Another day

Quite a quiet day today. The weather, while not as bad as 2008 and 2007, still remains very changeable with more rain today. We took a trip out to the Doll's hospital, where we had left my wife's china doll 6 weeks ago. The poor thing had toppled off her chair on several occasions and had smashed her right foot. The hospital had to cast two new legs and fire them, then fit them. Now she was back to pristine condition so we bought her a new chair that she wouldn't fall out of. I took the opportunity to see what these dolls retail at now - the answer is about $250.

I managed to get the TCL1 article off to Leukemia Research for publication and started to referee an article for Blood - my first since my illness. But tomorrow the 9th course begins and I will have to shut up shop as far as thinking is concerned.

In the afternoon I watched another episode of The Wire and then this evening we watched the final episode of To The Manor Born and then watched a few episodes of Yes Minister. I'm not the only person who yearns for the comedy of the 1970s.

I am reading the autobiography of Michael Parkinson and found an interesting insight on Neville Cardus, the great writer for the Manchester Guardian, who wrote on the Halle Orchestra and Sir John Barbarolli and on cricket. (I once took blood from Barbarolli who died in a nursing home in Bournemouth). Parkinson asked Cardus how he managed to get such pithy quotes from cricketers. "I don't," said Cardus, "I make them up. Cricketers are generally unable to string words together to form a sentence." For those who don't know him, Parkinson has had a TV show for 30 years interviewing celebrities, rather like Jay Leno or David Letterman.

I am a little disappointed that my health hasn't completely returned to normal after the three week break. I still have bloating and tiredness in the evenings and a reduced appetite. I hope it is just the chemotherapy. I have another CT scan on Thursday, so I should soon find out.