Needles and Yachts
I sat in the waiting room for 40 minutes reading an article about buying yachts in the February 2008 edition of “Country Life”. What a strange choice of magazine. My village in the South West of Ireland bears no resemblance to the Hamptons. It’s a nice village, but it’s not wealthy. We have a post office and a local shop. Most of the people here have normal humble lives. They work Monday to Friday, go for a few pints in the local at the weekend, go to Mass on a Saturday evening, and a package holiday to a beach resort in Spain once a year. Not a yacht in sight. At a stretch they might rent out a paddle boat while on holidays. Why on earth would the receptionist at the doctors put a magazine about buying yachts and mansions in East Sussex in the waiting room? Truly bizarre.
Anyway. The reason I went to my doctors was to get my travel shots. She stuck me full of Hepatitis A, Polio, Tetanus, Rabies, Diptheria and Typhoid antigens. I feel like a bit like a farm animal, getting jabbed all over my body. Whenever I have to get a shot, or when blood is taken, I look. I have to see what’s going on. I stare. It puts the doctor off sometimes.
“Quit staring at me.”
“I’m not staring at you. I’m staring at the needle.”
“Well just stop it.”
But I keep staring. I think that it’s better to know what’s happening. Looking away just heightens the unpleasant thrill that comes before a needle is forced into your arm. My doctor said I was “hard as nails”. I’m not. I just don’t like painful surprises. “So. How’s work?”
“Ah grand. You know yourself, working awayyYYY OWWWWWW! What the f&*$?!”
“Now. All done. You can pull your sleeve down.”
“I hate you.”
It’s just better to know what’s coming.
Tags: Still in Ireland
aoifka
Hey Aoife,
I was in yer exact same situation last year. Just do it girl, the amount of stuff I organised compared to what I really needed to do in the end was ridiculous. Bring a half full bag, yer passport and access to cash and thats all you really need. Everything else can be bought whereever you are going…
Best of luck,
Phil