Journal Entries
Bionic Woman (Bel)
Posted Apr 23, 2012
No, not me. Not all that fast anyway. It's my mother in law. She hasn't been really healthy for a good two years now. She has had various operations on various body parts.
So far she's got a net which lifts her bladder, a (mini) computer and shunt in her head and a pacemaker for her heart.
Next up: another heart op, called an 'Ablation' to stop her heart from fibrillating. It's not a huge op: a catheter will be inserted into the Vena saphena magna in her groin (under a local anaesthetic) and from there to her heart where they'll do the ablation.
Still, my mil is really scared and now I go there nearly each day and spend several hours with her, trying to support her and calm her down.
Right now I'm on my way there again to accompany her to the 
.
She is confused and keeps calling because she can't remember what we had agreed on etc. She called just now to tell me that she has a doctor's appointment at 4pm today. I told her that I was on my way to her.
It's certainly not easy, and my husband was at the end of his tether already last night and hung up the phone on her; then brought me the phone and told me to call her. 
Takes deep breath. 
Discuss this Journal entry [27]
Latest reply: Apr 23, 2012
Disturbed Night (Bel)
Posted Mar 27, 2012
At about 2.30am (I'd just come back from the loo and was going back to sleep) I suddenly heard somebody yell for help - at least four times, and very loud. I couldn't locate it, but it seems to come from within the house. 
I got up an dialled 110, then answered lots of questions to the police officer. This woke my husband who asked what was going on.
He went to look out the window and told me that our neighbour from downstairs was pacing up and down in front of the house. She had heard it, too (but not called the police). Her neighbour to the left was looking out of the window, too. None of us could tell where exactly it had come from. All of us thought it had been from within the house, but all was silent in there - except for us. The police came about ten minutes later and asked all their questions again. There wasn't anything new we could tell them, however, so they were just about to go and look round the neighbourhood when the front door opened and A came in . He's the youngest son of my neighbours to the right and lives in a village not too far away. He must have been quite disturbed to find a committee consisting of three neighbours and two policemen. I asked him what happened, and he said his papa had called him. His mum had had an operation and something happened. He vanished quickly upstairs. The police followed, rang the doorbell and asked if everything was OK. They said yes, but didn't explain what it was all about - the mystery is unsolved. Anyway, we could all return to our respective beds - but I couldn't get back to sleep for ages.
I'm very tired now. I'm not quite sure why our neighbour didn't just open his door and tell us that everything was OK. he must have heard the commotion in the staircase. Then again, maybe he was too disturbed to think clearly.
Discuss this Journal entry [17]
Latest reply: Mar 27, 2012
How polyglot are you?
Posted Feb 20, 2012
I've just had a look at the ingredients list on the citronpeppar Milla was so nice to give me.
Although I do not talk Swedish, Finnish or Danish (although I have some understanding of the latter), I was able to understand most of the ingredients by studying the list of them in all three languages*. So, how about you?
*with the help of a Danish online dictionary for a couple of words I didn't understand in any language but had a 
moment when I saw the translation.
Discuss this Journal entry [99]
Latest reply: Feb 20, 2012
When Bel travels...
Posted Feb 16, 2012
... you can bet there's something going wrong.
The first time I went to a meet our plane was delayed for more than six hours due to a deflated tire.
This morning, I woke up to news about a strike:
http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,15744137,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf
I really hope they won't strike tomorrow, and there won't be any demonstrations (those usually happens on Mondays) or broken planes or whatever.
Just when I had calmed down a little. 
Discuss this Journal entry [65]
Latest reply: Feb 16, 2012
Cliches and stereotypes
Posted Feb 13, 2012
I'm currently back into reading Jerome K Jerome - or rather listenig to t. This tie, it's 'Three men on the Bummel'. For those who don't know it: JKJ and his friends go on a cycling tour through Germany. It is hiarious.
While talking about it with a friend, he said: it's astonishing that the clichés and stereotypes haven't changed in all this time (the book was first published in 1900). And what do you know: I started proofreading a book over on DP a minute ago, and the very first paragraph I got reads:
THE HOMESTEADERS
OF neighbors, I had many. There was
Miss Carter from old Missouri whose
claim joined mine on the west, and another
Missourian to the north of her; a
loud talking German north of him, and an English
preacher to the east of the German.
So we can deduct that germans are loud. 
Anything else you can add? 
Discuss this Journal entry [41]
Latest reply: Feb 13, 2012
aka Bel - A87832164
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