Sinister and dexter

Went walking with the BungyPump sticks again today. I have to give a report soon, but 2 weeks is not long enough to test their efficacy. Although I can feel I am having a good workout using the hydraulic ski-pole type walking sticks, it is an unfamiliar way of walking and I need to become more accustomed to moving the poles in sync with my feet. I have always had a problem co-ordinating leg and arm movements and aerobics and formal dancing just don't work for me.

Being left-handed when I write or paint, and right-handed for everything else is something I only began to think about recently. I always assumed I was left-handed but now realise that I am actually predominantly right-handed, but have certain problems associated with left-handedness. I have difficulty in defining left and right directions; an instruction such as "turn right at the robot" doesn't register at all and I have to consciously think about which way to turn. If I need to find a place, the way to remember it is not turn left and then left again and then third right. That goes straight out of my head. I must have street names. That is because I am predominantly visual and can usually only remember something I have seen, and not heard. If I am going to an area I am unfamiliar with, I need to look at a street map and put that information into my memory before I set out.

I can tell you where I have seen a word on a page, but I can't tell you your name if I've just been introduced to you. I drift off into another world in lectures if there's nothing visual to anchor my attention, and my peripheral vision is far better than looking directly at an object. When someone talks to me I am constantly scanning the background to see what's going on - probably would make a good bodyguard, checking for snipers - although the person talking to me doubtless feels I am not quite focussed on what they are saying! In movies, I am more interested in the scene behind the actors and the first thing I noticed in Notting Hill was a postcard of the V&A Waterfront and Table Mountain pinned to the staircase behind Hugh Grant's head! I also look at every picture on the walls to see if I've seen it before.

The really good thing about this duality is, I suppose, that if I have a stroke I will still be able to talk, as I use both sides of the brain at the same time!