The beginning of the end

June 2021

Student Lola Life ended in 2012 with the End of the Beginning, as I transitioned from a student to a qualified Dietitian with a real job. Dietitian Lola Life started on the same day, and is now ending with the last day of my job as a Dietitian. 

In my diabetes workplace we had a celebratory lunch last week, and this evening I met my Dietitian colleagues for a pint and a pizza. We ordered our pizzas in the pub, only to be told that due to unforeseen circumstances there weren't any pizzas, but we could order our own for delivery. Having tried unsuccessfully to do that (no deliveries at the moment) we decamped to order in person and sit in an actual working restaurant - third time lucky. It was a lovely evening.

I'm not retiring as there is plenty for me still to do, paid and unpaid, but a new look for the blog is called for to mark this momentous event, not least in order to introduce a slightly larger font size. I hope you'll stick around - my new home is Lolatastic!

Getting paid and getting fit

Newbold Comyn, February 2021

Two more of my vaccination shifts were cancelled, and I wondered whether all our customers have had their second jab so the clinic isn't needed any more. But I looked at the online calendar of available shifts and signed up to one that hadn't been cancelled, so we'll see whether that goes ahead. If it does, maybe I'll get a feel for whether I'll be needed in future.

One of the reasons for finding out is because... Big Announcement... I'm leaving the diabetes job. In just two more weeks, I'll be fully unemployed, apart from vaccinating and Mr MXF and helping mum and dad and the LTRP and everything I'm doing for the Buddhists. Leaving the substantive post but carrying on vaccinating has highlighted some 'interesting' aspects of NHS bureaucracy. 

The main thing is that I haven't yet been paid for vaccinating. Because my first shift was right at the end of February I expected the time to be added on to March, so I wasn't altogether surprised when it didn't appear in my payslip at the end of March. But when there was nothing in my April payslip either, I telephoned a nice lady in the payroll department. She checked it out, and agreed that yes, I hadn't been paid, and one reason was that a significant form had not been completed. She sent it to me, I completed it, and sent it back. But then there was another problem - a 'job' had not been created against which I could be paid, and I was directed to the 'Temporary Staff Services' department which is responsible for this.

Another nice lady in the TSS dept took my details and told me that her systems showed that I had been paid and I should check with payroll. When I recited the form of words that I had been given by the payroll lady she checked again, and this time agreed that I needed a job to be created, and sent me another form, which I duly signed and sent back. Then she sent me a different copy of the same form, and then a third version, and encouraged me to give her a call, which I did. No answer. I emailed back and was asked for my mobile number, which I gave with the proviso that I couldn't answer until a later time because of having to talk to patients. At the end of the clinic I saw that I'd had two missed calls during the time I'd given as being unavailable.

Anyway, I finally got hold of someone who explained what all the versions of the form meant, and I signed the one that I think I was supposed to sign and sent that one back. I was told that it might be too late to catch payroll for the end of May, so I might be looking forward to a bumper month in June. And if vaccination is ending, that might be the last of it.

My physical fitness is probably the worst it's been in my adult life. The knee is feeling much better but the hip is still playing up, and I'm certain it's because I'm not moving about enough. I haven't done any badminton for over a year, and I had to stop running in the autumn because of the knee problem, so apart from a bit of walking about once a week I've been doing nothing. So when my friend suggested we go and bat a shuttlecock about in the park I jumped at the chance, and while it couldn't be described as badminton because it was so windy (we were lucky if we could manage a rally lasting three shots) it was nice to feel I'd moved about a bit. We only played for an hour or so but I definitely felt it the next day, which is a good sign, especially as the hip felt so much better.

The same friend also recommended an online yoga class, which I finally tried this week. I could manage about half of the moves, and after an hour I was exhausted. I've never done yoga before but I quite liked it, and there's certainly a lot of scope for improvement.

In other badminton news, we had a message from the school where my Monday club used to play, saying that they were increasing their health and safety measures and before we would be allowed back we would have to show them our risk assessment, our health and safety policy, and evidence of our first aider's training. We wrote back saying that we are a bunch of friends playing badminton and we don't have any of these. I'm still doing the Buddhist class on Mondays so it doesn't affect me at the moment, but if the school where I used to play on Thursday is the same then it's not looking good for badminton.

Nurse Rosenberg

Here we are at the end of February, and I feel pretty good about how the month has gone, despite the physiotherapy exercises having done very little to improve the knee situation. Other things have been very helpful in lifting my mood, including Zooming with at least four different groups of friends, walking with another friend and his dog, and some pretty inspirational online talks.

I have completed my first shift as a Covid-19 vaccinator. It started with me going to the location on the first floor of the hospital where the e-roster system indicated I would be working, to find the door locked and everything inside looking dark. So I returned to the Portakabin in the car park, only to find that locked too, but with someone waiting outside who let me into the secret of access to the first floor ward (knock hard on the door). So I went up there again and managed to get in, only to be told that I was actually going to be working in the Portakabin. A good start.

There were about ten of us working there as vaccinators plus about four doing reception and admin on my shift, which ran from 7.30am to 2pm. Reception and admin are about checking that people are who they say they are and are entitled to receive the vaccine, answering basic questions about the process, enabling them to avoid being charged for parking, supervising them for the 15 minutes they must wait afterwards in case of adverse reaction, and setting a date for the second dose.

There are three different roles for which I needed to be supervised and signed off. One is going through the protocol and ticking the boxes on the paperwork to establish entitlement to the vaccine and any contra-indications to be taken into account - for example, people with clotting and bleeding disorders are not necessarily disqualified but vaccinators need to be aware. The second is the process of diluting the vaccine and drawing it up into syringes for administration, and the third is checking paperwork before sticking the needle in. 

The paperwork role is pretty straightforward, the main skill being remembering to ask all the questions and providing the necessary information - it takes two weeks for the first dose to reach full effect, you can still catch Covid, you need to carry on taking all precautions. Reconstituting the vaccine is fiddly. There are many, many steps - drawing up saline, mixing with the vaccine in a particular way, then getting six doses out of one vial, and timing everything to make sure no doses are wasted. When I did the first part of my training a month ago we were only being asked to get five doses out of a vial, which is obviously much easier. I got the hang of it with a bit of practice.

Sticking needles into arms was obviously the most nerve racking for someone who has always been pleased that being a Dietitian does not require you to touch people at all, and certainly never expected to be performing this role! The supervisor was really good and took things just at the right rate, and my first victim was very calm - in fact, they all were, even the one who said she sometimes went a bit funny with needles. I did get some strange flashbacks later in the evening of needles going into arms, but nothing traumatic.

The most interesting experience came when one of my victims was sitting ready to be injected, and I was running through the information he'd provided on the form. In the place where you state your role in order to ensure that you qualify for our clinic (which is for health service and associated roles only) he had written 'Transport'. When I asked what sort of transport, he said 'Uber'. So I went off to fetch the supervising nurse.

I'd been warned that the taxi drivers of the area had found out how to play the system and were presenting themselves at the clinic despite not being entitled to a vaccine. This chap had got through the reception and the paperwork stage, where I would have thought his entitlement would have been challenged, and nearly got his jab. He was turned away unvaccinated. But it does expose the weakness of a fairly loosely defined protocol operated by well-meaning health workers who are reluctant to deal with conflict. Much easier just to let people get away with it than challenge their entitlement.

This decision was made more difficult because it was not very busy in the clinic that day. We are reaching the end of the wave of first doses, and second doses are about to become available at which point it will turn busy again. We only have a certain allocation of vaccines, so it's important not to give too many first doses otherwise we will run out of second doses - hence the criteria for entitlement. I was lucky to do my first shift when I did, because it would have been much more stressful if lines of people were forming outside and there was pressure to operate quickly. As it was I had time to practise and get things right in my own way. I've now booked a day a week for the next six weeks and two days on the weeks when I'm on leave from my main job.

The latest 'road map' out of lockdown has made me feel slightly better because of having an idea of how long things will take to change, and at the same time makes me feel slightly worse because of having an idea of how long things will take to change. There is a risk of raising hopes and expectations only to be disappointed. So I'm still trying hard to take it a day at a time, finding ways to tame my increasingly wild hair, and taking pleasure in music, in visiting mum and dad, in walking, in Zooming with friends, and in films. It's hard to remember what it was like to play badminton.

The wet room

Flfs 2 and 1

This is turning out to be a classic example of the Lola Towers Renovation Project genre. You open the lid on a bit of house that hasn't been touched for 20 years or more, and the job turns into something a whole lot bigger than expected.

I had an inkling that all was not well in the corner of the house where the shower room is. My idea was to replace the shower and all the tiling on the walls and floor and create a wet room. When I estimated the job budget in order to find a contractor, the firm that got the job told me they expected it to be less than I'd suggested. At the end of the first day's work Flf admitted that I might have been nearer the mark.

Flfs 1 and 2 arrived in the morning to start ripping out the contents of the shower room, and in no time the toilet and sink were out in the hall and nothing remained of the shower enclosure. However, at the base of the wall the bricks had turned to sand. Wet sand. And when Flf had chipped off all the tiles and some of the render, there was quite a lot more brick missing.

Just the previous day I had arranged a visit from Dlf, a damp expert, who turned out to live in the next road. He had come up with a plan to treat another separate patch of damp on the same wall in the porch, so I phoned the company to see if he would be available to drop in and see this extra bit of work, which he did, and agreed to include it in the quote. Which was pretty enormous.

Flf 2 continued the work of destruction: the wall tiles disappeared, then the floor tiles too. When it came to ripping out the shower, Flf 1 conveyed the bad news that the electrical supply was wholly inadequate and a new cable would need to be run from the fuse box. He showed me where the current cable showed signs of heat damage, and didn't say what he was probably thinking about fire and electrocution. Meanwhile, the other Flf had been pondering the pattern of the damp and traced it back to a possible cause on the outside of the wall. There was discussion, sucking of teeth, poking of fingers into gaps between crumbling bricks, and a plan was devised for the following day, given that the main project is held up until the damp issue is addressed.

[While all this was going on, I had a Zoom call with Mr MXF to try and establish what I might be doing as part of the employment Revelation. There were many complex notions which I had to grapple with, and it was not helped by being called away two or three times to have a look at the latest finding in the ex-shower room. I got to grips with the task a little better in the evening, and although I understand only about a quarter of the work that Mr MXF has scoped out for me, I have a good feeling.]

Next day the electrician turned up to have a look at the electrical issues: extractor fan, shaver point and now the power to the shower itself, and he will bring back a quote for the extra not included in the original plan. The Flfs returned to work on the outside of the wall in the pub 'garden', where they are installing a gully and repairing a bit of render as well as chopping down a coping stone. I got in touch with the pub management company again to make sure they were aware that we would be on their territory for a few days, and made some not-so-subtle enquiries about the future of the pub. While the guy wouldn't tell me exactly what was going on, he did suggest that if current legal processes are completed satisfactorily, a new tenant would be opening up the pub for business by the end of August.

So the outside work continues, the damp treatment is scheduled, so is the electrical work and the shower refurbishment last of all. I'll be washing using the shower attachment in the bath for at least a month, but as with everything involving the LTRP, it will be worth it in the end.

A Revelation while camping

Beech Estate campsite, July 2020

So I gave you all the news from work last time, now here's the rest of it.

I went to the dentist, routine appointment, but nothing is routine at the moment. The door's closed, ring the bell, my temperature is checked before I come in, I have to wear a face covering and so does everyone there, all possessions put in a plastic tub, no magazines or water in the waiting room, perspex screen in front of reception. Once I'm in the chair and the hygienist and assistant are fully covered up I can take my face covering off. My usual hygienist has had a baby so I've got one who's never met me before, and I get the usual furrowed brows at the state of my gums with some new proposal about how things might be improved - non-surgical suggestions this time. Many things have been tried and failed to help, but it's nice of them to keep coming up with new ideas.

On Saturday morning there was a very exciting incident at home, when I heard crashing and thumping noises in the house, suggestive of an intruder. With hindsight I didn't treat this with the degree of wariness that perhaps I should, but luckily for me it turned out to be a burly woodpigeon in the living room which must have entered via the chimney as all the doors and windows were shut. Again, luckily for me, the chimney hadn't been used much since it was last swept so there wasn't much soot, and the crash was due to an ornamental pot knocked off the windowsill onto the floor. I opened the French doors and burly pigeon exited without any fuss, and hadn't left all that much mess behind it, and I set up the shards of the shattered pot in an artistic manner and reflected on the impermanence of all things.

Last thing before going on holiday was that as I was driving away, I noticed that the pub door was open and there seemed to be some work going on. The workmen were not all that forthcoming about who was ultimately in charge, but it's encouraging to know that the building won't become derelict. It's a very attractive location and I'm sure someone will see the potential, so I just hope it will be a sympathetic operator.

There! We've made it as far as the holiday, which was camping in Sussex near Battle, with Lola II and Mr M, via mum and dad, who are well (all things considered). It was a woodland campsite, some of the indoor facilities were closed but there were flush toilets as well as compost toilets, outdoor bucket showers if you were interested, and lots of hand sanitiser and disinfectant sprays. Lola II and Mr M like a nice fire so they cooked on that while I stuck to the less exciting camping stove for what I consider to be more appetising results. And I saw my first glow worm! I had no idea we had glow worms in this country.

The next day was a bit wet and windy but we went to see what Battle was like, and ended up inside the Abbey, wandering about and listening to a talk all about the years leading up to the famous Battle of Hastings. Then, for the first time in many months, we went INSIDE a cafe and had lunch. There was hand sanitiser, contact details had to be given, there were screens, and there was also... cheese. I haven't bought proper cheese since starting the diet because it simply has too many calories to be worth it, but this was a holiday and the portion wasn't too big and it was truly delicious. We went inside a cafe on the next day too, and I had more cheese.

We also went to Great Dixter gardens, which was beautiful and will provide flower portraits for the blog for a few months. But the significant event of the camping trip was when I went for a walk with Mr M, and he asked about work, and I said that on the whole it wasn't brilliant, and in that moment I had a Revelation: I decided that I didn't have to keep doing the same job, and I could probably find something else for two days a week that would use more of my brain and require me to spend no more time with my current colleagues.

My plan was to ask all my friends in different walks of life whether they were aware of any jobs at all, and follow leads, and generally take a few months to see if anything useful came up. It wasn't going to be much fun but if I could cobble together something that worked it would be worth it, and I felt vaguely optimistic as I headed off for the next bit of holiday, which was to stay with friends in Surrey: Mr MXF and Bee Lady 2 (BL2), for now I have another friend with a hive. And the name sounds better than Chicken Lady or Mrs MXF.

Mr MXF and BL2 and their two grown-up children are always full of schemes and activities: running, swimming, cycling, tending their small woodland, ecology and sustainability, village activities such as the huge November 5th village bonfire, keeping chickens and now bees, and hosting the 'Run Forest Run' annual running and obstacle course event. My friendship with Mr MXF goes back to university days; BL2 was my companion in 2016 when we went skiing in Bulgaria.

Their acquisition of a small patch of woodland has brought about much wood-related activity and consequent machinery. As a result of a too-tall eucalypt in their garden being taken out during the week there was a vast amount of wood to be cleared, but many neighbours willing to wield an axe and take a barrow-full. A three-meter length of trunk with a diameter of about a meter lay in the garden, and the plan was to use an enormous chainsaw in a rig to cut slabs of it which would be dried and seasoned and eventually turned into table tops. I mostly watched and photographed, but also had a go on the rig for one cut, just because I'll try anything once.

But as I arrived I was still full of the Revelation, and as I described to Mr MXF my idea about finding something else to do for two days a week, his eyes kind of opened wide, and lit up, and he said "You could work for me!" So that's what we're going to explore, and it might not work - my brain might not be right for the sort of work he is thinking of - but it might work and that is really very exciting. But it has made it much more difficult for me to face my current two days at the Diabetes Centre, imagining how I might not have to do it for much longer.

Fairyvocals

Rio de Janeiro Botanical Gardens, April 2019

I realise I haven't mentioned my new spectacles. It has become increasingly difficult using the computer screen at work with my varifocals - or 'fairyvocals' as they were amusingly called recently.

The particular distance of the screen corresponds to a fairly narrow band within the specs so I was having to hold my head at a particular angle to see the screen which then made it difficult to refocus on paperwork on the desk. A classic case for supporting an application to my employer for special specs for VDU use, and I mentioned this at last year's routine optician appointment. They agreed, and measured me up for a pair of old fashioned bifocals with the cheapest possible lenses and frames given that I wasn't sure how much my employer might stump up. It came to £125 which is a real bargain compared with my usual specs which cost about £200 per lens plus the cost of the frame.

It took a long time to go through the process of self-assessment at work, then an Occupational Health interview to verify my assessment, then identifying how much might be contributed and who by and how the payment would be achieved. Meanwhile, despite my instructions to the optician not to get the glasses made until I'd found out more about how they could be paid for, I got a message to say that my spectacles were ready for collection. So they stayed that way for quite a while.

Eventually the Powers That Be at work agreed to stump up £60 and I collected the specs. You get what you pay for - they are the old-fashioned bifocals, which I was aware of; what I hadn't remembered was that they are also the old-fashioned low refractive index glass, which makes the left lens 12mm thick at its widest point, and they weigh a ton. Good thing I'm only wearing them for the computer. At least they do work brilliantly for that purpose.

The blog is back

Rio de Janeiro Botanical Gardens, April 2019

It's nearly Christmas, and as Lola II announced when I arrived for my latest visit, "There's something wrong with the blog - I think it's broken!" It's true, but I haven't had much time to sit down and mend it until now.

Life has mostly been good, apart from the difficult patch at work, which has now been fixed enough to be getting on with. It's been difficult since my change in hours, but even before then it has been quite disappointing to work in a place where my personal qualities are not only unappreciated, but pretty much unwelcome. I don't have a great deal of respect for my colleagues either, and it probably shows. Enough about work.

Since I last wrote I am still chasing payment for the teaching session I delivered, and which I was promised would be sorted out before the event. I have also hosted house guests for a weekend, been to Munich for a weekend, performed at our end of year concert, hosted a film night for the Buddhists, played three badminton matches, organised a badminton tournament, and attended the best gig I can remember (Banco de Gaia) at my new favourite local venue, Temperance cafe. You will notice that I do not mention sending Christmas cards, which I have entirely failed to do this year. For the couple of people who read the blog and would normally expect a card from me: please assume the normal greetings, and maybe next year?

Then I came to London to go to a recording of one of my favourite podcasts, The West Wing Weekly, together with Lola II and Mr M. The West Wing was an American series depicting life in the US government, ran for seven seasons in the early 2000's and was one of the most wonderful things on TV ever. I'm not the only one to think so, because a couple of years ago there was enough enthusiasm for the series to generate a weekly podcast (The West Wing Weekly) where in each podcast the hosts reviewed and analysed one episode, inviting guests who were actors, directors, producers, writers and others who were involved at the time. The podcast is reaching the end of its run, and one of the last recordings took place in London on Wednesday. The venue was packed to capacity, and we had a great time.

While in London I also met up with old school and university friends, went to an exhibition at the British Library about Buddhism and another with Lola II at the National Gallery about Leonardo da Vinci's painting 'Virgin on the Rocks', and attended the Christmas Gulloebl Film Festival showing of The Muppet Christmas Carol. London is so busy and so crowded; I like it less every time I visit, while still appreciating all the wonders it has to offer and the amazing diversity of its resident and visiting population. At the same time I have never been so unimpressed by our nation's choice of leader, and the future that faces us all with such immense national and global challenges ahead.

And on that note I will sign off for the holidays. Here's hoping for better times ahead!

Marmalade does not count as a portion of fruit

Botanic Garden, Rio de Janeiro, April 2019

I suffered for 10 days with a cold I caught from a Doctor; that's the last time I help him out with a challenging patient. Not really, he's the Doctor I chose to keep when I reduced my working hours. But he could have kept his cold to himself.

Luckily illness didn't stop me from accompanying mum and dad to the last wedding I'm likely to be invited to - both nephews now done and the niece declaring she's not getting married. All involved seem to have escaped without catching anything from me. As weddings go it was a good one - a Humanist ceremony in a field out in the open, so a good thing the weather was fine. Afterwards there was a tent for food and dancing, but as the sun went down it got really cold, and obviously the main players were a generation younger than me so the music wasn't from my era. They had laid on a whole lot of attractions though - props for photographs, pick and mix sweets, a bar making burgers and bacon sandwiches, a fire pit with marshmallows to toast, the wedding cake, a mountain of cheese, more doughnuts than you can imagine and probably more that I've forgotten. It was nice. Mum and dad stayed for the ceremony and some nibbles afterwards but headed off in a taxi before the partying started.

The tax return is done! Also Eurostar booked for ski trip #2 after a whole lot of hassle with logging in and passwords. I'm not convinced the Eurostar website will ever work for me again so I've printed tickets and emailed them to myself just to be sure. Ski trip #1 is all arranged by someone else so I don't need to do anything much. Next job will be booking the bus to the resort from the train station and then it's ski hire and I'll be ready.

The planning and arrangements for all these ski trips and another visit to the Christmas Market in Munich and a week-long retreat in October have been disrupted by my changed working hours. Annual leave in the NHS is incredibly complicated: it is calculated on an hourly basis and you have to include Bank Holidays in the allowance. So if you work 10 hours on a Monday and 1 hour per day for the rest of the week, you have to book 10 hours off when a Bank Holiday falls on a Monday, but conversely if a Bank Holiday falls on a day that you don't work you can use those hours for leave on another day. Swings and roundabouts.

The hours allocated for leave are also calculated pro-rata for weekly hours worked, and the year for which leave is calculated runs from April to March. I halved my working hours at the end of July, which is only a third of the way through the year, so in the second two-thirds of the year I was given half as many leave hours compared with my allowance in the first third of the year. My problem was that I took an awful lot of my year's allowance in the first third of the year, what with the trip to Brazil and the music festivals. When the allowance was calculated for me (there was no chance of me being able to work it out for myself) in August I was presented with a remaining allowance of 1.75 hours up to the end of the year, whilst having committed to two ski holidays requiring 27 hours off. And I was fortunate that Christmas and New Year holidays are not on Monday or Tuesday this year, otherwise I would have ended up in negative balance. Luckily I've been allowed to juggle my working days and take the days off that I need by working extra days in December, January and February.

I have started to use my days off for leisure pursuits as well as all the admin and household tasks that are still needed. Last Friday I took myself off to Birmingham. One of the reasons was that I needed to exchange a defective pan at John Lewis, but then I had lunch at my favourite Cafe Soya, and afterwards I went to the Museum and Art Gallery for the first time in the nearly 20 years I've been living and working here. I didn't have time to see all that much, which leaves scope for another exciting visit, but I did see the Staffordshire Hoard, which is both more and less impressive than I was expecting. Less impressive because all the pieces on display were smaller than I expected, but more impressive due to the sheer quantity of tiny fragments that were retrieved from a ploughed field., totalling 5 kg of gold and 1.4 kg of silver. Now I have looked at the excellent website (link here) I have to say that the information provided at the exhibition itself isn't great.

Another new responsibility for me this year is to be Captain of the first mixed team for badminton club 2. The main tasks are to assemble a team for each match, collect match fees from each player, and register the score if we win. Which sounds straightforward but is usually quite a lot of hassle - I can't play in our first match, and all the men are proving remarkably unreliable so early in the season. But anyway, Mr M, I iz a Captain now, and therefore fully qualified to adjudicate on fruit portions in marmalade and other conserves.

"I love you this much"

Getting on with things

Adhisthana, July 2019

I'm starting to settle into my new working pattern, although it brings new challenges. I'm very happy pottering at home on my own, but how do I make sure that I don't become a recluse? How do I build structure into my week, when there are no fixed points to latch onto after the end of Tuesday? Which of my huge list of potential new avenues of activity should I start on, and how do I maintain momentum? How do I control my access to the kitchen and not gain weight? These are obviously wonderful new challenges to have, but I don't want to end each day thinking it was an opportunity missed. **

So far I've kept myself busy, and I have been impressed by the number of jobs that have been hanging over me for a long time that I have managed to complete. Some very small (cleaning the microwave), some incomplete (I did clean some windows, but not all), some ongoing (the original gardener I contacted isn't available but recommended a different one) and some huge (the living room decoration is complete!!!!) And I can spend more time with mum and dad when they need me. And I'm definitely going to start on the tax return, oh yes, any minute now, I'm definitely going to start on that.

It's not all about jobs, I've also watched several films and a number of episodes of 'Friends' which Lola II lent (gave?) me for my birthday, and even went to the cinema, which felt like a real treat during working hours, even though it was school holidays and so overrun with children.

Ilf returned to finish painting the living room woodwork and hang some pictures for me too, which brings to an end one of the bigger indoor jobs within the LTRP. I can reflect on my achievement now, starting with the garage in 2016 and including the huge kitchen project which lasted from 2016 to 2018. It was a daunting prospect to look forward to and pretty difficult during the work, but I did it, and have learned new skills along the way. Making decisions has become easier rather than procrastinating and agonising for days over the options.

There's more still to do - the shower room and the hall both need attention, and then external painting, and once those jobs are done the last room is the main bedroom where there is nothing structurally wrong but it could do with decoration. So it's not over yet; you can expect ongoing LTRP reports for the foreseeable future.

** Landrover Man and Bee Lady - any tips?

Working hours

August 2019

As I write, I am about to start my new phase of working just under two days a week (instead of just under four days a week). It has been a long time coming, with my team leader and manager making it much more difficult than it needed to be. I put in my application for 'flexible working' back in January, and the meeting that should have taken place within a month of that application actually happened a week ago. That was when, among other things, I discovered that the replacement for the 13.5 hours I am giving up will be 15 hours. Not that it makes much difference, but it would have been nice to know a bit sooner than a week before the change takes place.

I have been busy in every spare minute at work trying to clear some of the clutter that I have accumulated, as I will soon be sharing my office space with someone who might want to put her own clutter somewhere. My new co-worker (I'll have to think of a suitable name for her at some point) is young, and along with her role in diabetes for the Trust she has also been doing a Masters in some aspect of Type 1 Diabetes and exercise - I don't know the details. She has managed to spend a Wednesday afternoon with me in the most complicated pump clinic that I'm involved with, and will be going on a course before starting to deliver the Type 1 education instead of me. It was really difficult deciding what to give up, but it's possible that I can still deliver a course now and then. I'll be meeting with my team to talk about practical arrangements soon.

In Buddhism news, I went on a weekend retreat which is always a source of much flowery photography and usually generates some reserves of patience and equanimity for me to take home. Being on the team for the local Buddhist group has allowed me to make a couple of suggestions for future topics on Tuesdays, but for the next four weeks when we don't rent the usual church hall I will be hosting the group for some study of a short lecture called 'The Taste of Freedom'. I have read it through once and, as usual with anything philosophical or poetical, I can make little sense of it. We'll see whether that changes over the course of four weeks.

Another birthday came and went, and Lola II spent the day with me when my objective was to make use of the many excellent charity shops in Leamington to replace worn out items of clothing and try to find a suitable outfit for an upcoming wedding. We had an excellent lunch at my new favourite cafe (Warwick Street Kitchen since you ask) and I succeeded with getting the whole wedding outfit and a new pair of jeans all for less than Lola II paid for our lunch. I was also hoping to use the latter part of the day to clear some of the excess junk still in my loft, but we didn't manage that. Next time.

And the LTRP continues: Olf and his Sidekick have been busy with the veranda, and I think it is finished though there may be a few small issues that aren't apparent to me - they will be back in a week or so. Sidekick does all the work; Olf drops in and sometimes shouts at him. This makes me uncomfortable and after this job I will try to find another builder. I also tried to engage a gardener who told me he would phone back to arrange to visit, but hasn't. I will pursue this; it's a jungle out there.

Peace Festival and Work Stuff

Pump Room Gardens, May 2019

It's been a little more eventful of late, which at least gives me more to write about.

The Peace Festival

This is the annual event held in Leamington featuring all manner of stalls and food and musicians, this year including Warwick Triratna Buddhists. This was my idea - now that I am completely suppressing all my Great Ideas at work, they are popping out everywhere else. After suggesting that the group take a stall at the Festival and the committee thinking this wasn't a bad idea I randomly invited some friends to stay over at my house at the same time. Luckily we did manage to rustle up enough helpers on the stall to allow me time off, and I could still help out on the stall and chill with the friends and it all worked out all right.

My particular task in the lead up to the event was to create some leaflets that we could hand out with some information about the group and the dates of the next introductory courses. I managed it with days to spare, unlike the person whose particular task was to create some sort of signage for our stall. For the whole of Saturday we were anonymous, which combined with the occasional downpours led to a largely unsuccessful sign-up rate. Thankfully the same person who didn't manage the sign did manage to borrow a large awning, without which we would have been drenched and would probably have given up and gone home.

We persevered, and on Sunday a small blackboard was procured for a sign to identify ourselves, the weather was much better, and people actually started showing an interest. We'll see how that converts to attendees at the intro courses. We'll be reviewing the whole affair at our next meeting when we'll decide whether it was worth it and what we would do differently if there is a next time.

Work Stuff 1

I made an epic mistake when I bought tickets to attend a festival in July - the same one that I went to last year - because somehow I put the wrong dates in my diary. Looking back, the dates were clear on the website and in the email to confirm the booking and everywhere else, so I can't quite understand how I got it wrong. But I did, and that meant that I had constructed my work schedule around the wrong dates, including a meeting, a course and clinics, not to mention the summer concert on the Saturday.

The realisation hit me with that sinking feeling in my stomach followed by disbelief and panic: I had full clinics on days I would not be at work and I'd cleared my diary on days when I would now be available. And there was no way the course could be moved, although the meeting could. My options were to come clean, in which case hospital policy is that clinics cannot be cancelled with less than six weeks' notice. The alternative was to try and make the necessary arrangements clandestinely and hope not to get caught out. I did the right thing, and a week later we have moved the clinics and officially switched my annual leave, although I'll have to head to the campsite after the course rather than have that day free to prepare. And no summer concert for me.

Work Stuff 2

I have made an application for 'flexible working', meaning that I have asked to reduce my 27-hour nearly-four-day working week to a nearly-two-day working week. The application went in back in January, at which point the Team Leader whose job it is to take my application forward had to have an emergency operation which took her away from work for a while. No problem, with six months to go there ought to have been plenty of time to work things out. But she never did - she was always saying "I don't have all the answers" and refusing to sit down with me and my team to work out how to take things forward. Then, about a month ago, she announced that the work in the nearly-two days I was giving up would be picked up by two different people, one of them being herself.

This was not an acceptable proposal and my team rightly protested, but again with the dragging her feet and not agreeing to a meeting. Eventually, when she happened to drop in to the department, I pretty much marched her round to one of my team so that they could highlight the problem.

There followed more procrastination, and then a suggestion of a meeting with her manager, and then with just six weeks to go the Team Leader announces to me that she's leaving altogether. All the delay and obfuscation was down to the fact that a) she wanted the extra hours for herself, while simultaneously b) she was applying for this other job. So we've got our aim of the whole job being done by just two people, but are left with much less time to prepare, and the manager above has now declined the meeting.

I could go on. It's really frustrating. There's lots more I could say, but it's not very interesting and leaves me feeling very negative. All I will say is that this is one of the reasons that I have determined to stop having ideas at work.

Quick LTRP update

Ilf has popped up a month earlier than he first suggested and has made a start on all the preparation for painting now that the plastering is done. There are holes and rough surfaces and plaster splatter all over the place - I got rid of a lot of it but not all. And more than a month after I told him about the blown LED light unit, Ulf has come and had a look, whistled through his teeth and gone away again. I discovered that the main cause for the delay was that his electrician has gone AWOL and nobody knows where he is. He has a new electrician, but I received a message this morning that it is slightly more complicated by the fact that the particular unit I have is no longer available, but we need something that will match the other lights. One thing I have learned through the whole span of the LTRP is that it always takes longer than you think, even when you are actually in no hurry.

An awful lot to do

Krakow Botanical Gardens, July 2016

It's a familiar complaint, and we hear it all the time from friends, family and colleagues. Not enough time, they say, not enough hours in the day. I silently think very uncharitable thoughts, usually along the lines of "well if you watched less television..." which I have no doubt are utterly unfair. Because although I often comment on how much I have to do, this week I have experienced the perfect storm. Of course it is of my own making so I am not encouraging expressions of sympathy; I just need to get a grip.

Badminton - my regular two nights a week is augmented to three this week with a match on Friday.

eBay - this is the one that is hoovering up all the hours in the day, even though I am now only putting things up for auction three days a week. It's taking all the pictures, weighing things for postage pricing and concocting the item description that take so much time, and I would chuck it all in but people continue to buy this junk. It's strangely enjoyable when a bid appears.

Routine commitments - dentist, car service, a meeting with the finance man, blood donation, laundry, ironing, meditation, food shopping, cooking, eating, washing up.

LTRP - looking good and progressing well, but requires me to do research and think about what I want and make decisions. What is looming over me at the moment is that I have an invoice to pay and I just want to check it against the original estimate, and I know where all the documents are but just haven't got round to it. A Round Tuit is what I need to get. I haven't even started thinking about the curtain that I need.

Tent - this has been a major preoccupation because some camping is definitely going to take place in July and September and for goodness sake it's time I had my own tent. My original research uncovered two tents at vastly different prices, and it took a while to decide I would have the more expensive one, at which point I found that I'd been looking at a very out of date website. I found another supplier but they told me the tent I wanted was last year's model and no longer available, but pointed me in the direction of a different one. Meanwhile I found the original tent on ebay and dithered for some time about putting my faith in an unknown ebay supplier. I decided not to and I think I know which one I will buy, just as soon as I can phone the supplier to check that there is not some fatal flaw with this choice as well.

Media - being away for a week skiing meant a total break from podcasts and radio programmes, although I managed a bit of book reading. Coming back I wasn't prepared to skip any of my regular listens, and it has taken me a month to catch up; a month in which I have read nothing in print except a copy of 'Dietetics Today'. I've just managed to start a new audio book, but it's the strange American narrator reading Pride and Prejudice. An hour in, and actually he's not doing a bad job.

Whisky Tasting With Food - I haven't got time for a full account of this wondrous event. Mr M and Lola II brought a selection from Mr M's range of whiskies on tour to Leamington, and three new candidates experienced the joy. I'm lucky enough to have attended two before this one, and from a standing start at my first event when I took the position of not really liking whisky, I have come to love it. Lola II and Mr M have hosted more than ten of these events, and Lola II said this one was the best so far.

Music group - these happen once a month. I went to the first one of the new year, which was in February, then missed one because of skiing. The next is coming up and I couldn't bear to go without having played a note in two months, so I'm trying to put in a bit of practice every day. The main problem with this is that one of the saxophone pieces is 'Copacabana' by Barry Manilow, and it has an extremely catchy bass line which has lodged in my brain and refuses to leave. Now I've planted it in your brain too (I'm talking to you, Lola II).

Alongside all of this stuff is the paid job, and I found out today that our Senior Diabetes Specialist Dietitian Team Leader is leaving, which is a great shame. I was aware that she was considering this move and she even asked me if I'd be interested in her role, but aside from the higher pay band there's nothing in the team leader position that is the least bit attractive. And I'd have to work harder and care more, and I'm very reluctant to do those things, and there's all this other stuff that is sucking up all my time...

I'm not sure what I will do about having too much to do and not enough time, because even if I gave up some of the optional things that I enjoy I doubt that I'd do more of the necessary things that I don't enjoy. So I suppose I've let off a bit of steam here, and everything will continue as before.

More from Krakow, July 2016

A sad and difficult retirement

Wieliczka salt mine, July 2016

About two years ago at work, my colleagues started to notice that one of our number was behaving strangely. I hadn't been working there for long enough to see any change - I just thought she had always been a bit forgetful. It became clear that this memory problem was chronic, deteriorating, and worst of all, she flatly denied that anything was wrong. Aggressively, sometimes. If errors were pointed out, she would pass blame to someone else (she hadn't received the message), or insist that the error didn't exist (she had in fact processed the invoices that hadn't been processed), or just shout at the colleague that they were wrong.

This was incredibly difficult to address. It's no good going to a more senior manager saying that something is wrong when the individual involved insists that it isn't. Everyone makes mistakes, and without listing every minor error that supported the issue it couldn't be proved to be anything other than a nurse being a bit inefficient. Her skills were intact - she would have no trouble starting someone on insulin, or analysing a blood glucose diary to suggest how medications might be adjusted. She just wouldn't remember being asked to do it, and would then deny all knowledge of the matter.

The technology started to become important - everything had to be emailed in order to prove that an issue had been communicated. She wasn't very good with technology though, and emails just languished in an expanding inbox. But emails and text messages started to form evidence of the problem - emails answered twice or not at all, repeated text messages about the same issue. I was protected from the worst impact because I do a different job, but the main nurse in a similar role was doing her own job plus part of her colleague's and simultaneously unable to challenge the situation while being abused for encroaching on her territory or for pointing out errors that needed to be addressed. It was an awful situation.

If only the patients had complained. Some of them could see that something was wrong, but "didn't want to get anyone into trouble." Without backup from service users our hands were tied - there simply wasn't strong enough evidence of the right sort, and every day we feared that someone would actually be harmed - not so much from the wrong action, but from inaction when action was needed. It seems that patients will put up with almost anything without complaining. Similarly the doctors - they must be used to asking people to do things that aren't done, because they made no formal complaint either, even though they could see that all was not well.

It didn't help that she had a strong and long-standing connection with a very senior and very influential member of the team, who took her word for it that she was absolutely fine. A whistle-blower would be in big trouble if the case wasn't watertight and beyond doubt. And the case wasn't strong enough to withstand this level of scrutiny.

Eventually, at long last, a bit more than a year ago, she had some leave booked and we all breathed a sigh of relief - we wouldn't have to deal with the daily stress of it for a whole week. On the Monday, however, in she walked as if it was a normal working day. This was too much for us, and finally she was persuaded that she was on annual leave and it wasn't appropriate for her to be in work - obviously all her clinics had been cancelled and she didn't have patients to see. We were all incredibly thankful that she didn't return after the week off - the reason was reported as 'stress'.

It took a while before we regrouped - there had been a distinct split in the team between those who were convinced by her and thought that actually there wasn't anything that a bit of a break from work wouldn't sort out, and those who could see it was more serious than this. But we all had a period of thinking "Maybe it is just stress, and she will come back, and it will start all over again," and this made our hearts sink.

Gradually we started to make changes in the department, and relaxed in the freedom we now enjoyed, apart from obviously the one nurse left had the workload of two nurses. Our colleague was signed off work for a long time, and we heard snippets of gossip from people still in touch with her, but nothing official. Her friends told us she was fine and looking forward to coming back to work. We were torn between hoping that she really had recovered from a bout of extreme stress, and concerned that it was the same cover-up and nothing had changed.

At Christmas she came into work for a festive lunch and brought us all Christmas cards, seeming utterly normal. As usual, she gave the impression she was looking forward to being back at work in no time. She expressed her sympathy for a colleague whose grandfather had been ill and had recently died.

Later that day, she arrived back at the department with a carrier bag. "I've brought your Christmas cards," she announced.

Next day she texted the colleague. The text said "How is your grandad?"

We heard little more for a month or so, but then we were informed that the powers that be could find no good reason for keeping her away from work. Occupational Health were satisfied that she was physically healthy and had recovered from whatever it was that was wrong. We thought otherwise, but couldn't prove it - the issues at Christmas might have been part of the problem of stress, and officially she was now better so everything would be fine. We did have a meeting where we expressed our reservations to management, and it was agreed that before coming back to the department and interacting with patients she would be located in an administrative building and would complete the mandatory training that she had missed while off work.

That first week we awaited developments with trepidation. It was to be a phased return starting with just a couple of mornings, but we anticipated some issues, and we were right. She arrived at the department and settled down in her old room. We had to call management, who persuaded her that she needed to be elsewhere. Our main concern was that patients would see her and assume she was back at work, then ask for help or advice and she would start to provide it. It was extremely uncomfortable having to call the authorities behind her back.

After several false alarms when she continued to turn up at the department, she seemed to accept that she needed to be elsewhere, but we were continually on edge in case she arrived unexpectedly. After just a couple of weeks we were told that as she seemed perfectly fine, she would be coming back to sit in with the doctors as a precursor to returning to her old job. All hell broke loose.

Luckily our insistence that this was completely unacceptable was acknowledged, and it didn't happen. Her perfectly rational outward appearance and conduct was very convincing, but eventually it became clear even to those supervising her mandatory training that we were right. The thing that we all struggled with was why she didn't acknowledge that something was wrong, and accept retirement gracefully? Had we been in her situation none of us would have minded leaving work, even if the reason was as unwelcome as incapacity. Why fight so hard to avoid an easy life of leisure and insist on coming back to the environment that had provoked the 'stress' in the first place? Especially so close to actual retirement age.

Very little information reached us throughout the next period. Officially it was not for us to know details of the negotiations taking place, but occasionally something would filter through, usually through contact with those colleagues she remained in touch with. The consistent message from her was "I'll be seeing you soon, I'm coming back to work next week." After our initial panic we learned how to react to this, generally with a good humoured "That'll be nice, see you then." Her powerful senior ally continued to imply that while she may not come back to work with us, there seemed no reason why an alternative sinecure could not be found.

After a year on sick leave, it was finally confirmed that she would not be returning to work, and for the first time in two years we could relax. A 'retirement' lunch is planned, a card and collection are circulating, and we have put measures in place to try to ensure that she doesn't miss her own lunch by forgetting about it. She popped into the department the other day, and told us that she might be coming back to work for a couple of days a week in a different role. "That'll be nice, see you then," we said.

Difficult decisions

Art deco hotel, Borovetz, February 2016

I don't want to write much about last week because it's been dominated by family stuff that's not particularly suitable for public airing. I haven't felt like doing much in the evenings, which is unlike me. On Thursday I decided to go for a run anyway, but two thirds of the way round my usual route I decided to stop because I just wasn't enjoying it. I haven't even started sorting the stamps and envelope collection.

I have started to clear the loft and took a couple of boxes of books to Oxfam. There's a load of old papers from the loft in the downstairs hall that need to be sorted and shredded or recycled, which will leave quite a few ring binders and suspension files that I can't bring myself to throw out, so I'll have to find a good home for those. I also responded to a conversation on the local website Streetlife, offering the trampoline to a good home, so now I need to get that down from the loft too.

Getting the tenor sax serviced was on the list as a priority for this week. I was given contact details for a local chap who came highly recommended, and so far I have sent an email, left a voice message and sent a text without any form of response. I think this suggests either he isn't that interested in the work or is on holiday. There is an alternative but it's in the centre of Birmingham, so nowhere near as convenient.

At work there's been an interesting discussion about my job. I trained to deliver the 'DESMOND' education for people with Type 2 diabetes when there was a huge waiting list in the neighbouring city, and got some extra paid hours to help clear the backlog, and since then I've continued to deliver a course there about every two months. However, in the town where I actually work the course is delivered by two nurses once a month and a waiting list has now built up there, so we enquired about whether I could be paid to help them clear the backlog too.

This has opened a can of worms. It has exposed my ignorance of how the whole edifice of NHS funding operates. I find it very frustrating, but I had pretty much come to terms with the fact that there seems to be no way to find out, let alone understand, how our diabetes services are paid for, apart from the fact that ultimately the funding is allocated by the Clinical Commissioning Group. But are we paid per consultation? Do they give us a fixed amount for all we do in a year? How is my salary allocated between the Dietetic department, the Diabetes department, the hospital where I work and the Trust that employs me? Does the Diabetes service pay the Dietetic department for my support, and if so, what exactly am I supposed to be doing? What exactly are my responsibilities within the Diabetes service? Should I be delivering DESMOND at all, and if so, how often, and where?

This is further complicated by the fact that I am aware there are circumstances where I shouldn't see someone - if they are referred by their GP to a Dietitian but not to a Consultant then it ought to be a Dietitian from a different service, despite the fact that the Nurses in the same building can accept these referrals. And recently one of our Diabetes Consultants asked me to see someone for dietary input who doesn't actually have diabetes - should I accept that referral? Apparently I shouldn't, but what if I do? What difference will it make? Who will care?

Our Diabetes service is going to be reviewed, and I don't want it to appear as though I'm not fully occupied simply because I've been recording my activity wrongly. I'm not in the least bit interested in any of this but it looks as though I'm going to have to ask some more questions. The NHS is a wonderful institution, but it is mind-bogglingly complex.

Tired (again)

Somewhere in Rugby, May 2015

Usually I make a start on writing something vaguely interesting at the weekend, and finish it off ready to publish on a Tuesday. This week that hasn't happened, so I am putting this out without benefit of deep consideration or self-editing. I am tired.

This is my last month of full-time work. From October I am reverting to either 27 or 30 hours a week (I don't yet know which it will be - either way, not more than 4 days) and I am looking forward to it immensely. They are certainly getting value for money out of me this final month. An extra clinic has started, we are still short of one Dietitian who has left and a replacement not yet recruited, one of the remaining Dietitians is on holiday, but a new service is due to start shortly after she gets back and needs a load of preparation, which I'm not sure is being done. Two of the Diabetes Nurses are now off sick and another is about to have an operation on her foot that will keep her at home for six weeks.

On top of all that, a couple of weeks ago I committed the most heinous crime that it is possible to commit - I didn't turn up for a clinic which I was supposed to be covering. I got confused with where I was supposed to be and whose clinic I was standing in for. Luckily there were only three patients and apparently they didn't get too angry, although they were entitled to be cross because their previous appointments had been moved to this new date at short notice because one of the remaining Dietitians not previously off sick had been put out of action with a bad back, due to being made to work in a room with a coffee table instead of a desk (thankfully she's back at work now). I felt bad about missing that clinic for days. Actually, I still feel bad about it. I hope the feeling will wear off soon.

It's all been a bit much, and now that my age has exceeded the half-century I am starting to appreciate that I am no longer a bright young thing who can just pack as much as I like into my days. Playing badminton makes me much more tired than it ever did before - not that I'm about to stop playing, but I used to start early and finish late at club nights and now I'm much more inclined to start late and finish early. I am significantly tired the day after any vigorous activity, where in the past I wasn't. Of course as well as the badminton I'm doing the running that leads up to the event in November, so that makes for extra tiredness. Perhaps I'm overdoing things.

[Nostalgia note: When I was a child, my grandmother used to say that I was always overdoing things. "Do not overdo," is one of the few phrases I remember her saying, along with "Speak more slowly," the numbers in German and a rhyme that started "Hoppe hoppe Reiter" which I still remember word for word.]

This has turned into a bit of a whine - it's interesting what manifests itself when I sit with a blank screen and write whatever comes into my head. Things are fine. I am essentially fit and healthy and most of my complaining is about activity that I have chosen to do of my own free will and could stop at any time - in fact, I have missed a badminton opportunity tonight. I have completed some significant and difficult tasks and am optimistic that I will manage a few more by the end of the year. Work is essentially fine too, although there are and always will be annoyances and inefficiencies and personalities and conflict, as well as satisfaction and success and achievement and progress.

Outside work I've already mentioned badminton and running - there are also films on DVD, the usual reading in print and audio, food shopping and cooking, watching the one TV programme of the year that I like (The Great British Bake Off), cleaning the house, a massage, and welcoming Lola II and Mr M for the annual Leamington Food and Drink Festival. As usual I made sure I examined every stall in the arena over the two days of the Festival, and this year purchased three packs of sausages, a sachet of curry paste, a mushroom and garlic vegetarian Scotch Egg, three different cheese scones, a chocolate and cherry brownie, a Thai curry with cashew nuts and rice, and a pastrami and cheese toasted sandwich. I have already eaten all of them except one pack of sausages, but not necessarily in that order.

My ongoing plan for this evening is to go to sleep quite soon. I'm looking forward to recovering at the weekend before starting my penultimate week of full time work.

Tradesmen, employment and growing old

Peckover House, August 2014 (photo credit: Lola II)

Tradesmen update: I have finally got hold of the electrician and we have agreed a date for the fuse box to be replaced, which will mean a day and a half without power. I have booked the day off work, and had some pleasant thoughts about doing some fun things like perhaps going off for a quick ski in the Snowdome to keep my ski legs trim - my ski holiday is now booked for February. Then I realised that this would be the perfect time to get the car serviced as I need it to get to work every other day. The car is up for a long service medal, as it has now completed more than 200,000 miles.

Employment update: Mr A has scored a full time permanent job and has now been employed for a week; so far he is enjoying it. Meanwhile, I have delivered half of my first DESMOND course for people newly diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, and the first day of my third course for people with Type 1 Diabetes. DESMOND is a national programme with quality assessment and a requirement to adopt a particular delivery style which includes much questioning of participants and withholding of answers unless they really can't work it out for themselves. The Type 1 course is not quality assessed or peer reviewed, which means that I am only really getting into my stride third time round.

Update on growing old: I have new glasses! and new (trial) contact lenses! I love the glasses, they are varifocals and it has taken me no time at all to get used to them. The contact lenses, on the other hand, are proving more challenging. What the optician suggested was to have two different prescriptions, so my dominant eye would have the lens set up for distance and the lens in my other eye would be for near sight and reading. They provided me with five pairs of two sorts of lenses so I could try them out for comfort. I've had a go at one type for a week, and I don't like it at all - instead of having clear sight for distance and near viewing my eyes seem to confuse the focus and I can't see clearly at any distance. So that's not such a success - but I'll try the other brand in case the problem is with the lenses rather than the prescription.

More growing old news - happy birthday mum! She and dad kindly hosted a very small celebration attended by Lola II, Mr M, myself and another friend during which we watched a film that was made for my school's 60th birthday in 1979. See the odd children! and their antiquated school uniform! Laugh at the teachers' 70s cars, outfits and hairstyles! The undisputed highlight was the orchestra, featuring your very own Lola I and Sister D, with me wearing the biggest specciest specs you can imagine. It was the 70s! Big specs were the fashion item! I still have the massive specs in a drawer, and they are so heavy that I'm surprised my teenage ears weren't pulled completely off.

Brief update on not growing old - badminton club no. 2 have suffered an early retirement by one of their veteran ladies, and asked me very nicely if I could play in a match, so I said yes. Then I found out it was for their 1st mixed team in Division 1 of the league. It wasn't as bad as I expected; I was only made to look like an amateur by their first pair and we managed to scrape wins in the other two sets, mostly because my partner ran around like a maniac picking up everything while I fannied about near the net doing very little. Good fun.

In other news, I combined the trip to London with a bit of time with Lola II and Mr M. They took me to Southall and fed me a delicious authentic Punjabi meal, and I was supposed to help with some household jobs, but I don't remember contributing very much at all. I have a load of jobs for them to help with when they pay a return visit, and I wonder if they will manage to get away with doing as little as I did?

Quick catch up

Bateleur eagle, Cotswold Falconry Centre, July 2014

Wow. Nearly a month. Some of you must have been getting impatient...

Very little has changed in the landscape at Lola Towers, although I have started to make my move on the state of the house, creeping up on it and surprising it so it doesn't have a chance to skip out of the way. I have arranged for an electrician to attend to many of the small electrical frustrations, and maybe a carpenter is going to visit to view one of the scenes of devastation. I have more plans and a week off work, when I'm hoping to plot a route through the tunnel to the light at the end, and maybe take a few tentative steps towards it.

In terms of events to report, obviously I haven't been sitting around thinking about blogging, I've been up and out there. Here's a list:

• Cambridge Folk Festival
• Return to Bletchley Park
• Trip to London for Sister D's birthday, lunch with old friends, proper London theatre with Lola II and Mr M
• Evening with the friends with whom we went sailing
• Lots of badminton as usual, and a bit of running
• Lola II and Mr M's Wedding Presence: a four-day camping trip
• Meanwhile, Mr A...
• And a little bit about work.

Cambridge Folk Festival

It was lovely. Mr A didn't go due to the pressure and deadlines of his first contract job, but I managed to sell his ticket and I knew four friends would be there so I wasn't going to feel too lonely. Highlights, just in case anyone wants to look them up: Oysterband (well-established UK band, I'm a big fan but not as crazy obsessive as the other fans I met in front of the stage), Pokey LaFarge (American swing/blues band), Habadekuk (fantastic Danish high octane folk), Hazmat Modine (New York band worth hearing for the a sousaphone alone), and Loudon Wainwright III (I had no idea he was so funny - he made us laugh at a song about the situations in Gaza, Syria, Ukraine etc). I'd go again, except the tickets are almost impossible to buy, and the site is too crowded now that everybody brings chairs.

Return to Bletchley Park

This time with mum, and although we again spent many hours there, I still haven't seen everything. Another visit will be needed! Maybe with dad next time.

Trip to London

This included the opportunity to take part in a meeting of Overeaters Anonymous, which was very interesting though I felt very tense. I have since recommended the organisation to one of my patients. Also, the theatre - I haven't been to a real on-stage live play for many years, and had become so used to the conventions of cinema and DVD movies that I was surprised for a second when the applause came at the end.

Sailing reunion

This was mostly an opportunity to share photographs, but it was actually very nice to meet up again.

Exercise

I am very thankful for my continued good state of health, and intend to do all I can to keep it this way! I have not only continued running, but my pace is increasing very gradually, and I even did a Parkrun in Cambridge while I was there. Here's a little clip of Eddie Izzard promoting Parkrun, which actually includes footage of the Leamington run (you'll have to take my word for it).

Kings Lynn

Presence

When we were on the camping trip, we discussed each of us writing about the trip and combining these into an entertaining format for the blog. So I'm willing to postpone the report about camping for a few days in case something appears. It was a really good trip, though.

Mr A

Mr A continues to work on his OU course while looking for employment, and as I write he is engaged in open warfare with the meadow that is the 'garden'. He has been on a successful camping trip with The Boy who is temporarily back from his travels, and a less successful motorcycle trip where, true to form, his bike broke and he came back after just one day.

Work

After much protracted discussion about extending my hours, where I was somewhat sceptical about the likelihood of any change quicker than in geological time, the boss phoned on Thursday and said that I could move to full time working from September (i.e. next week) until March. I am booked onto a training course at the start of October which will allow me to facilitate structured education for people with Type 2 Diabetes, but as ever there are as many questions as answers. For example, I don't know where I will be based or how many courses there will be or what I will do in the time that is not occupied with these courses. I am also filling in for colleagues on holiday - unfortunately, one session is an ante-natal clinic, but the other is a community clinic, which may be very interesting. On the whole, I am very pleased with the main permanent job I have been doing - pleasant colleagues and a small team in a friendly location - and maybe I'll go back to the part time option after March.