Friday, July 15, 2005

Foot Notes

It’s been an interesting week.
I’ve been cleaning out the big walk-in cupboard at the top of the stairs. A couple of months ago the ceiling collapsed. Dust and bits of plaster everywhere. It was where we shoved everything that didn’t have a home anywhere else. Drum cases, suitcases full of old clothes, all our old games and boxes of I don’t know what. Alan, a builder friend of ours, is coming to fix it next week so it has to be done. The house is full of piles of dusty things. Meanwhile we’re having a party tomorrow so the piles of things are being stored in our bedroom, which is getting quite difficult to enter.

As I write this we should be at the supermarket buying the food and drink. We’ve around 80 people coming. But a couple of things happened to slow us down.
First, Jill sprained her foot. Just went over on it in the garden on Tuesday night. We went to the casualty department of the hospital in Hastings where a nurse assessed us – Yes, she said, you’ll need to see the doctor and have it X-rayed. It seemed a fair assessment. There were four other injured parties in there. It shouldn’t be too long, the nurse said, we’re fairly quiet.
After about an hour the pain was getting too much for Jill to bear so I hailed a nurse and he gave Jill some painkillers, which helped. After about another hour and a half we finally got to see the doctor. You’ll need that X-rayed, he said. So we went back into the waiting room and waited. Only twenty minutes this time. After the X-ray we had to go and wait in the waiting room again.
An hour later we saw the doctor. It’s not broken, he said, just put it in a Tubular Bandage (great album BTW), take painkillers and we’ll give you some crutches. The swelling and bruising should go down in a couple of days.
To be fair – we only had to wait another half an hour for the bandage and the crutches.
We were there four and a half hours. Ridiculous. On the way out we passed someone who had come in with a badly scratched arm. He’d set up a little tent outside and was brewing up a cup of tea on a small camp fire. He was expecting to be seen around September!
Then, last night, at around 9.30, we had a power cut. We often get them – being out in the country and all. So we lit lots of candles and waited. Jill was giving a radio interview on the phone at 11 so she assembled her notes and lots of candles, found a phone that didn’t need electricity, got her foot comfy on a stool and waited. No power and so she did the interview by candlelight.
Woke up this morning. Still no power. We’re all electric here in the country. So - what do you miss most when the electricity goes down? A cup of coffee. I was about to fire up the barbecue when the power finally returned. Desperate or what?
All back to normal now, though. And the computer’s working again too. (That broke yesterday – turns out to be the monitor so I’ve borrowed the monitor from Jill’s office.)
Hey ho. A week in the life. No poems on this blog. I’ll sort something out for the next one. Can’t think what to write about…

15 comments:

Anonymous Poet said...

Write about the party! Tell us how it goes.

Patry Francis said...

I'm enjoying your poetry very much. I'll look forward to the next one.

Meanwhile, consider yourself tagged. I'm sure you'll have some interesting responses!

Sue hardy-Dawson said...

Tasha (middle daughter) cracked her knee last year. First time 11 hours Friday night drunks and all by the time we left. They said it wasn't broken. Two days later unable to stand on it, we returned for 9 hours to be told there was a suspicious crack they had noticed the first time but decided wasn't a break but now thought it was. Unfortunately the person who puts pots on was not there so could we come back Monday (they put a plaster on but apparently she needed it done properly??) Monday arrives just 6 hours to have the pot on, behind us was a 2 year old with a broken arm screaming blue murder, I would have let him go first and so would just about everyone except for the Doctors apparently. Eventually we left with a pink and purple pot and damage to are inner ear drums having simperthised with the mother of the said toddler and done our best to distract him.

But the pot has to be removed on completion of the healing process so we return for a final 5 hours, all to watch a man show us how his machine could only cut plaster. By then, further injury was terrifying if only at the thought of it ending us in casualty again. veeve la national health. Safe to say Iwent out and bought all three children a cotten wool overcoat on the way home.

Jonathan said...

Roger... have a great party... you've obviously got stories to tell...
Glad the injury wasn't too serious... sorry to hear that finding that out, was...

{illyria} said...

ah, yes. the coffee. it's like a guest waiting to be shown around. hope you had your morning cup. and i hope it went down smooth.

is jill better?

and i can't write anything either.

Patry Francis said...

Thanks for volunteering to be tagged--and for your visit. The questions are in the post called
"The Three Stupidest things I ever did."

Anonymous said...

What a terrible week! I suggest you buy double the amount of alcohol for the party. It sounds like a few drinks on a Saturday night will cure it!

I do hope Jill is recovering.

I'm off to listen to Tubular Bandage - Mike Oldfield's pension plan.

Anonymous said...

By the way, sorry I haven't sent the album yet - I've been at my parent's pad since returning from Prague. Will send it when I get back to Fleetwood.

gulnaz said...

I hope Jill is better now. getting a sprain, close to a party must be quite nerve-racking.
am shocked at reading your's and sue's hospital experiences! why are there not more doctors and technicians?
power cuts in uk? i thought things like that happened only in my part of the world.
for me tea is preferably the first thing in the morning and we use LPG usually in india.

sylviasometimes said...

Well, of course...all the best planning and bazatt! Seems you took it all in stride and hopefully have party stories to tell. So went to a poetry performance which was excellent...thought of you and all those students/etc you actually get to HEAR your poems! Any chance of a recording of your readings?
Take care.

Russell CJ Duffy said...

EXTRA. EXTRA. Read all about in the latest edition of the Fekenham Gazette. On sale now!

amiethinggoes said...

what a busy hospital you have there! 4 1/2 hours! maybe you should have bring some gadgets to entertain you or a good book.

and yes a poem about the party.

Wastedpapiers said...

Hope Jilly is feeling better now and all that partying didnt make it worse.
Hospitals are horribel at the best of times but having to wait is a nightmare. Some years ago i had to go and have some tests done and I waited hours to be seen sitting in a grim waiting room on hard seats wearing those shorty nighties with no backs they make you put on to make you feel stupid and even more miserable. sadistic bastards! Then a few weeks later I had to go for the results of the tests and had to wait even longer. After reading Crime and Punishment from cover to cover my number was called out and the doctor just said I was o.k. but maybe we shall do some more tests just for the fun of it! I never went back. They could easily have phoned me to tell me that or sent a letter. Incredible!

Roger Stevens said...

Thanks for all your comments. I'll get to the tag line soon, Patry, promise.

The party went well. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. Probably the most exciting thing was Judy Dog falling in the pond. She's deaf and blind and arthritic. By the time I arrived she'd given up struggling as a bad job and was just sitting there, water up to her ears, waiting for someone to hoist her out.
It was a hot day - so she was probably enjoying it. Not sure if the fish did.

Jill's foot's much better.
Off to Paris tomorrow. I'll catch up with everyone when I get back.

Au Revoir

Nicole Braganza said...

80 people at your party. That sounds like a riot! So did you have fun?
That reminds me I need to go partying -- just for an escape.