tossed salads and scrambled eggs

So yesterday i was driving to work, and i was in a bad mood...
( now you must see, that this is not unusual when one is on one's way to work )

i was cussing the chap on radio -2 ...
( normally, i talk to myself... but people who notice me tend to think i'm mad... so i've resorted to singing to myself... that way people just think i'm an idiot... hence the need for the radio... still doesn't explain why i was talking to the radio...but, hey... )

you see, he was being very silly... he was being annoyingly upbeat...
( now that in itself is not irksome... but it tends to grate when i'm not feeling cheerful myself... which does happen... a few times... per day...)

here i was stuck in my car... it was a cold and gloomy day, and it was raining...
( now again, this in itself, is not a reason to bring up any bile... and it would not be remiss to moan about the dark, dank, cloudy, unwholesome, depression- inducing weather... no... this is England! )

and i was late getting to work...
( this too, is totally accountable... considering the weather conditions, the fact that it was a monday, my car is an old beat up jalopy that was resuscitated from a scrapyard, the roads were frosty, and the woman who lives next door listens to Take That all the time and hence causes my delicate constitution great harm )

all this was pretty much routine... but this chappie on the radio had a really girly giggle, and he talked non-stop, and he was being oh so sweet, and he was giving away prizes to these prize morons who had nothing better to do than call in to his show - about Love.
( Good Grief !! )

...the reason i was so upset, was that i had run out of cereal that morning!
i mean... what a horrible thing to happen on a monday morning!!
( you must understand... that chunky nut honey cornflakes are ludicrously tasty... as anyone knows... they are vitamin-enriched, iron-fortified, low-salt, golden flakes with peanuts and honey... and a lack of sugar just means that i am not able to tolerate the prissy secretary who manages my clinic! )


now these are the times that i stop to complain about my life...
these are the times when i cannot be bothered to smile at my fellow man, shrug off the weight of third world debt, take in my stride the dying throes of our planet, be generous to people who only care about themselves, turn the other cheek to people who monger hate and terrorism...
and all those other things that i'm supposed to dislike.


And then i met Fran...
this lovely 94 year old lady...
who came to my clinic with her daughter...
because she was having memory problems.

She waddled in using her Zimmer-frame...
she looked at me very sceptically...

" they brought me to see you because they think i'm mad, doctor "

" but i'm not. I've had a good life... a long one... and it's been full "

" i worked as a cherry-picker on a fruit farm, i served in the army during the war, i was a nurse-volunteer for the Red Cross, i've had three daughters, twelve grandchildren, and many great grandchildren"

" I dont remember names... but i remember the first time Michael and I held hands... i remember my first kiss... i remember hearing on the news that the great war was over... i remember the first christmas that my daughters bought me a present...a red scarf... and i remember what a pain this daughter was, both coming out of me, and ever after! "

" I've had a full life. Can i go home and carry on, please?"



I discharged Fran.
I walked down the road and bought myself a lamb doner burger with extra mayonnaise.
I'm going to change radio stations.
I'm going to try find the rest of my life.