Almost projecting over the catscan...

Playlist

Tangerine Dream - The Virgin Years: 1974-1978

Klaus Schulze - Mirage

Klaus Schulze - ...Live...

Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies

The Animals - The Most Of The Animals

Alice Cooper - Muscle Of Love

Focus - Moving Waves

David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars

Alice Cooper - Killer

The Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter (Live)

Faust - The Faust Tapes

Velvett Fogg - Velvett Fogg

The Who - A Quick One

Hawkwind - In Search Of Space

Alice Cooper - School Days

Various - Fill Your Head With Rock

Hawkwind - Hawkwind

Uriah Heep - Demons And Wizards (Expanded Deluxe Edition)

Black Widow - Black Widow III

String Driven Thing - String Driven Thing

Hawkwind - Doremi Fasol Latido

Haystacks Balboa - Haystacks Balboa

Steven Wilson - Transience

Scars - Author! Author!

Miles Davis - Directions

An eventful October away...

The view from the office this morning, these are pills not teeth...

I was now off the morphine and my antibiotics were coming to an end - hallucinations had ceased and I finally decided to shave for the first time since the day we set off for Bordeaux, just two weeks ago...

There might have been a very different outcome if my gangrenous gallbladder had shown its hand just a week earlier than it did...

Mr Paterson-Brown noted the reduced but still ongoing hicups and the results of the X Ray had in fact shown a slight raising of the right of my diaphragm - so he ordered blood tests and a fresh CT scan...

The former went fine but it wasn't noted I no longer had any canulas present for intravenous access to my bloodstream...

Eight attempts later by Dr Alex, Dr Karen and the on duty nurse and I had one again...

Apparently I have the skin of a rhino and deep veins...

Finally down to CT for the scan and all was going well until the dye was injected...

I was being moved in and out of the machine and pics were being taken when suddenly I felt everything in my stomach, coming up my throat at top speed...

Projectile vomit ensued - luckily I was able to warn the staff in time, so that a massive clean up was not required...

Horrible nonetheless...

Back to the ward to a waiting Anne...

Just after she left for a night at Keith and Maureen's, Mr P-B arrived to advise the scan was all clear and I could be discharged tonight or tomorrow, with tomorrow probably being the safer option...

So I chose that...

The hiccups had now receded...

As a bonus, Anne had brought in some more chocolate raisins and these were enjoyed on Halloween - we should have been allowed out to scare the kids with our scars....

Highlight of the Day : Nearly home...

Visitors can redirect the mind...

Playlist

Genesis - Foxtrot

David Sylvian - Gone To Earth (Remaster)

Belinda Carlisle - Heaven On Earth

Various Composers - The History of the String Quartet

David Bowie - Nothing Has Changed

Alice Cooper - Flush The Fashion

Neu! - Neu!

Lothar and the Hand People - Presenting...Lothar and the Hand People

The Cure - Seventeen Seconds

Joy Division - Closer

The Clash - Sandinista!

Frank Zappa - Zappa In New York

Lou Reed - Take No Prisoners (Live)

Simple Minds - Empires And Dance

Nico - The End...

Telex - Looking For Saint Tropez'

Kraftwerk - The Man Machine

Talking Heads - Remain In Light

Bill Nelson's - Red Noise Sound-On-Sound

Peter Gabriel - Ein Deutsches Album (III)

Frank Zappa - Hot Rats

Public Image Ltd - Metal Box

Robert Fripp - Exposure (First Edition)

Yes - Tormato

Japan - Quiet Life (Remaster)

Rush - Permanent Waves

David Bowie - Scary Monsters and Super Creeps

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Organisation

Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures

Roxy Music - Manifesto

Elvis Costello - Get Happy!!

Magazine - The Correct Use Of Soap

Cluster - Zuckerzeit

Young Marble Giants - Colossal Youth

Moebius & Plank - Rastakraut Pasta

Harmonia - Musik Von Harmonia

La Düsseldorf - Viva

Talking Heads - Fear Of Music

Crusaders - Those Southern Knights

Cluster - Sowiesoso

The Psychedelic Furs - The Psychedelic Furs

Deaf School - 2nd Honeymoon

The Durutti Column - The Return Of The Durutti Column

David Bowie - Station To Station

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark

Magazine - Secondhand Daylight

Brian Eno - Another Green World

Neu! - Neu! 2

M - New York-London-Paris-Munich

Cluster & Eno - Cluster & Eno

Tangerine Dream - The Virgin Years: 1974-1978

Into Friday and soundtracked by shuffleplay, as witnessed by the number of entries above...

My food intake remained limited - a good thing, thus far I'd lost nearly half a stone...

The weather outside looked good...

I was buoyed too by visits from sister-in-law Jane, brother-in-law Keith and old chum Count Brodski, whose Kiss based get well card drew many a compliment from fellow patients and staff...

The Prof ordered X Rays to try and get to the root of my ongoing continual hiccuping situation which, by now, was really starting to put a dampener on everything and was keeping me back from getting home...

A welcome visit around teatime from chum Tracey who was passing by on her way home for the weekend, countered matters somewhat...

Dr Alex returned late on, apologising that the prof himself was in theatre but she was happy to advise nothing out of the ordinary re the X Rays...

But yet another sleepless night ensued with much involuntary gulping of air...

Highlight of the Day : Visitors...

Three not two and chocolate raisins...

Playlist

Alice Cooper - Alone in His Nightmare (Live)

Alice Cooper - October Hit Singles

Aaron Neville - Superbad

Abba - Gold: Greatest Hits

Francoeur - Francoeur : Symphonies - Philidor : Marches

Various - Punky Reggae Selecta

David Bowie - Aladdin Sane

Jon Hassell & Brian Eno - Fourth World Vol 1 Possible Musics

Genesis - Foxtrot

Not much sleep again due to the on going problems with my diaphragm...

I did manage to get up and walk about a bit and spent some time in "the quiet room", from which the view was deemed acceptable..

In the evening, a vist from Anne, who brought these little beauties which fairly lifted the mood of Mr post-op CBQ...

Later in the afternoon, a visit from chum Raymond, who managed to capture a rare, almost smiling Mr CBQ...

It was only when he showed me the pics he'd taken, that I realised I had three rather than two wounds...



Meanwhile Mr Paterson-Brown advised there was a chance I might be discharged tomorrow...

Ongoing painful hiccuping remained a concern though...

Highlight of the Day : Chocolate Raisins...

The gallbladder of gangrene...

Playlist

Matthew Florianz - Nocturne - Soundtrack for Science Briefings

Alice Cooper - Slicker Than a Weasel (Live)

David Gilmour - Rattle That Lock

Electric Light Orchestra - All Over The World: The Very Best Of ELO

Daniel Smith/Coull String Quartet - Music For Bassoon And String Quartet

Various - Night Fever

Another day of much sleep and hallucination with a visit from Sheila and brother in law Andrew in the evening...

The view from the office today, after another pretty weird night, dreams and hallucinations-wise...

On his rounds today, Mr Patterson-Brown revealed that my gallbladder had been gangrenous when he'd gone in, that keyhole hadn't been an option, although it had been tried and that, once opened up, there was an almighty mess to be cleared up and one of the worst gallbladders he'd ever seen, requiring immediate removal, before infection spread throughout my body...

Which was nice...

Late in the day I was moved to the quieter Ward 107 for the remainder of my stay...

I had, by now, developed frequent, long and extremely painful bouts of the hiccups, due to the effects on my diaphragm of the offending gallbladder and its leakages...

Which too, was nice...

Highlight of the Day : Realising Mr P-B had, in effect saved my life with his skills...

Pretty much out of it...

Playlist

Various - October Hit Singles

Françoise Hardy - Françoise Hardy Collection Platinum

Klaus Schulze - Shadowlands

Cloudland Blue Quartet - Covers 2015

Schumann - Complete Works for Piano Trio

Matthew Florianz - Nocturne - Soundtrack for Science Briefings

The morning after and I was feeling pretty good...

No, really...

Sister Sheila brought my mum in for a visit and, of course, Anne was on hand for most of the day...

The view from the office...

Much of the day was spent drifting in and out of sleep with massive hallucinations taking place re the upped intravenous medication, with oxygen applied via the nose to counteract the reduced natural intake due to morphine...

The only indication that what had actually happened was not quite routine, was when Mr Patterson-Brown advised in passing "that was some gallbladder you had"...

Day three in hospital and I was pretty much out of it...

Highlight of the Day : Getting some sleep...

Having my life saved...

Playlist

Various - October Hit Singles

As a caveat to some of the more, shall we say, "melodramatic" writing in this and the following posts, a gallbladder removal is supposed to be one of the simplest ops there is - wherein the patient has had ample indication of its need - through ongoing symptoms - and the op itself is normally a keyhole procedure with no complications - none of that applied here - there was no pre-warning and the state of my gallbladder left much to be desired - anyway, onwards...

A day spent mostly feeling sorry for myself...

I had spent the night in the chair by my bed, this my less than happy visage just before 8am...

I made it through with the help of intravenous fluids, morphine and antibiotics plus other oral painkillers of the kind to give you hallucinations variety...

Around midday I had to go for a CT scan as the surgeon on my case wanted confirmation of what yesterday's ultrasound appeared to have shown...

Only problem was that I was in so much pain I couldn't breathe when I tried to lie down on the bed that would put me through the CT machine...

An extra special dose of morphine was sent down from the ward and I was soon sufficiently flexible to have my insides photographed as required...

Mid afternoon, Mr Patterson-Brown advised my gallbladder would have to go - he'd try keyhole but it might have to be full blown cut open surgery - so I signed on for both - the alternative at that point seemed like antibiotics for a few weeks and removal in a couple of months once the inflammation had died down...

What we didn't know was that the alternative to taking it out now was very much worse indeed...

To theatre at 4:15 and, although I don't recall much about it, back to the ward around 9:30 or so for a good night's rest, Mr Patterson-Brown having done his work...

Highlight of the Day : Operation...

Violent convulsions, difficulty in breathing, loss of conciousness and, finally, erm, let's not get carried away...

Playlist

Cloudland Blue Quartet - The Dakota Starman EP

Klaus Schulze - Stars Are Burning

We left things with me having said I might be required for taxi duty - and so I was, having advised Anne I was a little out of sorts with a "bit of a sore tummy"...

Once home, we watched "Dr Who" and retired, Anne having enjoyed both football and ballet...

I awoke at 1 with dreadful pains in my stomach and spent the rest of the night pacing the house trying to find some where good to settle...

For the first time in decades, I was physically sick...

By 5:30 I couldn't breathe properly and decided this must be indigestion which wasn't just simply going to pass...

NHS24 was called and, as a heart attack was now suspected - an ambulance arrived shortly after 6 or so...

Thankfully, onboard tests concluded no heart attack but I was in extreme pain as we whizzed round the ring road to the Royal Infirmary with morphine being applied via a drip...

To A&E at first for a couple of hours where more pain relief was applied and I managed to sleep while Anne waited by my bedside...

To the Surgery Observation Ward and more tests were done and, eventually, around mid-afternoon, an ultrasound revealed gallstones and an inflamed gall bladder to be the cause of the (putting it mildly) discomfort...

This was the worst pain I've ever felt...

I was promised a report would be passed to a doctor (I hadn't seen one yet) and anti-inflammatory drugs would join the hordes of painkillers now coursing through my veins with little effect...

Before this could happen though, I was transferred to Ward 106...

Here, further treatment provided some relief and Anne went home, leaving me to be cared for by the expert staff...

Things started to take a turn for the worse though, as the pain increased hugely from what had already been unbearable levels and I was now finding it extremely difficult to breathe in any meaningful way...

In the end, did not see a doc until just before midnight, by which time my pain and breathlessness were causing me to question whether I'd make it through the night...

Through this, I had to explain the entire story of the day, before they went off to view the earlier scan...

Having consulted said scan, I was advised there could well be an op tomorrow to remove the gallbladder...

Unable to lie down due to pain and difficulty in breathing, I spent the night sitting in a chair...

Highlight of the Day : Finally getting to see a doctor...

A day sitting in a chair, pt 784...

Playlist

Françoise Hardy - Collection Platinum

Cloudland Blue Quartet - Acoustic Eno Covers

Cloudland Blue Quartet - Covers 2015

Françoise Hardy - La Question

Françoise Hardy - (Parenthèses...)

Françoise Hardy - Tant De Belles Choses

Françoise Hardy - La Pluie Sans Parapluie

Françoise Hardy - Les Plus Belles Chansons De Françoise Hardy

Françoise Hardy - If You Listen

Françoise Hardy - J'écoute De La Musique Saoule

Françoise Hardy - Françoise Hardy In English

Françoise Hardy - Le Danger

Françoise Hardy - Ma Jeunesse Fout Le Camp...

Françoise Hardy - All over the world

Françoise Hardy - Comment Te Dire Adieu?

Françoise Hardy - Françoise

Françoise Hardy - Alone

Françoise Hardy - The Vogue Years

Françoise Hardy - Messages Personnels (Box Set)

Françoise Hardy - Star

The Wildflowers - The Wildflowers

Tangerine Dream - 1975-10-23 Croydon

Tangerine Dream - 2014-06-03 Vienna

Dutilleux - Cello Concerto

Klaus Schulze - Shadowlands

Klaus Schulze - Kontinuum

Klaus Schulze - Stars Are Burning

Webern - Complete Works

Alice Cooper - Special Forces

Another day of, mostly, this...

Bordeaux is up to date though...

Also downloaded some new music from Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream, while Michael Portillo's "Great Continental Train Journeys" led me to listen to the works of Webern...

It seems Tangerine Dream were just getting good again when Herr Froese shuffled off this mortal coil...

QoS were 1-0 up at half time at home to bottom of the league Livingston - they lost 4-1 (Anne was at Tynecastle watching Hearts beat Ross County 2-0)...

I tried out some new ideas on the laptop re possible new music but it came to nothing...

I ran through some Eno covers on the acoustic...

Anne was out this evening at the ballet with chum Theresa - I expect a taxi call...

A right riveting Saturday all round...

Highlight of the Day : New to me Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream...

"Working" and listening - too much music, not enough time......

Playlist

Mstislav Rostropovich - Dutilleux; Lutoslawski: Cello Concertos

Gustav Leonhardt - English Music of the 17th Century

Hugo Reyne: La Simphonie Du Marais - Francoeur : Symphonies - Philidor : Marches

Schumann - Complete Works for Piano Trio

Soft Machine Legacy - Live At The New Morning

Joachim Kühn/Quatuor IXI - Phrasen

John Surman - Private City

Jean-François Paillard - Pachelbel: Canon, Suites, Etc.; Fasch: Trumpet Concerto, Etc.

Daniel Smith/Coull String Quartet - Music For Bassoon And String Quartet

Françoise Hardy - Collection Platinum

The view from the office this afternoon...

A day spent at the computer for the most part, listening to the Bordeaux and post-Bordeaux acquisitions - around 12 hours of music...

...and that's with two of the three Françoise Hardy discs remaining untouched thus far...

Of course, whilst listening, I was updating this re the Bordeaux trip - 50% done so far - it's the processing and uploading of the pics which takes all the time really as, these days, I don't add much in the way of text...

Meanwhile, some stats...

My iTunes was downloaded on 21 September 2013
109,165 tracks have been added since then
Of which 17,199 (16%) have been played at least once
Of which 12,873 (12%) have been played only once
And of which 4,326 (4%) have been played more than once
And of which just 114 (0.1%) have been played more than 5 times*
With just 9 (0.008%) having been played more than 10 times
And just 2 (0.000018%) have been played more than 20 times in over two years

How do I find those stats?

iTunes records all plays and stores the last date a track was played - so these stats don't count tunes not played on any of my iPods or my PC/laptop - i.e. nothing played on my CD players or in the car (unless via Bluetooth)...

I've added over a year's worth of music. 372.5 days at present, including 16 hrs of new music in the last week...

I've also published a daily playlist here and have done since 26 April 2006...

So I could, conceivably, collate the full stats for 9.5 years of listening.  But that's probably taking things too far...

What it does tell me is that most of the music I acquire, I listen to only once, suggesting acquisition trumps listening...

Which is a worry...

Too much music, not enough time...

A break was taken for a couple of comedy shows and the latest "Dr Who" which started off shockingly badly but ended up being very intriguing indeed...

Off to bed...

Highlight of the Day : "Working" and listening...

*Almost half these tracks are ones in which I am directly involved music-wise...

Sound the art klaxon...

Playlist

Françoise Hardy - In Vogue

Cloudland Blue Quartet - Four Last Things

Max Richter - from Sleep

Various Composers - Barytonmusik des 18. Jahrhunderts

Various Composers - Italian Baroque Concertos

Beethoven/Brahms/Von Krufft - Horn Trio; Horn Sonatas

Jeroen Van Veen - Einaudi: Waves The Piano Collection

Mozart/Brahms - Quintets

Various Composers - The Sunday Times Modern Classics

Bartók & Lutosławski - Concertos For Orchestra

Various Composers - Radio 3 New Generation Artists

Max Richter - Memoryhouse

Grand Funk Railroad - Epic Grand Funk Railroad
Jean-Francois Paillard - Pachelbel/Fasch

Final day, and there was some light rain as I went for breakfast provisions...

...which, by the time I got back, precluded a last use of the balcony...

Not to worry...

We left the apartment...

...as we had found it...

...and took the tram to Gare St Jean to leave our case at left luggage for just seven and a half of your European Euros...

...then, took a couple of trams back to the Musee des Beaux Arts to spend an enjoyable 90 minutes...

It's not a huge collection but I seem to have managed to depict it in almost its entirety here - apologies if you're not an art lover - sound the art klaxon!

I liked the beast on the left in this one...

Rock star of the day...

David with Goliath's head...

Reminds me of someone but just can't place the face...

Watch out for those pesky snakes...

What's that black dot?

A cheeky wee fly - symbolising death, of course...

Good light...

Wait, what?

The miracle of St Justsus by Rubens, 340 years before Alice Cooper...

Vanitas by Gijsbrechts...

Anne's favourite in this wing...

"The Four Doctors of the Church" by Abraham van Diepenbeek...

Neptune - with horse...

More music...

Even youngsters were finding it interesting...

"A view of part of the port and docks at Bordeaux" by Pierre Lacour...

The original "we're not worthy" - Taillason's "Hero et Leandre"...

This looked like niece Kitty...

Poor old lion being looked after by hares...

Bad dogs...

"This might hurt just a little"...

Do you see the cheeky wee cat?

Do you see the cheeky wee lady?

Portrait of a man with a big book...

Some religious stuff...

Superb colours...

As with classical music, I seem to enjoy early and contemporary works the most, with no real enthusiasm for the romantics...

To the second wing, with "newer" works,..

Including a goodly amount of sculpture...

This was amazing...

Eugene Isabey's "Fire on board the steamer Austria"...

...and this, directly opposite, also much impressed...

Theodore Gudin's snappily entitled "The Act of Heroism Made by Captain Desse, from Bordeaux, Towards the Dutch Ship, Columbus"...

Who's this?

It's Herr Mozart apparently...

Sculptures of expiring composers were a bit of a thing back in the day it seems...



"Romantic Landscape with a Figure" by Bonheur...

Said "figure"...

Liked this one too - Anatole de Beaulieu's "The Duel. Old Battery of Goalennec. Memory of an Encounter"

and Jean-Paul Laurens' "The Pope and the Inquisitor" featuring old chums Sixtus IV and Torquemada...

Another of my favourites was this, which almost has a photographic quality to it, Princeteau's not very attractively entitled "Cows Carrying Manure"...

An unfinished painting of horses...

...featured in this portrait of the artist at work in her studio...

Barrias' "Nature Reveals Herself to Science" - dirty girl...

A Renoir...

A Bordeaux view by strangely named Frenchman, Alfred Smith...

A Rodin...

This was also extremely well executed...

It could almost be a photograph - Eugene Buland's "The Heirs"...

And the quality just kept on coming...

These two were faves - for their otherworldliness - Edgar Maxence's "The Book of Peace"...

...and the wonderfully named Gaston Schnegg's "Jeanne with a White Dress"...

A cheeky wee wink from Albert Marquet...

There was a surfeit of works by Andre Lhote...

His cubist work is impressive..

A Braque - "Still Life with Basin"...

The works of Ossip Zadkine...

...included an impressive bust of one of my favourite French writers, Francois Mauriac

...created from photographs following the Russian artist's exile to New York...

A Picasso, don't you know...

"Olga Reading"...

This was a favourite too, Henriette Lambert's "Change of Scene"...

Anne couldn't understand how Jean-Paul Riopelle could have called this "Snowy Owl"...

That's artistic license for you...

This is not Piet Mondrian - it's Jean Gorin...

Anne had a good look round...

...and declared this statue her favourite of the wing...

Pablo Gargallo's "Female Dancer"...

Back out into the on again off again light rain...

Along Victor Hugo...

Down St Catherine to OCD where discs by John Surman, Joachim Kuhn and Soft Machine were purchased...

...before heading to Place Fernand Lafargue via Eloi Church...

...for a  drink at Apollo...

...then to Santosha, for our last meal of the trip...

I did not need this very hot sauce...

...as this excellent Thai fayre was quite spicy enough, thank you very much...

A final walk down to the bridge...

...and a tram back to St Jean for the case...

...and a No 1 bus to the airport...

The last view of Bordeaux was apt...

Arrived a little early, around 5pm for our 7:45pm flight...

Not to worry...

Coffee sustained as did music and reading...

Anne likes a queue...

Out on to the tarmac at 7:25...

Don't think this guy made the flight...

Take off...

During...

Landing...

...and, an hour later, we were home...

...and this came up...

...and these were behind the door...

No work till tomorrow...

What a great trip...

Highlight of the Day : Musee des Beaux Arts...