Thursday 5 May 2011

Boredom

It's a week's holiday in the Netherlands this week. On Saturday it was Queen's Day, celebrating the Queen's birthday with free markets with lots of junk, concerts, parades, old fashioned games and the like. Yesterday it was Remembrance Day, which is becoming more and more popular with young people as well. It started off as a day on which to remember those fallen during World War II, but it now includes fallen from all conflicts since. And today is Liberation Day, to celebrate the liberation of the Netherlands from Germany. A lot of concerts and festivals all over the country. I should have to work tonight. I called in sick!

Well, you all know by now that I've not been feeling on top of the world lately. Don't get me wrong, I am used to headaches, I've had them often enough. And for the first three days I went on as normal. I went to the shops and to the freemarket. I planted flowers and hung up my laundry outside. Until I realised it wasn't getting any better. Besides, the headache was affecting my appetite as well, so I started to feel more sluggish and feverish by the day. And when I finally got in touch with a doctor yesterday, I asked my neighbour to drive me to the pharmacy to pick up my medication.

But that is not the worst part of it all. The worst has to be the absolute boredom! I am not domestic goddess number 1, jellybeans on toast, I am not even in the top 100, but I needed to do several things around the house: the kitchen needed a good clean, the laundry needs doing and outside those weeds keep coming back. But unloading the dishwasher and then loading it again causes me to have to lie down for half an hour afterward, apart from the flaring up of the pain in my head. I normally watch television with the sound on 7 or 8, right now it's turned down to 3 and that's sometimes even too loud. Even Mathilda purring on my chest when I try to sleep is too much for me (she's a loud purrer). I haven't read a book since the weekend, a bit afraid the letters will start dancing in front of my eyes and the internet just doesn't have the same lure it normally does. The only thing left is sit and lie and doze and sleep and nap and do nothing! Which is okay for about an hour but after that it becomes boooooooooring!!!

Right now however, I feel a bit better. The nausea has gone for the moment, so I hope that within a little while I can finish my morning muesli (a quarter bowl). The pain in my head has also abated somewhat, so I thought I would tell you how utterly pathetic I am. Just so you know. I have called in sick until Monday when I will hopefully visit my own gp. Because one week of boredom is more than plenty in my book (even if I don't read anything at the moment).

5 comments:

  1. I'm glad you're feeling better, if only marginally. Pity the cats can't be trained to do the housework . . .

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  2. I agree with Janice. Train the cats to empty the dishwasher.
    I know what you mean, bending to that, or to do laundry, makes me feel worse, too.
    Fortunately (I guess), I'm used to being sick, so I just go along with it. Nothing gets done. I can't say I don't care, but if I can't do it, I can't do it. Lindy hasn't been walked for a week, and she would rather lick the dishes clean than put them in the dishwasher.
    Dick is like you, he hates being sick, because it happens so seldom. However, when it does, he thinks I should wait on him hand and foot. (When I'm sick, he gets me out of bed to cook for him.)
    Wish I could say something helpful. Did you phone your brother and sister-in-law?
    — K

    Kay, Alberta, Canada
    An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel

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  3. maybe you can check your mail
    i sent you something last week

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  4. Poor thing ! it must be awful, I am also a very active person and when I am sick (which fortunately doesn't happen very often) I get crazy because I can't do anything ! and that's even worse than the illness itself !

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  5. Sounds like a lot of fun things going on in the Netherlands. It's hard to rest when you head hurts and it's so easy to be bored. I usually watch movies when I'm not well.

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