Tuesday 30 March 2010

It's over, for now

Leamington bandstand with colourful string strung between the posts
It's very nearly the end of term, and in the words of the harvest hymn, all is safely gathered in. The essay about folate fortification, the research proposal and even the online Molecular Nutrition test were all submitted on time.

My coeliac disease session yesterday was fine too. It's interesting that I would have liked the opportunity to suggest what I might have done differently, but for a change, we weren't asked for any reflection this time. The content of the session as I delivered it all seemed very negative - you can't eat this, you can't go there. If I did it again I would try and stress the positives more - you have to be careful, but eating out is still possible. Eating out with work colleagues is also politically necessary sometimes, so it's worth coming up with some ideas on how you get restaurant staff to cook and serve something that's safe.

When pretending to be customers, the other students were surprisingly bad at explaining what they needed. They kept telling the 'waiter' that they couldn't eat gluten, despite the majority of waiters not having the faintest idea what gluten is. Perhaps they were taking their acting role very seriously, and did it deliberately. Anyway, it's over now, and many thanks to Aims (who gave me some insight into her ways of dealing with c(o)eliac disease), to wheat-intolerant 'new' badminton friend, and to Lola II's friends and the 'old and fat' badminton crew who let me practice on them. (P.S. we still have someone's lovely black scarf from that last session. Available anytime on request.)

Just one more morning of lectures before I'm officially free. Then a few days off, before getting started on the next phase: more coursework, including studying for a new test that we've been set today, about food composition in terms of energy, protein and carbohydrate. And revision. Let's not forget revision. As if I could.

On a brighter note, the forsythia is in bloom showering yellow flowers all over the corner of the garden, daffodils are out in town, we have some tulip buds and the wisteria is showing signs of life. Just in time for the forecast of snow later in the week. I don't care, I'm going to enjoy my free time, even though a considerable amount will be taken up with cleaning our cesspit of a house, and restoring the legality of the car by removing the coating of mud from the registration plate. Spring cleaning will be living up to its name.

Lola sign + mumAnd a final hello especially to my US relatives, who are hosting a visit from mum at the moment, and sent us this lovely photo. Much love and a very happy holiday to you all.

2 comments:

aims said...

I'm glad it went so well Lola. I for one would be interested in what you would have suggested. And you hit it right on the head - most waiters haven't got a clue what gluten is.

I could have come over and played a part quite easily! Drats! Next time!

Lola said...

I was following your suggestions, aims: get the waiter on your side, explain in 'food' language (i.e. flour, bread etc.) what you can and can't eat. The whole session was only 30 minutes, including introduction and winding it up, so we only had a very short time to do the role play.