by I’ll be seeing the ear, nose and throat specialist on Monday, and not before time. I’m suffering from severe sinus pain which kept me awake half of last night. The pressure and pain move from my left sinuses to my right, sometimes causing my eyes to puff up slightly. This isn’t as bad as a spell of excruciating attacks of pain I endured in 2008, but it isn’t much fun. I’m using a saline nasal spray and applying a hot wet towel every now and then, but that only gives me temporary relief. I might need to have an operation.
On Monday I saw the allergist again. I understood what she said apart from one word which sounded like “orele” that she repeated over and over. I’ve experienced this situation quite often, where I understand pretty much everything apart from one crucial word. I recognised orele as a Romanian word, meaning “the hours”, but I couldn’t see how that made sense in context. Eventually I twigged that she wasn’t saying a word at all, but rather an abbreviation: ORL, short for otorinolaringologie. A few weeks ago I went to the TV shop (I lost my reception for a second time) and the woman at the counter asked me for my “buletinul”. Wha-ha, poftim? Er, bulletin? News? What have I got on me that possibly be news? I dragged out my TV and internet contract. Buletinul, she repeated. She sounded quite impatient. Uh, I really haven’t a clue what you’re asking for. “Cartea de identitate, you pillock!” Ah, gotcha.
Tomorrow I should be starting with a new student, and I’m unclear as to who it will be. I think it’ll be a nine-year-old boy. I’ll have to go to Dumbrăvița, a town on the outskirts of Timișoara, and the lesson is due to last two hours. How on earth a kid of that age is supposed to cope with two hours straight I have no idea. Assuming the lesson actually happens It’ll be a totally new experience for me. I’ve never taught kids before.
In just two hours’ time the trigger will be pulled on Article 50. It’s funny how news events bring an obscure term like “Article 50” into public consciousness. As I look out the window now, I see nine flags, four of which are EU flags. Sometimes I see EU umbrellas and EU bumper stickers. Whether Brexit turns out to be good or bad (and we won’t know that for a couple of decades), Britain already seems a world away from the rest of the EU and they haven’t even left yet.
