Tag Archives: bad night

Thursday 8th September 2016 – THAT WASN’T VERY GOOD

Not very long at all after I went to bed last night, I was off into the Land of Nod. But I didn’t stay there too long. About half an hour later I was awake again and that’s how I stayed for most of the night – to such an extent that I actually spent most of the night working on the laptop.

There are probably a few reasons why I had trouble sleeping, but one of them is that I have once more picked up a heavy cold and streaming nose and this is just so uncomfortable for me. It’s really pretty dismal just how easily I can catch this stuff.

Rachel and I had breakfast together and that gave us the opportunity to have a really good chat about this and that. So much so in fact that she ended up being late for work.

As for me, I stayed on here. After all of my exertions these last few days I wasn’t feeling up to all that much, particularly meeting people, and anyway I had had a bad night as you know. I had plenty of stuff to do too.

It took me all morning to catch up with what needed to be done (I wasn’t in much of a rush) and then it was a question of organising lunch. I had some vegan cheese in Strider and so I went down to look for it. I found it, but I also found something else that didn’t make me very happy – namely that a mouse had found its way into my living quarters in the back.

And so that’s tomorrow’s job, isn’t it? Emptying out the rear of Strider and clearing up the mess. I’m not looking forward to that one little bit.

One thing that I didn’t manage to find – and for ages too no matter how hard I looked for it – was the coffee. It wasn’t until late afternoon that I managed to track that down.

But in the meantime, I’d been chatting with Rhys on the phone. He’s passed his school bus driving test in South Carolina today, which is excellent news, and is now off for his Commercial Driving Licence next. So well-done to Rhys.

It goes without saying that I couldn’t keep this up all day. By mid-afternoon I was stark out – and properly out too because when Darren came home from work he popped in to see how I was doing, and I didn’t notice a thing – and that’s not like me at all.

I wasn’t alone either. I had Cujo the Killer Cat to keep me company. She was curled up on the bed right next to me when I awoke – clearly I’m warmer than the windowsill in the living room.

Rachel cooked a lovely tea this evening – a big dish of mixed vegetables soaked in olive oil and done in the microwave for 15 minutes. It was totally delicious. I’ll have to remember this.

I didn’t stay up for long after tea. My bad night was catching me up and so I came down here to my little room and went to bed. This streaming nose is still getting me down in more ways than one.

But i hope that I can have a better night tonight.

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Thursday 1st September 2016 – I CRASHED OUT …

… good and proper this afternoon. And I was miles away too. It’s not very often that I can crash out quite like this.

Mind you, I had good reason. I’d had a bad night, being still awake long after 02:30. And although the 07:00 cacophony rattled me into some kind of wakefulness, it was the clatter outside the door at 07:30, caused by a young family preparing to leave, that brought me to my feet.

I staggered off for breakfast, and then I had a few things to do here. I made a good start with the tidying-up and the throwing-away and while there’s tons still to go at, it’s nice to have some of it under my belt.

Once I’d organised that, it was off to town and the shops. At the Delhaize I bought the butty stuff for the next few days and then I wandered off to the Wibra for some more of those plastic boxes that I mentioned the other day. I want to have some new stuff to replace the plastic boxes that I’ve had back home since 2006 and which are falling to bits.

Lunch was next, and I made the usual baguette. And when I’d demolished that, it was next to the launderette to wash all of my clothes. It’s important to bring all of that up-to-date too.

Once I’d organised that, it was down to Caliburn to see if the bank account details of the owner of the garage had appeared. And quite rightly so – there they were. And so I toddled off to the bank around the corner, only to find that it’s only opened in the morning. So that’s another job to do tomorrow.

But it wasn’t ‘arf ‘ot, mum, and with having done all of that at (for me these days) break-neck pace it’s hardly surprising that I crashed out here as soon as I returned.

But that’s not all either. My voyage at the weekend is complicated by a document that I need – it’s not a document that will stop me travelling but it will limit my activities when I arrive. And so I had to go off on a major on-line search and this resulted in my sending out about 15 e-mails.

This seems to be becoming a regular event – sending out a major mail-shot – and you all know the results of these because I’ve complained bitterly about the (lack of) response in the past. But today, I’ve had a response rate of well over 50% – some in the negative (but it was nice all the same), some offering suggestions, and a few being extremely positive. Isn’t that a nice change? And so it looks as if a part of my voyage, which I was planning on abandoning, might well be back on and that’s good news.

So now I’ve had my tea and I’m planning on having an early night. I have much to do tomorrow and not much time to do it either. I’ll have to put my skates on.

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Wednesday 31st August 2016 – FATE HAS A VERY STRANGE HABIT …

… of dealing with its own issues without very much input from oneself, no matter how hard one might try to interfere with things. And in the end, one quickly discovers that one didn’t even need to interfere at all.

And so it is with my accommodation, because the situation has resolved itself without any input from me, no matter how hard I tried.

I was told this morning that I can leave the hospital today. My blood count is back up (and over) to 12.2 – the highest that it has ever been, and there was no infection in my blood. And when do I come back? The answer is – 13th October – in 6 weeks time in fact. And then I’ll be required to check in every 6 months or so. Consequently there is no need at all for me to stay in Leuven and I can go back home.

Except that I am not going home at all. I have a cunning plan, and it certainly does not involve Belgium.

I had a bad night at the hospital, but then, that’s only to be expected. I always have bad nights at the hospital. I didn’t get off to sleep until about 01:30 and I was wide awake again by 05:30, tucking into a nectarine and a banana, followed by a coffee.

A blood sample followed (I didn’t mention the fruit), and then breakfast, and then we had the endless stream of visitors. And this was when the news was given to me about leaving.

Having had my lunch (I’m not going to miss out on this) I set off for home, remembering half-way down the hill that I had forgotten my vegan cheese in the hospital fridge. And when I arrived here, I had a phone call – could I go back to the hospital and allow them to take out my catheter? Yes, who forgot to have it taken out then?

So back up the hill to the hospital, remembering on the way that I had to collect my vegan cheese from the fridge. Sophie, my third-favourite nurse was there and she took it out without even a wince. The best one that I’ve ever had. Then downstairs and bumped into Evie who was going home, and we had a long chat.

From there, I walked back home, remembering half-way down the hill that I had forgotten my vegan cheese in the hospital fridge YET AGAIN.

Back here, I put things in motion and as a result I’m leaving here on Saturday afternoon, and leaving for goog too, 12 days before my time is up. And where I’m going on the train, you’ll all find out in due course. But it’s not back home to Virlet.

I’ve had my tea – mushroom curry – and now I’m having an early night. I have so much to do now for the next few days.

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Saturday 27th August 2016 – I AM NOT ALONE!

There I was this morning, having another major coughing fit, when there was a knock on the door. it was one of my co-residents, asking me if I was OK or if I needed any help or anything. I explained the situation to her and she went away, but it really was nice that there are people who are concerned about me and my health.

But that was merely summing up my night last night, where I had difficulty sleeping due to my incessant coughing fits. But I went on one of my nocturnal rambles – something concerning the Dragnet radio programmes which I’ve been listening to since I downloaded the entire 7 years-worth of programmes from Archive.org along with a pile of other stuff.

The alarm woke me up this morning, which was a surprise, meaning that I must have slept through the 07:00 cacophony. And I struggled to eat breakfast too – so I’m definitely sickening for something. It was disappointing too because we had another loaf of that excellent bread. What a shame to miss out on it.

The heat was oppressive today – probably the hottest day of the year. After my nice relaxing morning doing not very much, I went up into town for shopping. Apart from the baguette and the lettuce from Delhaize, I pushed on to Wibra, near the railway station.

That’s something of an upmarket Dollar Store or Pound Shop, and when I was in there the other day I noticed that they had an excellent line of plastic containers and very democratic prices. I picked up a few – two large ones for my rice and pasta, and a smaller pouring container for the boulghour. And i’ll be back there for half a dozen others too because the ones that I have at home have seen better days.

I struck it lucky too while I was out. There are several of these ice-cream stalls in the city and one of them sells dairy-free sorbets. And so I was really in my element here. It’s high time that I treated myself.

After lunch, I crashed out for quite a while. It was far too hot to do anything else. And once it cooled down I washed and dried the containers and then sorted out the food in here. The place looks quite tidy now, which is a surprise for anyone who knows me.

Tea was rice with a tinned vegetable curry and garlic bread. The supermarket here sells these half-cooked half-baguettes at just €0:39 for two and while they don’t come out as nicely as the more expensive ones, it was still delicious. The smell was enough to entice one of my co-habitants into the kitchen.

Now I’m off for another cold shower and then I’m off to bed. Not that it will do much good in this heat.

and I’ve had no news yet about the studio.

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Thursday 25th August 2016 – I HAD ANOTHER BAD NIGHT …

… where it took me hours to drop off to sleep. Mind you, the heat had something to do with that, I reckon. It really was stifling in here with the window closed.

And when I did drop off, it wasn’t for long and I kept on waking up all through the night with terrible coughing fits and I was feeling so uncomfortable. But I was definitely asleep when the 07:00 cacophony went off because that awoke me bolt upright. Mind you, waking up is one thing – leaving the bed was quite another.

When I eventually finished my breakfast, I came back up here and had a relaxing morning, which I deserved after my efforts of the other day. But I was out of the place at 11:00 tracking down some more accommodation. One estate agent was closed and another one didn’t have anything for me (and wasn’t all that interested either).

However, I did finally find the office of that student accommodation place – the one that was closed on Saturday – and when I explained my circumstances to them they didn’t throw me out but were content to have a listen to my story. They took my e-mail address anyway, and I suppose that this is something.

The Carrefour supermarket on the ring road by the football ground was next and on the way back home afterwards I found a few more places. One of them will consider me as a tenant and so I have to go to see the place tomorrow at 11:00. This is another one nearer the hospital so I hope that it comes up good.

After lunch I tried to take it easy but the cleaner came around to do the room – after a two-week absence. Now I have clean sheets and I’ll be taking a shower later so that I can have a nice clean me too.

Tea tonight was pasta, kidney beans and veg cooked with garlic fried in soya margarine and with boulghour and spicy tomato sauce added too. It was delicious too, and there’s enough for tomorrow too!

And so I’ll have an early night but I don’t imagine that I’ll be getting much sleep in this heat. But I shouldn’t be complaining – we haven’t had much weather like this so far this year.

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Wednesday 24th August 2016 – WHAT A DUMP!

I finally managed to see that studio round the corner from here. It’s a converted factory situated behind a row of houses in the Tervuurestraat. This was my most hopeful possibility seeing as it’s close to here and even closer to the hospital. It’s quite secluded too, and quite private.

The conversion has been very well done and looks quite impressive too, and it wasn’t too dear. But all of ly illusions were shattered as soon as I entered the place. Apart from the place being used as a furniture dump, there was a great deal of evidence of damp on the ceiling that had been painted over – although the stains were coming through again. The estate agent denied that it was a water leak, but as soon as I opened the cupboard door, there was no mistake. All of the wallpaper was peeling off the wall in there.

The result of all of this was that I tuned on my heel and walked away. There was no way that I could possibly live in a place like that.

Earlier in the afternoon I’d been to see another place. That wasn’t too bad and the rent was reasonable, but the service charge was absolutely extortionate. I’ve been quoted figures of between €30 and €50 per month for that. This guy wanted €120. As well as that, the previous tenants were smokers and the place was totally unhealthy. And so I walked away from there too.

But last night I suffered from my exertions during the day. I couldn’t sleep for ages – chatting to Liz on the internet through the small hours. And when I did fall asleep and awoke in the middle of the night, I felt so dreadful that I thought that I was going to have another round of serious health issues.

In the morning, I wasn’t feeling much better and only managed a light breakfast. I couldn’t even drink the coffee. And apart from going out to the supermarket on the corner for my baguette I had a very quiet morning. I arranged this appointment for the expensive place, and I made other enquiries too, being turned down on “student” reasons.

I didn’t even eat all of my lunch, spending most of the afternoon crashed out, setting the alarms for the visits that I had to make. And for tea, I finished off the lunchtime butties.

Yes, I’m clearly not well again, although much better than I was the last time that I had serious health issues. I suppose that I shall simply have to stop pretending that I’m in good health, and make more of an effort to adapt to a new lifestyle, no matter how much I might hate the idea.

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Monday 22nd August 2016 – AND WASN’T THAT A WASTE OF TIME?

I managed to arrange two appointments this afternoon for visiting apartments. The first one was at 14:30 down the Kapicijnenvoer and I was there on time. The guy turned up, took one look at me and asked “are you a student?”
“Not at all” I replied
“I only let to students” he replied, returning to his car.
And yet nowhere on his advert was this mentioned and so I had “a few words” with him about him wasting my time.

At 16:00 I had an appointment with an estate agent at a studio not too far from here. And I was on time there too. 10 minutes later I had a ‘phone call. “I’m sorry, Mr X has had something urgent come up. Can he arrange another appointment with you?”
And so I had a few words with them too about wasting my time.

Mind you, it’s true that there’s not a lot of money to be earned from the letting of a studio. There’s much more money to be earned from letting or selling a house, so it’s not surprising that I’ve fallen to the bottom of the queue. But you can see what I mean about Belgium.

I was in a bad humour too. I was still awake last night at 01:35. And for no good reason either – it wasn’t as if my new co-habitant disturbed me any. I just couldn’t drop off.

But when I did finally drop off, I did set off on a few travels. First thing was something to do with a court case and I was cross-examining witnesses. Some barrister came up to me afterwards and offered me a place in his chambers – an offer that was quite interesting (and which rings a bell from an event that took place 25 years ago) but not one that I could take up properly due to the financial constraints that it called for during the period of training. A little later there was a scene where I was with a woman and we were doing something for a young boy who had come off the rails somehow.

The 07:00 cacophony awoke me, and it was quite an impressive one this morning. Once I’d gathered my wits (which doesn’t take long these days) I went off for breakfast. And as I was parting, I was joined by my neighbour. I exchanged a few words of greeting – he said nothing at all – and then I came back down here for a little doze.

The owner of the property came round this morning and we had a few words about this and that. And now the internet is back working again (but for how long I really have no idea) and a couple of essential repairs have been done to the property too. But as for this thing about cleaning – it’s been 11 days since I’ve seen the cleaner and my bedding is starting to smell as badly as I do.

My baguette for lunch was excellent even though it came from the supermarket on the corner and then in between making unsuccessful visits to various properties I’ve been catching up on a few things here and there.

That tinned curry that I bought the other night – it was certainly different but absolutely excellent and I enjoyed my tea. Not being particularly hungry, I didn’t make any garlic bread so I’ll have to attack that in very early course. I wonder what I can eat it with tomorrow. A tin of ratatouille maybe?

But in other bad news, this cold has now developed into a streaming head cold and the cough has now settled properly on my chest. This is not the news that I wanted to hear, remembering my unexpected 10-day incarceration in the hospital last time this happened when I was only supposed to be in there for a couple of hours.How I’m getting fed up of all of this.

So tomorrow, I’m back house-hunting again. I’m getting fed up of all of this too!

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Saturday 20th August 2016 – WE ARE BACK …

… in the realms of uncertain sleep – not that will be too much of a surprise for anyone. And that’s despite my having been for a nice walk in the afternoon too.

And so last night I was still awake at midnight, and I forget how many times I had to leave my stinking pit during the night but I reckon that it must have been a new world record. That’s enough to fill anyone with a load of dismay before you start.

But it didn’t stop me from going on a nocturnal ramble or two during the night. Apart from the odd one or two travels that would be of no interest to you while you are eating your breakfast, one one occasion I was out driving with a girl as my passenger. We were visiting various rural areas and in the distance further down the road we noticed a hump-backed bridge that could well have been a railway or canal bridge. It rang a bell with me, this bridge, and I expected to see a rather dramatic northern French town just over the bridge. And so I keyed up my passenger for the view, but once we passed over the bridge I was disappointed to notice that firstly, the bridge took us over an abandoned, weed-infested canal and there was an abandoned, weed-infested marina type of place to the right, and the town that I expected to see was non-existent and the view was quite banal. It was here that, at a road junction, we fell in with another delivery vehicle similar to the one that made an appearance the other night. And as well as delivering parcels, he had some letters to post, as well as having some gas bottles on board his vehicle.

Once I was half-awake, I was in the kitchen early for breakfast, and in fact I made a couple of trips, because the bread that was there this morning was the best that we have ever had. I had a bit of a doze and then headed off to the launderette.

I wasn’t there long. I checked my mails and the like, and had a good chat with Liz, and then headed off to Caliburn. Once we were reunited we set off for Kessel-Lo and the Bio Planet place. As well as the wholemeal baguette and the nibbles that are always on offer, I picked up some vegan cheese. They had a new variety of sliced cheese – one that I haven’t tried before – and so I bought the only packet of that which was left.

Round the corner and LIDL, I stocked up with a few other bits and pieces, and then over the road to the Carrefour for the rest of the shopping. A big pile of stuff, but nothing exciting except, maybe, a bag of sweets to suck on through the week.

There was an advert that had caught my eye a few days earlier. About a student accommodation agency in fact, and it was advertising open days between 10:00 and 17:00 every Saturday from May to September. Accordingly, I went round there on my way back from Kessel-Lo and, sure enough, it was all locked up and there was no-one there. Of course, this is Belgium, isn’t it? It’s the kind of thing that you can understand in France – the best-laid plans of mice and men oft go gang agley when the cow gets loose or the boulanger calls and if you don’t expect that sort of thing then living in rural France is clearly not for you, but there’s no reason for this kind of behaviour in Belgium, which is supposed to be much more cosmopolitan.

After lunch, I had a quick shave and shower because Alison was in town. We met up and went for a coffee and a good chat before her bus took her home. I picked up a tin of exotic curry stuff for tea but I wasn’t really all that hungry. Instead, I went back to the launderette to check the mail and had another chat with Liz.

But I have had a reply to one of my enquiries. One place was advertising studios “from £750 per month” and so I had enquired. Of course, £1350 per month is quite clearly “from £750”, but I only wanted to rent a room, not buy the building. I’m clearly going nowhere here.

And so now I’m going to have yet another early night. Tomorrow is, of course, another day and we’ll see what tomorrow might bring.

I hope that it’s more positive than today because all of this is starting to get me down.

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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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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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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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Sunday 10th July 2016 – I CAN’T BELIEVE THAT I’VE JUST DONE THIS!

Well, actually, yes I can because, believe me, this is par for the course as you all know.

I’m on the move tomorrow and so I need my passport which is in Caliburn up at the hospital. And so this evening at about 18:30 I set off in the early evening heat (because it was hot) up to the hospital to undertake this simple task.

It didn’t take me too long to arrive there, and I passed through the hospital to the back door to the Car Park where Caliburn is parked. And this was where I discovered that the door was locked.

From here, I must have spent about an hour or so walking through the bowels of the hospital looking for another way out (and what was quite interesting was that I spent all of this time in a “restricted” area and I wasn’t accosted once) and eventually, after much binding in the marsh, to find a way out. This involved something of an escalade, but never mind. I had (eventually) arrived.

First job was to start up Caliburn and take him for a little run around so that he doesn’t seize up. And then I tidied him up somewhat, found a tote bag that I need to go with me tomorrow, threw a pile of tinned food and other stuff into the tote bag, and eventually set off home.

On the way back I stopped off at the pizza place for a pizza (I had the sliced vegan cheese with me) and took it back to my new little room where I sat and ate it. And this was where I realised that I had forgotten the passport, which is still in Calburn!

D’ohhh!

And so tomorrow, instead of having a lie-in to gather my wits (not that there are so many that it takes me very long) I’ll be having an early breakfast and then staggering back to the hospital for the passport.

I hope that the back door will be open!

Yes – new little room. i’m back at the ranch again.

Last night in yonder house by the station I had a night that was not so good. It’s true that the kids were quite noisy for a while but the bad night was more to do with me than anything else. No breakfast of course, and so I had a (beautiful) shower and then set out to walk back to my place. I’d been on my travels too during the night but I’ve no idea where or who with.

It was a lovely morning and I discovered bits of Leuven that I didn’t know existed. I was also impressed by the total absence of littler on the streets, especially considering that the music festival is taking place. I stopped off at the boulangerie to buy a baguette for lunch and then finally arrived chez moi where I helped myself to breakfast. I consider that i’m entitled to it.

My room wasn’t ready so I sat outside on a chair and read a book for the rest of the morning, and ate my lunchtime butty while I was at it. 14:00 more-or-less was when my room was finished and so I nipped inside and closed the door.

It’s right on the ground floor right next to the door so I imagine that I’ll be awoken every five minutes by people coming and going, but it’s en-suite with the weirdest bathroom that I have ever seen. But on the whole, it’s not too bad. I even crashed out for an hour or so – the armchair there is extremely comfortable.

And then we had the performance with the passport, or lack thereof.

Now, I’m fed and watered (the pizza was lovely) and I’m off to be. I have a lot to do tomorrow and so I need to be at my best.

Not to mention this early start.

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Saturday 9th July 2016 – WHAT A LOVELY SURPRISE!

Yes, there I was, at 10:30 busily packing up everything ready to move and the phone rang. “Eric – fancy a coffee in about an hour?”

Hans is on his way back to the UK and because of the enormous roadworks on the Autobahn, he had set out at something of a silly time of night. And as a consequence of this, he had fahrn’d fahrn’d fahrn’d up the Autobahn without a single interruption at all and was about three hours ahead of schedule.

As a result, we went and had a coffee and then went off for an Indian meal at that little place that I know. You know – the one where the curry comes in three strengths viz “hot”, “bloody hell!” and “Jesus Christ!”.

Yes, what an unexpected pleasure to meet up with an old friend like that. I was only saying to Alison the other night that I had lived in France since 2006, and here in Leuven since the end of March, and I’ve had more visits in Leuven than I ever had in France!

Last night was a messy night. I could hardly sleep with this head-cold and I made endless trips down the corridor. But the upshot of that was that this morning, my legs were nothing like as swollen as during the previous couple of weeks.

I had been on my travels too – that I do know – but I’ve no idea where it was that I went to.

It was at about 06:20 when I was finally awake, and I had finished breakfast long before the alarm went off. Then I had a leisurely tidy up in my room. That is all packed up and in the storeroom there except for my overnight bag which I have with me.

The taxi that was booked at 13:30 turned up at … errr … 14:15 and so off I went to the new digs. It turns out that it’s a room in someone else’s house and she has a couple of noisy kids so I’m not too sure about this. But the room is beautiful, with a lovely en-suite bathroom and I have a little terrace outside, so all in all, I’m not complaining.

Once I’d installed myself, I set off for the railway station and purchased my rail ticket to Chateauroux for Monday. I’ve only passed through the town before and I’m not going to be there for long so i’ve no idea what to expect.

Seeing as how it was a beautiful afternoon (the first one that we’ve had) I went for a walk around the station area. There are a few student-type eateries around here too including a falafel outlet. For tea tonight, they served up a falafel and salad butty with chips for all of €4:00 and who can complain at that?

So now I’m going to have an early night and try out my new bed for comfort. I hope that it’s as nice as it looks. But the downside of being here is that breakfast is not included in the price. So that means an early start and a hike across town to the hotel. I’ll be staying there from now on anyway and so I feel entitled to claim my breakfast there.

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Thursday 7th July 2016 – IT WAS 06:20 ..

… when I was awoken this morning, but that’s being just a little economical with the truth as I had quite a bad night last night. I hadn’t been feeling so good for much of the day – probably a delayed reaction to my medical treatment – and last night I was having the most excruciating stomach cramps. I found it very hard to drop off to sleep, and when I did, I was awoken with a horrible stabbing pain. And that’s how I’ve been for much of the morning too, although it did ease off round about lunchtime.

Nothing however had prevented me from going on another nocturnal ramble. This time though, we’ll turn our attention back to the late 1920s. Not many people know this of course but Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret had a younger brother. However he was something like Prince John, kept out of public life because of his behaviour (although this is, I admit, being rather unkind to Prince John in real life) and young ladies, mainly of the serving classes, were sent to “entertain” him. And I was the “product” of one of these irregular unions. This gave me unrivalled power on the back stairs of Court and I was regularly being approached by The Powers That Be to handle situations that required delicacy and discretion but with which the official Royal Family did not wish to become involved. Yes, it certainly was quite exciting, that’s for sure.

I had an early breakfast – finished long before the alarm went off, and then I tried to do a few things here and there but ended up crashing out for an hour or so. I managed a walk to the shops too and stocked up with lunch items, seeing as how I’ve run right out.

This afternoon I haven’t done too much because I’m still not feeling 100% right now. Although I had a lengthy chat with Liz this afternoon, as well as crashing out yet again. But I managed a shower, a shave, clean clothes and the like as well as doing some tidying up, for I’ve been out gallivanting with Alison tonight and we put the world to rights for hours.

Now I’m back home, feeling a little better than I did last night, and I won’t be awake for long. I’m off to bed.

But in other news, the B Liar says that the World is a better place because of the Iraq War. You try telling that to the hundreds of thousands of civilians who have been massacred this last few years, including the hundreds who have been killed this last couple of days. How can anyone believe anything that this monster is telling us? If he has anything to say, he should save it for his War Crimes trial, although the way the British Establishment is, he’ll never make it to the Hague.

And in yet more news, hats off to Connahs Quay Nomads of the Welsh Premier League, who beat Stabaek tonight in Norway in order to progress to the Second Round of the Europa League.

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