1 EAGLETON NOTES: Imprisonment

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Friday 11 March 2022

Imprisonment

I cannot even begin to imagine the loneliness of being in prison.  

I am staying in the Golden Jubilee Conference Centre Hotel which is attached to the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Glasgow. At the time it was opened in 1994 as a private hospital it was quite controversial but now it is Scotland's NHS specialist hospital for reducing patient waiting times. Referrals are received from across the country in the specialties and services provided. The hospital is also home to the West of Scotland Heart and Lung Centre.

In the morning I shall be having my MRI scan which will determine whether I had a TIA and whether I will be able to drive and whether the operation to replace my uretic stent will be able to go ahead next week. 

To return to my opening sentence. I am fortunate enough to be housed for the night in a large, moderately luxurious in an understated way, bedroom. Because the hospital was originally designed as a private one it had a large hotel 'built in' so to speak. I assume that the reason the bedrooms are the size they are (generous by the standard of many UK hotels) is because it was an American company that was behind the original venture. 

When I arrived last night I had every intention of spending the evening catching up with emails, letters, blogs and things I never seem to make enough time for at home.  However, all of a sudden I felt constrained, imprisoned almost, by these four walls. The view of the hills from the window had by then disappeared into the night sky. All of a sudden I wanted a glass of wine. All of a sudden I wanted to see other human beings. All of a sudden I wanted dinner. So I left my room and in under two minutes was sitting in the beautifully spacious bar with a (very indifferent) glass of sav in my paw. I ordered scallops with black pudding followed by goats cheese and beetroot risotto. The black pudding was not Stornoway black pudding and was, therefore, distinctly inferior but the scallops were done to perfection and the risotto was tasty and creamy. The malbec was distinctly better than the sav. All was well with the world.

I got back to my bedroom and opened the laptop to write this post when I realised the time and wondered about an early(ish) night in front of that large black screen on the wall. "Bangers and Cash" is on at that time of night! I don't often get to watch it. It's a great programme. Why not? So I did. Hence I'm writing this after my shower this morning. My scan is at 9.50.

So being holed up in a hotel room for the few hours I was actually awake hasn't been so bad. But I know that in a few minutes I will be walking out of the door. I won't be serving a prison sentence in a cell, I won't be incarcerated in quarantine in a hotel room because of Covid or for any other reason. I won't be spending hours and days in a bunker trying to avoid bombs and missiles. I am, for the moment, a free man. I am grateful and I am not taking it for granted. 

PS I wonder what this post would have been like if I had stayed in my room and written about 'imprisonment'. 

44 comments:

  1. I, almost, feel envious of your 5 star Hotel experience... except for the reason behind it. Good luck with the scan and keeping fingers crossed for a favourable outcome, Graham.

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  2. Fingers crossed, you will still be allowed to drive after receiving the results of your MRI scan. However, I am sure that if you are disallowed you will take that news on the chin like Muhammad Ali.

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    1. YP if I'm not allowed to drive that will involve a re-think of my life but I'm pretty sure that isn't going to be the case.

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  3. I don't watch it regularly, but love Bangers and Cash. Stay strong Graham.

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    1. Thanks, Tasker. I'm glad I'm not alone on the Bangers and Cash front.

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    2. The series of programmes on BBC2(?) looking at Fred Dibnah's programmes is also fantastic.

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  4. I have always thought that the removal of freedom must be the worst punishment of all. Prisoners are never free to do something as simple as make themselves a sandwich whenever they want, choose their own meal times, shower when they feel like it, not when they are told to.....and on and on. I am sure that would break me! I am glad that you went out, even though to serve sub standard black pudding should be a crime worthy of imprisonment! As for the wine, I have been favouring Malbecs for several months now. There is a moderately-priced product here called La Linda, and that has become our potion of choice. My daughter will be arriving today from Ottawa for a weekend visit and doubtless we will quaff a bottle with dinner.

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    1. David, for many, probably most, of us the loss of freedom is the worst punishment that anyone could possibly bestow on us. However I have met former prisoners who have said that it was the only time that they had ever experienced any form of order in their lives and actually felt safe in that environment. Having arrived home this afternoon after a pretty eventful day (by my standards) I managed to treat myself to a (rather good and well known New Zealand) Sav before the bewitching hour. A Malbec will follow with an early dinner (I had no lunch).

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  5. Never heard of Banges and Cash. If you say it's good maybe I'll check it out when my sister and I are in Ripon in July.
    I like it that you talk about "things you never seem to make enough time at home", instead of saying you never seem to have enough time.
    Hopefully, all will go well with your scan and the plans for your stent.
    And yes, we should not take our freedom for granted. Way too many people on this planet have, through no fault of their own, lost their freedom or never known it.

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    1. Meike, Bangers and Cash is about very old cars and it's a programme made in North Yorkshire.

      The thing about time is that we all have the same 24 hours a day. However sleep requirements and work requirements and other commitments take up a lot of many people's daily hours. For people like me (and there are more of us now than there have ever been) who are retired and have a lot of unallocated time the question of how we allocate it is largely up to us. One of my problems is that so many things take more time than they used to and the list of things to be done gets ever longer.

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  6. Hi Graham (dropping the formality which was meant to be very tongue-in-cheek 🥳). By now you should have had your scan and I do hope everything went well, that you don't have to wait long for the results, and the car keys will be back in your hand with much haste.

    I think there are many of us looking around right now and not taking our comfortable lives for granted. I am fortunate to have a very powerful shower in my bathroom and without fail when I have my morning ablutions I whisper a quiet thank you for the hot water and luxury of standing under strong jets of water. But even more so the last two weeks . . . 🇺🇦 😢 (actually this is day 15, so it's more than two weeks).

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    1. Jayne, I appreciated the tongue in cheekiness of your comment! I'm hoping for a quick result both so that I can drive but also so that I can have my stent replacement next Thursday.

      I am having real problems with the Ukraine war.This wasn't supposed to happen in Europe in our lifetime.

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    2. Amen to that my love, Amen. xx

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  7. I have never had such a luxurious hospital experience as you have described! Glad you were able to leave your room and enjoy your meal. Hope all went well and you get good results soon.

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  8. I hope the Mri doesn't find anything except a free brain!

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  9. Knowing that one can leave if one wants to makes a huge difference. Nevertheless it can still feel odd to be alone in unfamiliar surroundings - and especially waiting for things like medical procedures. Hope all went well with the scan.

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    1. Thank you, Monica. It is a bit strange being alone but the interesting thing is that most of the people in the dining room were in a similar situation although some did have friends or relatives with them.

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  10. I hope that your scan went smoothly and you will get your results soon. X

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  11. Wishing you all the best, Graham...best thoughts go out to you. :)

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    1. Thanks, Lee. Arrangements are now made and I fly off today.

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  12. I was unfortunate enough to be banged through that machine six times. I told them I was proper poorly. They get the results straight away with competent staff so why the delay. I was sorted but only middling sorted.
    I suspect the NHS have folk to feed you in but are short of those capable of reading the results.
    Good luck, don't be tight, go private.

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    1. Adrian, they can get the results in an emergency but they are centralised in Scotland I believe and read in on 'centre of excellence' or some such name that will give you loads of scope for ire and irony. It's all to do with 24 hour availability and lack of radiologists. However mine was read and it was the secretaries here and in Ayr who. actually did all the chasing and were the heroines in my book. Big thanks will be going to them.

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  13. Glad to read that you left your room and went out for some wine and a meal, which was a better decision than staying in and blogging (just saying). Hoping for good results with the tests in that you get a passing grade, Graham.

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    1. Beatrice, I got my pass grade and am off this afternoon for my op.

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  14. What an experience. Hope you are well, enjoying better whiskey. How long before you are given the all-clear?

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  15. Yes we are free and fortunate to live where we do, good to count those blessings. Funny how being in a different place makes us feel grateful for what we have, hope that black pudding was good - yum

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    1. Amy, oddly I don't remember ever having black pudding in New Zealand. They vary considerably in Scotland and even between the various butchers on the Island. Everyone has their favourite.

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  16. Hi Graham, I hope you soon have your results and permission to drive wherever you please, and you are soon sporting a shiny new stent. I was sure it would be shiny but asked Mr Google and he tells me it could be blue or green. I feel strangely disappointed.
    I know I couldn't cope with imprisonment or any sort of personal restrictions. Can't begin to imagine how those poor people in Ukraine cope with daily life while our leaders around the world talk up a storm and do nothing.

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    1. Pauline, I got my results yesterday thanks to the efforts of a lot of people and all my arrangements are made. I fly off this afternoon. I'm afraid the Ukraine situation has brought war far too close to home for me and I find it both worrying and depressing.

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    2. Fair winds and blue skies, Graham.

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    1. Thank you, Jill. I read your post before I went and now I'm back home.

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  18. As a former flight attendant, I can relate to this story of yours... minus the health worries, of course. People think that staying for free in hotels all over the place is exciting and luxurious and exotic... but as a flight attendant, you soon realize that a) not every hotel is luxurious and b) you're pretty much not staying anywhere long enough to really get out and enjoy wherever you're staying - usually you get to your room after dark and have to get up when it's still dark to start the next work day, so you're pretty much consigned to your room, and they all look pretty much the same, and it does get to feeling a bit constraining after a while.

    Getting out of the room and having a good meal and a glass of wine is a fabulous mood restorer! So glad you did that, and enjoyed it.

    PS: When I was stuck in a hotel room in an unfamiliar city in a crappy hotel, I used to liven things up by taking down the generic framed artwork on the wall and adding in a small bit of artwork of my own before hanging it back up. Nothing obnoxiously obvious like putting a mustache on a lady, or anything.. I would just add a ladybug to a flower, or put a little fairy hiding in the trees... something that no one would notice unless they were really looking closely. Probably no one ever saw them, unless it was another bored flight attendant on another trip at another time...

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    1. Dang - I hit "publish" before finishing.... I hope that your tests come out fabulous and that you are still able to drive! As always, I wish the very best of everything for you.

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    2. Marcheline, I'm now back home after a second trip, this time to Ayr to get the stent replaced. I'm cream crackered but alive and well.

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  19. I am late coming to your blog Graham, but I hope your operation went well. Sending you hugz for a speedy recovery :) xx

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    1. Thanks, Margaret, all went well and I'm now back home.

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  20. Glad to read in the comments that you are all done and resting at home. Hope you feel better soon!

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  21. A story with twp possible endings. WE can be grateful for our freedom.Hope all goes well.

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