hazeljoy

gratefully received.

i have been ill. really ill. apparently, i had tonsillitis around 2 weeks ago (i say apparently, because i thought i had a very sore throat). last sunday, it started to get a bit worse.

i went to school for the training day on tuesday, and did struggle a little. at the doctors that afternoon, the doctor said it was "possibly tonsillitis, but probably glandular fever" and "take these antibiotics and plenty of pain relief". great. 

wednesday, i was sent home from school before the day even started. thursday i didn't go in. by friday morning, i was ready to donate myself to help doctors practise euthanasia. seriously. my throat was swollen. talking was nearly impossible. i couldn't drink, and hardly could eat (i managed half a muller rice on thursday). i could barely get the antibiotics and painkillers down my throat.

then sarah came. and she saved my little life. she brought me supplies, she rang the doctors, accompanied me there and, later, to the hospital (the doctor's words after looking in my mouth were 'ah, yeah, you need an operation. you're going to the hospital. now.') and then she made sure i got home*.

anyhow, the point of telling you all this (before i got all rambling) was to tell you how i distracted myself throughout the pain. i thought of words. 'word pairs' that sound the same, but are spelt differently. words like 'thrown' and 'throne', 'bare' and 'bear', 'heel' and 'heal', 'pair' and 'pear'... you get the idea. 

i thought of as many as i could, and i wrote them all down. and i only got to 86 word pairs. now, this bothers me because we had to do this very task for homework when i was at school, and in one evening i got over 120 word pairs. my brain power must be diminishing. 

and because this is exactly the sort of geeky activity i like, i'm carrying on until i get past 120. and if you wanted to help, i wouldn't say no..

*turns out i didn't need an operation, because my quinsy randomly popped in my mouth whilst i was at the hospital. not a detail any of you needed, nor wanted i'm sure, but a detail none the less.

a teensy slice of eden (pt.2)

i love the way ferns unravel. the slow, gentle unfurling of each frond. they've been doing it since the dinosaurs.

typo (saturday 12th july)

some good stuff observed round the town hall:

words i like: scribble

scr-ibble. scrib-ble.

i think i like this word because of teh way it sounds in my head and in my mouth. the whole hard and rough sounding sssccccccccccccrrrrrrr at the start, and then a comedy, bubbly ibbbbblle to finish it off.

it's also the only thing i have the energy or the inclination to do at the moment. my brain has nearly stopped working. i feel like the moon cooker robot in wallace and gromit (a grand day out), when he slowly winds down and stops when he runs out of money. one more day.

words i like: tendril

i really like these twisting tendrils for several reasons. firstly, they make me think of spring, in both senses of the word. tightly wound up, ready to grow in the new season. secondly, they look very lively, like they are just about to lunge into action (i wanted to say 'spring into action' there, but i resisted). finally, the word 'tendril' just sounds so good. ten-dril. tend-ril. ten-d-ril. i like the way the 'ril' curls your tongue.