A sunny welcome home/how many bridges?

I travelled home today.  No reduction in bill from the hotel, or any mention of the result of their inquiries.

I'm still ill and the journey took its toll. I'd decided to contact NHS Direct via 111 to arrange to see a GP at the Walk In Centre in Hexham when I arrived. 5 days of diarrhoea and abdominal pain needed action! I am a shadow of my former self.

Today I discovered that NHS Direct, like many another state system, has rigid rules that make no allowance for unusual situations.  You have to be dealt with in the County you are standing in when you make the call.  I started at Hemel Hempstead where I answered the long list of questions from the operator.  Then I had a call back from a doctor - by this time I'm on the train for Kings Cross.  He agreed that I needed to be seen but could do nothing unless I was going to be seen in Hemel H.

"Ring NHS Direct again", he said helpfully. At Kings Cross, I did. "Are you on the East or West side of the station?" "What is the postcode?"  This operator got quite stroppy when I tried to prevent her from asking all the same questions and to see if she could get me an appointment. 

Perhaps I won't bore you with all the details, but it got worse and worse. They cannot put you through to NHS Direct anywhere else in the country. (Don't we have phone connections I foolishly wondered.)  I had to wait until I was in Northumberland and start again. And yes, I had to answer every question yet again.

I saw a GP at 3pm which was terrific. He agreed I need antibiotics after a stool sample. Now my dilemma is that the ones he has prescribed don't appear on any protocol for acute diarrhoea I can find.

I'm currently waiting to speak to a nurse about it. I can't speak to a GP and I doubt the nurse will be able to answer the query.

Otherwise, I was again helped several times with my suitcase by both young men and women in London.  

It is lovely to be home and in my own bed.

I'm pleased to have managed to take any image today. This one from the train which, for once, did not stop on the bridge.