Thursday 1st February 2024

Fitful night's sleep. Left foot causing me a bit of gip during the night, and not much better come the morning, despite my doing some exercises. Porridged at the computer. Aki cycled off to Essex Road and her hair dresser. I cycled over to Gillespie Park for Qi Gong. George from No.127 was there, and a couple of newbies. The cycle ride was colder than I'd anticipated, and it took about half-an-hour for my hands to warm up afterward. Cycled home. Computer. Aki home for lunch, having cycled over to Clapton to stick a birthday card through Katrina's letterbox. I walked up to the Whittington Hospital for a blood test...the young phlebotomist was singing under her breath when I walked in, so I asked if she was a singer...turned out she also played guitar, so I told her about the Wednesday Night Open Mic at the Owl & the Hitchiker down the road. Kath sent us a photo of dad's swollen right foot...he had been to the walk-in health centre, but hadn't been willing to wait around to see a GP...the triage nurse reckoned he needed antibiotics. Back home he arranged a GP appointment for tomorrow afternoon, but we urged him to ring 111 and get some advice, if he wasn't willing to go to A&E. There were a few phone calls back and forth between siblings. The clinician eventually rang him back, but could only offer a GP at Hexham, which would have meant a 12 mile drive in the dark, with a swollen foot...so he declined the offer, and resolved to attend the appointment tomorrow afternoon with his GP. He seemed in good form when we spoke later in the evening...he'd cooked dinner, and done the washing up! Aki warmed up the fish curry, and made a cauliflower achari gobi to go with the rice and dal. But Aki didn't eat...she complained of stomach pains and went off to bed instead, so I ate alone in front of the C4 News. She seemed OK later, and got up to take a shower. I then ran a bath, before retiring for the night...