Thursday. I wake quite late and take my vitals, all good there, and then indulge in watching some more Tim Minchin before getting up. I watch him perform “I can have a dark side” live and “I’m a rock star” performed on tour. It lifts my spirits no end and get out of bed feeling more chipper than I have felt for a while. So a quick breakfast sat watching the pouring rain, sipping a herbal tea and I am ready for the day. I have a family tree to amend as one of my Scottish relatives has provided some dates of birth, after that the day is mine to play with. That’s the good thing about retirement, there is time to play with, one is only limited by your own creativity, energy and curiosity, plus of course the demands of the household and the real world around you.

I did a quick analysis of what the algorithm on my Google feed is providing at the moment. As it is allegedly based on what I view on the internet so it reflects my interests. It would appear I am basically a sports moron, as the majority of my feed is related to football, snooker, rugby, cricket and the occasional ice hockey game. Some Big Bang Theory ( the comedy series) appears from time to time alongside some actual astronomy and physics stuff. The rest of the feed is the usual pulp news paper crap that pads everything else out, a bit like life. It may be my age but I have no recognition of hardly any one dubbed a celebrity any more and as a consequence I don’t care a rats arse about the vast amount of pulp my media feeds push my way. I am resolved to start searching the internet for a much more arcane and bizarre content just to see what my media feeds start to push my way. So as a start I’m going to search for availability of places on archaeological digs and see how quickly this affects my news feeds. It seems I might have found a new hobby.

I spend my day writing a letter to a friend and filling in the family tree with the new dates of birth I now have. There is still some family document arching that needs doing but I will get to that in due course. I put my ear buds in to listen to some music and to block out my partners work conversations that are going on in the office. For a change I try Radio four and end up listening to the Thursday afternoon concert, it turns out to be really good, so good that I keep my ear buds in as I walk over to the post box to send my letters. I’m listening to Schumann’s Spring Symphony, which is new to me and quite a find.

Once home I settle into doing todays two crosswords and drift through them unassisted by google but interrupted by my bank wanting to know if I want to meet with their money advisor. I politely decline and return to the crosswords and reading the paper while still listening to the concert. I go to the loo and find that I have blood in my urine again. I was having a good day, not so good now. I down a pint of water and eat tea then down more water. This sets the tone of my evening, I watch the Avengers Endgame and drink back to back glasses water, with my feet up till bed time when I down my chemo meds and paracetamol. With luck and enough water I will be fine in a few hours, well enough to go to the chiropodist tomorrow and give my feet their two monthly treat. It is never easy, a day can turn on its head in just a few moment, this has been one of those days.