As The World Turns
So I contemplate the news of the week.
'Ming' Campbell is the leader of the Liberal Democrats, and once again Simon ('popular with the party activists') Hughes is pushed into an ignominious third place. Various people have trotted out their theories about why this alleged popularity didn't translate into election victory, and of course the 'revelations' about his sexuality didn't help his appearance as an honest broker, but the two things that struck me at the time of the sudden access of honesty stay with me:
One is that I always assumed that Simon Hughes' non-heterosexuality was just one of those open secrets that some politicians manage to keep - when he came out, the biggest shock to me was that he claims relationships with women.
The second is the more serious. I don't care if he's gay, straight or a bisexual transgendered badger - that's his business. And I don't much care that he was misleading about it - it was stupid politically, but not without precedent. What bothers me is that once again this kind of honesty only comes when someone is going to run the story anyway and the subject has their hand forced. As if, still and all in this day of greater equality than was ever previously imaginable, it remains something to be ashamed of.
Shame on you for that, if for nothing else, Mr Hughes.
Some Details
So the primary reason for my being in hospital was a condition called Orbital Cellulitis, which is a condition involving an infection in the tissue around the eye.
The background is that since I was ill before Christmas I've had chronic congestion in my sinuses. Somewhere along the line, this seems to have become infected, and the middle of last week, that infection spread to the eye. Hence I woke up on Thursday last week with my eye swollen shut and the right side of my face giving me a lot of pain.
Visits to the GP and then A&E immediately followed, and after an initial blast with oral antibiotics didn't halt the progress I was admitted to hospital a week ago today.
Five days of intravenous antibiotics later I was released on my own recognizance with three more lots of antibiotics and an instruction to rest up for the rest of the week.
So that's the 'in a nutshell' version.
It’s Not My Fault!
This recent silence that is.
I've just come out (I believe the operative term is 'been released') from hospital, where I have languished since last week, and where I have, I cannot deny, been bored out of my tiny mind.
I'm just going to try and get my head together a bit and then I'll do some proper catching up.