Thursday, January 26, 2006

I don't believe it...

And for the third day in a row I was out of the house – this time I went to the doctor’s to find out what might be done about the chronic pain in my left shoulder and arm...

I had had an appointment booked for 25 November but had had to cancel that when I broke my ankle on 23 November...

In the car it’d take four minutes to drive there and four minutes to drive back. Couple this with a ten minute consultation and I’d be back home in around twenty minutes...

But I can’t drive so Anne drops me at the bus stop and from there it takes 20 minutes to the stop closest to the doctor’s surgery followed by a very slow walk of 10 minutes to the surgery itself...

I am prescribed extremely strong painkillers with various possible side-effects and the doc is going to refer me to the same physiotherapist who’s now treating me for the ankle...

By the time I have walked back to the bus, taken it two stops to the chemist, crossed the road, picked up the pills, walked to another bus stop, been carried back to the terminus and walked back down the hill to the house, the visit to the doctor has taken around 150 minutes rather than twenty...

Behind the door is the CD from e-bay by Canadian band Sloan, which I talked about a couple of days ago. It’s very disappointing and, following on from the Led Zep and ELP situation yesterday, it looks like the majority of my music choices so far this year have been questionable to say the least...

I've been keeping this diary every day now for almost 11 months. I kept a diary from 1974 until the mid 80’s, nothing as comprehensive as this of course – mostly the entries weren’t even up to the quality of “what I did today” (apart from my two extended stays in Germany in 1979 and 1981 when I did try and keep a daily diary for posterity) no, they were mostly just notes on what records I bought and how much I paid for them...

Anyway, on 26 January I used to always write “I can’t believe it’s X years today since Capital Models recorded The Sweet Thrill of Industry” – we recorded it on 26 January 1980. So, for posterity, seeing as how I am once again keeping a diary, I will say:

“I can’t believe it’s 26 years today since Capital Models recorded The Sweet Thrill of Industry”

Side effects from the painkillers appeared to have kicked in by early evening, as they seemed to be causing extreme grumpiness on my part – but this soon passed and I started on the new ankle exercise regime...

The thirteen exercises take around 40 minutes in total to carry out and make my ankle feel quite sore but strangely stronger....

The painkillers are having only a minimal effect on my shoulder/arm pain though – but I have four weeks’ worth – I’m not sure if some kind of cumulative effect will build up but I hope so....

I honestly cannot remember the last time I had no pain in either shoulder or arm and now that the pain is in my left shoulder, it’s very difficult to play the guitar - which is a good excuse for further postponing any return to performing...

What a moaning bastard I am...

On TV this evening, “Judge John Deed” started off very slowly indeed but ended up being ok. Then “Question Time”, then off to bed – but not before googling “The Institute of Ideas”. One of its directors seemed to be the only person on Question Time tonight who was able to talk any sense....

Their site is here : http://www.instituteofideas.com/index.html and there’s some very interesting information there. Do take a look...

Finally, did you know that the government has now announced that the Education System’s highest priority should be Child Protection?

This would be frankly laughable if it wasn’t so tragic...

Highlight of the Day : The realisation that my Ankle Exercises might just work

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