Category Archives: leuven

Thursday 18th August 2016 – THAT WAS A LITTLE BETTER …

… last night.

In bed and falling asleep during the film, I was awoken by a party of my co-residents returning from an evening out, but I was soon back to sleep. I had a couple of trips down the corridor but not so much that they awoke me too much, and it wasn’t until 06:20 that I awoke properly.

Even so, I managed to drop off back to sleep again until the alarm went off at 07:15.

I’d been on my travels too. I was delivering parts for competition cars to outlying addresses in the Wrexham area and at one place the delivery was not all that simple because the road signs were confusing. It involved turning off to the right at a road junction and then left to a housing estate on the edge of a small town, where the town (the postal address) was to the left on the main road, and this caused a few complications. We had a discussion about the repairs to the car, and I said that the driving age for this vehicle was 18 whereas the owner said it was 15 and his girl of that age was driving it. In the end we agreed that 18 was the age for driving on the road whereas 15 was the age for driving in off-road competition. We also ended up talking about a famous Welsh pizza which involved buying the base, travelling around the country picking up the individual ingredients for the toppings from each of the farms that grew or produced them, and then returning home to cook and eat it.

It didn’t take me too long to eat breakfast, and once I’d organised myself (such as only I can do), I went off to the launderette and the internet access. having done the usual, I then started to contact all of the addresses that I had been collecting for accommodation. And it didn’t take me too long to do it either, with each enquiry producing the same result – “if you aren’t a bona-fide student, we aren’t interested”. I’ve been here before, haven’t I?

I even took to the streets and the estate agents, but that produced similar results. One place, which had three in the window, said that they had all been booked already (so why leave them in the window?) and another place was completely and utterly disinterested. I can see that I’m going to have to plan a new line of attack.

While I was out I took the opportunity to do a quick shop at the Delhaize in town and then had lunch. Afterwards, I crashed out for an hour (despite my reasonable night).

Apart from that, I’ve not done too much else. I’ve been to the launderette this evening and had tea – the stuff that was left over from last night together with some fresh rice. It might be early but I don’t care – I’m going to have an early night with a good film.

But I’m fed up of this accommodation issue. Flats, studios, rooms, all kinds of stuff. The city is crawling with them and with “to let” signs. But can I rent one? This is just totally crazy.

I shall have to see about enrolling myself as a student.

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Wednesday 17th August 2016 – I HAD ASKED FOR …

… a good night’s sleep last night. And did I have one? Did I heck as like.

It wasn’t the fault of my room-mate either. He was one of the better ones that I have had. And there was someone down the corridor talking in his sleep which might have been quite interesting had my Flemish been any better. But despite all of that, I was still awake at 02:00. But why my room-mate would want to have a good wash at 04:20 is totally beyond me.

I did manage to doze off at some point but the usual morning clatter put paid to everything.

It must me this Mapthera though that is giving me this insatiable appetite that I mentioned the other week. I had a full breakfast and even sent for more bread. That was what started me off.

The doctor came and gave me the news. No side effects, no untoward problems, and so I can leave as soon as the nurses take my drain out. I asked about my blood test results. The red blood count has soared up to 12.0 – and that’s before the Mapthera too. Isn’t that a far cry from when I staggered into the doctor’s last November with a blood count of just 3.8.

The doctor is quite happy with that, but as for me, I’m delighted. I wasn’t expecting anything like this. I have to come back (to be hospitalised like this time) on 30th August and then that will, if everything goes according to plan, be the final treatment. And it’s bang-on schedule too, if you remember the initial programme. All I will need then are some regular check-ups after that.

But how regular will the check-ups be? That’s the big question isn’t it? It’s upon this that my future depends. Do I stay or do I go?

They took out the drain at about 11:30 but seeing as how it was nearly lunchtime I stayed on until I’d eaten it and then I set off in the delightful sunlight to walk back home.

On the way back I organised some bread and made myself a cheese butty. And then an hour or so later I made myself another one. See what I mean about this appetite.

Unsurprisingly, I crashed out for a while this afternoon. That did me some good. And with there still being no internet here, I went off to the launderette again where I was the recipient of a catty remark from a customer. But the advantage of being a foreigner is that you can pretend not to understand it.

I made a really good tea tonight – lentils, veg and boulghour with garlic fried in butter. All of this with rice too. And now, I’m going to watch another film and have an early night.

I hope that I’ll have a good sleep tonight!

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Tuesday 16th August 2016 – I HAD A BETTER …

… sleep last night. I was off with the fairies fairly early and although I had to leave the bed once during the night, I was pretty much asleep for most of it until I awoke – bolt-upright – at 06:10. And you won’t be interested in hearing where I’d been during the night either, because you are probably eating your breakfast or some such.

I had breakfast early too – at 06:30 I was up in the kitchen.And we had the muesli back as well, much to my delight. And afterwards I packed my things ready for the hospital, as well as having a little crash-out for about 10 minutes.

It was such a pleasant morning that I had no doubts whatever about walking up to the hospital, even though I had my larger, heavy bag with lots of stuff in it. But not, as I was to discover later, my slippers. And not my vegan cheese either. This was bad planning!

They weren’t expecting me at the hospital this morning. It transpired that they were full and so I’d been sent to a different ward – one where the people aren’t quite so nice and friendly (I’ve been here before). Waste of time me prettying myself up in case I were to encounter Tara, the cute little nurse, wasn’t it?

They installed me in a room and because I was first I could choose my bed. And so I’m next to the bathroom (ease of access) and away from the window (far too hot in summer).

It looked as if it was all going to be super-efficient. I was quickly rigged up with my catheter (didn’t feel a thing) and given the antidotes and so on. And then I waited

And waited

And waited.

16:30 or so when they came around with the Mapthera. Wasn’t that a waste of a day? but at least I’d had a lunch and it was something that I could vaguely eat too. Tea was a bit miserable though, especially without the vegan cheese, but luckily I’d brought one of the big packets of crisps that Alison had bought for me the other day. Good old Alison!

So now that I’ve been disconnected from the drip, I’m going to settle down for an early night and watch a film. I hope that my room-mate doesn’t snore or anything like that. He likes his TV so it’s a shame that he doesn’t have any ear plugs. I on the other hand have comfortable headphones, as long-term readers of this rubbish will remember.

I do hope that I’ll have a good night’s sleep.

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Monday 15th August 2016 – THIS TIME LAST YEAR …

… I was on my way from Lyon Airport to Zurich in Switzerland ready to board my flight which would eventually take me off to Montreal, Canada. And how I wish that I could be doing exactly the same this year. But what with the health issues that I’m having, it’s not possible, and if I can’t organise my health issues properly in the future, I might not be going again. If I need to have a health check every week or two, it’s clearly going to be impossible. And the way that things are going, I’ve no idea what is going to be the future – and neither, does it seems, does anyone else, even in the hospital.

So last night I was in bed quite early and after watching a film on the laptop, I was asleep quite early. But not for long because we have some new neighbours who seem not to have grasped the concept of corporate silence in communal lodgings.

It took me ages, and a couple of trips down the corridor, to go back to sleep after that. I definitely remember 01:30. But back to sleep I must have gone because the next thing that I remember was the alarm going off at 07:30. I’d even managed to sleep through the 07:00 cacophony.

To say that I remember nothing is not quite true. I’d been on my travels too. Part of it involved another footballing session in Bangor, North Wales, and another part of it I shan’t recount as you are probably eating your breakfast or something right now.

I had company at the breakfast table too. The late arrivals last night were already there when I arrived, and after they left I was joined by the family who had joined me yesterday. That knocked me out of my stride as you know. I don’t do socialising and I much prefer to be on my own.

The internet is still out too this morning. As a consequence I set off to the launderette again and took advantage of the wi-fi there. I had a good two and a half hours in there doing all of the things that I needed to do, and then I came back here. I passed by the supermarket where I picked up another black plastic food tray – did I tell you about the one that I picked up the other day. Again, thrown away in the rubbish pile but now it’s had a really good wash and all of my food is nice and properly stacked tidily – and about time two.

There were also a couple of small, solid wooden orange boxes. I liberated those too, and they will be on their way to Caliburn to replace the cardboard boxes in there.

Me? Organised? Whatever next?

Despite my reasonable sleep, I crashed out for a really good 90 minutes this afternoon. Properly away with the fairies I was. It’s starting to become rather silly, this one. And it’s also becoming a habit, which I don’t like at all

Back in the launderette this evening to see what the world has been up to, and then back here for tea. And what a tea it was! While the pasta was cooking, I fried some garlic in some of the soya margarine, and then added a small tin of mushrooms and the rest of the vegetables left over from Saturday. A pile of boulghour and the rest of the jar of tomato sauce, with the pasta all mixed in and it was totally delicious.

A shower and a shave this evening – must make myself clean and tidy for the hospital tomorrow. After all, the cute little Tara might be there to look after me so I need to look my best. Yes – I can still chase after the women, even if I can’t remember why.

And now a film and an early night – hoping that I won’t be disturbed as I was last night. That really annoyed me, that did.

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Sunday 14th August 2016 – IT WAS ANOTHER …

… unsettled night last night. I was in bed early enough and even watched a film on the laptop from start to finish, but eben though I was quite tired I had trouble dozing off to sleep.

And not only that, I had to leave the comfort and security of my stinking pit on more than one occasion too, for reasons that I don’t really understand as I had been very careful not to drink anything as the evening wore on last night.

The final time – round about 04:20 – and I couldn’t go back off to sleep and just lay here ruminating until the crowds started to emerge at about 06.50. And no chance of going back to sleep once they were up and about, no matter how tired I was feeling.

I’d been on my travels during the night though. I’d taken Zero, together with her mother (although the woman in the dream wasn’t actually her real mother) to one of these adventure parks somewhere. She’s met a girl of about 13 or 14 and they were hanging out together going on the rides and so on and I was keeping an eye on them, making sure that they didn’t get into any mischief.

There was no internet again this morning, which is rather miserable, I reckon. Dunno what’s happening here and the office is closed all day today so that won’t be sorted out for a while. I shall have to do something in real life instead. Meanwhile, after breakfast, which I took in company with another couple or three of my housemates, I headed off to the laundry around the corner in the Ridderstraat to take advantage of their wi-fi connection. I can see this becoming something of a habit.

I’d picked up a baguette from the boulangerie on the corner for lunch. With the hummus, tomatoes, olives and salad mix, it was very delicious too.

This afternoon I had a play around with my 3D program and then had a shower and a shave and a change of clothes. I’m dining out with Alison tonight so I need to look my best. I’d also found a plastic crate that had been abandoned, so I washed and cleaned that in the shower too and sorted out all of my tins of food to make the place look prettier and, more importantly, so that I know what I have. Tidying up, me? If I’m not careful, I’ll be sorting myself out before I’m too much older, and that will never do.

When Alison came round, we went off into town to hunt down some more flats and studios, and then Alison took me to a small restaurant that she had discovered – a Thai restaurant where my vegetable curry was outstanding. We had a coffee or two in the square, watching the world go by, and then had a slow walk back here. And Alison had a surprise for me too – she’s been to the English shop and had bought me a couple of packets of vegan hummus-flavoured crisps. Just the thing to smuggle into the hospital on Tuesday.

So now I’m back home. Still no internet so I’ll be having another early night with a couple of films on the laptop. And it looks as if I’ll be off to the launderette tomorrow if this internet situation isn’t sorted out.

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Saturday 13th August 2016 – THAT’S A BIT MORE LIKE IT!

After the football last night, it was quite late when I went to bed. And I didn’t even bother to watch a film either – I settled down straight away.

And despite having to leave my stinking pit on one occasion during the night, I remember nothing whatever until the 07:00 cacophony this morning. It’s a long time since I’ve had a night like that, isn’t it? The walk out and back to the footy yesterday evening clearly did me some good.

I was off on my travels too during the night, although I don’t remember too much about it. It was something to do with different football clubs, and I was with a woman too although I can’t remember now just who she was. It can’t have been all that important.

Despite there being a few people in here at the moment, I was on my own yet again at breakfast. Not that I’m complaining of course – I much prefer it like that as you probably know. And still no muesli either. That’s rather depressing. I’m not such a fan of cornflakes, although I can’t complain too much – at least it’s all free (or, to be more precise, included in the price).

The morning was quite relaxing. A had a couple of chats with people on line, including Rosemary who has invited me for a few days in the UK when I’m feeling better, which is very nice of her. But it meant that I couldn’t get out to Caliburn and the big Carrefour supermarket on the edge of town, having run out of time and I was starving too. I had to go to the Delhaize supermarket in town instead and that wasn’t part of the plan.

However, they do sell tins of curried beans so I’ve bought a tin, and they had some cheap garlic too so with the soya margarine that I bought the other day, I’ll make some garlic butter because I’ve bought a half-baguette too as well as the normal one. The intention is to make my own Saturday night curry with garlic bread. It should be lovely.

Later on in the afternoon, I crashed out for 90 minutes. A proper crash-out too. Not quite sure why because it’s not as if I’ve had a hectic day, and I did have a decent-ish sleep too. I must be getting old.

So now there’s no internet access this evening (the system has gone down) I’m going to have an early night. I’ll watch a film maybe too, seeing as I have plenty of time.

And while the curried beans were nothing special, the garlic bread was beautiful and I shall be making this again.

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Friday 12th August 2016 – I MUST BE THE KISS OF DEATH.

This evening, I went out just for a change. To the Den Dreef Stadion here in Leuven as OH Leuven were at home to Union St Gilloise in the Belgian Second division tonight. I managed to find the home fans’ entrance too and had a grandstand seat right behind the goal.

OH Leuven played really well up and down the park and totally monopolised the first half. It was really good, exciting football for what it was, but it all fell apart in front of the goal. As for St Gilles, they weren’t able to leave their own half for the first 35 minutes, and then, as you might expect, in their first attack they roared up the field and scored the most unlikely of goals.

The second half started as the first half finished – with OH Leuven laying siege to the Union St Gilloise goal, and so after 5 minutes, St Gilles roared off up the other end and scored a second goal. That was their second attack.

After that, the heads of the OH Leuven players went down and even bringing on three substitutes couldn’t stimulate the team. The St Gilles players grew in stature – the two centre-halves were very impressive – and a third goal, which had been on the cards for 20 minutes, came with just 5 minutes to go.

From such a bright and energetic start, OH Leuven were a rather sorry group of players by the final whistle.

The walk out there, armed with a bag of chips from the fritkot, was very pleasant, and the walk back, in the cool evening air, was very relaxing. And I managed it all there and back at a brisk pace without any problems. I must be feeling better.

I had another bad night too. Although I was in bed reasonably early watching a film (and dozing off in the middle of it) I was wide awake again at 01:15. And I don’t remember going back to sleep after that, and it was so light by 06:15 that I went off and had breakfast.

The cleaner came round to do the room later on and that disturbed me. I went and had another coffee before going off to the supermarket on the corner for my baguette. My lunchtime butty was beautiful, and then I crashed out good and proper for about an hour and a half.

This evening I went off to watch the footy and collected a couple of phone numbers on the way. I’ll have to give them a ring this weekend to see if I can sort something out.

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Thursday 11th August 2016 – NOW HERE’S A THING!

Yes, having had blood counts recently of 9.4, 10.0 and 10.5, today’s blood count is … 11.9. And that’s without any medication whatever. It compares with the “normal” figure of between 13.0 and 15.0, and the count that I had when I was first diagnosed with lymphoma – namely 3.8.

In fact, the hospital was so impressed that the doctor refused to give me the blood stimulator that I have every visit, and I was thrown out without having even a pretence whatsoever of medication.

This is astonishing, as far as I’m concerned. And so is the hospital. The doctor has said that I’ll have just two more sessions of Mapthera and that will be that. The next session will be next Thursday – and they will keep me in hospital overnight to check for side-effects – and again three weeks after that, and then I’ll be done. If things go according to plan, I’ll just need a regular follow-up to check my immunity situation and that my blood count is holding up.

And this is causing me no amount of issues. Had I still had my spleen and my immune system, I’d be half-way home by now so you’ve no idea just how depressed I am by that. I’ve said before that it’s not going to be the lymphoma that will kill me but something that I will pick up that I can’t fight off. I can’t even vent my spleen about that.

And not only that, the time scale is all wrong. They don’t know how often I will need following up and the second helping of Mapthera coincides with the date that I leave here. So do I risk renting a studio for 10 months and waste the money by being allowed to go back to France? Or do I bank on going home and then have to come back every week or fortnight at whatever the expense of the journey might be?

But nevertheless, it’s a major step forward and you’ve no idea just how pleased I am by my news today.

Last night I had another miserable night – still awake at 02:00. I was up though at 07:30 for breakfast (and still no muesli) and even had time to go for a shower before setting off for the hospital – on foot af course because I’m feeling better. I picked up my injection, but didn’t need it so the hospital nurse took it back to the apothecary.

But as for the nurse who saw me, she was quite brutal with my catheter and I can still feel the pain even now. Ohh for Tara – the pretty little nurse on the ward where I stayed who was so gentle with me.

Back here in time for lunch (and yet another brisk walk in the rain) and then after a good chat with Liz I crashed out for an hour or two – properly too. I was well away.

Tonight, I finished off the pastries and potatoes and veg and it tasted just as nice as last night. I shall have to look into the idea of making my own vegan pies some time.

So tonight I’ll try – yet again – to have an early night. And hope that I’ll be on my travels again. I was off during the night and I was in the company of the girl who has been described on many occasions as “The One That Got Away”. She didn’t get away last night either – we were planning on visiting the north coast of Norway or Russia, but ended up on a snowy island like Svalbard where we spent most of the night encountering polar bears. And it was another night where I awoke in the middle of it all to go off down the corridor and then went back to bed, and to sleep, right at the very position where I had left off my ramble. That’s been happening a few times just recently.

But Ironically, just as last time she featured in a nocturnal ramble, there she was on the internet having sent me a message just about the time that all of this was going on. This clearly signified something, but I’ve no idea what it might be.

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Wednesday 10th August 2016 – I HAD A QUIET DAY TODAY

And that’s no surprise either. I had another bad night – still being awake at 02:00 this morning, and then having to make a couple of trips down the corridor during the night.

The alarm went off at 07:30, and it was something of an effort to crawl out of bed, but it had to be done. And then I staggered off upstairs for breakfast.

We seem to have run out of muesli and no-one has replenished the container. So it was cornflakes for breakfast with my toast, coffee and orange juice and somehow it’s not the same. I hope that they will refill the container sometime soon although when I was up there making tea it was still empty.

This morning I haven’t done too much at all, but at lunchtime I went for a walk. I checked on Caliburn in his new home and he seems to be fine. And then I went off to spy out the ALDI down the road from there. They don’t sell baguettes unfortunately but they so have some cheap stuff including the soya desserts and soya milk, as well as having a small range of vegan food like burgers and falafel. I’ll check this out when I find a proper place to stay. But it just goes to show you how far France is behind the times when it comes to this.

This afternoon, I crashed out for an hour or so – and quite right too for I was feeling pretty miserable what with having a bad night. But I wasn’t as miserable as the weather, which had rained when I was out and about on my travels at lunchtime although it did clear up later.

For tea, I cooked some of the vegan pastries that Alison had bought me, together with potatoes and mixed vegetables cooked in butter and with garlic. That was a very good tea, and there’s enough left over for tomorrow. The little oven here isn’t very powerful but it managed to do the job, and I need to look out for a small, cheap baking tray. Looks like a trip to IKEA is on the cards, especially as now I can access Caliburn without any effort. Renting this parking place looks as if it’s a good move.

So now, I’m going to try again to have an early night. And quite right too because my appointment at the hospital is for 09:10 tomorrow so I have to be early. I’ll pack some stuff in case I have to stay the night but if I don’t, I’ll be on the phone afterwards trying to sort out some accommodation. I have a few ideas, and a few phone numbers, up my sleeve.

But all of this assumes that they can tell me how long I have to stay here. I need to have some kind of idea so that I can make further plans.

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Tuesday 9th August 2016 – HERE’S CALIBURN …

caliburn ford transit kapucijnenvoer leuven belgium… in his new home.

As regular readers of this rubbish will remember, we had an “interaction” with the Belgian police about him being parked on the hospital car park. Nothing wrong with that of course – I’m perfectly entitled to leave him there – but the interaction is something that I can well do without. I’m hoping to keep a low profile.

And so when I was out for my walk on Sunday in the Kapucijnenvoer, I noticed a warehouse-type of place that was advertising car-parking places to let. €45 per month is not too unreasonable, but it means less hassle with the farces of law and order, and also that Caliburn is much, much closer to hand.

I had an appointment to see it at 10:00 this morning with the owner, and by 10:02 the deal was done. And it’s not too bad really. After all, I’ve had four and a half months of free – and hassle-free – parking. Who am I to complain?

cottages van waeyenberghlaan leuvenFrom there I walked up to the hospital (I’m clearly feeling much better – I hardly broke into a sweat going up the hill).

Leuven is full of little alleyways with little rows of workers’ cottages and here’s one in the Van Waeyenberghlaan that looks quite interesting. A little cottage up there would suit me fine, but I daren’t tell you the price. I’m planning on renting a tiny studio for staying here

Up at the hospital I ordered my injection for Thursday, confirmed the time of my appointment (and forgot the letter, which is on Caliburn’s dashboard), picked up the food that I forgot and then went to rescue Caliburn.

Part of the rental for the parking was immediately paid off by going to the big Carrefour supermarket where everything is so much cheaper than the one in the centre of town. I did a mega-shop and brought everything back here along with the clean washing that I had left in Caliburn the other day.

Once I’d unloaded, I took Caliburn back to his new home and left him there and then walked back here and made myself a coffee. All of this incredible day of work (well, for me just recently) was done and dusted by 11:30. Yes, I must be feeling better.

Last night, I had another miserable night. Not as bad as last night but it was still well after 01:00 that I went to sleep. And the bells awoke me at 07:00 ready for my busy day. I managed a shower and a shave too before going out, and with a change of clothes I look almost human now.

For the rest of the day I’ve done nothing much. Had lunch, crashed out, had tea. What else is there to do?

But I’m glad that Caliburn is now accessible and we might even go out for a drive in the near future. That will be nice.

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Monday 8th August 2016 – THIS HAS GONE BEYOND A JOKE

So there I was, in bed at a reasonably early time and settled down for the night.

And I lay there mulling things over in my mind and not doing too much – then gradually the dawn chorus began, and it began to become light outside. When the 07:00 cacophony cracked off, I went upstairs and demolished about a pint of orange juice. I would have had breakfast too, but I wasn’t particularly hungry.

After that, I came back down here and went back to bed. I reckon that it was somewhere round about 09:00 when I finally went off to sleep – but it wasn’t for very long because I didn’t realise that there’s quite something of an impressive cacophony from the church bells at midday too – I hadn’t noticed that before.

It took me until about 15:30 before I felt up to very much, and then I went to the supermarket on the corner for a bit of bread and a tomato. That, together with some of my vegan cheese, gave me something to eat.

Liz was on line later and we had a bit of a chat – then I crashed out for an hour or so. I cant’t say that I’m surprised.

Tonight, I made a chick pea curry, with mixed veg and boulghour. I had half of that for tea with rice, and the other half will do for tea tomorrow.

But I’m thoroughly fed up with these sleeping issues. I wish that I could drop off at 23:00 and wake up at 07:30. I just don’t know what is the matter with me these days that I can’t seem to sleep.

But I have to have a good sleep tonight, because I have an appointment at 10:00 tomorrow. It’s not with a medical institution either but it’s quite important, so I can’t pass it up.

More about this tomorrow.

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Sunday 7th August 2016 – AND SO LAST NIGHT …

… I was in bed by 21:45. And by 22:00 I was well away in the arms of Morpheus. And at 23:00 I was back wide awake again, and that was how I stayed until long after 02:00. I’m becoming thoroughly fed up by my sleep issues right now. I just can’t seem to go off to sleep.

I imagine that we had the usual 07:00 cacophony from the church bells across the road but I knew absolutely nothing whatever about that. It was 09:00 when I surfaced, which, you have to admit, is not too bad for a Sunday. But going to sleep at 22:00 and staying asleep would have been so much nicer.

A little later I made it to the boulangerie down the road and bought my baguette for lunchtime. It seems as if my appetite is back, which is always a very good thing.

This evening, I went for a walk. I’d seen some furnished studio apartments to let on the way down to the football ground. Although the rooms are for students only, they are in a nice, clean modern building and are a reasonable price, so I’d like to be able to talk my way into there if I can. I needed the phone number so that I can contact the agents tomorrow.

It was a lovely walk in the cool evening breeze, and on the way back I stopped off for my Sunday pizza. And that reminds me- I’ll need to sort out some more vegan cheese sometime in the near future.

Apart from that I’ve not done too much else. I’m still recovering from my spell in hospital so I need to take it easy. But tomorrow I’ll have to sort myself out and start working again. I can’t keep on wasting time like this, even if I don’t quite feel up to doing anything much.

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Saturday 6th August 2016 – WELL, THAT DIDN’T TURN OUT …

… like it ought to have done, did it?

Despite planning on an early night, it was after 04:00 this morning and I was still awake, despite having had a full day awake yesterday. I really didn’t understand that at all.

The 07:00 cacophony woke me up of course but only for a couple of seconds and I was back in the arms of Morpheus quite quickly. It was 10:30 when I finally crawled out of bed, and just made it into the kitchen before the 11:00 cut-off time for breakfast.

What was interesting about last night was that I hadn’t had to leave the bed at any time either – quite a rare event these days – and I’d been on my travels too. It concerns three stick insects that I owned and which I was keeping in a plastic bag in the fridge. But then I found a plastic jar of some description and was busily enticing them into there. I had no idea how I was going to feed them or keep them sheltered, but that hadn’t bothered me for a minute.

I’ve had a relaxing day again, doing effectively nothing at all. I had a play with the 3D program that I used and I was following a couple of football results on the internet. I’d also (quite late on as it happened) been to the supermarket on the corner but instead of a baguette, I bought a ciabatta just to be different and that made a pleasant change for my butties.

It’s Saturday night too, so I went out at about 20:00 and bought myself a proper chick pea curry from the Asian take-away – and nice it was too. I quite look forward to this as much as I do for my pizza on Sundays.

But my splendid isolation is changing. For the last couple of days, it looked as if I was the only person staying here and it was nice and quiet. But today a few people have moved in and I can hear the television going off next door. That’s annoying but it can’t be helped. I reckon that I’ve just been lucky this last few days or so.

Anyway, in a minute, I’ll go off and do the washing up. Then I’ll see about an early night. I might be able to manage one today.

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Friday 5th August 2016 – WELL, THAT DIDN’T WORK OUT …

… quite as planned.

Despite going to bed early last night, it was long after 01:30 when I finally went to sleep. I’m not quite sure why, unless it was something to do with the way that I crashed out yesterday afternoon.

But when I did go off to sleep, I was gone completely. I remember the 07:00 cacophony but did I care? Did I heck. It was 09:30 when I finally crawled out of my stinking pit and staggered off upstairs for breakfast.

Not only that, I’d been on my travels too. It concerned National Service and, even at 11 years old, we were being tested as to our various aptitudes to see where we would fit in when we were called up to do our 6 months’ service at 18 years of age. I seemed to be doing okay with the engineering and mechanical aspects, which was highly unlikely when I really was 11 years old all those years ago.

And so this morning, I managed to make it to the Asiatic supermarket on the corner for my baguette. No point in going any farther seeing as how I didn’t need anything else, and to be on the safe side I took just enough money with me for the bread and nothing else. I need to watch my spending.

And so apart from making my butty, I did nothing else at all today. This morning I had a good relax and this afternoon I had a play around with my 3D program seeing as how I haven’t done anything with it for several weeks.

I know that I should have gone off to the hospital to rescue the food but I wanted to take it easy today and have a day without crashing out. And it worked too – I managed to go the whole day without falling asleep and that’s something to celebrate.

Now, I’m going to have my tea. I have some of the kidney bean stuff left over from yesterday and that will be polished off. Then, I’m planning on having another early night. But will I have one? We’ll have to see about that.

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Thursday 4th August 2016 – BACK IN MY LITTLE ROOM …

… I had a reasonably comfortable day.

I managed without any tea when I returned last night although I polished off a packet of Alison’s crisps. And then I was in bed reasonably early afterwards.

And comfortable the bed is too. I only had to leave it once, and I was well away for most of the night. 06:50 was when I eventually saw the light of day – which makes a change not to be awoken by the cacophony of bells across the road. It really was a pleasant, comfortable sleep.

There was no rush for breakfast. It was about 08:00 when I finally made it into the kitchen, having had a nice relaxing lie-in. And then you can guess what I did for the rest of the morning. That’s right – absolutely badger all. I didn’t do a tap and quite right too. I made the most of my comfortable chair here and that was that.

At about 13:00 I nudged myself into action and headed into town seeing as how there’s not a lot of food in
the place, and nothing whatever for lunch. I spent about €11:00 in the Delhaize stocking up and then €14:00 in the newsagents because my bus ticket is running out. Here in Leuven you can buy a 10-trip ticket for €14:00 – each ticket gives you up to one hours worth of travel on the De Lijn buses with as many connections as you care to make. It’s really good value.

After lunch, I had a chat with Liz and with someone else and then I … errr … went off with the fairies for a couple of hours. I’d had quite a brisk walk into town and back, the first time that I’ve been anywhere quite like that for a few weeks and it took it right out of me. I was absolutely stark out too, and for a couple of hours – you could have had an earthquake or something and nothing would have awoken me. I went off on my travels too during this particular period but you are probably eating your meal or something and I don’t want to put you off.

Despite my little sleep, I still wasn’t feeling up to much after I awoke, but I forced myself to go and make tea. Kidney beans, olives, mixed veg and boulghour, with pasta and tomato sauce. And there’s enough for tomorrow too. It’s the best that I could do without making too much effort. And it was then that I realised that I’d left behind in the hospital fridge the food that Alison had bought me. I’ll have to nip back for that tomorrow before someone else liberates it.

So now I’m going to have an early night and watch a film. I deserve a good relax tonight. And even though this place isn’t ideal by any means, it’s nice to be back. I missed my little room.

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