So here we are at the final week of my great experiment documenting five things each week which have made me happy, or for which I’m grateful.

It’s been a bit of an up and down week, although the general trend has been upward. I started off still feeling distinctly not yet the thing and worrying lest the bladder infection returned when I finished the second course of antibiotics. And I was worrying because I knew we wanted to make the day trip to see my mother and this would be a tiring day.

But we did get to see my mother and, despite some anxieties, I have survived and the infection hasn’t returned. Long may it stay that way!

So from quite a long list this week here are my five choices.

1. Feeling Recovered. Yes, in the last couple of days I do definitely feel that some form of proper humanity might be possible and I could be firing on all cylinders again. This has been helped by some good sleeps. So fingers crossed.
2. Lamb Curry. Earlier in the week Noreen did a lamb curry. This is the first curry for almost a month, since before I was ill, and it was good. Much enjoyed.



3. Sunset. Returning from seeing my mother on Thursday, slightly earlier than usual to get on the road before dark, there was a gorgeous grey and gold winter sunset. And as the A11 southbound is aligned roughly SW you are driving towards the sunset. The photo really doesn’t do it justice.
4. Elveden Corner Gammon Joint. Having left Norwich early on Thursday we had time to stop at the Elveden Estate Shop which we haven’t been able to do for quite some time. I’ve written about Elveden before (see here). What I found there were some smoked Corner Gammon joints at a very good price — it was cheaper than the Collar, which I’m sure it shouldn’t have been. Corner Gammon is a cut I’ve not seen for a lot of years — no-one now seems to know any cuts of bacon beyond Back, Streaky, Gammon and Collar (if you’re lucky). Corner Gammon is a flat-ish triangular cut (see the diagram, which isn’t quite how I remember jointing bacon from my youth but near enough). We had it hot last night, and have just had a cold cut with salad this evening — both enjoyed with a good slurp of cider. A really flavoursome piece of pig.
5. Adnams Ghost Ship. I shall finish with one of my favourite beers … my Christmas beer stock was cans of Adnams Ghost Ship. This is a lovely pale ale with some very nice, fragrant, citrus flavours. So far I have hardly touched the stock, so it should keep me in beer for some while to come. Cheers!

So that’s it! Sometime during the week I will try to analyse what this has told me, and gauge how successful it has been.

Now what am I going to do to stay out of trouble?

So that was Christmas was it? Didn’t feel much like it to me but then I was all out of kilter having not been well — I just lost the rhythm of everything. But I’m OK now (I hope) and the second course of antibiotics has meant I did actually enjoy doing nothing over Christmas. So here is my selection of five things which have made me happy or grateful during this, week 59, the penultimate week, of the experiment.

1. Sparrowhawk. I think it was on Christmas Eve I was looking out of the study window when all of a sudden every bird in the garden disappeared into cover. Followed in a flash by the appearance over my head of a female sparrowhawk, which alighted in the apple tree. It didn’t get lunch, but sat there for 2-3 minutes looking to see if there was any unwary meal around. I see the sparrowhawk in the garden a handful of times a year, but only once have I seen a kill. They are such fine birds that I always feel privileged when one appears.

   

2. Gin. What better Christmas present than not one but two bottles of special gin. The blue one (yes it really is blue, it isn’t just the bottle!) is rather good. Have yet to try the Adnams.
3. Roger Brun Rosé Champagne. We had a bottle of this delightful very small house Champagne with our Christmas dinner. It really was a delight. A dark rosé, as one would expect from a Pinot Noir. Pretty raspberry-tinted mousse. Dry but not too dry. And with loads of fruit. It came from Nick Dobson Wines, and sadly they don’t have any more; I bought the remaining handful of bottles!
4. Royal Institution Christmas Lectures. This year’s RI Christmas Lectures (on BBC2 TV) were on chemistry, given by Dr Peter Wothers of the University of Cambridge. He has a reputation as an excellent science communicator, and I see why. As a chemist, I thought the lectures were excellent: just the right mix of information, curiosities and some whiz-bang for the target audience of 11-ish year olds. They reminded me why I found chemistry interesting, and made me realise how much better a chemist I could have been if someone had enthused me with teaching like this when I was 11 or 12. The down side? There were only three lectures; there used to be six; I wanted six! As of writing the lectures are still available on BBC iPlayer.
5. Orchids. I haven’t written about orchids for a while, but I still have orchids in flower. I now have 10 or 12 plants and have had at least one in flower continuously since last March. In fact I currently have two in flower for the second time this year. And they are nearly all starting new flowering spikes. A windowsill, a weekly-ish soak and feed and they just seem to go on and on.

Next week is the last week of the experiment. And then we have to anaylse the results. Could be interesting. Watch this space!

So has week 58 of the experiment been better than the previous one? Well it could hardly have been a lot worse. I’m definitely recovering, though not yet recovered. But just getting back to normal has brought it’s own enjoyments this week, especially eating properly again …

1. Doctor Taking the Trouble to Call Me! By Monday morning I was beginning to feel human again and was about to phone the doctor’s to see if they had the results of my urine test. When lo and behold by GP rang me: yes, the test confirmed I had a bladder infection and could I collect a prescription for some antibiotics. Half an hour later she rings me again: she has my flash drive, which contained a presentation I had given to a local NHS meeting 10 days earlier and which I’d forgotten to pick up afterwards. Neither of those calls was expected, and I’m sure most GPs wouldn’t have bothered but let me do the chasing around. This is how the NHS should work! Brilliant!
2. Beaujolais Nouveau. After over a week without alcohol it was so wonderful to enjoy a bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau again. We’re getting towards the end of this year’s supply, so make the most of it!
3. Red Beaujolais “Champagne”. Yes, you did read that correctly! Red Beaujolais made in the style (same method) of Champagne. It’s Perle Rouge brought from Nick Dobson Wines. I’m not sure it quite works for me, but we maybe didn’t chill it enough. On this showing I’d prefer a normal Beaujolais or a sharp Champagne. But it was a very interesting thing to try and we have another bottle for a second tasting. Definitely worth trying!
4. Special Roast Lamb. No more here about this as I wrote about it yesterday. And we have the cold cut for tonight! (The remains of the joint are visible in the photo behind my wineglass.)
5. Pinner Royal Sausages. I’ve mentioned the award winning sausages from our favourite butchers (Hilton’s in Pinner) before. They were especially welcome and pleasing this week after a long run of sub-normal food.

OH — MY — GOD. Week 57 of the experiment has been just the most truly awful week. I’ve spent effectively the whole week with the most dreadful UTI. 7 days on and I’m getting better but I’m certainly not there yet. This week has been the lowest in terms of depression/mood since records began in September 2010 — and that includes the time of the complications following my colonoscopy. Bastard!

So that’s why this week’s report is late — I ran out of “go” yesterday.

Nevertheless I have managed to find a few things that cheered me pathetic soul during the week …

1. Le Truc Vert. On Monday, Noreen and I both had early afternoon meetings in central London. We trundled off mid-morning and had lunch at Le Truc Vert in North Audley Street, just a few yards from the US Embassy. This is Mayfair, so we’re not talking the “cheapskate” end of the market, although Le Truc Vert isn’t outrageously expensive either. We indulged ourselves with some mouthwatering steak and a glass of red wine before parting for our respective meetings. Le Truc Vert promises to become a firm favourite.

   [It is about this point when the week started to go to hell in a handcart. And no it wasn’t the bistro; the signs were there before that.]

2. Fog. On Tuesday night it was thick with fog. No, not a pea-souper. Almost no-one under the age of 65 has seen a proper London pea-souper; the last big one was I think in 1952. Even the thick, dirty fogs of my childhood in outer London, when you could see only about 3 feet, were pretty tame. No, this was just good, old-fashioned, clean white fog. And it was freezing. Visibility here was probably down to about 100 yards. I like fog; I always have; even those nasty dirty ones of my childhood. It’s disorientating; mysterious; ethereal.
3. Rime on Trees. On Wednesday morning the freezing fog had left the trees covered in rime. Beautiful filigree white lace in an ethereal mist. Our silver birch tree looked gorgeous; real picture-book stuff that we hardly ever see in London.
4. Beans on Toast at Midnight. This is the sort of daft thing that happens when you’re ill. Very late, like gone 1130, on Thursday evening, having eaten almost nothing for two days, I needed beans on toast. Why beans on toast I have no clue! Now Noreen is a great believer in eating what you fancy, when you fancy it, at such times. So she trotted off and brought me beans on toast. So there I am, at a few minutes to midnight, sitting in bed, eating beans on toast. And at times like this such things are stunning by how good they are.
5. Noreen. Generally during the experiment I have refrained naming Noreen amongst my five selections, despite that she deserves it every week! But this week she really has been magnificent. She’s mopped up all the things which needed doing urgently and which I couldn’t do, as well as providing me food when I needed it and company. She organised all the Christmas cards (luckily I had already printed address labels) just leaving me a pile I needed to scribble in. And she has wrapped and posted all the parcels. I just could not have done any of that this week. I’m not sure Noreen appreciates just how much I appreciate what she does, and her input to the “partnership”. Somehow words never seem to say it quite right!

Well week 56 of the great experiment (in which I’m documenting five things which have made me happy of for which I’m grateful during the week) has been another busy one. In fact things have been sufficiently hectic that we’re at risk of getting all behind with Christmas preparations — cards have yet to be written! Nevertheless here’s this week’s selection …

1. Small Potted Christmas Trees. Again this year Waitrose are selling small (30-45 cm) pot grown Christmas trees. And they’re ready decorated with some Chrstmassy shapes and a little string of battery driven lights. This is how I like real Christmas trees: small and growing. Needless to say we bought one to adorn the dining table (lights and decs from last year’s tree added). And after Christmas it will go in the garden, probably in a tub for a few years, to eventually be planted out somewhere.
2. Monday Lie-in. Despite the business we were able to have Monday with on alarm clocks ringing. In consequence I slept late and well, and actually felt refreshed for it.
3. Frosty, Sunny Mornings. Again, as it should be at this time of year, several mornings this week have been cold and frosty, but also bright and sunny. Which I find most refreshing.
4. Sun-Roast Cat. It was one day early in the week that Harry the Cat was sitting in the sunshine on the windowsill by my desk before coming ad insisting on lying on my desk. He was well roasted in the sun, and happy and purry.

   

5. Handel’s Messiah. Last evening we went with our friends Sue & Ziggy to a performance of Handel’s Messiah given by the Ealing Abbey School Choir. Messiah is quite a big ask for a school choir as it needs a lot of dynamic range and attack, which often comes only with maturity (due purely to lung and chest capacity). But the chior, the soloists and the orchestra were all excellent. A most enjoyable evening.

Well this hasn’t been one of the best weeks. Having started off with this filthy cold, it was mid-week before any semblance of humanity returned, and even that was a bit sketchy, so no real change there. Added to which it has been another manically busy week. But it has ended well, so hopefully things are on the up!

And it is week 55 of the great experiment in which I’m documenting five things which have made me happy of for which I’m grateful this week. The hope is that doing this will have an effect on my mood and depression. It’ll be interesting to see where we end up!

Anyway this week’s selection is …

1. Fish & Chips. Monday was miserable. I still had the cold, although it was receding. And it was cold and grey. Noreen asked me what I wanted for lunch. Semi-jokingly I said fish & chips. This was deemed a great idea. So Noreen trotted round to the chip shop, returning with massive pieces of fish and mountains of chips. What a tremendous treat. We’ve not had real chip shop fish & chips for literally years. They were wonderful; greasy; just as I remember them; and totally different from what you generally get in a pub. Horribly unhealthy but what a great way to start the week!
2. Winter Lights. Last Sunday (25 November) was the feast of Christ the King, celebrated by some Christian sects on the last Sunday of the liturgical year, ie. the Sunday before Advent. We have made for ourselves a tradition that we put up the first of our Christmas lights (think of them as Winter lights) on Christ the King and they stay up to Candlemas (2 February). Every culture has some form of mid-winter fire or light festival: to see off the darkness and hasten the return of the sun in Spring. Our lights are a reflection of this and light us through the darkest days of the year — a month (roughly) either side of the Solstice. I love having the lights up, even in the bedroom (neither of us need total darkness to sleep); they really do seem to make a difference.
3. Cold, Sunny Mornings. Winter arrived this week. The last several mornings have been very cold, clear, bright and frosty. This is how it should be, and how I fondly remember Winter mornings as a kid. I’m sure they weren’t all like this, but I do find the cold and the sunshine invigorating. Bring on the Alpine weather!
4. Annual Anthony Powell Lecture. One reason the week has been so busy, but ended so well, is that we’ve had two Anthony Powell Society events this week. First on Friday evening there was the annual lecture, which is held in collaboration with The Wallace Collection. This year’s lecturer was writer AN Wilson. He talked about Powell’s narrative techniques and interest in things military. He was very interesting and is an excellent speaker. And the lecture was a sell-out for the third or fourth year in a row.
5. Anthony Powell Birthday Lunch. The following day, on Saturday we had our annual (informal) Anthony Powell Birthday Lunch. His birthday isn’t actually until 21 December but we always have the lunch on the first Saturday in December to keep it away from Christmas festivities. This year was especially opportune as the day of the lunch, 1 December, was also the Powells’ wedding anniversary. About 20 of us had an exceptionally convivial time at the Queen’s Head & Artichoke, where everyone drank more than usual which did screw up the finances — but what the hell, it is a celebration and it’s almost Christmas!