And the Oscar goes to...

A year ago today I had a stroke. Fortunately, I’m one of the very, very lucky ones who’s able to look back over the year gone by with fully restored brain capacity and without impairment to any bodily function. One dreads to think how the whole situation could have turned out, had it not been for the alertness of my partner Andrew and the stellar medical care provided the NHS. To come out at t’other end completely unscathed is like divine intervention, if you believe in such nonsense.

Since it’s Oscar nomination day (Parasite for the win), I’d like to take the opportunity to give recognition where recognition’s due, in the shape of my own private Oscars.

Best Picture – This one, taken a just over a week after the stroke. Made it up the hill in Greenwich Park. 

Best Director – Dr Striha, Neurology Consultant at King’s College Hospital for being in charge of administering the all-important clot busting treatment, and continued after care. I’ve since found out that he’d finished for the day and was waiting for a train at Denmark Hill when A&E called and said that a patient who would benefit from thrombolysis had just arrived. He duly headed back. Hashtag lifesaver.

Leading role – Andrew Dibb. Possessing the right balance of persistence and nagging for dealing with a stubbornly uncooperative patient.

Supporting role – The stroke team at King’s College Hospital and the speech and language service at Oxleas NHS trust. I heart the NHS.

Best Script – The high drama of Sunday 13 January 2019. The gentle build up (panning shots of the Thames pathway at Greenwich peninsula, morning run in the early sunshine), the moment of crisis and drama (stroke in Sainsbury's, unwitting protagonist wrestled to the ground by punters, breaks free and makes a dash for it), the 'get with the programme' moment (protagonist unwisely goes to bed, amidst said crisis), the knight in shining armour moment (partner comes home and rescues protaganist), the ambulance stand off (paramedics vs partner, partner wins), the hospital sequence (rapid jump from assessment, to scan, to thrombolysis). The stroke ward (tracking shot through hospital corridors and lifts, crisis averted).

Best Music – R.E.M. Soundtracking my life since 1991.

Best Foreign Language – Swedish. Or rather, the relief at regaining cognition for both Swedish and English. To start with, I definitely struggled with both. Had my first or second language ended up foreign, the road to recovery would definitely have been more gruesome.

Best Sound – The cork on the bottle of fizz we’re about to crack open. Here’s to another stroke-free year!

A sudden loss of brain function

Almost exactly a week ago today I had a stroke. Completely out of blue, I had just finished a 10k run of moderate effort (48 mins) and swung past Sainsbury's on my way back. Everything was fine until I got to the till and then all of a sudden my body decided to malfunction. A small gathering formed around me, trying to pin me down, awaiting an ambulance. Against better judgement, I wriggled free and marched home.

I spent a good 5 mins trying to get the key in the front door. In denial still. 45 mins later I was on the floor, in a heap. Still in denial. I managed to get dressed, did my hair obviously, and crawled in to the bed. Which was where Andrew found me. I'd been reduced to saying 'yeah, yeah, yeah' and 'no, no, no' by then so the more alert of us rightly decided to phone an ambulance.

Things are a bit of a blur from then but I know had a thrombosis which cleared the blood clots. I was kept in for two days more days, and been recuperating at home since. Retail therapy of course.

I've gone from not knowing my name or address last Sunday, to a reasonably functioning individual today. Quite the journey. There's something quite bewildering about getting a fork confused with a knife whilst being able to discuss the the various Brexit permutations.

A week on, I've come a long way but there's shitloads over yonder. But as long as the route there is reasonably straightforward, I be alright.

Yuan note

There are shops everywhere. Literally everywhere. Hardly surprising seeing I'm currently in the manufacturing heartland of the top ranked country in the 2016 Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index, but astounding, and a little bit headspinning, nevertheless. Though that might owe more to the irritating practice of having sound systems at shop entrances, blasting out noxious beats (the Chinese happy hardcore scene is live and kicking) interspersed with jolly announcements. Some shops even go the extra mile by deploying actual humans to stand outside and frenetically clap their hands at noone in particular.

More is more appears to be the modern Chinese approach. There's seemingly a shopping plaza attached to every metro station in Guangzhou. That's a whole lot of plaza. Floor after vast floor of shop units selling a bewildering amount of consumer goods, often of an indistinguishable nature. Chains are plentiful of course, you're never far away from a mobile phone shop especially. I stumbled in to one chain with seemingly hundreds of outlets in Guangzhou alone, Miniso (think a Muji and Tiger crossbreed), and came across this little gem:

A Moomin portable device charger! Practical and good fun.

One of the city's better shopping experiences is offered by the Fashion Tianhe Plaza in the Zhujiang New Town area, home to three of the tallest buildings in the country. More is more see. Housed in a huge and hugely stylised underground arcade maze, the shops essentially sell the same things but the staggeringly elaborate shop fronts make for an amusing stroll. One section was named Shanghai and featured a fake(?) railway and a 1920s street scene for selfie posing. Another section had cages with fairly apathetic birds. And anyone looking for a break from the hardcore beats and hand clapping can partake in a spot of archery. Westfield should take note.

If shopping malls aren't your thing then worry not. The streets are lined with shops, and eateries of course. And for ease of use there are streets dedicated to specific items. I've walked down florist street, hardware street, fabric street, lighting street and gift wrap street to name a few. Again all selling the same things. And you don't necessarily see all that many transactions occurring, in the plazas or on the streets, apart from in eateries. Maybe the more is more approach has its limitations. It's all a bit one note, or (terrible pun spoiler) Yuan note.