A visit to Dr John

Got a true taste of island life here on utila with a visit to Dr John yesterday. My ear was still a bit wierd after my last dives so I thought I would go and see an English speaking doc while I could and am quite glad I did if only for the experience...organised chaos is probably the best way to describe it. You turn up and just wait, and wait and wait as is characteristic here on Utila, but with no obvious reason as to why you are waiting and loads of islanders are coming and going and having a chat. Then after I had waited for 90mins, the surgery closed for lunch for half an hour despite only having 2 people left to see (yes, I was one of the lucky ones). Anyway, finally got to see Dr John's helper Mark (a physicians assistant for those of you lucky enough to be working the NHS) who greeted me by saying I guess its your ears as I havn't seen you use the toilet! Am guessing they only see a limited range of conditions! So apologised for my lack of interesting symptoms, gave a history, and then the infamous Dr John arrived. Bless him! He looked like he should have been selling the big issue rather than treating people. Imagine if you will a quite tall man with shoulder length curly hair attractively topped by a rastaesque beret, a big bushy beard, hawaiian shirt open to the belly, shorts and a distinct lack of footware and there you have Dr John. But bless him, he managed to not tell me off (apparently I have an ear squeeze) and armed me with loads of drugs and sent me away with a warning not to dive for 5 days (no chance of that matey!)

Other than that, have done very little except wander round the island and sunbathe. Makes me laugh simply walking round this place and seeing all these old ladies on quod bikes and golf buggies crammed with 6 kids! Am forcing myself to leave tomorrow though as I really must get on with having some adventures rather than just sunbathing for 4 months and the sand flies here are having a field day with me. Even industrial strength DEET doesn't seem to put them off! Apparently baby oil is the way forward (the bastards drown in it before they can bite you) so am investing in some soon.

On a more personal note - Mum/Dad and Russell, all my e-mails to you keep getting bounced back to me. Am not ignoring you, think its aol being strange.