Letter from Australia
John, I thought you would
like to know that I had planned a three week holiday in
Scotland from 28th August to 12th Sept. Barb and I spent the
night of the 27th August at the Red Deer Innkeepers hotel in
Cumbernauld. In the early hours of the 28th (my
73rd birthday) I was rushed to the Monklands Hospital in
Airdrie with a gangrenous gall bladder. The pain was
something else.
The man across from me would slip out with the young man in the adjacent bed for a fag . It was " Hey Andy, son, ye fancy gone out fur a wee puff?" "Naw ? Later, eh?" And the visitors, little ladies with their gaberdine coats, some with their noses nearly touching their chins like they had forgotten to put their teeth in.
I could hear them all whispering, " see that yin in the next bed, he's an Australian." And as they passed my bed on the way out they would shyly look at me and say " Sorry aboot yur illness and sae far frum hame"
I thank all the medical and nursing staff for pulling me through. I had heard terrible things about the NHS but they all came up trumps and here I am back in Australia finishing off my recovery. I also thank the people of Riddrie and Glasgow for all their help to Barbara and myself. I am proud to say that I still belong to Glasgow.
Alistair lives in Merimbula/Tura beach in NSW Australia but is originally from Garrowhill
