Tag Archives: crash out

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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Tuesday 23rd August 2016 – PHEW! I’M WHACKED!

I’ve been on my feet all afternoon and tramped all the way around Leuven. And on the hottest day of the year so far too!

And it hasn’t been without its incidents too – some of them good, some of them bad.

The bad incidents concern the attitudes of various estate agents who, in many case, quite frankly couldn’t care less about potential clients and make no effort to give any assistance to anyone calling at the door.

Not only that, I doorstepped the Tourist Information Office about potential holiday lets lying vacant over the winter that might be let out profitably on a mid-term basis. But to give you some idea of what I’m up against here in Belgium, this was met with an outraged “but that’s illegal!” And so you see – trying to do something out of the ordinary here in Belgium is a waste of time.

But there has been some good, positive news. And it’s been a long time since I’ve had any, isn’t it?

Firstly, I found some information about a couple of flat-hotels in the city. And so I went off on the prowl. The first one was right out of town on the road to Kessel-Lo (you can see how far I walked), and the second one was, quite appropriately, right next door to the Nick, so I won’t have far to go when they find out about me.

The first one was the cheaper of the two. It looked rather like a barracks and the rooms were rather spartan, but it had everything that I would be likely to need. The second was in a much more beautiful setting and I really liked the look of the place, but this too was rather spartanly-finished and I could smell the damp. However, the price worked out at less than I’m paying here, and that’s with all of my own facilities. Consequently, we are starting to pull ahead a little (and about time too).

But I turned up trumps in another estate agent’s that I discovered by accident. The guy there downed tools and took me round the corner to show me a studio. On the third floor (with a lift) of a small building in the pedestrianised street between the city centre and the railway station was a small (and I do mean small) furnished studio – nice and clean with a wooden floor and with modern furniture. It’s basic I suppose but it’s there and while I don’t like the situation much, I’ve learned that I can’t afford to be choosy.

Another possibility is a flat by the seaside and some estate agent in Oostende has come up with something too. This was a long shot – something round about Plan Z I reckon – but once more it’s an option.

And so I’ll keep on trucking, but I’ll see what this place is like tomorrow afternoon. If it muts the custard, I’ll be taking that one seeing as how it’s situated near to the hospital. But if it’s no good, I’ll be going for the one in the town I reckon.

It was a long way back tonight and I was thoroughly exhausted. And soaked in sweat too. after a coffee and a little doze I went and had a shower and a change of clothes.

Tea was quite exciting too, especially after I dropped almost all a bottle of hot spicy tomato sauce into my pasta tonight. And the garlic bread was delicious too.

And I wish that these Flemish girls would stop wearing these skimpy skin-tight shorts in this hot weather. It isn’t ‘arf interfering with my breathing.

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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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Friday 19th August 2016 – I’M FED UP OF THIS!

I managed to doze off quite early last night, but I wasn’t asleep for long. My co-habitants came back shortly afterwards and we had the usual round of “good-nights” that awoke everyone in the building, and probably in the next street too. From then on, it was a tale of regular up-and-downs during the night. Three or four times, I can’t remember now.

I was also on the espionage trail at various times during the night. This place here featured in my nocturnal voyages at one time, as did one or two members of my family. However, I can’t remember much in the way of detail now.

After breakfast, I didn’t feel up to much and sat around vegetating for a while. About an hour in fact, and I was well away with the fairies too for a short while. I must really have needed it. but by about 09:15 I was down at the launderette again.

Apart from the usual stuff, I spent quite a while tracking down accommodation. I have quite a few addresses that I’ve discovered, and already sent out a few enquiries. And by the time that I was back in the launderette I’d already had a few responses. One invitation to visit, that I’ll be following up of course, and several requests for further information. Already, I’ve had more responses that I’d had earlier in the summer. Nothing concrete though, unfortunately, but while there’s life, there’s hope.

After lunch, I went for a walk. Down to the Aldi to see what was going on, and the short answer was “nothing”. I pushed on to the Carrefour near the Stade Den Dreef – the football ground – and picked up one or two things that I might need.

On the way back, I stopped off to check on Caliburn and ran his engine for a good few minutes. I sorted out a few things that I needed (but forgot my hair clippers) and then had a nice walk back.

It will be no surprise to anyone to learn that once I arrived back here, I crashed out for a good hour. Well away too. But a coffee soon revived me and then I did some work. I discovered some notes that I had made of a journey that I had made through France in May 2014 so I made up a web page and started to link the photos in with the text. That will keep me out of mischief for quite a while once I can set up a reliable internet connection, which doesn’t look as if it is going to be any time soon. The manager has been in here this evening, and done nothing about fixing it so that looks as if it is that.

For tea tonight I had pasta, a tin of ratatouille, green flageolet beans and garlic fried in soya margarine. That’s filled me up quite nicely and now I’m ready for anything.

Tomorrow I might go out for a drive. It’s been ages since I’ve set foot out into the suburbs so it looks as if a mega-shopping visit is on the cards for tomorrow.

And I’m sure that regular readers of this rubbish will agree. I really ought to get out more.

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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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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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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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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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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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Tuesday 2nd August 2016 – I’VE HAD …

… my mapthera this morning.

But never mind that for a moment – it’ll come as no surprise for you to learn that I had the usual night last night – awake and down the corridor every two hours or so, including disturbing my room-mate in the bathroom at 06:00.

But after that, I was stark out and the nurse had to jump through all kinds of hoops to wake me for a blood test at 08:40. It was quite a job for her. And then after that, I had breakfast.

The plan after breakfast was to crash out yet again, but it didn’t quite work out like that. Just as I was settling down, they came round with the initial perfusion and a pile of pills for an antidote or whatever they are for. Once I was hooked up to that lot, I tried to settle down a second time, but then the doctor came round for a chat.

She told me that the blood test had shown that I could take the mapthera (which I had already worked out for myself) but that I’d have to stay in until at least tomorrow while they check up for side-effects. And so I’m stuck in here for yet another day now and that’s really getting on my wick now. I want to go home.

But something that the doctor said has dismayed me more than just a little.

“It must be dreadful for you living in this hospital with an environment like you’re in and with none of your personal possessions around you”.
“It does rather, but it’s impractical for me to commute back and to to France as things stand” I replied
“So have you considered moving to Belgium?”

And so it looks as if they think that I’ll be here for quite a while needing regular attention and follow-ups. This is the worst news possible as far as I’m concerned. I really didn’t want to hear this.

They fetched me the wrong meal for lunch and tea today but I still managed to eat a healthy meal both times. But my appetite seems to be back as I’m starving right now and I’ve been nibbling away at all kinds of stuff that I’ve had stored here and my room-mate is starting to look quite appetising.

And so apart from crashing out for an hour this afternoon, I’ve not done anything very much. This mapthera takes it out of me a bit but I don’t seem to have any side effects right now except dying to go to the bathroom – but then they did give me something for that this morning to try to reduce the water on my legs.

But I do hope that I can leave here tomorrow. I’m fed up.

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Sunday 31st July 2016 – I HAVE DONE SOMETHING …

… totally and utterly decadent today.

That’s right – after breakfast, I went back to bed. And there I slept until they brought the lunch around and awoke me. It’s a long time since I’ve done anything quite like that, but ask me if I care.

Mind you, I had a different kind of night last night. What I mean by that is that I didn’t go to sleep for ages and ages. It was certainly long-after 01:30 because I was still awake then. And then I had a restless night as usual, up and down on several occasions.

I was on my travels too – back in France at a building that I had converted into apartments and one of the tenants was being difficult. Someone else there knew him and remembered him being difficult at the last place where he was living.

I struggled awake all on my own at about 07:40 without the help of the nurse, but I wasn’t awake for long. Just long enough to stuff my breakfast down my throat.

After lunch, I did absolutely … err … badger all, just talking to a couple of people on the internet. I did manage a trip to the shower at about 16:20 – a good wash and brush up and a change of undies did me the world of good and I’m now ready for anything, even a visit this evening from Alison who brought me a packet of rice crackers. That was really nice of her.

It’s a long time since I’ve had such a leisurely Sunday and I reckon that it did me the world of good. The only issue now is whether or not I can go back to sleep this evening or will I still be awake like last night, long after midnight.

But with a bit of luck, this will be my last night there, if I don’t have a bad reaction to the Mapthera tomorrow. I’m on my own yet again tonight, so I ought to make the most of it.

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Saturday 30th July 2016 – MORE OF THE SAME.

That’s the best way to describe last night. Almost exactly the same as every other night just recently – going to sleep quite late and being interrupted on regular occasions through the night. But at least I didn’t have to lie half-asleep listening to a room-mate snoring or talking to himself in his sleep. I enjoyed being on my own.

As usual, the best part of the sleep that I had was the bit between 06:00 and being awoken by the nurse at 07:40. I really was in a tremendously deep sleep just then and she had quite a task to wake me up.

And no surprise either. I’ve talked quite often about a girl whom I call “the one that got away” and she once more featured quite prominently in my little nocturnal ramble last night. And she didn’t get away last night – ohhh no, not ‘arf she didn’t! What was even more interesting is that I had to leave my bed to go to walk the parapet somewhere during the middle of this ramble, and when I returned to bed and went back to sleep, I found that I had stepped back right into the very position from where I had stepped out. This is something that’s happened to me quite a few times now – it’s not such a rare occurrence as you might think.

The irony of all of this is that after I had had breakfast, I switched on the laptop to find that I had been left a message by the afore-mentioned, and right almost at the time that she was appearing over here during the night. And it was something of a cry for help too. We ended up spending most of the morning having a lengthy chat. It seems that mine isn’t the only subconscious that’s pulling in the waves from 500 miles away. As you ought to know by now, I fully believe in the existence of the transmission and reception of human thought waves and over the years, I’ve had many interesting encounters and first-hand experiences with the phenomenon.

After lunch, I crashed out. And I was away with the fairies for a good couple of hours too. I did manage to awaken in time for tea, which I followed up with some of the strawberries that Alison had brought me the other day. And very delicious they were too.

So now, even though it’s early, I’m going to have an early night. I probably won’t be able to sleep very much but never mind – I can always catch up with my sleep during the day.

Yes, my life is rather upside-down right now, isn’t it?

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