Ooh – has it really been three weeks?
I did mean to update this thing more often, you know – but I’m doing better than I used to, so it’s a positive start, I guess.
Just a few catchy-uppy things.
My 5-yr old (”I’m five and a half, Daddy!”) impressed me a short while back. She decided she wanted to try to con the tooth fairy. She told me her plan, and roped me in to help. So we found some pictures of teeth on the internet, cut them out, and left them under her pillow. Cunning plan!
She was a little disappointed when she woke up in the morning to find that the tooth fairy had taken her pictures of teeth, and left her a picture of a coin!
Sometimes the world just works and it presents Dads with great opportunities like this. I’ll be telling that story for years, I’m sure!
What next? Oh, yes – on the way home from work on Tuesday, I found I had a pain in my chest. It was quite painful, but in that terribly British way of not wanting to make a fuss, I said nothing, sure that it would be fine by the time I got home. It wasn’t. I went out later, sure it would be fine over the course of the evening. It wasn’t. So, I went to bed, sure I would wake up with it fine. I didn’t. (Well, I woke up, just not pain-free).
I logged onto the NHS Direct website (this was about 5.30am) and started typing in my symptoms. A BIG red box flashed on screen with large writing telling me to dial 999. I didn’t. I thought it was a bit melodramatic. Instead I called the out-of-hours GP. I described my symptoms and the operator told me. “Please hold on – I’m transferring you to the ambulance service”). I was told to make sure a light was on, and to leave the door open.
Eek.
They arrived and hooked me up to an ECG machine. Everything seemed fine. To be on the safe side I was taken into hospital, where they repeated the test, took some blood to do other tests, and gave me an x-ray.
Everything fine, and they didn’t know why I had the pain (which sounded like a heart attack, but wasn’t). A couple of paracetamol later, and I was sent on my way.
A bit mystifying, but hey-ho.
The next day the pain was still there, but by early evening it had all but disappeared, and it’s gone now.
Such an adventure. All my Twitter buddies kept me company, which was nice, and when I told Paul Cornell that I felt a bit guilty for wasting people’s time at the hospital he told me not to be so silly – that they wouldn’t think that way, and neither should I. He’s right, of course, but I still felt a bit of a fraud.
In other news, I’ve been going to the gym every week since the beginning of the year. I do feel better for it, too. That, combined with more sensible eating, and slightly smaller portions, means I’ve lost a bit of weight, but more importantly, I feel fitter.
Lastly, today I visited Edinburgh Napier University to give a talk to their MA Creative Writing class about creative and market trends in SF&F, and to talk a little about networking (of the real-world and social varieties). I was a little nervous, as it’s been ages since I’ve addressed a group like this, but it went swimmingly, and I had a great time. And when they laughed at me, it was always in response to a joke of some description. Which was nice.
Oh, and the iPad? Yeah, I want. And yes, I know all the arguments against, but come on! It’s soooo purdy…
Later…
Glad you’re feeling better. I had a similar set of symptoms once, ignored them also for three days, went in for a stress test, and turned out to be fine as well. The doctor actually said, “You are in better shape than you think you are, Mr. King.”
As are you, Mr. Harris.
Photo of a coin – priceless. One of the best anecdotes I’ve heard in ages.
i’d keep that story for a long time. it doesn’t seem often you can outsmart kid logic. they always seem to have some piece of kid fact which makes you struggle to say why they’re wrong.