The return of hope can be spelled with 3 letters: N-H-S...

Family,

And a GREAT evening to you from across the Pond after another GREAT DAY in the Mother Country. Okay, first off, let's give props where props are due - Steve Markham, day in and day out you've changed your profile picture (love some Anchorman, by the way). This is an impressive display and commitment to the readership faithful's entertainment - full marks. Dinger - I'm callin' you out. You were the prototype, but you've since gone soft. Time to step up or look like Chris Paul during the last NBA season. Just sayin'...

So to recap on two days with momma in the Mother Country, let's start with Monday...

Monday: And so begins the love affair with socialized healthcare...

So a little backstory here - Mum's knee has been hurting for about a month now, but I wasn't aware until Sunday how bad the pain was. Granted, she's a warrior, but the pain and the sheer amount of walking in Europe was proving too be a lot for her knee. Given that, we decided to avail of the UK medical system and see if we could do something for her.

After waking at 9:15, we had a quick brekkie at Pont's cafe (total donkey behavior from them this past time - I will NOT be back) before rolling over to a walk-in clinic. The fee was supposed to be 50 quid, but the nurse came to the waiting room and told us that she couldn't help us and that we should go down the street to University College Hospital (UCH). And so began what can only be described as a wonderful experience with free healthcare.

We rocked up to the Emergency Room, where I parked mom in the waiting room and supplied her information. 20 minutes later she was in triage. 1 hour later she had a consultation with a doctor. And 10 minutes after that, she was walking out the door without dropping a cent - hellllllloooooooooo Obamacare!!!!!

And the best part - the doctor told her that she couldn't give her a cortizone shot, but she could give her pain medication. When mom told the doc that she was allergic to codeine, the doctor simply said, "Oh, well we'll just give you morphine then." That's right - MORPHINE. I mean, these cats don't play.

Granted, I did have to pay for the prescription. The going rate of 30 capsules of MORPHINE in the UK? SEVEN POUNDS. That's right - $10 USD will buy you all the narcotic you need for a spin around the continent. I mean, let's face it, she can use it all before Amsterdam - she should feel no pain there...JUST KIDDING, MOMMA!

We brought her home after that and let her rest before I went for a run (5th day straight!) in the park. After that, we rolled over to La Tasca, where we KILLED some food. We are talking TEN TAPAS good here. It was AWESOME. All in all, this was a GREAT day, and best of all, mum was feeling better. I gotta tell you - we were concerned on Sunday. However, after the meds, another day of sunshine, and some rest, we were in a MUCH better place. Truthfully, we felt that hope was restored and that mom could complete the journey.

Tuesday: A pile of rocks and a pair of pints...

So today was another great day. Due to straining my ankle a bit from running, I took today off. Mum, however, was feeling GREAT and rolled over to Baker Street just before 8 AM to catch her tour bus for the day. Destination? Stonehenge and Bath. All in all, mum had a great day - check her out on the Salisbury plains! She even got in a Sally Lunn Bun (Steve and Sara - that's a shout out to you guys)!

For me, it was a busy but VERY productive day. After work, I popped over to All Bar One with 3 of the work peeps to have a farewell drink before bidding them adieu. It's the last time I'll see Rob and Carolyn (in a work capacity, at least), and so we wanted to grab a final drink to celebrate surviving the project and even enjoying the ride. Kat was there as well, but I'll see her tomorrow. :-) As for Lord - sorry, brother! Next time I'll keep the BB out and handy...

Dinner tonight was The Real Greek, which was AWESOME. We ate about 14,000 times our body weight in food, and I loved EVERY SECOND OF IT. Add in a glass of white wine and having my girls with me, and you have a recipe for a GREAT night.

Also, WARNING: There will be NO BLOG for the next 6 days. The next post will be Tuesday, 1 June. Why? Because the Taylors are going to ROME, BABY!!!!! VENI, VEDI, VECCI!!!! Bring on the gelatto!

Okay, that's all the news that's fit to print. Chat tomorrow!

Love,

Sam and Jenny (and Mum)