Happy birthday to our Gary, born in Hertfordshire on a scorchio day in 1975. Here he was in the even hotter summer of 1976:
He's grown up a bit since then:
Spare a thought for Gary on Sunday when he's taking part in the notoriously hilly Stonehaven Half Marathon. He's concerned he hasn't done enough distance training for this - and, of course, about his dodgy Stewart joints. Predicted to be very hot too. Good luck, Gary - I'm away, otherwise I'd have come to cheer you on.
He's got a little break to look forward to afterwards - I managed to book a half week timeshare at Pine Lake Resort (http://www.pinelakeresortcarnforth.co.uk/) in Carnforth in the Lake District, so he and Luca are off there on Monday for 3 nights.
Forgot to say that I received my medical report last week. Overall, it wasn't too bad - it shows I've grown by one cm and lost 3 kgs in the last year! I wasn't properly hydrated when the test was done, so I suspect the apparent weight loss is just fluid - and I'm definitely not getting any taller!
B.P. was OK, but my cardiovascular risk score has gone up from 4% to 7% - but I am a year older. I do have to watch my liver count, however - it's been raised for the last 3 years and, although it's lower this year, it's still above the recommended level. I've been told it's almost certainly due to the drugs I'm taking, but the doctor advised me to take a month off alcohol and then get my bloods tested again, just to be sure that wasn't a contributory factor. I will do this - but not right now, with a long holiday in USA about to start. Perhaps the month before, or the month after, my knee operation might be a good idea?
One of the interesting tests they do at Nuffield (as opposed to Albyn, where we used to go) was a spinal flexibility test, which I just about passed muster on:
Another one was the Resilience Index, when you hold weights on extended arms for a period of time:
Seemed to do OK on that one too.
Enough for today. Got to do some work before leaving here to pick up Luca from school.
