19 November

As Dickens wrote, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times".

On the plus side, life is still good. On the minus side, I have had two of the most challenging days.

Yesterday, I was going out with work colleagues. I made a mistake. I should have jumped in a cab and let it take ther strain. Instead, in my stubborn way, I decided it wasn't too far, just across the bridge, and I'd walk it. Big mistake. What would once have been a 10 minute stroll was not. An hour later, I had only just crossed the bridge and was exhausted. I gave in, hailed a cab and went home.

Today, I took the advice of my parents and, finding a 'blue badge' bay vacant at my local station, caught the train from there. Approvingly, I noted the lifts serving the platforms which wouldc ease my homeward journey. The only wrinkle was that the returnc train didn't stop at one of those platforms but at one of the two 'terminus' platforms. So I had to walk the length of the platform, then I had a choice of walking back up the neighbouring platform to use the lift or to take the much shorter route through the underpass. I decided that the stairs would be the lesser of two evils.

But I've learned a valuable lesson: don't listen to parents who, however well-meaning, really have no appreciation of what makes life challenging.