Well, another birthday rolls around. It was a terrific day actually. I got brought tea and toast in bed. Then when my beloved and I got up, more presents, and a couple of phone calls from family members (more of the latter in the afternoon). I walked with herself around to the gym. She went in, I kept going, and went home and had a coffee. ABC Classic was playing the Tchaikovsky Concerto no. 1 with Simon Tedeschi; very good. We had lunch at an Italian place in Camberwell; I had roast duck with polenta and a pinot noir, then a very good raspberry mousse with a sort of crunchy pistachio garnish, which gave it a great textural lift. All excellent. I needed a rest after that!

In the afternoon, some ginger tea and panforte, and we watched another episode of Berlin Station. Then we had a champagne; I had pushed the boat out and gotten a Mumms brut to try. Lots of bubbles, and an interesting, rather chablis-like, minerally style. It grew on both of us; it starts short but ends long. (Der Fisch still prefers prosecco.) I remembered that I had another Tchaikovsky PC1, this one with Martha Argerich, so we listened to that with the drink. This is a good version too, and sounds very full for a recording dating from 1971. There was enough dinner left over from yesterday, so I didn’t have to make anything. (I was still pretty full from lunch and the snack, so just had cheese on toast – Dad would have approved!) More good music on FM.

There will be few commercial endorsements on this blog, and they will all be honorary. So when I mention the powerbank that is allowing me to type this, you know it is on the strict QT. This is a Cygnett ChargeUp Pro 20K, which was one of my presents from my beloved. (You all know what a powerbank is. Charge it up; then, when your phone or tablet runs out of charge, just plug it into the powerbank, and you can keep chatting or typing.) My old Samsung tablet is on its second battery after three years. I put the screen brightness down whenever possible, keep fewer browser tabs open, and have switched on power saving. Even so, it never goes more than a day without needing a charge. The Cygnett only needed a few hours to charge up completely. When the tablet battery dropped to 15%, at which point it starts complaining, I plugged in the powerbank. After an hour or so of web browsing, then blogging, the tablet battery is on 38% and rising. So it is a pretty grunty device. (An honourable mention to Dick Smith also. When Der Fisch ordered it, she accidentally ordered something else instead. They cancelled the incorrect order, refunded the charge, and got her the correct thing.)

I booked a PSMA/PET scan at The Alfred on 3 January. Jeremy is away until February, but I have an appointment with him early in that month. New Year’s resolutions: read The magic mountain and Godel, Escher, Bach. (I have gotten a few chapters into the latter, up to the one about the propositional calculus. I actually did read this chapter, but need to have another go, after taking notes about what the symbolic operators stand for.) Happy new year to all!