Wednesday

Waiting Room


For reasons largely beyond my control I find myself sitting in the waiting room of a specialist at Bath Royal United Hospital. If you have never experienced the National Health Service and don't live in the U.K. you may find this strange. The NHS is a fantastic facility which does wonderful things for many people that they could never afford privately. But as with any nationalised institution there is usually a heavy demand for waiting. In fact you can expect to spend a lot of your time with the NHS simply waiting. If you haven't planned for this it can be very irritating, fortunately I have been there before and when I saw on the notice board that the average waiting time was 55 to 65 minutes I was actually quite relieved.

Because while everyone else was huffing, puffing and fidgeting through old magazines I was quietly polishing my poem. I don't embarrass easily so I had no problem sitting in this large waiting room with the poem balanced on an old copy of Country Life. The man sat to my right was nosing over my shoulder which did become annoying after a while. In the end I asked him for his thoughts on the second line of stanza three at which point he turned red and wouldn't look at me any more. As I said I don't embarrass easily.

My wait proved nearly as therapeutic as my consultation which believe it or not involves another three months wait. I got a lot done and I'm really pleased so far, I wasn't just in the zone today I had time to walk about a bit and even redecorate it. Perhaps waiting is good for you after all.


Peace Dave.

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