a view through my own eyes

Ah what a day.

mrspao and I decided to have a day out in France. A rummage round
the internet and Eurotunnels website revealed that a town called
Merlimont around 80kms from Calais had a interesting market on a
Friday. So we booked tickets and today off we went.

Lets say that Merlimont makes Herne Bay look exciting. The market
consisted of around six people trying to flog fruit and veg. Most of
the shops were closed and the rest of the place was deserted. To be
honest I have the feeling that its a summer resort in August where
the town bustles with life and the beach is full of scantily clad
bodies basking in the sun (sadly it wasn’t sunny so the French didn’t
get the pleasure of my bared awesome torso on the beach). Today it
was cold, wet and miserable. We found a cafe called La Spinx – it
seemed worth a try full of as yet unrevealed eastern promise. It was
a dump, orange formica topped tables and plastic chairs abounded. The
woman behind the counter came appeared insulted that we had dared to
enter and this was despite the place being deserted. mrspao were the
only customers. A quick crepe and a hot drink later we bolted.
mrspao is convinced she tried to poison us with the crepes.

As we headed towards the car we spotted another obviously British
couple (the car reg plate gave it away) and we said hello and en
quired if Merlimont got any more exciting or interesting than we had
already seen. The answer sadly was no and it was best to leave. We
then discovered that they were renting a flat for a week in Merlimont
for a week and were going away as far as they could every day! Poor
sods – being stuck there – I think we managed an hour at the most and
that was more than enough.

Not being brave enough to risk lunch in Merlimont we headed North
towards Boulogne and went into the old town where there is a
restaurant that we like called La Poivere, the food is fantastic,
reasonably priced and the staff make you really welcome.

We considered buying petrol for a bit only to find that the price is
1.41 Euros a litre, this works out at the current rate (1gbp =
1.46eur) as about the same price as in the UK – if anything its more
expensive than the petrol we bought from the Total garage in
Canters. I am quite shocked – it was only a few years ago that
petrol in France was about half the price.

As usual we visited a hypermarket in order to buy some food and wine,
after working the prices out (as usual) it seems that not just petrol
has shot up in price. In the end we bought a load of stuff we
couldn’t get easily in the UK – quality sausages etc and a random
selection of wines (that were cheaper than in the UK).

All in all we had a good day – though I do feel a tad drained now –
but I put that down to the Merlimont Poisoner and her dodgy crepe
which didn’t seem to agree with me.

A new feature: Beer of the Day

There will be more installments of beers I deem worthy.

Innis & Gunn Oak Aged Beer.

Sourced from Sainsburies at 2 for 3.

Allegedly its brewed in old whisky barrels and was Supreme Champion in the International Beer Competition 2004.

Anyway its 6.6% by volume and is very damned nice.

Don’t forget that alcohol should be consumed responsibly.

Today I have to survive a trip to Bluewater with three women.

Sob

Well we were going to go to France for the day, wander down to Merlimont for the market in the morning, stop for a gentle spot of lunch and then collect some vino on the return leg.

So on Thursday I got “freshers flu” – which is a lame excuse for a bug I guess.

Anyway once the gurgling had subsided we decided rather than to waste the day to visit Ikea, no I am not ensure what the difference is either but there we go.

Ikea confuses me somewhat, particularly their “restaurant” – and I use the phrase generously. Anyway heres a hint, if you are going to eat the meat balls – go for the kiddies meals and have a couple of them – 2 x kiddies meals = 10 meatballs = £2, 1 x adult meal of 10 meatballs = £2.95. Also this way you get more chips and save money – bargain. Don’t ask me what the sense is, but kiddies meals will do me, the saving there offsets the 70p credit card surcharge that they insist on foisting onto their customers who pay with credit cards.

Anyway we now have the lounge full of constructed pine shelving, which is due to go into the shed as its mayhem in there. The shelving needs a minor adjustment that a jigsaw can sort out in around five minutes and then once we have emptied the shed (a dry day Sunday would be good) the shelves can go in and be connected up. Woo hoo.

In the meantime I have to steel myself for a trip to Bluewater on Saturday, mrspao is meeting her friend and her daughter to “catch up”. I expect that the day will be absolutely enthralling. Wish me luck.

For anyone who wants to become an organ donor (see a few entries below for at least one good reason the place to register on the internet if you reside in the UK is here: http://www.uktransplant.org.uk it only takes a moment.

I fully understand why you would not want me to have your corneas, but they or any other bits could be usefull to someone else who is in need.

I also appreciate that you may have moral, ethical or religious grounds – thats fine.

But for you apathetic readers out there who just cannot be bothered, here is a thought for you: the odds are that it is likely that you will need a donation of one variety or another during the course of your lifetime and so you could help improve someone elses life.

Besides they are no good to you when you are deceased.

Thankyou.

I now have an appointment to see the consultant about my eyes.

Roll on Tuesday the 11th of October.

Dunno why but I am feeling exhausted and have done for the last few days, have arrived home eaten and gone to bed and thats about it.

Anyway got to go mrspao wants a curry ordering.

… and indeed the letter has arrived saying: “final stages of kerataconus in left eye and early symptoms in right eye.” The letter also confirms that I need a transplant and which consultant to see.

My GP then mentioned that there is a minimum three month wait for the consultant, so I asked about going private for that bit to move things along a bit. My GP agreed that its a reasonable course to take, and so will get an appointment made. So now I am waiting for the consultants appointment which should be in the next couple of weeks.

The three months could make a big difference as I have a potentially long wait for the operation once I have seen the consultant and also it could take a year or so for the left eye to settle down and be really usuable. Knowing that the right eye will need doing at some point as well, I want to get the left done and fully working again.

Also many thanks to dmc for the photos of the eye, they will be adorning this blog at some point once I have done a wee jobbie on them.

Finally muchas thanks to mrspao – the hugs are much appreciated as boy do I need them. To be honest I am terrified of whats going on. Yes rationally I know its a simple operation all straight forward etc etc. BUT I AM WORRIED OK?

I made a discovery today and to be honest I am not sure how I feel about it.

Firstly though, lets gather the evidence:
1. SWMBO knows how to use vi – admittedly mrspao needed to learn vi so she could send email whilst at Uni back in the early 90s.
2. SWMBO likes playing larn – too many hours spent on terminals again at Uni in the early 90s, I have pointed out that installing it onto her laptop is not an issue, mrspao pointed out that beating me with a handbag is not an issue.
3. SWMBO has a MSc Computer Science degree – OK this was mainly to make her more employable – but still it shows interest – and yes she really did do her dissertation on the physical layer transaction handshaking with wireless networks or some such, and yes reading chapter 2 – the radio bit of it was sleep inducing.
4. SWMBO is thinking of buying an iBook – her VAIO is dying and is four years old, and she likes my Mac – only designers and geeks (who don’t have their heads up the backside of the GPL like Macs) it seems. Oh also they are girly pretty apparently.
5. SWMBO has been seen on IRC – I will say no more.
6. SWMBO now has a blog – and waited for me to discover it, I didn’t; so she had to tell me.

I think its time to annouce that my wife is a geek.

Should I be worried?
Should I be afraid?
Should I be proud?
Should I be pleased?
Should I run for my life?

I know not the answer to these things, however mrspao is loverly.

SWMBO was away last night, so I had to fare for myself.

Around midnight I pottered off to bed and tried to get to sleep. At which point Merlin (one of our cats) decided that he wanted to come in and was going to scratch the window until I let him in.

Since we have a catflap downstairs that is unlocked I decided that he could bloody well go downstairs and use the catflap on his own.

scratch scratch scratch

An hour or so later he was still scratching, so I opened the window – so he could jump through. No he just sat there and looked at me and proceeded to scratch the bloody window, despite the fact that he can jump through the bloody window. (For those of you that don’t know the opening is at the top and so needs a jump of around four feet).

scratch scratch scratch

Evntually I gave in, I wanted to sleep and was getting pissed off. So I went downstairs and opened the back door – which is NEXT to the catflap (ours is in the wall) and Merlin duly strolled in without a care in the world.

On the return trip to bed I checked to see that the bathroom plumbing (and mine) was fully operational (which they both were) and went to bed.

Lo and behold the sodding cat is curled up asleep on the bed on the warm bit I had left and then had the neck to look most affronted when I went to shift him.

Well the shock and suprise have subsided, which is quite a nice feeling. If anything I am feeling somewhat relieved that I now know what is wrong with my eye (subject to consultant confirmation) and that something can at least be done about it.

SWMBO pointed out something that I forgot to mention in the last post (she was there at the appointment), in that although one eye needs doing now, the other one is also in early stages of keratoconus as well according to the optician.

Anyway I am not going to worry about the right eye as the prescription for that has not changed in three years, unlike the left which we can’t even do a prescription for.

A thought has occurred to me though, assuming that it is keratoconus and requires a cornea transplant, a suitable cornea needs to be located. Corneas come from donors and can only be extracted from the deceased withing 24 hours and then kept for up to 30 days. Anyhow is it morally wrong to hope for someone to become deceased in order that I can have their cornea? Yes I know that I am really after a bit of a dead person however in order to have the bit the person needs to become deceased.

Its an odd feeling.

Also I know most people reading this are likely to be friends who are bored or really random people in internet land – but go on get a Donor Card – you have loverly eyes and I want them!

Seriously though a quick rummage round the internet with Googles assistance show that there seems to be around a 2 year wait for corneas. So although I may well go for a private consultation appointment to get myself on the register earlier than the good old NHS consultation will get me on there – unless private medical facilities employ assassins then I will still have a potentially long wait.