Old Boar's blog (Old Boars blog)

I'm spending this Bank Holiday weekend at home in Kanturk. I'm looking forward to being there but I'm not really looking forward to the journey. I'm driving and using the Pembroke to Rosslare ferry which travels at night. The downside is I don't get a proper night's sleep, the upside is that I effectively get another day at home.

I have a short list of large things to do. The two main items are: plasterboard and electrics but I'm sure I'll find some more. And then of course the real reason for going is to be with the family. I really am looking forward to THAT!

I have a colleague who (at forty-something) lives with his elderly parents. He has always had a few problems with his Father, who is now partially sighted and definately cantancerous. Last Thursday his Mother fell downstairs while the son was at work. Fortunately she doesn't seem to have been seriously injured. The problem is that she resolutely refuses to be taken to the hospital accident and emergency department and even refuses to visit the doctor or have the doctor visit her at home. The Father acts as if nothing has happened and the only other child (a daughter) is saying "it can't be as bad as you're making out" and keeping away.

You can't help having sympathy for someone placed in this situation.

I used to laugh about the idea of a "slipped disc". It is one of the slap-stick standards; the victim is lifting a heavy weight and "ping" he's in pain.

Fortunately (for me), I'm not a victim yet, unfortunately (for him), someone I know is.

On Monday evening I received a phone-call from a long-term friend. He told me that he needed my help urgently, because he was lying disabled on floor of his flat. I think he had been trying to get hold of me earlier in the day. Naturally I went round to see him immediately. He was indeed lying on the floor and could only move with difficulty. I managed to get him sitting in a chair and the pain eased off. I thought he was going to manage, but the pain returned and he decided to call an ambulance. He's a big fellow (6 foot 2 inches) and lives in a first floor flat with a very narrow stairway. I'm glad he could hobble to the bottom, because I'm not sure how the ambulance crew would have managed otherwise.

Anyway, 6ish hours and a load of drugs later I got him out of Accident and Emergency. The result of all this, is I'm now stopping at his flat until he can at least get up and down the stairs without danger to himself.

And if you're wondering, the pain is caused by the disc pressing on the siatic nerve. The severe pain he feels (which he discribes as "a blowtorch behind the knee"!) is in his leg, not his back.

I'll bet he could do without this. I know I could. It certainly makes me think "there's someone, somewhere much worse off", and I know where they are!

...and I'm glad of that. After returning from holiday it was difficult to motivate myself properly this week. However, I do have plans to do something useful this weekend. The useful things include:

• Clearing some admin (which is already in a pretty good state)


• Completing a spring clean at home (also in a surprisingly good state)


• Doing some visiting


• More clearing out of the garage


• ...and that's plenty!

I returned from vacation yesterday. There is nothing to beat driving round the M25 in pouring rain and arriving at work to find that there is a communications problem which prevented my laptop from connecting with the outside world. The simplest way of isolating the problem (and giving me an excuse to bunk off early) was to drive back round the M25 (still in the pouring rain) and go to another site. Naturally my laptop had no problem connecting there. Following the problem up today the problem has been isolated to "something in the patch room". I'm happy (ish). I've got connection and the patch room is someone elses problem.

As for work. Things have not moved as much as I would have liked in my absence. Maybe I am indispensible after all!