Poked, prodded and pricked ...

... all in the space of 10 minutes!

Yes, dear readers, it was time for my biennial rubber-glove-and-lubricating-jelly-treat down at the Doctor's surgery this morning. I know everyone is short of time these days (as am I!) but they don't even ask you to remove your skirt any more, just your knickers, so I lay spread-eagled on the couch in my bunched up skirt and pop-socks while the practice nurse (you'd think she'd be perfect by now ...) avoided eye-contact and made polite conversation about how far away I worked and at least I'd miss the worst of the traffic this morning.

A few minutes later it was back on with the knickers, sleeve rolled up for a 'flu jab, then out of the door within the 10 minutes allowed for each appointment.

At least this time I was expecting an internal examination. Many years ago, when I lived in France, I went through a very low, morose few weeks, and decided to take myself off to the doctor, with vague ideas of low blood-sugar or low potassium, or something to explain why I was feeling so miserable and lethargic.

I related my symptoms to Dr Benlolo (no, really, that was his name) who listened patiently, then said, 'Strip from the waist down and hop up on the couch' and proceeded to give me a thorough, but inexplicable internal examination.

I don't think the intervention cured me, but it was the last time I visited a doctor in the 6 years I lived in France...

My Brilliant Divorce

Dillie Keane (of Fascinating Aida fame) starred in the one-woman show My Brilliant Divorce at the Nuffield Theatre on Friday. I can't remember the last time I laughed so much that I cried, and I certainly don't ever remember enjoying a play so much that I tried to find someone to come with me to see it again the following evening. Sadly, all my friends were already booked up for Saturday night so I didn't go again, but as I seem to be able to remember huge chunks of the monologue already, that's probably no bad thing. My colleagues will be sick of the sound of me by the end of tomorrow!

If the play comes to a theatre near you at any time, GO!

And if it ever comes out on DVD, get it!

The Land of Po

A little over a year ago, I fell prey to the marketing ploys of Ryanair, and ended up going to Marseille (October) and Barcelona (November) on very cheap flights. Last week, another such offer fell into my email inbox and I fell for it again! This time it's Poland, Wroclaw to be precise, for a week in March. Yes, I know it's likely to be very cold ... and by the time Ryanair had added on the cost of check-in and the cost of putting a bag in the hold, the flights had increased to £75, but never mind, I have time between now in March to try and sell vast quantities of unused and/or unwanted 'stuff' on Ebay and Amazon to try and find the money! I'm going with my travelling companion from Marseille, and we spent a happy couple of hours on the computer yesterday looking at hotels. We've settled on the 5* Sofitel, which had a pretty good deal on if you book and pay in advance on a 'no-cancellation' policy, so this is where we'll be staying.

18 weeks to try and learn a bit of Polish, although that shouldn't be hard. I could learn, 'Get out of my shop!' in Polish quite easily, as the owners of some Polish grocery shops in the city are refusing to serve British people. In case anyone out there is puzzled as to why this should bother me, the city in question is in England, not Poland ... Yes, I know, I could feel my blood pressure rising and a potential heart attack coming on as well.

Until later, do widzenia!

Colin Fry and TJ Higgs

I spent a very enjoyable and interesting evening yesterday at the Guildhall, where Colin Fry and TJ Higgs presented an evening of ... well, what would you call it? They call it a demonstration, but I felt it was an evening of connections, between this world and the world that lies beyond. I'm a believer, not a sceptic, but all the same I do question everything before I accept it - my belief is not blind. The messages that came through were specific, not the 'does anyone have someone on the other side whose name begins with M?' variety, and it was lovely to see the positive reaction of the members of the audience who did get a message.

If I was going to get a message, the Guildhall would have been the place. Less than a week after my mother's death in 1992, my father handed over the mayoral chain of office to the new mayor, and I took my mother's place at his side. She had been ill throughout the mayoral year, but fulfilled her duties with grace and dignity, never letting on that she was so unwell. My father died two and a half years later. If ever either of them were going to come through, I felt it would have been there, but I wasn't disappointed when there was no message for me. Perhaps, at last, I have come to terms with their deaths, and perhaps that's why other people received messages, not me. Other people in the audience needed to hear that their loved ones were safe, and in a happier place. I didn't need to hear that, because I already believe it to be true.

If anyone - sceptic or believer - is in two minds about going to see such a demonstration, I would urge them to go. It was a very positive and affirming experience, and I'm looking forward to Colin's new shows coming up soon on Living TV.

Pink Paradox

The company I work for supports Breast Cancer Care, and donates a certain sum of money to them for each pack of our best-selling product. It's a great cause, and yesterday, the culmination of Breast Cancer Awareness week, the whole company made a special effort to raise extra funds for the charity. Ladies dressed in pink washed cars, hairy-chested men allowed themselves to be waxed (ouch!), local companies donated scores of goodies for the raffle - with prizes including wide-screen TVs, use of a brand new Mercedes SLK for the weekend, hampers, six-foot tall cuddly penguins (as in Happy Feet) - and a good friend of mine supplied huge quantities of alcohol from her company (which is also one of my former employers) for the Finance Wine Cellar Clearance. I'm sure she won't mind if I add a link here to her firm's cocktail website, which she works tirelessly to promote. There was a Car Boot-ique - an indoor car boot sale - and various pink non-alcoholic cocktails to try, pink doughnuts on sale, and, as we have a multi-national workforce, a fantastic buffet of food from around the world to sample at lunchtime. The Pink Panther put in an appearance and we had a Wii-mbledon tournament. My doubles partner and I got through to the quarter finals (no thanks to me - she kept having to remind me which cartoon character I was!)

The only sour note was a 'phone call from my boss to one of my colleagues to tell her that she must not spend any time on Pink Day activities, because we were all far too busy... What a shame he felt the need to point that out when we are all very responsible when it comes to prioritising work. What a great pity he felt the need to point it out when he had spent half of Friday out of contact travelling to be with his girlfriend for the weekend ...

I guess when you get to that level of seniority you feel you can make the rules, but don't think apply to you. Funny, but I have always subscribed to the 'lead by example' viewpoint...

Next time he asks me to do anything personal for him, I'm afraid I shall be too busy ...