Armed with homemade almond and chocolate muffins and a large selection of cheese straws, the boys and I went to work at the Green Gym venue: Heythrop Park. They dug up nettles and pruned bushes and shrubs after having health and safety instuction for all tools. I thought I would have sole responsibility for their efforts, but, they worked alongside other members, joining in conversation and willingly loading the wheelbarrow and doing whatever needed doing. I was really pleased and proud. My daughter reckons the cakes bribed the others into submission, and can't believe that the same two boys (who will never help her in the garden, and never, ever want to tidy their bedrooms), had achieved so much and with enthusiasm, asking on the journey home, "When can we go to the Green Gym again Nana ?" The following day I took them to the hospital with me; I have been waiting six months for an injection in my left buttock - supposedly an attempt to quell my fasiculating left leg. Boys had books and comics as they sat in the waiting room and I was shown into a mini-surgery. The doctor spoke to me in broken (little or non-existent) English, luckily the nurse translated. The outcome: No injection as no-one had informed me at any point that it would be into my spine and that I would not be able to drive home; (I had just paid £3 for parking). Back at Reception I was put on the Cancellation List for the earliest next appointment... 15th January, 2009! I shall re-visit my GP and ask for an alternative treatment... something that can be achieved this year perhaps?
Yesterday we all went to the cinema and saw the new Indiana Jones film... absolutely great! We thoroughly enjoyed it... Well done Harrison Ford... for at 65 he looked fit and attractive and made me laugh.
Finally, my highlight of a week of child-minding - being told by a ten-year old boy that I look about 35.
1 comment:
I will now refuse to see any doctor who cannot speak to me directly in good English. I may make an exception if I trust the nurse to translate for me, but it makes me feel very unsafe. I have a number of serious allergies and I need to be certain that there is good communication. I cannot understand why people in such sensitive positions are allowed to work while unable to speak the language of the country they're working in! What if the patient was a man, and could not talk freely due to extreme shyness or embarrassment? It makes me mad!
Glad you enjoyed Indiana Jones! I've heard conflicting reports, but I would definitely like to see it!
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