Time for a little catch up

It's been a while since my last blog - weeks in fact.

Quite a bit has happened since then though.

First off, my very talented writer friend Carolyn is soon to join Lori in the ranks of published authors. That is fantastic news and she deserves every bit of success it brings her. Unlike the subject of my rant a few blogs ago, Carolyn has paid her dues, worked on her craft and is well - just an astonishingly good story teller.

She and Lori are inspiring me to finally do something with the story idea that has been on the back burner for three or four years. I think its turn has come around at last.

I can hardly wait to get cracking - just as soon as I finish my current WIP

Now the second thing. I'm going to be on the telly! Seriously! One of my old stroke patients has had a near miraculous recovery after two years of being unable to swallow anything at all - even his own spit. Now this is pretty unusual since most stroke patients do recover some if not all swallowing ability fairly quickly - especially after my tender ministrations lol, since this is a large part of my job.

But this fellow' was unusual in that it was only his swallow that did not come back. He never gave up hope though and something happened that mean I could send him to someone who deals with really intractable cases and - long story short - he can now eat and drink again. His life is suddenly worth living - and I'm going to be interviewed alongside him.

We weren't expecting a TV item out of this. I had presented his story at a recent study day and we'd thought it could make a good news story for the hospital and our department. But that quickly exploded to a 'Why don't we offer it to the ABC TV?' scenario. There is an outside chance it may get picked up nationally. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The gent in question is a real character and he will make good TV, so the focus will most definitely be on him. I only have to be on hand to supply some technical information.

'I'm ready for my close up now Mr de Ville.' lol

It's all happening next Friday and will go to air the following Friday. So I guess it's a case of watch this space.

Items three and four happened on the same day - last Thursday

After having his learner's permit for an indecently long time, Nick finally went for his Drivers test. I had to take him - and then wait while they went out on the road.

I know I was nervous, and considering the number of ghastly (and admittedly uncharacteristic) mistakes he made in the kilometre we had to drive to get there - ie not using his mirrors, straddling lanes, failing to signal a turn and obey a green light, I figured he was nervous too.

So I sat in the waiting room for half an hour, trying and failing to read a magazine while I waited for the test drive to be over.

It didn't go well.

He didn't tell me anything more than he'd failed until later that night. I still don't know the third thing he missed. Apparently he botched a right hand turn against the lights, and then failed to give way to a car at a stop sign. I guess the instant fail was when the assessor had to grab the hand brake, eh?

Funnily enough, the assessor said that he drove better once he knew he'd failed. I guess the pressure was off then.

The way the rules work over here is that he has to wait 28 days before he can be retested - and that makes the earliest he can do it the day before I leave the country. This is not good timing, since it will mean I have to leave early on my last day at work.

I really hope he gets it next time, (the nerves shouldn't be so bad then) otherwise he will have to rely on a) his father. b) his push bike, or c) public transport to get around while I'm away. And of course he won't be able to meet me at the airport when I come back either.

In the meantime, we need to give him as much road practice as we can. In some ways I'm really frustrated that he hasn't had a fire in his belly to get his licence before now, but in others, I'm kind of relieved. He has ADHD and he can be quite impulsive. Maybe it's a good thing he wasn't on the road earlier.

Anyway later than night, while we were still trying to get over the stress of the afternoon, I had a call from Chris' group home. They'd had a power black out and the battery operated emergency lighting was shrilly and constantly proclaiming that the battery was low.

It sounded like a horde of mozzies... and apparently it was driving Chris and another autistic resident ... well, not to put too a fine point on it... nuts. They were calling to see if I could take Chris home for the night as they had no idea when the power might come back on - and if the buzzing would stop then.

This pretty much capped a shitty day all around.

Nick was out of sorts, having stuffed up the test and Chris was agitated, being out of his usual routine. When he's like that, he asks for reassurance/ confirmation/ clarification, oh about every five minutes.

As you might imagine, it's very wearing.

'Yes, you're staying here tonight, Yes I'm taking you back tomorrow morning, Yes you're still coming home on Saturday, Yes, you can go on the computer again on Saturday... now please go to bed!'

Oh one last thing, I watched the movie Three coins in the Fountain last night. It was wonderful to see the Roman and Venetian sights through the eyes of a cinematographer in 1954. I bet some things will have changed a lot, and others hardly at all. My Italian classes had paid off too. I could understand bits and pieces quite well.

I'd also forgotten how gorgeous Louis Jourdan and Rossano Brazzi were back then. Sighh