After a short absence... I've just returned from a three week stay in my local hospital. Hence the gap in the blog. Not an experience I'd like to repeat but one which gave me cause for reflection. Somehow priorities are reviewed, my gripes compared with those of others far worse off than I and seem to diminish. People take a suddenly more important place than things. It was revealing, to me. I'm curious to see if that view remains with me over the next few days and weeks or longer.

A physical side effect I now recall from being about eleven years old. Then, I'd had an operation and was off my feet for some six weeks whilst bones knit. The result was a seemingly total wasting of muscle which wasn't used. It took me weeks before I could use them again! Then it was simply my calf muscles. This time, I've been (largely) on my back in bed, through choice partly. I was mobile but simply walked up and down a corridor a dozen times a day. The impact was not dissimilar to that on my calf muscles. After only twenty four days I feel knackered if I walk quickly, for longer than about ten minutes or exert myself. It's amazing (to me). Admitted I've lost weight too, some two stone, which must contribute to some extent. Quite a salutary lesson.

Whilst in there I was free to read and write. I guess I cleared some three thousand pages and have only another few hundred to read to finish all the books I was brought! I have always enjoyed reading, though I admit it was pure fiction this time, I wasn't up to anything more - although I did, towards the end, start to read the elisp tutorial I'd downloaded onto my laptop. I find it quite relaxing to lose myself in a detective yarn for a couple of hours.

A friend was kind enough to loan me his 3G dongle whilst he and his wife went off to climb Machu Picchu, as you do! Since he was paying for it anyway, and it wasn't much use in Peru.. it made a good deal for me. Worked immaculately. Windows, driver installed at first go, registered and I was connected. Really impressed! I only hope I didn't exceed his data limit, which he denied having (or hadn't met?). I'd always thought them to be paid by the byte, but it is a long time since I looked at such kit. Either way, big thanks to Chris, I found it very useful and I'll settle up any charges when next I see you! Having internet access made the time pass more quickly and gave me something to do early morning, since I was generally awake by four or so. I kept a diary, if nothing else, to keep a tag on the medication changes which were fast and frequent. I was verging on the edge of the medical team, with the surgical boys hovering, if not quite sharpening their knives. Luckily the wonders of modern chemistry seem to have done the trick, though I'm still on quite a long list, reducing to a single maintenance drug over the next six weeks. I'm told that another relapse, and it's likely to be the surgeon next time. Mind you, I did get a recommendation. Guy in the opposite bed came in with one leg (war), liver cancer (inoperable - it would kill him), angina, chest infection, ileostomy ... otherwise OK. He reported on the surgeon, gave him ten out of ten for care and the cutting! I really wonder if I could have remained as cheerful as he was. Could you? He was uncomfortable (his words) but very nearly always cheerful. His family were with him daily and picked up on his laughter and love. It was a joy to see. Good luck Len. Anyway, that gave me some form of optimism should that scenario ever be realised.

Back home, I've a fairly long todo list, one of which was to start blogging again. The main one is to get back that fourteen kg and some vestige of strength! Another is to go through the rigmarole of piecing together a new PC from parts - why do motherboard makers, Intel, graphics card makers etc all have to change everything almost totally in the three years it takes me to decide to upgrade? I was a full day yesterday trying to figure out if I should move to 64 bits or not! The dependency list just about includes every piece of hardware and software from the CPU through motherboard to the applications I run. I'm tempted to buy 64 bits, install a 32 bit Linux and run PAE until I'm more aware of the list of missing 64 bit drivers for the apps I use. Anyway, just one more job to do.

Good to be back in harness though.