arkessian

oursin gave me an H

Something I love: History

Something I hate: Hypocrisy

Somewhere I have been: Helsinki

Somewhere I would like to go: Herculaneum

Someone I know: Helen M at the village shop

A Beloved Movie: Help!

The Best Book: Hogfather

My Favourite Song: Homeward Bound

Let me know if you want a letter in comments.

(The movie isn't beloved... I'm not a watcher of films. It's just one I vaguely remember that doesn't begin with Harry)

Questions from

oursin

1. Have you ever ascended by the funicular?

Not in person, but I have a keen appreciation of the experience, garnered from attendance in my youth at Creative Writing classes at the City Lit. My memory may be playing tricks, but it seemed that one of the other attendees ascended by the funicular in every story she wrote...

The chief benefit of that course was making a lifelong friend (waves).

2. Is there a book that doesn't at present exist in the world (unwritten, or unpublished) that you wish did?

Quite probaby, but until I have a specific need for it, I won't realise it doesn't exist. It will be non-fiction, because I can always find fiction that scratches my immediate reading itch -- or promises to, at least. My tbr pile is luckily electronic (the physical equivalent would threaten the foundations of my house), and should I fancy something different, there is no limit to the helpful recommendations I can find from trusted sources online.

3. Person, alive or dead (but alive for the purpose of the occasion) with whom you would like to have dinner?

I was going to pass on this one, because I have a sneaking suspicion that most people known only by report turn out to be a disappointment in one way or another. But then I realised that I'd like to have a few words with my mother. Now that she's dead, she might not be so prone to confabulation.

4. Period of history that (provided with appropriate inoculations etc) you would like to visit?

The beginning of the Industrial Revolution, when everything was newly possible.

5. How does your garden grow?

This year, it's been all contrary. A paltry harvest from 10 tomato plants; and usually reliable perennial flowers never showing their faces. However Rosa thug (the little front of the border rose that I decided to put in closer to the back, and wasn't that a good decision) has reached 4m and is still flowering even after the early frosts; and the clematis montana that died a couple of years back has returned from the grave, so the honeysuckle that had occupied the wall space had better look out next year.

If you'd like 5 questions, just ask.

I have a Bluesky invite if anyone feels the need?

Questions from

oursin

(Ask me if you want some questions of your own)

1. What's cooking?

Tonight: sea bass baked with lemon, served with patatas bravas (going to try nduja in the sauce rather than chorizo this time for a bit more spice), charred peppers and spinach. Followed by a baked Bramley apple (stuffed with pecans and maple syrup) and custard (of the Waitrose variety).

2. How does your garden grow?

It hasn't had a good summer, like most UK gardens this year, I think. But I have a couple of hundred tulip and spring bulbs to plant so next spring should be lovely. I'm still mulling over where to put another flower bed -- I want to plant a rose in memory of my heart donor, and also to make more room to indulge my plant obsession.

3. Read any good books lately?

Some re-reads, yes -- lots of Antony Price, whose craft never ceases to impress me. But everything new I've tried recently has foundered on a preference I had never recognised before. I require a book's protagonist to demonstrate a certain level of competence and a basic ability to communicate when communications would um, you know, kinda significantly improve matters. Two books recently -- one highly recommended by people I trust, and one I had been looking forward to for a couple of months have disappointed. The first has a plot that only works if the two protagonists never talk to each other; and the second has two protagonists who seem to spend their time running away from every problem they encounter -- even little ones. Perhaps the books improve as they go on, but I DNF. My tbr pile is (digitally) high enough that I am getting ruthless these days.

4. If you could be anywhere else, where would it be?

I'm wildly jealous of a good friend who flies out to Antarctica tomorrow (well to Madrid, then South America for a couple of weeks, and then a boat to Antarctica. I don't envy the travel but would love the destination.

5. What do you wish they would make a movie/TV series of?*

This is a hard one... I rarely watch TV or movies these days and am not convinced they can ever improve on a book. Rivers of London (Ben Aaronovitch) might be fun. Or perhaps a series based on The Witness for the Dead (Katherine Addison) or Imperial Mars (Chaz Brenchley). Plenty of quiet competence in all of those.

Still doing well.

OK, some things are not so good, but they're "expected complications" to the transplant team looking after me. In particular, me and high-dose steroids do not apparently play well together.

Worst consequence is swollen legs but I've lived with them for 20 years, plus hamster face (but I decided about age 10 that my face would not be my fortune). The team has 'a plan' so I'm relaxed. Can't get quite as much walking done as I'd like because the legs get painful, but I'm brimming with unaccustomed energy and getting things done. A pity the garden has suffered in the heat, as I've got the capability to do stuff now -- at least dead-heading and pruning; not embarking on digging yet!

Things being done do include various house related matters -- replacing the microwave that blew up (literally) last week -- fire extinguisher had its first outing and no lasting harm done to microwave surrounds -- although a little sanding of wooden worktop is scheduled). Also investigating solar panels (those of you in the UK may understand why); should have done it years ago but didn't have the oomph.

Also various jabs scheduled -- have had my 4th Covid jab; 5th due in November. And am about to schedule pneumonia and flu. I shall be a pin-cushion, but still wary about getting any lurghi.

Also still trekking up and down the motorway to the transplant team in Birmingham, but at least I have a driving licence now so don't need to impose on family and friends.

Other than that, no news.

Apart from dancing naked on the front lawn at 2 o'clock in the morning because I now can.

Also, there is at least one lie in this post.

Current Mood: cheerful

Having introduced one of my favourite nieces V to Good Omens (the TV series) and thence to Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, I feel the urge to give her the collected Discworld for her 40th birthday. Electronically of course -- I can't afford a pantechnicon to transport it.

I could also gift it to my other favourite niece R, even if I've missed her 40th. It's never too late for Pratchett...

And because they both have 9-10 year olds that they're responsible for, I could be enlightening the next generation as well!

But I can't see that the collected works exists, alas. I can order them individually or in 'groups' from the A site, but does anyone know of a better option in the UK?

Current Mood: curious

16 days post transplant.

Life is good.

Current Mood: happy

I am still continuing to make progress with bumps in the road, most of them managing the inevitable side effects of essential post transplant drugs. Momentum is mostly forward and the drugs juggling is in the hands of experts with me putting in unexpected questions.... Unexpected to them but fairly obvious to a trained scientist with a long history of medication.

I am just unbelievably grateful that I live in a country where the cost of the drugs is not a consideration for me.

Current Mood: awake

A very quick update. Sorry its not personal but I have a lot of people to tell.

Had a heart transplant on Wednesday evening uk time. Awake and talking Thursday midday. Recovering on icu at present but sitting out of bed each day and hoping to to go to an ordinary ward later today if things go well.

The first of many baby steps!

Current Mood: cheerful

I have set up a FaceBook Messenger group (there are some valid purposes for the Evil Empire) so that if I get 'the call' I can send up a flare saying 'drive me to Birmingham PDQ?' and somebody will step forward. (I also have a couple of taxi firms in reserve...)

The Latin Manorial Court Rolls are ongoing and requiring me to learn more than any reasonable person needs to know about 17th century property law, New Latin palaeography and abbreviation symbols. Anyone know what 'inframentonat' means? There may be letters missing in there -- I'm thinking 'inframentionat<?>' as in 'mentioned below' but can't find any corroboration. We now have a grand total of 19 pages to deal with (every other sensible volunteer having run screaming for the hills).

I'm in a reading slump. Things recommended by people whose judgement I trust, or written by people who reliably entertain me... not working at all. I start something and find the premise underwhelming, or I find myself focussing on word craft and not story. Things touted as 'light-hearted amusement' leave me cold and bored, or shouting at the walls that 'nobody is that stupid!' (Current government excepted).

The slump will pass; I've been here before. It's often a precursor to writing myself, so fingers crossed.

In the meantime, I have a shedload of bureaucratic dragons to tame. First, constructing an application for a disability benefit; if I can't walk 50m reliably, I ought to be able to get it, except the current Government (of course) has made the hurdles as high as possible so I need to get the application exactly right. Also, re-applying for my driving licence after 6 months without being shocked by my ICD. I need first to get my Cardiologist to sign a form saying I haven't been shocked, which means he needs to ask the 'Device Clinic', who will have no idea because they have not yet managed to implement remote monitoring for me. Once we've overcome that problem, I need to send a paper form to the licensing authority who (UK residents may know) have not been performing particularly well lately, so the delay in them issuing a new licence could be somewhere between weeks and years.

In good news, my cats love me. And the sun keeps shining...

Pursuant (such a lovely word) to my potential need to get to a hospital 75 miles away at the drop of a hat when called for a transplant (I wish) while I live alone, I posted on the local FaceBook page a request for recommendations for taxi firms that would be able to deal with a middle-of-the-night-zero-notice booking to drive me 75 miles (with an explanation of why I couldn't book in advance).

I got a single recommendation.

And 132 offers (and climbing) from total strangers offering to be on call in the middle of the night to drive me 75 miles!

There are times when you're reduced to tears by the kindness of strangers.

A very good friend of mine (for 43 years) recently volunteered to transcribe and translate some Manorial court rolls (don't ask) from 1699/1700.

The fact that he couldn't remember any Latin from his schooldays 50+ years ago was irrelevant; he had a friend (yours truly) with a good memory and for whom her Latin O-level was only 47 years out of date and who also had a slightly younger sister with Latin O- and A-levels and a degree that involved old and middle variants of a lot of Northern European languages plus New Latin. And anyway, how hard could it be?

And so, I have spent the last 4 days armpit-deep in New Latin... if you want to know how to describe property in England in 1699 I'm your woman... not to mention the legal complexities involved in 'leases for lives' (which survived as a concept in English until at least 1800) and also a lot of formulaic nonsense involving surrendering property into the hands of 'the Lord' or receiving property from him via the Steward( because the Lord couldn't be bothered to turn up). Plus ca change...

I have been such a hit that the people needing the translation have sent 3 more pages to be deal with.

Must remember to demonstrate incompetence when the occasion arises.

We had the annual pilgrimage to the vets today, for jabs.

Little Madam (Dance, to the vet) did not approve of the freezing air as she was shuttled to the car. Nor did she approve of the car noise, and not being allowed to exit her basket. Consequently she arrived in a bit of a snit.

Matters did not approve when she was once again pronounced 'podgy', unfortunately before the vet attempted to inspect her teeth. No (well, not much) blood was drawn. A thorough irrigation of the wound and a sticking plaster later, a wrestling match (her, me and the vet) resulted in her vaccination being accomplished. At which point she jumped off the table and proceeded to explore the room without a care in the world. A few languorous stretches on the floor displaying her (more than ample) belly and then she found the sink and sat in it, perfectly happy, to the vet's astonishment. (The vet had wanted to put her back in her basket so she 'felt safe and would settle' but I advocated letting her wander, and as always - hah - I was right)

Boycat (Spirit, to the vet) was laid back as always -- he mostly wanted to climb onto the vet's shoulder and love her. Noisily and heavily. The vet pronounced him 'perfect'.

Which with hindsight Little Madam did not appreciate. We returned home, and she started hissing and swiping at anything that came near. Boycat, the lodger, even me...

No further injuries have been incurred but we're all giving her a wide berth for now.

Current Mood: amused

New Year Greetings to everyone who passes by this place! May (Jan to Dec also accepted) 2022 bring you the things you want or the things you never realised you wanted.

On the subject of things needed but unwanted:

Apparently my SCA in September upped the ante... I am now (with 340 other people) on the transplant waiting list in the UK, subject to signing a consent form next week, and a drug change which shouldn't take long.

Many who are waiting (I hope all of them - sorry) are worse than me, but it's a dauntingly small group to belong to. I understand the list fills from the top with new or promoted 'super-urgent' and 'urgent' people and I'm just 'routine' so I could be called this year/some year/never unless I deteriorate and end up 'urgent' or worse.

In the meantime, I shall continue plodding along at home. If I'm called I won't say 'great!' because it comes with its own downsides due to the drugs needed afterwards (and of course the risks of surgery), but I trust the transplant team to have proposed it to extend my life expectancy (on the balance of probabilities).

Worst comes to worst, while I can, I shall be sitting at my PC complaining about not being able to do much physically -- but honestly, that's where I am now, so no change there.

Sherwood Smith The Phoenix Feather 1. Lovely, and I have number 2 in the stack.

I then diverted for comfort reading to Laurie R. King's Mary Russell series. I read the first few of these when they came out (a long time before I had an e-reader) and enjoyed them, but was constrained by reasons of shelf space, and stopped after the first 4. Shelf space is no longer a constraint, so I am reading my way though the series again. However, I'm not sure it holds up to serial binge reading. I need to interleave it with other stuff, so that my eyebrows don't climb into my scalp with the personas that turn up -- real and fictional (Sabine Baring-Gould, Kim, Dashiel Hammett, and I know not who else.) I suppose if I'm willing to entertain Sherlock Holmes (so to speak), other personas shouldn't perturb, but it does feel a little like ticking off a contemporary bingo sheet.

Next up? Possibly Sherwood Smith The Phoenix Feather 2. Or possibly (courtesy of a review by @Mrissa) A.K. Larkwood the Unspoken Name.

I had a Pfizer booster on Tuesday, and wiped out the week.

My previous two (AstraZeneca) jabs were at my GP's surgery, which was brilliantly well organised (even if at one point the queue was halfway down the street, it moved very quickly, and -- as everyone in the queue was 'extremely clinically vulnerable' -- everyone was distancing and sanitising and wearing masks). It was also a benefit to be dealt with by a doctor that knew my medical history -- we had a good discussion about the balance of risks and benefits, and came down on the side of All of the Jabs! I didn't have any reaction afterwards -- it was a non-event.

This time, I was only offered a slot at a (fairly) local Hall, organised by the NHS using local pharmacy staff and a doctor from the local hospital to oversee it, and volunteers from local organisations to manage the queue. Again, the queue was manageable, and when I asked, I was provided with a light weight chair that I could scuttle along on while I was waiting (quite a lot has happened between the original jabs and the booster, not least my SCA). Everybody was masked and distancing again, and they weren't mixing up people going for their first/second jabs with those going for boosters, which was a relief. For the first two jabs I was steered away from Pfizer, given my history of anaphylaxis, but this time they have much more data to go on, and in discussion with the supervising doctor, I agreed to the Pfizer jab.

Woke up the next morning feeling as if I had been worked over with a 2 by 4 by a particularly aggrieved thug. Sore arm, chills, fevers, pain in every joint. Paracetamol has helped, but it has taken until today to feel mostly human.

Until I look at the backlog of things I've not done, and then I just feel defeated.

Good news first: the vet is very pleased with Little Madam (based on a photo of her rear end). Stitches are not in her future, just natural healing. Phew.

Update to good news: The test (see below) was negative.

However, In our latest instalment about the pingdemic, I ordered an at-home PCR test. Kit arrived late on Monday, so Tuesday I rang to book a collection (can't drive, can't walk to the nearest relevant post box which is half a mile away -- village life for the disabled!). Confirmation of booking received by email from Royal Mail.

Took the test at 0700 on Wednesday.

Collection time (on Wednesday) came and went. Courier did not.

Rang to remonstrate with NHS Test and Trace. Courier rebooked for Thursday.

No confirmation of booking received.

Thursday morning: rang NHS Test and Trace to check that courier was booked. Oh, yes -- it's booked but we cant see the details (Aside: what sort of system design is that? Don't answer...) You'll have to ring Royal Mail to check.

Rang Royal Mail and got the very helpful Wendy who was working from home and could not put her head over a screen to ask for help...

Wendy: We don't do Covid test collections.
Me: Yes you do. I have an email to prove it.
Wendy: Leave it with me -- I'll get to the bottom of this.

Break for breakfast for me and the cats. (Not in that order).

Wendy: My supervisor confirms we don't do this.
Me: There's a page of FAQS on your website about the service.
Her: So there is! let me go back to my supervisor.

Break for my second coffee of the morning.

Wendy: We do do it, even though none of us have had any information and training. And none of us has access to the 'collections database' because it belongs to the NHS and we haven't been granted access. (She was audibly almost in tears at this point.) You'll have to go back to the NHS -- I am so sorry. I can raise a complaint about a missed collection...
Me: No. (I don't want to get Mark -- the local postie -- in trouble because i suspect the problem is light years away from him, but he'd end up carrying the can.)
Wendy: At least me and my supervisor know about the service now -- thank you for that at least.

Back to the NHS who maintained: it's booked; we can't see details(!!!). If you have a problem, ring Royal Mail.

Thursday morning came and went. The courier did not.

Back to the NHS. "Oh, dear. We'll need to send you a new kit. When you get it, book a collection."

I am at this point wondering if I can risk a drive to the postbox 0.5 miles away (totally illegally without a driving licence). I have no symptoms (yet) but want to be sure before I allow my cleaners and D into the house... Plus I need to book a booster jab and can't do that if the test is positive or results are outstanding.

New kit is scheduled to be delivered today Friday between 11 and 2.

At 1015 a courier rings, asking for directions for my house to collect the supposedly-expired kit (and refused to come back for the fresh new kit later). He wasn't from the Royal Mail, as far as I can tell -- and not much up on Covid safety rules -- did not back away from the door and wasn't wearing a mask or gloves -- I shooed him away before I put the test kit on the doormat and left the rest to him -- I'd handled it in gloves and a mask all the way through and couldn't do much more).

So, I have sent off a possibly expired kit and have an untouched one for which I could book a new collection! And I am totally conflicted about what to do.

It shouldn't be this difficult.

Current Mood: aggravated

Lois McMaster Bujold Knot of Shadows. Like taking a chocolate from a box -- short and sweet (except for the sad bits).

L.A. Hall Unhistoric Acts. Already read in episodes, but a satisfying reread in a gulp.

Chaz Brenchley: The latest instalments in the Bone Mask Boys . All Rowany de Vere all the time. If you're not a Patreon.. well, you should be. And if you need convincing about Brenchley's Mars

subterraneanpress.com/magazine/spring_2014/the_burial_of_sir_john_mawe_at_cassini_by_chaz_brenchley will set the scene.

Next up: Sherwood Smith The Phoenix Feather 1 and 2

Apologies: this isn't the interesting post I promised!

Important stuff first: Little Madam continues to do well. And I've given up on choosing curtain fabric -- it will have to wait until fashions change. (I fear fashions will never change to suit my tastes, alas, and I will have to settle for something anodyne rather than bold and eclectic).

In other news: I have managed a fair bit of activity in the last few days, without adverse effects (but see later) which is reassuring with regard to my heart failure.

On Friday, a trip to Birmingham to have the post-implantation review of my ICD -- everything is fine, and they will transfer me to the local hospital for ongoing monitoring (15 miles versus 75 miles is much easier to organise transport for). Followed by a trip to the opticians to help D choose some new glasses frames (left to his own devices, he would pick the least flattering option). We also braved a favourite place for a coffee -- alas, it has recently changed hands and gone downhill... so we probably won't go back. However, Cirencester and area does not lack coffee shops, so all is not lost.

The following day, a visit to a couple of places in Swindon to explore options to replace the guest room bed -- if my sister is ever called upon to cat sit for a prolonged period, she deserves a comfortable bed. I now have a plan which I'm happy with and can be executed without further retail excursions.

Which is just as well. Today I became part of the pingdemic: my phone informed me that I'd encountered somebody on Friday (for more than 15 minutes) who was Covid positive. That was the the day I went to Birmingham. However, D hasn't been pinged; we were together all day except at the hospital -- where he stayed outside the building with a hot coffee and a book.

I'm not required to self-isolate but don't feel comfortable not doing so -- D is on his travels again and is triple-vaccinated, so I'm only slightly worried about him -- but I have done a lateral flow test (negative) and ordered an at-home PCR test. Until I know that's negative, it's drawbridge up again. (D is also testing daily just in case).

To be honest, it's probably drawbridge up for a while -- I'll be eligible for a booster jab in a week's time (if I can have one with a history of anaphylaxis -- still to be determined) but another winter with minimal physical contact with the outside world makes sense to me -- the efficacy of this year's flu jab is questionable given the lack of data that went into formulating it, and a couple of days out in the wild has reminded me of the total lack of common sense/social consideration of large chunks of the local population.

Little Madam is definitely feeling brighter although (as the vet warned me) the appearance of the abscess under her tail has gone from bad to worse. I will not give further detail for the delicate amongst us. She is her usual bossy self -- all the food belong to her, also all the warm comfortable perches. I can almost understand why Boycat bit her! She will, I suspect, need stitches once the infection is gone, but I am not worrying about her outcome -- she's going to be fine.

The incident has however emphasised the need for a very hands on approach to cat sitting if/when I ever get called for a heart transplant. Luckily, my sister M is willing to drop everything and move in for up to 2 months to coddle the cats. She works from home, so it doesn't matter where she physically is. I fret a bit about her husband (legally blind) but he holds down a job and travels independently, and can feed himself at need. Plus they have three children who will look out for him... Us Wright girls may not always see eye-to-eye but when the chips are down we pull in the same direction. Of course many things can change in the coming years, M's availability among them, but we will cope.

In other news, why was it during lockdown that I felt no need to go anywhere outside the house? Whereas now, when I can't (no driving licence) and can see others mingling freely, I'm “cabined, cribbed, confined”. Even though I have no desire to go to crowded places and/or venues frequented by people without masks...? I suppose it's the lack of agency -- I can't decide to take a risk even if I wanted to, and even if I wasn't very aware that my health conditions make taking a risk totally inadvisable.

I shall try to make my next post a little more interesting, although I fear it will be about making the garden ready for winter... or the vicissitudes of choosing curtains. (Those of you with fandom heritage may smile wryly at that -- I have railed privately in the past about stories that have rough tough protagonists choosing curtains and roses to twine around their door...)

I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up

Letter game

Five questions answered

Bluesky

That meme again...

The state of me

The collected works of Terry Pratchett

Home this evening

Better living through legal chemistry

Update

Still spinning like a top

The kindness of strangers

The things I do for a friend...

Little Madam is in a Taking

News

Recent Reading

More quotidian minutiae

It just gets worser and worser.... (Sorry, still not an interesting post)

Recent Reading

Unending joy

Should anyone be worried about Little Madam

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