I was away, and then I was back... and ill

So, the wife and I went to Italy for a wee summer holiday, 31 August to 12 September. Spent most of the time on the beach but also took a trip within a trip for a return visit to wonderful Venice. The whole experience, as you might expect, was lovely: cycling to and from the beach each day, splashing around in the sea, eating wonderful seafood and pizza and pasta dishes...

Before going, I'd been having a little gyp with a tooth that had recently been filled by my dentist, so in the last couple of days of my hol, I phoned and made an appointment.

We got back on the 12th, and my appointment was for the 16th.

On the 14th, while stretching to see the clock from my position in bed, I put my neck out so booked an appointment with the osteopath for the 15th: I wanted to get it sorted before being asked to open wide the following day.

The train ride to London for the dentist gave me the fear, cos I was right opposite this old dude who just kept coughing, almost for the whole hour of the journey. I just knew I would catch whatever the fuck it was that he was sharing.

And sure enough, two days later I started to get a sore throat. And that developed into a full head cold. I was lucky enough to feel fine within myself but was snotty and sniffy and sneezy nonetheless.

The cold did what colds do and kept me reaching for the Anadin Extra and the Kleenex. And then, on what would be my last day of sneezes, an almighty one wrenched my lower back. I literally could not stand upright without nasty pain. Another booking with the osteopath...

This brings us up to 22 September, and a couple of appointments with him seemed to be doing the job for my lower back.

And that's when I started to get some cystitis-like sensations: initially stinging/burning, accompanied by a feeling that I needed to pee more often than I normally would. I thought little of it and just hoped it would pass...

Until the point that I woke with severe discomfort in my mid-back on Friday 2 October. It felt different from my lower-back pain, but I assumed it must somehow be connected, so I lay down with a hot-water bottle for a few hours and it seemed to clear up.

The next day, I awoke to the same pain, only worse. I was literally in tears, though I'm not sure if it was really the pain or just the being absolutely fed up with being incapacitated in some way for about three weeks solid. I called my osteo, and he said he was surprised that it had shifted if I hadn't been doing anything strenuous. He asked if there was any chance I was having any other problems. I mentioned the cystitis stuff.

"I think that might be a kidney infection," he said, "without sounding like I want to pass the buck." So I spent the next hour or so trying to speak to a medical professional and eventually got an appointment for the same day. The doctor/nurse (who knows) who dealt with me said there was definitely an infection, based on my sample. By now -- as is always the case -- I was not only feeling better but was also not displaying any of my previous symptoms!

Anyway, today I got the actual test results back. "All clear," I was told. "Huh?" I replied. "How come I was told I had an infection, and yet the exact same sample says all clear?"

"Probably the drugs are clearing it up."
"But I started taking them after I gave the sample."

I don't even know what else to say. But it seems I am finally back to health. Now I need a holiday. And so, of course, does the missus, who has been doing almost everything around the house for this whole time.

INTERMISSION

I am well aware that I can get carried away with my holiday blog posts, and while they are interesting to some for a couple of days, I can fully understand why comments drop off after post #4 and I still haven't finished Day One. Sorry guys, but I guess it's at times like this that we bloggers fully realize two contradictory things:

1. I blog for myself and want to put stuff up that is a reminder for me of stuff I enjoyed; BUT

2. Damn if I don't like getting comments, and so I have to please those peeps who show me the kindness of popping by.

Catch-22, right?

Anyways, so I'm up to my eyes in work right now, and haven't got time to do much vacaysh blogging or otherwise (especially since it takes a wee while to edit those clips [yes, they are edited!] and throw them on YouTube etc).

But I just wanted to say "hey".

Plus, man, my tooth is giving me some gip. I've got a fucking great swollen bit or maybe ulcer right next to where I had that root canal a couple weeks back, and it's getting on my tits.

Also, just two more days till my next trip to the tattooist, and I'm very excited about that. Three hours of needle time, yeeeaaaahhh!

But I'll end on the teddy bear Muhammad. So, the English teacher who was imprisoned in Sudan for allowing her young students to name a teddy bear Muhammad has been freed and is now back home, after spending eight days in a Sudanese prison.

The Sudanese people (or at least the militants among them) wanted her shot by firing squad!

I say, call your bears whatever the fuck you like, but don't be a dummy and not understand the laws of the land where you are working/teaching. Especially in these uncertain times when misinterpretation of Islam appears to make it an insult to the religion to name a fucking teddy bear after the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

Personally I think it's a ridiculous crock of shit, of course. But she should have put her brain in gear and asked herself, "Would I call this bear Jesus or Moses or Abraham if I were in England?" Chances are, she probably wouldn't, so why not apply the same logic in a Muslim country. Silly old cunt.