Bur first, Friends, here's another rather personal question for you, for which I make no apology (!). [Why not? - Ed] : have you ever been in hospital in America?
A lot of us have, haven't we, and certainly my medium-to-long-suffering wife Lois and I can both put our collective hands up and say "Yes!" to that one, although it wasn't for our own treatment. [What do 'collective hands' look like, then Colin, when they're at home?(!) - Ed]. We were living over in the States from 1982 to 1985, and our two little daughters Alison and Sarah went to primary school over there.
flashback to October 1984: us 4000 ft above sea-level, touring
the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, first made famous by silver screen
idols Laurel and Hardy, in their iconic song of the same name.
I remember that little Alison had a nasty fall in our house during our time in the States, a fall which occasioned a few days in the Howard County Hospital, Maryland. And little Sarah had a nasty fall in a playground just outside Quebec City when we were on holiday up there in Canada, and it was the same thing there.
"How did you pay for the treatment, Colin?", I hear you ask. [Not me, I don't care! - Ed]
Well, seeing as how you're asking (!), I just said to the receptionists something like a cheery "My old pal Olly will be opening his wallet, so no worries!", and it seemed to do the trick. For the benefit of the hospital admissions staff in Canada, we even somehow managed to say the same thing in French, which was a bit of a trauma, but it passed off peacefully in the end (!).
I'm talking about "Sir" Oliver Wright? "Who he?", I hear you cry.
Well, he wasn't exactly "my friend Olly", to be honest, but as you'll see from the above picture, he was the British Ambassador to the US at the time, and I was lucky enough to be working over there in the States "on Her Majesty's Medium-to-Top-Secret Service", and I was confident that the Embassy would pick up the bill, and they did, so that was all right.
Hospital stories from the States are so much more varied than ours, aren't they! And if you follow the New York City Edition of the Onion News, you'll have seen this story already, but I make no apology for highlighting it again here. [Why not? - Ed]
See what I mean about really "meaty" stories that the press can "get their teeth into" over there? And other examples are legion....this is just a couple I happened to pick out this morning.
And I was very much thinking of Jeffrey's fate today, because my medium-to-long-suffering wife Lois and I had to drive to that very same hospital, the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch, so that "doctors" could do an ultrasound test on my right leg, which has been swollen since my April hip-op, to see if the leg has got any little baby blood-clots in it. Pretty "small beer" as a story, isn't it, and I don't expect to see it in Onion News, but we'll see - so watch this space! [I'm not going to hold my breath! - Ed]
me and my wife Lois, waiting here in an otherwise deserted "waiting area",
one that soon turns out to be the wrong "waiting area", waiting for somebody
to give my leg an ultrasound examination, looking for possible little blood clots
- luckily a nurse redirects us to the right place to sit, so that's all right!
the friendly staff at the Alexandra Hospital's
Ultrasound Department
In a way, I'm hoping I can stop taking the blood-thinners, because, not only is it just one more "hassle", but also, according to Steve, our American brother-in-law, the action of blood-thinners can be compromised by the eating of a lot of - like a billion, probably more (!) - kinds of food, a minority of which I happen to like, if you don't mind!
And what's most annoying is that the whole trip to Redditch, including driving the 33-miles there and the 33 miles back, finding a parking spot there at the hospital, and then waiting around for the ultrasound guy to finish with his "priority patients" (!) - it all takes up about 4 hours in total - what madness !!!!
Yes, it's been a big day - busy busy busy! - although on the plus side, I've got my "all clear" on the blood clot front, and also it was a nice personal victory for me in the morning that I made a triumphant return to the aisles of the local Warner's Supermarket at Upton-on-Severn, for the first time in months - since the start of 2024 I had stayed sitting in the car in the car-park, letting Lois go inside on her own as my hip got worse, and then after my hip replacement at Redditch in April, I had had to "take things easy" for a few weeks. But now the sky's the limit and that includes supermarket shopping, which is nice (!).
[That's enough exclamation marks in brackets! - Ed]
my triumphant return to the Warner's Supermarket just outside
Upton-on-Severn: I try to slip in unnoticed to avoid the embarrassment
and 'fuss' of an official "Welcome back, Colin" 'ritual', but it turns out
that staff "haven't scheduled one"(!) Why not? Can I please be told,
if it's not too much to ask haha (!)
The supermarket assistants are all friendly and helpful to us as always. But why no official welcome for me? I think I should be told haha! [Who exactly do you think you are, then, Colin? (!) - Ed]
20:00 Lois and I are pretty tired by evening, when our daughter Sarah arrives from Alcester for the weekend, and she's tired too after a hard week at her accountancy job in Evesham.
our daughter Sarah arrives for the weekend:
everybody's tired, so we spend a pleasant
relaxing evening just chatting, looking at phones
and reading a bit - nice !
Sarah usually brings her 11-year-old twins Lily and Jessica with her, but they're currently spending a week in the English Lake District with their father Francis, camping near Lake Coniston, where Sarah and Francis got married, back in 2010.
flashback to June 2010: Sarah and Francis take a boat trip
on Lake Coniston after their wedding at nearby
Brantwood House, home of Victorian artist John Ruskin
The Lake District is an iconic area for them, and the family spent a holiday up there last summer too. They had just moved back to the UK after 7 years in Australia, and in a month's time they'll all be going back "down under" - their return to the UK hasn't been a success, mainly due to the British climate adversely affecting Francis's health.
While they're in the Lake Coniston area, Francis and the twins will be scattering the ashes of the family's late dog, Buddy, whom they took to Australia, but who sadly died there. Awwwww !!!!
Lois and I got to know Buddy when we spent a couple of months with the family in Perth, Western Australia back in 2016:
flashback to May 2016: Lois (70) with little Lily (then 2)
and Buddy [face not shown]
Lois and I had the lucky break, during our stay - we were able to observe Buddy "humping" his attractive "pet blanket" one day, when Lois and I were alone in the house - till that moment we hadn't realised that dogs have a vivid imagination and a "fantasy" world all their own, which was nice to know!
Poor Buddy !!!!
[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzz!
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