… at the dialysis centre. Things don’t seem to be going any earlier. It’s been ten days that I’ve had this enormous bruise on my left shoulder, together with the pain that accompanies it, and while some people think that things might be improving, then if they are, they are going far too slowly for me to notice it.
And added to that, the pain in my right foot, that slowly subsided over the last day or two, is now back. And in spades too.
But anyway, all of that is for later on. Last night, I tried my best to rush but once more it didn’t work out quite like that. It was after23:00 once more by the time that I finally hauled myself out of my chair and went to sort myself out ready for bed.
Once in bed, though, I remember nothing whatsoever until I awoke at 06:10. With no possibility of going back to sleep and seeing that with it being a Bank Holiday, it was deathly quiet outside, I dictated the replacement radio notes for the ones that I had rejected yesterday.
After I’d sorted myself out in the bathroom and washed some clothes, I went into the kitchen for the medication, and then back in here to listen to the dictaphone. However, there wasn’t anything on it. That’s disappointing, because, as I have said before … "and on many occasions too" – ed … I rely on what goes on during the night to provide me with the only excitement that I seem to have these days.
Instead, I made a start on editing the radio notes that I’d dictated earlier. However, I hadn’t gone very far before Isabelle the Nurse came along to interrupt me.
While she was sorting me out, she told me that she’s ring me on Monday evening to confirm the time that she’ll be round on Tuesday morning. She’d better be here before 08:00 because I shall be hitting the road for Paris round about then.
After she left, I made breakfast and carried on reading MY BOOK. We spent another dozen or so exciting pages discussing the activities in the forest around Rockingham (steering clear of any rude doors of course) and various obligations and rights under all of the charters that relate to the place. Strangely, though, nothing whatsoever about any kind of architecture.
And neither will we now, because we’ve moved on to Old Sarum, discussing the conflicts between the religious leaders and the soldiers that led in the end to the establishment of “modern” Salisbury. And who knows? One day we might begin to talk about the architecture.
Back in here later, I finished off the editing of the radio notes and assembled the programme. And would you believe? I was now forty-two seconds OVER instead of forty-two seconds short as I was yesterday. I’ve no idea what is happening with this
But at least if I’m overrunning, I can always edit out some commentary, although forty-two seconds is a lot to edit out. Nevertheless, with some ruthless editing I managed to bring it down to exactly one hour, so I suppose that I’m happy with this.
There was even time to do a little more of Woodstock before my cleaner came around. She fitted my patches and then I had to wait for the taxi to arrive. It turned up at 13:00, within this forty-five-minute window so I can’t complain and with another passenger already in, and then we set off.
As usual, I was one of the last to arrive and be plugged in, and the bad news was that it had to be a four-hour session today, as you might expect seeing as everything was running late.
It was extremely painful too, and the pain persisted throughout the session. And the pain in the foot came back too. I was in agony throughout the entire period.
They’ve asked me if I would consider changing my hours, and coming on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. Mornings make much more sense to me as they don’t break up the day like the afternoon sessions do. And they told me about a spray-on anaesthetic that I might try.
By the time I returned here, it was 19:10 and I was totally fed up. My cleaner though is in favour of the morning sessions as it won’t cut up her day so badly either, so I’ll tell them on Saturday that I’ll go for it. It’ll cause a problem with a medical appointment on 23rd June but I’ll let them sort that one out.
Tea tonight was a vegan burger with pasta in tomato sauce followed by ginger cake and soya dessert. And this cake really is delicious. I did well with that
So with a little luck, tomorrow I might finish my Woodstock programme provided that I don’t have any interruptions, although of course that’s not guaranteed. But I’ll worry about that tomorrow.
But seeing as we have been talking about conflicts between the military and the religious orders at Old Sarum… "well, one of us has" – ed … it’s a fact that the conflict really did escalate out of control.
Someone once told me that one of the soldiers had been arrested as a result of the confrontation
"What on earth did he do?" I asked.
"He threw a bucket of Domestos over one of the clerics" was the reply
"What was the charge?" I asked, bitterly regretting ten seconds later having done so
"He was charged with Committing a Bleach of the Priest"
