In case you were wondering

Having been somewhat MIA over recent weeks, herewith a quick post to let you know where I've been. Hospital! Two of them, in fact. On the 20th of last month — after all the trials of getting into town discussed in my preceding post — I managed to slip on the stairs in the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts) in The Mall. Instead of being content with a sprain and a few bruises I landed badly on my foot and broke my ankle. Only the second time I've ever broken a bone in my life (the first being some 27 years ago; my neck). Anyway, after persuading London Ambulance Control Centre that the main — public — entrance to the ICA is on The Mall, and not as they have it the adjacent road which only has the door to their offices, I was taken down to St Thomas' Hospital opposite the Houses of Parliament where, after much discussion between doctors, it was decided that it was broken, and possibly needed an operation to pin the bits back together. I'll cut the rest of the story short for the moment as it is still on-going and catch up another time, though I eventually moved myself to the Royal Free Hospital nearer my home, where I stayed more nights. One thing of note, however, was that in one hospital — St Thomas' — they realistically permitted the use of mobile telephones by patients and visitors, even in casualty, yet at the Royal Free there were signs up demanding that they weren't used anywhere in the building whatsoever. In both cases an external company provided phone facilities to each bed on the wards (same company). More amazing was that from my bed in the Royal Free - where mobiles were banned "because they may interfere with equipment" I could see mobile phone transmission masts on the roof of the hospital itself! This is either left-hand/right-hand or an attempt at blatant profiteering.