The week in pictures

The Daily Telegraph has a regular item, The Week in Pictures, which is well worth a look at even if you are not a Telegraph fan.
This is the one I picked out from this week's gallery:

If you're a fan of pink and of traditional phones, this is just the one for you. Of course, you'd need a pretty large bag to carry it in, but hey, you can't have everything.

And it is pink....   Everyone will want one!

At the doctor's - again

Yes, again because on Tuesday I had a call from the surgery telling me that my GP would dearly like to talk to me about my cholesterol level! All that worrying I've done over the years about my blood pressure and it's the cholesterol that's sneaked up on me.
On Keith's advice, I went early, arriving at half past eight so that I would be one of the first patients to be seen, which would have been a good strategy had not the rest of the practice decided to do the same. Next time I go, I shall definitely take a shelf full of books with me, or my Kindle, which has a shelf full of books on it anyway. Two hours later (yes TWO HOURS), I got to see my GP.  At least she is not jealousy-makingly thin and there was a sense of heartfelt empathy as she agreed with me that losing weight is much harder after the menapause. Anyway, she was quite happy with my blood pressure, althought interestingly, she did comment that it had been very high in 2004. (Anyone who scoffs at the idea that teaching is stressful, please take note...) After taking some family history and asking me about my diet and exercise, it only remained for her to type up my prescription for Simvastatin.
"What about diet?" she asked, "What are your weaknesses?" "Well, nothing really," I started to say.
"Do you eat cheese?" "Well yes, sometimes..."
"What kind?" "Er, Red Leicester usually, but I don't ..."
"HA! You'll have to cut down on that, then!"
While I am anxious to do whatever it takes to avoid strokes and heart attacks,   this seems like the first step towards the dreaded senior years and a reminder that the old body does have a finite shelf life, however much I like to think otherwise.
You think I'm being a bit melodramatic here? Of course I am - it's what I do!

Upper end of normal

This morning was my appointment with the nurse for BP and cholesterol test. She looked vaguely familiar when I went in and then I remembered, in her other life, she is one of the receptionists. I was hoping she was also trained for taking blood, as she sank a painful needle into my arm. I explained about my 'white coat syndrome' which means that my blood pressure tends to rise when it's taken in the surgery or hospital and told her what it had been at home earlier. She nodded politely and then told me that it was now a little lower than that.
"Upper end of normal. I'll pass it on to the doctor," she said.
"I would prefer not to have medication if I can do without it," I said. "Of course, if I could lose a few pounds it would help. They say it's more difficult to lose weight after the menapause - it certainly is!"
She, stick thin, nodded politely.
"I walk about 45 minutes every day with the dog," I continued desperately, "and I eat healthy stuff..."
She nodded politely.
"The results of the cholesterol test should be back on Wednesday," she said.
"Right," I said and got up to leave.
It's just great getting feedback, don't you think?

Twittering...

Something on TV this morning set Keith off on a grumble about the inanity of social networking sites.
"I just can't see the point," he said. "What possible interest could anyone have in my tweet that I had just had a tomato for breakfast?"
A great deal, I should think. The day he has just a tomato for breakfast without the bacon, eggs and sausage to go with it, will be extremely newsworthy. However, I kept these thoughts to myself.
When Paddy and I got back from our walk, Keith announced (to me, rather than to the world) that he had had his breakfast, including a tomato.
"You'd better set up your Twitter account right now!" I laughed.
For the record, although I have long been a fan of blogging, I can't see any point at all in Twitter and am only on Facebook because it makes it easier to follow the doings of Elder and Younger Daughters (Be warned, girls!) and I am always concerned when I read that Facebook powers-that-be have surreptitiously introduced yet another 'improvement' that chips away a little more at people's privacy.
Still, if Keith does set up a Twitter account (unlikely), it will be interesting to see how many millions of followers around the world will respond to his announcement that he had a tomato for breakfast.

The reckoning!

This morning I got a phone call from the GP surgery, inviting me to present myself for a blood pressure and cholesterol check. Presumably there are targets to be met "Yes, we have screened x number of our patients over 60. Can we have our funding please?"
The last time I was summoned was when I registered at the practice, nearly eight years ago, when I was still in the throes of classroom stress and my blood pressure was 'high side of normal' but exacerbated by 'white coat syndrome.'
At that time, I was very assiduous in keeping my own regular check but since then, I have fallen by the wayside.
Keith, who pays little heed to weight, exercise or healthy eating, has no problem with his blood pressure. I, on the other hand, exercise daily, keep strictly to healthy eating and try constantly to keep my weight down to what I am happy with, so why am I the one with borderline high BP?
Maybe there's a clue in my reaction to this morning's phone call:

• Dig out BP monitor and take blood pressure three times (taking the best of the three as my guide)
• Spend an hour online researching acceptable levels of blood pressure and whether I fall within them.
• Vow to give up my daily glass of vin rouge - although I had thought that this was good for blood pressure. The jury's out on that one, it seems.
• Text Elder Daughter for her opinion on whether I have any cause for concern. Well, it's no good putting her through uni if I am not to derive at least some benefit.

My appointment is for next Monday, so I have a week in which to knock myself into shape. Paddy, dust off your paws, my lad, you're going to be doing a lot of walking!

Strange

Odd how they make so much fuss about our owners cleaning up after us dogs...

yet horses seem to be able to do as they like!

Dental hygiene

I had to go to the vet on Thursday - something to do with a 'booster' whatever that is, and a health check. The appointment was early and I think Jenny arranged that specially because, when we got there, there were no cats, no animals of any kind, in fact, and we went straight in to see the vet. She poked and prodded me and said I was a nice dog. I was doing a lot of sniffing around the floor and Jenny said I  had probably picked up the scent of cats.
"He likes cats, he just couldn't eat a whole one," she said and the vet said, "Ah yes, he has Border terrier in him," as if that explained everything. I don't know why Jenny assumes I couldn't eat a whole one, she's never given me the chance to try!
Anyway, I bore my injection very stoically (Bet you didn't think I would know a word like that!) and then the vet looked at my teeth and said that they could do with cleaning, so she suggested either Dentastix (yum, yum) or a dog toothbrush or special wipes.
Later, Jenny went shopping and came back with Dentastix and some dental wipes.
You're really going to put your fingers in his mouth?" Keith asked incredulously (See, another big word).
Well, so far, she's given me Dentastix.
The pot of wipes is still sitting on the dining room table...