Baltic centre, and it really was Baltic

I'm knackered.

Left at seven in the am. Got back at ten in the pm. 300 mile round trip to Newcastle, for a hospital appointment.

Hastily blipping at just before midnight.

We made a (full) day of it. Made it to the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, which was just a disused flour mill with a massive Anish Kapoor sculpture outside, last time I was there.

There was no millennium bridge quite yet iirc, and loads of buildings on the waterfront, which seem to no longer be there, except the Pitcher and Piano, which must be closing in on the 20 year mark.

I feel old. I wonder what happened to my old mate Zoe Brown. Who I popped down to visit in the late 90s before all this stuff was about to happen. Maybe she'll read this...

This is me and the woman I love, Rachel, at the bottom of the Baltic stairwell, looking down at a fairly dirty mirror, which is looking back up at us all the way back to the top. Nearly made me feel dizzy.

The dizziness would be later after loads of blood tests.

Had she not been with me today, I think I might have stressed out. Instead we, had a great time. Despite hospital looming large in the back of our minds.

Upshot: finally diagnosed, after over three years of fighting. A specialist who actually listened.

Time to move forward, close a long hard chapter of my life. I can give a name to my demon. It's a vague name, but names are powerful, and now I have control. Nothing life threatening. Just occasionally debilitating.

Vindicated.

alsorans