Fair buzzin'

My opportunities for photography were somewhat limited today; I didn't think to pick up my phone as I was once more carted down the stairs by a couple of paramedics (one of whom asked after my son as he put up the ramp on the ambulance - they'd been in Cubs together) or I might've taken a photo of Dunoon A&E, but as it was I only pottered in the garden when I got home in the late morning and was attracted by this bee which kept returning to the same rose. But the title of the blip applies equally to me...

I'm fair buzzin' about our local NHS set-up. I keep seeing news reports and social media gripes about hours spent waiting for an ambulance, or being kept on a trolley long after arriving at a hospital, but that's twice in the space of a month that I've experienced the service provided by Dunoon Community Hospital and I'm suddenly aware of how much it matters that it's there. 

NHS 24 were prompt and helpful, giving Himself advice about what he should do. The ambulance turned up five minutes after the call went out. The paramedics said I was "a lightweight" as they carried me down the 17 steps in our front garden (I'm being facetious, but they did!) and worked so hard to get me pain-free by the time I arrived at the hospital five minutes later. The nurses - night shift and the morning crew - were what you always hope will be available when you're in extremis, and it didn't seem to matter how many turned out to be former pupils. 

Once more I spent the night in a comfy bed in one of the rooms which may have once been a ward I occupied when I was having my second son. In the morning I was offered an ice lolly to suck - they get them in for children - because my throat was so sore, and was provided with three towels and a bottle of shower lotion so that I could feel better before going home. And when I did leave, I was aware of trauma cases arriving, filling the empty rooms of night-time with a variety of injuries.

All I did for the rest of the day was wash a few clothes, prune the wisteria of the triffid tentacles that were wrapping round the gas condensate pipe, and do some Italian. I had a phone chat instead of a nice lunch with the cousin we'd been supposed to have lunch with, and had an omelette for my dinner. My throat still hurts. And I know all about Quorn now. 

I won't touch it again.