June 2017

The last day of May I saw my NHS doctor to find out the results of my bone scan. She was furious at me for having consulted my private doctor and then gone to Germany for treatment. “You have really screwed up,” she said and harangued me for a half hour claiming that the results had been sent to me and not to her.  She will no longer treat me for the prostate, and when I asked about getting a second opinion, she retorted, “We don’t do that in the UK.” As upsetting as this encounter was, James subsequently confirmed that as a doctor he too would be upset if a patient of his went to another doctor while under his supervision. Just as I was leaving the office, she discovered she did after all have the scan results, which, fortunately, are negative. I have since learned that my PSA has come down to 3.43. Figuring out now and where to do another MRI is next in order to know how effective the hyperthermal treatment at the Klinik Marinus has been.

After Pavel’s delightful stay with us, domestically things have been quiet. Gin joined us for a quiche dinner at home with Pavel. Lanna’s health has been troublesome, so she cancelled her visit to us. Neal has been here and re-painted the water-damage caused from Katrina’s flat above us. This has taken virtually a year to get done. Outside, we have been twice to the Kaleidoscope Whisky Bar in Devonshire  Square, to an enjoyable tea with our lovely Claire at the Shard, lunch with Stephen and Roberto at Bar Baloud, a lunch with Eamonn at The Life Goddess – a Greek restaurant on Goodge Street, two meals with visiting Paul & Darrell – dinner at the Gilbert Scott and lunch at the Tate Britain’s Rex Whistler, lunch with Jyoti Bachani at the Imperial College Business School, a summery dinner with Janet on the outside terrace of Caraffini, and, finally, at Fish in a Tie, dinner with Gin, Rix, James and Eamonn.

For the rest, it’s been lunch and Brecht’s Life of Galileo with the ROSL group (Eve, John, Patricia and Penny) at the New Vic Theatre, the Hokusai Exhibition for the Members Night at the British Museum, Ruby Wax’s Frazzled at the Leicester Square Theatre, Gary Parson’s “Witchcraft Documentaries of the 1970s” at Treadwell’s, Danuza Machado’s CFAR “Contemporary Critique of Lacan” talk at the University of London, the films Their Finest and My Cousin Rachel, the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy, the “Queer British Art 1861-1967” show at the Tate Britain,  the Pagan Federation solstice ritual at Conway Hall, the London Open Garden Squares weekend – the first day with James and Eamonn with the highlight being the John Wesley House and Chapel with baked delights and a Victorian era men’s room, and, last night, the Nonsuch Deutsche Requiem (Brahms) concert at St. Martin’s-in-the-Field.

During the month we were able to enjoy a veritable heat wave for a goodly stretch – culminating at 33C on the day of the summer solstice.  That morning we did our morning sunrise dip into the Thames at the Embankment opposite Battersea Park and then floated around the neighbourhood for the rest of the day – the Park, Burton Court, Byron’s, Beaufort House, the World’s End bookshop, the Azteca Latin Lounge and Partridge’s. The horrors of the month have been the terrorist attack on London Bridge and Borough Markets and the Grenfell Tower inferno. The additional highlights have been the totally unexpected loss of the Conservative Party’s majority in the 8th of June elections (we were resigned to it being otherwise but then virtually knew from the Exit Polls before getting to bed – with little to no sleep that night), Richard’s passing his driver’s license theory test on the second try, and my completing the first draft of my novel, Celebration: the Future is not Now.

And so we continue – mourning the unnecessary and unfortunate loss of life, savouring the Aladdin’s Cave of London, continuing as best we can with our creative endeavours, and enjoying our friends and our mutual love. Tonight it is to be a long, long overdue phone call with Richard’s brother Paul and sister-in-law Jonne-Marie; tomorrow, the Olympia Antique Fair; and then the three-day "Breaking Convention 2017: 4th Psychedelic Research Conference" in Greenwich with our psychonautic friends.