Sunday, September 12, 2010

Mine own private Scutari

In Scutari Florence Nightingale Attends to a Patient

by William Hatherell (1855-1928)

The last ten days have been rather frustrating. I had taken leave to finish my dissertation and came down with a rather nasty chest infection the day after. I was able to soldier on somewhat and while I was feeling rather grim, I managed to make some progress each day.

I was prescribed antibiotics, new shiny antibiotics, that I proved to be allergic to - now to give them their due my chest problems cleared quickly, but were soon replaced with a sweating, shivering and generally unpleasent state of being where it was unwise to stray too far from a bathroom. The cure took rather more out of me than the disease - I'm down about four pounds I think, perhaps a trifle more.

I am, God be thanked, back on my feet - but I am lamentably short of time in which to finish my dissertation. There will be plenty of hard pounding over the next two weeks in order to put things in order.

I did divert myself a little while bedridden, reading a great deal of Saki, which I thoroughly enjoyed and preparing a unit of John Cunningham's Sikh Akali for the forces of the Rajah of Kaala-Akhaati. These were based and undercoated very quickly and passed on to a friend of mine who does a spot of painting on the side, along with the first compoo of the Rajah's European trained regulars.




7 comments:

  1. I hope that you feel back up to snuff in no time . . . ie, really really soon, sir.


    -- Jeff

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  2. Glad to hear you are moving forward healthwise. My daughters get annoyed when I refer to their two guinea pigs as Sredni and Vashtar and hail them as such in the garden. One hopes the neighbours might raise a smile or two...
    Alan

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  3. Conrad Kinch,

    I hope that you feel much better soon.

    All the best,

    Bob

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  4. Chest problems... hmmm.. maybe it's time to give up on the ready rubbed, old shag... :o))

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  5. Gentlemen, thank you very much for your concern - I am back in action and as fit today as I ever was.

    Tradgardmastre - Well done, you've managed to reduce me to tears of laughter. I have visions of you bedecked with feathers and covered in face paint carrying to guinea pigs aloft to a near constant chorus of "Daaaaaad, you're so embarrassing".

    Stephen - I am shocked, nay horrified that you would suggest such a filthy thing. I shall defend my frugal pleasures to the last!

    Anyway, my medical man reckons that the one smoke a week I allow myself is probably less injurious to my health than the fact that I regularly cycle in inner city traffic.

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  6. Good to hear you're feeling better! A spot of Saki (of the literary kind) never hurts. Best wishes on the dissertation and the house!

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