Theatre, cinema, health and Italian road rage
Weirdly I can’t really tell whether the last few weeks, since coming back from the US, have gone slow or fast, a bit of both I guess.
This week I had my last appointment with the ENT consultant, and really after spending just over £2,000 (thankfully paid directly by the insurance company) it’s sort of back to square one.
I am a bit disappointed.
When I saw the consultant after our holiday, he said that he had looked at the MRI images (which he had on ‘the system’ - he didn’t want the CD I had brought with me) and said that there was a growth, a nodule on a salivary gland and that I needed an ultrasound-assisted biopsy to determine whether it was benign or not.
I went for this test a few days later but the doctor couldn’t find the lump (which I am very relieved about, of course). So when I saw the consultant again the other day he decided to check whether said lump was really there in the MRI images. He needed the CD (which luckily I had with me). It turns out that he hadn’t checked the images in the first place but relied on the report written at the centre where they performed the MRI scan! He couldn’t find it either but he said that as he’s no radiologist he’d write to people who filled in the report. And this for £290!
Don’t get me wrong I’m pleased that he couldn’t find anything, although this rigmarole doesn’t really fill you with confidence about the diagnosis and leaves wondering whether they may have missed something, or indeed filed the wrong report. Oh well!
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We went to the cinema and the theatre once.
We enjoyed ‘The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’ although I felt it wasn’t quite as good as the first one and maybe (sorry Adrian!) a bit tired.
We loved the fact that it was set in San Diego at the very beginning.
Maggie Smith’s character berates the Americans on 3 different occasions (I did agree with her complaint about tea!): I did wonder whether those lines were really put in with the American viewers in particular, after all that’s what one would expect from Lady Violet herself!
The theatre show we went to see was at the Menier Chocolate Factory.
‘Buyer & Cellar’, a one-man show starring Michael Urie of ‘Ugly Betty’ fame. We loved it and laughed a lot.
It is set in the basement of Barbra Streisand’s Malibu mansion, and it is rather hilarious. It must be very exhausting for the actor: 100 minutes on stage with no break!
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Last week-end I visited my parents.
On Sunday morning my brother and I went to see a friend and on the way back we became victims of road rage.
Another driver took exception at my brother going first at a roundabout: he chased us and pulled in front of our car in a matter of seconds. Marco managed to stop the car from crashing; the other driver got out and was furious, completely out of control like a wild animal. Marco tried to reverse and drive away, but had to stop as the other guy jumped in front of the car.
He started pummelling the car with his fists and cracked the windscreen in 2 places; then started with the side window and then opened the door and tried to pull my brother out of the car. At that point, I took my seat belt off and thought that I had to get out of the car to try to stop him. Marco told me to call the police and take the number plate. The other guy then calmed down slightly and we managed to get away.
When we got back to my parents’ we were both rather shaken and went straight to the carabinieri to report the assault. It took a while to file the complaint. Now my brother will have to replace the windscreen (the insurance is not paying out) and we’ll see what happens. It is quite likely that the ‘animal’ is going to file a counter-report probably saying that my brother tried to run him over. He may even find some ‘witnesses’ - you never know with some people.
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And tomorrow we have the meeting with the people who want to come and dig up our garden to replace some drains belonging to our neighbours. Oh well, we’ll see how it goes. No point in getting all worked up.