In the clear!

D day today. Had to go to Guy's Hospital to see what the verdict was on me going on to insulin. My blood sugar level has been pretty good for the last month so I was pretty confident, but it all depended on the level of my HbA1c, or 'glycated haemoglobin' as it's known to its friends. They test for this at the hospital to get a more accurate picture of blood glucose levels over the previous three months. The goal for a diabetic is less than 7, and I came in at 6.6, so I don't need to take insulin for the moment, which is good news.

So more cycling, less beer and more reading the ingredients of everything I buy from the supermarket. Have a look at how much sugar there is in muesli, for example...Tesco's wholewheat variety has the lowest count I can find and that's still about 15g per 100! Good job I like porridge.

The beard is coming off tomorrow as it's beginning to resemble Saddam Hussein's (though you can't blame the facial hair for the evil-doing, he only had a moustache when in power, remember). Still, I don't want to frighten my new students too much and one of my neighbours told me that it looked 'dirty', so it's out with the razor tomorrow.

Blanket

Here are Vicky and Stephen from Blanket playing some very fine music at Richard and Doug's Circus Circus night at the Gladstone in Borough last night. Nice little pub and a good crowd. It was particularly good to see Spizz there, the second punk rock legend to feature in this blog. Perhaps this could become a regular feature. The man responsible for 'Where's Captain Kirk?' was nursing a broken arm sustained in a goalkeeping accident and waxing lyrical about Tommy Cooper. I was hoping to have an abstemious night but was led astray by the lure of Adnams on tap. Still managed to restrict myself to two pints and the two week blood sugar average now stands at an eminently healthy 5.8, which is pretty damn good. Especially considering all the booze that's been flowing of late in honour of our friend and neighbour Anthony chucking in his job and setting off to circumnavigate the world armed only with a small box of magic tricks. For the moment at least, the beer/cycling balance seems to be working.

Nunhead cemetery

Cycled to Nunhead with Shelly yesterday to visit the Victorian cemetery, which, despite looking like a vast Hammer Horror film set, is one of the most peaceful places in London.

Those of you following the saga of my blood sugar control with bated breath will be pleased to learn that my two week average is now down to an extremely respectable 6.4!

Waveney Greenpeace Fair

I was playing bass for the Crops at this brilliant festival in Suffolk yesterday - drove down there with Sir Textalot in a rented bubble car. It was like an outdoor jumble sale with bands. And rescued greyhounds. And homemade cakes and a bicycle powered p.a. And a beer tent. Bloody marvellous, hope we can do it again next year. Must have been good for me; the blood sugar's behaving itself a bit more too. I have also started a new hobby: collecting alternative names for sideburns. Being of the hairy faced persuasion I get to hear quite a few. Two new ones from yesterday were 'Piccadilly Weepers' and 'Buggeries'.