Thanks Everyone

Thanks to everyone who's left messages here over the last few days and to Ctel for the post over at Acid Ted. Sunday morning seems a long time ago now. I.T. went down to theatre at 9.20 on Monday morning and was in for five hours. The consultant said the cochlear implant was tricky to get into place due to I.T.'s 'abnormal cranium' (funny shaped skull in layman's terms), but after getting an x-ray last night he told us it was 'a perfect insertion'. A phrase you might want to consider using at some point. Maybe. He had a ridiculously big bandage on his head which only just lasted until this morning, and three courses of IV antibiotics during the night to protect his immune system (I.T.'s immune system has never fully recovered from chemo during his two bone marrow transplants in 2000). Anyway, we're home now with a bag full of medicines and a boy asking if his new ear is ready to be switched on. It won't be for a few weeks, so he must be wondering why he's had an operation at all.

Since writing that paragraph I've had to drive him back to the hospital. He'd pulled his dressing off when no-one was looking. We've been sent home with enough steri-strips to patch up an army.


While blocking out the outside world this song came up on the mp3 player- Manchester by The Times (and thanks to Tedloaf for reminding me about it via the comment box recently after I posted their French language cover of Blue Monday last week). I may have been in a slightly emotional state but this track brought a tear to my eyes and a lump to my throat, with it's then zeitgeisty tribute to and celebration of Manchester in 1989-90. Twenty years on it sounds impossibly nostalgic, the lyrics coming across as nicely naive (or gauche even, is that the right word?). There are some other mixes of this song that couldn't sound more New Orderish if they came wrapped in tracing paper and added onto the end of Lowlife. At this exact moment in time, this is my favourite song.

The Times - Manchester (Radio Edit).mp3