English Summer 2010 #5 - Bouncing at Birmingham

Saturday, August 21. After teaching several crash courses at the Maidenhead Silent Unity-UK headquarters, Carol-Jean and I headed north to classes scheduled for Birmingham and Huddersfield. Jane Goug, the metaphysical Methodist who helps guide Silent Unity-UK through its daily activities, drove me to Birmingham today. Jane's actual title is "Director of Administration and Director/Editor of Daily Word UK," and she is one of the nicest people I've ever met. CJ rode in another car with Margaret Kennedy, whose cats sometimes drive with her and therefore made that vehicle a sneeze-and-wheeze machine for me. (Sorry, cat-lovers--I like kitties, but they give me an asthma attack.) Margaret has attended all the classes I've been teaching at Maidenhead, and now she is heading to Birmingham and then on to her home town of Huddersfield, where I will complete this northern leg of my teaching journey tomorrow (Sunday Aug 22). CJ and I plan to take some time off and just sightsee after that.





The Birmingham Unity group was lively. I lectured on Connie Fillmore's concept of five Unity principles, took lots of excellent questions, and basically stirred up the troops a little. The Unity group meets in a Swedenbourgian church building. This picture is during break time. There were over 20 people attending the day-long session.




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Hey, Unity of the Lakes!
You need to install one of these--I've hit my head on your rafters too often! (See picture.)







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CJ & Margaret Kennedy, one of the guiding lights of the Huddersfield Unity community.










A lovely elderly Methodist lady named Jean graciously provided room and board during our stay in Huddersfield. This is the rear of her home, which she opened to us because of her friendship with members of the Unity group.




We traveled to Huddersfield in two cars also, but Jane had to return to her home in London and so another pillar of the Huddersfield Unity community, Winifred Hirst, arranged with another Methodist friend (another Margaret...stay with me) to drive me in a catless conveyance. So, Winifred, the Other Margaret, and I spent a couple of hours chatting and following Margaret Kennedy's tail lights up the Motorway from B'ham to Huddersfield. CJ rode with Margaret again.

Now here's the problem...

I had tossed my C-PAP machine and case in the back of Jane's trunk (the boot, in Brit-speak). CJ didn't know it was back there, and she had loaded our single travel bag into the back seat of Jane's car. Jane had to leave for London during the lunch break, and when they transferred the travel bag to Margaret's car they missed my blue C-PAP case. Jane drove away with it to the South of England. I can get along without the breathing support, but the problem is that all my medications were tucked in the pocket of the bag. Blood pressure, etc. The really scary thing is that I only had one dose of the beta blocker I take to control my heart rate. The last time I went off that medicine was about 12 years ago, and I ended up in an emergency room with a pulse rate over 170. It was 8 PM at night. Jane was five hours away, and everybody was exhausted after a long day.

I've got to admit, it was a little scary. CJ told me everything would be OK. I said it was too much to ask anyone to travel that far after a lengthy day on the road. She said to relax, that worst case she would drive with Margaret and meet Jane halfway to London, if necessary.

OK...suddenly I'm feeling like the Hebrew children lost in the wilderness. "Moses, Moses--why did you bring us out here to die? We had it better in Egypt!" Forget that they just saw the sea part and walked across on dry land. (Stay with me, here--I know it didn't happen historically...but it's a great metaphor.)

Then I look up and see Noah's rainbow, literally, in the sky. See picture. (OK, that's a seriously mixed metaphor, but I am not in charge of the Cosmos at this stage of my development.)


And I knew everything would be all right...




We contacted Britain's National Health Service (NHS) by telephone. A nurse called back within the hour, took notes, and promised a doctor would call. I thought, "Right...on Saturday night?" Within half an hour, a nice physician who sounded East Asian called and said he would fax a prescription for a week's medication to a "chemist" (pharmacy) nearby. He gave me a complete refill of all my missing prescriptions--I will not bore you with the list, but it was extensive--and took my word for it that I had misplaced them in good faith. Within another hour I had journeyed to the appointed druggist and received my refills.

"How much will that be?" I asked, shamelessly hoping for a senior discount.

"You're a senior? There's no charge."

I blinked. "No charge."

"Yes."

"Wowzers...thanks."

I collected my bag of prescriptions and went back to the nice Methodist lady's house, where CJ waited to remind me she'd told me so.

Poliical aside: Let those who say abusive things about countries with "socialized medicine" ask themselves how I might have fared in similar circumstances in a US city on a Saturday night. I would have been required to go to a hospital, wait endlessly, and pay enormous charges. It made me wonder why my native country has been so far behind the rest of the civilized world on the basic human right to have medical care.

The meeting next day in Huddersfield went very well. Small but lively group. Then we went back to the rainbow house and arranged a rental car for tomorrow. We would journey further North--onward to York Minster, to James Herriot country, and to Hadrian's Wall.

The fun work was almost over; the non-work fun was about to begin.