Cholesterol; road tedium; lovely lovely whiteness

Discovered last week from my doctor’s surgery that my cholesterol levels are moderately high; news which was followed by an irritating appointment with a nurse (I am reminded of Little Britain’s Marjorie Dawes) and a slightly less irritating consultation with a GP. The upshot seems to be that they don’t put people on statins until their total level reaches 7, so I am to eat a lower fat diet for a year and then get tested again. Sulked for most of last week, but am moderately resigned to giving it a go (I say ‘moderately’).

Returned to Reading for the weekend but didn’t achieve much on Saturday, partly through continued sulking at unfairness of cholesterol levels. Perked up a bit on Sunday and Ruth and I took a load of stuff to the tip, including plastering leftovers, soot and other crap from the chimney rescue and some empty paint cans. Back home I primed various bits of wood in the attic before cooking a Jamie Oliver recipe for dinner involving tuna steaks (they count as oily fish, dontcha know) on a bed of pulses and herbs. With some Chardonnay. I don’t think wine is high in fat.

Am more or less into my routine of 5.30am starts from Reading to get back to my flat in time for breakfast before work, but Monday’s journey proved particularly trying. Arrived at the A404 Marlow-Bisham bypass around 6am to discover that it was blocked off by police; thanks to this horse, I discovered later. Reckless beast. That only necessitated a relatively minor detour through Marlow, but was distinctly peeved to discover half an hour later that junction 10 of the M40 was also closed. Continuing to junction 11 involves a major detour, so must explore possible alternative routes as this is not the first time junction 10 has been closed since I’ve been driving this route. This article seems to reckon that the junction is particularly awkwardly laid out, which there is some truth in.

Belated mention that painter Chris O'Toole did a fabulous job on bedrooms 1 and 2 and the upstairs hallway - walls now beautifully coated in Dulux Jasmine White, while we went for a satinwood rather than gloss on the woodwork as a couple of the painters I saw reckoned that gloss discolours in central heating. Never knew that. Chris even found and fitted a little piece of skirting to replace the piece that apparently popped out after Handyman Paul did some enthusiastic bashing in the next room. Top bloke.