notes, taken

After a surprising near-absence of complete bullshit throughout the nine-week ante-natal classes for which Nicky signed us up (surprising given that the class-taking woman listed such popular bullshits as reiki and aroma-therapy amongst her repertoire) today's extra class (to make up for the week we missed during the host-building-church's alleged Holy Week, when they don't host any other activities as they apparently need all the space for doing Holy stuff) featured an even more (were it strictly possible) bullshitty reference in the recommendation of homeopathic non-substances to ease some aspect of the perinatal body's potential discomforts. After awarding myself THIRTY MINCE-BINGO POINTS I didn't even bother to attempt to conceal a scowl and leg-jiggle and made what I hoped were discreetly obvious chin-stroking motions in an attempt to resist telling the woman to her face that she was a bullshitmonger. Much better to do it through the official channels and feed my concerns back to her governing organisation along with some links to some of the easier-to-understand-if-your-brain-is-full-of-pish explanations of the quackerosity of homeopathy. Only one more class to go tomorrow but going on this evening's form there's every chance she might go all out and recommend reiki for soothing a torn perineal aura or something. Since the sneering-at-science-based-medicine episode last month the fairy-magic quotient sank back down and remained relatively low, around the level of substances being recommended because they smell of pretty flowers rather than because they were made from pretty flowers with magic healing properties. There's even been a slight improvement in the tone of voice used to describe evidence-based clinical medicine's evidence, though there's still an indication in a failure to understand some fairly basic physiology.

In the rational news, after an unnecessary but helpfully-conducted half-hour morning telephone call to an internet bank (in order to complete the transaction they wouldn't let me complete online (even though every other transaction was (though all the other transactions involved gradual increments rather than a large and near-total withdrawal))) and an anxious wait to check that the investment in the additional fee for CHAPS had been worth it to ensure that the money was transferred the same day (presumably requiring the additional fee as compensation for not allowing the money to spend three days being invested in something unpleasant) and a pop to a solicitor at lunchtime to documentarily establish our identities and sign some missives we should now be just one short (but scarily expensive) step from completing a house-purchase in order to provide sufficient space to raise the Incipient. I don't imagine there will be any further impediments to closure now that the lender appears to have noticed our application but if I was the house's current resident I'd really struggle to pack up and move out in the seven days available until key-handing-over day.