A room with a view

It's 11 pm and I'm just back from Hamilton.  After "Nil by Mouth" almost all day, they finally decided to give T. dinner at 9pm and try to get him under anesthesia tomorrow.  A young lad came in about midday with a crushed toe, so the more urgent cases like him go into theatre first.  Fair enough too. 

T. is his usual genial smiling self about it all, but tomorrow will be his fifth day in hospital and I know he'd like to get home.  He introduced me to the other men in the ward;  The Car Accident (arm in two and leg in four places), the Heart (rushing around getting me a chair and talking on the ward phone until the nurses said "This is your last call!"), the Knee Replacement (worried about being bored in retirement "My brain might go to mush") and the Crushed Toe who didn't have much to say at all, unsurprisingly.   

They have a nice view from their window, 'though:

Them's the breaks

Oldest son T. lives in Hamilton, about 90 minutes away.  He's broken his ankle.   On Friday morning he came off his skateboard  (a special long one)  which he uses to get to and from work.  The story from the horse's mouth is that he saw that his ankle looked wonky and, after deliberation, decided to make it a better shape.  Then, finding he still couldn't walk very well, texted a friend who took him to a nearby A&E, from whence he was taken by ambulance to the main Waikato hospital A&E.  The ambulance officer who picked him up said 

"What's a guy your age doing on a skateboard anyway?"  

"I'm 23" replied T.  

"Oh" said the ambulance officer sheepishly.  (T does look a lot older due to his full bushy beard.)

At A&E they told him he had missed his calling.  Generally when people put their broken ankles 'back' they can pinch nerves or sever arteries, but T. did neither, luckily.  

He was given the usual X-ray and the ankle plastered, but later in the afternoon they cut that cast off and re-plastered the ankle in a slightly different position.  This is only temporary too, however, as he needs a plate screwed in when the swelling has gone down a bit.  Estimated day of general anesthetic and surgery is tomorrow Monday, so I'll go over to Hamilton again then.  This is his first time in hospital, ever.   (I think it will be the longest time he's been without a computer in nearly twenty years too).

Daughter N. has her first NCEA3 exam (biology) Monday morning too, and I'm supposed to be exhibiting paintings Thursday to Sunday, so it's shaping up to be another busy week!

The Population of New Zealand...

...equals that of Greater Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Sheffield.  Only.  But think of all those funny-accented people coming down here scousing and eh-oupping all over the place.  

Liverpool dawn image courtesy of wiki.

Clip 2; Charlie Bit Me.

This has been around a while and if you haven't seen it you may be in the minority.  I post it here because it is just lovely.  What a gentle, kind lad Harry is, and what awesome parenting from Richard and Judy to have raised these two children, one of whom at least, solves his problems with talk! 

Clip 1 Dramatic Tarsier.

Over the years my offspring have sent me some wonderful YouTube clips.  They've uplifted me when I was fed up, shocked me when I was complacent, informed me when I was ignorant, entertained me when I was relaxed (I'm never bored), and made me laugh so hard I've cried and my face has hurt.

This week as I'm flat out at school, painting and giving art ed presentations, I've decided to share some of the best and/or funniest with you.  Already done Tommy Emmanuel,  Matt Koval,  Matt Harding and Jimmy Nail/ Mark Knopfler.

Here is a tarsier seeing a butterfly for the first time.  For the best impact, have your sound on before you play it.

New! Now with sound at no extra cost!

Thanks to Helen, I've now sussed out how to bring to you sounds. Unfortunately the source for the MP3 of 'Minor Swing' is not longer available so here is the YouTube version instead.

A little pleasant listening...

Enjoy, Jay! (Visit Jay.)

Happy skies are coming!

One month after Halloween, Venus, the Moon, and Jupiter will converge on a tiny patch of sky no bigger than the end of your thumb held at arm's length.  December 1st is the best night to look, in the early evening, in the west. They should together look like a smiley face, as the moon will be a crescent. 

I found the picture at this Southern Hemisphere astroevents diary here.