ball valve nicely and Olf's mate said he would call to talk about a date for the rest of the work, which I chased last week. I haven't heard from him yet.

The builder (Glf) I've engaged to work on the pub wall isn't due to start until the end of June, but in the recent downpour one of the Velux windows over the (tiled) hall started to let it a few drips, and I noticed that the wall which I had thought was no longer damp was actually soaking. So I'm hanging on to see what he can come up with, but it looks like I'll be waiting a while to finish the downstairs decoration.

Parents

I took a trip to the Woodland Cemetery with mum and her friend. The cemetery is fairly new so trees and shrubs are not yet tall enough to shield it much from the noise of the M25 motorway, but I'm sure it will develop into a lovely site. We happened to meet one of the gardeners there. He was a youngish man, maybe in his 30's, and after a quick hello he looked at mum more carefully and asked, "Do I know you?" She was a little taken aback, but then he introduced himself and revealed that she had taught him to read from the Torah scroll for his Bar Mitzvah, presumably more than 20 years ago. 

Pub

The pub has now been allowed to open for customers to sit indoors. When they opened the outdoor area back in April they installed a speaker to pipe music out there, and although this is something that I have always managed to negotiate away with previous pub managers, I felt it was only reasonable to let it go while outdoors was the only place customers could go. When customers could go indoors, the music was still going outside with no customers there. 

I really don't mind voices, not even the worst kind (which for me is the screeching of drunk young women), but I find the 'doof doof doof' of amplified pop music that can be heard most clearly in my kitchen and living room most annoying. So eventually I decided to go round and have a chat, and the manager on duty was really nice about it and said that he was sorry and he had been told to keep the outside music turned down and he turned it off straight away.

Commonwealth Games

While I was in the pub I noticed that one of the most regular customers was in - a local man who is also one of the contacts between residents and the Council over the Commonwealth Games. In 2022 this event is being hosted by the City of Birmingham. Royal Leamington Spa, however, is the chosen spot for the lawn bowling events, which will be happening on my doorstep. Literally, from the sound of it. There is a bit of a fuss because the District Council (which owns and manages the greens) has been working with the relevant Commonwealth Games committee without consulting residents.

So I had a really interesting chat with him - despite there being just three streets and a park involved, there are three different residents organisations, and he's already had to withdraw from one of them due to a difference of opinion - how very British. I found out that the plans involve erecting large spectator stands which will displace at least half the residents' and park visitors' parking spaces, and also presumably block the view so tickets can be sold. There are a few other issues, and I do intend to read all the material online and comment if appropriate, but I haven't done it yet. There is a residents' meeting tonight, which I plan to attend.

Lecturer Lola

Rio de Janeiro, April 2019

My ex-colleague who was the last-but-one Diabetes Dietitian Team Leader now works for a University offering a Masters postgraduate course in Diabetes-related stuff (I think it probably has a better name than that). She asked me if I would deliver part of one of their modules, all about insulin pump therapy. My bit would obviously be about diet and pumps, and it sounded interesting and within my capabilities, so I said yes.

She had already told me that the previous person who delivered this bit of the module was far too technical and the students were completely baffled, and when she sent the materials from that session I had to agree. Part of it was the same as the course I attended a few years ago that resulted in one of my most technical blog posts ever, and I wasn't even sure I understood it all. Another part of it was the same as another course I attended which produced another fiendishly complicated blog post.  To offer that to a group who are just getting to grips with the basics of pump therapy was pretty inappropriate.

So I started from scratch and created three hours of material at a basic level to cover three areas: what happens to your blood glucose when you eat and drink, how best to use the features of an insulin pump to deal with that, and what the pump can do for you when you exercise. It has taken up pretty much all of my free time in the last two weeks, but I was pleased with what I came up with, which included interaction and activities that I hoped would keep everyone awake and interested.

While I was doing that there was the distraction of having to go to work for two days each week, which also entailed supervising two different dietetic students on their final placements for their degree course. I had a pretty poor experience in two out of three of my placements, which makes me a terrible supervisor because there's no way I would put anyone through that. But I had to do extra hours and I had less time to do my own work. And there was quite a serious incident with a colleague that has led to me having to refer a complaint up to the Dietetic Manager (seeing as we don't have a replacement Diabetes Dietitian Team Leader since the last one left). So work isn't my favourite place at the moment.

As well as Monday and Thursday badminton and the regular Tuesday Buddhism and a film accompanied by live music on Wednesday (in a Leamington venue called Temperance that is rapidly becoming a favourite) and a trip to see mum and dad, I went away for another weekend retreat where I met lots of lovely Buddhists who restored my faith in humanity. One of the people leading the retreat was the man who played a part in setting up many of the small local groups, including ours in Leamington (known for historical reasons as the Warwick group). He was happy to spend some time with me so I could pick his brains for ideas about nourishing and sustaining our group, attracting more members and generating both enthusiasm and funding. I have come back with ideas spilling out everywhere and nowhere to put them. My pleas for a Warwick group team meeting have so far come to nothing.

So yesterday I finally delivered the material I'd created to a group of nine students, including three from the Middle and Far East and two podiatrists as well as local doctors and nurses. I actually thought it was the most successful teaching session I've ever done. The activities I planned went really well, several times people asked questions which were answered in the very next section, and the timing was perfect. Unfortunately, back when I was asked to do it I was told that this was the last time the module would be delivered as they are updating and changing the course, but when the new course is ready maybe there will be something similar, and maybe they will think of me.

Rio de Janeiro, April 2019

Local news

La Plagne, March 2019

• The living room, stairs and upstairs hall walls have been stripped of their paper, and a little of their plaster too, especially the ceiling. The signs of a previous door out to the garden from the living room have been revealed, which is only very slightly interesting.
• Ulf has come to quote for the plaster skimming, and also to have a look at a couple of other issues with the kitchen build - a crack has appeared in the old brickwork adjacent to the new build, and there is a strange patch of what looks like moisture but isn't on an external wall or at ground level. A week later - not heard back from him yet.
• With the wall all stripped down, I realised that it would be the perfect opportunity to adjust the lights, switches and sockets in the room, so I got back in touch with Bill the electrician. No response for a week, then I followed up by phone, and still nothing definite.
• Olf lost the measurements he made a few weeks ago so had to come back again so he can quote for some outside work. A week later - still no quote.
• I have been inoculated or boosted against diphtheria, tetanus, polio, hepatitis A, typhoid and yellow fever. Not all at once. The yellow fever one was nasty - my arm still hurts nearly a week later and it cost £60, but I do get a nice certificate.
• The bandstand in the pump room gardens is back, after a considerable time (more than a year) being renovated. It's been repainted in strange pastel colours.
• My favourite shop in Leamington, Clarke's greengrocer, has now closed for good. There has been a longstanding pattern of my very favourite shops in town being closed - if this continues then Wofon will be next, or Kayal (but I go to Wofon much more than Kayal).
• I registered a complaint with Santander bank, which contacted me about a potentially fraudulent transaction but didn't make it clear that it wasn't on my account but one for which I have power of attorney. This caused no end of hassle both to me and to the account holder with frozen accounts, declined payments, a bounced cheque and a very extended visit to a branch. The final outcome is positive with compensation for both of us. They said they would take notice of my suggestions for how the system could be improved - all they would have to do would be make clear that I had been contacted as the attorney rather than the main account holder. Seems simple, but everything I have ever heard about how banks manage powers of attorney suggests that nothing will change. At least I won't make that mistake again.
• The molar that had been becoming increasingly troublesome forced me to the dentist in the face of the upcoming trip where dental issues would be highly inconvenient. After examination and X-ray the dentist came back wearing 'very sad face' (he's normally very jolly), to tell me that it was time for extraction. I told him to cheer up because at this point I couldn't be rid of it soon enough. He did a great job; it didn't hurt at the time or since, I completed my 3 days of regular salt water mouthwash (much worse than the extraction) and waited for it to heal a bit more so I could get stuck into all the chewy food I had given up on. I should have stocked up on trifle, but eggs, well-cooked pasta and soup sustained me very well. I ate a lovely crunchy apple yesterday!
• Films watched recently:
• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - a poor title for a great movie with Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock and a very talented young actor, Thomas Horn.
• Whitney - after I'd watched this recent documentary I found a slightly older documentary on BBC iPlayer (Can I Be Me?) so I watched that as well. Tragic story of the rise and fall of such a talented woman.
• Three Identical Strangers - a fascinating documentary from Channel 4, some of it predictable I suppose, but each revelation on top of the previous one increased my outrage.
• Miss Sloane - a film recommended by Landrover Man, and it was very good. So complicated that I'd probably have to watch it again to make sure I picked up on all the twists, but I find that the sign of a good film.
• My printer is Not Very Well. It remains to be seen whether its condition is terminal, but I don't have the strength to tackle it just at the moment, and I'll have to use the work printer for critical things if necessary. However, Buddhists, badminton players, work colleagues, friends and family are all Alive as far as I'm aware.

Two days without WiFi

The Drawing Board, just now

It feels as though I've been living without a limb for two days. Actually, it's more like a sensory organ is missing. I have been living without WiFi for two whole days.

A massive electrical storm woke me very suddenly in the early hours of Sunday morning. I imagine there was a bang or a crack from very close by, perhaps inside the house. I listened to the thunder and watched the windows light up - it was probably the loudest storm I've every experienced. It passed. I went back to sleep.

On Sunday morning I couldn't make the radio turn on. This sometimes happens - it's an early DAB model and it sometimes gets confused. As for so many things nowadays, the remedy is to turn it off and on again. At that point I noticed that there was no power to the radio. Nor to the bedside light.

OK, adding two and two together, I bumbled down to the fuse box. I'm so glad that the old one was replaced (three and a half years ago already!) because three or four of the switches were tripped. This usually happens when light bulbs blow and it's just a matter of switching it all back on, but the kitchen circuits didn't return. Then I remembered that they'd installed a subsidiary fuse box in the new kitchen extension, and that had tripped as well, but unlike the main board it wouldn't reset itself. With everything turned off I could reset it, and switching things on one at a time it became clear that the problem was with the washing machine.

At that point I was simply relieved that the fridge freezer was working and that I could still boil the kettle and cook breakfast. I haven't yet got round to pulling the washing machine out to try and trace the fault, because after breakfast it became clear that there was no Internet. I can replace the three blown light bulbs and go to the launderette if necessary, but no Internet! Looking at the router it appeared dead, no lights coming on at all. No Internet! I couldn't find an alternative power supply to try, but I found an old router - I just wasn't sure it would be compatible with the new ISP and couldn't face the effort of trying it out. I could still get online via the data plan on my phone, and I had planned to spend the day at an event at the Birmingham Buddhist Centre, so that's what I did.

It turns out that I can manage for about two days without WiFi. Considering I've only just started using the new TV I was surprised to miss the facilities it provides, particularly BBC iPlayer for TV and Spotify for music (but I've got films on DVD and the old hifi for CDs so it's been fine). I didn't need the Internet for dressmaking so at last I've made a start on Lola's dress, although very soon afterwards I managed to break the fancy needle that I need for stretch fabric so that has to wait until the shops open again.

I listened to audio books, did a bit of work in the garden, replaced all the blown light bulbs, and went out to look at new lawn mowers. I inherited the mower from the previous owners of Lola Towers which makes it at least 15 years old, and although the motor seems fine, I don't think the blade has been replaced in all that time. Then I realised that I could just replace the blade - I don't know why I hadn't thought of it before. I turned the mower over to have a look at the blade. It is held on by a large bolt, and I don't have any spanners. Perhaps there's a tool? If there is, where would it be?

I'm not sure I can convey how astonished I was firstly to find within seconds the very tool I was looking for, and then actually managing to undo the bolt with it. I took the old blade down to the local DIY store but they didn't have anything that matched it. Using the magic of the Internet (thank you phone data plan) I have now ordered the exact part. I can hardly believe how well this is going so far and feel certain that there will be some insurmountable barrier to success when the new blade arrives. We'll see.

So  buoyed by success, I finally felt mentally tough enough to phone the ISP about the dead router. And it was fine! The nice man working in the call centre on a Bank Holiday immediately identified the moment when it died on Sunday morning, and asked me about the storm, but didn't raise any issues. He not only arranged for a new router to be sent out, but also encouraged me to contact them when it arrives so my days without Internet can be reimbursed.

That's when I decided it was time to seek out some WiFi. So I went to Pub Next Door and asked for a half of Saddleback and the WiFi password. Which was when I discovered that their Internet had been destroyed at the same time as mine. The beer was very tasty but my quest continued, and I have now been settled for a couple of hours at the second best pub in Leamington. They expressed the right amount of horror at my plight and have been very hospitable. I have bonded with the bar staff over an obscure track by The Cat Empire and with other customers over the Blue Peter annuals on the pub bookshelves.

So despite the WiFi calamity it's been quite a good weekend so far. I've got tomorrow off as well so still time to replace the fancy sewing machine needle and do a bit more dressmaking before going back to work.

Health and Wellbeing and a camping holiday

Worthing pier, September 2017

What with being away on holiday for a few days, and Thursday badminton starting up again, and also just not wanting to sit at the computer when I'm at home, I've got a bit behind with my online life. I've only watched the first episode of the Great British Bake Off, and it's the only TV programme I watch all year. LTRP update - no, just joking, nothing's happened.

There was the Leamington Food & Drink Festival, which was delightful as usual and attended by Lola II and Mr M as well as cousin Y and one of Mr M's friends from Nottingham and another of Mr M's friends from Wolverhampton. We started early on the Saturday and this turned out to be a good idea because at about noon the rain came down in torrents. It cleared up for brief periods thereafter so the event wasn't a total washout.

At work, I created a Dietetics stand for the Trust's Health and Wellbeing event for staff. It was in the dining room of the hospital along with other stands: Stop Smoking, Join UNISON, Physiotherapy, the Chaplain, the local Sports Centre, Neyber (something to do with cheap loans), and the Occupational Health team offering blood pressure, blood glucose and cholesterol tests. On my stand were free leaflets from CASH (Consensus Action on Salt and Health), BHF (British Heart Foundation) and the World Cancer Research Fund, and I wheeled my scales over and brought a tape measure and stadiometer for measuring height.

The only stand that really attracted any traffic was the Occy Health one, which had queues lined up most of the time. Neyber and UNISON had free pens, and the physio offered to time you sitting and standing as many times as you could in a minute, but most people were really only interested in their blood pressure, blood glucose and cholesterol. Including me. My cholesterol level was even higher than it was when I went for my over 50's Health Check.at my GP.

The Occy Health team sent a few people over to me to have their weight and height measured, including one teeny tiny Asian lady whom I dutifully measured even though it was obvious that she wasn't even close to being overweight, but who seemed relieved to be told this fact. They also sent over someone with high blood glucose to have a chat, but she'd been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes some time ago, didn't really seem at all bothered and wasn't particularly interested in doing anything about it.

I spoke to no more than about ten people in the four hours I was there, not counting people on the other stands who were similarly idle - I don't think the Chaplain had any customers at all. But it was a nice change of scenery, and despite not having much to do it was a great deal more interesting than the day at the ante-natal clinic.

Shipley Church, September 2017

The main event recently was an epic camping trip with Lola II to a beautiful campsite in West Sussex. It was one of the best campsites I've ever been to, mainly because of the facilities. These include covered areas for sitting, eating and washing up (and for cooking if you'd hired one of their tents), delightful composting toilets, open air showers and baths (we didn't try these) but also properly plumbed indoor toilets and showers and a wood stove and sofas in a communal area which was very welcome when the cold and rain arrived one evening.

We were the only campers on Thursday night, although there were a few inhabitants of the fixed cabins and tents. When a single chap arrived on Friday we went over to offer help him put up his tent, and found out that it was his wedding anniversary and he was going to surprise his wife with a couple of nights away from their three-year-old. When we were sitting on the sofa in front of the wood stove we got chatting to another couple of campers who were a nurse and a carpenter, and then another couple wandered in and they had just got engaged. They had put up two tents, and it seems that there are still people in the world who do not share a tent until they are married.

Knepp Wildlife, September 2017

This was a great deal more interaction than is usual at a campsite, and enhanced the experience no end. But it wasn't all chat - we went for a long walk and saw a herd of deer, we ate a really good meal at the local pub, had a couple of similarly good meals in the tent, and went to Worthing Food Festival which is about a quarter of the size of Leamington's. But there were some good pastries and pies and we made the most of the opportunity. They also had some activities, and while we were there an American guy was overseeing children constructing structures out of wine gums and cocktail sticks, which were then tested to see how many bags of sugar they could support. His commentary was highly amusing, including a section where he forced his audience to pronounce various words as Americans do: To-MAY-to! YOH-gurt! Say it! YOH-gurt!

Lola II was due to blow the ram's horn ('shofar') at mum's synagogue where she has a regular annual booking, and following a bit of a disaster one year when she didn't practise in advance, she had brought the shofar with her. Back in the tent I took a photo of her in mis-matched pyjamas with a tea towel for a prayer shawl and a sock on her head and put it on Facebook for a laugh, expecting it to attract no attention whatever, as is usual for my posts. Over the next few days I had more Facebook 'Likes' for this appalling spectacle than for anything I've posted before. Lola's horror was most entertaining (for me) as she writhed in embarrassment at each new visitor.

On the way home we stopped at Watts Gallery and Artists' Village in Surrey, where George Frederic Watts and his wife Mary set up home and did their art - painting and sculpture (him) and pottery (her). I'm not great with art galleries, but I really liked this one. We also went up the road to the chapel that they built and saw his grave as well as that of the Huxley family - one of the gallery staff told us that the actor Patricia Hayes was also buried there.

The weather was very variable - clear skies full of stars the first night, pouring rain, hot sunshine, just what you'd expect of September in England. That was the last camping trip of the year, I think.

Watts Gallery, September 2017

I did this, then I did that

Krakow Botanical Gardens, July 2016

This is getting more like a diary than a blog - a succession of things that seem to fill my life sufficiently so that I am rarely bored and mostly have too much on my plate. Literally and metaphorically. The weight loss plan is not going brilliantly, despite me having completely stopped buying bars of chocolate. Bother.

Topic 1: Health - physical and metaphysical

I have had an ultrasound of my shoulder which identified some inflammation and degenerative changes typical in a person of my age. This was followed by a consultation with a specialist physiotherapist who diagnosed slow onset frozen shoulder. He offered a steroid injection to address the pain temporarily, which I declined because the pain doesn't bother me that much. I just feel resentful that my body is finally rebelling and giving me some trouble, just to remind me that I'm not as young as I was. With time, the shoulder should get better, but I doubt that I'll get any less grumpy about being as old as I am. This is as good as it gets.

On the other hand, I have started looking forward to the meditation and Buddhism group. I started with a four-session introductory course in April, then carried on attending over the summer, and now they are holding another introductory course and it feels very much like school when the new kids arrive and you're in the second year and not the youngest and littlest any more. I can very nearly remember everyone's name, although if they sling in a multi-syllable Sanskrit name I forget it in less than 2 hours. I spent one of my days off with the Buddhists I know of old, and pumped them mercilessly for information, and am still processing the results to decide whether to just stick with the meditation and mindfulness practice or to dip my toe further into the metaphorical Buddhist pond.

Topic 2: Food and drink

I have already mentioned the chocolate reduction plan, and I think I have reached the stage of acceptance in the continuum of despair-anger-denial-acceptance that I was once taught follows a trauma. Back when I was taught about this, the examples used were having your car stolen and sight loss, but it seems to apply to no end of situations including, it seems, breaking a serious chocolate habit.

I have continued my tour of Leamington Lunches on my days off - there are more restaurants than I have days off in a year, but I'm trying to pick those who charge less than £10 for lunch. There are still plenty to go. This Tuesday's was Cuban - I had a stew involving peppers, sweet potato and chickpeas and some amazing yellow bread that appeared to have been fried.

Other eating and drinking highlights in the recent past included a night out with work colleagues starting with drinks at Pub Next Door and progressing to a very fine Turkish/Eastern Mediterranean restaurant in town. It was such a success that those present immediately formed a Dining Club and set a date for the next outing. There was also my second Whisky Tasting evening with Mr M's whisky collection and matched food. I am very lucky to have been invited on two separate occasions, and there may even be a Whisky Tasting On Tour event in Leamington at some point. I discovered that I am starting to like whisky. It's always worth persisting with these things.

On the same trip to London there were two more food-related experiences. The first was the local international grocer where this time I picked two random tins of spinach-based and aubergine-based slop (I've already tried the spinach-based one topped with an egg - yum). The second was a Japanese restaurant in Notting Hill, where five of us ate until we burst for only £15 a head. Delicious and good value.

Topic 3: Housing and the LTRP

Not much progress to report on the LTRP, although the architect has now surveyed and drawn up plans of the ground floor in anticipation of our next meeting, in which we will define the alterations. These are primarily to allow more light into the kitchen and replace the stairs, but also to extend the kitchen a little to provide a utility/boot room. Olf the builder who worked on the garage finally came round to accept payment (I had to chase several times!) and he may be able to lead on the kitchen works whenever that time may come.

I'm still gradually emptying the loft (books and motorbike parts in the last fortnight) so that Ilf the handyman can sort out the electric lights in the upstairs rooms. In the meantime Mr M and Lola II stole Ilf and he decorated large parts of their house. Now that I've been to see it, the work done looks absolutely lovely. Ilf then came round and gave me a bunch of flowers to thank me for referring the job to him.

Topic 4: Financial matters

• I researched and bought car insurance A WEEK BEFORE IT WAS DUE. I am so proud of this.
• I bought fancy carbon fibre walking poles for my holiday A MONTH IN ADVANCE. [Can you see a theme developing?]
• I joined a team of four Young People and we won a tenner each on the pub quiz, with a score of 76 out of 80. I probably contributed no more than 4 answers out of 76, but I like to think that without my 4 we would have come second.
• The posh butcher in town sharpened three of my knives for free. Unfortunately they only gave me two of them back, but produced the third when I went back to enquire. Still, I now have three sharp knives, which is lovely.
• I have listed quite a few random items on ebay, one of which has sold! I am not optimistic about any of the others. So after postage and commission I am £1.43 in profit. Now I'm ready to start on the postal mechanisation material. Hang on to your hats for literally pennies of profit.
• With the help of Mr M I have switched my current account and opened another three accounts including transfers between them in order to maximise interest rates. Now every time I am faced with paying for something I have to think for five minutes about which card to use depending on whether I qualify for cashback or Clubcard points or a foot massage or puppies/kittens. However, not only is this a great problem to have, I am about to spend a whole load of money on my kitchen, so maybe it won't be a problem for long.

Topic 5: Work

I have had my first abysmal failure with a patient whom I will not see again (nor would the patient want to see me). Much reflection and 'what could I have done differently' but it's someone who's been within the service for years and years and nobody else has done much better. Apart from that, I have delivered three DESMOND courses for Type 2 patients in the last month and am looking forward to not delivering any more until December. I do enjoy it though, seeing how much people learn.

Food and paint

Leamington Food & Drink Festival, September 2016

Another stupendous weekend in the company of Lola II and Mr M, this time at the Leamington Spa Food and Drink Festival 2016. Before they arrived I squeezed in an attendance at Parkrun, deciding not to actually run because of the time it would take out of my schedule (not so much the run but the cleaning up afterwards). My volunteer role was Finish Token Assistant, where I hand the finish tokens to someone else who hands the finish tokens to the runners. Unlike the Token Finnish Assistant who is an unnecessary Scandinavian helper. So that's clear.

Unfortunately Saturday was wet and a bit miserable, but it did mean that there weren't too many people clustered around the Food Festival stalls in the quest for samples. I think we overdid the samples, as usual, mixing sausage with cake with cheese with fancy oil and vinegar with syrup pudding with hot chilli sauce. It all ends up in the same place, but makes for a fairly odd gastric experience. I lunched on an overpriced pancake with maple syrup, which collected in the bottom of the cone and dripped down my coat sleeve. Call me Lola Sticky Hand (and that's not a hand that's like a stick).

Knowing that we would return to the Festival the following day, we had other jobs to do on Saturday. Lola II and Mr M are in the midst of renovation - not to the extent of the LTRP, but they have stolen Ilf who is spending a couple of weeks actually staying in their house while he decorates and fixes various household essentials. Luckily Ilf lives near me and does not have to stay in my house when he works on Lola Towers. Unlike Lola II and Mr M I am not good with visitors, let alone visitors whom I do not know well.

Anyway, there has been much discussion and negotiation about paint colours, and in order to try and resolve the impasse about their choice for their hall and stairs we each chose 2 tester colours from the local Dulux trade shop using vouchers from the Food & Drink Festival Little Book of Vouchers. Because of the difficulty in reaching a decision, I volunteered as intermediary and painted each of the colours plus a few more I had hanging around on lining paper, numbered the samples and Lola II and Mr M rated their choices. Nobody was more surprised than they were that they both chose the same colour as their top choice!

On Sunday we paid a quick visit to a friend of Ilf's to pick up some necessary paint for him, and then back to the Food & Drink Festival. This time we were a bit less enthusiastic with the samples, leaving room for some real food. I had the allium-free vegan option (salad, felafel, houmous, salsa) while Lola II tried hard to resist but went for the most delicious allium-tainted samosa and dip. Mr M met a friend and went round with her so I didn't see his choices. And I'm blaming my week-long self-imposed chocolate restriction, but I bought a huge jar of sponge, chocolate and ganache confection. In my defence I did share it, and even made it last until Tuesday.

Again we had other jobs to do, and Lola II was after some shoes. The little book of vouchers included 20% off at a local shoe shop, and both I and the shop assistant were 'entertained' for some considerable time by Lola II's attempt to buy shoes. The assistant even tried to sell me some shoes, and persisted despite my clear indication that if he brings me any to try on I may try them on but I'm not going to buy them. Lola II gave him much more to do with different socks, styles and sizes, but achieved her goal in the end. I took a photo of the scene of devastation.

Other notable events of the weekend: the cherry chocolate tart (bad news for the self-imposed chocolate restriction), the disappointing fruity buns, the charcoal cheese, the pork pie and the wood pigeon breasts which are now in the freezer. I hope that the pigeon will be less hassle to cook than the hare that I bought from the same stall two years ago.

Tuesday

Harrogate, July 2015

Tuesday is my 'day off'. Except some Tuesdays it doesn't feel like a day off at all.

08.30 Wake up nice and late - it is my day off after all. Leisurely breakfast - almost too leisurely because I nearly didn't leave myself enough to time to get to my first appointment of the day.

09.40 Dentist. Two weeks ago the hygienist and dentist recommended longer sessions three times a year for the hygienist, and because they are so convincing and because I don't want all my teeth to fall out I agreed. This brief appointment was because the dentist found a suspicious patch on my tongue and wanted to check it out two weeks later. All is well.

09.50 My favourite greengrocer's shop. Buy fruit: satsumas, russet apples (you don't see them very often nowadays) and ridiculously large sharon fruits that are slightly past their best.

10.10 Bank #1. Mum and dad have now registered their Lasting Power of Attorney for financial affairs, and I have to try and set myself up as their attorney within the banking system. There is nobody at the desk where staff loiter near the door so I take the opportunity to get the cashier to update my bank book from a little-used account and ask her for help with the LPoA business. She is useless, so I decide not to talk to her about updating the little-used account to a more modern one that pays a modicum of interest. I phone mum to get more details about what she was told we should do in the bank to get this sorted.

10.30 I go home again because I realise that I might do better with the official documents about my status as attorney. Pick up official documents and go back to town.

10.45 Bank #2. I don't have an account at this bank, but I am lucky because I find someone who a) knows what a LPoA actually is and b) is happy to refer me to the person who knows how to deal with the bank systems. She photocopies merrily for about 10 minutes before asking which branch the LPoA will be registered at. I phone mum for a second time. The bank lady carries on photocopying and says she can't fax the documents because of confidentiality, but she will post them to the branch. We hope for the best.

11.15 Back to Bank #1. This time, someone is staffing the desk near the door and has heard of a LPoA, but the person I need to speak to is busy. She seems to have a clue, so we agree which modern account paying a modicum of interest will replace my little-used account. Then I am handed over and my new friend types and clicks for about 20 minutes without stopping (I kid you not). I am asked periodically for various items of personal data (mum's date of birth, postcode etc.) and then it's over, and I am an attorney with Bank #1. I phone mum again to let her know of my outstanding performance and incredible success, but she wisely has gone out.

11.40 I go home because I realise that I have left my glasses there. Pick up glasses and go back to town.

12.00 Optician. I am here for a contact lens and sight test. We agree that it's better wearing contact lenses than glasses when running, especially in the rain. After the usual tests I am reassured that my distance and near sight are fine with both contact lenses and glasses, but then she makes me read the super small letters anyway, seemingly for fun. I humour her and get them all right, so that's good. No changes to prescription. I pick up a new batch of contact lenses.

12.40 On my lovely Tuesdays not at work I am treating myself to lunch at various different Leamington cafes and restaurants. Today I have chosen Elma, which is an establishment serving broadly East Mediterranean food in a location which has changed hands more than the average number of times recently, suggesting one of those spots that is a little bit doomed from the start. I choose the Express Lunch which is a delicious chicken stew with rice and a mint tea. I am alone in the restaurant from start to finish. Not a good sign.

14.00 I have been planning meals for the rest of the week and realise that I really need some ingredients from the supermarket rather than just the greengrocer, so it's a trip to Sainsburys.

15.00 Get back, put everything away and make an enormous batch of minestrone soup, inspired by the rind of Parmesan that was lurking in the fridge along with an elderly salami. Consider going out to town again to post passport that needs renewing (unable to do this sooner because passport is needed for identity checks relating to LPoA) but decide I've been into town enough today.

16.00 Lady arrives to give me a proper sports massage in the comfort of my own home. During massage discuss classical music and early 80's rock music, whether I can be bothered to run any other 10k races, how boring it must be to train for a marathon, where to buy running shoes and what sort to get, express surprise at extent of knotted muscles in shoulders, agree that it's better wearing contact lenses than glasses when running especially in the rain, suggest she comes to Monday night badminton to give massage tasters in order to rustle up business.

16.30 Mobile phone rings during massage. Ignore it.

17.00 Shower to remove massage oil. Feel about 2 inches taller for approx 30 minutes before normal slumped posture kicks in again. Decant minestrone into pots for the freezer and do the washing up. Turn on the computer for the first time today and delete all the spam. Write encouraging email to other joint attorneys (Lola II and Sister D) about how dealing with the banks went. Browse blogs and Facebook.

17.45 Remember to listen to the message on my phone, which is from the optician pointing out that while I paid for my contact lens check (I get my sight test for free) I neglected to pay for the contact lenses and can I please give them a call. Too late, they're closed now.

18.30 Jump into car and head off to local university for buffet followed by Diabetes Education Club. I am cornered by one of the team who asks if I am interested in teaching Healthcare Assistants and Practice Nurses on a new one-day course they are developing to help prevent diabetes. I say yes even though I don't really understand what I'm supposed to talk about and my job doesn't currently cover diabetes prevention. I can always sort it out later when she sends more details.

19.15 Diabetes Education Club is all about the paediatric service delivered within the Trust. I was in two minds about attending because I don't do paediatric diabetes, but I thought it would be interesting and I was right. The secondary care paediatric service has about 200 patients, of whom 97.5% have Type 1 diabetes, and 25% use insulin pumps. Among various other statistics and guidelines I picked out the fact that there is no robust evidence in favour of structured education, although it is not clear whether evidence exists that does not support such education or whether there is an absence of evidence either way. It was similarly stated that there is no robust evidence for weight loss and dietary advice for paediatric Type 2's. We can be fairly certain that this indicates an absence of trials, probably because numbers are still so few. I wanted to hear a bit about guidelines for transition between paediatric and adult services, but guidelines covering Transition issues are apparently going to be published separately and cover all chronic health conditions, which I suppose makes sense.

21.00 Home again. Think about doing a couple of the jobs on my enormous list of things that could be done on Tuesdays while I'm not at work. Have a half-hearted bash at a couple of them before going to bed to read, and then listen to some of the amazing podcasts that are out there on the BBC iPlayer - John Finnemore's Double Acts stands out at the moment, along with the whole back catalogue of Soul Music and The Infinite Monkey Cage, plus I've just discovered Adam Buxton is podcasting again, and there's a 'companion' podcast to This American Life called Israel Story.

22.30 Sleep. Another 'day off' is over.

I'm aware that certain readers are in awe of the amount I can get done in a day. Just to reassure you: on other Tuesdays I do absolutely bugger all.

Recent events

Les Deux Alpes, March 2014

Having caught up with events from a month or two ago, it's time to return to the more recent past. A quick summary:

• I went to the Food and Drink Festival
• Two tradesmen have provided quotes
• Domestic appliances continue to cause trouble
• The hall is showing signs of water leakage at gutter level
• My mobile phone had a fit in the night
• The Tuesday community diabetes clinics are interesting
• I attended a presentation given by a colleague
• I attended a public meeting and had to do some facilitation
• The second patient education course that I'm delivering has started
• I had to prepare for an upcoming course
• I had a 'trial lesson' in a glider.

The Royal Leamington Spa Food and Drink Festival was lovely, the weather was fine and warm and reports in the paper suggest there were 25,000 visitors. I can believe it; there were certainly crowds. I bought some lime pickle and chose a South African lamb curry for lunch on Saturday, and Caribbean jerk chicken with rice and peas on Sunday.

Tradesman report: The fourth carpenter I contacted actually came to see the airing cupboard, and has even followed up with a quote. I would ideally like to get a second opinion, which means finding a fifth carpenter. I am not optimistic, but I have another two phone numbers. The electrician has provided a quote for replacing the fuse box; the oven is working well on its fan setting after its repair, but the grill has now stopped working - I will do some research before calling in a repairman this time. And there is staining on the newly painted hall walls that suggest the guttering or leading might be leaking - this is a job for Alf. Lots to do in the house, as always. I won't even mention the garden, it is too distressing.

We had a disturbed night when, for no apparent reason, my mobile phone started to reboot itself over and over again at about 3 a.m. The battery is built in and can't be removed, so I took the phone downstairs and attempted to put the SIM card into a different phone. What with being half asleep I managed to lose the SIM completely, leaving me phoneless. Then there was the faff of having to find an alternative method of setting the morning alarm, and finding a way to take the phone into a shop to sort it out. It turns out that EE had made a mess of an automatic software update, so I met several other people in the shop with the same problem. It's fine now, and only cost a few hours sleep and a trip into town.

The main work news concerns the reason that I have now been employed on Tuesdays - the Clinical Commissioning Group in the area, which is responsible for making sure that all health services are available as necessary, has stumped up some money in order to try and address the backlog of patients waiting for their structured education on Type 2 Diabetes (called DESMOND). I will be trained to deliver this training next week, and have received the pack which requires me to observe a course before I do the training myself. There are none in the area to observe in the time available, so they have sent me three DVDs to watch, and some academic papers to read as well as some written homework.

My Tuesdays are now planned out until December, with community clinics to cover for a colleague who is on holiday and then to allow her to do some home visits, and then four DESMOND courses have been scheduled. The community clinics are very similar to my hospital ones, but there are a few different options around the edges for referral to local activity programmes and weight management groups. The biggest challenges were getting me physical access to the building, and electronic access to the computer systems. I still don't have a code to allow me to print, but when I do I will have access to the biggest fanciest printer/copier in the world.

My colleague's presentation was about the lower carbohydrate diets that we are facilitating for people with diabetes who want to lose weight, and she was very good. The public meeting was the first of two where Diabetes UK and the Clinical Commissioning Group have invited people with diabetes to respond to proposals for change to their services. There are various eminent personages who introduce themselves, then facilitated groups to provide the attendees' views about what they like and don't like about diabetes services, and then a panel of experts to answer specific questions. This time I was asked to facilitate the discussion on one table; next time I am on the panel of experts. It will be daunting. The first question to the panel this time was about the quality of hospital food, and there are no easy answers to that one.

The second course for people with Type 1 Diabetes has gone quite well. The team is very relaxed about my contribution, but I feel that I need a bit more rigour in my approach. This may be achieved by going on the DESMOND course - I have watched the DVDs, all six hours of them, and done my homework too. I believe that I will need to do lesson plans, and peer review, and will have to prove that I am competent before being let loose on real people. I'm hoping to follow the same process to improve my delivery of the the Type 1 education, but we'll see.

You'll have to wait for the account of my flight in the glider, and it may be a while. Next week is packed with extra-curricular events including the trip to London for the DESMOND training.

At last

Les Deux Alpes, March 2014

I hope it's worth the wait, but just imagine my situation, each day knowing that there is no blog post waiting to be published. I have sinned, it's been a long month since my last confession. There has been a lot going on. I don't think there's ever been such a long gap between posts.

The last time I wrote was the week before my holiday. I went to the Snowdome to practise (what a good idea that was), dad went into hospital for his back operation, I went to work, badminton, the usual. Then it was off to France skiing for a week, home again and a lot of important admin stuff to catch up with, dad out of hospital, back to work, a Diabetes UK meeting. Last weekend was even more hectic: a friend over from Germany for a brief stay in order to sign paperwork so he could sell his house, and... The Hen Weekend.

Holiday

The holiday was great. It was a good group, almost everyone was congenial, and my biggest problems were a) the people who didn't look like their names, and b) breaking away to spend time on my own without appearing anti-social. In the end, I had to explain and apologise to the people who didn't look like their names because I kept calling them by the different names that I had conjured out of nowhere. I just resigned myself to appearing anti-social.

A vast amount of snow fell on our arrival day/night, which is heaven for experienced and skilful skiers. Since the instructor was an experienced and skilful skier, she took the group up where the snow was deep on our very first morning, when everyone was just getting the hang of skiing again after a long break. We were not experienced or skilful, and it was carnage. But nobody was hurt, and the rest of the week was fabulous. I am in two minds about repeating this type of holiday; I think on the whole I would prefer a less organised group and private lessons instead.

Work

The Structured Education sessions have been interesting. I missed week 2 because of skiing, which was a shame because it was the big one from the Dietetic point of view - focus on carb counting, weighing and measuring food. Week 3 involved talking about alcohol and eating out, and the nurses covered exercise. I am looking forward to when I start to lead sessions, which looks as though it won't be until June. Otherwise, consultations remain much the same, and I still find it fascinating to listen to people's stories about their lives, whether positive or negative. And the Diabetes department has already arranged its Christmas party.

Diabetes UK is dominating my thoughts at the moment, as I'm preparing my 30-minute talk for the weekend and attending another of their weird local meetings. My name is on the programme for Saturday's Diabetes Awareness Day, and at the meeting still nobody greets me with any glimmer of recognition. I did gain some understanding of the physiology of weight gain due to injecting insulin peripherally rather than having it released by the pancreas, so that was good. I left before the raffle. I really think I might not go to any more meetings.

Hens

Lola II decided to have a relatively low key hen weekend with just two of her friends and me. I was in charge of entertainments, although we agreed the basic agenda between us. Lola II put in some specific requests: Yorkshire puddings; a steamed chocolate and apricot pudding; sleeping in a tent; no veils, strippers or other tacky accoutrements of the vile and tasteless hen parties. With no time for blogging, I spent my weekday evenings making stew and puddings and cooking veg as well as preparing a guided tour of the delights of Leamington Spa based on the Discovering Britain website. Mr A put up the tent, which was christened the Hen House.

It went very well - we walked the walk, talked the talk, placed a bet on the Grand National, watched one of the worst movies I have ever seen (this was a mistake - it was well reviewed and featured quality actors like Terence Stamp and Vanessa Redgrave), ate stew and Yorkshire puddings and chocolate and apricot pudding, Lola II slept in the Hen House, and we went kayaking on the river. The highlight for me was none of these things - it was the revelation that Lola II needs reading glasses! After more than forty years, at last she can experience the interminable nuisance of not being able to see properly. I'm not gloating - I will definitely need bifocals at my next visit to the optician, and I'm thinking of getting reading glasses myself for when I wear contact lenses.

In other news...

The 'Couch to 5k' running programme continues to go well, despite interruption from skiing. I've completed Week 4 and am about to start Week 5 of 9; I have progressed from 60 seconds to 90 seconds to 3 minutes and now to 5 minutes 'running' at a time. I run on the circular path around the park, and this week there were a couple of women chatting and walking in front of me - as an indication of the speed I have achieved, I completely failed to catch up with them. I am concentrating on stamina and technique, I tell myself, I can work on speed later.

Lastly, you should know that the only reason I'm managing to produce this post is because I went to badminton (club #2) and the hall was locked up with nobody there. My loss is your gain on this occasion. I have a journal article to write after the weekend, so there may be another lengthy pause after this...

Ramblings

Munich Stadtmuseum, March 2013

It's been a while, peeps. It feels like I'm always starting with the same line: "It's been busy... I haven't had time..." like Garrison Keillor does when he says "It's been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, Minnesota, my home town" and you know you'll be listening to something ordinary for a few minutes, in the mellow marshmallow voice that could make a shopping list sound interesting.

Anyway, it's been busy, and I haven't had time. Work, more work, and my MSc module is taking up a lot of spare time. Badminton is available two evenings a week now, which is good for my health and should be good for my waistline. Cycling was going well (three days a week and getting up that hill regularly one time out of three) except this week the garage door has broken, so I can't get the bike out at all.

Yesterday I had a flat tyre, which loomed over me all day alongside dark hatred of car mechanics. But in the end there were silver linings to this black cloud: firstly RSB showed considerable enthusiasm in the idea of helping me change the wheel, which turned out to be because he hadn't ever done it before, leading to the second silver lining - he did all the work while I just stood and directed operations. And the third benefit - when I mentioned my predicament, one of the doctors recommended a garage where there were friendly and helpful people, who I hope will not do as much damage to the old and venerable car as the last garage did. (She's still not right even after all the messing around with the brakes.) I left the wheel there and arranged to pick it up today.

When I went back to the garage today, it was the work of a few moments to replace the repaired wheel. It occurred to me that one of the other tyres looked a bit soft, and behold! when they checked it, it was in much the same state as the one that had just been fixed. So the spare wheel is now on a different corner of the car, and I will return to the garage again tomorrow, and with luck that will be all the garage visits for a while. Except that the car's really not right yet, so maybe there will be more.

So that's where some of the time went. Of course much of my time is spent actually doing work, and I had a more than usually successful clinic recently. I managed to work out why one patient had recently started having daily hypos (she was on a reducing dose of steroids) and I was very pleased with that, because it's something I might once have missed. I have also taken over the ante-natal clinic from RSB, so now I see a few women with Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes as well as all those with Gestational Diabetes.

Since attending the third and last training session on Care Planning I have been trying hard to follow through with my resolution to try not to give advice. It seemed to work very well indeed for a patient who wants to lose weight. In the 'not giving advice' endeavour I am inspired by Lola II who does a job in which it is absolutely forbidden to give advice no matter how much you want to, even if you know exactly what everyone should do. I think that would kill me.

Not all my consultations have gone so well. I had to deal with a couple who had been having an immense row immediately before I entered the room, and I'm not sure whether I handled it well or not. Sometimes I feel at the end of a consultation that I haven't contributed anything positive to a person's situation. And the DNAs keep (not) coming, and now that I am more established, I wonder if it was something I said.

I have nearly finished my induction - a recent mandatory training session on CPR was more enjoyable than I expected; I passed the online assessment for Consent procedures, and there's only Manual Handling left to do. I was asked to feed back my thoughts on induction, and I welcomed the opportunity to let off a bit of steam. When the induction process is completed just two weeks from the end of the original nine-month contract, it cannot be considered fit for purpose.

Outside work I am also struggling with time, as I am very behind with home admin because of being away all week. When I get back, Friday night is very much a rest night with Mr A, and then it's usually a trip to the famous veg shop on Saturday, sometimes a supermarket trip as well, house cleaning, laundry, and anything else that's going on. Two weeks ago there was the first Warwickshire Pride festival in the Pump Room Gardens; last weekend Lola II and Mr M visited so we could all go to the Leamington Food and Drink Festival. And I've submitted a job application.

Yes, after more than six months without any sort of vacancies for adult diabetes dietitians (there have been loads of paediatric diabetes vacancies due to a quirk of NHS funding), a job has been advertised, in the same Trust where I worked before but a different site. It is a permanent post - hooray - but only 20 hours a week. After a good deal of vacillation and discussion with Mr A and with previous, current and potential future employers, I decided to apply. And you know how much time that takes (perhaps you don't? It is A Lot Of Time). And there are two other part-time opportunities on the horizon, although they are both in the region where I work now, far from home.

There was also a night out with the Dietitians. Not a big one - we all meet after work, have a very early dinner and then it's all over by about 7pm, which suits me perfectly because I'm starting to feel the pressure of not enough silent time on my own. [Silent time on my own is all that keeps me sane.] I'm having some silent time on my own tonight, because today I have decided that it is more necessary than badminton. This is rare and unusual, but it is the right decision. I maintain my sanity, and you get a long and rambling blog post. We are all winners.

Work and play

Norfolk, July 2011

I seriously cannot wait until I retire, when I will have time and energy by the bucketload and everything will be delightful and sunny and the house will be in perfect condition because we will have sorted it out beautifully. This will obviously not happen, because life is not like that. But I would like to have more time, and I would like to attend to the shortcomings of our 'home-making', and the two are clearly connected, along with our disinclination to spend our limited leisure hours on structural improvements.

In the work arena, the grown-ups in our office (senior Dietitians) were both away on Friday, which meant that when the call came to see a patient in the private hospital, one of the kids had to stand in. So off I went to the fancy shmancy 'ward', which comprised carpeted corridors and bedrooms rather than hard floors and beds separated by curtains. Obviously I will say nothing whatsoever about the patient and the treatment, but I feel slightly embarrassed that for such a large amount of money, the patient received dietetic treatment from a Dietitian with nearly seven whole months' experience.

This has been my first brush with the interesting relationship between private healthcare and the NHS. You certainly get better accommodation by paying for it, but is that all? I suspect that nursing care is also more attentive, but clearly therapy is absolutely no better than NHS, and you get the same doctors with the same time pressures and no better treatments to offer for the money. Investigations may be done without waiting quite so long for your turn on the CT scanner, and you might get your treatment more quickly. But it will be the same treatment, and if there's an emergency you'll be shipped into the NHS Emergency Department quicker than you can say "Find me a trolley and call me a porter".

Outside work, Lola II and Mr M have been visiting, and we had a very successful day on Saturday. Lola II has been converted to the One True Way of the Charity Shop, and found another skirt and pair of trousers, this time in an even smaller size than before. I now have a car charger for my phone, so no more telephone boxes for me on long journeys. Lola II has lost so much weight that even her feet have shrunk, so we ended up buying her shoes from the childrens' department of Clarks, where she had her feet measured in the old-fashioned way where you can choose shoes according to both length and width. The advantage is that shoes are not quite as expensive as in the adult department; the disadvantage is children's shoes tend to be flat rather than with heels.

Then we all went off to the Red Lion in Hunningham to watch a film on the huge inflatable screen followed by camping in the adjacent field, which was all lovely, despite the usual early wake-up call from a nearby small child who doesn't understand that it isn't necessary to shout at 6 a.m. in a campsite. I discovered several things about breakfast in Leamington - the cafe I'd been told about is definitely there, but closed for two weeks in August, and Sainsbury's doesn't have a cafe, just a Starbucks. But we have a 'Frankie and Benny' outlet, and it turns out that they do breakfasts, so that's where we went.

Mr A was away at a wedding (I don't do weddings) so after Lola II and Mr M had departed I had some wonderful free time, which I used in cooking for next weekend's family gathering, going to the cinema, reading books, listening to podcasts, and working in the garden. Each time I tidy up about a quarter of the area, but the other three quarters seem to gain on me quicker than I can deal with them. Sadly no badminton tonight because of the bank holiday, and it's back to normal and to work tomorrow.

Olympic torch relay

Can you see the Torch?

It's proving impossible to find enough time nowadays to blog as often as I'd like. Last weekend, instead of sitting inside mucking about on the computer like I usually do, we decided it was time to do something constructive around the house. Then there is the shopping and laundry and cooking and cleaning and washing up that I can't do during the week any more, and the Olympic torch went through Leamington town centre last Sunday. While I'm not particularly interested in the Olympic torch relay itself, I do like to see what's going on, so we walked into town. All the activities advertised in the Pump Room Gardens had packed up and gone except for a few lone stalls, but there were lots of people lining the torch route.

There it is!

What then happened went roughly like this:

• policemen
• motorbikes
• motorbikes
• big bus advertising something red that I couldn't quite see
• motorbikes
• a green bus advertising Lloyds TSB bank
• an open top bus with some dancers on top and someone saying something into a microphone that I couldn't hear
• a bus with blacked-out windows driven by a grumpy looking driver
• motorbikes
• a bus advertising Coca-Cola with some more dancers on top and another inaudible microphone
• motorbikes
• more motorbikes
• some healthy-looking runners in grey outfits
• some cyclists
• someone on pogo stick legs who could bounce really high (I want some of those)
• motorbikes
• a big truck that turned out to be holding the BBC Torchcam
• Olympic flame
• runners in grey outfits
• motorbikes
• cyclists in costumes getting caught up in the dispersing crowds.

The whole spectacle took about 15 minutes to go past, with the actual torch occupying about 15 seconds, of which I managed a brief glimpse. Verdict: underwhelming. Unless you are particularly keen on police motorcycles. Or jumping stilts (£160. I just looked them up).

News from the garden: Mr A replaced one of the posts holding up the veranda while I tried to combat the annual patio weeds and deal with all the other overgrown plants. Sad to say, our ceanothus is a shadow of its former self following the frost damage, and although it had some new leaves and a few flowers, it isn't looking too good at the moment. The wisteria, on the other hand, is making a bid to take over the whole end bed - next year the whole garden, then the world, I imagine. I attempted to teach it some manners last weekend, and we'll see who is the winner. This weekend it is just too wet for gardening, and I need to get some admin done.

Before and after

 Mr A has also demonstrated some unashamed size prejudice with his birdwatching activity. He so much prefers our sparrows, robins and blackbirds compared to the magpies and pigeons that he has cut down the struts holding up the roof of our bird table to prevent the larger birds getting at the food. We are now frequently entertained by the double-decker effect of a small bird scoffing away on the table while a larger bird struts up and down on the roof looking over the edge but not managing to get in. He can't stop them picking up the seed that spills onto the grass below, so they aren't totally excluded.

I will try not to leave such a long pause between posts in future, but I can't promise anything. This full time job situation is so inconvenient sometimes...

I still love Leamington Spa

I really do love Leamington Spa

A quick update on Leamington Spa, where it has been raining a lot recently.

Our garden

Is overflowing with goodness due to the recent rain. Mr A did mow the lawn once, and has been keeping the bird table topped up, but weeds are legion. The tulips always look beautiful as the buds mature, but the rain did what it always does: as soon as the buds open the blowsy flowers are destroyed, petals bend back and fall off and they look a mess. Mr A says they looked nice for quite some time, but I must have missed it. Bluebells are out, though the wisteria is still in bud, unlike in London last time I was there a month ago: there, the wisteria was well into flower. Weeds are flowering well, as always.

Leamington Spa

That previous blog post about the town is still pretty accurate, although there are a few amendments:

4. The skateboard ramp has been removed from the park because it was deemed unsafe. When our local Councillor came round recently to talk about expanding the bowling facility, Mr A took him to task about when skateboarding facilities might be replaced. Sports for the middle class wealthy - what about the yoof?

5. Pubs: I was going to add the Somerville Arms because it was really nice when we went there by chance one time, but the second time we went, last Sunday, it was closed. We went round the corner to the Cask and Bottle instead, which was just as nice, and more importantly, open. Although there was football on a number of screens, the commentary was in Italian (who knows why) so it wasn't too intrusive.

7. Music venues: The Assembly. Great place. Wish we went there more too, but I'm now holding back because Mr A's knees don't hold up to dancing like they used to.

11. The sushi bar came and went, and there's now a noodle restaurant there called Wofon that I have been to so many times that they have given me a 20% off loyalty card that lasts to the end of June. There's also a big banner advertising Wagamama coming soon round the corner, but the hoarding has been there for weeks and no sign of an opening date. If Wofon hadn't opened I'd be gagging for a bit of Wagamama, but I'll still be going to Wofon even when Wagamama opens.

15. The town's restaurants have changed: Wofon as above, Eleven is still the place for a treat, and Casa Valle has been replaced by Kayal which is South Indian rather than Italian but just as good. We haven't been to any of the others for ages due to austerity measures.

Our house

Not much has changed, although a significant event has been the hanging of the mirror and the installation of the light fitting in the shower room. I am somewhat ashamed to admit that I eventually asked Mr A if he would do it for me. While I am certain I could have done it alone had I been a single person, it was a much more enjoyable experience providing Lola-style assistance to Mr A. I hate DIY with a passion, except for really simple straightforward things like painting, and even that didn't go without a hitch last time.

The pub

Just as good as ever, although we don't eat there much any more because of the lack of vegetable accompaniments to the relentlessly meat-and-carbohydrate nature of the food options. I tentatively asked Smurf if he would be interested in some constructive criticism of the menu, but he wasn't really interested, after all, his way is working fine. The beer is as good as ever, though, and the atmosphere always welcoming.