Feeling under pressure

Mrs C and I had planned to spend a week in London with our daughter L and
her family, but this was cut short by my coming back to Nottingham for a
hospital clinic appointment last Monday. L and her children came back to
Nottingham with us, so we've been very busy with them all in the past
week. In addition we had a full day with our other 2 grandchildren on
Friday, which was fun but exhausting. L set off for home mid-afternoon
yesterday, so we're back to our usual much quieter life at present.

My hospital visit went well ~ the consultant surgeon was very friendly
and informative. He's put me on the waiting list for an endoscopy in
2-3 weeks' time (to check me out for stomach acid reflux, ulceration or
possibly CA). I'm currently on omeprazole (Losec), which helps ease my
symptoms - he thinks I'll be on this long-term.

So as the Lord God said unto Moses: "Keep taking the tablets!"
(I hope God has a GSOH).

I think a lot of my symptoms are stress-related - I got similar problems
from time to time working as a family doctor when working under a lot of
pressure ... but nothing like the pressure of "Celebrity Masterchef",
where three finalists have been competing for "Masterchef of the Year"
in the past week or so. One of their amazing achievements was to impress
a group of top UK chefs, who share eight Michelin stars between them ...
for three amateurs to do that! Phenomenal!

For UK readers, here is a link to a few episodes of the show.

I found parts of these programmes too stressful to watch ... I had to
leave the room for several minutes at a time, and go and do something else!
"If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen." ... or in my case,
the living room. :)

What attracts a woman to a man?

I've often thought about this over the years, especially in my earlier years
before I met Mrs C, my wife. When she came along, I instantly thought:
"She's the one for me ~ she's really extra special!", and fortunately for
me, she thought & felt the same.

Well, what are the magic ingredients for getting started in a relationship,
I wonder ... a certain rapport when talking with each other, or how we
relate in body language or feel physically attracted, or something in the
pheromones ... how we smell even (I'm splashing on Chanel's Allure, at
this moment!)..... or is it something more down-to earth ... "Ooh, just
look at the shelves he's put up!" (so he's a good nest-builder)?

How about the fact that he's a good listener and doesn't prattle on about
all his achievements, and that he's good at establishing eye contact?
(I've heard that all this is important).

On my way to the chemist's this morning to buy Mrs C some wax earplugs (so
she can get some sleep while I'm snoring!), I was thinking about an ex-
patient of mine, a very attractive man in his mid-thirties, a part-time
university lecturer and a Ph.D. student, who used to visit me from time to
time to get some medication for phobic anxiety. He told me that his parents
divorced when he was a child, and that this was the reason why he didn't
wish to commit himself to any long-term relationships with women - he tended
to end a relationship about 6 months into it.

It was as if a curse had been put on him by the failure of his parents'
marriage, though it was his personal choice to end a relationship after a
short time, rather than it possibly fail in later life ... no doubt, to save
him the agony of possible separation and divorce.

It was he who told me that a woman is attracted to a bloke if he's got the
four Cs ... a Career, a Credit card (presumably credit-worthy rather than
up to his ears in debt), a Car and lastly, Commitment ... none of which he
said he had himself. I thought that he was rather doing himself down, as he
had no problem in attracting woman really. Anyway, I would add to his four
Cs: being Caring (& Considerate), and having personal Charm /Chemistry /
Charisma.

I've got all of these of course, and James Bond's looks.

Here endeth Justin's Delusional Ramble.

Highlights of our weekend

This weekend, Mrs C and I have been out and about ... we met up in
Nottingam city centre yesterday lunchtime, partly to hand over some
belongings to our daughter R, (who was also in town shopping with
Little A), but also to visit a new exhibition at the Nottingham
Contemporary Art Gallery ... a large collection of Diane Arbus's
black & white photos, which were brilliant.

Later on we treated ourselves to a murder mystery play at The
Theatre Royal, and at the interval there was a general twittering in
the audience about whodunwhat. This is an annual event in Nottingham
... the theatre company put on a series of 4 plays each year. We've
booked to see another one in 4 weeks' time. We had the added pleasure
of meeting up with a married couple we hadn't seen for about 8/9
years ... I didn't pursue the friendship as one of them is phobic
about cats (& we've got 2 of them), but I hope we'll keep in touch
by meeting up for the occasional meal out.

Today we went out to Patchings Art Centre for lunch, and to see a
couple of exhibitions there ... oil paintings by Trevor Chamberlain
(the larger ones were about £4k each), and landscape photos by Pete
Bridgwood, which were more reasonably priced. The photos were of really
high quality, but I would only like one or two of them up on our
walls, as the rest weren't my cup of tea. A lot of photographers go
for watery scenes (lake views, rivers and seascapes) where the water
has been transformed to a milky white mist ... which is bad in my opinion.
Here's a link to one of the photos I liked.

Later on, we visited a couple of friends who are both recovering from
surgery ... M has just had a total hysterectomy for endometrial cancer
(fortunately removed at a pre-invasive phase), and her husband B has
had hand surgery for ruptured tendons in his Rt hand, following a
horrendous car accident (his car rolled over several times and was
badly smashed up, after possibly hitting a curb). B had to be cut free
of the wreckage, and fortunately he didn't sustain any other injuries.
Both are now at home - M is able to potter around the house, as is B,
who is walking around with his Rt arm in plaster. Both are remarkably
cheerful, and are feeling optimistic about making a good recovery.

A hectic day with the grandchildren

We're had a hectic day with our grandchildren, Little A and her younger
brother J. Their mum drops them off early on Friday mornings at about
7.45am, prior to going into work in Ripley in Derbyshire (14 miles away).

The children are a delight to be with, but by about 10.30am, both Mrs C
and I are feeling tired and hungry, (wondering if it's time for lunch).
Mrs C usually bakes small cakes and bread with A, while I keep her brother
entertained. If the weather is OK, we get out to the local parks, or catch
a bus into the city centre with them, to keep them occupied and to get
some fresh air. We watch some children's TV with them ~ Numberjacks is very
popular with both of them, which we can watch on TV catch-up, on DVDs and
also on the computer ... BBC I-Player and YouTube as well. They also like
Teletubbies and In The Night Garden. Little A is coming up to her 4th
birthday, and is becoming very skilled using the computer mouse and the
touch-pad on the laptop ... she can play Numberjacks dominoes with both.

J can say a few words, and can point to things he wants, and can understand
a great deal of what we say to him. He's coming up to his 2nd birthday.
I've put numerous photos of both children up on my Flickr site, if you wish
to see what they look like.

Thought for the day

Here's a quote from a book of aphorisms, which we received at Xmas ...

"Youth passes, but with luck, immaturity can last a lifetime!"



Someone online gave the following reply: "After 40, immaturity
becomes charming."

I would correct that to: "After 60, .... !"

Last of the Summer Music

Today, I met with with a couple of my pals for an electric guitar session,
playing through a few songs from our extensive repertoire, and then hearing
myself singing a version of "I saw her standing there", which we've had
recorded onto a CD with a collection of other songs.

Mrs C listened to a few tracks on the CD when I got home early afternoon,
and when my song came on, she said: "Who's that singing?" ... she didn't
recognise my voice ... which shows how good / bad my singing was. :)

I'll use the CD as a backing track for my occasional guitar practice, but
I don't think I'll make any copies for our girls, as none of them are tone
deaf.

I spent the afternoon chatting with Mrs C, spending some time answering emails,
making our evening meal (lightly smoked salmon fillets with potato and other
veg), a bit of washing up, and then in the evening, televising with Mrs C
(watching a variety of programmes: "Taggart", "Who do you think you are",
and "Rev" ... the last in the present series unfortunately).

I'm now back on my study computer upstairs at 11.15pm, and am about to
finish off sorting my Flickr photos into sets .... last night I got up to
creating a set of photos of Nuremburg, (which we visited last October).
Tonight I hope to get right up to date. Creating sets in Flickr will enable
me to zip back much faster in time, if we want to look at some pics I took
say two years ago.