Tag Archives: quote

Day 145

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No work today so I rose at a leisurely pace, breakfasted and popped down to the doctor to have  a blood test. That was when my day took a turn for the worse, when the first two attempts produced nothing. I’m beginning to worry the nurse, as she seems to have constant trouble with me. And when she doesn’t get the blood (which is most of the time) she blames me for not drinking enough before the test. I think she has erected a psychological barrier about me and blood testing, a bit like Emma Raducanu and winning.

The nurse went to get help, and the new nurse, who I have known for years because our kids were at school together, just prodded my arm, shoved the needle in and took the sample. If only Emma Raducanu’s solution could be as simple. I fear she has a long way to go, and a lot of press coverage to endure, before she sorts it out.

I heard a good quote on Tv tonight. William Faulkner – Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.

That’s the one for me. It’s just what I needed after a few weeks of wondering how to improve my writing. I spent the best part of today writing in an attempt to improve and I found this encouraging.

To be 100% accurate, the best part of the day was the time I spent eating more of the rhubarb and ginger crumble that Julia made at the weekend. What I really meant was that I spent most of the day trying to improve my writing. That’s how I’m going to improve – more precision and fewer sloppy expressions.

I deduce, from the lack of phone call, that my blood test results were satisfactory and the Warfarin dosage needs no adjustment. I am also hopeful that this means they will give me a month before the next blood test.

 

 

 

A Favourite Quote and a Question of Manners

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I watched Four Weddings and a Funeral last night. It shares some of the features that make me like the Blandings books (almost eternal summer, romance) but with more depth and considerably more swearing.

One of my favourite film scenes is Gareth’s funeral. Not the famous poem, but the speech.

“I rang a few people, to get a general picture of how Gareth was regarded by those who met him: ‘Fat’ seems to have been a word people most connected with him. ‘Terribly rude’ also rang a lot of bells.”

This rings a lot of bells with me too. Despite recent efforts to diet, fat is still the first impression people have of me. I suppose it’s because my shirt buttons tend to enter a room a foot before I do.

Same goes for rude. I have a tendency to say what I think at the time I think it. That’s not always what people want to hear. It’s fashionable to refer to a lack of “internal censor”.

That this should be considered rude is just a comment on modern society.

I also have a tendency to treat people all the same. This sounds like a good thing but doesn’t always go down well either, as some people seem to think they should be treated better than others. Recruit an idiot, call him a manager and all of a sudden he’s demanding “respect”.

Respect used to be something you earned, now it’s something people seem to expect.

Even worse, I’ve noticed that Julia is starting to use me as a yardstick. The words “nearly as rude as you” seem to be slipping into her conversation more and more these days.

I’m sure that Messrs Volta, Newton and Faraday (plus others I can’t call to mind) would all be happy at the idea of having things named after them. I’m not so sure I want my name to go down in history as the man who gave his name to the International System unit of rudeness.

Ah well!