it's good to be back

It feels a bit strange not to be posting on a daily basis, having donated 365 (almost) consecutive dispatches into the ether of the cyber universe in the past year.

So, what to report of my first full week of retirement? One thing is becoming clear: I'm enjoying it. Having worked my usual full day yesterday, it feels immensely satisfying not to have to worry about working again for a whole week. Having said that, I shall be going in on Thursday afternoon to cover a partner who is having the day off to celebrate his birthday (a piece of self indulgence of which I do not not necessarily approve, by the way). Still, one-offs like this don't really count in the grander scheme of things- it will feel more like a fun distraction- plus the £200 will not go amiss.

I have several big projects out there. First, I am in the process of editing all my blogs, just to eliminate stray typos and brush up the language a little, ie only small changes, designed to make it a more pleasant read. Be assured I shall not alter the content in any way, or add anything new, in order to preserve the "freshness" of the original posts. It's time consuming work, which I expect to take at least 2 months. Second, this afternoon I will begin work on my new essay "A View from the Hill", a 6500 word piece which will be an over view of my medical career, ending with a call to bring supervisiobn into the appraisal process for doctors- a widespread practice in most other health professions but currently exchewed by most doctors as being "irrelevant". As if doctors are immune to developing emotional problems as a result of their work! My plan is to present it as a lecture to the GP tutors in our region later this year.

Saturday night ego trip

Invited to a small party on the weekend to people known to my wife, though not to me, I noticed a number of hula hoops behind a sofa, including a large one about 1.3 metres in diameter. I asked who the hula expert might be, and was told that no one was, but the host(ess) was responsible for making them out of plastic tubing. I asked if I could have a go in the garden, and the host accomapnied me, slightly seceptically, to monitor my performance. But I've hula'd for years, and got the big hoop under control immediately. I didn't attempt any tricks, just kept it going smoothly and effortlessly. She looked on in amazement. I have to say it was a delightful moment for me, an old git mightily impressing a young woman. Then I invited her to demonstrate her skill, but she declined, admitting with some mortification that neither she nor her flatmate had cracked it yet. She then gave me the hoop as a sort of prize, and I promised to scour the web for useful tips to get started.

But, as I feared, I found little of any real value. The hula hoop is one of those purely experiential skills, that is to say, it's something which is hard to teach. Basically, you just have to keep doing it until you can do it (I seem to remember it as being about as hard to learn as juggling 3 balls, ie requiring about 2-3 hours of hard work) It's harder than the yo-yo, say, but easier than keepie-uppies. In other words, they just hadn't put enough work in yet.