BODY OF EVIDENCE

It wasn’t the best preparation for a health assessment. Having attended the reopening and rebranding of the Radisson Blu Frankfurt, I woke at 5am to make the 7.20am departure back from Germany. There was then a delay caused by airport congestion, not at Frankfurt Hahn but at Heathrow. Too many aircraft trying to land on those two runways. I had a slight tightening in my chest and frequent glances at the schedule on my phone to wonder if my 9.30am appointment at Cromwell Hospital in London’s Kensington was still possible.

We landed ten minutes late and, with hand baggage only, I ran out of Terminal 5 to catch a Piccadilly Line train. It was rush hour but there were plenty of seats, at least for the first few stops. Approaching town, I was joined by a mother and a small boy, around two years old, who smiled a lot and wiped his fingers on my suit trousers. I was only five minutes late for my appointment, and within 30 minutes was having my blood pressure taken. The result would