A Roast Chicken Sunday.

It has been an exceedingly quiet day. Actually I've really needed that. Although work is quiet, it is afterall the summer, my weekends have been frenetic; too much to do and too many people to see. Won't get a weekend to myself for another fortnight-have a wedding next Friday.

So what have I been doing today? Well there is a chicken roasting in the oven. I rarely do roast chicken but quite fancied it today. Par-boiling potatoes and have bought my first fresh peas of the summer; sounds divine.

And I have the cricket on! Last time I posted Kevin Pietersen had just scored his 18th test 100; he went on to a double 100 and England won a crushing victory. Fast forward a few days and it was all India. They were so dominant there seemed no hope. But brilliant bowling after tea yesterday turned the tide and now England are forging a possible winning position. It has been controversial though.

The other good news this week was a great review of "A Pillar of Impotence" in my local paper-I will share it when it is online. And now up to 5 on Amazon. Had an interesting lead on Friday when I met someone who runs a book club-she is really keen to get it. Let's hope they like it!

So we come to the end of July. A Month to my birthday. July has seen the second highest number of hits since I started this last September. So many thanks to my readers. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

I Heard a Voice.

Exciting News.

Well, it's the end of another week. Only 4 more weeks of work before my holiday. So what of today? Work was quiet, had a cancellation and just managed to catch up on my notes. The nice thing about Friday is that I finish at 4 pm. I drove home to Pink Floyd's "Delicate Sound of Thunder"- isn't "Wish You Were Here"  amazing live? No live cooking just some heated up stuff, was good though. And now a few beers and recorded episodes of Shameless.

But something really important happened today. I got my first professional peer review of "A Pillar of Impotence". The Madness and Literature website is an internationally recognised mental health source run by the University of Nottingham. And what a review it is:

http://www.madnessandliterature.org/literature.php?id=187&resultpage=1

I wonder where it might take me? The second great thing that happened today was Kevin Pietersen scoring his 18 test 100 for England and his 5th at Lord's-202 not out! A sight to see especially after he got his first 100.

Tomorrow brings boring domesticity, but at least I can watch the cricket while I clean. Then am out for dinner for my friends birthday. A day to look forward to.

I Heard a Voice.

Speaking in Tongues.

There's a blog I have following for over a year now written by a young woman under the name of Izzi: http://juggleglass.com/ . She put a post up a week or so ago with the lyrics from a David Bowie that I know well by have never taken the time to explore. Not sure what it is called but it talked about being safer with the madmen rather than the rest of the world. Prompted by this I contacted Izzi last week and commented. A most interesting woman. One of things that attracted me to her blog was that it is predominantly about mental illness and university. Of course that is precisely what I do.

But what was quite diffuclt to hear was how lonely she feels in her illness. It got me thinking. I see nearly 100 students and staff a year. Some are mentally ill and some struggling mentally. But none of them know each other. I remember doing my PGCE in 1999/2000 and keeping my illness a secret. How different it might have been if I had spoken out.

There is something about living with mental illness. We have our own language; the words are the same but have different meanings. One of the great strengths I have in my work is speaking that language, the language of foreign tongues.

Yesterday I spent time with 2 friends in London. Both have a mental illness and there was something very safe about being with them. Almost like being home. The hardest part of my recovery was stepping from the mad world into the world of the sane. I am eternally grateful to my friend James for getting me to do that. Now I live in both worlds. I didn't change side in the world of mental health; I merely climbed to the top of the barrier that divides them from us and looked both ways!

So to a quiet Sunday. I went to a country pub to indulge my new found passion for real ale with a friend and am now roasting a ham for dinner-it smells most splendid! And there's a honey glaze to go on there for the last 30 minutes.

I Heard a Voice.

Another Great Review.

Keep checking amazon to see if I have 1. sold any more books-no, and 2. for new reviews. Thankfully I now have 3 and they are all great. See link below:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/1849913951/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

But I guess great reviews are no good if no one knows the book is there. Problem is I'm not sure where else to try for publicity and also seem to have so little time. If only I could get one of the nationals to take a look. But alas in the wider world I am but a nobody!

For some reason there was a big spike in viewers of the blog at 7 am UK time today. I wasn't up but thanks for looking.

So what of my fine beef and extravagent Iberico Jamon? Bit mixed to be honest. I overcooked the beef on Sunday, maybe 10 minutes too long so it wasn't as perfect as I'd hoped. But the supreme quality of the meat meant that it was still fantastic. As for the jamon, there is but one work-divine. Still got some left too.

I'm feeling quite well at the moment which is quite ironic in that I have finally got an appointmnet with my Doctor tomorrow. He is exceedingly hard to get hold of. When I booked it some weeks ago I had been experiencing some prolonged and unexplained tiredness. But now it's all gone. It will be good to see him though and I know that theoretically he likes to keep an eye on me. Oh that the rest of my mad friends could stay as well as I do most of the time. But the sad truth is that most of my friends never got out of that world. Here's to them.

I Heard a Voice.

Bring on the Black Pigs!

One of the great delicacies that I know is the Iberico Jamon from acorn fed black pigs. If you've never tried it do, it's fantastic. The only problem is the price-that's why I rarely buy it.

There are few places on London I like to visit more than Borough Market. And it has been ages since I went. So today I took my friend Katherine there. She was a Borough Market virgin! Can you imagine living in London and never having been there?

Wherever I go I always seek out food markets. There are so many throughout the world but in the UK there are few better than Borough. Had a great day despite the crowds but by God did I spend some money. Came away with Iberico Jamon, Chorizo, paprika and some wonderful rib of beef from the Ginger Pig. So rare beef tomorrow. I guess I'd better go and buy some rioja.

Actually it has been three days on trains. On Thursday I travelled to Leeds for a conference. I didn't really want to go but it is sort of insinuated that I should. And much to my surprise it was great. Men's mental health is something that vexes us all in the business. It is so hard to get them engaged. But we had some great speakers all of whom work in the same way as me. Also looks like I will sell some books and may have a couple of speaking engagements to come in the future. Travelled home yesterday tired but pleased.

I plan to have a quiet rest of the weekend to catch up on my sleep. Beginning to get hungry again now so may go and visit Joey in Hakalok-something light I think.

More soon.

I Heard a Voice.

PS If I'm very lucky I might some beef dripping tomorrow!

The Cherry Season is Here!

For someone who doesn't like nuts I have a strange passion-florentines. Decided to indulge in one today only to discover that the only place that sells them here has put the price up by over 15%! Outraged!

So if I'm talking about florentines, what you might ask has that got to do with the cherry season? Well it's a bit of tenuous link but most of the time I can't afford cherries either. So it is always a great pleasure come July when the cherry season arrives and the prices become more reasonable. I love cherries so I guess I'll be buying a few in the next couple of weeks.

Yesterday was gastronomic decadence for me, slow roast lamb with honey, rosemary and garlic followed by a big bowl of cherries. Fantastic!

In the world away from food I went back to work today. Spent most of the day dealing with or deleting some of the 170 e mails in my inbox. Most were very boring but some were useful.

Also had a look at some other blogs. An interesting one on the MIND website about Personality Disorder and how people are being cast aside by services because of such a dubious and ludircrous diagnosis. Services are changing and I'm not sure it is for the better. When I work with people with PD labels it is usually very hard and complex but do I work any less hard than with others? Of course not! For years I've referred to personality disorder as the psychiatric dustbin-they are the damned. No one seems to give a shit as I knew only too well to my cost for all those years.

Diagnosis is by definition subjective. Those with the real power, the psychiatrists, sometimes get it wrong. They got it very wrong with me; wrong for 10 years. But I'm okay now. Sadly not too many people are as lucky as I am.

I Heard a Voice.

Do We Change with Age?

I had a terrible night's sleep. For years I have been plagued by nightmares and they certainly came out to play last night. Was also rudely awakened by the postman. Much to my surprise though I woke up in a buoyant mood well on the plus side of my scale. But back to nightmares.

A haunting face from the past appeared not once but twice last night. Before I went on risperidone I saw visions of her although rarely did she have a face. Last night she did. But it was the face of someone I knew 15 years ago. I wonder how much she has changed in that time? We all change with age but I'm sure that when we dream we can only conceptualise people as they were the last time we saw them.

Talking of change, my taste has changed radically in the last few days. I was in Cambridge on Thursday visiting an old friend. Purely by chance we went to a pub for lunch which had a beer festival on. I've always hated real ale but on Thursday I bit the bullet and tried some. And bloody good it was too! So this afternoon I went out to another country pub and had some more. Can't believe what I have been missing. Finally at the age of 41 maybe I have developed a real taste for proper beer.

Turning to Puglia tonight to eat. Something of a change of plan as I was supposed to be going to London today to sit for a portrait. So it is sausage and potato braised with lemon and bay. All courtesy of Rick Stein. Will let you know how it goes.

Back to work Monday; not looking forward to it after my week from hell before I was off.

I Heard a Voice.