The best laid plans of mice and monkfish

All in all, you could say my weekend away to see the Dalai Lama turned
out to be one i shan't soon forget - unfortunately, for mostly the
wrong reasons.

I missed the the afternoon session yesterday because of a particularly
nasty bout of food poisoning. From even the briefest glance at my
vomit, one of the paramedics on-site said it was most likely the
macdonald's i had friday afternoon. Whatever the cause, the outcome
was still the same: a large chunk of my weekend away was spent
writhing on my hotel bed with the curtains closed feeling thoroughly
rotten - too weak to read, but in too much discomfort to be able to
sleep.

I had to be out my hotel today, and since i was so enfeebled i
couldn't even sit up in bed yesterday, i knew there wasn't much chance
of me being able to go to the session this morning (which was
scheduled to last two and a half hours) /and/ make the ninety minute
journey home with my luggage all in one day. So i had to miss this
morning's session, as well. Out of the three sessions i had tickets
for, i got to attend only one, and i was feeling so rough during that
one (saturday morning), i barely took in a word he said.

Got home around dinnertime today, and have slept the whole time since
then, and am feeling much better for it. So that's something at
least. I'm profoundly grateful for that. Maybe in a couple of hours
i might try eating some food.

Other than that, i'm trying hard not to have a depressive reaction to
it all, tbh - "What's the point of even trying?" etc., etc., etc.
Much of my efforts over the past two days have been expended in basic
physical survival - coping with the vomiting, stomach cramps, aching
muscles, fever, fatigue, etc., - but i suspect, when they have passed,
the disappointment of it all will make itself known.

And yet it wasn't all negative. The first-aiders at the nottingham
ice arena were exceptionally kind and helpful - i owe them a /huge/
debt of gratitude for all their help. It's ironic that thousands of
people (including myself, of course) should have come from all over
the country to listen to 'His Holiness' the Dalai Lama, and yet at the
same time remain so completely oblivious to the kindness and basic
human decency of these ordinary people who had given up their saturday
afternoon to volunteer at the event.

If there's anything positive at all to be taken from the whole sorry
incident, it is that it has reminded me once more of the fact that
there are good people still out there, and that most people are, at a
fundamental level, good and decent and kind.

Also, i got laid friday night and am still feeling really chuffed
about that : )


Rock on, peeps

monkfish
.

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