I’m going into hospital on Tuesday for a minor operation. It’s to replace a bone in my ankle – I think; either that, or to screw two existing bones together. (I never like to know the gory details.) Of course this is not an important enough event to write about here: too personal and trivial.

But I thought it might justify my reposting an entry from eight years ago, describing the events surrounding the original injury forty years ago, which has flared up again. (I can hardly walk.) That piece also said something about the USA, where I originally broke the ankle; and which may be of more general interest. Here it is: https://bernardjporter.com/2017/01/11/breaking-an-ankle-in-chicago/.

Tuesday’s surgery will be done in a Stockholm clinic, and involve an overnight stay. That might furnish me with an excuse to write a more worthwhile piece here about the Swedish national health system. So far I’ve found it works well. But then it hasn’t put me under the knife before.