Tired Tootsies
Mar. 21st, 2005 09:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
smofbabeAs I mentioned previously, my backpack/wheelie attacked me on the jetway in Frankfurt on the way to Bangalore. I used bandages supplied by the hotel, which resulted by the fourth day in contact dermatitis on one side. By the time I got to the UK, it had gotten pretty bad. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bohemiancoast and spouse found a drop-in medical clinic chain with a branch at Victoria Station and that's where I started my day today.
The Medicentre web site had a price listing that showed a nurse's visit at £40, so I figured I'd have to get a receipt and then duke it out with my HMO on my return to the US. After only about a 15-minute wait, a very cheerful nurse led me to an office and asked me to explain my problem. I explained that I wasn't sure either the wound or the dermatitis was infected but given that they were both still red and the dermatitis hurt, I thought I'd better have someone check it out. When she responded "Fair enough," I confirmed my suspicion from her accent that she was Australian! So, we had a nice chat about Australia while she irrigated both sites and then called in a doctor to make sure nothing evil was going on. (She also tweezered out some teeny bits of sock thread: in case you've never experienced it, it's nearly impossible to see or effectively treat your own heel!) She put on a dressing, instructing me to keep it dry for at least 24 hours. (That should be interesting given that although I have a plastic bag I can use, I have no idea whether my host has any elastic bands or, if so, where they might be!) She was kind enough to give me the rest of the dressing pack and some hypoallergenic tape to go with it.
Then came the pleasant surprise: just when I was whipping out my credit card to pay at the front desk, the receptionist said, "That will be £5 for the dressing." I asked about the visit and she said no, that was it!
From there, I headed up to Baker Street to a famous kosher deli for a "salt beef" sandwich on rye. This turned out to be sort of like corned beef only milder and more tender. (I gulped a little at spending US$17 for a sandwich and fries but it was my only meal of the day, so...)
Then, it was off to the Science Museum. Thanks to all of you who recommended going to the Science Museum. The place is chock-full of fascinating exhibits, including a history of computing area complete with part of Charles Babbage's brain, an interesting exhibit on the history of telecommunications, including a spark transmitter carried in the trenches in WWI to be balanced on a bayonet, and lots of 18th century artifacts collected or built by Stephen Demainbray, former tutor to the royal family and then evidently model-maker and lecturer for George III. I'm embarassed that I'd never heard of him before.
My most anticipated museum trip was to the V&A, to see the collection of Princess Maud's clothes that I wrote about previously. It did not disappoint! Boy, that woman had good taste! And boy, they don't make clothes like they used to! One of the more interesting aspects of the exhibit is that the V&A has an extensive collection of sketches and photographs from the famous designer Charles Worth. Many of the outfits in the current exhibit match some of these, and you can see how they were changed to fit the client. Also, Princess Maud's dressers kept an extensive list of what she wore so you can see what type of dress was worn to various types of events. I highly recommend this exhibit. Although I couldn't bring myself to spend the £30 for the book about it, you might want to if you can't visit the actual collection.
Fortuitously, some email this morning on one of my lists mentioned a monthly get-together that Pat Cadigan does at the Borders Books on Oxford Street so I went there afer the museums. Tonight's guests were Liz Williams (whom I'll see again Wednesday night at the BSFA meeting) and Richard Morgan. It was fairly routine until towards the end, when a question about Morgan's work with Marvel segued into a 10-minute discussion about the excessive patriotism of Americans! I popped in briefly at the pub gathering afterward but the smoke drove me home.
Tomorrow I think will be a rest day: laundry and my finally starting the manuscript that I should have started working on today!
bohemiancoast and spouse found a drop-in medical clinic chain with a branch at Victoria Station and that's where I started my day today.The Medicentre web site had a price listing that showed a nurse's visit at £40, so I figured I'd have to get a receipt and then duke it out with my HMO on my return to the US. After only about a 15-minute wait, a very cheerful nurse led me to an office and asked me to explain my problem. I explained that I wasn't sure either the wound or the dermatitis was infected but given that they were both still red and the dermatitis hurt, I thought I'd better have someone check it out. When she responded "Fair enough," I confirmed my suspicion from her accent that she was Australian! So, we had a nice chat about Australia while she irrigated both sites and then called in a doctor to make sure nothing evil was going on. (She also tweezered out some teeny bits of sock thread: in case you've never experienced it, it's nearly impossible to see or effectively treat your own heel!) She put on a dressing, instructing me to keep it dry for at least 24 hours. (That should be interesting given that although I have a plastic bag I can use, I have no idea whether my host has any elastic bands or, if so, where they might be!) She was kind enough to give me the rest of the dressing pack and some hypoallergenic tape to go with it.
Then came the pleasant surprise: just when I was whipping out my credit card to pay at the front desk, the receptionist said, "That will be £5 for the dressing." I asked about the visit and she said no, that was it!
From there, I headed up to Baker Street to a famous kosher deli for a "salt beef" sandwich on rye. This turned out to be sort of like corned beef only milder and more tender. (I gulped a little at spending US$17 for a sandwich and fries but it was my only meal of the day, so...)
Then, it was off to the Science Museum. Thanks to all of you who recommended going to the Science Museum. The place is chock-full of fascinating exhibits, including a history of computing area complete with part of Charles Babbage's brain, an interesting exhibit on the history of telecommunications, including a spark transmitter carried in the trenches in WWI to be balanced on a bayonet, and lots of 18th century artifacts collected or built by Stephen Demainbray, former tutor to the royal family and then evidently model-maker and lecturer for George III. I'm embarassed that I'd never heard of him before.
My most anticipated museum trip was to the V&A, to see the collection of Princess Maud's clothes that I wrote about previously. It did not disappoint! Boy, that woman had good taste! And boy, they don't make clothes like they used to! One of the more interesting aspects of the exhibit is that the V&A has an extensive collection of sketches and photographs from the famous designer Charles Worth. Many of the outfits in the current exhibit match some of these, and you can see how they were changed to fit the client. Also, Princess Maud's dressers kept an extensive list of what she wore so you can see what type of dress was worn to various types of events. I highly recommend this exhibit. Although I couldn't bring myself to spend the £30 for the book about it, you might want to if you can't visit the actual collection.
Fortuitously, some email this morning on one of my lists mentioned a monthly get-together that Pat Cadigan does at the Borders Books on Oxford Street so I went there afer the museums. Tonight's guests were Liz Williams (whom I'll see again Wednesday night at the BSFA meeting) and Richard Morgan. It was fairly routine until towards the end, when a question about Morgan's work with Marvel segued into a 10-minute discussion about the excessive patriotism of Americans! I popped in briefly at the pub gathering afterward but the smoke drove me home.
Tomorrow I think will be a rest day: laundry and my finally starting the manuscript that I should have started working on today!
