Irish A&E

Last week, I ended up in the St. James Hospital emergency room (known in Ireland/UK as the "A&E"). I had a worrying illness that wasn't going away, and since I hadn't bothered to register with a doctor (locally know as a "GP", or general practitioner), I didn't have access to the night doctor service. So it was off to the A&E for me. All I can say is that this emergency room made the old, run-down public hospital in Las Vegas look like a five star hotel. Concrete floors, flourescent lighting, beige walls - Feng Shui evidently hasn't hit the Irish medical establishment yet. And the drunks! Ambulance after ambulance drove in with drunks whose main problem was, basically, being too drunk. And they all sat next to me and tried to chat. Charming. And see, once they figured out that I wasn't dying of whatever it was I had, the made me the lowest category, which meant that I spent 7 HOURS chatting with vomitting drunks until I was finally seen. And it was darn cold!!! In all fairness, the actual care from the nurse and doctor was great. It was just that third world atmosphere...Anyway, the crumbling health care system is a big issue in the upcoming election, so I'm praying lots that whoever's elected will actually do something about this. Praying is all I can do, 'cause of course, I can't vote, I'm a bleedin' furriner!

Politics - now that's an interesting topic here. I'm still not quite sure which political party stands for what. And they all seem to have these Gaelic names. The one I do recognize, of course, is Sinn Fein. As an American, I associate this group with the IRA, Patriot Games, guns, and so on. You get the idea. They're not super popular in the Republic, only 10% of the vote it seems. But imagine my shock when I found that a friend of mine actually supports them. Evidently, the violent past is behind them, and they have quite a few socially aware policies (quite left wing, actually), but I keep hearing disturbing stories about threats and intimidation toward their enemies. Hmmmm... At least Northern Ireland now has a devolved government, and now hopefully they can focus more on practicals like schools and health, and less on killing each other.

My other peeve is the situation with Madeleine, the poor 4 year old who was abducted in Portugal. Of course, I feel horribly for her and her family, but what disturbs me is how many other children have been abducted/killed and don't get this kind of attention. I was talking to a lady at the doctors' waiting room, and we both agreed that if she wasn't a cute blond girl with upper middle class parents, would this kind of attention be applied by the media? I hope that when she's found, the family of the girl and her supporters will donate some money to helping to find other children.

Boy, I'm grim this post! Well, my birthday is coming up (21 yet again...), so I'm sure I'll have happier news of a fun party!!