At last, an update! It's been a while since I updated my blog but I'm off work this week so this is the ideal opportunity.

I think I've got food poisoning -- I bought some new kitchen knives not long ago from Aldi and they're absolutely awesome, incredibly sharp. But my cutting boards are cheap things from IKEA and the knives have cut grooves into them. I suspect some raw chicken (I eat a lot of chicken) has contaminated the boards. The boards are now gone, and I'm using a glass one.

Needless to say, I haven't been as ill as this in recent memory and have been on a diet of boiled potato for most of the week. I am sick to the back teeth of potato. I have to call the GP's surgery later to get my test results and find out if it's salmonella or something similar.

I wasn't impressed with the treatment at the GPs. When I made the appointment I was told they would probably have to send away a stool sample, and as I wasn't sure if I'd be able to perform to order, I took one with me. At the surgery I had to transfer it into a special jar for the lab and when I asked for some surgical gloves so I could do this, I was told by the receptionist that only the doctor or the nurse were allowed to have gloves. I said, okay, fine, let them do it then. I was finally - reluctantly - allowed to have a pair of gloves after much eye-rolling and sighing from the receptionist.

Once in the toilet to perform this task, I discovered there was no antibacterial soap, just a cheap scented hand wash, and no sterile wipes. Fortunately I had some antibacterial hand gel with me made sure I are wiped everything down with that, although I touched as little as possible while I was in there.

The one of the biggest problems in the NHS is people getting bacterial infections because of the lack of hygiene and if this is the standard of care in my local GPs then I wonder what it's like the big hospital.

So, the downsides of this illness are:

• Tiredness
• I've been too nervous to go much further than the petrol station to fill up the car because I don't want to be too far away from the bathroom.
• Potatoes, potatoes, potatoes.

The bonuses, however, are:

• Four days off work
• Some weight loss
• Time with my kitty cats
• George Clooney season on Sky Movies
  
• Lots of time to mess about on teh intarwebs.

One of the things that really captured my imagination on the net this week is the story about the little bat who hitched a ride on the space shuttle.




RIP Space Bat.


  ¶ 12:33 pm