Kitchen Dyspraxia and other confessions...

During our consultant teaching in hospital today he told us about the coordination that can be lost during stroke. He talked about dyspraxia which is the impairment of the organisation of movement because the brain isn't able to correctly transmit the messages to parts of the body to perform movements. He then went on to explain that they perform functional tests with people such as taking them to the kitchen to make a cup of tea and those with severe dyspraxia are completely incapable of carrying out a simple task. He used the term "kitchen dyspraxia"... and you know what? That got me thinking. And self-diagnosing.

Perhaps I am Kitchen Dyspraxic! It would explain an awful lot and due to the fact that I have this condition it explains why I avoid the kitchen at all costs. I mean, who wants to put themselves in danger of exposing their ill-health to the world if they can avoid it? I believe this new discovery will enable me to keep out of such grievous situations in the future.

Joking aside, being a medical student certainly does cause you to think very carefully about whether you lie in all the normal ranges for a variety of different things. I was thinking about that this week when I treated myself to the April addition of Marie Claire (largely for the free facial product that was being given away with it). There is a kind of conformity behind being the girl who reads and buys into the kind of ideals expressed in a magazine like that. I have to confess that sometimes the mindless drone of it after a day full of cramming knowledge into my head is quite therapeutic. I like the colours. I like the free sachets of Clarins Day cream. I like the pictures of clothes I couldn't possibly afford on girls I couldn't possibly resemble. I like the smell. I like the A/B/C quizzes that tell me whether me and my boyfriend are perfectly matched. It's reckless escapism, mindless consumerism and I love it.

I'm excited when fashions come in that are modest- apparently below-the-knee skirts are back now- and when I read something about a celebrity that is upright and shows moral character. Naturally, such things are infrequent but it's nice when they're there. I like adverts where people are modest and beautiful.

I confess, I bought Cosmo too this month. And I'm not sorry!