Archie and I were out quite early, ie before I had my breakfast rolled oats, because I was due to get the bus down to Leith the visit the Pain Clinic again. But, as I was about to have my breakfast, the phone rang, and it was the Pain Doctor. I was somewhat discombobulated, as it was 10.30, nowhere near my midday appointment. However, we established that it was - always - a phone consultation. Which is good, because I have no need to see her. She'll just tell me I'm using the wrong hand for my walking stick again... but she's wrong.

Anyway, she asked how I was going, and what I'd like to do 'going forward'... Well... Can we try different medication? OK then! I also requested that a follow up was not 5 months away, like this time. She promised one of her team would check up on me in three months. 

Sooo, let's try something else. The last pills were a waste of time, really, as I thought (no, I knew) I'd had them before, but she, oddly enough, couldn't access my medical records to check.

Hazel is back home from her time in the sunshine, as brown as a berry. She popped over for a coffee in the front garden. But she's already looking forward to her next trip!

In the afternoon we took a notion to tidy up the saucepan cupboard and get rid of much of the older stuff, in anticipation of buying some new ones. We then took a pile of assorted stuff down to the charity shop. Archie came in the car, it wasn't far enough for him to get sick. And in fact, he sits up on my lap looking out like he's really enjoying the trip! They walked back home while I drove home.

We sat out in the sun in the back garden in the afternoon. It was lovely, and not too hot.

I've managed three 10 minute sessions on the bike, and my rear end is no longer excruciatingly painful, it's merely uncomfortable. I think my phone may have added several hundred more steps. Bonus.