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| The Peace Pagoda in Battersea Park |
Christmastime on Lavender Hill in London went well. Ian was the perfect host and prepared a fabulous vegan Christmas dinner which Shirley and I enjoyed as did Frances and Stewart and Stewart's parents - Cheryl and Pedr.
Christmas Day dawned mild and sunny so I took the opportunity to have a nice walk even though I was feeling a little unwell. Everybody else stayed back at the house helping to prepare our vegan feast.
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| In Battersea Park looking to the big residential development at Battersea Power Station |
Meantime I wandered through Battersea Park and then along by The River Thames - looking across to Chelsea Embankment. I saw many things in the park including herons, a robin, runners, dog walkers, The Peace Pagoda, a gorilla carved from wood and a lithe young woman performing her yoga contortions in the centre of the sportsfield. Not what you might expect to see on Christmas Day morning.
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| Suitable exercise for all bloggers after Christmas excesses. Give it a try! |
I walked back along Culvert Road through a pocket of social housing and as I headed through a tunnel under one of the railway tracks that leads to Clapham Junction, a young black man approached me from behind but he didn't stab me and steal my camera. Instead, we enjoyed a pleasant if brief dialogue about our lives and our interests. Then we shook hands and wished each other a Happy Christmas as I headed up the ramp to a pedestrian bridge that crosses yet more railway tracks.
Not far from "The Crown" public house on Lavender Hill I came across another black man - probably with a Caribbean heritage. He was sitting on a bench, wearing shorts and swigging from a bottle of red wine. His dreadlocks hung down to his waist. I smiled and reached out my hand to him. We wished each other a Merry Christmas and as I walked away I reflected upon how different his life must have been from mine.
On Boxing Day I felt worse. It was an exciting day because the new Bosh! book came out - "Healthy Vegan" - the fourth book that Ian has jointly authored. We watched live football matches on TV as Ian cleverly manipulated social media channels to bolster sales. However, by the early evening I knew I should do something about my poorliness.
Ian drove me to the NHS Walk-In Centre at Clapham Junction. I filled in a form then filled a plastic container with urine before being called into a consulting room. There I met a nurse called Laura. She took my temperature, asked me questions, tested my urine and wrote out a prescription. The entire visit lasted ten minutes and the service I received was faultless.
Then Ian drove me to a nearby pharmacy where in less than five minutes I picked up my free prescription. We were back in his house half an hour after leaving it. By the way, I was suffering from a urine infection - a nasty ailment that impacts on one's general health and sense of well-being. Lord knows what happened to sufferers before effective medications were concocted. Slow death would have been a serious possibility.
Yesterday, I was feeling much better as we headed homeward from south London via the tortuous "Circular" road and the similar stop-go of the congested M1 motorway. It had taken three and a half hours to drive to Ian's house but five and a half hours to get back home.
It had been a different kind of Christmas which I enjoyed in spite of my feverishness. Shirley gave me a resin fox called Fred - in memory of my old vulpine friend. He is now guarding our sheep. If you follow this humble Yorkshire blog you will see him before too long. I promise.
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| View to Chelsea Embankment across The Thames |
I'm sorry to hear that you succumbed to a UTI. People are much more aware now. They can turn into sepsis so easily. Sounds like the rest of your Christmas was pretty good though. Interesting photos as always.
ReplyDeleteSepsis? Hell! Thanks for this cheery Christmas message Graham!
DeleteIn the last couple of years I've had lots of infections and five or more (I've lost count) full blown sepsis and about 9 hospitalisations: one for 7 days. It doesn't help that I have a kidney stent. However it doesn't pay to be complacent because about 5 people and hour die from it in the UK. I've no evidence for saying this but I suspect the reason so many die is that they don't know the symptoms.
DeleteYou are right to send out the sepsis warning. Shirley confirms that a UTI can indeed lead to sepsis if untreated and allowed to linger. It is not the kind of Christmas gift I was hoping for.
DeleteI think untreated UTI more often leads to kidney infection but sepsis is always possible
DeleteYikes! Urinary infections are awful. I'm glad you got it checked promptly and are on the mend. We've had colds in this house, and yesterday I was afraid Gregg was coming down with the flu. We're both a tiny bit better today. I'm glad you're back.
ReplyDeleteNever mind - Marco will look after the two of you!
DeleteGlad you were able to have a nice Christmas with family--despite the nasty urine infection which I hope has since cleared up. Nice of NHS to take good care of you and for you to get a free prescription. I, too, saw my doctor (bill will be forthcoming), and also had to get a prescription--for an eye infection. Our stories diverge here because when I picked up the ointment (3.5g--a tiny tube shorter than my thumb) the cost was $100 or £76. That was the cost WITH my insurance. Without insurance, the tube would have cost $287 or £219 (and I would still have an eye infection because who the hell wants to pay that!). Not the Christmas present I was looking for in my stocking. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteI hope your eye infection clears up soon Mary. Given the cost of it, I guess the main ingredient must be gold dust!
DeleteYou British have such a magnificent thing in your NHS.
ReplyDeleteI love the image of you shaking hands with the dreadlocked man. Yes, your lives have probably been quite different!
Congratulations to Ian again! What a beautiful thing he is doing.
Beautiful and he is loving it too! In Britain his TV programme will be launched in mid-January. The fantasy journey continues!
DeleteGlad to hear you enjoyed your Christmas despite your infection. Hopefully you will recover quickly
ReplyDeleteMaybe it is God's way of punishing me for saying such wicked things whilst pretending to be Naughty Elf!
DeleteIt sounds like you had a lovely time with family, despite the UTI. I think I would see your own doctor though, UTIs are uncommon in men and can be a symptom of other things. Sorry, I'm always a nurse:)
ReplyDeleteI love the photo of the robin and the image of you chatting with others on Christmas Day.
I will see how I go following the course of medication Lily. I used to think that I was invulnerable and that I would live forever.
DeleteLilycedar is correct. UTIs in men often are due to bad things happening upstream. I will spare you the details.
DeleteI don't wish to add to your distress (and potential sepsis dispensed by Graham Edwards earlier on). However, whilst UTIs pretty common in women (not that that makes them less painful), men definitely need to be extra vigilant if you get caught out. No bull. Kidneys, bladder and the tracts in between them work in mysterious ways. And not always to your advantage.
ReplyDeleteAs to yoga in the park. I wouldn't exactly call myself shy but there are things I prefer to do in the privacy of my own company. Not least contorting myself. That's the good thing about meditating. You can do it anywhere. On a park bench if need be - no one will be any the wiser. So I have been told.
Love herons. There is a book from my early childhood which features a young girl and a heron - a most graceful bird. I read it once a year. It's like coming home every single time though have never actually lived in the landscape the story takes place in.
Since you mention "naughty": It's a horrid word. Peculiarly English. In its connotation. I won't go into the wasteland of the English being, potentially, peculiarly repressed (as can be witnessed by long, nay forever, running comedies like "No sex please, we are British" and "Carry on"). Apropos of nothing, I once sat next to Felicity Kendal (The Good Life) at the hairdresser's (just off Bond Street, London). Don't ask - it was painful. I think I'd have preferred Penelope Keith for company.
U
I think you would have got on famously with Penelope Keith - calling a spade a spade.
DeleteP.S. Thanks for following Graham's example and kindly hammering another nail in my recycled cardboard coffin.
Sorry to hear you were unwell over Christmas. Fortunate that you sought help early on and received some timely treatment. I'm sure Nurse Shirley has been looking after you well.
ReplyDeleteI just made her her evening meal as she snoozed on the sofa. That's the kind of help that poorly men can expect when they marry nurses.
DeleteThis is very true Mr Pudding.
DeleteHope that you are well on the road to recovery, and the UTI didn't spoil your enjoyment of the holiday.
ReplyDeleteI'm interested to know what your fabulous vegan Christmas dinner was - or do we need to buy the book?
Excellent photos as usual YP.
Please see my reply to Librarian below CG.
DeleteWell, some good and some bad in your Christmas. I'm glad that you are on the mend and I won't be missing any great posts.
ReplyDeleteI don't plan on dying any time soon Red!...But you never know.
DeleteGood to know you went to have your poorliness checked on and treated properly before it turned into sepsis.
ReplyDeleteI would like to know what the vegan feast was, and of course I can't wait to see Fred!
There were several traditional Christmas items including roasted parsnips, brussel sprouts and roasted potatoes but also the Bosh! Mushroom Wellington and shredded jackfruit. Shirley had made a vegan Christmas pudding which was consumed with brandy-flavoured oat cream. The starter was a delicious hearty vegan stew with rustic croutons.
DeleteToo bad you were under the weather for the festivities, but it's good you are on the mend now. I'm always thankful for Canadian healthcare too, although we do not have free prescription medication here.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing Fred fox's stand-in :)
Your wish will be granted in the near future my quivering maple leaf!
DeleteCranberry juice is very good for flushing anything out YP. The wine drinking Rasta sounds a character.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the advice Dr North-Cider. We happen to have some cranberry juice in our pantry.
DeleteI am sorry to hear you have been sick over the holidays. I have been sick with a bad cold since Christmas Eve but we have to do what we can and get on with it this time of the year. I am happy for you to hear you were able to so quickly and easily get medical attention. I hope you are completely well soon. Your London pictures are very nice.
ReplyDeleteThanks for calling by again Bonnie. Sorry to hear that a bad cold cast its shadow over your Christmas pleasure.
DeleteDrink lots of liquid (but not just before bedtime).
ReplyDeleteThank you Dr Dunham. Can the liquid be Tetley's Bitter? And can I have it on prescription?
DeleteI believe any liquid of which the principal constituent is water would do.
DeleteBlood?
DeletePurely for medicinal purposes.
DeleteThose blue skies and bared midriff look positively Antipodean for this time of year. And shorts on your dreadlocked gent! ... Your Christmas sounded delightful, and I'm glad you're on the mend.
ReplyDeleteThe weather on Christmas Day was a blessing for Britain Pip.
DeleteI'll be coming over the Pond in mid-January. Hope I can catch Ian's first TV programme while I'm there, as well as looking for his books. Please be sure to post the particulars (e.g. channel, timing). Thanks.
ReplyDeleteITV 1 Sundays 10.30 to 11.30 from January 12th I believe. I hope the weather is kind to you while you are over here Mary.
DeleteI saw your dinner and Shirley on insta but I didn't see the you, maybe you were walking.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like a very pleasant day, not counting the illness
I am a shy guy Ky!
DeleteKyles
DeleteI'm sorry to learn you were feeling somewhat under the weather over the Christmas period, Yorkie. But glad to hear you are well on the mend now.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, I'm sure you had a lovely family time spent with your loved ones. :)
Thank you Lee. We had a pleasant Xmas break in a state-of-the-art modern townhouse.
DeleteI recognize that area! Great to see your photographic take on London. I love the robin shot. Glad you got your medical issue sorted, and so easily and promptly. I must say, visits to our own GP NEVER seem to go that smoothly.
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