A cold start to the day

We woke to a cold house yesterday, and horrible noises from the boiler, an acrid smell of diesel fumes, and a glowing red light as it finally switched itself off. Luckily our boiler man (who lives in Hundon) called round promptly this morning and sorted it all out, to the tune of a new oil pump and new bearings for the fan, which had certainly been very noisy recently. Eventually all was working, the boiler is silent again, and we have radiators and hot water once more.

Work is very busy now as we prepare to start a new drug trial. Because of Covid, it will be split across two centres (UK and Germany) to maximise the rate of recruitment, but it makes for considerably more work. We have finally chosen the groups that will run the trial for us; now we have to prepare the paperwork and apply formally to the two regulators for a licence to run the study. This is one complication of Brexit; there used to be just one European regulator based in London, but post-Brexit the European centre moved to Amsterdam, and the London centre is only responsible for the UK. Nothing gets easier, just more work for everyone and a lot more expense for the drug companies.

Strata 1 Dales Gorge

I am continuing to paint, following a theme inspired by my love of geology. Many rock formations show beautiful patterns with many coloured bands in the sedimentary formations where they were laid down many millions of years ago. They are fun to paint, and I may try one or two more in the weeks ahead. At least my studio has independent heating, as long as the electricity doesn't go off.

I went for my dental checkup this afternoon. I didn't expect much to be wrong, but an X-ray showed a massive cavity below an old filling. Mr Singh said the tooth was beyond repair, and would need extraction, but because of my cancer history he thought it should be done by a specialist oncology dental surgeon called Mr Patel, so he has made me an appointment for 3 week's time. If anyone wants to be wealthy in life, I can certainly recommend becoming a dentist. They seem to have carte blanche to write their own cheques - we just have to honour them. It's a far cry from the dentist I saw in London who had a large notice in his window: "Teeth pulled while you wait". 

Unfortunately, when we got back from the dentists in Hadleigh, the boiler cutout light had come on again and the house was freezing. Fortunately, our local plumber, Alen, could be round in ten minutes. He stripped it out again and found dirt in the pipework that had blocked one of the tiny valves. He is coming back in the morning to replace the valve, but in the meantime he was able to patch it up to get some warmth back, and Ann could have her bath.