Two exciting things happened today. The greater of the two
was giving up yet another small tube of blood to a nurse at the GP surgery. She
wasn’t one of my favourite nurses unfortunately, being functional but lacking
in both personality and a sense of humour. (‘Which arm do you want?’ I asked.
‘The left.’ ‘They always take it from the left.’ I grumbled. ‘I’m surprised it
hasn’t fallen off by now.’ Zilch.) She seemed pleased that my blood pressure
was only 144/80, but expressed her displeasure silently when I said that I
couldn’t be bothered taking my own blood pressure at home and that I hadn’t
given up smoking yet.
(It was perhaps no coincidence that she called me in ten minutes early, which is most unusual for a GP surgery. I suspect that some of the others had got wind of who was on duty today and decided to call in sick.)
The lesser happening of note was that I spent the alarming sum of £3.50 on a new washing up bowl because the old one was getting a bit manky. I mention it only because I like confusing the three (I think) Americans who still read this blog. ‘What’s a washing up bowl? Don’t they have sinks over there? And what does manky mean? Brits are weird.’)
2 comments:
"Manky" I figured out right away, but I thought "what the heck is a washing up bowl? He must mean a dish pan." :)
N.
I saw an old Laurel and Hardy short once in which they washed the dinner dishes in a bowl they called either a dish pan or a wash pan, which was a metal bowl they placed on some convenient surface in the kitchen. What seems to confuse some (or even a lot) of Americans – according to the evidence of several YouTube videos – is that we in the UK still routinely use a plastic bowl which we place in the sink. ‘Why,’ they ask, ‘don’t they wash their dishes in the sink? That’s what the sink is for.’ Understandable, of course. I think it’s simply a cultural habit stemming from the fact that using a smaller bowl saves water and also the energy needed to heat it. And while we’re in the kitchen, it seems a lot of Americans have never heard of an electric kettle (I met one once) which is considered the most vital of appliances over here.
And would you mind telling the Lady M that I haven’t forgotten the artefact I promised to send to her? I’ve looked in several boxes so far but without success. There are more still to be unearthed. When I do find it I’ll check the matter of her address with her, just in case she’s moved. Thanks.
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