Three things have raised my spirits today. The first is the election of a green president in Austria, albeit by a tiny margin, In case you are interested, here is the Austrian Green Party’s ‘Program’ (only availability in German), in contrast, here is that of the narrowly-defeated FPÖ. It’s in English. It seems strange that a Volksdeutsch party should reach out internationally in this way, yet an environmentalist party does not. Surely environmentalism has to be internationalist!That irony aside, it is a relief that one of my ‘home cointries’ has, for now, rejected policies I see as anathema. There are some appealing parts to the FPÖ program, but these are outweighed by others that horrify me. Part of my immediate ancestry in Viennese Jewish, and we all know how well things were for such people 70 years ago. ]

The second, far less important but much funnier to my admittedly juvenile sense of humour is Bill Bryson’s not-safe-for-work take on Walzing Matilda.

Today’s final good thing was a CT scan of my chest. No injections! Just a few minutes being moved through a vast, whirring electronic polo mint. The only bad parts were my unfounded anticipation of being punctured and hooked up to a drip, and Edinburgh’s awful road surfaces bumping my innards en route to the Royal Infirmary. Results are due in about a week. Watch this space!