Even though still moaning about the Townsville University Hospital freezing airconditioning ,he is really leading the life of Riley, waited on hand and troublesome leg/foot by all and sundry . As a matter of fact, a friendly Irishman named Riley, with what appeared to be a Celtic tattoo, wheeled him into a cubicle for an ultra sound. An image of part of the reporter's lower anatomy looked like a close up of Ned Kelly's rusty helmet. Several nurses, he noted , have Irish names .
His visitor's have included a film maker who was once bitten on the big toe by a death adder; the aching in many joints Queen of the Jungle , who brought him a bag of jelly beans ; an intrepid traveller just back from Yeti territory in the Himalayas; a postcard sleuth with a bumper biography of the opulent Oppenheimers to read ; sporting a new hip,a mathematician who upset the Reserve Bank of Australia ; a multi-skilled daughter-in-law who can rescue people from tall burning buildings, expertly massage sore limbs ,build houses and sail yachts provided a container of snakes and chocolate biscuits on which to snack .
Daughters regularly bring him banana smoothies ,even licorice all sorts . Because mixing licorice with the Coloxyl tablets and some other fizzy concoction might lead to an explosion , it was not consumed. A large bag of nuts and a special protein mix drink have been provided by sons who flew in from Darwin. One of the sons has even made the Shipping Reporter's rearranged bedroom at home more nautical looking by putting up framed Tasmanian wooden boat festival posters on the wall.
A grand-daughter and her family, with four children , drove all the way from Darwin to see him and , hearing he was leading the life of a"cold frog" in the airconditioning, brought him Koko, the above extraordinary hot water bottle to snuggle up to .
One by one, the children, Oliver, Curtis, Ivy and Reuben were brought into the darkened room to see the reporter,peeping out from under three blankets , wearing a beanie, looking like a relative of Koko's.
They left behind a group photo and a card wishing him a quick recovery and lots of banana smoothies. Koko was hidden in a cupboard as it was felt that if the Shipping Reporter snuggled up to Koko in bed it would scare the bejeezus out of any poor hard working nurse who came in late at night to make observations or empty a brimming bottle . Expect more odd items about the Shipping Reporter while he is living it up in the sub acute care unit, possibly one relating to the unseemly episode involving the disappearance of the main television set's remote control .
A New York reader of this blog boosted the Shipping Reporter's ego when she noticed his golden prose was not appearing in Little Darwin and emailed Pete Steedman in Melbourne to find out why. No other readers in Iceland or Peru apparently noticed that he was missing in action .
