Tuesday, September 02, 2008

"Tell me why...."

….. “I don’t like Mondays!”

So go the words of the song. And this was the refrain in my head for much of yesterday morning. Churlish of me I know, but there it is.

“But why,” I hear you ask “so irascible this particular Monday?”

I’ll endeavour to tell you, but in doing so I fear I will alienate you, gentle reader, so I ask you not to judge too harshly. The real problem is of course, not Mondays, or even this last Monday in and of itself. It’s what I was doing this particular Monday, in comparison with the preceding couple of weeks.

Regular readers will know that the past fortnight saw the Jest family annual peregrination to the sun (on this occasion on a floating palace around the Adriatic). In essence we have been pampered almost beyond endurance, whilst soaking up the finest sights that the central portion of the Med has to offer. We have braved “La Serenissima” by gondola after hauling ourselves out of bed at Day-Break to witness our arrival in this fairest of cities at a stately pace from thirteen stories up—and if anyone ever offers you the chance to do the same, don’t think twice. We have witnessed the miracle of reconstruction that is the pristine Old Town of Dubrovnik. Our pallid English bodies have braved 36 degree heat in Corfu…. I could rave on at greater length, but even I am coming to hate myself as I do, so I’ll leave it there, but you get the picture.

Mid way through our trip the eldest learned he has aced his GCSEs (the first set of really BIG exams in Blighty for our readers from other jurisdictions) so all is most definitely right with the world. (A “proud Dad” moment for you all there—I’m hoping it will ingratiate me a bit after the alienation possibly engendered by the paragraph above…)

Then we come back to dear old Blighty. It’s cold and it’s raining and it feels like it’s been that way all the time we’ve been away, and will be so all the time until we can somehow get away again. And on Monday morning the surgery goes hopelessly awry as every single patient asks me how the holiday went, just to heighten the juxtaposition.

Still if it keeps up this way we’ll soon be able to get around Ambridge by gondola too, so maybe it will all work out right in the end. Just keep me away from the gun cabinet, that’s all….

9 comments:

alhi said...

Am suffering withdrawal symptoms too having just come back from a cruise round the Baltic capitals...
Congratulations to your eldest; I take it you are NOT encouraging him into the caring profession??

madsadgirl said...

Oh, I'm so jealous. You called in to Corfu; it's my favourite place on Earth. This is the first year for 20 years that I haven't been out there, and I miss it so much.

Glad you had a good holiday, but now you have to work so that you can deserve another one.

Chairwoman of the bored said...

Ah Venice, queen of the Adriatic, the most beautiful and atmospheric city imaginable.

Also home to the damn mosquito that bit my ankle, that became infected, that turned to cellulitis, and finally, joy of joys. to severe bi-lateral lymphodoema.

Welcome home Dr. J.

Anonymous said...

Welcome back!

Congrats to the Kiddo.Has he decided to follow his old man's footsteps into medicine, btw?

Elaine said...

Your holiday sounds positively idyllic. Envy, envy!

Good to see you are back and in your usual sparkling form.

I presume the gun cabinet was a reference to the event that triggered the Boomtown Rats' song (the only one that I found listenable)

Anonymous said...

Ouch!

Dubrovnik is on my road-trip list and has been for a while. Further west across the Med, sailing into Bastia at daybreak isn't bad either. Well done Jest junior!

Doctor Jest said...

alhi-- welcome. Indeed the cruising life can become a serious addiction, I'm thinking of starting a twelve step rehab programme. As for the eldest I have done nothing to steer him either way. i firmly believe to be anywhere near half decent as a "a carer" of any sort you have to be called to it, but I fear that the lure of Zach Braff may already have hooked him as surely as that bugger Alan Alda did me...

mads'-- Welcome, and I can call you mads' yes? Quite right Corfu would seem to be the very epitome of civilization with French architecture, Greek climate, and eleven cricket teams (with but one pitch to play on). It's definitely on our list of top ten places to go back to.

madam chair'-- as you say Venice is a sight to behold, but also quite literally alive with mozzies as we too can attest. Still top of our "places to revisit" list though. Eight hours doesn't even scratch the surface (no pun intended-- for once).

northernmedic-- welcome. Indeed the boy done good, and yes it would appear he is "called" to medicine, and whilst I will support and encourage all I can, I'm happy he's found it for himself without any urging from either parent. As I said above I strongly suspect Zach Braff has a lot to answer for...

elaine-- *blushing* oh give over... but many thanks for those kind words. And you're right about the reference of course. Tuneful they might not have been, but the 'Rats made damn fine Pogo music... (as they say otherwhere though YMMV).

orchidea-- Dubrovnik is an odd place. The reconstruction has left it pristine (barring a few gouges in the odd monastary wall from the mortar bombs' shrapnel), but a bit soul-less IMO. More movie set than living breathing city, but maybe it has been tainted by Venice being the immediate next port of call...

So now I have to add Bastia and Stein am Rhein to "the list". Perhaps if I retire tomorrow.....

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Doctor Jest said...

Geoff-- thank you for those kind words, but I regret this blog is not intended to be in any way didactic and lacks the intellectual rigour and authority your readers might expect. I must therefore decline you kind offer of "syndication", but thank you for stopping by and taking the time to comment.

Regards

Dr J