Photography not allowed

Hospitalisation, Day 12

The doctor was supposed to come to me today with word of an earlier date for my bypass operation, but all I got was a secondhand report from his junior, who told me he'd 'tried to contact the Mater' (the hospital to which I'll be transferred for surgery) but hadn't been able to get through. I must admit to feeling a bit fobbed off at this stage, apart from being totally and utterly bored with hospital life.

I took a break after our evening meal and went down to the main entrance and out for a breath of fresh air. I sat on a bench in the pleasant sunshine for a while, and then began to make my way back to the ward, blipping on the way. I crouched down to take a shot of this timber fence, and that's when this officious idiot came over to me to say 'Excuse me sir, but photography is not allowed in the hospital grounds'. I blew up. I asked why there should be any problem with someone photographing a fence, and he said 'It's hospital policy'. I told him the policy was nonsense, and he then wanted t know my name and ward, which I refused to give him. Then he got on his walkie-talkie to 'Control' to report a patient who was taking photographs and had got 'argumentative' when asked to stop. I don't know what 'Control' said to him, but I told him he wasn't doing my health any god with his attitude, that I had a heart complaint, and that stress of this sort brought on my symptoms.

I walked away from him, heart pounding, chest paining, in a cold sweat ... I had to stop and rest when I found a place to sit down.

So here we are: This innocent photograph of a not especially interesting-looking fence has been blipped under rather strange circumstances.

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LATER EDIT: All blips from the days of my hospital incarceration so far are in the can and ready to upload. All I have to do is find an opportunity to do that. I've now (Wednesday evening 10th June) been transferred to the Mater hospital, where my bypass is due on friday.