So ... How's Your Girl?

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Family reunion. UK-based parents and 2 other expat siblings all found their way to Madrid in the summer so 18 months of separation was finally over. That was a good week. Been working with an Etsy Handwriting Artist to copy loved ones handwriting into frameable art and also a couple of special poems I wrote for people using my own handwriting. Disentangling precisely what has been caused by the pandemic and what is the result of Brexit is difficult. For Johnson the coincidence of Covid and Brexit has proved convenient in one sense, shielding him from blame and obscuring the picture. But economists broadly agree that the long term economic hit from Brexit will be far greater than from the pandemic.

Another thing that makes me feel a bit like an imposter is that I’m not very interested in finding out a lot of facts about it…people ask me stuff about diabetes and look confused when I say that I don’t know – where most people would google or wiki the hell out of a diagnosis, I’m fine with just knowing the basics. I don’t want to be all-consumed by my diagnosis, it is what it is and I prefer to ignore it as much as possible. 🙂 We often use so when we mean ‘to such a great extent’. With this meaning, so is a degree adverb that modifies adjectives and other adverbs:There are others who will have suffered far more than me, either directly through Covid or indirectly from either health conditions which have been neglected or hating the life forced on them by circumstances. I don’t have any major life-changes to report as everything has pretty much been in stasis; it’s been dull much of the time, but for me not particularly unpleasant.

I had more problems getting used to the meter (as I never had a meter during the “Type 2” years) than to the insulin injections! The times when I’ve had a scare haven’t been too bad, I can physically feel that I’m going too low when I reach 4 or slightly less, and I always carry glucose tablets in my bag, just in case the need arrives. It’s very distinct so I know immediately, and don’t need a meter to tell me so. Also, I changed jobs in September so the last 3 months has been a rabbit in the headlights time, and not what I was hoping for (yet). The right decision? Time will tell, but my general confidence and job satisfaction is on the floor at the moment. Keep on keeping on … What I have missed is experiences – holidays and gigs (though we did get to over a dozen shows this year). Not just the events, but having reliable points in the calendar to look forward to. The furthest I have been from Essex since 2019 is Manchester to see my partner’s daughter, and I have my fingers crossed than some travel, even with restrictions, may be possible in 2022.Health: A paradox. Having lived a healthy life and never really had any major concerns (I basically have been to the doctors about three times in about thirty years for absolutely minor ailments), I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at the start of the year. I still feel like I have imposter syndrome with it, and I don’t really feel I fit in with the online forums and all that. It’s been a blessing in a way, because it has forced me to watch my diet (basically cut down on carbs and sugar) and I’ve been astonished to see the weight fly off me. I’m now the slimmest I’ve been since my late 20s. So that’s the paradox. A combination of life going faster with age (I’m in my 58th year), plus my ADHD tendencies, means that it can be hard to get a coherent sense/shape of this last twelve months. That notwithstanding…