“Nopales” – a new word to me! It’s a good thing you signed your comment, Stashdragon (Wednesday), or I might have deleted it as rubbish. What I discovered, in pursuit of the definition, made me rather sorry that I hadn’t brought the fichi d’India fruits home for fermentation. The taste was a rather tepid sweet-ish, and there were too many seeds. But a bit of fermentational fizz might have been just what the doctor ordered.

Today went better. Maybe I’m coming round. I like the personal trainer, and am hopeful that she will do me good. Not goals but better ways of doing things like standing and walking and getting up from a chair.

And I’ve done a bit more of the Calcutta Cup vest, including introducing the steek for the v-neck. The pattern determines the position – that was easy. The count, on either side, isn’t quite right, but I’ll address that problem later. Mercifully, and not by pre-arrangement, I have finished the every-round decreases at the underarm (and so am ready to begin the every-other-round ones) just as I start the v-neck (which is every-other-round from the beginning). So they coincide.

I don’t understand your very interesting comment, Shandy – but maybe I will when I get to the top. I’ll try to remember it, anyway, and get back to you if necessary.

Kate Davies seems to be getting back to knitting, at last, after “Handywoman” and ready-mades. She’s put out an appeal for test knitters, so a collection must be somewhere in the offing. Not, alas, one to be doled out to get us through the dark months this time.

Annie Modesitt’s is a blog I occasionally read. I took a class of hers once, here in Edinburgh. Her husband Gerry turned up at the end, a plus. I went back to have a look at the blog the other day. Gerry died a fortnight ago, and Annie is in the worst phase of chemotherapy for Stage Four lymphoma. That’s about as grim as it gets.