Hospitality

On the hottest day of the year, indeed, the hottest weekend, glorious sunshine outside, me, inside in Hospital.
This was an operation for which I have been on a waiting list for four months,
suffice to say it is a procedure that you would not be having if you were a man.

As I have come to expect, the NHS were fantastic.

Because they care so much about my recovery, they sent me home (after a scant 36 hours) with thigh high anti thrombosis stockings (in this heat!) and syringes with which to inject myself in the stomach every day for a week.

My experience with injections has so far been the annual injection of olive oil into the Xmas turkey.

In an amazing gesture of marital solidarity, considering his needle phobia, The Hubby was by my side for the first injection. He went very pale and had to go and have a sit down afterwards. I am sparing him further interaction.

My method is to say  "1 2 3 ...Go! " about 6 times before actually performing the operation.
For anyone else who may be attempting this procedure, it is better to do it standing up rather than lying down.
I am doing something wrong as I have bruises at the site of each injection.
Dr Lauren finds this amusing. When I pointed out to her that it is not nice to laugh at your patients, she pointed out to me that I am her mother. Fair enough.

Nonetheless, I forgive her for this lack of sympathy , as I was afforded special treatment in hospital due to the fact that my daughter is a doctor. Especially by the other Foundation Doctors with whom I sympathised, knowing how hard they have to work and how difficult it is.
One Foundation Doctor almost started crying as she told me how exhausted she is doing this with two small children . I felt even more sorry for after there was a screw up with my discharge from the hospital and I had to leave without my meds, and they all blamed "The Junior Doctor".

Health and Safety has to be adhered to, so I have one of these...

In a country where they will not sell you 2 products over the counter if they both contain paracetamol, it is amazing that they give needles to a totally unqualified person. (me) and trust me to dispose of them responsibly.
Well, of course I will.
There is no recycling bin in my house for this, I have to zip it back into its handy carry case and take it to my GP.
Lordy!

Weather Update

I have not posted a weather update since June...

Remarkably restrained of me , seeing as the weather has been properly crap.
This is apparently the worst summer in living memory (or so the locals say)

Indeed, it has rained and rained and rained....reminds  me of the Cape, its not just England that has the rain.
Once, in the Cape, during one of MOTHER's visits, it rained for 6 weeks.
Now, that was hell.

But, yes, it has been a bit bloody unrelenting here this year.
Nonetheless, there have been sunny spots.
The Olympics had great weather on the day we were there.
And last Thursday. And this week Monday.

I find myself usually very forgiving of the bad weather when a good day comes along.
Today is not one of those days.

Scan & Shop

This may be old hat to some of my blog readers, but for an ex Saffa, it is like magic.
So, on entering the supermarket, I scan my Tesco Card at the scanning station, take my own hand held scanner, scan my items, pack them into my own shopping bags, return to the station, scan the scanner, pay at the machine, and all done.
Amazing.

Online shopping is still the best, but this is fun!

(... the novelty may wear off )

Olympic Fever

I cannot begin to describe how wonderful my Olympic Experience was.

It is truly a Bucket List thing.

The Poms have got to be the most amazingly organised people in the entire world.

I hope everyone apologizes to Boris, whom they criticized daily on the run up to the Olympics, and who actually did a fantastic job.
Everything was so incredible that it is hard to single out the best bits.

I bought a British Team GB flag , which I wore.
This was  odd for me.
I felt a bit disloyal to SA, and felt that I should be wearing a SA flag.
I had to take a moment and justify it to myself, the fact that I was actually born here and now live here.
Still, although I felt very proud of being a Pom, at the same time I felt a bit uncomfortable.
Obviously the process is taking longer than I thought.

This Olympic weekend though, has truly been one of the highlights of my life.
I will probably bore my grandchildren with the story.
Of course it would be a lot more impressive if I could say that Grandma was taking part in the Olympics, rather than just going to see the high diving semi finals.
But we can't all be Jennifer Ennis's grandma.

There was the largest Mc Donalds in the world in the park.
We decided to go for the Seafood and Champagne option.
So much healthier
So much more expensive..
Saffas, read no further!

We didn't have this...and we actually had a very nice South African Chenin  Blanc for only £5.95 a glass.

 Everyone was so nice and sweet and helpful...even the bobbies took the time to take pics when asked!

I was sad to see it all over, then I remembered the paralympics!
Yes!
Applying for tickets straight away!

Rubbish

Every Monday at 6pm, my phone alarm goes off, prompting mass panic.
Rubbish Day!
Incidentally, the Poms do not call it Rubbish Day, rubbish is used as an adjective here, not a noun.
They call it Bin Day, or Recycling Day.
So, the alarm goes off, then it is " Which Rubbish Day is it? Is it Black  Bin day, which means I must empty the Red Bin and the White Bin into the Black Bin, or Blue and Green Bin Rubbish Day which means I must empty the Green  Inside  Bin and the Kitchen Caddy Bin into the Blue and Green Bins respectively?
I have a wheelie bin service now that cleans my bins for £30 quarterly.
There is something oddly satisfying about having clean bins.

These are the days of my life!
But, not all Rubbish.

On Friday we are heading off to London town to attend the Olympics!
Very very exciting.
We have been watching a LOT of  TV .
There are 25 dedicated channels for Olympics.
Darling  Simon has a 3D TV  , what a thing it is indeed, to see the games in 3D!
I was quite blown away. Swimming events in 3D are amazing.

The Hubby and I have very different tastes when it comes to Olympic events.
Who knew he was so interested in weightlifting?
Laughed to myself all day after seeing a weightlifting event that I thought was the men's but was actually the ladies?
I have no interest in hockey, was traumatised at school by being made to weed the hockey field as punishment for anything .
Loving the running and the jumping.
Have missed all my usual TV viewing. Thank goodness for catch up TV.