Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the NHS

In November 2011 we flew from Sydney to Glasgow. It was the first time we had been able to visit the UK in 10 years. We were very excited. We loved Glasgow and on the first day visited The Willow Tea Rooms because we are both very fond of Charles Rennie Mackintosh's work. On the second day we saw some of his original work in a prominent and wonderful museum. That night, just as we were getting ready to retire, my better half suddenly became violently ill. I was finding Scottish accents quite impenetrable but I managed to understand from the hotel's reception that I could ring the NHS for advice. The NHS was absolutely fantastic. Fortunately, being well-prepared travellers, we were carrying with us some medication for a few of the more common digestive system related ailments that we might encounter. They diagnosed the problem as food poisoning because it hit her almost exactly 9 hours after lunch at the museum's café. My better half was, in the Australian vernacular, a 'crook chook'! Next day she was very washed out and spent the day asleep in the hotel. A couple of times I ventured out on my own to see if I could find something that she could eat. The second time I went out I took myself back to The Willow Tea Rooms and bought my beloved a little cheer up pressie. It was a fridge magnet of a Charles Rennie Mackintosh chair. It has been on our fridge ever since we returned from the UK. We don't have many fridge magnets but each one of the few that we have has a very special story attached to it. This is certainly one of our favourites.