Tuesday March 08, 2005

Doctor Who returns to TV

At last Doctor Who is returning to BBC with a new series . Christopher Eccleston becomes the ninth doctor and Billie Piper is his assistant. The Sunday times had an article on it last weekend which said the new series looks good. The paper confirms the early Daleks did have sink plungers as one of their deadly weapons ! There was a danger they would not appear in this new series but they will be making their presence felt... I see in the Guardian today the first show is now on the internet. I am sure the BBC will be annoyed but I think it will just encourage interest in the show which is being shown in the prime time slot it used to have on Saturday nights in its heyday.

Not having a TV at home until I was quite old, I missed the early shows of Doctor Who and really only saw the Tom Baker ones. However I have enjoyed watching the re-runs with Jon Pertwee my favourite. His best assistant for me has to be Sarah Jane Smith played by Liz Sladen.

The later years of Doctor who were a dissapointing bunch of disjointed programmes but perhaps we were all growing too old for them.

I will do a write up after the first show materialises Tardis fashion.

Hospital visit

When I was in my early teens I spent four weeks in hospital in the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital . After spraining my ankle bone and having a cut on that foot I developed Osteomyelitis . It is quite rare so the hypochondriacs among us need not be concerned. It was more of a problem before Penicillin was available. In the first world war when men were in filthy trenches, sprained their bones and got cuts it was very common.

So as my infection had got quite bad I had to have an operation to clean the leg up. In the morning after the operation I woke up with a 'drip' needle in my arm ( the biggest needle I have ever seen) and feeling very out of sorts.

I was then moved onto an orthopedic ward. There was a mixture of patients, boys who were broken into bits after falling off a motorcycle, old men having hip replacements. I was quite ok apart from my leg and I think I was a favourite with the nurses. I developed a crush for the sister called "Sister Sinclair" who was very attractive but smoked Consulate cigarettes. Her only vice as far as I was concerned.

I had my own TV by my bed which had been passed to me as a previous patient who had rented it but had left early. So after lights out I could watch what I liked. I also had the choice of three dishes for each meal so I could avoid anything I did not enjoy. I am amazed when I remember watching them clean up the wound on several occasions. It has left a four inch scar on my ankle and the wound was pretty deep. But I just watched them clean it up as if they were giving me a wash. I could not do that now.

As I got near the date for me to return home I had to start getting mobile. I remember standing up on crutches for the first time , fearing I would topple over. A few yards later the first steps left me exhausted.

Before I left the leg was encased in a plaster cast. All the nurses signed it. I kept it for years in the attic of our house. I waited to be picked up by my folks. They never turned up ! Turned out there was another Humphreys on the ward and the 'come and pick Paul up' message went to his wife instead of my parents. Eventually they came for me and I was home.