Tubercular Soldiers Society
on Blog From Beyond (Rwanda), 26/Jan/2010 11:26, 34 days ago
BigJambo Bwana birthday songgoing out to Martine, who landed back in the UK this week, coinciding with the turning of another year. I haven't spoken to her yet but will soon and hoping she remains strong through this time of transition. Mr. Ruairi stays out there until August - so 'komera, komera' to both of them.I'm just recovering from an absolutely stinking cold. My first one since getting back to the UK. Absolutely vicious. I blame it partly onthe detox- 4,3,2,1 achooo... I've been caffeine, smoke and alcohol free now for nine days and it's killing me. I remember thishappening before:So, I quit smoking, I barely drink any more, I’ve returned to being vegy, I order fresh organic fruit and veg every week, I go swimming/aqua aerobics twice a week...and I’ve never been so ill in all my life.Once I get over the other side I should be fine though. I'm not planning on remaining a saint and I have had the odd chocolate or ten, so I'm not exactly losing weight but I am cleaning out my system....or trying to make excuses as to why I'm still doing the detox *shrug* You have to give everything a try once I guess. Well, noteverything. But most things are safe :)Anyway. I bought a dress :) Shortly before I consigned myself to bed with a fever and snotty nose, I went to Northampton and bought a ball gown. Merrick, mum's partner, becomes a Master Mason next year and it's coming up to their annual Masonic Lodge Ball. Also known as 'ladies night', when women with boobies and things get to go. They don't let women in the rest of the year, but then they realised it wasn't much fun dancing on their own. So mum and I are getting all poshed up for the occasion.To be fair, the only place I could think to buy a reasonably priced (okay - cheap) ball gown wasDebenhamsand there really wasn't much choice. Mum's got loads of frocks because she goes ballroom dancing, but I have...let me count...no such dresses. The one I settled for isn't a full-lengther, it's just below knee but it's nice. Looks a lot likethis, though I don't look a lot like her.I'm off up the road to get my hair trimmed in about an hour and I've ordered henna to make it all glossy and slightly red. I really am quite excited. I'm not sure there are any Masons under the age of 45, but there will be a lot of free alcohol and a Scottish band, apparently. We may even be allowed to look inside the temple. You know me, the slightest whiff of anything occult and I'm there, even if it does require lipstick and killer heels.Something else to look forward to is another road trip with Cathryn. We've been discussing it for a while and it now looks cert for the February half-term. I'll be finished atDeafconnectby then and working for the college in Corby, so hopefully won't be needed for that week.We want to drive over to seeLies and KassiminTorhout, Belgium. We're thinking of taking my V-reg (yup, as old as I am!) car on the ferry fromDovertoDunkerquethen up. It'll be my first time driving in Europe - and goodness knows, I can barely drive here. Somebody better warn them. But it could be a lot of fun.So we're planning and scheming and hatching at the moment. Just waiting on final confirmation from college that the week will be free.Mostly at the moment, other than being ill, I've been writing again.Whilst in Rwanda I wrote a novel, just to prove I could. It's not too bad. It's a slow starter but once you get past chapter five, so I've been told, it's extremely readable (thanks dad :)).Off the back of that, I was short-listed for theLuke Bitmead Bursarylast year. They felt it had 'great commercial potential' and, encouraged by this, it's now under consideration with a publisher. Unfortunately the publisher is rumoured to be a vanity publisher (they lead you on then ask for money to publish - some people say 'yes') and, if I'm honest, even I think it needs major surgery before being worthy. I just haven't got the enthusiasm at the moment to tackle it.Part of the reason is that I've been distracted with a second novel. This one has been an idea in my mind for almost six years. It revolves around a place Phil and I visited on ourtour of Ausback in 2004. It was a hostel out in the South Australian mountains that had once been a TB sanatorium.It wasn't until a couple of years later that I got quite fixated with it. I made an attempt at the story then but it just didn't hang together. Then a couple of months back I threw myself into the research, started to write and this time it fell into place. All was going really well, and then I stopped after the third chapter.The problem being that I became aware of a documentary held by theNational Australian Film Archiveabout the hostel. The documentary was made in 1940 and I was writing about the early 1930s - but there wassolittle information available thatanythingwould be useful. So I wrote to the archive requesting a copy.In order to get a copy, they said, you first have to get copyright disclosure from the people who own it. In this case: The Angorichina Tubercular Soldiers Aid Society, based at 265 Morphett St, Adelaide, SA, 5000, Australia (Telephone: +61 (0)88231 3121).So I asked a friend in Aus to phone them. He did. Answer machine. Never replied. So I phoned them. Twice. Then I wrote to them. Then I phoned again. Every time an answer machine that may as well have been floating out in the middle of space for all anyone knew.Then, cruelly, I get an e-mail from a local health authority I'd also e-mailed saying they knew someone in the society and they'd received my letter.Did they ever send a reply? Noooo.I went down so many avenues that eventually I had to give up. For months I didn't write anything because I didn't want to go too far off the historical mark. Then it became so long that I didn't know if I could still write in that genre and was afraid I'd cock it up.Now it's become obvious that the Society are never going to get in contact and say 'sure, you can watch the video', so I've finally started writing again. And I'm quite excited by it. There's an online catalogue of photos from the time and a few clips of life in other sanatoriums through the ages. I've certainly learned a lot about TB treatment pre-modern drugs. Not something that would fascinate everybody, but I find it fascinating :) Or at least, I'm growing to appreciate it.On the off-chance anybody does happen to be strolling down Morphett Street in Adelaide, would you mind just sticking your head round the door of 265 and seeing if anybody's in? I suppose they're probably under-staffed. I mean, who would join? And of those, who would still be alive? Now the condition is treatable and the hostel long closed and full of back-packers...who remains? Might make an interesting story in itself.But anyway,Lucidwas practice. This is for real ;)