Category: Health and wellbeing

Last year’s results.

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January 1, 2026

10:47

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Health and wellbeing

A mixed year on the health-and-fitness front. Sadly, I’ve been struggling a bit with my weight – most of the year was closer to 70kg than the target 66kg. However, fruit&veg met the target of 6 a day (achieved 6.11 average), and daily steps were ok at 5208 (the light months of British Summer Time) and 4150 (GMT), for a full-year average of 4763, which is the highest I’ve managed in the 5 years I’ve been tracking it..

Targets for 2026? Firm target is to do no less than in 2025, but I’d like to hope for a full year average steps of 4,900.

unexpectedly tiring

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December 12, 2025

21:38

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Health and wellbeing, Out and about

An unexpectedly tiring couple of days! Yesterday was my first visit to the solicitor who will be doing my will, which took quite a lot longer than expected. A brief after-lunch nap, and then the WGP Election Strategy meeting in the evening, which took over two and a half hours. Then walking back up the hill with Clare and chatting.

Today was an overdue visit to Specsavers to have ear wax removed. I’ve been almost completely deaf in my left ear for nearly three weeks, which causes very bad tinnitus. Frustratingly, I get the kind that sounds like almost-familiar music played on a poor transistor radio in an adjacent room! Left ear was touch-and-go whether she would actually manage to dislodge the accumulation, but after about 20 minutes she dislodged a massive wodge – about the size of three match heads – and then it was a quick finish off. The right ear had minimal wax, and took less than 30 seconds! I’m fairly convinced that it’s because of the recurrent eczema in my left ear that it’s always so much worse than the right one.

I last hd wax removal almost exactly six months ago, in June. After discussion, it seems sensible not to wait until severe problems set in, but to pop in for a quick look at my ears every three months or so … I’m kind expecting that I’ll need that ear done every four months or thereabouts. At £60 a time, sadly.

All of which has left me exhasted. The pre-Christmas crowd of shoppers in the city centre is not something I navigate easily, and two days on the trot was distinctly wearing. Still, good for my step count, I suppose.

ugh …

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December 9, 2025

17:06

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Health and wellbeing, Other

Really vile weather here today with rain beating down and very dark clouds. I’ve spent most of it almost unable to stand or walk. I woke from a long (painkiller-induced) nap this afternoon to an angry sunset, which was a bit of an improvement.

end of British Summer Time

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October 26, 2025

12:00

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Health and wellbeing

The clocks have gone back, and it’s almost winter.  I’ve pretty much reached my targets on keeping healthy, but my weight continues to creep upwards, sadly.

BST target was 5,000 steps, achieved 5,208, which is the most in the last five years. Daily fruit-and-veg averaged 6.1, against a target of 6. Daily calories of 1,822 against a target of 1,800, but that’s closer than 2024, 2023, or 2022. I was on a very restricted intake for 2021, aiming for 1,500 and achieving 1,590, so it’s actually the closest I’ve even come to meeting the goal.

However, weight this morning was 69.6, and it’s largely been 68 point something for the past few months. That’s not good – I do aim to be in the general area of 66 point something. The next couple of months will have to see a bit more effort, before the inevitable Christmas splurge.

housebound-ish

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September 2, 2025

14:22

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Health and wellbeing

Yesterday and today have been showery, very damp, and badly aching joints. As a result, I’ve achieved almost nothing! I did think about lighting the wood burner, but have decided that it’s probably better to wait until after the chimney is swept (booked for a week’s time). The only redeeming feature of the day has been the results of the Green Party leadership elections, which were exactly as I’d hoped.
I’m definitely not up to cooking real food, so it’s fish finger sandwiches as minimum effort comfort food. At least the bread is home-baked organic, and the pear is home-grown organic.

Sandwich and pear

air-con 2

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July 18, 2025

10:47

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Health and wellbeing, House & domestic

Air conditioner arrived on Wednesday. I’ve decided that my bedroom is the best place for it … it’s the room that gets direct sun for most of the day (so gets very hot), and is where I tend to retreat if I’m starting to feel a need to lie down or to take a nap.

A quarter of an hour at a time is as much – probably slightly more – than I can actually manage, as I’m still pretty unwell. Any kind of effort – even a ten-minute stroll to the Post Office and back – brings me out in a breathless sweat lasting an hour or so. And I don’t even think about doing anything between about 1230 and 2000h. So it’s taken a couple of days to get the beast upstairs and set up sensibly. I’m pretty pleased with it – running yesterday afternoon at “siesta time” it certainly made a difference. A bit of tweaking this morning to make the whole thing less obtrusive, though the day is milder and I may not need to actually run the a/c.

Photo taken about 1030, when the sun is just starting to hit the bedroom window. It will stay until around 2000h this evening! I’m pleased that the vent hose manages to hide behind the curtain (as seen from the bedroom),and be rather disguised by it as seen from outside.

air-con

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July 13, 2025

18:41

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Health and wellbeing, House & domestic

The forecast shows a high probability of exceptionally hot weather continuing over the next couple of months. My brush last Friday with heat exhaustion, the lovely ambulance crew, and that I only avoided hospitalisation because my nibling was coming to stay so there would be someone to check on me was really *very* scary. Despite my ethical misgivings, I can no longer be in this kind of situation… a portable air conditioner has been ordered, for delivery next week.
I feel bad about this – I do realise that air conditioning units only export heat from indoors to outdoors (adding to local heat problems), and the manufacture of them, and the electricity they use, adds to the climate crisis.

still ill

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July 11, 2025

12:01

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Health and wellbeing

Still unwell, so rang NHS111. They despatched an ambulance very promptly – 2 paramedics and a student paramedic. There was considerable discussion about whether I needed to go to hospital or not, involving phone calls to the hospital team. In the end, it was decided that I had a mix of heat exhaustion and leftover UTI, and that it was OK to leave me at home, with strict instructions that if I got any worse to ring 111 (or 999 if I collapsed). They were here for about an hour, and really friendly and helpful. God bless the NHS – there are still things it does amazingly well.


Illness

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June 30, 2025

09:19

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Health and wellbeing, Uncategorized

Last thing Thursday night (26th) I had to strain a bit to pee. On Friday morning, very little came out (about an egg-cup full) and it was rather painful. I was also constipated – it didn’t even feel as though there was anything there that wouldn’t come out, just the constipated feeling between navel and bladder. It continued all day Friday (when I woke far too late to ring the GP) and Saturday … generally OK lying down, but as soon as I stood up intense urge to pee. Saturday evening I took 30ml of lactulose (from a rather old bottle), so Sunday morning bowels moved ok (as much as lactulose ever does). However, a dull pain in both front and back up in my back passage, which got much worse if I sat down … recliner with footrest up, or lying down were OK. Temperature peaked at 39C but went down again.

Up at 6am on Monday (woke to pee, decided to stay awake and ring GP). Shower at 7am, rang GP at 8 on the dot and was 13th in the queue. They rang back within 15 minutes offering an appointment at 10:40, and asking me to bring a urine sample. Fortunately, I had a sample pot left over from my last attack of prostatitis five-plus years ago. My guess of an egg-cup full was about right – the measure on the sample pot showed 40ml.

Grandpa Ott

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June 23, 2025

12:33

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Garden, Health and wellbeing

The first half-dozen flowers on the Morning Glory today. It’s self-sown – the ones I started indoors are at least a fortnight behind. This is the dark blue “Grandpa Ott”, as the light “Heavenly Blue” I grew in London just doesn’t seem to thrive in my present garden.

Later was the second go at ear-wax removal – the wax in my dodgy left ear had proved resistant to the microsuction at Specsavers last week, and I’ve been on 3x daily sprays of olive oil (followed by lie-down for 5 minutes each time). Today was successful – a large lump, about the size of two match-heads in total – came out, and I’ve been pronounced clear. I very much hope that my hearing will be restored enough that I can hear where things are coming from. Birdsong in particular has been very frustrating to have no idea where the bird actually is!