annanotbob2's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the radio It's been a few days since I updated as I got well obsessed with Ackley Bridge and ended up watching it all, late into the night till I finally finished it last night. I have to say I'm so glad I didn't rely on TV to get me through all the lockdowns - I hate how it makes me feel even when it's a quality programme. Which reminds me, my friend Caroline, also known as @kittiekipper on Instagram was on Countryfile tonight, talking about making art from beach litter, with loads of her work shown. She has amazing skills, I tell you. It's on the iplayer if you're interested, she's on about - oh never mind, here it is she comes on at 37.58. I consider myself so lucky to have found people like her, who both inspire me and teach me. I loved doing her beach weaving workshop - I'm building up to doing a giant circular piece that can live on the fence outside. So, On Thursday I did the R4 Bookclub recording with Lianne Moriarty about her book Big Little Lies. She was great, really interesting. We got her talking about her process, which she allows to unfold as she goes. So for this book a friend had told her about her kid starting kindergarten and these two little girls coming out at the end of the day with massive teeth marks on their arms. It all kicked off, no one would own up and the girls were asked to point out who'd done it - none of them knew each other's names yet. This was when they owned up to having done it themselves, trying to see how long and deep they could do it for, but LM immediately thought what if they'd pointed to a random, innocent kid. So that was one strand. She started creating characters just stealing odd qualities from people she knew. One person was always outraged by everything, full of indignation, ready to fight a battle. Another one always seemed as if she had a secret. So those were her three characters, one whose kid was accused of hurting another on the first day of kindergarten, Ms Indignant and Ms Secret. And she just started writing and gradually the characters became more rounded and she knew what she wanted to explore with them and off she went. She has a notebook for jotting down things that have to change and the early chapters always have to be rewritten because the characters are still cardboard cut-outs, but by the time she comes back to it, she knows what they would and wouldn't say. I found it really inspiring - it's so much like how I've gone about it, but I've always thought it must be a shit way as everyone else seems to say they at least have fully formed characters before they start. So I'm intent on cracking on with Bella but need to make a time and a proper commitment which I'm not quite at yet. The programme will go out on the first Sunday in May. On Friday I went to the stroke clinic which was a mixed event. As ever, I forgot to ask the right questions. So there was no trace on my CT scan of a recent bleed or clot, but there was a historical one, which I don't remember happening. But I didn't ask what they meant by historic - last year, ten years ago, fifty years? They did an ECG, a Doppler ultrasound scan of my neck and took bloods but I didn't ask what they'd seen on these. The doctor did say my neck looked normal for my age - showing signs of wear and tear, but nothing out of the ordinary. I have to go back for an echocardiogram - don't know what that is - and to have a seven day heart monitor fitted. I forgot to ask if that was a normal procedure or if they'd seen something in my heart's activities to make them want this. Maybe they'll tell me if I phone. I have to wait for appointments for these. I just googled echocardiogram and discovered that it gives a picture of the heart and blood vessels in action. One of the options was 'cost' so I checked that out and here it is obviously free but in the US it would be around $2,000 and even with insurance the co-pay would probably be half. I'm doing OK I think. As well as all this, in A&E I had a CT scan, loads of blood tests, my blood pressure taken repeatedly until I calmed down and an ECG. My meds were changed and I am now on four different meds, plus I have one in hand in case the blood thinning one gives me indigestion - so far so good. As I'm over 60 these are all free as well. Even if I was younger, as these are going to be long term, they'd be free. Since then I've done a lot of walking as my leg is better and even a bit of cooking. Three Good Things Night night 11:14 p.m. - 11.04.21 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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