Trials and tribulations

 Dear Marmite

Not so different from Monty's!

Mostly my problems are first world problems so I shouldn't complain. In fact, I really don't have much to worry about at all. So, when I found myself running late to visit my friend in hospital, I got a bit niggly with how slowly the cars were exiting Tesco car park in Stevenage. Patience isn't a virtue I possess! 

Normally, and almost without exception drivers over here are polite and beyond the highway code there are unwritten rules about who goes first. Everyone understands them - or so I thought. Normally in a tailback every other car will be ushered to join the line from a side junction. People smile and nod or wave through their windscreens and so it goes. So when I tried to join the exit queue in such circumstances, three cars in the main line edged themselves forward so that there was absolutely no way I could get in. 

The funny thing was the lady wearing caterpillar eyelashes in the car ahead of me was so determined to keep me out, she shunted the car in front of her in her determination to get out of the car park 30 seconds sooner. That prang of course slowed her down, it blocked me and made the man in the car in front of her less than congenial - putting it mildly. I just hope she has learnt a good lesson as karma landed in her lap in bucket loads. YAY!

So with my box of recently purchased Maltesers, I set off a little late for The Lister - The last time I was there was for Sammi's op. It is his birthday today so I can tell exactly how long ago it was. Ann had had a wrestling match with a plant pot on her patio and the pot won. She broke her femur and now has a hip replacement. Nothing about the op went smoothly and she actually had two ops. So popping round for a quick visit with her favourite chocolates was the least I could do.

While I was there we discussed at length more first world problems like how do you bend down to get your knickers on after this sort of op. Apparently one of those grabbers that people use for litter picking is essential equipment. I reckon the "dead ant" technique of lying on the bed with your legs in the air might work. I know I had time to prepare for my knee ops and I thought of things like that before the event. Having an emergency operation doesn't allow for thinking time though. All in all. Ann is doing really well and is planning her escape.

I actually have a bit of a phobia about hospitals. I was lucky to be in a private hospital in Singapore and that is almost like a hotel. In an NHS hospital, the beds around you are full and some patients are not patient. The staff look stretched too. The lady across from Ann's bed wanted help almost constantly while I was there and nights are apparently not conducive to sleep either. Small mercies - Ann didn't have a rookery above her! As hospitals go The Lister isn't bad. Compared to my limited experience of MK, it looks almost five star.

So, for Ann life will be better once she gets out, I'm sure. As for Sammi, I get a nice reminder each year that Samuel Woolhead has a birthday on June 13th - as if I could forget? The only problem is that the email says that he is 3 years older than he really is. He has never needed to show ID so adding three years to his age seems a bit odd. There is me trying to knock years off my age! 

Over here we are having a heatwave. Almost everyone in the UK turns into a lobster look-a-like and bares far too much skin. I remember a summer in the mid 1970s when everything was parched for weeks. Compared to now, that was pretty mild. Climate change is a whole world problem - not a first world problem. We are lucky over here just as you are in Singapore. We can hide from the worst of it. I can water my plants so my garden blooms - no probs!

Hope you are doing well, Marms. I miss you as always

Love

XXX