There seems to be increasing emphasis on micronutrients, which is encouraging. It’s not just the quantity of food people get, but the quality that matters too. They also cite the interesting data that people who were malnourished in the womb (some poorer Indians and Mexicans) are much more likely to become obese later in life. This phenomenon was also observed of babies conceived during the Dutch famine of 1944. It seems that the body is programmed to store as much fat as possible if early development occurs under starvation conditions.

Also, it makes a point about the limitations of education: trying to persuade people in poorer countries they should spend more of their precious little money on more or better quality food is hard. Especially since people in rich countries have a lot of education about which is the best sort of food to eat, but they happily go out and scoff buckets of junk anyway.

One of their answers seems to be breeding staple crops with (e.g.) more vitamin A in them, and fortifying foods with vitamins and minerals. But one of the biggest barriers to tackling the problem is that malnutrition is a very long-term problem, requiring effort and resources over generations. Which government can afford to think with this time frame?

I’m interested in:

John Minton (Mediterranean Food, French Country Cooking)
Renato Guttuso (Italian Food)
Adrian Daintrey (Summer Cooking)
Juliet Renny (French Provincial Cooking)

Hmm.

I also wonder if it is possible to get a print of John Ward’s sketch of ED in her kitchen, or some of the photos that Anthony Denney took of her for Vogue in the late 1950s. I supposed I could buy some old Vogues and rip them out, but is there a nicer way?

Or perhaps I have bought a blue motorbike.

Have I been alone with the baby too long?

• wooden parquet floor
• electric heater
• chaise longue in front of the window (I think this must be the spot all the photos are taken from)
• Butler’s sink, teak draining board, built into a cabinet
• New World gas cooker
• Wrought iron lamp on a hinged arm
• White-painted dresser with jars and pots (though in most photos it looks to be plain pine – perhaps an earlier dresser was painted?)
• 18th c French armoire, possibly Provencal
• Fridge on the landing outside
• 2 more pale wooden dressers on the opposite wall, facing the sink
• Large scrubbed pine kitchen table
• Farmhouse / rush-seated chairs
• Large 19th c converted oil lamp with a glass shade

This is my shopping list. eBay is already proving useful, though I don’t think I’m going to find an armoire within my budget.

When I am driving, and someone tells me to turn left, it takes me a long time to work out which way to go. I have to look at my hands for several seconds (hence I failed my first driving test). I also have east-west confusion, and I often find myself muttering ‘Never Eat Shredded Wheat’ when I need to find east or west. The interesting thing is I don’t have north-south confusion, ever. Once I know where north and south are, it’s lodged deep in my subconscious and I don’t need to think about it. But I always have to (consciously) work out east and west.

In fact, I have a problem with all sequencing and orientation in the lateral plane. When I make mistakes with spelling, it is often because I have transposed two letters (I used to write andecote rather than anecdote, for example). Are left-right reading problems unknown amongst people whose language uses a vertical script? When I look up numbers in an index, I often go to the wrong page – page 428 rather than 482. But it only happens when the number has three or more digits. And when I am playing the piano, instructions about what to do with my left or right hand are hopeless, but if it is framed in terms of my top hand or my bottom hand, that’s fine.

Another interesting thing: though my other microskill problem (imitation) has improved with practice, my left-right confusion absolutely hasn’t. No matter how many times I practise turning left or right (or east or west) it just doesn’t get any better: every time is like the first time. I lack the gene or synapse required.

Which leads me on to how you teach dyslexics. For people who have phonic association problems, the recommended approach is often over-learning. Is this the best possible approach? Is there anything else that might help?

1. develop new ideas and experiment (variation)
2. make failure survivable
3. get feedback and learn from your mistakes (selection)

So: do more and get more feedback.