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07/13/2002 Entry: "Nothing special"

Saturday afternoon.The preparations for leaving are finally in hand, albeit rather reluctantly. It's rained all day today, sending us to the mall for what will probably be the last time. There was an article in today's paper about the amount of rainfall there's been in Florida the last month, replacing fear of drought with fear of flooding in some places. Other worries, like fast-breeding mosquitoes taking advantage of the damp conditions are also on peopl'e minds - not to mention the effect of the weather on Florida's tourism. Still, on balance people are glad to see the lakes filling up a little, leaving me to wonder whether it's possible I could take any credit for bringing the rain? Maybe not.On Thursday we had an excellent day out with some of the folk from church. They'd rented a boat to take us down some of the local lakes and waterways. So close to civilisation, yet it felt like genuine wilderness. Ospreys fishing in the lake, herons of various sorts in abundance, otters, alligators, turtles... all manner of marvellous sights. Florida is alive. I'm no Richard Attenborough, but I hope the video tape we took gets something of the atmosphere.I visited another hospital yesterday, this time in Daytona Beach, which we visited with the church youth group. A young man in the party was "skim-boarding" - great fun, until you fall off. He broke his leg in a couple of places. As we were approaching the hospital his foster mother began to express concerns about having his social security and other necessary numbers with her. It struck me again how glad I am that the National Health service in Britain does not operate this way. The beauracracy necessary to run a system based on insurance is unbelievable.Those who've been worried about me (come on! someone must be!) will be glad to know that I'm doing without crutches now, though still hobbling.