CAULDRON OF WORRY

A hospital dispatch

Salvador Dali - Soft Self-Portrait with Fried Bacon, 1941, detail.

My loyal readers, as The Kureishi Chronicles approaches the year mark, I’d just like to say how thrilled I am to have reached nearly nineteen-thousand-subscribers. Writing this blog, reading all of your wonderful comments, really does keep me going. Stay with me.

I would just like just to remind you of the benefits of becoming a paid subscriber.

1. Ask Me Anything: I so enjoy answering your questions and I plan to make this a mainstay of the blog. So, if you want to chat and start a discussion, consider subscribing and asking a question in the comments below.

2. Signed Books: This week, Founding Members have been sent their signed books (I’ve attached a photograph below). If you have the means, become a Founding Member and you too will receive a book.

3. More Essays and Competitions: More essays from my back catalogue will be coming your way. More filth, more jokes. And more seasonal writing competitions!

You would have thought that with the end of my hospital stay in sight – I am being discharged on December 20^th – that I would be more cheerful. And I am in fact reasonably chirpy. In Rome, I discovered, that without being consulted, the rehab hospital was giving me anti-depressants. Back in London, in June, when I found out what I was being prescribed, I decided to continue taking them.  I can’t say that they made much of a difference to me. I didn’t notice any effect, neither good nor bad. In discussion with the psychiatrists here, I decided to halve the dose, since it seemed pointless to continue with a drug that wasn’t working. The physiatrist agreed, telling me that because of the low dosage I was on, the only effect would be to help me sleep. It was a mercy. But as we approach the date when I am to leave, I have become more apprehensive.