The other day I saw my boyfriend's blood pressure monitor on his desk. I didn't feel remotely unwell and was relatively relaxed, but I have had blood pressure issues during the past year, so I thought I might as well check mine.
How lucky I did.
It was so high that I was at risk of an immediate stroke or heart attack. I rang my NHS surgery who immediately called me in. My GP prescribed a higher dose of medication and, after a couple of days, it came right down. But I am left with a nagging worry as to why it shot up like that?
I had no symptoms, no physical warning signs. I wasn't suffering from a headache or breathlessness. I wasn't feeling dizzy and I didn't have chest pains.
I was already on a medium dose of the medication that seemingly stabilised things.
So how do I work out when and why this spike occurred? And why, as someone who has lived most of my life in relatively good health, do I now at 67 seem to be dealing with one thing after another?
I'm not good at being sanguine about this state of affairs. While I have no problem with how my body looks, I am now constantly worried about how it functions. I view excessively high blood pressure as a betrayal of the faith I had in my body to take care of itself.
I've always sneered at hypochondriacal behaviour and those who worry about their health all the time, constantly checking this and that. But experience is showing me that it's not neurotic; it's what's keeping me alive.
Sometimes I wonder whether, if I was still working full time as a magazine editor, none of this would have happened.
After all, I was never ill as editor of Vogue. And when it came to stress during those years, I could have written a book on it.
Is it because I had to psychologically hold back any illness when I was working and now I'm not, the dam has broken and it's payback time? Probably a stupid idea, but it's a thought...
Why King must keep entitled Yorks close
Pity King Charles. He must feel that as soon as he's survived one family drama, another missile whizzes in and knocks him for six.
He has only just managed a tentative rapprochement with his son Harry and now he's hit by Fergiegate. And not just some daft mistake of the kind the Duchess has always found unavoidable, but an unforgivable leaked email detailing her affection for paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The Yorks are clearly the nightmare couple of the family. Andrew has always been a charmless, entitled dullard and, while I have a certain fondness for Sarah, nobody could say she was the brightest bulb in the ceiling.
It's unfortunate that, thanks to her marriage, her dim Sloane decisions are made in the full glare of the public. But despite all that, Andrew is the King's brother and family is family. While there are many who think the King should ostracise Andrew and Sarah, I can't see how that would improve anything for anyone.
Many families include personalities that are far from ideal. I'm not some Pollyanna who sees family life as an idealised Norman Rockwell illustration, but close relations are better off if they stick together and don't fracture.
Can anyone see a single upside to the rift between Princes William and Harry? There isn't one. It would be far better for all concerned if they were able to at least reach some kind of accommodation, if not real closeness.
The King is no doubt absolutely infuriated by his younger brother. He would probably love Andrew to offer to evacuate the expensive 30-room Royal Lodge in Windsor.
He would no doubt be delighted if he disappeared to a remote Scottish island and took up sheep farming. But Charles is also very fond of his nieces Eugenie and Beatrice who have triumphed over their parents misguided behaviour to be charming and well balanced young women and he will want to support them.
The Windsors aren't known as a particularly touchy-feely family - the late Queen set the standard for formality and correctness. Even so families at war ultimately self-destruct and in the name of holding things together, the King is right to keep the relationship going with all the members of his family - including his unappealing younger brother.
Dutch courage of the colourful Guinnesses
Speaking of families, hats off to the Guinness clan who turned up en masse for the premiere of The House Of Guinness, Netflix's highly fictionalised tale of their ancestors' skulduggery.
The Guinness family has certainly had its fair share of controversial characters and high drama both ancient and modern - enough to rival The Crown.
Carr's laughing all way to Saudi bank
Those beleaguered US late night talk show hosts, who refuse to kowtow to Trump despite his efforts to shut them down, are no doubt rolling their eyes at our own comedians who high-tailed it to the Riyadh Comedy Festival this weekend.
Saudi Arabia is hardly a bastion of free speech, but comics such as Jack Whitehall and Jimmy Carr have decided not to bother about that small quibble in return for lucrative appearance fees. I doubt there will be many jokes about human rights.
Let us eat cake, like scrumptious Mescal
Actor Paul Mescal's favourite bakery not only sells scrumptious bakes but a limited-edition Jolene cake T-shirt.
We are a nation in the grip of a pastry obsession. Each week, on every London corner, a new bakery pops up offering wildly appealing and off-the-chart-calorific treats.
Chocolate brownies, caramel mousse tarts, artisan doughnuts - the counters are stuffed with colourful temptations and the queues for them snake into the street.
We have a new local Don't Tell Dad which offers an irresistible brown butter and hazelnut croissant. While Jolene, the original upmarket trendy bakery and actor Paul Mescal's favourite joint, not only sells scrumptious bakes,but a limited-edition Jolene cake T-shirt.
How this fits in with our simultaneous obsession with weight loss medication beats me.