I didn’t get to the computer till very late today. Why? Because today was love your own heart day. That is go and have a heart examination when you have no symptoms that suggest that you need one, except of course the most obvious one, age. It went pretty well, the electrocardiogram (ECG) looked fine to the cardiographer, but she said a doctor has to interpret the results to be sure all is OK. It was a lot of fun being connected to a lot of wires, Olivia said it looked very sci-fi. The echocardiogram (ultrasound) was something else. So instead of looking at growing babies in the womb, they look at your heart. There wasn’t really anything wrong except that the performance of my heart on one of the beats is the wrong way around, a young healthy heart has a different balance of response between the beats, mine is the opposite. It’s like the breathe-in is stronger than the breathe-out and it should be the other way around. This means losing weight because weight is where your heart struggles and you also need to keep the freeways in your body free of obstructed traffic. So I’m not ill or in danger, but I could do better. So bye-bye cake and bread and chocolate. Let’s have a serious go at improving my health whilst I’m fit enough, and strong enough, to do so.

From here I went to a physiotherapy consultation in relation to my thumbs and knees. I’m not in great pain, but kneeling is an issue that as an agnostic might not be a problem. Pinching, that is grabbing anything with my finger and thumb or say opening the boot/trunk of a car where I have to use my thumb to exert pressure, that’s a problem. Ultimately, I need to make sure I have good mobility, and strength from the gym and pilates or yoga exercises – the swimming helps of course. The therapist pushed me around in the room and had me attempt certain acts to find the spot where pain ensued. My left knee really cracks and I have some numbness on the anterior wall below the left knee, but the main problem is kneeling when it comes to sharp pain. Both these places ultimately need surgery (the thumbs less complicated than the knees) but she said that I should hold out as long as possible because prosthetics wear out and you don’t want to be going in for knee replacements when you are really, really old, best get them later, so they last till the inevitable comes and transports you to the great Music Archive in the sky.

After this tooth-conscious week and weight awareness month, Olivia made a beeline for the supermarket for the beginning of our future soupy possibilities. She made quinoa, broccoli and spinach soup and that meant that today I avoided bread at lunch and simple carbs at dinner, it’s a good start and hunger will be tempting me until I get into a proper routine. Bakeries will use their wicked magnetic forces to attract me to the delicious range of Portuguese delights, and my willpower will most definitely be tested.

Music today has been Everything but the Girl – Fuse (2023), their first album of new material for 24 years. An enjoyable album of proper songs in a contemporary format, not too many dance tracks and great singing, and with some sophisticated production.

Music Of The Daze