Hello after a long break. I'm sorry.
Things have been a bit chaotic in Christian's world of late. Mainly work, illness, work, illness and antibiotics.
It all started when I fell out of bed in Budapest. (Wouldn't that be a cracking line to start a book)?? Reaching for my cigarettes whilst in bed with David Attenborough, (on my ipad before the tabloids get ideas), I misjudged where the edge was and fell out! Cue lower back pain (same place as always) and me reaching in a frantic panic for the pain killers. Off to Dublin the following day and that's when the pain really kicked in. Flew home and had to explain why I couldn't possibly go to Aberdeen and back.
I was even in too much pain to pick up Milo, so he spent another few days at Mum and Dad's. Through gritted teeth I whizzed around Sainburys to get essentials as the home cupboard was bare. Milk, bread, chocolate, nurofen, paracetamol, chocolate and some medicinal chocolate. Oh, and chocolate. Went to bed with a sore throat just to make things worse.
Next day, woke up, reached for the paracetamol and nurofen breakfast cocktail and realised I couldn't really swallow. Tonsillitis. Great. Now, my local Doctor's surgery is great. The longest I have waited for an appointment is 3 hours. The benefits of living out in the country. I called and was told the Doctor would call me to decide if I needed an appointment. Strange, I thought, but ok. Doctor called 3 hours later. Doctor Frobble. I kid you not. A 'Carry on Doctor', I'm convinced of it. In his opinion, it was a virus and did not warrant penicillin. I would be fine in 5 days.
It is at this point that I need to explain that I am somewhat of an expert when it comes to tonsils. Apparently, it's a Taurean thing. Weak throats (along with a weight problem, so spot on there). I have had it 12 times in 18 years, so think I know a tad more than a Locum doctor, with a silly name who hasn't read my notes.
3 days later with a more or less liquid diet, apart from the pain killers, a back that kept cramping, I started to lose it. I drove to Mum's and picked up Milo, just to give me something to do. It had the added benefit of getting me out of the house, as I had to walk him.
Time to call the doctor back as I was feeling worse. To cut a very long story short, (not doing very well at that so far), he agreed to give me penicillin there and then.
Offering to come down to the surgery and cough a tonsil up on his desk had nothing to do with it.
Within 2 days all was much better again and I cracked on with dog walking, pottering, garden and general stuff at Bramble Cottage.
Back to work and the throat started playing up again....tighter than before and lower down. A voice like the love child of Barry White and Bonnie Tyler. I made it through the last few days and went back to the Doctor.
Laryngitis. Cracking, just what I needed.
'Just rest your voice and drink plenty of fluids'.
Marvellous. For those of you that don't know me, I am a quiet little mouse who rarely speaks up. *cough* so not too much of a problem. (He lied). He did give me penicillin for emergencies as he noted on my file that I am prone to tonsillitis. Well done that man!
So here i am in Basel, Switzerland. Got here yesterday afternoon and am due back at the crack of sparrows tomorrow. I packed my gym gear on the off chance that a fit of madness would tempt me and it did. Once again, for those of you that don't know me, I hope I am conjuring up visions of a toned Adonis, with abs you could grate cheese on. Just go with that thought for now. A warm up, 30 minutes of running, cool down, water, Marlboro gold and some stretching and I hope I can walk in the morning.
You might have noticed that there aren't any pictures with this post. Let me explain. I bought an iPad and I love it. It is so much easier that lugging my MacBook around Europe. However, I haven't figured out how to add pictures to my posts......I am officially technologically retarded.
I will post pictures on my next blog, when I get home. Loads of great pics, namely of my new lunch box (not in any way connected with the title of this post). Bentos are all the rage in Japan and I am loving the shallow boxes that you pack really tightly to stop everything moving around! I am going to try and put a picture on now. No idea where it will end up on this page.......Nope, bugger. Not there....oh well, you'll have to wait a bit longer for that.
Elsbeth, my oldest hen sadly passed away at the weekend. She had been slowing down for a week or so and went to the coop in the sky on Saturday. She was the feisty one, who rugby tackled her way to the spinach and chard, and was respected by my little flock :0( My lovely neighbour found her and took her out of the run. Glad I didn't have to do it. She will be missed.
I really should get a couple more hens as Pru is 6 1/2, Agnes and Cornelia are 4 1/2. Just not looking forward to the introductions. Glad that I had an extra panel built when the walk in run was put up. I can now separate them for the first couple of weeks until they get used to each other. After that, my trusty broom will stop any chicken squabbles......
Time to have a soak in the bath to ease my weary (incredibly toned) muscles before the cramp sets in.
C x x x
