Misfits Mid-Life Crisis Adventures in Surrey, East and Central London.

Week 396, Saturday 15^th until Friday 21^st January 2022.

This week I spent a couple of hours at the vets because the Hamster that my friend and I adopted nearly 2 years ago had a very swollen left cheek.  We all know that they store food in them, but this puffed cheek didn’t go down, it had been like this for a couple of days and looked extremely uncomfortable.  He didn’t appear unwell, when he cleaned his face he would rub his paws over the area as he always has done, surely he wouldn’t do this if it was tender.  This lovely little chap is still as active as ever rummaging for treats, playing and generally continuing to be being very cute, but he just didn’t look right.

The reason for the long wait was because it was a Sunday, there was only one vet on duty and there were a couple of emergency cases.  Watching people come in with a pet carrier or the animal wrapped in a blanket and concern on their faces was tough to see.  Everyone in the waiting room with Cats or Dogs totally understood the reason for the delay.

Our little boy was diagnosed with an abscess, which it seems is common for Hamsters.  We were given 2 lots of medicine that would be dispensed via small needleless blunt ended syringes.  Of course he wriggled and fought when we attempted to give him the meds in his mouth aiming for the cheek.  He was annoyed and I felt stressed, doing this for a week was going to be tough.  When we discovered that we could bait his favourite food with the medication we knew this was going to be a lot easier than it first seemed.  Happily I can report he licked and eat everything given to him each time.  The cheek is better but still not right.  

The vet we saw mentioned we might need to contact a small animal specialist if at the end of the course of meds he doesn’t appear completely better.  That appointment has been made for next week; of course if the cheek deflates and looks normal we will be able to cancel the session.  At the time of writing he has one day of medication left, the next appointment is a few days after, our minds were put at ease when told that the medication will still be in his system by the time of the next appointment.  Of course if we need to book him in earlier we have been told to ring them.

Some people might think that this is an awful lot of time, effort and money to have been spent on a very small creature.  Sadly Hamsters are considered by many (I believe) as disposable companions/pets because unlike Dog, Cat, Rabbits etc you can’t really interact with them.  But that’s simply not true, the interactions I have are of course different to those of bigger creatures but he does communicate his emotions and does seem to enjoy being with my friend and me.  There is a lot more to a small Hamster than many people think.  Also he has really helped me and my friend since we adopted him in March 2020 on the day of the start of the first lockdown.  The other thing is these small creatures don’t live long, we feel we have to do all we can to make him happy and comfortable for however much more time we have with him.

Must just mention that while waiting in the vets waiting room, what kept me occupied by for a few minutes was watching a man walking round the shop (the vets is upstairs in a huge shop that sells everything you might want for an animal friend) with a live Snake around his neck.  If I had just been in the shop as just a customer then I would have been one of the people that kept approaching him to admire and stroke his friend around his neck.  The man was a customer he didn’t work there; maybe he regularly brings the snake out with him.  It certainly made the wait a little more interesting and less stressful.

The smallest member of the household has been the biggest cause for concern this week.  I really don’t have very much else to say so I won’t waste any more of your time.  The coming weekend is going to be busy; I will have a lot to report next week from the various activities I will be taking part in.

My Mid Life Crisis Conts……

This week I have watched:

“A Discovery Of Witches”, (S3, ep 6 & ep 7).  “After Life”, (S3, ep 1 to ep 6).  “Archive 81”, (S1, ep 1).  “Babylon 5”, (S1, ep 15).  “Blake’s 7”, (SD, ep 2).  “Bountyhunters”, (S1  ep 2 & ep 3).  “Click”, (TX: 15/01/22).  “Entourage The Movie”, (2015).  “Into The Night”, (S1, ep 5 & ep 6)(S2, ep 1).  “Lexx”, (S2, ep 15).  “On The Buses”, (1971).  “Love Thy Neighbour”, (S3, ep 3 to ep 6)(S4, ep 1 to ep 6).  “One Night In Legoland”, (S1, ep 4, TX: 14/01/22).  “Replacing Tracks Inside The Clayton Tunnel, (Geoff Marshall)”, (YouTube)(TX: 20/01/22).  “Spider-Man: Far From Home”, (2019).  “Spider-Man: No Way Home”, (2021).  “Stacy Dooley: Stalkers”, (Pt 1 & Pt 2, TX: 19/01/22).  “Stargate Atlantis”, (S4, ep 10 & ep 11).  “Star Trek (Animated)”, (S1, ep 4).  “Star Trek Picard”, (S1, ep 1 to ep 4).  “Superman And Lois”, (S1, ep 4).  “Superstore”, (S6, ep 12 to ep 15).  “The Apprentice”, (S16, ep 3, TX: 20/01/22).  “The Apprentice: You’re Fired”, (S16, ep 3, TX: 20/01/22).  “The Good Life”, (S1, ep 1 to ep 3 & ep 6).  “The Graham Norton Show”, (S29, ep 14, TX: 14/01/22).  “The Great Pottery Throw Down”, (S5, ep 3, TX: 16/01/22).  “The Silent Sea”, (S1, ep 5 to ep 8).  “The Weakest Link”, (ep 8, TX: 15/01/22).  “Vicar Of Dibley: Inside Out”, (TX: 14/01/22).  “Winterwatch 2022”, (S10, ep 1, TX: 18/01/22)(ep 2, TX: 19/01/22)(ep 3, TX: 20/01/22).  “Why Ships Crash”, (TX: 18/01/22).  “You”, (S2, ep 5 to ep 7).  “Young Shelden”, (S1, ep 1).  “Zen Motoring”, (S1, ep 1).  

“Doctor Who Watched This Week”……

“The Rescue”, (S2, Prod Code L).  Ep 2, “Desperate Measures”, (TX: 09/01/65).

“The Romans”, (S2, Prod Code M).  Ep 1, “The Slave Traders”, (TX: 16/01/65).  Ep 2, “All Roads Lead To Rome”, (TX: 23/01/65).  Ep 3, “Conspiracy”, (TX: 30/01/65).  Ep 4, “Inferno”, (TX: 06/02/65).

“The Web Planet”, (S2, Prod Code N).  Ep 1, “The Web Planet”, (TX: 13/02/65).  Ep 2, “The Zarbi”, (TX: 20/01/65).  Ep 3, “Escape To Danger”, (TX: 27/01/65).

Live On Stage This Week:

“The Shark Is Broken”, (The Ambassadors Theatre, 20/01/22).

This week I have listening to:

“30 Animals That Made Us Smarter”, (BBC World Service/Sounds)(S2, ep 30, 17/01/22). “Coronavirus Global Update”, (BBC World Service/Sounds)(15/01/22)(16/01/22) (17/01/22)(18/01/22)(19/01/22)(20/01/22)(21/01/22).  “Doctor Who: Toby Hadoke’s Time Travels Happy Times And Places”, (29.3, “The War Machines”, 17/01/22)(29.4, 21/01/22).  “NASA Houston We Have A Podcast”, (ep 227, 14/01/22)(ep 22i, 21/01/22).  “Nick Abbot Whole Show”, (15/01/22)(16/01/22)(21/01/22).  “Radio Astronomy (The Sky At Night Magazine)”, (25/07/18)(19/04/21)(19/01/22).  “Rob Beckett And Josh Widdecombe Parenting Hell”, (S4, ep 1, 16/01/22)(ep 2, 18/01/22).  “Producing The Beatles”, (ep 10, 09/09/19).  “Screw It, We’re Just Gonna Talk About The Beatles”, (ep 7, 23/02/17).  “Smersh Pod – Smerch Side Special – Connery: Man, Legend, Accent”, (24/11/17).  “Smersh Pod  – Smersh Side Special – North Sea Hijack”, (24/11/17).  “Space And Things”, (STP23, 04/02/21)(STP24, 11/02/21)(STP73, 20/01/21).  “Star Trek Universe”, (2 x eps 19/01/22).  “The All New Angelos And Barry Podcast”, (20/01/22).  “The Audio Guide To Babylon 5”, (ep 61, 06/09/16).  “The Detail (Polly Scattergood And Katie Melua) With Special Guest Elizabeth Parker”, (ep 10, 17/01/22).  “The Friendship Onion”, (S1, ep 36, 18/01/22).   “The Incomparable”, (The Incomparable)(ep 597, 15/01/22).  “The Nick Abbot Habit”, (16/01/22).  “What’s Your Problem With Nick Abbot And Carol Mcgiffin”, (ep 100, 17/01/22).  “Wolf And Owl”, (ep 56, 19/01/22).

Songs I Enjoyed This Week, Were By:

“Morrissey”,  “ABBA”,  “Air”,  “Biffy Clyro“,  “China Crisis”,  “DJ Otzi”,  “Da La Soul”, “James”,  “Joni Mitchell”,  “Keane”,  “Kylie Minogue”,  “Lou Reed & John Cale”, “M.I.A”,  “Mumford And Sons”,  “Modest Mouse”,  “Natalie Imbruglia “,  “Peter Bjorn And John “,  “Queen”,  “Smiths”,  “Tasmin Archer”,  “Tear For Fears”,  “The Average White Band”,  “The Cranberries”,  “The Rubettes”.