Saturday 21st February, 2015                   1230

It’s not solitary confinement  by any stretch but it’s not exactly fun either.

Yes Mulan pops in to tend to me occasionally (when she’s not sleeping - she should have been a cat!) and I have the internet but three days now cooped up in the same room is not much fun.

The doctors said my thigh problem would last four days. Well after three it hasn’t improved much at all so I don’t see a miracle happening tomorrow. I did manage to get some sleep last night but woke up three times to relieve myself. No big deal normally but I can only sleep on my right side because of the hip and my temporary loo is on the other side, meaning I have to turn over and then get to the edge and sit up. I think I have a reasonable pain threshhold but it takes ten minutes of groans before I succeed. Certainly there are people much worse off than me but it doesn’t help! I simply must be able to use the crutches on the 4th for my first lessons.

I should have been arriving in Anqing in an hour and tonight as it is now open, dinner was to be in Pizza Hut. Instead it’s cottage pie. I’ve come to the conclusion that no matter how hard we try and plan things, life goes ahead and does exactly what it chooses and sod the rest.

Sunday 22nd                               1220

There are signs of very slight improvement, mainly that I can now sit in the chair without too much discomfort. Actually that’s not strictly true. After three days of either sitting in the chair or being in bed, Ollivier’s chair now feels hard and makes my backside ache! That has been relieved, at least for now, by sitting on a pillow.

Sadly it is a bright and sunny day outside.

Mulan has just gone to get some supplies of pijou and later this afternoon she is going to meet a friend working in town and they will go shopping for food. I believe the friend will be staying here at least for tonight, which is good for Mulan as obviously I am not the best of companions at present and although she sleeps for China she must get bored alone. I feel guilty about spoiling her holiday (even though she was coming back in two days anyway) and being what I always have been, an impatient and very grumpy patient.

She doesn’t have to cook tonight as the chilli cottage pie is defrosting - more than enough for three, especially with my diminished appetite. Last night we agreed I should have bread, cheese and celery (she woke up too late the night before) but she has a memory like a sieve and she fried beef, potatoes and veg, plonked a ham and cheese baguette on the plate, put it on my computer desk and walked out without a word. Thinking it was hers and she was coming back with mine I waited.  And waited. Eventually I had to send a text asking her if she was going to eat it before it got cold. In case you are wondering, although the building allows sound to travel from one end to the other, you can’t hear between the bedrooms! That’s when she said it was mine. I couldn’t face it and resolved myself to another day without food.

When she had finished hers she very kindly brought me what I had asked for. To give you an idea of how much of it I could actually get down, I ate half a celery stick and three circles of bread with a little cheese. I’m really keeping my strength up!

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I bit the bullet half an hour ago. I was feeling a little uncomfortable below decks and with Mulan going to town for who knows how long later I didn’t want to be caught on my own. I managed to haul myself up on the sticks but couldn’t bend my foot backwards to keep it off the floor so it was a long, slow and painful journey. Mulan kept the felines at bay with the broom otherwise there would have been at least two in my bedroom and I am incapable of getting them out now.

All in all it was fifteen minutes of hell but I admit I feel much better now. I would feel even  better if I could have a wash but being unable to move my upper leg I can see no way of getting into a position where I won’t soak the plaster. Still, I am thankful for small mercies - at least I can sit reasonably happily in front of the laptop. I could simply take to my bed and take it with me but I have never been a one to languish in bed even when I’ve been in hospital. I can’t be the only one who finds it uncomfortable unless you are actually sleeping?

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This entry is probably coming across as self-pitying but I am not, rather I am just ticked off at it happening and disappointed at missing out on the only things I had planned this holiday. Still, there’s nothing I can do about it so I am just lying back thinking of China. I have a nice dinner later this evening, we just discovered two packs of bacon in my fridge only have five days left so Mulan is going to cook bacon, eggs and mash tomorrow which will be fun. She can do two but although she watched me making mash, it will be her first time. Fun times ahead!