General Discussion Thread

[Róisín]

Thanks, mate, so am I.

[Purple Wyrm]

Echoing the get well soon wishes Róisín! What a dreadful situation.

[Mélusine]

Night Watch is IMO one of Pratchett's best.

I'm in love with "Nation", sorry
In the Discworld I especially enjoy the ones with Death, and the witches

[Mélusine]

Adding an update in case anyone wondered where I was: I came down to Meadows on Sunday to do some mead-brewing workshops, and was then heading down to Victor Harbour to do some nature walks, foraging and more brewing workshops. Partway through the journey I came down with a sudden and severe earache, with symptoms sufficiently alarming that the person driving me diverted to the South Coast Hospital, who diagnosed an ear infection which had suddenly spread into the bone of the skull. Apparently this can be life-threatening and they had no ear specialist at the hospital, so they sent me by ambulance to Flinders Medical Centre, where I had no desire to go , having known many people whose experiences there had been bad. The infection was an unusual thing for me, normally I am quite hardy.

So Flinders is the worst hospital in which I have ever been, says the person who has been in hospitals in Nepal, Borneo, New Guinea and Central Australia. Never again if I can help it. The place was dirty, cold, serves the extruded bland pap variety of hospital food, and the beds were gritty and contained some kind of biting insect. While I was out of my room being treated someone rifled through my stuff and emptied my purse.  I spent a couple of days on intravenous antibiotics and heavy painkillers, cold, dirty and in pain. Finally was discharged into the care of a friend who lives at Victor Harbour, where at present I am lying in a warm clean bed in a quiet room with a view of her garden and the charming company of a kitten and her small grandchildren. I have oral medications and a warm place to recover for a few days before she drives me home. She just fed me a bowl of homemade pumpkin soup with lots of chopped parsley, and berries from her garden. Much better than the hospital food! So I will probably be about the Forum more for a few days while I lie in bed and recover enough to go home. At least there is a friend back home who will look out for husband until I return!

Oh no !
I'm sorry for this really bad experiment, and hope that you'll recover quickly. Take care of you *Hugs - and strawberries, because it's time for them in our garden and I pick up some every day now*

[Róisín]

Thank you all. Janine brought me home last night, and I feel better for sleeping in my own bed next to a warm husband. I intend to sleep lots, eat fresh fruit, and sleep some more. Hopefully I will start coming good.

[thorny]

Whew, home!

Nothing like your own bed. Sleep, yes. It's good for you.

[Sc0ut]

Róisín, sympathy for that very unpleasant experience. I'm glad you're well on your way to recovery now! Your plan sounds great, please do take care of yourself.

On the topic of beds, am I the only one who doesn't prefer my own bed? Of course, I don't mean hospital beds by this, but sleeping over at friends or any temporary places while traveling fills me with excitement, and I generally wake up instantly energized and ready to face the day. Whereas at home, it just feels like "same old" and it takes me a long time to wake up and get motivated, despite having a comfortable bed.

[urbicande]

So Flinders is the worst hospital in which I have ever been, says the person who has been in hospitals in Nepal, Borneo, New Guinea and Central Australia. Never again if I can help it. The place was dirty, cold, serves the extruded bland pap variety of hospital food, and the beds were gritty and contained some kind of biting insect. While I was out of my room being treated someone rifled through my stuff and emptied my purse.  I spent a couple of days on intravenous antibiotics and heavy painkillers, cold, dirty and in pain.

I can't even imagine that.

Glad you're on the mend.

[Róisín]

Yep, coming good. The combination of sleep, fresh berries, more sleep, hot tea, more sleep, seems to be helping a lot. Should be back on deck soon, I hope, still very weak and in pain, but I think continuing to heal.

[Hearth]

Echoing everyone else to say that I’m glad you’re starting to feel better, Róisín! Sorry about your hospital experience, it sounds simply awful.

[Johannabelle]

Róisín, that experience sounds absolutely horrible. I'm glad you've escaped that and are now healing, well wishes.

 

On the topic of beds, am I the only one who doesn't prefer my own bed? Of course, I don't mean hospital beds by this, but sleeping over at friends or any temporary places while traveling fills me with excitement, and I generally wake up instantly energized and ready to face the day. Whereas at home, it just feels like "same old" and it takes me a long time to wake up and get motivated, despite having a comfortable bed.

I thought I was the only one. My bed is great, but variety is nice.

[fija]

Oh my gosh, I'm so glad you're back home and not in that awful hospital anymore! Have a speedy recovery!

And I absolutely hate my bed, it's a bunk bed except there's only the one on the top. It was fun when I was a kid (although I actually barely used it my entire childhood) but now having to walk down the ladder every morning at 6 a.m makes me so unmotivated to get up and oftentimes I really just go back to sleep (which I later regret as I smudge my make-up in a rush to get done and try not to be late).

[Róisín]

Thanks for kind thoughts, all! I still feel dreadful, but am gradually feeling better for sleeping warm and safe, drinking lots of hot tea and eating food that has actual substance and flavour, fresh fruit and veg, and eating bread that actually has a crust and contains stuff like pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds and poppy seeds and  actual cracked grains rather than a chunk of soggy white extruded pap. Apparently the hospital didn't have its own kitchen anymore but outsourced its catering to Spotless who used to be a drycleaning firm, but nowadays do bulk catering. Urgh. Never want to eat that stuff again. My taste is for stuff like vegetable soup that contains things like half a dozen different kinds of soaked beans, lentils, barley, and numerous fresh vegetables and homemade stock. When I make vegetable soup that's what I make. Never realised how much I could miss my own cooking! Fortunately, before I left I had made a large pot for husband to eat while I was away, and there was still some left when I came home.

Edit: Fija, I used to sleep in a top bunk for part of my childhood. The nice part of that was that when my numerous younger sibs wanted to jump in with me, or jump on me, at godawful predawn they actually had to work for it!

Sc0ut, generally I like my own bed, but there are two beds I like better when travelling: the one at my friend Janine's place down at Victor Harbour, where I stayed for a few days after I got out of hospital before I came home. It's just a largish single bed, but warm and comfy and in her library, so I can reach out for a good book, and has a beautiful view out the window of garden and birds. Lovely place to sleep.

The other is at my friend Julianne's place in an inner suburb of Adelaide, and isn't actually a bed but a large squishy sofa. Talk about a soft, decadent place to sleep. Again there is a glorious view of a well maintained and highly floriferous collector's garden out the French doors. She does have a proper guest room as well, but the beds in it are antiques, hard, and far too high for me to climb into - I'll happily sleep on the nice squishy couch!

[Iceea]

I'll happily sleep on the nice squishy couch!

There was a summer place my family and I used to stay at. Actually it was built in the late 50's and we were one of the 1st families to rent it back then. That was when I was a wee lad.
When I stared going there with my own family in the 90's we rented the same place. It was still charming although beginning to show it's age. There was about a 4" gap between the floor and the the bottom of the wall in the bathroom. But it had 3 of the most glorious couches. They were right at the perfect point of decrepitude, incredibly cozy and comfortable. Just don't look under the slip cover. It was just my wife, my son, and I, and the couches were in the 3 perfect sizes, mama bear, baby bear, and poppa bear.
Unfortunately the owner developed a disability and he had to tear it down completely and rebuild new, modern, and accessible. Such a shame.

[thorny]

Those who like to sleep on squishy couches are very welcome to them.

If my choice is a squishy surface or the floor, I'll be sleeping on the floor -- though I may be able to get away with pulling a mattress off its squishy bed and putting that on the floor; which is what I have to do at my sister's. But I need a fairly firm surface to sleep on, or my back will put me in pain well before morning.