After spending Christmas itself at Tom’s parents, the day after Boxing Day we travelled to Worcester to see my family. My parents had the ‘flu, my Dad looking particularly unwell. A paramedic had seen him that morning, and said that he had a strained rib from coughing too much. That evening, Tom and I visited my friends and stayed over the night. The next day, my Dad seemed even worse when we visited on our way to my Grandparents for dinner. When we started to eat, my Mum phoned to say that she’d called an ambulance as she “couldn’t wake him up”. He was taken to hospital as a precaution. We finished the meal before heading off to the hospital. After a quick call to my mum to find out where they were (I assumed A&E), she told me he was in intensive care!

Initially, it was a mystery illness, and we were told he might not make it through the night. It transpired eventually that he had a strain of pneumonia. Since then, it’s been an up-and-down journey. 2 weeks later, he is still critically ill and by no-means out of the woods yet. However, he FINALLY seems to be beating the virus, albeit very slowly.

Twice more since admission he has cheated death – the first time was when a needle had to drain fluid from next to his heart (a procedure done by the consultant “28 times in 30 years”) and a drain attached to his lungs to prevent him drowning from the same fluid.

A slight nick to his liver when swapping a lung drain from one side to the other meant later in the second week, my dad lost 60% of his blood into his stomach and had to have another life saving operation.

We’re now at the stage where the complications so far have been dealt with, we hope there will be no more, and Dad is starting to combat the infection. The doctors are slowly lifting the sedation (he’s been uncoonscious the whole time) and we’re cautiously optimistic, whilst all the time aware that the worst is still a possibilty. But I try not to think about that too much.

Not as live as CallMeRobbie NOW, but more live than a blog.

I’m finding more and more that I prefer using Twitter than scribing these big blog posts. That’s not to say I won’t be using my Blog anymore! Twitter is great for short comments, but a 140 character limit doesn’t allow much for description or comment beyond an instant messaging style conversation with the world. I say Twitter; it’s actually an iPhone app called Twinkle that I normally use. It adds location data as well as what you are saying, as well as allowing you to insert pictures.

Twitter feels more immediate than a blog, and is more interactive. I particularly love following people such as Stephen Fry as they tweet during their far more interesting lives than anything I can come up with.

Anyway, enough blabbing – if you want to follow me on Twitter, I’m on their as RobbieBarnes. Just promise not to try stalking me; Twinkle isn’t that accurate, and you’d only be disappointed if you met me anyway. I’m far uglier in person.

It’s been a weird few weeks. My Gran died a few weeks back; the funeral was pretty emotional. Feels like ages since I’ve spent quality time with Tom – have had to catch up with the backlog of work since the funeral. Partly because the supply teacher failed to supply teaching as it was needed and I had to repeat tonnes of stuff for the kids! There was the Ofsted inspection, and the car thieves too.

I’ve got a Dell Mini – v cool, v dinky. It’s a netbook – basically a laptop that’s about the same size as a hardback book. It’s just a shame there is no 3G signal at work. (It has an integrated mobile broadband card.) Oh, and the fact that it’s Windows of course. An Apple netbook is still a distant dream, it seems.

Last day of this term tomorrow. I’ll be glad to leave this term behind! And not only because I get a week off.

My iPhone has been a bit of a dick lately, with applications (officially downloaded and therefore approved by Apple) seeming to be the problem. Had to restore my whole phone THREE times this week. And it’s not a short process. It takes hours – literally. I hope it behaves as I still love it, but it’s getting harder to adore something that seems intent on pissing me off as much as it possibly can.

Had an eye test and contact lens check today. At the end when I was presented with the bill (the tests plus 3 month’s of contact lenses), I think the optician could visibly see my jaw drop: £104. Having lost my only pair last weekend, I tentatively asked how much spectacle lenses were these days, since I get £80 worth of frames free. This time she had to pick my jaw from the counter: start at “about £100″. For a bit of plastic! It’s not even glass! I’m sticking with my lovely comfy new contact lenses for the time being. Not least because I can’t afford glasses, even if I wanted them.

Took this photo on London Bridge last night, emailing it to Flickr/
blog to see where it ends up and if it’s geotagged.

///via iPhone 3G///