So in this great new land that I live in, we have "free" healthcare (free meaning we are taxed out the wazoo). Luckily I have had good experiences to date (you don't have to pay for certain medications, like contraception, hurrah!) The one caveat to all of this is that you must register with a GP, unless you fancy spending your life hanging out at walk-in centres.
I had of course not bothered to register with a GP because I was getting by just fine at the walk-ins. However, there comes a special time in one's life when you get a little gift called a urinary tract infection and suddenly sitting around in a strange waiting room for three hours is less appealing. Hence, I looked online to find a GP in my postcode, printed and filled out the necessary forms, and pulled together the only "proof of residency" I could find: a bedraggled deed of assignment from my flat and a notice from my credit card company with my office address on it.
I took said documentation to the GP's office nearest work and encountered a disgruntled receptionist who appeared to really, really enjoy working in public service (not actually). I had filled out one of the forms wrong (apparently an NI number is not the same as an NHS number) and she was not a fan of my bootleg proof of address. It was all I had!
We went back and forth a few times:
Me: can you tell me what would be acceptable?
Her: utility bills or council tax statements
Me: I don't have either of those, what can I do to get medical care?
Her: (shrug) walk-in centre? Go find one online.
Thanks.
I felt relatively defeated so I did the only thing I could think of: went in the bathroom and cried :)
Some days I feel really at home here and other days I feel completely lost. Being unwell and having gotten no sleep the night before didn't help! I wrapped up the pity party after a few minutes, re-applied my makeup so I could walk out of there with SOME dignity, and promptly treated myself to a curry.
I then went home to find any further scraps of evidence to prove that I live here and then hunted online to find a more humane GP in my area. Done and done (found a change of address form from my bank - would this do????).
The next morning I phoned up the GP to see if they would indeed let me register and they were SO nice. Thank God. Registration took 2 minutes and they had me in the system 3 hours later.
But.
They had no available appointments until next week. :) they did, however, have a walk-in service the next morning, ha! After all that. Oh well, at least I have a GP now...
P.S. Don't worry parents, I am FINE
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
i saw the evian mountain
you know, the one that is on the front of the bottle?
sadly i didn't have my camera (business trip to switzerland but should have been more prepared nonetheless!) but i found this nice picture online. it was a really lovely sight as i was dashing for the train station in my high-heeled boots! (yes, i managed to catch the train...)
sadly i didn't have my camera (business trip to switzerland but should have been more prepared nonetheless!) but i found this nice picture online. it was a really lovely sight as i was dashing for the train station in my high-heeled boots! (yes, i managed to catch the train...)
Monday, April 12, 2010
under the sea
well, next to it, as it were. i had a lovely birthday weekend, spending saturday in leigh-on-sea, somewhere on the british coast...(and the weather cooperated!)
someone actually lives in that little building on the sandbar
tide goes out but the boats stay. utterly fascinating.
someone actually lives in that little building on the sandbar
tide goes out but the boats stay. utterly fascinating.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
out and about
Strange advertising campaign all over the underground. This is one of the tamer posters.
Frites in butter sauce at Café Rouge with Maren, Chris, and Beth...dinner of champions
Spring has sprung at St. Paul's! (and elsewhere in London)
St. Paul's churchyard
From South America to Europe, Mar = good travel buddy
My first official guests!
Chris, Maren, Jen in the middle of the street by St. Paul's
Jen and Maren, enjoying some Sam Smith at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese
Mom! First night in London at Pizza Express
Mama at St. Paul's
Queen's Theatre, where Mom and I saw Les Mis
More Queen's, right before they told everyone to stop taking pictures
Jen + daffodils at Victoria Embankment park
Jen, Mom, and Union Jack in the background
Victoria Embankment
Easter brunch bloody Mary's after church
After five months, I finally made it to Buckingham Palace!
Mom posing in front of the Palace
Cool tree in Hyde Park on the Princess Diana Memorial Walk
A British Easter basket :-)
Jen's Motel
Come and stay in Jen's Motel, where the treasures of England await...
It could be YOU on this velour-covered air mattress!!
Amuse yourself with our wide collection of takeaway menus! Sample the Gin & Tonic in a can!
Loads of photo opportunities for you at Jen's Motel!
Tasty local canned beverages make nice decorations!
It could be YOU on this velour-covered air mattress!!
Amuse yourself with our wide collection of takeaway menus! Sample the Gin & Tonic in a can!
Loads of photo opportunities for you at Jen's Motel!
Tasty local canned beverages make nice decorations!
Friday, April 2, 2010
putting on my tourist hat :-)
for the second week in a row, jen's motel has visitors and this time, my mama is the star guest! she's a sneaky little devil and crawled in to sleep on the air mattress while i was brushing my teeth, so i guiltily slept in my bed. (however we both agree that the air mattress is strangely comfortable.)
our friday agenda was action packed:
bus tour of london
dinner in the theatre district
theatre
i took Mom for her first ride on the underground and she did pretty well. it was clear that this apple (read: me) hasn't fallen far from the tree, as i caught her beaming and smiling at the other passengers on the northern line. :-) how are the brits going to handle the two of us for the next four days?!?
london wasn't being the most cooperative with its weather and was alternating between bouts of sunshine and sideways downpours. and it was about 7 degrees. bleh. :-) nevertheless we piled onto a double decker tour bus to have a looksee at all the interesting stuff around the city. what's funny is that we were never more than a 50 minute walk from my flat most of the time we were on the bus!
we managed to hit most of the highlights, stopping at café rouge by st. paul's for soup and bloody mary's (Mom had coffee) then eventually getting off the bus because i kept having to wee...and we had to get ready to go to the theatre!
we LOVE going to musicals and used to see at least one per year when i lived in cincy. i have been wanting to see les miserables forever, and it just so happens to be constantly running in london. and we scored wicked seats! at the last minute, mind you.
i don't spend much time in the piccadilly circus area and was at a loss for where we could get a decent dinner. luckily there is timeout, a web site where you can search by neighborhood. we were hungry for italian and after reading 5-6 really bad reviews of other restaurants, finally settled on one that had good reviews for its pasta: il cucciolo on denman street. it was tiny and the waitstaff was actually italian. :-) even better, the food was delicious! i'm addicted to gnocchi with gorgonzola so i tried it and was very impressed. (i really wanted spaghetti carbonara but it was good friday...)
the queen's theatre was only a few steps away down shaftesbury avenue, so we got there in plenty of time to collect our tickets from will call and find our very, very excellent seats. the musical was incredible. theatre in london is a bit different, i think - more dramatic? or maybe it was because it was a night show and i usually see matinees? not sure but i would highly recommend this one if you ever come to london!
it was LONG though, so by the time we let out it was getting close to 11 and we foolishly decided to take the underground. what a zoo. there were massive cues just to get through the card scanners, then people were standing all over the escalator. augh. claustrophobia! we finally got on a train and settled into seats across from each other, while 80 other people crammed into the aisle between us. they were just closing the doors when a voice came over the loudspeaker and said:
"this train is being held by the british transport police"
oh dear.
this has NEVER happened to me and i have spent the last 1.5 days making a case as to why it's fine for me to run around london alone at night. train fights are not helping my cause. we sat there for a bit and as i peeked across the aisle, i could see my mother chatting merrily with the teen next to her. :-) the bobbies eventually broke up the fight and we made it back to old street, just as it started to piss it down sideways. as we walked back to my place, we played a fun game called "who had a more disgusting experience on the tube?"
mine: the guy next to me had a takeaway box full of what looked and smelled like vomit
hers: someone had forgotten to pull their pants up all the way and was showing 6 inches of crack
ha ha. not sure who wins this one.
our friday agenda was action packed:
bus tour of london
dinner in the theatre district
theatre
i took Mom for her first ride on the underground and she did pretty well. it was clear that this apple (read: me) hasn't fallen far from the tree, as i caught her beaming and smiling at the other passengers on the northern line. :-) how are the brits going to handle the two of us for the next four days?!?
london wasn't being the most cooperative with its weather and was alternating between bouts of sunshine and sideways downpours. and it was about 7 degrees. bleh. :-) nevertheless we piled onto a double decker tour bus to have a looksee at all the interesting stuff around the city. what's funny is that we were never more than a 50 minute walk from my flat most of the time we were on the bus!
we managed to hit most of the highlights, stopping at café rouge by st. paul's for soup and bloody mary's (Mom had coffee) then eventually getting off the bus because i kept having to wee...and we had to get ready to go to the theatre!
we LOVE going to musicals and used to see at least one per year when i lived in cincy. i have been wanting to see les miserables forever, and it just so happens to be constantly running in london. and we scored wicked seats! at the last minute, mind you.
i don't spend much time in the piccadilly circus area and was at a loss for where we could get a decent dinner. luckily there is timeout, a web site where you can search by neighborhood. we were hungry for italian and after reading 5-6 really bad reviews of other restaurants, finally settled on one that had good reviews for its pasta: il cucciolo on denman street. it was tiny and the waitstaff was actually italian. :-) even better, the food was delicious! i'm addicted to gnocchi with gorgonzola so i tried it and was very impressed. (i really wanted spaghetti carbonara but it was good friday...)
the queen's theatre was only a few steps away down shaftesbury avenue, so we got there in plenty of time to collect our tickets from will call and find our very, very excellent seats. the musical was incredible. theatre in london is a bit different, i think - more dramatic? or maybe it was because it was a night show and i usually see matinees? not sure but i would highly recommend this one if you ever come to london!
it was LONG though, so by the time we let out it was getting close to 11 and we foolishly decided to take the underground. what a zoo. there were massive cues just to get through the card scanners, then people were standing all over the escalator. augh. claustrophobia! we finally got on a train and settled into seats across from each other, while 80 other people crammed into the aisle between us. they were just closing the doors when a voice came over the loudspeaker and said:
"this train is being held by the british transport police"
oh dear.
this has NEVER happened to me and i have spent the last 1.5 days making a case as to why it's fine for me to run around london alone at night. train fights are not helping my cause. we sat there for a bit and as i peeked across the aisle, i could see my mother chatting merrily with the teen next to her. :-) the bobbies eventually broke up the fight and we made it back to old street, just as it started to piss it down sideways. as we walked back to my place, we played a fun game called "who had a more disgusting experience on the tube?"
mine: the guy next to me had a takeaway box full of what looked and smelled like vomit
hers: someone had forgotten to pull their pants up all the way and was showing 6 inches of crack
ha ha. not sure who wins this one.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)