What I've been reading

The Kalahari Typing School for Men
by Alexander McCall Smith

"Life is never without its problems. It turns out that her adopted son is responsible for the dead hoopoe bird in the garden; her assistant, Mma Makutsi, wants a husband and needs help with her idea to open the Kalahari Typing School for Men."

The least satisfying of the series so far - nothing much happens compared with the previous books. But still pleasant and easy to read.

Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers
by Grant Naylor

"The first lesson Lister learned about space travel was you should never try it. But Lister didn't have a choice. All he remembered was going on a birthday celebration pub crawl through London. When he came to his senses again, he had nothing in his pockets but a passport in the name of Emily Berkenstein."

I've read this before, evidenced by the fact that it was in my bookshelves, but I didn't remember anything about it so a pleasure to read again. The experience is definitely supported by the memory of the TV series and the actors portraying the characters, but it manages to do something new with the story and my only criticism is that it doesn't have a satisfactory ending - there must be a subsequent book that picks up the pieces and resolves things. Another thing that the No. 1 Detective Agency series accomplishes superbly - each book can stand entirely alone.

The Shipping News
by Annie Proulx

"When his no-good wife is killed in a road accident, Quoyle heads for the land of his forefathers - the remotest corner of far-flung Newfoundland. With 'the aunt' and his delinquent daughters in tow, Quoyle finds himself part of an unfolding, exhilarating Atlantic drama."

At last, a book from my 'classics' list that I've enjoyed reading, even if I'm not sure why. It was made into a good film though. The story meanders about, never really having any shape, but creates the atmosphere of the Newfoundland settlement at the end of the earth next to the ocean where almost everyone has lost someone to the sea, or worse. But it manages to have a happy ending.

The Penguin Book of Southern African Stories
by Stephen Gray (editor)

"From the pre-Christian African legends full of people, animals and death, to the tales of the white settlers colonizing in a land both beautiful and inhospitable, to the later stories of a civilization that had established itself, this selection reflects a thriving, diverse and colourful tradition."

A selection of short stories, some just a page or two and others a bit longer, some written in English and some in translation. None was particularly memorable, but an interesting contrast as a more academic compilation alongside the populist No 1 Detective Agency series set in the same part of the world. Best of all, I left the book with the friends I was staying with when I finished it.

The Betrayers
by David Bezmozgis

"When Baruch Kotler, a disgraced Israeli politician, refuses to back down from a contrary but principled stand regarding the West Bank settlements, his political opponents expose his affair with a mistress decades his junior. He and the fierce young Leora flee the scandal for Yalta, where, in an unexpected turn of events, he comes face-to-face with the former friend who denounced him to the KGB almost 40 years earlier."

I was offered this by some friends I was staying with, and read it all in a morning after waking up quite early and waiting for the rest of the household to emerge. It is based loosely on the story of Natan Sharansky, but offers a fictional idea of how a meeting between him and his betrayer might arise and what might transpire. Very satisfactory.

Scaramouche
by Rafael Sabatini

narrated by B. J. Harrison

"Set during the French Revolution, this classic novel of swashbuckling adventure and sweeping romance is also a thought provoking commentary on class, inequality, and the individual's role in society."

I didn't have high expectations about this one, especially as it's my American-narrated podcast, but he got help from a French-speaker so the pronunciation was much improved, and the story isn't bad at all. There was a (plot spoiler) "I am your father" incident at the end which I spotted just before it happened, but apart from that I was carried along nicely with the adventures of the lawyer-turned-actor-turned-fencing master-turned politician hero, who also got the right girl in the end.

The Full Cupboard of Life
by Alexander McCall Smith

"Mma Precious Ramotswe helps indecisive fiancé Mr J.L.B. Matekoni when orphan farm manager Mma Potakwani persuades him to jump out of an aeroplane, and a bullying dishonest competing mechanic calls."

Back to form with this one - there's a nice balance between the personal lives and the detective work of the characters.

The story of a dress

August 2020

Before Lola II and Mr M's wedding, more than seven years ago, I persuaded Lola to let me make her a dress from a pattern she'd chosen. It was supposed to be made from stretchy fabric but we couldn't find any at the time, so I made it from different fabric and it was nice but a bit difficult to get in and out of because it wasn't stretchy. I blogged about it at the time.

It was such a nice pattern that I thought I'd make one for myself, and found some stretchy fabric and spent one solitary holiday many moons ago in Harrogate making the dress. I remember wearing it on just two occasions, mainly because I don't ever wear dresses except at parties and I don't go to parties any more.

I can't remember how it came about, but I offered to make another one from the same pattern for Sister D. This went well, but I have a feeling that almost immediately it was too small for her. However, along with both Lola II and myself, Sister D has lost a load of weight, so I wouldn't be surprised if it fits her again now (except it was quite a warm, heavy fabric so too hot for the summer).

So now we all three sisters had one of these dresses, but Lola II's wasn't stretchy so, having got so good at this particular pattern, I offered to make her a better one. We found and ordered the fabric on the Internet, but when it arrived for some reason it got put in a drawer and I didn't come back to it for 18 months. When I did, I discovered that the supplier had made a mistake with the order and there wasn't enough material, but much too late to return for a refund and the fabric design was no longer available.

More time went past, but this was on my conscience, so eventually Lola II and I managed to choose and order some more fabric, which I paid for this time, and I got started on another dress. I reached about two thirds of the way through before it got put in a drawer and neglected. Until now.

I reached the point in lockdown when I was at long last ready to tackle a more time-consuming job that didn't require a tradesman and wasn't part of the LTRP. A little while ago Lola II concocted a plan whereby we would all self-isolate for two weeks and then she would drive mum up to stay with me for a night as a treat. It occurred to me that it would be lovely if I could finish the dress in time, as a surprise.

I got started with working out where I'd got up to, then sewed the first seam which then needed to be ironed open (this is routine for dressmaking). Somehow I managed to get everything completely wrong and melted a hole in the stupid thing.

So after a number of exasperated expletives, that's where I left the situation and put the half-finished dress back in the drawer. Lola II and mum did come to visit, and it was a lovely visit, and I showed them the mess I'd made. I tried to give Lola II the dress I'd previously made for myself from the same pattern but she is a different shape from me and it didn't look right on her. Instead, we agreed that I will patch up the hole which is in an unobtrusive place on the waistline at the back, and we'll call it 'individual' and 'unique' and nobody will notice unless their attention is drawn to it. This is why I like Lola II more than your 'normal' person who would never accept a home-made dress seven years late with a patched-up hole in it.

A bevy of tradespeople

Sidekick and Doors and Windows Ulf hard at work

You wait for ages for quotes and availability, and then they all turn up on the same morning.

To be fair, my Lady Gardener's date was well established, and she's no trouble at all. She generates a few bags of green waste in a couple of hours, and this time I'd booked a slot at the tip the following day so I could get rid of it straight away, as well as a few other things I'm getting rid of. (I'm still trying to empty all unnecessary stuff out of the house, and took a big bag of books to the Oxfam book shop, but neglected to phone ahead as I should have. Thankfully they took the bag anyway, because it was pretty heavy and I wouldn't have fancied taking it home again.)

The others to arrive at the same time were Doors and Windows Ulf and Sidekick to replace the front door, and Damp Man Dlf 3 to treat the walls in the wet room and the porch. I'd put the order in for the front door a week before lockdown, and then manufacture immediately stopped in the place abroad where the doors are made. When the door was finally available we struggled to find a suitable date when I would be at home. The damp treatment was needed before work could continue in the wet room and it was just one of those things that the date we arranged clashed with the work on the front door.

Dlf 1 was the damp estimator who lives round the corner, Dlf 2 was the damp man I called to make the arrangements for the work to be done, and he sent damp man Dlf 3 to do the first stage of the work, which is to remove plaster up to 1 metre from the floor and then inject some sort of gel into drilled holes along a mortar line just above floor level. Except that the quote had stipulated that the wet room plumbers would remove the plaster in the wet room, and they hadn't removed quite enough of it, and Dlf 3 said if it wasn't in the quote he couldn't do it. I gave him some cash to do it, so he did it. The next stage is to add a membrane and then replace the plaster, and I checked with Dlf 2 who said that damp man Dlf 4 would be coming to do that part next week.

Meanwhile Doors and Windows Ulf and Sidekick were getting on with the front door, ripping out the old door and frame, fitting the glazed panel at the top, putting the new door in and adding architraves and generally making it nice. It's actually a very dark blue, although it looks black in the picture. They didn't do the final sealant because Dlf 3 was about to generate a whole load of dust which would stick to the lovely fresh sealant and make it look bad, and they have to come back anyway because they need to fit the spy hole. We agreed that it was a good thing the spy hole hadn't been factory fitted because it would definitely have been too high for me to look through. 

I have also ordered a new door number which they offered to fix to the wall for me as part of the job. The only thing that was forgotten was the doorbell, and the sound of knuckles rapping at the door can't be heard beyond the hall. Luckily I happened to be in the hall this morning when there was a parcel for me, which was a very lucky coincidence. If I do happen to have any visitors they will have to phone me for the time being.

I had stocked up with biscuits and even remembered to buy some instant coffee (so in a couple of years it will turn into a solid black mass and I'll throw it out like the last jar). D&W Ulf's Sidekick made good headway with the biscuits, though. I'll be taking any of those that are left over to work.

Dlf 3

Birthday happiness

July 2020

In the week leading up to my birthday I signed up to an online Buddhist retreat, to be undertaken at home. Usually a retreat takes you away from all mundane cares, with nothing to worry about except trying not to be late for meals and the scheduled sessions, and there aren't all that many of those. On the other hand, at home there's still all the usual stuff to be done, and in my case many tradesmen to communicate with, and it was difficult to separate myself from phone and Internet and TV. 

I also signed up too late to be able to take time off work so I missed the sessions on Monday and Tuesday, and as well as work there were still my usual evening meetings on Monday and Tuesday, and I had a pre-existing meeting on Wednesday. The retreat sessions were recorded and available through a web page, but I never did catch up. It was a very full week.

The day before my birthday Lola II and Mr M and I went to see mum and dad, and I brought shopping from Lidl which mum misses above all things. The weather was perfect so we could sit outside, and we brought our camping stoves and cooked our own lunch. I went home with Lola II and Mr M and we ordered takeaway Japanese food in the evening, and took part in the latest scheduled Zoom meeting with friends - a quiz.

Lola II and Mr M gave me some plum chutney made from their home-grown plums which I'm looking forward to trying. Such a shame that their grape vine has died, I really enjoyed the grape jam, although the diet doesn't really allow for much jam at the moment. I'm still losing weight but more slowly - 5.7kg down now, and hoping for just 1kg more. I started the diet because my clothes were too tight and I didn't want to have to go shopping for new ones, so there's little point in reaching a situation where I have to go shopping because my clothes are too loose.

The weather for my birthday was as lovely as the previous day, and as I chatted to the man behind the fish counter at Waitrose about it and mentioned that it was my birthday, he stuck a label on my purchase indicating that it would be free of charge! Then when I arrived home I noticed a skip outside my neighbour's house which had a couple of bar stools in it. They looked a bit dusty but seemed intact, and were a perfect match with my existing bar stools and the colour of my kitchen walls. It has occasionally been awkward having only three stools, so I took one out and cleaned it up (with permission from the skip owner who is having a clear out before moving away). 

And so endeth the birthday, with a fish supper, while sitting on a stool, enjoying the glorious sunshine of a lockdown summer.

What I've been reading

A History of Britain: The Wars of the British 1603-1776
by Simon Schama

narrated by Stephen Thorne

"The beginning of the 17th century promised that England's golden age would long outlast its Elizabethan namesake. Within a few years, that promise would end in civil war, political unrest, and international conflict, a period of strife that would last for two centuries, but produce the modern British nation."

The second volume of this comprehensive history, and I learned a lot that I suspect most students who were interested in history learned at school. Charles I and II and the English Civil War, the loss of America to independence, the slave trade and colonial India all within the space of just over a century. I'm lining up the third volume after I've had a bit of a break with some lighter fare.

Tears of the Giraffe
by Alexander McCall Smith

"Mma Ramotswe's impending marriage to that most gentlemanly of men, Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni, the promotion of her secretary to the dizzy heights of Assistant Detective and new additions to the Matekoni family, all brew up the most humorous and charmingly entertaining of tales."

Another light read to break up the heaviness of the other books under way. I find that as well as enjoying the stories I am impressed by the author's ability to structure the book, interweaving different parallel strands but keeping up the momentum of the narration.

Ramble Book
by Adam Buxton

narrated by Adam Buxton

"A very funny and at times incredibly poignant memoir, taking in Adam’s burgeoning love of pop culture as a teenager, his feelings about childhood and parenthood, coming to terms with the death of his father and lots more besides."

I've been listening to Adam Buxton's output for a long time, from when he had a radio show with Joe Cornish on BBC 6 Music, and more recently his podcasts where he interviews interesting people, some of them his friends. He is a tortured soul, full of insecurities, but funny and personable and always doing his best to do the right thing, even if he doesn't always succeed (arguments with railway officials being an outstanding example). Immediately after I had finished this book and mourned the death of his father with him, I listened to his latest podcast in which he talks to his close friend Joe about the unexpected and sudden death of his mother.

Fox & Cameron's Food Science, Nutrition & Health
by Michael E. J. Lean

"The book deals with a wide range of topics, from food microbiology and technology to healthy eating and clinical nutrition. It also tackles the more difficult area of biochemistry and makes the chemical nature of all the important food groups accessible."

I found this book at work during a clear-out and it's the sort of thing that I find interesting - well, it was OK. It suffered from poor editing so I was frequently distracted by wording that didn't flow or mistakes in the text - surprising in a 7th edition. I expect it's a key textbook for some course somewhere though.

Morality for Beautiful Girls
by Alexander McCall Smith

"With her detective agency in financial difficulty, Mma Ramotswe takes the hard decision to share offices to her husband-to-be, Mr J. L. B. Matekoni. But even through Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors could do with a little help, it is Mr Matekoni himself who requires her attention."

What can I say, the next in the series, and a very pleasant read. He beautifully evokes the cadences of African speech and a love of Botswana.

Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
by Roddy Doyle

"Paddy rampages through Barrytown streets with like-minded hooligans, playing cowboys, etching names in wet concrete, setting fires. The gang are not bad boys, just restless."

Another book that really lets you hear the voices of Irish lads making mischief, as well as the pain of being helpless in the face of events that are bigger than you. Children are very cruel, but so are adults in this book - some on purpose, some not.

Lady of Quality
by Georgette Heyer

narrated by Eve Matheson

"When spirited, independent Miss Annis Wychwood embroils herself in the affairs of a runaway heiress, she is destined to see a good deal of her fugitive's uncivil and high-handed guardian, Mr Oliver Carleton. And, chafing at the restrictions of Bath society, Annis has to admit that at least Mr Carleton is never boring."

Another from the Queen of the Regency Romance, the only sort of chick-lit I can tolerate. I think it's because Georgette Heyer makes her female characters such strong, sensible heroines, and so sure of themselves, even though this one did seem to give up a bit of that feisty independent spirit when the swain proposed.

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.

Risks Must Be Assessed

Stilt walkers, Munich, December 2019

I've been on holiday again, and when I go away, blog continuity suffers. I'll do my best to remember what happened before my holiday and see how we go. This post is about work, and there ought to be another blog at some point about what happened outside work and on my holiday, which was significant.

There were two students. After a lull when students were withdrawn, they're back with a vengeance - we have four, but they can't all be accommodated in the dietetic office over at the main hospital. In fact the dietetic office at the main hospital has been transformed by the introduction of screens, a one-way traffic system and all sorts of other efforts to allow safe distancing without everyone having to wear masks in the office all of the time. I haven't been there, and I hope not to have to go there (ever), but I read the emails that come round. Anyway, students. I had a different one with me for two Mondays in a row.

What with my patients as always being on the complex end of the spectrum, there is never much opportunity for a student to do much more than observe. Now we've got no patients coming in person for face to face consultations either, so all they can do is listen. We use a telephone with two handsets that's designed to be used for the telephone interpreting service. To make it a bit more interesting I asked the other team members (Doctor, Nurse) if they would mind having the students spend a bit of time listening to their consultations as well as mine, and asked the student to write a piece about multidisciplinary working, or diabetes, or really whatever they like, I don't care (I didn't tell them the last bit). It's hard work, though.

Then along with all this there was a meeting - online, with my new headset and camera - to talk about Structured Education. The Clinical Commissioning Group and DSNs and Dietitians from three NHS Trusts are working together under the leadership of a Dietetic Manager (not from my Trust) to sort out the mess that is our Diabetes Education. Actually, our Trust is not in a mess, in fact the consensus has been to pretty much adopt all of our admin processes, educational materials and methods of delivery, which a) is flattering and b) means I don't have to worry about checking through everything to make sure that I agree with it. Although I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't have done that anyway, not now. I might have done a few years ago.

The meeting took two and a half hours, plus the time afterwards for me to do a few things I'd been volunteered to do, and then we had to arrange a smaller follow up meeting to tidy things up, all of which used up an enormous proportion of my two-day week and put me well behind with the 'talking to patients' work that I like to do. There were a number of other frustrations too, but I did manage to make the point to the Commissioners that it is all very well coming up with amazing ideas for delivering education, but we don't actually have the staff to deliver it (particularly Dietitians and admin). I've made the same point up my management chain and will just leave it there.

Since then I've managed to catch up with most of my clinical work, until today when I made the mistake of opening my mouth instead of keeping it firmly shut. Last week in the multidisciplinary clinic, the doctor was quite keen to talk about bringing some people in to the Centre to be seen in person, and we came up with a possible plan for the following fortnight. My mistake was to mention this to my Team Leader, who thought it would be fine until she mentioned it to her Manager, who said, "What about the Risk Assessment?"

So in order for me to see patients face to face, the risks have to be assessed and there are Procedures That Must Be Documented and Carried Out, I gather mainly around cleaning and PPE. Of course none of these risks has been assessed nor procedures documented or carried out, so I don't know what I'm supposed to do. If we all come down with Covid-19 and sue the Trust somebody will end up in trouble, but it would have been a great deal easier if I'd said nothing and just got on with it. Anyway, I told the DSN in charge that my Manager wants a Risk Assessment and Procedures, there was much rolling of eyes and then thankfully it was the end of my working week and I went home.

For the record, our Trust has two Covid-19 cases at present, both of them in the other hospital, and neither one in Intensive Care. We have to wear face coverings when patients are in the building (which they increasingly are), and add gloves and plastic aprons when patients are in the same room, and use hand sanitiser and/or wash hands a lot, and keep socially distanced from one another. When I finish on Tuesday I wipe down all the surfaces in my room as it's used by other people when I'm not there. There are many official signs up now with 2m markings on the floor and a perspex screen for reception, and some kind of classification of Green and Blue Zones which I confess I don't understand. Luckily the Diabetes Centre is a building in the car park so we don't get mixed up in the zoning and restrictions that are in place within the main hospital building.

So that's work. I'll try not to leave it so long before writing about Not Work.

Several types of progress

Brompton Cemetery, September 2019

Lockdown is ending, and my drive to work twice a week is clogged again with other traffic going about its business once more. More shops are open although I have no desire whatever to go inside them, nor will I bother with pubs, restaurants, theatres and cinemas. The easing on restriction about meeting other people in real life is quite exciting, so I went for a walk with a friend on the hottest day of the year so far. And camping is about to be possible again...

The main bonus of fewer restrictions has been my ability to get started on the LTRP again. Ilf finished painting the front of the house, garage door and gate - I decided not to bother repainting the other sides of the house, which meant we managed to use up the last of the specially mixed paint from 10 years ago without having to buy more. I've had a couple of plumbers in to have a look at turning the shower room into a wet room and solve some of the associated drainage issues, so I hope that will go ahead soon. My gardener returned, and I even managed to find someone to have a look at the damp at the base of the pub wall. The garden is still as wild as ever, but with fewer weeds, especially in the paving. I took the bags of excess greenery to the tip, which now requires online booking for a time slot. All went smoothly.

There have been all sorts of attractive offers in the last three months for your 'heroes' of the NHS. I feel a little guilty given that I have done none of the heroic jobs; all that's happened is that all our consultations are being done over the phone, which is difficult but by no means heroic. Yet I have succumbed to the lure of 10% off shopping in Morrisons with an NHS ID card, and another offer of £10 off a box of 12 different vegan pot meals from The Soulful Food Company for anyone with an NHS email address.

I've had indifferent experiences with various 'meals in a pot' before, but these ones looked so good on the website that I thought I'd have a go. Because there are 12 different types I decided to note down any that I particularly liked in case I wanted to buy them again. The first was delicious! I decided to give it the full five stars. The next was just as good - also five stars. By the time I'd had six of the meals I'd had to introduce a sixth star, and so far only one has fallen short and even that one was still delicious. I'll be buying them again, even without the £10 discount.

I had a bit of a blip with the weight loss plan when a friend came round and we each got a takeaway wrap from my favourite brunch spot in Leamington. It was delicious, and just proves that without the lockdown I would never have achieved my current status of 4.6kg (10lb) lighter. I'm back on track again, and finding it much easier to plan meals than I did at the start. It's still a pretty restrictive diet though, and I don't see any way round that. But I can fit into clothes that have lurked in the back of the wardrobe for six years.

What I've been reading

Father Brown
by G. K. Chesterton

"This collection contains all the favourite Father Brown stories. They represent the quiet wit and compassion which is so different from his moody and caustic predecessor, Sherlock Holmes. Father Brown solves his mysteries by a mixture of intuition and sympathetic worldliness in a totally believable manner."

Well, I wouldn't describe Father Brown's methods as 'totally believable', but then most of the stories stretch credulity in some way or other. They were written in another era - 1911-1935 - which may have something to do with it. Pleasant reading, but really not as good as Conan Doyle.

The Golden Age of Science Fiction: an anthology
by Kingley Amis (editor)

"When what we think of as science fiction began in the 1920s and '30s, Its themes were relatively few and simple and its approach unsophisticated: it was essentially adventure fiction set in a fantasy world of spaceships, monsters and ray-guns. The stories in this anthology come from the years 1949-62 and offer an astonishingly varied range; far more inventive, more fictional, fictitious, fictive than any other kind of fiction."

These are pretty good short stories - none of my usual criticism about not having structure or not making sense. In fact, it has reminded me that I rather like science fiction, and exploring my bookcases I discover that the only books I possess are two of the Foundation trilogy by Isaac Asimov - unfortunately the second and third volumes. I'll have to keep a look out for the first book when charity shops open again.

Six Days of War: June 1967 and the making of the modern Middle East
by Michael B. Oren

"Though it lasted for only six tense days in June, the 1967 Arab-Israeli war never really ended. Every crisis that has ripped through this region in the ensuing decades, from the Yom Kippur War of 1973 to the ongoing intifada, is a direct consequence of those six days of fighting."

This was surprisingly readable for so dense a subject, and gave me, someone who has very little interest, experience or knowledge of politics or military strategy, a vivid impression of both. The lasting impression is of Israel being pushed to the limits of its tolerance, not wanting war but knowing it was inevitable. They were pitted against an Arab bloc whose stated aim was to drive the Jews into the sea and had no notion that they could lose, but their solidarity was paper thin and unsupported by military competence. And, in the background, the USA and the USSR on a knife edge, both aware that a mis-step could lead to nuclear escalation if not war. And I am convinced by the author's suggestion that some of the problems we are faced with 50 years later stem from decisions and actions in this war. It is, however, impossible to predict the consequences had anything been done differently.

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
by Alexander McCall Smith

"Meet Mma Ramotswe, the endearing, engaging, simply irresistible proprietress of The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, the first and only detective agency in Botswana. With persistent observation, gentle intuition, and a keen desire to help people with the problems of their lives, she solves mysteries great and small for friends and strangers alike."

A much lighter book I slotted in between chapters of the much heavier book about War. I picked this off my shelves because I wanted to see if it was still any good. Most times that I've read a book from my past - this would have been in the 2000s - it really hasn't stood up to the test of time, and I've been able to pass it on to the charity shop with a joyous heart at another thing leaving the house. This one still hits the spot, so my de-clutter will have to pass it by - it stays on the shelf.