My mother, God rest her soul, never tired of telling me, albeit often with a laugh, that I was a “rather difficult child”. Always highly strung and prone to exaggeration, this was a statement born out of weariness. No longer
Talking and listening in medicine
We hear a lot spoken these days about the importance of patient involvement in clinical research. Not simply in the sense of being subjects in clinical trials, important though that is, but in the sense of providing intellectual input into
Defining friendship
What is friendship? For one reason or another I found myself thinking a lot about this over the last few weeks. On the one hand it seems to be an unnecessary question – we all know what friends are, don’t
The Japanese toilet
Forget Pokémon. Forget that long parade of Japanese cars and motorbikes that clog our roads. Forget the Walkman and the Game Boy. No, the greatest contribution of Japanese inventiveness to our Western culture lies not in the automotive or entertainment
Hotel
I’ve just come back from Japan having spent several exhausting days in Kyoto at the 5th World Parkinson Congress. The conference centre is on the edges of Kyoto, not quite in the middle of nowhere but certainly detached from the
Kyoto diary 8. Coda
It’s Saturday morning. Early Saturday morning and we are heading to Osaka on a small bus. WPC 2019 is over. The exhibition hall which, only yesterday, was a hubbub of noise and Japanese drummers, is silent and dark. The exhibition stands
Kyoto diary 7. A little night music
Let me nail my colours to the mast. I come from a family of music makers, some orchestral musicians, even opera stars. I have listened to countless children’s recorder ensembles, heard violins scream for mercy and wince as youngsters try
Kyoto diary 6. Sunshine and sumo.
After wall-to-wall conference, I decided it was time to see a little of Kyoto. After all this was once the capital of Japan and the remnants of that dynasty, in the form of temples, palaces, castles and gardens are scattered
Kyoto diary 5. Getting down to business.
The lights finally came on, so to speak, this morning. Somehow the previous 24 hours have been conducted entirely on autopilot. I can remember hardly anything. But apparently I moderated a speaker session. And not just that – the session
Kyoto diary 4. Zombie apocalypse.
Immigration in Osaka was a weird and dislocating experience. A dozen of us advanced collectively on a determined but hapless immigration official – he insisted on scanning all our baggage while we swept slowly forwards like Hokusai’s wave. Eventually he