Day 36 and 37 Manchester (Monday 23 and Tuesday 24 April)
Monday was another day in bed with the netbook, writing (though not enough). Also coughing frequently and hard; I thought I was going to throw up, a few times. Ugh.
Tuesday was very similar, but I made myself go out about 4 pm, to visit Boots the Chemists and to lay in something for dinner. However, when I went into Boots there was this big sign: "NHS Walk-in surgery", so I investigated. A doctor (or more likely a nurse practitioner, who can prescribe) was £50 + £15 prescription charge (which they said I could get back from Medicare at home - I certainly hope so). Plus 1 - 1.5 hrs wait. I'd previously tried to find out, on various NHS websites, whether the bilateral agreement between Australia and the UK entitled me to free treatment - probably not - and where I might get a GP. No joy hard info on either front. So this happenchance discovery was most welcome.
I had just enough cash on me (no cards, no sir), so I decided to pay up and wait, hoping for a script for antibiotics, and to make sure I didn't have the polka-dot plague instead of just a cold. I had nothing to read, but I borrowed a Metro from one of the counter staff (free newspaper, but it usually has a reasonable amount of news). An hour later I got in to see a nurse.
My lungs are clear. My temperature is fine. The cold is viral, so antibiotics won't get rid of it, but she gave me a script to deal with any secondary infections (thank you, my shot immune system). I went downstairs with the script (in a lift I would cheerfully kill with an axe, if I had one; it dumped me on the wrong floor both going up and coming down. Twice). Turned out the script wasn't for a standard amount. One of the pharmacists phoned upstairs. Then, of course, I had to go up, to get it fixed. At least getting the script filled didn't cost me anything extra. So now I have a week's worth of Amoxicillin.
I've borrowed a bowl from the kitchen so I can sit over a bowl of steaming water with my head under a towel. I'd forgotten about that one, until the nurse reminded me. Also, I should be taking paracetamol as well as the Amoxicillin. I have a pack of that.
I dropped in on M&S for dinner stuff, and on Debenham's for a hot chocolate to warm me up, since their restaurant, which serves soup, was closed by then.
I suspect tomorrow will be another day in bed. Dragging to and fro (really only 20 minutes each way) was quite enough, just as it was on Friday evening.
However, I did take some photos of that marvellous dragon, made of industrial leftover bits, perched on the remains of the corner wall.
BTW, I have found on my foflist a program for downloading long fics from FFN, in various formats, called Fanfiction Downloader. If you already have Calibre on your computer you just have to download a 5 MB or so exe file. Nortons says it's unstable (likely to break down once a week or so), but safe; it hasn't given me any trouble yet. I certainly like Calibre for reading epub files; much easier than trying to get a pdf file to fit both my screen and my eyesight.
Tuesday was very similar, but I made myself go out about 4 pm, to visit Boots the Chemists and to lay in something for dinner. However, when I went into Boots there was this big sign: "NHS Walk-in surgery", so I investigated. A doctor (or more likely a nurse practitioner, who can prescribe) was £50 + £15 prescription charge (which they said I could get back from Medicare at home - I certainly hope so). Plus 1 - 1.5 hrs wait. I'd previously tried to find out, on various NHS websites, whether the bilateral agreement between Australia and the UK entitled me to free treatment - probably not - and where I might get a GP. No joy hard info on either front. So this happenchance discovery was most welcome.
I had just enough cash on me (no cards, no sir), so I decided to pay up and wait, hoping for a script for antibiotics, and to make sure I didn't have the polka-dot plague instead of just a cold. I had nothing to read, but I borrowed a Metro from one of the counter staff (free newspaper, but it usually has a reasonable amount of news). An hour later I got in to see a nurse.
My lungs are clear. My temperature is fine. The cold is viral, so antibiotics won't get rid of it, but she gave me a script to deal with any secondary infections (thank you, my shot immune system). I went downstairs with the script (in a lift I would cheerfully kill with an axe, if I had one; it dumped me on the wrong floor both going up and coming down. Twice). Turned out the script wasn't for a standard amount. One of the pharmacists phoned upstairs. Then, of course, I had to go up, to get it fixed. At least getting the script filled didn't cost me anything extra. So now I have a week's worth of Amoxicillin.
I've borrowed a bowl from the kitchen so I can sit over a bowl of steaming water with my head under a towel. I'd forgotten about that one, until the nurse reminded me. Also, I should be taking paracetamol as well as the Amoxicillin. I have a pack of that.
I dropped in on M&S for dinner stuff, and on Debenham's for a hot chocolate to warm me up, since their restaurant, which serves soup, was closed by then.
I suspect tomorrow will be another day in bed. Dragging to and fro (really only 20 minutes each way) was quite enough, just as it was on Friday evening.
However, I did take some photos of that marvellous dragon, made of industrial leftover bits, perched on the remains of the corner wall.
BTW, I have found on my foflist a program for downloading long fics from FFN, in various formats, called Fanfiction Downloader. If you already have Calibre on your computer you just have to download a 5 MB or so exe file. Nortons says it's unstable (likely to break down once a week or so), but safe; it hasn't given me any trouble yet. I certainly like Calibre for reading epub files; much easier than trying to get a pdf file to fit both my screen and my eyesight.