I decided I wanted to step up my exercise. Walking 40 minutes was all well and good, but something more intensive might be appropriate. I decided to take my wonderful new scooter to my doctor’s appointment this morning so I could use my energy for exercise later. I thought I’d start gently: five minutes walking up and down the stairs, five minutes jump roping, six minutes with the shake weight and maybe some exercise ball exercises.

The first part of my plan worked beautifully. This was my maiden voyage with the scooter. Its top speed is a normal walking pace, maybe slightly faster. It is comfortable and quiet and I’m delighted with it. The appointment went well and I am keen to explore further afield.

The second part of my plan started out well enough, I did the stairs and I managed three minutes of jump roping before my legs fell off. I’m resting now, but I’m going to do the shake weight and the ball when I’m done.

I neglected to mention that Weasel, Doodle and I saw Ani DiFranco in London last week at the Union Chapel. It was our third time seeing her and it was a treat. I contacted the venue last month to find out where I could put my chair and if they had a hearing loop etc. Turns out they’re very kind to disabled types, arranged for a space for my chair and for Doodle and Weasel to sit with me. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a hearing loop.

We decided to walk to the venue as it was only 1.5 miles away. I took my powered manual wheelchair and we had a lovely stroll through Islington. The Union Chapel is gorgeous, I’d been dying to go for ages, I missed a Heather Nova show there several years ago and I’d been waiting for another opportunity. When we arrived they told me our reserved seats were down the aisle and on the right. Off we went, surprisingly, they were on the front row. I was gob-smacked. I stored my wheelchair under the stage.

The lovely Ruth Theodore opened for Ani, really impressed with her. I’ve decided she is the lady for Doodle and envisioned small guitar playing children. She said she’d been doing star-jumps [aka jumping jacks] in the back to warm up and I was delighted because whenever Weasel complains of feeling cold I suggest she do star-jumps. I’m not sure I’ll like all her music, but I certainly see the appeal and I know a Weasel and Doodle both likes her immensely.

Ani played a lovely set-list including my personal favourite Napoleon. She said things were going too quickly because she wasn’t talking enough between songs, so she took requests. Someone asked for Untouchable Face and that was superb. I never do these shows justice, so I’ll stop there. We had a lovely walk back to the station and made the 11:15 train so we didn’t get home in the small hours of the morning.

I’m having a wonderfully lucky run at Scrabble, I went out again for the third week in a row – with ‘undoing’. I won both my games this week too. The library is reducing its opening hours [boo for austerity] in March/April and we will be meeting at 10am Mondays now instead of 2pm. I’m slightly nervous as if I’m not doing well I will sleep that late. I’ve been reasonably good with 8:24 for several weeks so I am hopeful.

I’m off to see Horatio this weekend. I made more graham cracker fudge sandwich biscuits on Sunday and I’ll be taking him a box from the freezer. They turned out much better this time, but it took me three hours beginning to end. A lot of effort, but I’m craving them at the moment so I will keep doing it. Meanwhile, Horatio and I will continue catch up with Castle [I think it's started again anyway?] and resume Alias.