Livejournal, alive-oh!

[steepholm]

Well, I'm out of hospital! There were many good things about the place, including excellent wifi for the most part, but for reasons I can't even guess at I was quite unable to post to, or read, Livejournal for the week of my stay, which was very frustrating!

Not that I'd been planning to squick you out with surgical details, but it would have been nice to keep in touch and all. I did make a couple of Dreamwidth entries, though, here and here.

Tl;dr version is that the surgery went well, and I was well served in convalescence by having politics, the Euros and Wimbledon all happening at the same time, besides the antics of a family of fledgling kestrels just outside my window. I'm now staying with friends in Portsmouth for a few days, before my eventual return to Bristol, where ashkitty has kindly been sitting Jessie for me.

And now, I have a week's worth of posts to catch up on...

Comments

[ron-broxted.livejournal.com]

You were ill, now you're better.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

A neat summary!

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the real world! :o)

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Thanks - it's brave and new!

[maellenkleth]

Chiara beat me to it, so it seems.

Seriously, though, welcome. Things are different here, Persephone....

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, this evening I was eating pomegranates.

[maellenkleth]

Advice hard-won:

Never eat pomegranates on the Northern Line. Never.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

I could read one of your DW posts, but not the other, which was locked. (If you want to open it up, I'm calimac rather than kalimac over there.)

Anaesthetic. I've only twice been put totally out, and had no trouble. But people differ greatly there.

Also in food. Pumpkin and aubergine would not appeal to me. I don't like the taste of pumpkin, and find aubergine to be literally inedible, as in, I have never succeeded in chewing any to swallowable condition. The fact that in the US we call it eggplant does not make it sound more appetizing.

But I'm pleased all was a success, and that it was as enjoyable as a hospital stay could be.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I've friended you (or whatever the DW term is) and opened the entry, so you should have no trouble now.

I'm neutral about pumpkin, but love aubergine. I know it's not to everyone's taste, but it does sound as if yours may not have been properly cooked.

Thank you! It was very enjoyable, considering.

[maellenkleth]

mmmm, now there's a memory from the late Palaeozoic era....

in hospital, that was the very last time in my life, that I ate (and thoroughly enjoyed!) asparagus soup.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

Welcome back! I'm glad all went well. Does everyone get kestrels, or are they a chargeable extra?

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Kestrels are gratis! And very entertaining.

[maellenkleth]

I had swallows and a rose-arbour. ^_^

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Very nice!

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Sea view (same part of the world as you as it happens) and a visiting hospital cat in my case. Ten days bed rest back then of course.

[maellenkleth]

Ah, yes, I quite forgot the cat therapy!

[vschanoes.livejournal.com]

Glad you're out and feel well. Hope your recuperation is swift and smooth!

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'll no doubt be commenting on it here, but not I hope to the point of tediousness.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Woohoo! Been thinking about you, hoping all went well, with as little hassle as possible. Wishing a fast recovery!

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

It couldn't have gone more smoothly (so far), all things considering. As I said this morning (by ticking the requisite box on the inevitable feedback form), I'd recommend to to my friends and family...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Good to have you back...

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Good to be here.

[sovay]

Well, I'm out of hospital!

Glad to have you here.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Pleased to be back!

[andrewducker]

Congrats on successful surgery. May your recovery be swift, and it make you much happier.

(I have a friend who moved to Brighton for very similar reasons, and it seems to be working for them.)

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Thank you. One day at a time, but it seems to be working so far - and my friends in Portsmouth are taking most excellent care of me.

[aryky.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! It is good to hear at least one piece of good news and everything running smoothly coming from the UK ;-)

In reference to your thread about aubergine up above, I have to admit that my own personal experience is that there is a huge difference between eggplant in the US and aubergine in Eurasia. Eggplant in the US is terrible and bland, whereas aubergine in Eurasia is one of the wonders of existence. I don't know if this is just me but I do know of some other people who had similar experiences.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Ah, that may explain it. I'm pretty sure I've never eaten the American version.

And thank you. :)

[ethelmay.livejournal.com]

Depends who is cooking it. I've had lots of wonderful eggplant dishes in the US. I think the larger eggplants (the ones that are actually egg-shaped and not more like zucchini/courgettes) are more apt to be woody and dull than the Asian ones, but if you know how to buy them they're fine.

[aryky.livejournal.com]

It seems quite plausible to me that it's not a pure issue of location but more an issue of Americans having some tendency to prefer larger foods even when they're less tasty! The kind of epitome of eggplant that I experienced was these tiny Balinese eggplants that were maybe the size of oranges but were. . . I had them 4.5 years ago. I still want them. Right now. It seemed lilely even at the time that they were so good because they were so small.

Glad to hear a good kind is available in the US, at least.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad to hear that everything went smoothly and that you're recovering well.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I'm pretty bruised and swollen, but basically sound!

[topum.livejournal.com]

Welcome back.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

It's good to be here.

[booksandtea.livejournal.com]

I have been thinking of you. Glad to hear everything went well! I wish I had fledgling kestrels outside my window. I only get pidgeons.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I saw a kestrel sitting next to a baby rabbit at one point. They seemed quite companionable, but I felt he was dozing on the job.

[sheldrake.livejournal.com]

Congrats! So cool that they laid on kestrels for you.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

It was pretty cool!

[heliopausa.livejournal.com]

Best wishes for continued pleasant convalescence, with not too much interesting politics! (i.e. not much too interesting politics. I'm just about interesting-ed out, myself. a little dullness would be very welcome.)

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I was interested enough in the interestingness of our times to check whether it really was a Chinese curse earlier today. As I rather suspected, it's not.

[heliopausa.livejournal.com]

Thank you! So it can be reliably dated only as far as UK diplomat-talk in 1939 - which was indeed for them an interesting time. I can imagine how the faux-proverb grew from corridor exchanges heavy with implications.

[gillpolack.livejournal.com]

Belated glad to hear. Small thing in the post. I hope it gets to you safely.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

That's very kind. I'd love to send you something too, as a fellow convalescent. Do you think you could email me your address?

[gillpolack.livejournal.com]

I'd be happy to. I love getting things in the post!

[gillpolack.livejournal.com]

I hadn't thought about it, but my illness was lifechanging. Just in an entirely different way. I still think your hospital visit is the stuff of major celebrations and one day we'll be civilised enough to accept it as more important than graduation.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Belatedly, I am pleased it went well, and welcome back!

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Thank you!