Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.

Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.

The very deep did rot – Oh Christ!
That ever this should be.
Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs,
Upon the slimy sea.

From the Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1797-8)

For me, there is no excuse.  I have had a bad couple of days. Water is the most essential thing is that the body needs in order to keep itself functioning. To my great dereliction for the last few months I have been drinking below what I should have been drinking and one fine day, actually last Friday, I was assailed with all sorts of pains and aches all over my body, a great pain in my lower back, the headache, some palpitations; this was my body saying in no uncertain terms that I need to pay attention to my water intake.

Last night I could not sleep the whole time. For some reason, pain is worse at night and I had to sit and watch TV in the living room at three o’clock in the morning because I could no longer lie in bed due to restlessness. Must be terrible to be a burns patient because there’s nothing you can do to minimise the pain even morphine has its limitations. I had been drinking like a fish for the last two days. It will take some time for homoeostasis to establish itself but I will make it. At least I had access to water. It must be dreadful to be without water and having to drink your own urine and then there is nothing left to drink. I believe you get delirious after a time.

I reckon it will take at least two weeks for the body to readjust itself to having adequate water and meanwhile I’m cutting down on tea, coffee and certainly alcohol.  it sounds drastic but if you just do it it’s not too bad.

To add to a dramatic day yesterday, in the morning Francoise was informed that her friend of 40 years standing had died in hospital. Even when you know it’s going to happen, it is to shock and nature needs to take its course and allow the emotion out.  This will necessitate a trip to London where our party is being arranged, a celebration of the life of the friend, which will happen when the Camden Council decide when the burial is going to be.