Health and Safety

Looks like that run wasn't such a good idea afterall. At least, it wasn't such a good idea to go running in t-shirt and shorts. The days of summer are fast fading, and we've been getting a streak of bizzare wintry weather. The winds are strong, cold and heartless, cutting the skin and sending chills not just to the spine but to every nerve in the body. It has been raining.

That night, after the run, I suddenly came down with serious runny nose that a few pieces of tissue paper couldn't solve. Took panadol flu and went to sleep, hoping that I will not be too sick the next morning. Miraculously, I was perfectly fine the next morning. My body was physically tired, not to mention the poor underused thigh muscles, but I was fine. Went to work and continued till the afternoon till I started sneezing irrationally, in a moderated temperature environment that was actually a tad too warm. Strangely enough, the runny nose disappeared when it was time to leave the office. I'm allergic to work, already.

I'm probably playing with fire a bit. 1 year on, and I still haven't signed up with the nearest clinic to me, so if I fall sick, I actually have no where to go. There is that private doctor that employees are entitled to go to, not far from work (and hence from home), but even for that you need to make an appointment 1 or 2 days in advance. It's ridiculous, by then one would probably not even be sick anymore. I will get my act together and register with the clinic opposite my house, but thank God for health - He's the great Physician. Back in Singapore, I would fall sick about 3 times a year, serious enough to see a doctor (at least by Singaporean standards of seriousness), but I have been preserved for 1 year, 4 seasons now. I'm not taking it for granted.

Finally am going to check out the BBC Proms tomorrow, can't wait, and I hope work passes quickly so I can shoot off to the Royal Albert Hall :) :) Maybe we'll stay for the late night prom too - it's Jamie Cullum!

Prom 54: BBC Symphony Orchestra

In the second of his two Proms this season David Robertson conducts two enduring works by composers who fashioned a new aesthetic out of Romantic roots.

The expansive melodies and edgy pace of centenary composer Samuel Barber are at their most powerful in the Violin Concerto, played here by Israeli-American virtuoso Gil Shaham. Sibelius's Second Symphony traces a path from terse drama to great affirmation.

For his new commission in his 50th-birthday year, jazz-inspired Mark-Anthony Turnage has resolved not to write 'an old man's piece'.

• Mark-Anthony Turnage Hammered Out
  (BBC co-commission with LA Philharmonic: world premiere) (c15 mins)
• Barber Violin Concerto (25 mins)

• interval

• Sibelius Symphony No. 2 in D major (40 mins)

• Gil Shaham violin

• BBC Symphony Orchestra
• David Robertson conductor