Toe cozy

By Simon

My new ToeCozy

How do you find something if you don’t know what it’s called or even if it exists?

This is the problem that faced me yesterday when I started looking for something to cover the toes of my left foot that stick out of my plaster cast. I was using a sock, but it didn’t fit very well, and kept on slipping off, so I thought I’d try to find a better alternative.

I went on Amazon (other online retailers are available), and searched for cover for plaster cast, or something similar, I soon found what I was looking for – the toe cozy or ToeCozy. Like a tea cozy, but it fits on your toes rather than on your teapot.

I think it’s a brand name rather than a generic name. Is there a generic name for such things? Maybe toe cover.

When you’re learning a foreign language you often faced a similar situation, especially when you start, as you have only limited vocabulary. You just have to use the words you do know to describe things you don’t have words for. Or maybe you have other ways to get round this.

London’s Euston

By Simon

Last week when I was waiting on Bangor station for the train to London, I heard announcements that referred to the London station that trains from Bangor go to as “London’s Euston“, rather than the usual London Euston or just Euston. I hadn’t heard it referred to in that way before so noticed it and thought it strange.

Euston station was built on land owned by the Dukes of Grafton, and named after Euston Hall his ancestral home in Suffolk, near the village of Euston, a name first recorded in Domesday Book, and possibly of Anglo-Saxon origin, maybe from “Efe’s Tun” (Efe’s farmstead).

There are a number of mainline railway stations in London that serve different parts of the country. As well as Euston, which serves northwest England and north Wales, there’s Victoria (for south and southeast of England, and an English queen); Paddington (for the southwest of England and south Wales, and for small Peruvian bears); Waterloo (for south and southwest England, and an ABBA song), and so on.

Details of how the major railway stations in London got their names.

Finally!

By Simon

After waiting all day yesterday, they finally came to take me to the operating theatre at 9pm last night. I’m not sure how long the operation took, but I woke up back in the ward at about midnight, feeling rather groggy, but otherwise okay.

So my ankle now has some bits of metal in it to keep the fractured bones together, and doesn’t hurt nearly as much as it did. I can move it a bit more, and may be able to put weight on it in a week or two.

It should take around 6 weeks for the bones to heal. Then a few more months for my ankle to heal fully.

Still waiting

By Simon

My operation didn’t take place yesterday, but it might just happen today. I’ve been through the pre-op checklist and talked to the surgeon and anesthetist. They said they will try to fit me in today, but cannot guarantee it. I’m feeling very tired, hungry and thirsty as I didn’t sleep well last night, and haven’t had anything to eat or drink since yesterday.

Everybody is very friendly and helpful here, but I wouldn’t recommend a stay in hospital, if you can avoid it.

Up North

By Simon

The view from the window nearest me in Lancaster Royal Infirmary

After being discharged from St Mary’s Hospital yesterday, I took a taxi to Euston, with a Somali driver. I managed to get myself to the ticket hall and bought a ticket. Then asked for assistance to get to the train – I can’t put any weight on my broken ankle at the moment so have to hop everywhere with the crutches, which is tiring and tricky, especially up and down steps. Fortunately there was a train in the station and I only had to wait about 5 minutes before it left.

It was a direct train and took about three hours to get to Lancaster. I just sat, looked out of the window, dozed off a bit, and eavesdropped on the conversations around me. There was a family in front of me who were speaking in a mixture of English and maybe a language from India – I don’t know which one. Behind me were a Russian-sounding mother and son who spoke mainly in English, but the mother occasionally slipped into Russian.

My mum met me at Lancaster station and took me to the local hospital – Lancaster Royal Infirmary, which is just down the road from where I went to school. We waited for quite a while, saw various doctors and nurses, I had some more x-rays, then they decided to admit me rather than letting me go home and come back in a few days. We waited some more while they found me a bed.

This morning they told me that they won’t be able to operate on my ankle until tomorrow, so I’ve been taking it easy, doing a bit of work, listening to podcasts and snoozing. My mum came to visit this afternoon and brought me some grapes, awfully clichéd I know, but nice and tasty.

This hospital is a lot less multilingual than St Mary’s in London. So far the only language I’ve heard here is English, mainly with a Lancashire accent. I’ve found myself speaking with a bit of Lancashire accent as well. Even though I grew up in this area, I never had much of a local accent. However it sounds familiar and pleasant to my ears, and comes easily to my tongue.

Multilingual hospital

By Simon

The staff and patients in the hospital are from many different places and speak a variety of languages.

Yesterday I overheard a consultation involving a man from Afghanistan who spoke no English, so his relatives were interpreting. I couldn’t tell if he was speaking Dari or Pashto or another language, as I’m not familiar with languages from that region.

When I was chatting with the ambulance crew, who were all from Australia, and mentioned that I speak a variety of languages, one of them joked that she barely speaks English. This seems to be quite a common reaction when monolinguals encouter polyglots.

One of the doctors I saw yesterday told me that they often need interpreters in the hospital and frequently use phone-based ones. The languages most in demand at the moment are Arabic and Farsi.

I’m going home in a little while, which will be an adventure and challenge, and will get my ankle fixed properly tomorrow in Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor, hopefully.

Change of plan – I will have the operation in Lancaster, then stay with my Mum, who lives nearby, while recovering.

Slight mishap

By Simon

A photo of Regent's Park in London

Today I had a nice walk and lunch in Regent’s Park (see above), then went ice skating in Queensway (pictured below).

A photo of Queensway ice rink in London - the scene of my slight mishap

The skating went well for the first hour or so. Then I fell awkwardly and dislocated and fractured my ankle. The staff at the ice rink helped me off the ice and called an ambulance. It came quickly and took me to the nearby Sy Mary’s Hospital.

They have straightened the ankle and put a temporary cast on it, but I will need an operation to fix it properly. I just saw one of the orthopedic surgeons who recomended that I return to Bangor and have the operation there. They are arranging that now.

Everyone had been wonderfully helpful and nice, and I haven’t had to wait nearly as long as the last time I was in hospital. That time it was my wrist that I fractured while roller blading.

I’m not sure when I’ll get back to Bangor, and it won’t be an easy journey as my anke hurts a lot if I try to move it.

Homeward bound

By Simon

Yesterday I had a good time in London with a Russian-speaking friend. We talked mainly in English with a sprinkling of Russian from time to time. In the morning we went to the Design Museum and saw a special exhibition about Moscow, which was interesting. Then had a wander around Holland Park, which is beautiful, especially at this time of year when lots of trees are in blossom (see below).

A photo of the Kyoto Garden (京都庭園) Holland Park in London

After lunch in Hammersmith we played mini golf in Acton Park, which was great fun. Neither of us were very good, but I did manage to get one hole in one. In the evening we went tango dancing, then watched a Russian film – an interesting re-telling of the Beauty and the Beast story called Аленький цветочек (The Scarlet Flower). There were no subtitles, and my Russian isn’t yet good enough to understand much, so my friend translated for me. The Russian they use in the film is old-fashioned, and they speak in a very dramatic, almost operatic way, so it’s not easy to understand.

Сегодня я еду домой or I’m going home today (“Today I go/travel homeward”). The word домой [dɐˈmoj] is one I learnt and used quite a bit yesterday. It means home, homeward or to the house, and related words/forms include:

– дом [dom] = house, home, family, household
– дома [ˈdomə] = at home (genetive singular)
– домашний [dɐˈmaʂnʲɪj] = home, household, house; private; domestic, family; home-made, homespun
– домовой [dəmɐˈvoj] = house; a house spirit or sprite
– домосед [dəmɐˈsʲet] = stay-at-home, homebody

Source: Wiktionary

Languages of London

By Simon

Last night I went to the first Languages of London meetup – it’s the same group I’ve been going to for a few months (the Polyglot Pub), but with a new name and venue, and more participants.

Some happy polyglots at the Languages of London meet-up in the Wellcome Collection café

The meetup was supposed to take place in the Institute of Education in UCL, which is a good location in central London near Russell Square and Euston. Unfortunately they were closed for the Easter holidays, even though they had confirmed in advance that the venue would be available. So we had to find somewhere else in a hurry. Fortunately we found a good alternative in the café in the nearby Wellcome Collection.

There were more people there last night than have been at any of the Polyglot Pub meetups I’ve been to, from various countries. We chatted about languages, and other things, in a variety of languages, and generally had a good time. I had conversations in English, Welsh, French and Japanese, and spoke odd bits of Spanish and Portuguese. There were also conversations in Mandarin, Arabic, Russian, Thai and a few other languages.

These meetups happen once a month and if you’re in London for the next one. Do come along. They’re for anybody who is learning a language or two, who speaks a few languages, and/or is interested in languages.