Wednesday 17th December 2025

There is no escape from the system.

In August I had a blood test and it showed I had diabetes.

I have taken this seriously, and gone to the gym now four times a week, and have reduced my blood sugars by 13 points.

But being diabetic means being added to many databases and tests in the NHS, one being eye tests.

So, I had my first one this morning, early enough so that Jools couldn't finish her class, get back home and take me to the health centre before nine.

So, after a lay in to nearly seven, I had time to get dressed and sup my coffee before we had to leave home just after eight.

Jools dropped me off at the layby at Burgoyne Heights, the sun had just risen, and was about to break over the low cloud covering the French coast.

My main aim was to snap the castle at sunrise, bathed in warm light, but as the sun rises south east, the sun just caught the battlements and keep on the left hand side.

Traffic was heavy heading into town, but I had an hour, so walked down the hill, getting closer shots of the Lock and Key of the Kingdom.

I cross the road, then take the steep hill down Connaught Hill, past the water cistern to the overgrown path leading down towards Buckland.

Further down the path opened up to a path, with a fine wall on the left hand side, with a satisfying brick pattern mixed in with the flint, and showing how steep the path was.

Into the houses that rise up from Maison Dieu Road, with parents taking their children to school this last week before Christmas.

I arrive at the health centre, but have half an hour to kill, so sit on a bench near the bowling green and listen to a podcast, chilly in the frosty morning air. But clear blue skies above and warm sunshine over my shoulder.

Time came to go in, and I sat in an oversize armchair until I was called. The nurse put drops in each eye to open my iris, then wait fifteen minutes for the opening to take place.

I was taken back in, two photographs of my retina, and that was it.

Jools was in the main hall with her keep fit colleagues, so I joined them in a cuppa and a scone.

We chatted about things for half an hour, then Jools and I walked back to the car.

The drops made the bright sunshine overbright, and it hurt to look at the sunlit buildings and trees, So, Jools drove us back home, as it was unsafe for me to drive.

And once home I sat on the sofa for two hours with my eyes closed listening to podcasts until the drops wore off.

I peel some potatoes, let them soak for an hour, then boil them in fresh salted water until they start to fall apart. After steam drying under a teatowel, popped into hot oil in a pan, and roasted on max heat for nearly two hours.

Meanwhile vegetables were prepped, and half an hour from the spuds being down, set to steam. Lamb and mint pies in the oven.

When it came to dish up, the pies were fine, the vegetables had a bit of bite, but the roast potatoes were gloriously golden and crispy. And once through the outer crispiness, inside was light and fluffy.

Best roasties. Ever.

After eating, we wash up, then watch the remainder of a documentary on the Aztecs, while outside the sun set on another fine day.