What's in a Name?

This week was a Jonah week. My purse was stolen when we were at the railway station collecting our son whose half-term holiday had just started. His plane from Manchester was delayed, which meant that he missed the connecting flight from Frankfurt home, and had to come by train. He arrived at 00.35. It was surprising how full the station was - full of young people, many of them worse the wear for drink. The State Police had a big thing going on too. My husband and I split up, as our offspring had no phone on him and we couldn't find him. So hubby went one way and I went another. Five minutes later my own mobile phone rang and I reached back to my rucksack handbag, undid the zip and took out the phone. I had a thick jacket and gloves on (it was -15° C) and couldn't get to the zip immediately to close up the bag, and so I answered the phone. We didn't go anywhere on Saturday and on Sunday morning I opened my bag to get my purse out to give hubby some money to buy rolls with for breakfast - friends had stayed overnight. No purse. Oh dear. So we called the bank emergency hotline and locked down the bank cards and credit card. Unfortunately my driving license was in it as well as the health insurance cards. In future I will keep all such cards in a different place - not the purse.

We went to the police in the afternoon, who obligingly wrote out a form saying that my driving license had been lost, thought to be stolen, so that if I was stopped by a police control while driving (I need the car to drive to work) I wouldn't be penalised for not having a license.
Monday I was out all day doing a pronunciation seminar for English teachers and on Tuesday I was teaching business English. The purse wasn't at the town's lost and found depot either.

Our son had to go to the doctor on Monday and again on Wednesday, where it was discovered that he had several hairline cracks in an ankle bone, severely strained sinews, muscle tissue damage and bruising in his foot. The school he attends is pretty tough, and I think they might have looked into it, but there you go. Ben now has to wear an airboot for two weeks and is not allowed to do any sports for 4 weeks, which puts paid to his running in this year's 10 Mile Run.

I had to go to the dentist on Wednesday, as I had some pain below a tooth, which I thought had been treated enough between December and January. Turned out that a cyst had built up, which if it wasn't treated straight away, would turn into an abscess. So I had to go across the city to the dental surgeon, who lanced and drained the offending area and prescribed antibiotics and pain killers. Travelled back on the underground to where I'd parked the car, went to the local chemist, only to discover that in my doped state, I had forgotten to take the prescription with me. Felt close to tears by now. Rang the practice who said that they'd been trying to contact me, and they spoke to the lady in the chemist's, who found what I needed and rang it all up. I almost left without paying - I was so idiotic. Thank God - it all worked out. Managed to drive home without causing any accidents.
I have to go back to the practice tomorrow for the real onslaught on my tooth.

Anyway, things have been a bit fraught, and hubby has had masses of work on his plate. Son goes back to the UK on Sunday and we follow him on Monday with his grandmother, who is spending a week in England with us. I've managed to prepare all my lessons today for when we come back so I have tomorrow for the dentist and the weekend to recover and pack. Phew. I hope there are daffodils out in England already. A bit of green and colour would be wonderful after this lengthy hibernal monotony.