The good and the bad

I am back from a fantastic trip to London. My course at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine was awesome, best I have done in years. I was refreshing my skills and understanding of malaria diagnostic methods, both by microscopy and molecular methods. It was so much fun! I came away with my own reference microscopy slides, and those of two participants who didn't want theirs. I am already excited about using these for teaching. I also had the opportunity to see the reduvid bug colony. These are big bugs that transmit Chagas' disease, a parasitic infection endemic to Central and South America but also found elsewhere. This is a very fascinating (and devastating infection. If you want to find out more, I can highly recommend "The Kissing Bug" by Daisy Hernández. I met her a couple of years ago, at a reading. She was wonderful and inspiring. Obviously, upon meeting her, and chatting to her, I immediately wanted to write a book but I fear I don’t have one in me. 

While in London, I went to the ballet. I saw Alice in Wonderland at the Royal Opera. The show, performance and dancing were absolutely amazing but the story remains disturbing and creepy. I never liked it. Lewis Carroll must have been on psychedelics when he wrote it. The creep was well choreographed into the show, for sure. 

I also went for brunch at the newly refurbished restaurant at Liberty's. Quite nice to start a day with eggs Benedict, coffee and a mimosa. I am worth it. While there I took some photos of the big patchwork house to celebrate 150 years of Liberty. 

For my trip home, I bid for a first class seat on the train using the app Seatfrog. I was most excited about this but my luck had run out by then, the train was an hour late to leave because there was no driver. Then there was no staff to service the first class cabin. There was just Steve, a most comical train manager who had to manage all 11 carriages by himself. The dining car was also closed because Steve couldn’t do it all and the driver had to drive the train. Alas, Steve found a stash of bottled water and some bags of crisps, which he handed out freely. Later, an off duty manager raided the wine rack and handed that out. I was most grateful. The delay got longer as we travelled up north. In Carlyle, the power went out briefly as the train had to be rebooted to have enough energy to travel the final 90 miles. Like a dodgy old computer… control-alt-delete, hold your breath and hope for the best. Sadly Richard didn’t pick me up and I had to trudge home on the local train, sharing it with the late night Saturday crowd. 

My good mood was wearing thin by then. 

Sadly, the teenage dramas continue, if anything, worse although at least the rogue teen is no longer with us. I’ll spare you the details but I will tell you that I was looking up hotels in Glasgow yesterday. Alas, it seemed not fair to abandon Richard. At this moment in time, I don’t know where either are, or if they are coming home tonight. Richard thinks we just have to sit it out and hope for the best.

Such is life, ups and downs come and go. I shall go and finish cooking dinner, then watch the telly. Thanks for visiting 😊