**A trip to Spain part 6**
A trip to Spain part 6 Here in the hospital it is 8:45AM Monday the 9th of May. I have been waiting for the arrival of my small breakfast and coffee. I have had a nurse take two lots of blood which were squirted into 4 tubes for 4 different tests. The one who came in earlier with the face mask and said she would be back in about 20 minutes an hour ago or so has not returned yet. Then another nurse came in and took my temperature, measured my blood pressure and pulse rate. Then the blood nurse came back needing some arterial blood this time. I am feeling a bit drained now and still looking forward to my coffee. I’ve had nothing since dinner yesterday evening.
I am beginning to wonder where Prat One is; he came to visit me the day of my internment here but since I then I have not seen or heard from him. I can’t get him on my mobile phone and of course not on Skype or email because the mysteries of the free internet connection in this hospital have not been resolved yet. Maybe if it was charged for, like the TV, the solution to the problem would be found more quickly. I know it does work because Prat One connected to it while visiting me 2 days ago. The crazy thing is that I am able to send text messages to people in England, Canada, Australia and my sister who lives in Spain but I can’t phone anyone in Spain or get a text reply from Prat One who, as far as I know, is only about 6kms from the hospital.
Later he told me “I decided to go back by bus because the cab was expensive , but ended up on the highway with an hour’s long walk back in the heat after which I felt like walking back and admitting myself.”
It is now 9:15AM still no breakfast – in England they will wake you up about 7AM for breakfast. I thought it had arrived a short while ago but it was a nurse to take my blood pressure etc. and to give me two pills to take; but as I realised after she left that I have used up the bottle water supplied yesterday that will be difficult to do.
Breakfast delivered and devoured and a new bottle of water so pills have been swallowed too.
Let’s go back to the day of our arrival at the bus station in Denia. We were trying to get in touch with Jackie, our landlady. Failing abysmally on our mobiles Prat One went to a nearby shop and asked them to call her number for us. He returned – mission completed – and a few minutes later Jackie arrived. It became apparent that we were a short walk from the apartment she was renting to us.
That is a short walk for Prat One and a struggle for this Prat. Jackie took charge of my recalcitrant suitcase and shortly after our journeys came to an end, finally. The flat was a pleasant surprise, it sleeps 5 plus some more on the sofa beds in the spacious living room- plenty of room for two Prats. There are two bathrooms, one with a walk in shower the other with a raised bath that both of us will never use because the chances of falling out of that and breaking an arm are too high. The kitchen is large enough for multiple chefs and Jackie left us explaining recently that a new “induction” electric cooker had been installed replacing the old worn out gas one.
Three days later we still hadn’t worked how to use it. We can eat on the balcony overlooking a green area from the sixth floor balcony. A large dish aerial was attached to the adjacent wall so I was looking forward to watching the football match between Liverpool and Villareal the following day.
It is now midday in Denia and I have just been wheeled back to my room after being given lessons on a treadmill to determine just how incapable I am. They started me off on what would have been a canter on a horse. Not being a horse they slowed it down somewhat and having had a quick shufty at the readings on their instruments attached to me by long wires stopped it altogether, much to my relief. I am now plugged into the oxygen supply in my room again waiting for lunch to arrive – I have forgotten when it arrived yesterday already. It is good that I have this writing to do because without it I would go spare – I bore easily, or should that be I get bored easily?
Part 7 will follow but I have to write most of it.
