I had my booster, and all seems well. Helen was able to insinuate herself into the system and get hers too – thus making the hours she had nobly consumed on my behalf more profitable for herself. We had to go all the way out to the airport. She has decided to go ahead with Greece – she’ll take a train down tomorrow, and fly direct from Stansted to Thessaloniki.

 

My consultant rang up today asking why I had cancelled the colonoscopy. She seemed satisfied with the answer. She suggested my going into hospital for the preparatory days before the procedure. I agreed without enthusiasm that that might work. But she also seemed to agree that if “anything sinister” (the usual NHS phrase for cancer) turned up, they probably wouldn’t do much about it, given my age. We have a telephone consultation booked for next week. She will talk to gastroenterology in the interval. I’ve never actually met her – I liked her voice.

 

Knitting

 

I did a fair amount, as we sat around after our injections waiting for an anaphylactic shock reaction. Machu Picchu was perfect – round and round without lengthening the knitting or diminishing the ball of yarn. And I did a certain amount after we got home, while reading about Roman history.

 

Matthew (comment yesterday), thank you for the link to the ladder-back jacquard hat, which I watched with interest. I think I’ve got at least the rough general idea. The technique is completely new to me.

 

Cheetahs

 

You have to keep watching. They come and they go.

 

I found myself wondering whether they could be tamed. I’m sure their keepers try hard not to make pets of them. I get the impression that lions are as affectionate as domestic pussy cats, although they remain dangerous because of their size. I’ve never heard anything very cosy about a tiger. And I know you can’t generalise about an animal family from one or two members of it – zebras (or so they tell me) are completely untameable.