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I was released from the Churchill Hospital at 4pm on Thursday with a large bag of medication, This included a two week dose of cefazolin, an antibiotic. This needed to be handed over to the dialysis nurses in the renal unit at MKUH where it would be used for intravenous application at the end of …

Wide Awake

It’s just before 4am as I write this. The middle of yet another sleepless night. I have seen each hour of the night so far and it’s been like this for days now. The sleeping tablets (Amitriptyline) had limited effect and I have stopped taking them. Basically they made me drowsy but did not result …

I’ve got the Big ‘C’ ….. but not that one!

The diagnosis came through this afternoon. After months of keeping clear of it I have tested positive. Positive for Covid. I think it was inevitable - working in a secondary school in England, where we have few restrictions means that Covid is spreading. Schools are the new hotbed of disease and I encounter hundreds of …

Back To Work

The Alexa speaker alarm goes off. It is 5:45am, in my usual workday routine I will listen to the radio (UCB1) whilst coming round and jump into the shower by 6:45am. Downstairs to eat breakfast and make lunch whilst listening to Radio 4, before leaving the house at 7:30am. It takes 25 mins to drive …

Barrier

My year long sick leave is over. I have been signed back for to work. This has meant an end to ESA (Employment Support Allowance) and a move to JSA (Job Seekers Allowance). This is something I want to be on for as short a time as possible. Being on benefits is a bit soul …

Strange September

For years I have hated the first week of September- the return to work after the long summer break. The sudden imposition of schedules and meetings on what was free space. It always started with INSET days. Staff Training Days ahead of the pupils return. Necessary but for those who prefer to be at the …

Term End

Today is the first day of the Summer Holidays for all my colleagues at Isamilo International  School. Yesterday they gathered to say their goodbyes and to pack up their rooms for the summer. The traditional leaving gifts were presented (a dressing gown made from local kitengi cloth). Throughout the week leaving parties have been had …

Mwanza

A post about the place I lived for almost three years on the day my son flies out to visit.

Work Day

Today has been a day of work. Its been a bit strange but nice to do something purposeful. It seems strange to me at least to be enjoying the fact of doing work. I generally prefer time off to work. However, after seven weeks in which most of the time I have been doing nothing …

Work

Today I have done one of the very last things I need to do for my work as a teacher in Mwanza. Something I can do here in Lincoln, to prepare the end of year exams for Year 10.  The only other thing I will need to do is to mark those exams electronically in …

Wrenched Away

The whirlwind which has blown through my life in the past month has taken its toll both physically as well as emotionally. The speed of the process has been the most devastating. Little did I think when I boarded  the overnight bus to Nairobi on the 2nd April I did not imagine that would be …