Well, my cousin Margaret has started something with an innocent comment. It led to me looking up Chris Farlowe on YouTube, and blow me if that didn't take me to a whole host of early 1960's bands and soloists, their television recordings preserved for all time. The Tremeloes, Herman's Hermits, Adam Faith, The Hollies, Sandie Shaw, blast after blast of the past. It was wonderful. I remember watching a TV programme years ago about a woman who was addicted to Jim Reeves and played his records all day long. She spent her life mooning after him, unable to do anything else. I caught a glimpse of how easy it would be to enter a parallel world as I watched those bands, and turned the computer off before I became hooked. But it was unsettling.
Another unsettling experience has been waking up this morning to waves of pain in my right side which Google quickly confirmed as passing a kidney stone. As the pain built in intensity I made an emergency visit to my doctor, and blow me if the pain didn't subside. She took it seriously anyway, and instigated urine sample, blood test and scan to see exactly what is going in. More importantly from my point of view she gave me some very powerful painkillers which I can take if need be. Back home I've been drinking lots and waiting to see what will happen next. As always when something like this occurs I can't help thinking of people living in Third World countries or war zones where medical help is unavailable and they just have to suffer. So instead of thinking "Why me?" I thought "Why Not Me?". But I can say that, can't I, safe in the knowledge that extra-strong codeine tablets are within arm's reach, and the good old NHS is just down the road.
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