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.

Lockdown lifting

Riverhill Himalayan Gardens, September 2020

There has been lots of vaccinating, lots and lots. For one whole shift, six hours, I did nothing else. Usually we each swap around to do at least two roles, but that's not how it worked out on that occasion. There have been no particular highlights - I meet a variety of people who work in all sorts of different places, but now that second vaccines have started there really isn't time to chat - we're working flat out. One tip if you're planning to get vaccinated any time soon - don't wear a tight-fitting long-sleeved shirt. It's surprising how many people end up having to get half-undressed, and it's not just the men.

Nothing notable to report at the moment. A bit of brain stretch with Mr MXF, a bit of meditation and study with the Buddhists, and we've managed to start walking together now that restrictions allow up to six of us to gather outside. The variable weather makes scheduling a walk a bit of a gamble, though, especially the day after it snowed. I met Lola II and Mr M at mum and dad's and made a splendid trifle for the occasion, and Mr M brought a garden plant for mum, and Lola II cut my hair at least as well as the salon without any of the fuss. 

I have been watching many films, doing some cooking, cleaning, sorting out the house, but no specific LTRP projects completed although I noticed a growing stain on the ceiling in the hall upstairs. I finally got round to going up into the loft to see what was there, and unfortunately the stain is growing under a water tank, so it's back to Olf's mate - the plumber who helped out after Flf left me in the lurch. And I've been in touch with a new builder to help repair the render on the wall next to the pub, and he's coming round to have a look at it next week.

Exercising

Great Dixter, July 2020

More than a week has passed in which I've been fully occupied with nothing that is particularly memorable. Of course I went to work, went to the dentist, had at least seven Zoom calls and travelled down to act as Supervisor of Works with mum and dad. We are rearranging the spare bedroom to make it easier to make the bed, and coincidentally increasing the workspace that dad can use. It's all still very cramped but my campaign to empty the dusty junk out of the house is still very much alive.

I'm trying to do some more reorganisation with my own home but there's a long way to go with that, not least because I want to move some furniture that's a bit too big for me to manage on my own, and I'm not inviting anyone else into the house just yet. And it's really difficult to get rid of things with sentimental value or that might come in handy one day.

I've also had a consultation with a lovely physiotherapist about my knee, which is a service that I can access as part of the Employee Assistance Programme offered by my employer. This meant that I was seen within 2 weeks of filling in the form, but also meant that the first 15 minutes of the consultation were spent trying to make the video technology work, first unsuccessfully on my phone, then unsuccessfully on my work computer. All very unsatisfactory, especially given that she was actually in a room on the same hospital site as I was, but similarly unable to see people in person without prohibitively time-consuming risk assessment paperwork.

We just had a normal telephone call in the end, but she has sent me a link to a very fancy shmancy online portal where I can print text and pictures of the three prescribed exercises. We are going to try using a different video technology for the follow up appointment. I may suggest that we meet in the car park after that, but I don't think it will be acceptable.

She seems to agree with the suggestion first made by a friend that it is probably 'Iliotibial Band Syndrome'. I hadn't connected this with the return of the ache in my right hip that I get when I sit down for too long. Obviously there has been much more sitting down since all the badminton stopped, and this may have meant that my running was off-line because of the right hip pain which resulted in the left knee pain. Anyway, whatever, I'll do the exercises because that's all I can do.

A burst of enthusiasm

Great Dixter, July 2020

I was on retreat over the New Year. Sometimes these online retreats are fairly short and easy, with perhaps one meditation together and another session with some teaching every day. This one was full speed ahead, three sessions and sometimes four every day for a week, leaving little time for anything else - which is the point, really. It helps to keep you focussed on the Buddhist life.

I did manage a couple of other activities - a second trip to the tip with all the horrible thorny garden cuttings, a walk with a new member of the local Buddhist group and his dog, and a Zoom get-together with all the friends who would have been in the house in Devon if we had been able to go on the planned New Year holiday.

So when the retreat ended and I had a whole week of stuff to catch up with, I felt glad that I'm not at work until next week. I have spent a lot of time on the computer with that New Year enthusiasm that wears off so quickly. But I'll take advantage while it's there...

It's official - Flf the plumber didn't respond to my messages in the timescale I gave him, which leaves me with a usable but not quite finished wet room. New Year enthusiasm stretched to making a series of calls and emails to try and find someone to finish the job. I had the great idea of contacting Olf and asking him for a recommendation, and then while I was at it I thought I'd start on the next idea, which is to rearrange the bedrooms upstairs. 

One of the necessary steps is to make the wardrobe in the smaller room into something more than a clothes rail. Being an organised kind of person I went back to find the paperwork for the company that had installed the wardrobe in the bigger bedroom, which was 15 years ago. Not surprisingly, the phone wasn't answered, but a quick enquiry via Checkatrade produced a response from a different firm.

Then I was notified that my request to set up remote working had been actioned. This is more a precautionary measure in case I have to self-isolate, to allow me to phone patients from home. I need access to three specific systems plus my stored files and email, and it took quite a long time to follow all the instructions, installing an authentication app on my phone, then using that to log into a remote connection, then working out how to launch the systems that I need. Two of them won't work at the moment, one because it requires a keyboard where you insert a smartcard, and another because it doesn't work on Microsoft browsers. But we're halfway there.

I also responded to a call for volunteers to assist the vaccination programme. This has now extended to Allied Health Professionals like Dietitians, but it's unclear whether I'll be trained to actually give the vaccine injections or just support the team at the vaccination hub, perhaps with paperwork or helping patients. Anyway, the first step along the path has been to complete two extra training modules on anaphylaxis and core knowledge for vaccinators, which I've now done.

Another outlet for my enthusiasm this week included a trip to mum and dad who are defined in this third lockdown as my support bubble. Each time I find my time there fully utilised, finding out the progress of our attempt to switch mum's bank account (in summary - a right old mess), helping with all types of computer things, and this time, listening to a number of dad's stories after lunch. These tend to start with plausible memories (the friend with whom dad played violin duets at a school concert, the inspirational English teacher) and then progress to less believable detail (the friend's body was dug from his grave by wild animals). But some of the medical anecdotes remain fascinating all the way through. 

I managed to forget two things, though - one was the shopping that mum had asked for, so not only is she short of the specified items but I am now the proud owner of more margarine and soft cheese than I normally eat in a year. The other, which I have only just remembered, was to change my own email address in their Contacts list. Either that will have to wait for the next visit, or we'll arrange a time to go through it remotely.

Wimbledon

Centre Court, July 2019

A form arrived through the post out of the blue a few years ago. It was an entry form for the ballot to go to the tennis at Wimbledon, and with a bit of detective work I found out that it had been 'arranged' for me by my badminton friend A. I'd never been to the tennis at Wimbledon, but I filled it in and sent it off and heard nothing. I repeated the exercise in the subsequent years, and this year I was offered two tickets for Court One on Day 2. Of course I asked A if she wanted to join me.

I was waiting at Leamington station when Sister D phoned to say that mum had got up that morning when the doorbell rang, fallen over, subsequently got up and answered the door, but was now waiting for an ambulance because she couldn't get out of the chair. Lola II and Mr M were on their way there, and for the rest of the day I had one eye on the tennis and the other on my phone.

My Wimbledon experience was obviously somewhat overshadowed by this event, but I enjoyed seeing in reality what I was so familiar with from the TV, and saw matches including the Ladies World number 1 (A Barty), the British number 1 (J Konta) and Rafa Nadal - all of whom won their matches, as they should with this being Day 2. Sitting on the Hill towards the end of the day we were offered tickets to Centre Court by someone who didn't need them any more, so we went and had a look there too - it's surprisingly small compared with Court One.

The whole site is manicured without a petal out of place, and everything is organised with military precision, making the experience a pleasant one. But I don't think I will bother going again, because although the live experience is a bit more exciting than the televised version, it isn't enough to make up for the cost and time for the trip. And it's nowhere near as much fun as world class badminton, which is also nice and local in Birmingham.

Mum is home and improving slowly, and we have experienced the 'Reablement' service, which I believe is the latest word for rehabilitation. It seems to be a service that occupies the ground between not providing anything and providing something that actually helps people who can't cope on their own - a clear exemplar of 'better than nothing'. It is also a demonstration of the wisdom and foresight of having a husband and three children.

Recent events

Amazonia, April 2019

Lola II and Mr M have visited Lola Towers for the purpose of setting up the Gulloebl Film Festival (Leamington). This is very exciting and I have now chosen the films and started writing down all the things I need to organise, from Friday's canapes to compiling parking information. Mr M is still working on the spreadsheets and our new online booking site is nearly ready to go live.

In badminton news, both my badminton clubs have held their AGMs. My Monday club's AGM was in the pub for an hour after the end of the Monday badminton session, and my Thursday club's was in a Rugby club and also involved a competitive skittles tournament and fish and chips.

I am 'Social Secretary' for my lovely Monday club, which just means that I organise activities and social events whenever I feel like it. My 'report' at the AGM consisted of a Post-It note with the dates of all the events I could remember from the last 12 months. We have a very efficient Secretary who added the rest of the detail. They have asked me for the same social programme again this year which leaves me with a dilemma - everyone enjoyed the Disc Golf but me, so should I organise it but not attend myself, or just pick something else?

The badminton side of things is not going very well for this club - we only have seven permanent paying members, some more who 'pay and play', and our funds are seriously depleted to the point that the viability of the club is at risk. Having said that, the men's team won their Division in the League and will be promoted. We don't have enough players for any other teams and barely enough for the men's.

My Thursday badminton club is doing much better than my Monday club, with a healthy membership and about six teams in various leagues. Last year we had an informal agreement that if one of the other ladies captained the 1st Mixed team last year, I would take it over this year. It really is about time I put something back into this club and it isn't a very difficult or time-consuming job, especially as we have six fairly committed players and quite a few who will stand in if needed.

Buddhism news: apart from the regular Tuesday Buddhist group locally, I've been going to quite a lot of Thursday sessions in Birmingham. This is partly because I enjoy it but it's also strategic - my local group is going to have a stall at next month's Peace Festival in Leamington and I want to try and make sure we are supported, which I am hoping will be easier if I am a known face.

Then there's work. Work is challenging, mostly in a good way, but sometimes not. I have been trying to get my Team Leader to have a conversation with the DSNs I work with since January and she has steadfastly avoided this until very recently. There was a full and frank exchange of views and maybe her future plans may reflect this. I can say no more at the moment.

I have also been up to visit H+B and brought back some more of H's writings. I have offered to create a basic blog for him but he has to decide whether this would count as 'publishing' because if he should decide to try and get some material published, they often require it not to have been published elsewhere. I will await his decision.

Lastly, the LTRP continues, as it will probably continue until the end of time. One of the electric lights in my 'new' kitchen has failed, and as these lights consist of expensive sealed units that have to be replaced as a whole and which I was assured 'never fail' I contacted Ulf to ask for a replacement under guarantee. This led to a confusing series of messages because my communication that 'one of the kitchen lights has blown' was interpreted as meaning one of the glazed roof light sealed units. I am still waiting for a date when the light will be replaced. Apart from that, I have now cleaned up most of the plaster dust and re-polished the living room floor, making the room habitable again but potentially lethal to walk about in socks.

Not yet Christmas

Adhisthana, June 2018

Lots going on as usual. Here's a rundown of recent activity, not including trips to Parcelforce in Coventry and Christmas markets in Munich. Those will have to wait for another time.

LTRP

The new television is up and working! I had to phone a friend to help me lift it onto the table, and after I'd connected it all up it didn't seem to want to find the Internet or the sound bar. So, ostrich-like, I left it alone to see if it cured itself. I did have a look at the manual and fixed the sound bar by changing where the cables plug in, and miraculously it found the Internet without any further intervention, so all is well at the moment. Let's hope it stays that way.

So with that little project completed I have visited a carpet supplier of national repute and a local shop to have a little look at my auditorium carpet options. I just want a plain dark grey carpet, which I thought would limit the choices a bit, but even so there were seventeen different carpet options in the big shop which seem to be suitable, and no obvious way to choose between them. There is a free sample service so I asked for four samples to be sent, and we'll see how I get on. The local shop suggested just one option, which seems just as unsatisfactory.

Work

I went to an evening meeting about Pancreatic Exocrine Insufficiency, which wasn't very useful but there was a nice dinner and I sat next to a very chatty doctor. Diabetes is a disorder of the pancreatic endocrine system (insulin is an endocrine hormone), but the pancreas also produces enzymes as part of its exocrine activity. These are primarily lipase, amylase and protease to digest fat, starch and protein, and it seems that this function often fails in people with diabetes. Essentially the treatment of PEI is Pancreatic Enzyme Replacement Therapy, i.e. swallowing large capsules of enzymes along with meals and snacks so that they replace the enzymes that the pancreas is no longer producing. The main lecture was about symptoms and diagnosis rather than management, so I now know how prevalent it is in people with diabetes, but no more about what to do about it.

My Team Leader was also there, and she brought me up to speed on what is going on with the DESMOND Type 2 education programme in our region. I mentioned previously that the Clinical Commissioning Group is getting very 'hands-on' with DESMOND, and it seems that courses have a very poor attendance rate and keep getting cancelled in the main area covered by the NHS Trust I work for. Apparently the Trust's Clinical Director for Diabetes (who is also Clinical Director for another couple of specialities) had a very uncomfortable meeting with people from the CCG. I don't have a great deal of time for our Clinical Director because he seems to show no interest whatsoever in directing clinicians, clinics or anything else that is clinical, so this was a very interesting move on the part of the CCG. I don't know whether anything will come of it, but it's testament to my new Team Leader's dogged persistence that this meeting even came about.

Talking of the CCG and education: I had to attend one of the CCG's regular meetings about education for people with diabetes in order to present the results of my evaluation of our short Carbs and Insulin course, which we're calling CANDI (see what we did there?) This was one of the last times I had an idea at work before I became determined to have no more ideas, and it has resulted in a lot of work for me but not much progress. The results show that the people who attended got a lot out of it subjectively, but objective measures don't show much improvement. I then compared the objective measures of CANDI with those from a similar population who attended the longer 4-day carb counting course, and those were no better. What happens next is anyone's guess, but now that we have our tenacious Team Leader I suppose she will have to decide, so I've put it on the agenda for our next team meeting. Which is the day after Boxing Day when I will have even less than my usual motivation to talk about matters at work.

Badminton

Matches and club nights continue twice a week, My duties as Social Secretary led me to try and arrange a 'Not Christmas Social' in November so that we wouldn't get caught up in all the pre-Christmas shenanigans. I offered various dates so we could include the maximum number of people, and Friday 30th November was chosen. Unfortunately in the chosen venue, this night was already designated as a pre-Christmas shenanigan, so the event became the 'Not Not Christmas Social' and fourteen people came along and enjoyed themselves at a local pub. I had the best vegetarian option I think I've ever had in a pub (a pie with mash and veg).

and the rest

I can't remember exactly how it came about, but Lola II was interviewed for a project focussing on views and opinions and thoughts on childlessness from people who have consciously chosen not to have children. She passed the contact on to me, and this week I was also interviewed. It was very interesting and I'm still mulling over some of the things we discussed.

I went to see mum and dad and this time mum had a great job for me to do. Often the jobs I am called upon to perform involve either the computer or a ladder (there were jobs of those varieties on this visit too), but this time it was all about the sewing machine. As well as using the zigzag option to sew hems in shortened sleeves, we took down the kitchen blinds and shortened them by about a foot, cutting off the dirtiest part and revealing fresh fabric. It all went very well and they look great and it felt like we had really achieved something.

There have obviously been other activities at home and at work, but having ended the weight management effort my weight has obviously gone up by a kilogram. I knew it would because I haven't been feeling hungry lately and there have been celebratory meals and food provided during work events (which always leads me to overeat). Now what shall I do?

Kitchen Goddess and Mega Marshal

Run Forest Run, November 2018

My last trip to London combined a study day for work, staying with Lola II and Mr M, and a gathering for mum's birthday. I'm writing about the study day separately, and because it's taking ages and I've been rather busy, I'll do a quick round of other news in this post.

Mum's birthday gathering was slightly marred by Lola II losing her handbag, but the story ended happily when it was handed in without loss. The following day I accompanied Lola II and Mr M to a Games Cafe in Richmond where we tried out three new games: Quirkle, Exploding Kittens, and Sushi Go! We liked Quirkle best.

Between then and now I had a busy week with the usual work, a District Council meeting on Monday evening, a car mini-service, chimney sweep visit and meditation on Tuesday, a trip to Birmingham on Wednesday evening, badminton club on Thursday evening and a match on Friday evening (we lost, but it was good fun with friendly opposition, which isn't always the case).

The Council meeting was about the proposed replacement of a decaying car park combined with the relocation of elderly Council offices. Many local businesses are dismayed at the 'parking displacement plan' and feel that shoppers will be put off by a potential reduction in car parking spaces in the town. Residents are also up in arms at the loss of 42 mature trees (although more saplings will be planted in their place) plus the failure of their planning proposal to follow the Council's own guidelines of including 40% affordable housing. By attending the meeting I achieved my aim of understanding what all the fuss is about while being depressed by the poor standard of debate and the attitudes and arrogance of the Council leader and officers.

The trip to Birmingham was much more fun: I went to a meeting of 'Skeptics in the Pub' at which The Angry Chef was speaking. As the name suggests he is a chef, and I have been following and been hugely entertained by his profanity-filled blog for some time. He writes very eloquently and at length about the rubbish that is promoted by celebrities and others aimed at telling people how and what to eat, or 'nutribollocks' as he terms it. I enjoyed the meeting a great deal - he talks a lot of sense backed up by proper levels of evidence, and I bought his book and he signed it for me.

This weekend was the fifth annual 'Run, Forest, Run' event in Surrey, where this year there were more runners than ever. Lola II and Mr M were marshalling out in the forest along with J from Family JJL&J, and another two J's actually did the 10k plus obstacle course. I was again put in charge of the kitchen, and apart from running out of bacon and teabags it all went very well. I was very proud to be awarded the 'Mega Marshal' trophy for services rendered to mass catering.

Weight loss has stalled, but it has remained 4kg below what it started at (rather than the 5kg I was aiming for), so I'm going to take that as a win. Nothing new with the LTRP except that I briefly went into a carpet shop and now I need to decide who to invite to estimate for the job and whether to choose wool or synthetic fibre (any opinions from readers would be very welcome).

The television saga continues - the price of the TV I am after did drop to a level where I was happy to buy, but by the time I got to the website in a secure WiFi zone there were no more in stock. Stock suddenly appeared a week or so later, but the website claimed that delivery was not possible to my postcode, and when I followed that up with the retailer we agreed that there was actually no stock and it was a website error. However, I guessed that the American phenomenon of Black Friday might influence prices, and so it did. The television appeared on the website at an even lower price on Thursday evening, I placed an order successfully, and all being well it will be delivered today.

Trouble under the sink

Düsseldorf, November 2017

Notable events over the last week or so have been scarce. There was a bank holiday weekend, when I journeyed south for dad's 85th birthday celebration - we pay so little attention to birthdays that one of the guests didn't actually know it was a birthday celebration at all. Briefly, there were candles.

I went to a gig, which was good. I watched some DVDs on my huge screen, including a Blu-Ray DVD, but I'm not sure that I could tell the difference between this and an ordinary DVD. I went to the dentist, where they sweetly complimented me on my efficient brushing while despairing of my continuing decrepitude. I reassured them that on the whole I'm in pretty good nick, but if they want a culprit they can blame my genetic heritage.

On Saturday I started considering the tiling situation for the kitchen, and spent more than three hours in two shops (although about half an hour of that was on the phone to Lola II). The best advice of the whole day was that rather than looking at the traditional glass splashback behind the hob for somewhere between £150 and £250, I could just buy a single 60x60 cm tile costing a tenner. A lovely tiler visited and has sent me a quote.

I have reconnoitred a local car boot sale on the advice of a badminton-playing friend who regularly sells his plants there. It takes place every Sunday between May and September, and cars start queueing for the best spots from 6 a.m. Alongside the big house clearance vans there are people sitting at single tables with just the sort of thing I'd like to get rid of. It costs £10 for a place as a seller and most of the junk isn't worth more than 50p or a pound, so I'll have to gather absolutely everything and hope to make my money back in one hit because there's no way I'm going to do it more than once.

In badminton news, I was invited to go to a session on Sunday to try out with the Warwickshire County Veterans, which sounds more impressive than it actually was. There wasn't any element of selection because they seemed desperate for players (although I'm sure if I'd been awful it would have been different), but the standard was a bit higher than mine and I had to work hard. I'm not sure I want to make the commitment - all the matches will be on Sundays and there's usually a good deal of travel seeing as it's a county league. I did meet a lovely lady whom I hadn't seen for six years since I left the club where she plays, but I also met one of the people who were the reason I left that club.

So it was on Sunday afternoon after all this effort that I noticed the skirting board in the utility room was stained. Pulling the plinth board away from under the sink, I found A LOT of water and a significant drip from a pipe in the most inaccessible place in the whole house (i.e where the stopcock is inside the stupid narrow cupboard). Shutting down the stopcock didn't stop the drip and I contacted the plumber who'd installed the whole affair just a few months ago. Given that it was clear this had been going on for some time I decided not to treat it as an emergency, but the plumber did turn up on Monday and diagnose the problem as a failure of the fancy valve that was supposed to mean I don't have to reach the stopcock itself to turn off the water. We'll have to wait for it to dry out a bit before putting it all back together again.

Nurse Rosenberg

Setenil de las Bodegas, Spain, November 2016

For the last few days Sister D and I have been standing in for mum at the parental manse, while she goes off to visit her brother in Seattle and then, of all places, Las Vegas. Lola II has gone with her, while Sister D and I have a full list of instructions that is seven pages long. So far, nobody has been murdered.

The campaign started when I arrived the night before the flight to find that mum needed help packing while dad reported a horrible dream about the plane being shot down by the King of Jordan and everyone dying in the resulting explosion. Over the next 12 hours the dream acquired the status of a premonition, and we all regularly had to withstand dad's heartfelt pleas for mum and Lola II to change their flight plans.

On the day of the flight I accompanied mum to the airport, which was not without its own stresses as we could find absolutely nowhere to park at the tube station and we were delayed by about 20 minutes while I drove about looking for a space. The train we boarded then changed its destination half way, but all's well that ends well and we got there in three hours. I returned by exactly the same route in less than two hours. Mum and Lola II were delayed three hours on the tarmac as someone on the plane was ill, but no mid-air explosions ensued. Since dad's premonition was been revealed to be false, he declared that he will no longer believe or tell us about any of his dreams. This resolution lasted less than 24 hours.

My responsibilities are few - I have to admit the carers in the morning and evening, admit the cleaner and do the laundry on Friday, supply meals and medications, and deal with any parental emergencies that arise. No emergencies have arisen, thank goodness, because I am supremely confident of my skills in opening the front door, the pill box and the fridge and working the cooker and microwave, but much less confident about dealing with emergencies. The main change I have instituted is to force dad to make his own breakfast, which he is perfectly able to do.

I also have a list of things mum would quite like done before she gets back, and a list of boring jobs that I would quite like to do before they get back (you know - insurance renewals, utility contracts, reviewing all the fancy multimedia hardware that Mr MHX specified last weekend) and altogether there isn't as much free time as I had anticipated. I have brought many toys, games, books and DVDs, and the fabric for the dress I promised Lola II about two years ago. When I spread it out on the table ready to go I discovered that and not enough had been supplied. I really should have checked at the time, but it's obviously much too late now to make a fuss. It will make a lovely top.

So I have spray painted the copper pipes to the new boiler in the kitchen, gone for a run (the first for at least a year), met two different school friends for coffee and hosted Sunday lunch with Sister D and Cousin Y. I had a look at the fan heater that had stopped working, squeezed into the cupboard under the stairs to have check the fuse box and discovered it was the old type and entirely unlabelled. So I went back to the fan heater to turn it on so I could tell from the light whether the power was off, and it spontaneously came back to life. Result. Next day the carer said yes, it works intermittently, so no result after all.

Not the LTRP

Krakow Botanic Gardents, July 2016

All this building activity reminds me of university time when I was learning new things every week, but the desire to blog about the building work all takes up an awful lot of time. I used to have plenty when I was a student, but nowadays not so much.

In case you hadn't noticed, I let the tenth anniversary of my blogging pass without note in the summer. I held no expectation that I'd keep going this long, although I knew that writing is something I enjoy and hoped that blogging would satisfy that urge. There's lots of room for more writing once I 'have more time' (retirement?) including some fiction, perhaps. Or there are the notes of my year of volunteering in Israel, which I planned to turn into a book thirty years ago but never got round to. And I've got a plastic bag of stuff from primary and secondary school days that is begging to be examined - I bet some of it would be blogworthy.

Anyway, the two weeks without days off and the LTRP and extra nights of badminton matches and music group and a trip to see mum and dad have worn me out, with a bonus night of disturbed sleep about a particular patient that I can't even write about, but he/she made me so troubled and disturbed and ANGRY that I couldn't sleep. I didn't even go to badminton on Monday of the second week. Delivering my courses I was getting confused about what I'd delivered to which group.

There's still quite a lot of high level activity around diabetes education following the awarding of a large pot of money to the commissioners who are trying to work out how to spend it. In examining this problem they have realised that they don't know what they are already paying for. Naturally enough they asked someone in the hospital finance or business department how their existing funding is spent, and this person addressed the issue by completely ignoring it until one of the doctors realised what was going on and called a meeting. Thankfully I didn't have to go, but my colleague reported that it went quite well and may have given us a further brief reprieve.

There is another meeting about diabetes education that I will have to attend; they have set up all sorts of 'Task and Finish' groups to try and work out how to spend this money, and have appointed a project manager, so it is possible that all the grant will be spent in finding out how bad the situation is, and no money will be left to do anything about it. In the meantime there are rumours about what will happen when NHS Commissioning is dissolved again, this time in favour of GP Alliances. Fear not, I will let you know exactly how this goes, if it ever happens.

Patient education for Type 2 diabetes has all but ceased with the departure of my Dietitian Team Leader colleague and another member of that dysfunctional team. Courses were cancelled such that there has been only one course delivered between last August and January next year, and it was delivered by me and the ex-Team Leader to only four participants. There are various conspiracy theories about why this should be - when I offered to deliver more I was told that there wasn't really a waiting list. Meanwhile the commissioners are looking at the thousands of people being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes who are eligible to attend the course and may well wonder why only four people have received any education in six months.

Then out of the blue came the bombshell that one of the people who hasn't delivered a course for about a year has won an award as Educator of the Year, which makes me laugh but everyone else is furious. Hard on the heels of this news is the further update that another member of that team is leaving, although there is a rumour that a new Dietitian Team Leader has been appointed. Nothing confirmed has reached me, though.

I attended a very useful talk about Eating Disorders and Diabetes delivered by the psychiatrist who leads the service for this area. It was an evening meeting in a posh hotel with dinner, and the audience was a mix of doctors, nurses and dietitians but I was the only Diabetes Specialist Dietitian and there were no dietitians or nurses from the main hospital or from the community diabetes service. The other dietitians were from the weight management service, and they told me that a) their psychologist screens patients who have been referred onto the pathway to bariatric surgery but does not treat any eating disorders that are uncovered, and b) while this Eating Disorders service exists for people with diabetes, there is a much lower level of service for people who don't have diabetes. At least they have access to a psychologist - we don't in the adult diabetes service.

I learned about the three main types of eating disorder: Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa and Binge Eating Disorder, and these are even more prevalent in the population of people with diabetes. Damaging behaviours include purging, laxative abuse and excessive exercise, but with diabetes comes the additional option of insulin restriction, combined with the increased need to focus attention on food and blood glucose that is not necessary for people who don't have diabetes. The existence of Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA) which is one effect of insulin restriction also hugely increases the risk of mortality in the diabetic population with an eating disorder.

The service consists of a psychiatrist, a nurse and a dietitian. I'm quite keen to see more of what they do, so will try to set up a visit. Maybe they will come and talk to the diabetes dietitians once we have some again.

Enough of work. The music group is still a lot of fun, but I really need to do some saxophone practice. And having managed by borrowing in previous years I feel obliged to get myself a Christmas jumper for the concert, not least because the church is freezing. Sounds like a hardship, but it's the sort of clothing I'd enjoy wearing at any time of year so not a problem.

The trip to dad and mum, while tiring, was a delight because dad is so much better. The stent that drains excess fluid from his brain was opened to its fullest extent at the last appointment, which could have had adverse side effects but in fact has restored him to nearly his previous state of health. He's still deaf and wobbly on his feet but at least he's talking and showing an interest in what's going on around him. He even asked me how the building work was going. I told him that in future if he's naughty we now have an on/off switch.

Otherwise there's a distinct lack of reading going on except audio books and podcasts in the car.

Names

Krakow Botanical Gardens, July 2016

There are going to have to be some naming conventions for all the LTRP tradesmen yet to come, and this is one aspect (the only one?) of the building project that I'm quite looking forward to. Of course, my first builder is called Alf (which is his true name), then there was Elf who fixed the leaking roof of the hallway, and Ilf the handyman who continues to be a delight to work with, and finally Olf who sorted out the garage. The architect is escaping without official nomenclature, but the latest builder is going to be Ulf and the kitchen guy Ylf. If I have any more work done we're going to have to start on consonants, which will be only marginally less satisfying. I'm slightly sorry that Electrician Bill somehow ended up outside this scheme.

I think I'll give subcontractors numbers or prefixes according to their branch of the tree. There will be a worktop man, maybe he will be Worktop sub-Ylf or Ylf 2, and there may be Plumber sub-Ulf, or Ulf the Wrench. Or Firstborn Son of Ulf the King. If the plumber has a mate, he might be Plumber sub-Ulf (a). I will probably need to keep a reference table somewhere. We'll see who turns up and how I feel.

I've managed to get hold of Ulf since he came back from holiday, and the start of the job has been put back by a month. Rather than being annoyed I am slightly relieved, because there have been several issues that rely on having enough notice to arrange, and it was starting to look as though things were moving too fast. If a swift decision were ever needed from me in order to avoid certain death, I think I would have to ring a few people to say goodbye. Anyway, I have some more answers from Ulf and I have spoken to Ylf and I am almost back on track. Maybe I'll be able to get a proper night's sleep soon, if it weren't for the pesky patients.

In between worrying about patients and building works and gradually moving out more of the kitchen contents, I have ferried dad and mum to one of dad's hospital appointments where he seemed to enjoy meeting a Clinical Psychologist while mum and I ate egg sandwiches and chatted in the waiting room. There has been a family gathering for Sister D's birthday, and I have watched the Oscar-winning film 'Moonlight', which was very moving. Other than that, nothing to report.

More progress

Tusmore Estate, April 2017

Nothing special to report for the last few weeks, although I've been having a good time. We had a family gathering on mum+dad's 60th wedding anniversary, which in true family style was celebrated by nothing special at all other than all of us being there. I have done a few of the jobs on my list that have been waiting for quite a long time, including meeting the new landlord of the Pub Next Door, buying house insurance, and putting up the last curtain in the new office/spare bedroom space which can be drawn across to separate the two 'rooms'.

The upstairs space is now structurally finished, but furniture needs to be brought upstairs which will need the help of some burly individuals who can help me move a filing cabinet, desks (one from downstairs to upstairs and the other in the opposite direction) and a bookcase. That will, I think, complete the office move, except for deciding what to do about the noticeboard.

More on the LTRP front - I now have working drawings to give the kitchen suppliers and builders, and I have sought alternative quotes. The alternative builder has so far not responded at all, and the alternative kitchen supplier was very scathing about my washing up preferences! She did however come up with the useful suggestion that my next step might be to settle on the appearance of the floor. I am going to have a vinyl option called Karndean, and I drove to the main Karndean showroom in Evesham, which was well worth the trip. I came away with three different samples large enough to make a choice at home, and the confidence that any one of them would do nicely.

Oh yes, I have been to see H+B in the North West along with Lola II, Mr M and Sister D, and we all made ourselves thoroughly at home over lunch. We were hoping to do a bit of walking in the afternoon, but the weather put a stop to that. I took the opportunity of visiting our Postal Mechanisation guru on the way home, since he also lives in the North West. He was very kind and welcoming even though it was Good Friday, which is just as well because we spent nearly five hours (FIVE HOURS) going through another three boxes of material that mum had unearthed. I got home at 2 a.m.

However, I had to agree with Lola II, Mr M and Sister D that I was spending too much time on this stupid ebay project. Although I find it mildly enjoyable, the time spent for meagre financial return is simply not worth it, and I have plenty of other more enjoyable occupations that I have no time for. So the plan was that I would go through the new stuff with the PM guru but would ask him to dispose of anything of value, and throw away everything else. This is what I did, so now I am only going to finish auctioning the material I already had. There is one box remaining, so it will still take a month or two.

I spent a day at the Birmingham Buddhist Centre doing meditation, listening to lectures, talking to all sorts of people and then watching a kind of ritual that is the closest buddhists seem to get to formal 'worship'. The thought most prominent in my mind was 'I can't imagine ever joining in with that', but who knows? They are a thoughtful and sincere group of people and I have a lot more in common with them than with any of my work colleagues and many of my friends.

Over the Easter break, as well as the northern excursion I did another ten mile walk with the Meetup group I joined for the New Year walk. The walk leader this time set a rather fast pace, and by the end my legs were aching and I'd also managed to acquire an impressive blister on my little toe. If I sign up for another long walk I'll have to watch out for who's leading, but in fact I'll probably stick to the five mile options in future. The picture at the head of the blog was taken on the route, but the estate is privately owned so we didn't go in and I don't exactly know what the buildings are.

Lastly, badminton news: Club #2 held an end-of-season tournament (they don't play over the summer) and I won the top lady prize. While you may think this indicates my advanced badminton skillz, you should consider the alternative explanation, which is that I have chosen to play in a club containing players who are significantly older and significantly less fit than I am. But I was runner up for the past two years, so it's still rather nice to win something.

North Oxfordshire, April 2017

Philharmonia and philately

Borough Market, May 2016

There has been a long weekend, which in my case extended to Tuesday due to my habitual day off, and it feels as though I have packed in several weekends' worth of excitement. Things that happened: I did not buy a tenor saxophone mouthpiece, I met a man who struck up a conversation (and this in London, mind) and who then offered to sell me a baritone saxophone, I bought said baritone saxophone, I met a lot of fans of the football club Sheffield Wednesday, I met two people I last worked with in 1988 (and one of whom I had not seen since then), people who weren't Lola II and Mr M came round to my house and stayed overnight and I think I managed to behave as a welcoming host rather than a reclusive hermit, two other people who still weren't Lola II and Mr M came round to my house and had a play with the baritone saxophone and were almost as excited as me, and I went to an organ recital. And this doesn't include regular ordinary things like cleaning, cooking, food shopping and running. And I went to my physiotherapy appointment about my painful shoulder.

The previous week-and-a-bit was also full of mysteries and wonders which did include Lola II and Mr M as well as the rest of my UK-based family and a little bit of non-UK-based family. Things that happened: I attended a Study Day about Type 1 diabetes and exercise (a blog post on that subject is a complex scholarly work and still in the pipeline), stayed with Lola II and Mr M, went to Borough Market and the Museum of London with Lola II, attended the UK-based family event, had lunch at a nice garden centre in Little Venice, didn't attend the non-UK-based family event (but neither did the non-UK-based family so that was all right), and spent a day with mum and a Postal Mechanisation Man sorting through dad's collection of philatelic material. I'm using the word 'philatelic' loosely to mean anything relating to the postal service.

I think I should stop complaining about being busy because this now seems to be my normal state. Since I bought the Fitbit there have only been two days when I haven't walked more than 10,000 steps without any extra effort - I thought I would have to try much harder.

I shall pick a few highlights from all the things that have been happening.

The non-UK-based family event involved a cousin who had been in touch to see if he could catch up with us on his way through London. We very nearly put mum and dad in a taxi for an hour and me in a car for even longer in order to meet at Lola II's house but in the end, for various reasons, we didn't. This was a good thing, because the meeting that the cousin was attending between flights took up all the intervening time and he didn't make it to Lola II's house either.

Dad's philatelic collection is big, very big. We have been trying to whittle it down now that he is not actively collecting it any more. One large chunk is all about Postal Mechanisation - in basic terms, the use of machines rather than people to sort mail. Just to prove that for any human interest there is an interest group, there exists a Postal Mechanisation Study Circle (PMSC), whose newsletter led me to contact its Secretary to see if they could provide any support in disposing of dad's collection in a more constructive way than through the medium of a bonfire.

Having spent four hours in his company, I can say that the Secretary of the PMSC is a lovely man. He extended a trip to London with a Tube journey out to mum and dad's house and went through the entire postal mechanisation collection with enthusiasm and excitement. He took a small proportion away with him for auction, and left the rest in piles representing valuable material, stuff that might sell on eBay, and a disappointingly small amount that could be thrown out. There is still much work to do - this collection is perhaps a quarter of the stuff that's still in boxes and cupboards - but I can't manage any more at the moment, especially with the LTRP and the new saxophone-related activity.

The new saxophone-related activity started with a proposal to meet up with people who were kibbutz volunteers at the same time as me back in 1987-88. The proposed venue was Baker Street, and there is a shop nearby that had been recommended as somewhere that would allow me to try out different saxophone mouthpieces, because I had been told that the difficulties I had with the low notes on my tenor sax might be resolved with a different mouthpiece. The tenor sax is extremely heavy, and usually when I go to London it is to the outer fringes where my family lives, so this was a perfect opportunity to get the sax to the shop without a great deal of messing about on the Tube.

So I arrived at the shop with my tenor saxophone and they duly provided me with different mouthpieces to try. It became very clear that the problem was between the mouthpiece and the chair - or possibly the saxophone itself. None of the different mouthpieces solved the problem, so I sat in front of the cafe next door (it was a lovely morning) with a cup of tea and pondered my options. This is when conversation started with the chap at the next table about saxophones and he offered me the baritone sax which was to be found in the basement of his shop across the road. A friend had recently managed to borrow one of these and told me it was worth more than his car, so the £100 price tag seemed like a bargain, especially as it played much better than my tenor sax.

This left me in London with two large saxophones and a meeting in the Baker Street pub - it is a large pub but none of us anticipated that it would be entirely full of football supporters due to an event known as a 'play-off' (I had to ask) which would allow either Sheffield Wednesday or Hull City to be promoted to the Premier League. This pub was restricted to the Sheffield supporters - Hull fans were refused entry and directed to a different pub to avoid any trouble. Unfortunately kick-off was not until 5pm so the pub would be full to bursting for several more hours. Which meant that I and my two large saxophones were not ideally suited to a quiet pint and a chat with ex-volunteers. We eventually decamped to an alternative location and had a lovely time.

There was a lot more activity to come within the long, long weekend, but I shall jump to the physio appointment I had on Tuesday to see if anything could be done about my painful shoulder. This was damaged during ski holiday #2 and has been giving me some trouble for two months but only in certain movements: applying the car handbrake, removing tight clothing over my head, carrying heavy luggage up steep stairs. I wasn't optimistic that physiotherapy would achieve anything, but in fact it achieved a diagnosis of inflammation in the joint between the top of the humerus and the acromion process of the shoulder blade causing some 'impingement'. Three treatments were suggested - a stretching exercise I should do a few times a day, anti-inflammatory gel and ice. It should get better slowly, but I have the option to contact the physio again within a month if I think I need to.

Ski France and Home News

Moûtiers, April 2016

It's been a busy fortnight for me, so nothing unusual there. There was my second ski holiday of 2016, followed by a week containing (as well as work) one badminton club night, two badminton matches (we lost both) and an introduction to Buddhism and meditation. I'm behind with everything, not just this blog.

Before Easter I managed to finish the dress I've been making for sister D, and posted it off to her. That dress pattern has been very good value - three dresses made and possibly one more to come! I also managed to negotiate a 9% discount on a new ski jacket and trousers, which were still jolly expensive but fit perfectly, unlike my previous ski clothing which was low price/low quality and bought for a larger version of me.

The ski holiday was with friends who had arranged all transport and accommodation independently in order to maximise the time available for skiing. On a normal package you fly out and arrive in the resort on day 1, head back on day 8 and have six days skiing in between.  What we did was travel by train overnight to arrive in the resort and ski on day 1, and head back on day 8 after a morning's skiing. So eight days skiing in total.

The travelling wasn't bad - Eurostar to Paris, then local sleeper train to Moûtiers, then local bus to Méribel, and the same in reverse for the way back. We had some time to kill in Paris on the way out and in Moûtiers on the way back, so there was a tiny bit of French sightseeing as well. Ski conditions were variable - one gloriously sunny day, one day when everything shut down at lunchtime because of wind, one day when clouds were a bit low and visibility came and went quite suddenly, the other days a combination of sun, cloud, wind and rain. But we skied every day and it was fine.

I only fell over properly once, but unfortunately I did something nasty to my left shoulder which is still rather painful. If it had been my right shoulder I could have avoided playing in those two lost badminton matches - thankfully we are being demoted next season so maybe we'll manage to win a match or two next year.

The introduction to Buddhism and meditation was very interesting, and the first of four weekly sessions. Nothing revelatory to announce here yet, but I'll keep you posted because I think I'll have something to say by the end. At the weekend I journeyed south to help mum clear out some of the accumulated detritus of a lifetime, which is ultimately necessary but rather dispiriting, and which I am starting to regret slightly. Anyway, it's in a box not in the bin so there is time to retrieve the situation. Maybe my gay abandon has resulted from the clearing out of 15 years worth of accumulated detritus from the garage at Lola Towers in preparation for remedial work. Still not finished and more trips required to the tip.

The Lola Towers Renovation Project (LTRP) continues apace with yet another workman coming round to look at some small jobs - very small in comparison with the garage, but if completed then they will add materially to my personal happiness (at least as much as learning to meditate, if not more). The only down side is that about half of the small jobs need input from me in terms of locating and buying things. It's not enough to tell the workman that I want this or that light fitting replaced, I've actually got to choose what I want it replaced with. Not easy for a non-shopper like me.

The workman - let's follow a theme to its fullest extent and call him Ilf - seems like a nice chap, enthusiastic and very talkative, and he certainly describes himself as the kind of workman I want. He's actually coming back to get started tomorrow, so either he's very keen and sees the potential goldmine that the LTRP represents, or he's not very good and hasn't got any other work at the moment. We'll soon find out, and you will be among the first to know about it.

I have also reached the point where my expanding waistline can no longer be ignored, and I have designed and instituted a set of Diet Rules for the next 5 weeks. These are designed to disrupt the bad habits I have acquired and embed a new set of habits that I hope will become the new normal. You may imagine the type of situation I am trying to prevent if I let on that one of the rules is 'No more than 100g of dark chocolate a week'. I'm not prepared to reveal the level of weekly chocolate that previously prevailed.

Foot trouble

Harrogate, July 2015

Written two weeks ago. I've been busy, and away - more about that soon, perhaps.

'Last weekend' was most productive on Saturday, when I managed to clear the last of the roses from the lawn and hack away enthusiastically at the bay, the pyracantha and the speckled leaved shrub whose name I forget. One more car-load of clippings to take to the tip, then all that remains is the wisteria and the ivy. It's been good and busy at Lola Towers.

On Sunday I made the trip south to mum and dad, where jobs awaiting me included PC configuration and fixing a new grab rail to the bathroom wall. I'm a bit out of practice with drilling but I dutifully packed the drill as well as my laptop. Things didn't go as planned because about half an hour after I arrived, mum did something to her foot which didn't go away when we ignored it and prevented her from weight-bearing at all.

We were advised by the non-emergency NHS 111 service to put some ice on it and take two paracetamol tablets before going to A&E. With the help of zimmer frames and wheeled office chairs mum made it to the car - the non-emergency ambulance was an option but we'd have to wait for a very long time - and off we went. After two hours the doctor saw her and sent her for an X-ray, but after waiting another hour and a half in a corridor she'd had enough, and asked me to come and collect her. The foot's OK, and we're not sure what happened, but all's well that ends well. I feel a little guilty about not attempting the drilling, but I don't think it would have been a high quality outcome.

At work our diabetes education group finished last Thursday with the most generous and complimentary feedback ever, and the group had even bought and signed a Thank You card for us. My new Diabetes Dietitian colleague was observing the course preparatory to delivering it herself, and I'm looking forward to being able to share this job. Unfortunately we're still a nurse short, so we're still very reliant on the one nurse who is able to deliver the course with us. There's a plan in place for trying to fill this gap, but I think it will take some time.

Good riddance

Wastwater, December 2015

The year end approaches, and reflection on the past year is often indulged in at this time.

2015 has mostly been a bit rubbish. But not quite all of it.

I have read 54 books (and another two on the go at the moment).

I am currently having a lovely walking holiday in the Lake District with friends. Despite all my supposed fitness achieved from running and badminton, my legs suffered a bit of a setback due to an enormous steep downhill stretch, and I had to take it easy the following day. Luckily the worst weather arrived on that day, so I didn't miss much. Unfortunately I took part in another epic walk the next day and now my left knee is officially defunct. My badminton team will be almost as cross as I am.

My family has had a mixed year, and dad is still recovering from an operation intended to relieve various unpleasant symptoms. The stairlift has provided much cause for discussion and debate in the last few months. Lola II and Mr M are well, but are in the doghouse because they abandoned me to spend New Year in Seattle with other family members.

Work has been mostly interesting and enjoyable, although there are frequently issues that demand no little amount of forbearance. The vacant Dietitian post has now been filled and we are in training mode with the new incumbent. We may be getting cover for the nurse who has been on sick leave for a few months, but again it will be an untrained replacement who will take some time to get up to speed. In terms of doctors and management, I can only observe and usually despair at the lack of any form of rational strategic thinking.

Friends: well, let's say I need to work a bit harder on this aspect of my life. I have plenty of acquaintances but few real friends, and almost none in the region where I actually live. This has to be a priority for the coming year.

In terms of hobbies, I expect that badminton and running will continue, as soon as the knee recovers. I don't have any particular ambitions - no plans for half-marathons or even any more 10k runs. I might go back to marshalling at Run-Forest-Run next year, but we'll see how it goes. I'm still making the dress for Sister D, and because the pattern works much better with stretchy fabric I've volunteered to make yet another one for Lola II, because the one I made for her before wasn't stretchy.

My home environment is about to undergo a great deal of change, and this is another aspect I'm planning to concentrate on over the next 12 months.

On the whole I am glad that 2015 is coming to an end, and rather looking forward to a fresh start for 2016. Happy New Year!

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.