One of the excellent and unexpected advantages of retirement from clinical practice is the opportunity to watch daytime television.

So much clinical stuff without it feeling like doing three hours CPD.

Take circulation boosters. My knowledge was limited. But apparently you just sit on a couch and place your weary feet on a vibrating electronic machine that stimulates circulation. You can read a book, knit or even look out of the window at the clouds while therapy is underway.

Effective? By golly, yes! Within days (or 15 seconds in the advert), the previously miserable sufferer is walking briskly along the paths of the retirement village in the company of robust and attractive ladies.