goodbye isle of wight, hello vienna! - england day 12

my last morning on the isle of wight. i had packed most of my things the previous evening, so i was in no rush. one last walk along the beach - it looked like the beginnings of a pleasant enough day, though it was rather windy. i'd really gotten used to these morning walks - the wind, the cries of birds, the fresh sea air, the wet sand under my feet, the light ... i knew i'd miss this.

final breakfast at barnaby's, packing up the rest of my stuff, a last look out the window (ah! a view i'd definitely not mind waking up to every day!), and steve took me to sandown station. the little island train took me to ryde pier head, where i walked straight onto the ferry to portsmouth. waiting for my train to gatwick at the station, i sat outside, not even in he sun, and i did not freeze! it seemed that spring arrived just as i was leaving. plenty of time at gatwick airport, had a fabulous carrot & coriander soup at "giraffe" and the best ginger beer ever.

the flight was pretty uneventful. i had a window seat, which was nice, as it was mostly clear all the way to vienna. and i actually sat on the right side as we were flying over vienna ... the danube, the bridges, then i easily found the church near our home, and eventually made out our house! neat.

of course heinz came to pick me up at the airport - and i just knew that he'd bring at least part of our boy group (otto the croc, pruno the pig, heinrich the bear). i was right. otto and heinrich were perched on his shoulders. so dotty, my cute little travel companion, was reunited with some of her friends. it was pleasantly warm even at 08:45 pm. much nicer than the morning i left!

so, later than i'd thought, i was back home. despite the somewhat blah weather and missing out on several days due to illness, it was a good idea to go to england. i enjoyed being there. the hotel was nice, the owner extremely friendly, the vicinity to the beach was perfect. i loved the cream teas and it had been time for some fish & chips, too, anyway! anglophile that i am, i was happy to be immersed in the language, though there were days when i didn't talk all that much. i had some me time, and the illness forced me to slow down a bit, which perhaps wasn't so bad after all.

and now i'll go have another cuppa in honour of good old blighty, and a hobnob to go with it.


song of the day: goodbye england (covered in snow) by laura marling.

english weather & italian food - england day 8

the nasty little buggers inside my chest are still quite well, it seems. better than i am, at any rate. i've still had a bit of a temperature all day, and i tire easily. breathing is harder than usual, and the sounds that emerge from my chest area alternately make me chuckle and worry.

i took a short, very slow walk by the beach before breakfast, and after breakfast went to look at the sunny day from my window seat, watching the tide go out and, later in the day, come back in. i love, love, love the sea!

i edited some of the hundreds of photos i have already taken (probably a blessing in disguise, this sickness, huh?), read some poetry, talked to heinz, dozed off a couple of times. thicker clouds moved in by mid-afternoon. it was quite cosy inside, and i was tired, but nevertheless - sick or not - a girl's got to eat.

i'd been craving italian food for days, so i checked the area for italian restaurants on the www. shanklin! practically just down the road. so i dressed nicely and ventured out. it had been dry since morning, but of course, as soon as i set foot on the street, it started to rain. not very nice, so i didn't walk around much in shanklin, but made for the restaurant (mamma mia, run by actual italians). delicious food (veggie lasagna and a huge serving of garlic bread), and for entertainment i watched two of the young employees putting up the last part of a huge wall poster.

when i made my way back to sandown, it was pouring down ... though it has gotten worse since. makes it all the nicer to be in my neat little room.

i'm glad i decided to change my flight back, because i probably would have passed out from fatigue somewhere along the way from here to vienna tomorrow, what with the luggage and flying and all. better this way, although i am missing out on a long overdue meeting with a former business english class and the psychotherapy fair on saturday.

i hope to feel good enough to go out for a few hours tomorrow. nice as it is in my room, i am beginning to get cabin fever!


song of the day: mamma mia by abba.

naughty bacteria, the iron lady & a poetry acceptance - england day 7

so, a trip to the sandown health centre this morning for my 09:40 appointment. the verdict: chest infection. nasty little buggers in my chest had to spoil my well-deserved, much-needed holiday! for the second time this year i am on antibiotics. the last time i took antibiotics before 2013 was in the early 90s or even in the late 80s! crazy. apart from antibiotics - rest. i asked about flying out on thursday: not recommended. well.

pharmacy, breakfast, www to do something about my flight. eventually found a rather cheap flight back, cheaper than changing my ticket at any rate! so i will be here till sunday. i hope by the end of the week i will be fit enough to venture out for some hours or i'll get a different kind of fever - cabin fever!

i rested, then went for a 15 minute stroll before getting something to eat. the short walk and a trip to the shop left me more tired than my 14 km walk on saturday! but then, i still have a temperature.


broken sun


the good news of the day is that after a couple of rejection notes, i got a "yes" from red fez magazine, accepting my poem inspired by the element magnesium. i am glad it has found a home - and red fezes look stunning on poems. ;)

of course, the big thing everybody is talking about here is the death of the iron lady, margaret thatcher, who passed yesterday. there are reports of street parties, of people rejoicing in her death. i understand where some of them might be coming from (though i believe many of them are too young to actually remember, or were not even born back then), but i still think it is wrong. (i'd actually like to ask them a simple question: let's say your mother is a controversial public figure. or let's just say the neighbours didn't get on with her. let's say she dies after a long struggle with cancer or a demented old woman. how would you feel if the people in your street had impromptu parties, singing songs about the wicked witch being dead?)

the margaret thatcher who died yesterday was not the margaret thatcher of the 1980s, she was an old and very sick woman. and yes, thatcher steered the country into an entirely wrong direction, from my point of view - and obviously from the POV of many, many british people - but she did not do so single-handedly, and those who have come after her ... well ... they haven't exactly helped, have they, to put things right. thatcher might have started it, she might have messed up a lot of things ... scratch that, she DID mess up a lot of things for a lot of people, but what about her successors? will partying in reaction to the news of an old woman's death change anything, anything at all? 'fraid not. what it would take is for people to get organised instead. have they got that in them?

still, i had to chuckle at the typo on some media website: "margaret thatcher died after a strike". if it was a typo, that is ... it might also have been cleverly sneaked into the article ... ;) and - i don't believe in an afterlife, but ... if there happens to be one, perhaps margaret t. can get stuck in a neverending miners' strike. *g*

and okay, i can't resist choosing the following as my ...


song of the day: stand down margaret by billy bragg.

sweat, sleep & the NHS - england day 6

hot & sweaty night. (not what you think. get your mind out of the gutter!) woke with a temperature of 38°C. not a promising start to the day. a trip to the pharmacy across the street then, to get some paracetamol, cough relief and vicks vapo rub. grocery shopping. i didn't even bother with breakfast, just had a pain au chocolat - the kind of pain that is actually sweet. ;)

back to bed - a little reading, a little lexulous, a little looking out the window, a little listening to my "the name of the wind" audio book. then more sleep. talked to heinz, who i'd asked to contact my GP in vienna. the thing is, in austria, if you get sick during your holidays, it doesn't count as a holiday, because holidays are for recreation, and being ill clearly isn't. so if you get sick on a holiday, you need to see a doctor to get a certificate or confirmation of being ill. my GP told heinz that i needed to see a doctor here in england to get some confirmation to take with me to vienna.

so i rang the sandown NHS health centre. after getting disconnected three times, the lady i finally got on the line wasn't terribly friendly or helpful. she said they could not give me any confirmation or anything, if anyone in the UK got sick during their holidays, it was "just one of these things". sorry. great. i decided to call my GP in vienna. he was surprised at the reaction of the NHS person and said if i could bring a bill or confirmation of an appointment, that would be fine. i tried a different health centre, in shanklin, and they were much friendlier. they said i could get an appointment card, certainly, but i would have to go to the health centre in sandown, because i was staying there, not in shanklin. so, another call (looking forward to my phone bill! not.) to sandown health centre, and fortunately i had a different person on the line. she gave me an appointment for tomorrow morning, to see a nurse. i hope that will get me what i need.

due to the paracetamol, my temperature has gone down, but i feel very tired and weak. i guess the sweating is actually very good, but i am running out of clothes ... i hate being ill away from home, and this certainly isn't the way i pictured my holiday. i'm quite upset and disappointed, and i think i am also unhappy with the way i went about it all ... i should have taken it easier the first couple of days, perhaps found some indoor activities instead. will i never learn?

i am feeling quite anxious this afternoon. i already dread going back to work, especially now that i won't feel rested at all. i am trying to be kind to myself and not to be angry with myself for overdoing it and falling ill, but it's not easy. i sat down to write this blog post, because i was beginning to feel panicky. and that's about the last thing i need.


song of the day: fever by elvis.

feverish bird-watching - england day 5

i slept until 08:30, with a few minor interruptions. i still had a fever and felt lousy. i dragged my body into the shower, then to the co-op for some groceries and a packet of nurofen. at the supermarket i felt as if my knees would buckle any moment, and i would faint. blah. had a rather small breakfast today, then crawled into bed. found out that nurofen should not be taken while on SSRIs and/or anti-depressants, but i decided to take one anyway. i'm still alive and fairly okay 8 hours later ... but might get something else at the pharmacy tomorrow. just as i was about to put my laptop away, heinz called. it was only a brief talk, as i was almost falling asleep. i slept (and sweated) for three hours. did me good.

i spent the afternoon reading, blogging, sitting by the window wrapped in blankets just looking at the sea, watching people and, especially, birds. it just fascinates me how they ride the wind, the currents, how they do as little as possible, just shift a little, adjust the angle of a wing now and again, move their heads here and there - and i found myself comparing them to kids on swings or water slides or merry-go-rounds or simply spinning, arms outstretched, doing the same thing over and over again, happily squealing with the excitement and joy of it.

my temperature has gone down, though i feel rather tired now, and my eyes are aching. i will try to get as much sleep as possible after my dinner of coleslaw, cheddar, cucumber and bread (guess where i am, lol!).

i have also thought about this fever/cold. i guess it's just another lesson in the ongoing tailor-made-for-michi programme "taking care of myself". i suppose i should have taken it easy and not walked quite so far on days 2 and 3, what with the chill wind and all, and not having walked so much since last autumn. i guess i should have listened to my body on day 2, when it seemed to try to tell me at the arboretum near newport that perhaps it was enough, that perhaps it was okay to take the bus back instead of ploughing ontowards east cowes, no? i remember telling myself that it was fine to go on, the exercise would do me good, make me tired, make me sleep well. but my body had a point. i really need to listen to it much more carefully. on day 3, at bembridge, i did that. i caught the bus back instead of trying to prove something to myself or whoever would care to watch or listen. looking back, i should have done less on day 2. walked along the beach, perhaps. and instead left longer hikes for a little later. i came here to relax, too, and of course, that's the first thing i neglect, because i always want to make the most of everything, forgetting that sometimes less is in fact more, is better for me. so yes, body, i got the message: you, we needed a day of rest. it hit home, and i might not forget so easily, because i really regretted having to stay indoors today, as it was such a lovely, sunny day.

as for the drugs: i still feel dizzy and nauseous in the mornings, though better during the day - not sure if it's because of the exercise and fresh air, or because the side effects are beginning to disappear. my eyes still seem weird at times, but it's better, too.

i'm hoping to get plenty of sleep and feel much better tomorrow! for now, i'll just watch some more birds.


song of the day: i like birds by the eels.

of marshes, detours & clotted cream tea - england day 3

not so windy in the morning, a hint of sun. i set out towards brading by bus, then attempted to walk towards the coast ... due to a lack of signposts in some crucial spots that was a bit more hit and miss than i'd expected. i walked across marshes, encountered several chattering but shy geese, and emerged on the other side looking like a piggy, at least my feet to well above my ankles did! instead of being some place near bembridge down, i ended up in yaverland, not all that far from sandown, where i'm staying. ah well.

up the first ascent towards culver cliff. bunnies galore, snow flurries again, and the wind had picked up, too. and then, of course, the path was closed. i was greeted by a red DO NOT ENTER sign. sigh. back again. diversion number 1. along the road, too, and no idea how long it would take. but i marched on. eventually ended up back on the coastal path. i enjoyed the views as i hiked on uphill towards culver cliff and the earl of yarborough monument. up there the wind was definitely an issue, so i had a hot drink before descending towards whitecliff bay. fields, some wooded areas - those were nice, as they meant shelter from the wind. happy hiker girl, until ... diversion number 2. path closed again. there had been no notice of that part being closed back at yaverland, or i would have found some other walking tour. double sigh.

again, country roads, then across the village, on to foreland, by the sea. there the wind jumped at me like some icy beast that wouldn't let go of me again. as there was no way i would have made it all the way to ryde as planned, and i dreaded more detours, i ventured to the nearest bus stop - and i was really lucky in that the bus showed up about three minutes later. back to sandown then. with all the detours, i have no ideas how many kilometres i walked, but certainly no less than 13.

which meant, i really deserved some clotted cream tea, right? right. after a stop at the co-op, i sat happily munching my scone with cream and strawberry jam - and actually drinking tea the english way! it had been my hot drink of choice for many, many years, until i heard that caffeine was not good for me when i started having panic attacks in 2007. so i went cold turkey back then and didn't drink any tea with milk for nearly five and a half years. and i'm only having a few cuppas while here in england. because, well, it's all part of the experience, eh?

here's a pic of dotty trying to pinch my scone:.


dotty-d cream tea ;)

speaking of the UK - there are some things i really love about it:

so many houses have names here. that's so neat. if i had a house in austria, i'd name it, too.

even in the new millennium, people still queue up. i often wish austrians had more of a queuing culture - especially at tichy's ice cream shop on a hot summer day. ;)

passengers thank the bus driver when getting off the bus. and the bus drivers thank the passengers.

friendly and helpful bus drivers who shout out your stop.

salt & vinegar crisps. to. die. for.

strongbow cider.

original source tea tree & mint shower gel

galaxy bars.

clotted cream teas.

the light.

but this time around i am also shocked at the number of people who are not only badly / inappropriately, but also shabbily dressed: faded colours; jumpers that have gone baggy with age, overstretched wristbands; tracksuits that have seen much better days; worn-out trainers, or even only slippers that look like they were intended for indoors. along with that goes unwashed hair and a general impression of negligence. i'm not saying this does not exist in austria, but it really strikes me here this year. sign of the times, i suppose.

some photos:


two geese



low tide



view of sandown bay



knock knock! - who's there?



twisted



blackbird scanning the sky for sun?


song of the day: on my own from "les misérables" by original london cast.