Thread 8 - TalkLair: “Brewing Russell's teapot”

[Kucinghitam]

Continuation of previous threads (thread 7).

The new lair of JTT escapees is all cosy and homey; we have truly settled here. Outside, the garden is blooming with spring flowers. Inside, the hearth is glowing, pictures are up on the walls, rugs are down on the floors (and assorted pets curled up on them).

We just won’t mention the gnawed bones of our prey over there in the corner of the cave…

I think she might just be a bit bonkers.

I think we probably all are in our own way.

This is probably true!

Back from my CT scan, which was amazingly fast in itself, but I had to turn up an hour and a half early to drink a disgusting lemon-flavoured drink as a contrast medium, and then they injected me with one of those contrast thingys as well. Results later in my online chart. Do you get those in the UK now? We didn't have them before I left in 2002 and they're fairly recent here. I think my MyChart goes back about ten years.

We had online medical records at my last Trust (7 years since I retired!), along with online radiology, clinic letters, MDT discussions, cancer registry, GP notes and the usual pathology/haematology results. No “lost” notes ever again…

…until the awful afternoon when the entire IT system crashed and we were all completely useless and had access to NOTHING and NOBODY!

Gosh, it’s 7 years and 3 days since I retired, can’t believe I forgot the anniversary last week!

Aargh, no it isn’t, it was July, not June. One month after the EU referendum. I said how sad it was to be retiring just as we were getting all that lovely £350,000,000 a week, but would be sure to come and visit when they’d rebuilt the hospital in solid gold. There were a fair few shifty faces and averting of eyes at that.

Thanks for all your good wishes. ❤. angelica is home and quite knocked about. And she's clear - but will need regular checks. Phewf.

That’s good news @angelico53 hope she’s feeling less knocked about very soon.

Excellent news @angelico53 . Mine is also good - my doctor just called me to say nothing dodgy is on my scan and all should be well.

Yay and hooray for the good results! xxx

Great news @Britinme Phew!

Oh that's so good to hear!

Lost track of this thread again, glad to hear all well on the medical front today.

Late to the not-party but very glad that all is well with Angelica and you, @Britinme . Btw, I've had that horrible drink and it's very bleugh. On a par with the hideous banana-flavoured* spray, they give you to make your mouth numb for the endoscopy which is just stupid given that you're also getting sedation.

*It does not taste like any banana in existence but apparently does taste like a type of banana that we all used to eat until it went extinct and now we eat the current type. If the current type goes extinct? No more bananas.

Let's be fair; bananas aren't all that, really.

We had a banana tree and a papaya tree in our Bangkok garden, and that’s what we had for breakfast every day. (We had a mango tree too but I have never liked them. Such a weird texture and flavour!) Apples though, because they had to be imported, were beyond the reach of even my well-paid parents, and always the first thing we asked for on our trips back to the UK.

We had papaya in Nigeria too, but there they call it pawpaw.

I was born in India and lived there until I was almost five. I loved (and still love) mangoes, though not wild about papaya. When we returned to England, very occasionally my mum would find mangoes and lychees at the market and always bought them for us. I can still make a pig of myself on lychees.

Oh yes, lychees are lovely!

Glad to hear the good medical news @Britinme and @angelico53!

It does not taste like any banana in existence but apparently does taste like a type of banana that we all used to eat until it went extinct and now we eat the current type. If the current type goes extinct? No more bananas.

@MouseMinge It was Gros Michel (Big Mike ) that went extinct due to disease, and now IIRC the main commercial variety is Cavendish. Problem is that Big Banana™ didn't learn from the first extinction and went on to cultivate another single clone.

In SE Asia we have loads of banana varieties, all of which are far superior in flavour and texture to Cavendish. But they don't travel well. Skins too thin, flesh too delicate, etc.

Further random thoughts on tropical fruits...

My DDs are also not that keen on papaya, I have no idea why. But they love mango - again, I find the varieties we get in SE Asia much nicer (the texture of the flesh can be quite different).

If you like lychees, you'll also love longans (aka mata kucing or cat's eyes in Malay). They're smaller and have brown skin, but are exquisite succulent sweet things.

And if you like lychees and longans, something even better is rambutans. They look somewhat unpromising, with a thick red hairy skin, but the white juicy flesh inside is the most fragrant, sweet-with-a-hint-of-tartness perfection. Our school caretaker (the one who got summoned to beat up snakes) had a rambutan tree in his little fenced-off bit of garden, and when they ripened we used to throw sticks in an effort to knock down a bunch of two.

They sound great! Love mangoes and lychees. Fresh mango lassi: yum!"

Blimey! I got a papaya for my daughter yesterday. She's off school with a bad chest, I couldn't find any decent mangoes, but I got a couple of Sharon fruit, which are very similar in flavour.

I've had rambutans and can attest to their deliciousness.

Well! Just got a call from the BT broadband engineer, and was surprised and delighted that she’s a she! I’m not a wuss or a catastrophiser but have spent time this morning considering my vulnerability, none of my two men (macman and lodger) will be home for hours, so my knife rack is well stocked and the Heath Robinson kitchen half door “to keep the dogs in” is closed, giving me valuable seconds to arm myself while he works out how to open it.

How silly, but I always do it. “First rule of self-defence: be alert to your environment”.