Mistaken Identity in a Baghdad Marketplace

I'll spare the details, which are discomforting and nearly always boring, and cut to the denouement. The sinister shadow on last month's scan turned out, upon clearer and more invasive inspection this week, to be nothing more than an aberration on the CT film. In fact a picture - more correctly a full length colour video - emerged of flawless rude health. A golden result; better even than I hoped for.

It isn't quite the appointment in Samarra; more like mistaken identity in a crowded marketplace but still, for me and my ceaselessly inventive imagination, an opportunity to sit down, catch my breath and take stock of what matters.