... Good morning all (well it's morning for me)... So I told you last time that I'd hit you up (look at that young people slang... respect) once I was in New Zealand... well I missed my flight and I'm still here in Sydney (I can hear the gasps of disbelief... I've dragged you in with impending questions: Why did I miss my flight? What the dickens will I do now? etc)... well those who follow me on Twitter (@listentome23) may have seen bits of this in "real time" (Oh technology... what a lovely waste of time you are)... I'd got bitten by a bug in Melbourne and the bite had got bigger and bigger... a large expanse of redness ever expanding around the nucleus of the bite... it started to get really quite painful when I was due to fly to Sydney to Melbourne... the bite was on my thigh and was giving me jip (the scientific term) as I walked... but I was flying to Sydney and the next day to Christchurch in NZ so I thought that it could hold out till I was in NZ (also, it's just a bug bite... I've had them flare up before... no problem)... (N.B. for the image of the bite that I posted on twitter (at David Gibbs's request) can be seen at http://yfrog.com/h5eu2suilbgj)... (Crikey, it's just hit me... I'm going crazy with all this social networking crap... up to date pictures of a bug bit? ... an entire blog post dedicated to the fall out from said bite? ... I think I need a new hobby!) ... anyway, back to bite-gate... the night in Sydney it really started to gnarl up a notch (again, scientific terms)... I'd popped it and the effluent was blood and puss (sorry, I hope you're not eating while reading this) and my thigh started to swell a little and have the feeling like when you get your blood pressure taken... I thought, 'Maybe I should see someone about this'... so at 11pm I took a taxi to ER (my flight was at 9am, I thought I had plenty of time to get it sorted out)... turned out the bite had turned into an abscess and was a festival of blood and puss under the swelling... I was put on IV antibiotics (seemed rather extreme but I guess they know best... and to be fair, it feels a hell of a lot better now)... one course at night and the next 6 hours later in the morning... once both were done after waiting for a doctor it was 9am, flight missed:( ... the technical treatment for the abscess itself was to squeeze it like the world's largest pimple... that was what I've been sent away to do a couple of times a day... I like popping pimples (too much information?) so it's not so bad... ... So I missed my flight, I expected great losses (although I could get back from insurance) but it was really not so bad... My flights could be rearranged for 11th Feb for only 45 quid (even though I missed the flight I was booked on (I did get the hospital social worker to call the airline for me 30 Min's before the flight though... my first brush with social workers... I'm a lucky boy!))... the hostel I was booked with in Christchurch allowed me to cancel with no charge... the bus I'd booked to Queenstown I was able to put back 2 days for 70p... and the hospital treatment was free due to an agreement between the UK and OZ... so all in all it turned out well:) ... so now I'm staying in my hostel for a couple more nights... not really doing much except read, eat, and pop giant pimples.. and then I'll fly on Friday:)
... Other notable events... I saw my Irish friend David again in Sydney... we again were luckily in the same city, so we met and shared a few drinks (this was before my hospital visit)... he even fixed my watch... as I said on a previous post, one digit of my digital watch had broken so that the time read "12:?9" and made life a bit difficult... Now David's an electrician, so he provided me with technical advice for how to fix my watch, "Bang it against the table there." (kind of like the pimple popping doctor)... and hey presto, it's fixed... he also told me the other trick to fix something (one I've used on various times when my Nan has had problems with her TV), 'Turn in off and then on again'... it's great to know all the technical tricks:) ... so then we said goodbye for the 3rd time (previously in Saigon and Siem Reap)... he's been a great travel buddy for over a month in total... good luck with your travels and work in New Zealand... I still expect a free holiday in Ireland if you ever do return;)
... also at the airport in Melbourne I enjoyed over hearing a dad and daughter (probably about 7 years old) have a little conversation. The daughter had asked for a can of Coke:
Dad: "No you can't have Coke, you go psycho on Coke"
Daughter: "Well you go psycho when you drink beer."
[SILENCE FOLLOWED BY CHANGING OF SUBJECT]
... I love that bluntness... once when I was in the park near the White Hart in Frenchay playing Frisbee with some friends a little girl (again, probably 6 or 7) came up and started to play with us... she asked me what my name was:
Me: "I'm Matt"
Girl: "Ha ha, people walk all over you."
... then her Dad called her and she ran off... what a blunt comment... a kind of awesome unexpected comment:) ... I look forward to hearing many more such comments when my cousin's little ones begin to talk:)
zee-boy for my American friends;)... you see some interesting cases as you sit there all night unable to sleep... A British guy came in, he was an Alcoholic and had fallen off the wagon and had a three day binge and had come in for some treatment to help him battle the edge of initially coming off the binge... it's easy to see what a difficult position he is in... really struggling with a serious problem which probably garners little sympathy in the world as a whole... most believe it is self inflicted (and to be honest I don't know how great the influence of genetics is)... and it was clear the guy needed someone to be with him... he was alone in ER all night trying to curb the urges... probably not wanting to be alone... ... I hope he didn't have a beer... the staff were really good with him, and one of the senior nurses sat down and chatted with him, gave him encouragement and directed him to people he could talk to... I guess maybe that is the standard policy, but they were really good... the hospital was a real mix... the Doctors from Australia, Scotland, Ireland... and the patients were also from all over... it was good treatment and it was free... Thank you Australia:)
... but now I'm here just wasting a day waiting for my flight tomorrow... I don't want to walk around too much and push my leg too much quite yet, it's still a bit sensitive, sore and swollen (the three S's)... so a relaxing day... in truth I've never settled anywhere very long during the 4ish months I've been away so far... I expected to find some great hostel where I'd just reside and become part of the furniture for a month or something, but that really hasn't happened... the longest was probably when I was on Koh Chang with my parents for maybe over a week... it's nice to move but it's also nice to be still for a while... I'll sit like a monk and meditate... think about the real primal and key questions of life... ...... then become bored and start listening to a Ricky Gervais podcast, read some of Lolita... and maybe even do some creative writing if I can get myself motivated enough:) ... I'll let myself be lazy today... such a joyous state to take every once in a while... to just let go and forget everything... float along in a kind of nothingness... with no plan to go anywhere... I know it's a waste sometimes, to be like this... but when you've been travelling for over 4 months, to let go for a day or two is total bliss... ... ... lazy today and then bring on the boredom... to spur me into new adventures in New Zealand and South America... :))))
Keep well lovely people... I'll leave you with some songs...
The original:
And a Parody (better then the original:) :
Enjoy;)
... Other notable events... I saw my Irish friend David again in Sydney... we again were luckily in the same city, so we met and shared a few drinks (this was before my hospital visit)... he even fixed my watch... as I said on a previous post, one digit of my digital watch had broken so that the time read "12:?9" and made life a bit difficult... Now David's an electrician, so he provided me with technical advice for how to fix my watch, "Bang it against the table there." (kind of like the pimple popping doctor)... and hey presto, it's fixed... he also told me the other trick to fix something (one I've used on various times when my Nan has had problems with her TV), 'Turn in off and then on again'... it's great to know all the technical tricks:) ... so then we said goodbye for the 3rd time (previously in Saigon and Siem Reap)... he's been a great travel buddy for over a month in total... good luck with your travels and work in New Zealand... I still expect a free holiday in Ireland if you ever do return;)
... also at the airport in Melbourne I enjoyed over hearing a dad and daughter (probably about 7 years old) have a little conversation. The daughter had asked for a can of Coke:
Dad: "No you can't have Coke, you go psycho on Coke"
Daughter: "Well you go psycho when you drink beer."
[SILENCE FOLLOWED BY CHANGING OF SUBJECT]
... I love that bluntness... once when I was in the park near the White Hart in Frenchay playing Frisbee with some friends a little girl (again, probably 6 or 7) came up and started to play with us... she asked me what my name was:
Me: "I'm Matt"
Girl: "Ha ha, people walk all over you."
... then her Dad called her and she ran off... what a blunt comment... a kind of awesome unexpected comment:) ... I look forward to hearing many more such comments when my cousin's little ones begin to talk:)
zee-boy for my American friends;)... you see some interesting cases as you sit there all night unable to sleep... A British guy came in, he was an Alcoholic and had fallen off the wagon and had a three day binge and had come in for some treatment to help him battle the edge of initially coming off the binge... it's easy to see what a difficult position he is in... really struggling with a serious problem which probably garners little sympathy in the world as a whole... most believe it is self inflicted (and to be honest I don't know how great the influence of genetics is)... and it was clear the guy needed someone to be with him... he was alone in ER all night trying to curb the urges... probably not wanting to be alone... ... I hope he didn't have a beer... the staff were really good with him, and one of the senior nurses sat down and chatted with him, gave him encouragement and directed him to people he could talk to... I guess maybe that is the standard policy, but they were really good... the hospital was a real mix... the Doctors from Australia, Scotland, Ireland... and the patients were also from all over... it was good treatment and it was free... Thank you Australia:)
... but now I'm here just wasting a day waiting for my flight tomorrow... I don't want to walk around too much and push my leg too much quite yet, it's still a bit sensitive, sore and swollen (the three S's)... so a relaxing day... in truth I've never settled anywhere very long during the 4ish months I've been away so far... I expected to find some great hostel where I'd just reside and become part of the furniture for a month or something, but that really hasn't happened... the longest was probably when I was on Koh Chang with my parents for maybe over a week... it's nice to move but it's also nice to be still for a while... I'll sit like a monk and meditate... think about the real primal and key questions of life... ...... then become bored and start listening to a Ricky Gervais podcast, read some of Lolita... and maybe even do some creative writing if I can get myself motivated enough:) ... I'll let myself be lazy today... such a joyous state to take every once in a while... to just let go and forget everything... float along in a kind of nothingness... with no plan to go anywhere... I know it's a waste sometimes, to be like this... but when you've been travelling for over 4 months, to let go for a day or two is total bliss... ... ... lazy today and then bring on the boredom... to spur me into new adventures in New Zealand and South America... :))))
Keep well lovely people... I'll leave you with some songs...
The original:
And a Parody (better then the original:) :
Enjoy;)
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