An early start as I needed ot be up to move my car off the drive so that my partner could go to work. It’s a rude awakening and I think that I was grumpy as I parked the Beast on the puddle outside our drive. Having waved my partner off to work I settled down to a muesli breakfast and the last minute preparation for my work visit this morning. I drove to the service that is local to me and spent the morning discussing the work they had done to prepare for their assessment visit. It is a service that I have had dealings with since the mid seventies so it is interesting to see the change and development of the service over the years. When I first went there it was to work with a man who had a drink problem and was conflicted by his sexuality. Bearing in mind the  time, this was a difficult issue and had implications for him in terms of where he could move onto after the probation placement. My role was to assess and  support the man in his move to a community hostel run by a charity. All went reasonably well until I arrived one day to do a routine session with him to find him very drunk and saw him down a bottle of aftershave for the alcohol. That was a tricky session and an exercise in containment and staff support. He made the transition but ultimately disappeared. The service in place now is far more sophisticated and elegant in its understanding of its client group and better resourced. As I say the changes over the past decades has been dramatic.

I go to the gym to get lunch and to write a letter. My intention was to do a session before going home but I decided to train tomorrow and went home early to post the letter and get a paper. I met my eldest daughter in the village cafe and sat and chatted with her for a while before we both needed to get home to get on with things. Once home I put together the new garden lights and planted them in the garden. In doing this I managed to cut my hand, so when my partner returned home she found me clutching a bandage to my freshly washed hand whilst I looked for a plaster. None to be found, so I settled for the spray on plastic instant skin from the holiday first aid kit. I get really skittish when I damage myself as I dread any wound becoming infected. In my head I see myself as vulnerable to infection. I know I was during chemotherapy but I am not sure if I still am or if my immune system is recovering of its own accord. It would be good if there was a simple test that could be done to tell you what percentage efficiency your immune system is at. As it is I just assume the worst and drown any cut in disinfectant and anti bacterial foam, with of course a dollop of Savlon antiseptic cream. This is accompanied by ripe language till the stinging stops. So once I’ve performed my-self care I settle down to write the blog. It’s going to be an early night for me.

I still have not worked out what the thoughts about a pangolin are all about or what the poem is but in the meantime here is a pangolin. Shame the Chinese think their scales have some magical medicinal power, what can you say?