The Kale Just Keeps On growing
I’m still really, really sore and stumbling around a bit while walking, but that’s not stopping me swimming or cycling, although I’m taking it easy with both of them. I did 16 lengths of the pool today and I’m planning to up that by 2 lengths a day until I’m doing at least 50. The skin cream that I’m applying seems to be helping with the sensitivity to chlorine too. One of the nice things about swimming at the Dalmeny is the social contact, chatting in the jacuzzi, steam room and sauna can be a real joy, today was no exception, I spent probably 30 minutes talking to 83 year old Ivor, who used to be the finance director for Salford University. He’s still swimming most days, as he has done for the last 20 years, although he needs some tips on his technique.
I’ve applied the organic fungicide to my kale and other leafy greens today, this is the first time in my short history of gardening that I’ve applied anything except fertiliser and slug pellets so I was slightly apprehensive. The fungicide came with a multi-page instruction book full of warnings and instructions, but nowhere did it warn about eating the veg that it had been applied to, I looked all over on the web too and no mention anywhere so I’m assuming that means it’s safe, I will find out tomorrow!
Anna and a friend went to the Water’s Edge restaurant last night, Debbie and I have been too, the food is ok, but the cakes are ridiculously huge. I sometimes like a cake on a special occasion, but these cakes are very off-putting just because the size of the slices is immense, I can’t imagine anyone eating a whole slice, maybe they are for a family to share. Anyway Anna tried one and her judgement was that not only are they huge, but they are also horrible, so I’m pleased I trusted my instincts.
Given that I’m still really, really sore I’m mostly pottering around the house in the afternoons and one of the tasks I’ve been putting off is de-duplicating my huge e-book library. This entailed installing a plugin into Calibre (the software that manages my library) clicking a button, waiting 5 seconds while it checks my library for duplicates and then spending more than an hour manually deleting the offending files. It was mind numbing work, but I’m pleased it’s over and I’ve now set my preferences to check for duplicates and merge new books with existing ones when I add them.
Kale continues to be my favourite veg, not because I love the taste (I’m not a fan of any veg) but because it’s just so prolific and resilient, even the plants that had powdery mildew that I cut right back to a bare stalk have now sprouted dozens of new leaves. I’m thinking I can rejuvenate my whole bed, ready for winter by chopping them all back over the next few weeks.
in good time for my visit to Amsterdam Steph has ordered a sofa bed from Ikea, I put £100 towards it and hopefully it will get a lot of use from friends and family visits over the year, she won’t be able to bring it home, but it will be a nice surprise for the next person who rents the unit.
I’m becoming ever more interested in our dysfunctional healthcare system globally, so I was pleased to see an invite arrive to attend (virtually) a summit on the evolution of medicine, the speaker roster looks excellent and I can pick and choose the sessions I want to watch http://evolutionofmedicinesummit.com/.
Finally I’ve just started reading the Human Universe by Brian Cox, I have most of his books in my library, but this is the first I’ve read and he can really write well, I’m only at the end of the first chapter but I’m loving it, he really is the Richard Feynman of my generation!
