I’ve spent a fair bit of the day fighting off a “summer cold”, which apparently is not a cold at all.
According to the interweb… a summer cold is…
… a popular term for hay fever. Although the symptoms of a “summer cold” may be similar to those of a real cold, the term “summer cold” is a misnomer. Unlike a real cold, it is not caused by a virus but by allergy. It is therefore also called allergic rhinitis, a runny nose due to an allergy.
I guess it’s because of all the spring cleaning I did yesterday.
“You booked this four months ago. You must be very organised…”, Tomo (one of the tour guides) said to me as I walked into the office of the “Tokyo Great Cycling Tour” earlier today. “No”, I told him, “I’ve just been planning this holiday for quite a while”.
When I first read about the cycling tour a few months ago, I thought it sounded like an excellent way to see Tokyo. Over the years I’ve been on many, many bus and walking tours, and I figured a cycling tour might encompass the best of both worlds: a chance to see a fair bit of the city, but still able to get out and about which you often can’t do on a bus.
Tokyo Cycle Tour
Then about a month ago, I started to get nervous when I looked at the finer detail, and read the tour was actually 26km long. Although I have a bike, and I ride every couple of weekends, I wasn’t sure my almost 50 year old body would be up to that level of endurance. Talking about it with friends, I was reminded when you’re on holiday you often walk long distances anyway, and that Tokyo was far more flat than Surry Hills.
I was further reassured when a few people older than me, and a few people obviously less fit arrived this morning. I had already prepared a “I’m Sorry, I’ll be the slowest” speech, anticipating almost everyone on the tour would be a slim 20 year old.
That said, the cycling was tough for a few people. A family of four announced just after lunch they had “hit the wall” and were planning to go back to the office. I also started to “feel my age” around three-quarters of the way through the tour. Then, as I chatted to others, I realised it wasn’t only my age, it was the fact it was 34 degrees today. Our other tour guide also told us she was finding it hard going in the heat and humidity. So I reckon if you have reasonable fitness, and you’re not planning to do it in the middle of summer, the tour would be good to do.
Drivers in Tokyo
Although we visited quite a few spots along the way, including The Imperial Palace, The Meiji Shrine, and some other less important historic locations (oh, and a confectionery store, and a restaurant at a capsule hotel for lunch), I’d estimate cycling still made up most of the tour. As I checked my “Google Fit” a few minutes ago, it revealed I walked for 127 minutes and rode for 169 minutes today, well and truly exceeding my daily goal.
My other goal today was to try to understand the Tokyo Metro. Though I gave up trying this morning (I needed to be there early), I made it back to the hotel (with a track change), and so I felt doubly proud.
Tokyo Waterlillies
After arriving home, I had a bath (with salts) which was well and truly needed. And then later I went for a walk around the nearby gay area. As I looked in some of the bars, it seemed most were full of much younger guys which is not really my thing, and I didn’t really want to be the old guy in the corner with no friends.
Tokyo
Tomorrow I’m planning to visit a few museums and galleries. After today’s efforts in the sun, I think I need a bit of indoor activity. Meanwhile tonight, I’m back in my hotel room with the air-conditioning on, and not doing any favours for climate change.
My head was spinning, my vision blurred, and I even experienced a bout of vomiting, when I woke this moring. Thankfully, the vomit was limited to a nearby t-shirt. This was a far cry from my previous hospital visit when my niece exclaimed, “there was vomit EVERYWHERE.”
For a good half hour, I was genuinely frightened, uncertain about what might unfold next.
Last night, my blood sugar levels had been well within the normal range, but my first thought naturally gravitated towards the possibility of high or low blood sugar levels.
I was unable to check immediately, as my diabetes testing unit was located in the lounge room. In my desperation, I turned to Google via the home speaker, receiving responses that suggested it could have been either high or low blood sugar. Thanks Google!
Seeking counsel from my niece, who is a nurse, over the phone, she thought low blood pressure might be the culprit, possibly linked to dehydration. She advised me to muster the strength to make my way to the lounge room and perform the diabetes test.
Getting to the lounge room proved a bit challenging, as I grappled with apprehensions about navigating with my prosthetic leg, fearing I might stumble. Fortunately, my wheelchair was within reach, allowing me to maneuver onto it, making it to the lounge room.
The result of the blood sugar level test, reassuringly, fell within the normal range.
As my symptoms began to abate, I thought a cup of tea might settle my stomach and calm my nerves. To my chagrin, I discovered that vomiting can also result from drinking fluids too hastily, which was precisely what I did. Again.
A while later, I administered my insulin shot, took my medications, and settled for a light breakfast, further improving my condition.
After a brief nap on the couch, I felt my strength returning.
By the time the new support worker arrived for an introductory meeting, I was up and about. He’ll be visiting twice a week to assist with various tasks, from accompanying me to medical appointments to helping tidy up the house.
My house is currently a fairly chaotic blend of work-related boxes due to an ongoing restructuring and office redesign, so that will be a significant project for he and I to tackle, making my living space more manageable.
Sadly, I had to cancel a lunchtime reunion with a former colleague and friend, which was disappointing since it’s a monthly Friday tradition I eagerly anticipate. As I continue to recover, I’m eagerly looking forward to an early dinner with some neighbors.
Upon reflection, it’s become clear that this morning’s ordeal stemmed from my failure to consume enough fluids yesterday. Throughout tday, I’ve made a concerted effort to stay hydrated by drinking water regularly, hoping to prevent a recurrence of this experience. I’ll also be seeing my local doctor on Monday for a referral visit from the hospital.
If you’re a regular reader to my blog, you’ll know that I go to concerts, theatre, serious discussions about life, architecture and politics and generally speaking, lead a lifestyle in which ideas and creativity are important. You’ll also know that I have very low-brow tastes as well. So it probably won’t surprise you to know I’m a fan of “Big Brother”.
This is a photograph of Jamie who I suspect will be my favourite character from this year’s Australian “Big Brother”. Mind you, he could turn out to be a total loser who I will hate by week two. But at this stage, he comes across as the most understated, most real person on this year’s program. I also get a slight “gay” vibe from him, despite tonight’s news that he lived with his former fiance and her mother for a while. “I haven’t had a date with a girl since the 90’s that wasn’t on the internet”, he told Gretel tonight. But yeah, he comes across as quite nice.
I also quite like Kate, the largish girl from Melbourne who works for the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, but who says she’s sick to death of having a job where people complain all day long. Tell me about it! Thomas, the tall guy from Western Australia who is separated from his wife also seems quite nice, as does TJ (the girl from the Northern Territory) and Andrew (the Melbourne fire-fighter who says all his friends think he’s gay – “But I’m not”).
All of the rest seem like the usual “Big Brother” suspects. Loud mouthed. Overly confident. Looking for a job in PR. Body-centric. You get the drift. I mean, I already hate Bodie (what kind of name is that?) with a passion. If he was Bodhi, that might be okay, but Bodie? The mormon girl is all a bit “try hard” if you know what I mean. And as for the bloke with the “headband”… well he seems okay actually, but the headband is also a little “try hard”. So why do I watch?
OK, here comes the self-justification as to why I watch this show: it’s about people adjusting to an unusual situation. I’ve always been a “people watcher”, and I’m usually a pretty good character judge, instantly recognising those who are genuine and those who are totally false. And as usual, I’m sure I’ll find myself hooked, getting home just in time to cook dinner before the seven o’clock show, and staying up far too late watching “Up Late”.
So yes, another year of high brow and low brow posts on this blog. It’s just the bits in between I can’t stand. Welcome to BB07.
Stockholm is abuzz with soccer fever. In the centre of town, the main part of Kungstradgarden is dedicated to a major display surrounding the UEFA Cup. There’s the actual cup, which you can have your photograph taken with, along with demonstrations of soccer played by people with a disability etc.
I watched for a while and watched the match to be played by people, to demonstrate some of the issues facing people who are colour-blind. I’m colour-blind by the way, though not severely. Occasionally I get caught out, such as when I was helping my friend Sue to arrange her apartment a couple of years ago. I made the mistake of saying “If you put that there, it’ll break up the green of your wall”. “It’s purple”, she told me. A I watched the pre-match, where the colours were clearly red and green, I was sceptical about what was about to be played out before my eyes. “The team will now wear the colour clothing that many colour-blind people have trouble with”, the announcer told us. “Oh my goodness”, I thought to myself. Yep, that’s the colour I have no idea what it is.
Colour-blind football played in Stockholm
“Who are you going for?”, a colleague asked me by email. I told him I’d be going for the Dutch because “they’re more fun to drink with”. And yes, they do like a drink, as I discovered walking through Fridhemsplan later in the afternoon.
UEFA
At other times, I visited some galleries and some churches. I also dipped briefly into work this afternoon, watching the ABC being discussed at Senate Estimates. It was interesting to watch from afar, as I enjoyed some excellent sushi and a glass of wine for lunch. There must be a Senate Estimate Drinking Game, surely?
“We’d like a lot more questions about show-tunes and a whole lot less about sport…”, I told the quiz-master when she came over and asked us how we were going.
Although I used to be a quiz night regular, it was the first time in a couple of years (maybe more) that I’ve been to a quiz night.
In finding somewhere to take our American visitors (who were very keen to go to a quiz night), there were really only two important criteria: it needed to be on a Tuesday night, and it needed to be reasonably easy for them to find. I was also interested in somewhere with a bit of atmosphere, along with good beer and food prices. I chose “Forresters” in Riley Street, Surry Hills.
Forresters has always been a favourite of mine, as it’s gone through it’s various incarnations. It was also fun to relate to our visitors the history of the infamous brothel across the road. “What’s that over there…?” I was asked.
No longer involved in the detail of daily radio, and so no longer keeping up with the minutiae of the daily news cycle, I struggled a bit with some of the questions about daily news. Ten years ago, I would have known the detail of every major news story. Now, I find myself with a knowledge gap. The same goes with sport, as I no longer keep up to date with all of the detail I once did.
But as our table was a little older than the others, we had a greater knowledge of 70s and 80s pop music, and with a couple of Americans on our table, we blitzed some of those often difficult questions in quiz nights about American geography and sports.
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actually that’s pretty interesting to me in my line of work- I never knew westerners had the same concept…whenever people have a cold and ask me for advice…I always say, well that depends…”it depends if it’s a hot cold or a cold cold”…and then they look at me all perplexed…lol. It’s fun screwing with people’s (set) minds.
As I’ve said on another post, I’m a bit of a hippie about health. I reckon your body can deal with a lot and usually heal itself… with the exception of surgery!
actually that’s pretty interesting to me in my line of work- I never knew westerners had the same concept…whenever people have a cold and ask me for advice…I always say, well that depends…”it depends if it’s a hot cold or a cold cold”…and then they look at me all perplexed…lol. It’s fun screwing with people’s (set) minds.
As I’ve said on another post, I’m a bit of a hippie about health. I reckon your body can deal with a lot and usually heal itself… with the exception of surgery!