Pupdate

It’s been a pretty dank February, so the coats have mostly stayed on for walks. But the boys have been enjoying their usual doggy mischief.

Milo is now half way through his 4th chemo protocol, and the second half has previous been easier as the pace slows down to vet visits every two weeks.

Cataracts

On the second day in Les Arcs I noticed that my vision wasn’t right, initially thinking I’d not put my right contact lens in correctly (the only time I wear lenses these days is for skiing).

After some fussing with lenses and staring at the hotel sign opposite my room I figured out that I could (sort of) fix things up with a stronger lens (an old prescription left lens), but there was definitely something wrong, and I booked the first appointment I could get for an eye test on my return.

Before I even got in front of an eye chart, the machines confirmed something was wrong. My right eye correction had jumped from -1.50 to -4.75 :0 It didn’t take long for the optician to see what was wrong, a cataract; and she referred me for specialist treatment. In many ways this was a comforting diagnosis, as of all the things that could be wrong it’s something that’s relatively straightforward to fix.

Three weeks later and I was at the optometrist for pre-op tests on the NHS path; but I’m now waiting for a private consultation at the end of next month, as I’d like a new lens that corrects my distance vision and astigmatism. After wearing glasses and contact lenses since I was 10 I might be free of them.

Meanwhile I’m wearing a contact lens and my varifocals.

Shingrix Pt.2

When I got my first Shingrix vaccine back in December the pharmacist warned me that it would kick my butt, and she was right. This time around I was told things would be easier, but they weren’t. If anything the aches etc. were even worse. Hopefully it’s all worth it to reduce my risk of dementia.

Protest

I’ve been going along pretty regularly to monthly meetings of my local Humanists group. A busy meeting might be a dozen people, so I wasn’t at all expecting what happened at our meeting on ‘Asylum and immigration: a compassionate, informed humanist approach‘.

Perhaps having our local MP Alison Bennett as a speaker should have tipped me off; but I was unaware of the building drama until some dinner guests the night before said “see you in the morning, we’ll be there at the counter protest”. I guess that’s what keeping off a diet of toxic social media does for you :)

I wish I’d taken a photo when I got there, but it was bucketing with rain, and I just wanted to get inside. There was a thin rabble of ‘stop the boats‘ protesters chanting their slogans on the outside of a police line with around 15 officers. Inside the line was the much larger counter protest group, including my friends. Beyond that the venue was pretty much at capacity, with hundreds of folk who’d come along. The speakers were all excellent, and it was good to meet some new folk as I spoke to those sat nearby.

It will be interesting to see if our ranks swell at the next meeting on the much less controversial topic of ‘Exploring our Humanist heritage’.

British Museum

I’ve been to the Natural History Museum and Science Museum more times than I can remember (starting back at my first trip to London when I was 7), but I’ve never been to the British Museum. We decided to do something about that during $wife’s half term break, which provided a good excuse for a day up in ‘Town’.

“Why do we have to be there at 2pm?”… ‘that’s when I booked the tickets for’. “I thought it was free?”… ‘it is, but you can reserve an arrival time (and they strongly encourage a ‘donation’).’ I was glad we had booked a spot, the line of people who’d just shown up without doing that was enormous, and not moving very fast. We went to the tent as directed, did our audience participation security theatre, and got inside in a matter of minutes.

I wish I could say it was great to see the Rosetta Stone, but the crowds made it impossible to see the business side of it. The crowds were less of an issue for the Elgin Marbles, as there’s just so much more of them. Though far too many came with signs to the effect of ‘missing head is in Athens’. Perhaps more impressive were some of the Assyrian exhibits; but I think we both came away feeling that none of that stuff belongs in London, and we should give it all back.

As we explored the further reaches it became less busy, but also more mundane. Things like those we’ve seen in many other museums in many different places. I was glad to have checked it off the list, but I don’t think I’ll be hurrying back.

Solar diary

A dank month for dog walks also meant a dark month for solar production – the worst February yet :(

Clay Hunt VR

In previous posts I’ve been dubious about whether practice in Clay Hunt VR carries over to an improvement in real world clays shooting. Now I’m more persuaded, having put in some of the best rounds of my life (despite the cataract). I’m finding that I have better focus on the target, and more instinctive aim.

After the Shingrix vaccination I woke one morning to a very painful right arm (possibly ‘frozen shoulder‘ though also maybe just lying awkwardly). This made shouldering the VR gun an exercise that I didn’t want to repeat. Fine for a quick round of skeet, but too tiring for anything else. So I did a game of ‘Duck Hunt’ purely shooting from the hip. As the saying goes… “Not great, not terrible”. I could probably do better with more practice, but thankfully the arm was back to normal after a couple of days :) The point however is that with unlimited free ammo you can practice stuff that would be reckless in real life.