Morning ablutions.....

(Clickable)

One the road again

Today begins phase two of 'The Patients' (from here on in refereed to as 'TP') possible medical treatment.

Phase one, the surgery, has been a resounding success with recovery, albeit far from over, progressing much better than we had dared to hope, phase two begins this evening as I hit the road again to start on the first leg of a 400 mile round trip as 'patient transport services'.

The designated hospital is far from home and for obvious reasons a 'driver' is required, that's me! I may not be much help medically but driving I can do and this time I get a stop over. I am only leaving tonight because tomorrow's appointment is early and we do actually need to get there! The M25 and M40 being what they are, if I attempted the whole journey in one hit we would likely never make it on time!

The appointment is an important one, with the attendant concerns and anxieties, it's the day that should provide us with all the detailed post operative information and where we will learn if any further treatment is required.... and if so then specifically what.

There is an up-side in all situations if you look hard enough, so they tell me.... the up-side to this one?....I get to drive TP's verynicethankyouverymuch car, it being much more comfortable and more importantly, more reliable than my old jallopy!

Fingers and thumbs crossed please if you will, for a positive outcome :o)

Hamster power!

The tale of a hamster, a mobile phone and a turbine!

Perhaps Nutmeg can be of more use than I previously imagined! ;o)

Stitched up!

If you are in any way squeamish or do not appreciate a sick sense of humour can I suggest before you read any further, that you instead click the little red cross at the top right of your browser.

Right, warning issued, I shall proceed with the post, accepting no further responsibility for any offence caused or injury sustained through fainting!


If you aren't familiar with them the picture on the right is of surgical staples. You may or may not recall I posted recently that a member of my immediate family had undergone very major surgery, these staples are just five of a scarily large number removed recently from 'the patient'. I say a scarily large number because the incision required was what is termed a 'roof incision', named as such because it is the shape of an apex roof.....and about the same size in this instance! Running in both directions from just below the sternum to just short of each hip bone in a perfect inverted 'V'. If I were to hazard a guess I would say the combined length is somewhere in the the region of 20-24 inches, hence the horribly large number of staples required to close the wound.

So what are they doing here? Well, the patient decided upon removal of said staples, that the care received by the hospital which carried out the surgery was very deserv'ed of a donation of funds by way of a thank you.... and to 'top up' the donation it would be very amusing to 'sell off' the items in question!

The sale proved to be popular, the entire stock selling out in a day with a child of the family even insisting on having the one's 'with bits on', or she wouldn't buy!

...and those in the picture are mine, bought and paid for in full, though quite what I should do with them next is beyond me! ;o)

Amy plays Glastonbury

So...after all the hype and our outrageously intrusive tabloid press doing their very best to convince us that Amy Winehouse wouldn't make it onto Glastonbury's pyramid stage on Saturday night, she did make it, and quite spectacularly!


Yes, she was maybe slightly flaky here and there and her psychological status was obviously not quite 100% but hell, if most of us could get up there and perform even a fraction of that whilst dealing with her current issues I think we would consider we were doing pretty damn well!!

The press of course preferred to concentrate on the one negative 'incident' in their reporting of the event rather than focusing on either her performance or on the more positive aspect that she found the strength to get up there and belt it out regardless of her difficulties.

I know, there are plenty out there who prefer to see her as 'just another junkie' yada, yada, yada, but look back into musical history and there are more than a few, right through from classical and jazz to rock, who have manage to live life in this lane without significant problems...way back then of course they didn't also have to cope with an entire nations oft times ill informed judgements, courtesy of a press corps. that we should be ashamed of and treat only with the contempt it deserves.

Amy, like her current and past contemporaries might be a phenomenal talent, she might live a lifestyle most of us aren't genuinely familiar with and her behaviour might seem infuriating from time to time but ultimately she is a human being, just like the rest of us. The fact that she has a good income and fame don't change that and they don't preclude her from all the usual human frailties the rest of us expect understanding for.

I for one applaud her purely and simply for making it onto that stage and getting through her set, contrary to what the press would have us believe, that she is just a weak messed up kid, in my opinion what it actually proves of Ms Winehouse is admirable courage and strength!

But this isn't really about Amy Winehouse, it's more concerned with the predeliction of some to seemingly revel in judging others without adequate knowledge and to write individuals off with negative 'one liners' when all too often they have little or no understanding of the many facets of a situation. There is a whole branch of medicine concerned with psychology and psychiatry, full of highly qualified individuals who, despite their intellect and learning, struggle to understand and help untangle the human psyche.... and yet as only lay-men, some feel that with what amounts to only a tiny fraction of the required information, they have an inherrent right to lay judgement on others!

I would suggest that says more about the 'judge' than those being judged.

Catwalk!

Fancy a Brazilian?

Hit whore that I am I have long since discovered that on the odd occasion I blog something even very slightly risque it will invariably result in hits from those typing into a search engine somewhat questionable phrases!

Case in point; Years ago I blogged a post including in the title the word 'knickers'. It's content wasn't in any way suggestive or sexual but to this day the word 'knickers' remains second only to the word 'gemmak' in the searches resulting in a hit on my site.....and believe me, given the specific and very 'adult' search phrases used by some of these people I can only imagine they are heartily disappointed when they land here!

Which brings me to my point. A few days ago my hit numbers suddenly shot up for no apparent reason, so I set about interrogating my visitor paths etc. It seems that a recent post entitled 'The ultimate Brazilian' is to blame, a link to which seems to be circumnavigating most of Asia and parts of America in an email and is now also resulting in search engine visitors. Again, I can only assume that those arriving here are less than impressed when they discover the true content is probably not quite what they were hoping for! ;o)

Twas ever thus I suppose.

No! I haven't got a job yet

I don't wish to sound ungrateful at people's concern or interest, whichever it might be, but I am really beginning to wish that the first thing everybody says to me could just occasionally not be 'have you got a job yet'!

Yes, I am sensitive about it and yes I am probably overreacting but I'm fed up with the whole issue one way and another, believe me it ain't no fun, it does little for the ego and to constantly have to be reiterating the whole dismal situation each time I speak to someone and feeling I am somehow disappointing them, is not putting a smile on my face either.

I'm not even sure any longer how people used to greet me, what did they ask me when I did have a job? Was I more than my employment status at some point in my life?

I'm constantly tired, I don't sleep, I have a considerable number of other big issues going on right now and I do my best to remain upbeat and positive..... but sometimes the reminder and the frequency in having to answer the same question whilst sounding cheerful, serves only as a depressing reminder of the negatives and makes me feel I somehow also have to justify my own failures to all and sundry.

Sorry, rant over, I'm being over-sensitive, the constant enquiries regarding my lack of a job are all well meaning I know, and made out of care and concern, but I promise those of you who are interested, I will be the first to tell you when I finally do get a job, no-one will need to ask, I will be shouting it from the sodding rooftops!

My name is....

'NUTMEG'

Though my humans still persist in calling me 'Hamster'!

"One to be taken at night as required"

My sleep issues are ongoing in that I just don't! The reason is simple, since I stopped working I just don't get tired enough, as a consequence it's not harming me but it is bloody annoying. It's hard enough sometimes to fill up the day with constructive things to do, let alone fill half the night as well!

To this end I occasionally take a generic antihistamine, an over the counter drug indicated for allergies that I long since, courtesy of eczema, discovered has the rather handy side effect of knocking me over the head.


I had cause to speak to a pharmacist whilst collecting a script from the chemist a day or two back so while I was engaged in the conversation I asked her if any of the marketed 'sleep remedies' actually worked because the medication I take isn't indicated for insomnia I thought it maybe inappropriate to be using it in that manner.

Now don't get me wrong here, I'm sure they have their place but I didn't want a herbal 'remedy'. I don't doubt some of them are very affective I just think that if pharmaceutical companies, with all their money and testing, can get it very wrong in some instances then the relatively Heath Robinson herbal industry certainly can.... and if you doubt the potency or possible dangers of the natural products just go do some research on St. Johns Wort for instance. Yes, there is a suggestion that it helps mild to moderate depression but it has almost as many contra-indications as a pharmaceutical produce, it's just less stringently tested or licenced!

So, my friendly local pharmacist recommend a pharmaceutical product and I inspected the pack to find out it's active ingredient, I take other meds regularly that are contra-indicated in some instance's so I needed to know.....and what did I find?

What I found was the word 'diphenhydramine'.

Diphenhydramine is a similar antihistamine to that which is active in my generic anti-itch pills! I laughed and told the pharmacist my 'sin', that I had been taking these meds to sleep but was concerned it wasn't appropriate. She laughed and said I might as well carry on (occasionally)....they are way cheaper than the same thing packaged as a sleeping product!

I wonder how many people out there pop the sleeping version without also realising they never get an itch at night!


*Disclaimer: Do not do this at home without individual medical advice!

A life for sale!

Bored with your life?

You could try buying this one!

With the demise of his relationship, Australian Ian Usher has decided to sell his entire life, home and contents therin, car, bike, jet ski, job, friends,the whole shooting match .......on eBay!

The current highest bid is AU $300,433.31 but there still a few days to go if you fancy it!

Please, please, please

If you are a british citizen, resident or ex-pat. please....

SIGN THIS PETITION NOW!

For more information click this link.

Thank you.