DC

The past month or so seems to have been a string of hospital appointments, either for me or taking my mother. (She has a respiratory  clinic this week, slightly bad timing but we should at least find out what's happening with the lesion found by chance last year.) It's been quite fatiguing. My payback/recovery period after exertion has definitely deteriorated, This is a pain. I've still been getting out when possible, but it's been harder work.

After Eastercon, I thought I would read some of David Weber's stuff, and I think I am with pogodragon (I think it was) who said that having met him she wished she liked his books better. But they are unchallenging reads (if you can swallow the chunks of right wing politics) which are good enough for occupying train journeys.

Talking of train journeys, the new route linking the North Clyde Line through to Edinburgh (so you can get on at Partick or Queen St. Low Level and go through to Haymarket or Waverley via Airdrie, Bathgate and Edinburgh Park) is rather useful. It takes longer (from Queen St.) than the direct shuttle service from the main platforms, maybe 15 minutes longer, but at off peak times it is much quieter, so despite it being more basic it's actually more pleasant than the crammed coaches of the main service.

By the way, if you are in Edinburgh and you like chilli, Illegal Jack's is the place to go. Best chilli ever. It's better than mine. It's on Lothian Road, just across from the Odeon.

Oh, and I have discovered a new indicator of extreme fatigue: when you are having difficulty holding a Kindle...

OK, I have spent a substantial part of the past three days in bed. For those new to my journal, I have ME, which a lot of people don't know when they meet me (which suits me). This is because I tend to pace myself so that when people see me, I'm not too bad. If I am too bad, I generally can't make it out, so it's easy not to spot I have it. It is also not, mostly, as bad as it was at the start, but just lately it has taken a serious turn for the worse. Partly this is the effect of my having had a few months of other health problems (asthma, chest infection, weird dietary problem), partly having had to expend a lot of my spoons on helping out my parents (my father has been ill, in hospital a couple of times, and my mother's mobility is very limited). Except that I have had rest and things should have been on an improving curve, but in fact things have been been inclining to be worse. I can't help wondering if some of my other medication is having a bad effect on the ME. The past three days I have had almost no energy, had problems moving around the flat, and have tended to feel so exhausted I was on the point of collapse while I was lying down.

I am quite pleased this didn't hit earlier, because it would seriously have buggered up Friday. I spent a chunk of the day with banhe, whose birthday it was. There was photography involved, and food, and the giving of presents. It was excellent getting the chance to catch up with her.

Since she's vegan, we ate in the Note. I decided not to take the risotto cakes (which are delicious and I can tolerate them) because I always take them lately, and instead decided to have the lasagne. It was nice, and I had no catastrophic effects, but there was definite unpleasant bloating for several hours afterwards. I recently also tried some beans (since I like beans on toast) and it wasn't too bad — not the catastrophically bad effects I was getting with fibre a few months ago. However, definite discomfort and bloating, enough to suggest eating more fibre would be a bad idea. So, it looks like it is going to be a while yet before I get back to being vegan.

My father's is not too well again; in exactly what way, who knows? He will not describe his symptoms. He's been put on some new medication which looks like some fairly potent antimicrobial, and he's going to be reassessed at the end of the week, and possibly admitted again to hospital. This is going to be fun.

I have been pleased to discover that there's now a BBC iPlayer which works properly with Linux, using Adobe AIR if I recall correctly (I installed it just before the ME thumped me at the weekend). Not sure how long that has been available, I haven't even looked at the iPlayer page for several months. It's about time, whenever it was implemented.

The Moody Blues are singing Melancholy Man in the background. I like the song, and sometimes when I have listened to it I have felt it could be me... I have a melancholy Celt streak in me. But not today. I can enjoy the music, and feel content in the happiness. Which feels slightly weird, but I am not knocking it. Anyway, that isn't what I meant to post about.

Posts on some of the US sector of my flist suggest that this week is something called Thanksgiving, and as it happens we have been invited to a Thanksgiving Party of sorts (the party thrower is a native of the USA, it is not complete insanity on the part of a random Weegie). It occured to me I would like to find some nice pie to take along (that's pie in the US sense, something like pecan pie, not your mother's classic mince or steak pie). Anyone know where you can get such a thing (of decent quality) in Glasgow? [We would consider cooking one, but that's not really the sort of thing we are into and would probably not do a very good job on first attempt; baking is not amenable to our normal approach to cooking, which is pretty much have a recipe in mind, but don't pay too much attention to it.]

Before I go off and do some cooking (the kerela should be about ready to rinse and fry), I should note, to keep it in my mind, that there is one thing I do seem to be having a little problem with at the moment and that is my spacial sense and coordination. Which is irritating for me, and probably damn scary for anyone unexpectedly too near to me. If you see me about to walk into you, this is why.

Given my current continuing improvement, I expect this to ease off soon, but you never know.