Jab Monday so I am up early to get showered and to move the cars off the drive so the builder badges can get going at 8 o’clock. So I manage to squeeze in toast and a coffee before the badgers need a chat about some construction details. Apparently they have order a “big grabber” to clear the rubbish pile that is becoming mountainous in the front garden. So by the time I set off for the GP surgery for my jab I have been quite busy.

I get to the surgery and log in and realise that I am not feeling that good. Fortunately I am called in early and the usual nurse gets to work with the same patter as always. The actual injection is okay. Once over I book the next one and a set of bloods before my next oncology review that is coming up. I get out of the surgery and head for the local co-op and buy bread and a paper on my way home.

On getting home I make a drink and take some paracetamol to stave off the aftermath of the injection while I do todays crosswords. I settle in on the recliner and start to work on the next poetry collections that I want to get underway with the Americans. I take it as auspicious that it appears that my very first royalties have appeared in my bank account. This is how I spend the rest of the day. I proof read two collections and write the acknowledgement, contents and dedications. By the time the early evening arrives I am done, I also have a garden full of bricks. At the mid afternoon a huge builders materials lorry rocks up and unloads bags and blocks of bricks. Our badgers are certainly cracking on.

As I start to draft the blog the after effects of the morning jab is kicking in. I can feel my injection site becoming sore and I am feeling less well and my attention is flagging. So my evening is going to be one in which I finalise tomorrows Tesco delivery and then head for bed as early as possible to try and get a good nights sleep. The biggest decision, paracetamol or co-codamol?