Amongst my favourite, cheaper, dishes are cooked liver and onions, or cooked devilled kidneys, but not MY OWN! I was pleasantly surprised, therefore, this morning, when I attended the X-ray Doctor for a special series of X-ray photos, arranged by my GP (who is convinced that I'm an alcoholic) to prove to me that I would have to limit my consume of certain things! Tomorrow, at 1130 am, I shall stick my tongue out at him, politely of course, and suggest that he start looking in the medecines he advised me to take, because IMAGINE - Liver & kidneys are in fine form!! AND I've got photographic proof! All that is left is the pain killer treatment he prescribed, which is known for changing the liver values! He'll be disappointed, I know, and I must admit, I am EXTREMELY surprised, I fully expected there to be something or other, for my professions (Soldier/Civil Servant and Chef) were all in areas relatively exposed to over eating, over drinking and over everything else! ...

Watching a soccer match on the television last night, from the Stadium at Rheims, France, recalled to mind one of my (our) experiences as a youngish married couple. We were underway on one of our many "unofficial" trips, from Germany, and our aim had been to go to Paris, from Berlin, tracing the steps of a famous German Landau coach driver "Gustaf" (a landau coach was a sort of open horse drawn taxi of the 19th Century) Not having such a vehicle of that nature, we were doing it in our 23 year old Triumph Spitfire, with a canvas top, foldable back when the sun shone, so that made us almost identical to "Gustaf" except that we had a few horses more (which often didn't work) but we did have an open carriage, if I went faster than about 90km/h, because the press studs which held the canvas cover on were weary, and popped open at the wind force created at over 90km/h. Many a time we had to stop and go back to get the thing which had simply blown off. Anywa...