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Well, it’s been a long old road, but I think my gouty feet are close to being back to Gaz normal, taking me out of the house and all the way to the ICA. This period has been pretty diabolical and I can only hope that it is, in fact, over.
The best thing, of course, is getting to the ICA nice and early. With Mirinda back from Stockholm, I even get to stop for a read and a latte in the buffet with the other old men who regularly sit and solve the world’s problems over coffee.
Actually, today we were joined by a woman with a shopping list. She sat opposite me, texting someone. Turned out to be her daughter, I think. At least when the other woman arrived, she looked like her daughter and they shared a familial hug. And the age difference checked out.
So, walking there and back wasn’t the chore that it has been over the last two months. The melting snow is helping. I could wear my runners today which is an improvement in the comfort stakes.
I was so excited by the improvement in my feet that I decided to look at my Oslo Itinerary and excited myself even more over the arty prospects.
I also recorded my March Letter from Sweden. In fact, I recorded it about ten times before it was good enough to send to Charles.
At first, recording in my study, words kept dropping out. I thought turning the laptop off then back on would fix it. It didn’t. I decided to go across to the stuga and record it on my old laptop. The first couple of recordings were ruined when I burst into unexpected and spontaneous coughing.
Mirinda has been using the stuga to study and write her uni work. The view into the woods is ideal, she says. The thing is, she likes surrounding herself with incense. The incense holder has been situated on the small table where I set up the laptop to record. On the first attempt, I managed to get through the first two paragraphs before I suddenly burst into a coughing fit.
This happened again. Twice more. And so it continued.
Eventually, though I completed a recording. Here it is.
In great political news from the UK, in the Gorton and Denton by-election, it was feared that Labour, which historically holds a huge majority, would be beaten by the Trumpian Reform Party. But, against the odds, The Green Party marched home with the win. Does this mean that the UK is waking up and smelling the roses? While there are still roses to smell?
