It wasn't a good week really. It started with me in floods of tears on Monday morning, not wanting to get out of bed and go to work. (Work is AWFUL at the moment). I kept crying over and over again on Monday and Tuesday, for no discernible reason.
Monday was also the day the patient with...problems...came in very late in the day when almost everyone had already gone. She kicked off in the clinic, became abusive and violent and it took four of us to make sure she left the building (we don't have security guards), which she was very reluctant to do. She only left when we threatened to call the police, but not before she lit up a cigarette, called one of my friends an f*****g transvestite (!!!) and told us all to "watch our backs" because she knows where we work.
Tuesday evening A and I went to our session with Lovely Therapist. For the past 5 months, I have mostly let these sessions be All About A but this week - I don't know, I think I was sad and angry and frustrated and verbose. So that was good. I think.
Wednesday was better because I went with some friends to see Sing@long Gre@se, which was just so much fun. I went home still humming those catchy tunes and smiling. Thursday and Friday were long days, having to get to work by 7.30am. Yesterday I was in bed the whole day with a migraine (which are getting old now...) and today I have done laundry, vacuuming, ironing, cooking and washing up. I know - the glamour, eh? :-)
Sunday, 26 September 2010
Saturday, 25 September 2010
day 25: day in great detail
As I have spent today in bed with yet another migraine, I'm cheating again. Here is yesterday in great detail.
05.30: woken by my furry alarm clock's gentle tap, tap, tap on my head and a less gentle "meow" in my ear - stagger to kitchen, shake out some cat biscuits, stagger back to bed.
06.00: my other alarm clock shrilly galvanises me from bed and into the shower before my eyes fully open. Dress, gulp coffee, feed my darling little cat, glare enviously at A's oblivious and still sleeping form and then at
06.35: creep out of the flat into a breathtakingly chilly morning and trot down the hill to the bus-stop
06.45: climb onto bus, plug in my MP3 player and zone out until
07.30: get off bus and walk to the hospital, stopping on the way for coffee
07.40: arrive at my desk, boot up the computer, checkvery important emails lolcats
07.55: gather papers and notebook and go to meeting number 1
09.00: dash back to my office for meeting number 2
09.50: two cups of coffee are making their presence felt and I am silently begging my colleague to stop talking so I can go to the loo before
10.00: meeting number 3 which is dull with a capital Boring.
10.30: hooray! Meeting over
10.31: time to make another cup of coffee
10.35: type up minutes of meeting number 1
11.15: consider stealing a biscuit from the lab staff, remind myself stealing is wrong
11.17: steal chocolate digestive
12.00: go to evidence based medicine session
14.00: evidence based medicine session finishes, there is an ugly rush to the sandwich shop opposite
14.10: eat sandwich at my desk while making pie-charts in Ex£l for Dr Beardie
14.30: data collection for a research study which involves going through 125 sets of patient notes. There are a lot of data points and I have only done 3 sets of notes by
15.15: go over to the lab to see if any patients have been diagnosed with another condition we are currently researching in the last 24 hours. One has but they don't fulfil the inclusion criteria.
15.30: back to data collection
16.45: can I go home yet?
17.15: water plants, shut down computer, wash up coffee mug and cafetiere, leave the hospital
17.30: sitting in a pastry shop with a cup of tea and a chocolate eclair, chatting to a friend I haven't seen in months
18.30: friend decides we should decamp to the pub next door for some chips
18.35: we agree that the perfect complement to a bowl of chips is a G&T
20.00: friend realises that she has 20 minutes to cross London to get her train back to the Home County in which she lives
20.10: I am on the bus home, watching Young People in inappropriately skimpy clothes queue to get into clubs and pubs to start their evening
21.20: A, who has been out for a work thing, and I arrive home within moments of each other to an extremely hungry and vocal cat
21.24: A and I are sharing a bowl of honey roasted cashew nuts and watching tv
22.00: time for the interwebs - Scr@bble is down!!
23.00: Goodnight!
05.30: woken by my furry alarm clock's gentle tap, tap, tap on my head and a less gentle "meow" in my ear - stagger to kitchen, shake out some cat biscuits, stagger back to bed.
06.00: my other alarm clock shrilly galvanises me from bed and into the shower before my eyes fully open. Dress, gulp coffee, feed my darling little cat, glare enviously at A's oblivious and still sleeping form and then at
06.35: creep out of the flat into a breathtakingly chilly morning and trot down the hill to the bus-stop
06.45: climb onto bus, plug in my MP3 player and zone out until
07.30: get off bus and walk to the hospital, stopping on the way for coffee
07.40: arrive at my desk, boot up the computer, check
07.55: gather papers and notebook and go to meeting number 1
09.00: dash back to my office for meeting number 2
09.50: two cups of coffee are making their presence felt and I am silently begging my colleague to stop talking so I can go to the loo before
10.00: meeting number 3 which is dull with a capital Boring.
10.30: hooray! Meeting over
10.31: time to make another cup of coffee
10.35: type up minutes of meeting number 1
11.15: consider stealing a biscuit from the lab staff, remind myself stealing is wrong
11.17: steal chocolate digestive
12.00: go to evidence based medicine session
14.00: evidence based medicine session finishes, there is an ugly rush to the sandwich shop opposite
14.10: eat sandwich at my desk while making pie-charts in Ex£l for Dr Beardie
14.30: data collection for a research study which involves going through 125 sets of patient notes. There are a lot of data points and I have only done 3 sets of notes by
15.15: go over to the lab to see if any patients have been diagnosed with another condition we are currently researching in the last 24 hours. One has but they don't fulfil the inclusion criteria.
15.30: back to data collection
16.45: can I go home yet?
17.15: water plants, shut down computer, wash up coffee mug and cafetiere, leave the hospital
17.30: sitting in a pastry shop with a cup of tea and a chocolate eclair, chatting to a friend I haven't seen in months
18.30: friend decides we should decamp to the pub next door for some chips
18.35: we agree that the perfect complement to a bowl of chips is a G&T
20.00: friend realises that she has 20 minutes to cross London to get her train back to the Home County in which she lives
20.10: I am on the bus home, watching Young People in inappropriately skimpy clothes queue to get into clubs and pubs to start their evening
21.20: A, who has been out for a work thing, and I arrive home within moments of each other to an extremely hungry and vocal cat
21.24: A and I are sharing a bowl of honey roasted cashew nuts and watching tv
22.00: time for the interwebs - Scr@bble is down!!
23.00: Goodnight!
Friday, 24 September 2010
day 24: where I live
I live in a hilly, leafy, north London suburb which is mainly Edwardian in feel, although there are much earlier - and much later buildings as well. We live in a flat in an Art Deco block although sadly a lot of the original features have been lost in the intervening years.
The suburb is about 6 miles from Ch@ring Cr0ss (the centre of London) and it has parkland at one end and woodland at the other. We also have, among other things, three coffee shops, four patisseries, a fishmonger's, a florist, a cheese shop, two bookshops and an old-fashioned grocer's which has been in the same place and run by the same family since 1897.
I love it here and I am so glad I sank every penny I had (and more I still don't) to buy this flat 12 years ago because I certainly wouldn't be able to afford it now!
 |
| Our street in the snow |
Thursday, 23 September 2010
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
day 22: the internetz
This is the day for posting my favourite website. This is predictable but I don't care, Ai lubs it:
http://icanhascheezburger.com/
http://icanhascheezburger.com/
Tuesday, 21 September 2010
day 21: a recipe
This is difficult because I seldom measure ingredients and I often cheat. But this is my variation on a traditional Sri L@nkan Th@kkali Isso (prawn and tomato curry) - I hate tomatoes so I substitute them with cashew nuts. And, although my Ammama (grandmother) would be shocked if she had known - I don't use fresh prawns but frozen (I hate de-veining them!) So really it's nothing like a Th@kkali Isso at all...
Anyway. Illanare's Prawn and Cashew Nut Curry
16oz (450 grammes) frozen but defrosted (or fresh for the non-squeamish) prawns
1 red onion
1 garlic clove
1 curry leaf
1 - 2 red chillies, de-seeded and finely chopped
3.5 fluid oz (100 millilitres / 3.3 fluid oz US) coconut milk
8oz (250 grammes) cashew nuts
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon curry powder*
Heat 2 tablespoons of olive or vegetable oil in a large, flat-bottomed pan.
Finely chop the red onion and peel and crush the garlic and add to pan with the whole curry leaf.
Fry gently until the onion begins to soften.
Add the curry powder, paprika and turmeric and stir.
Add the prawns and mix well.
After a couple of minutes if using frozen prawns, or 5 minutes if using fresh, add the cashew nuts. Stir together then reduce the heat to just above a simmer.
Add the coconut milk and stir together well.
Simmer gently for 10 minutes then serve immediately (I like to use lemon rice to go with this curry).
*I usually make my own curry powder - it's pretty easy:
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds
Crush together in a pestle and mortar - job done!
Anyway. Illanare's Prawn and Cashew Nut Curry
16oz (450 grammes) frozen but defrosted (or fresh for the non-squeamish) prawns
1 red onion
1 garlic clove
1 curry leaf
1 - 2 red chillies, de-seeded and finely chopped
3.5 fluid oz (100 millilitres / 3.3 fluid oz US) coconut milk
8oz (250 grammes) cashew nuts
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon curry powder*
Heat 2 tablespoons of olive or vegetable oil in a large, flat-bottomed pan.
Finely chop the red onion and peel and crush the garlic and add to pan with the whole curry leaf.
Fry gently until the onion begins to soften.
Add the curry powder, paprika and turmeric and stir.
Add the prawns and mix well.
After a couple of minutes if using frozen prawns, or 5 minutes if using fresh, add the cashew nuts. Stir together then reduce the heat to just above a simmer.
Add the coconut milk and stir together well.
Simmer gently for 10 minutes then serve immediately (I like to use lemon rice to go with this curry).
*I usually make my own curry powder - it's pretty easy:
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds
Crush together in a pestle and mortar - job done!
Monday, 20 September 2010
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