Well
we got up early but we missed the arrival under the Golden Gate Bridge, perhaps
we are little early me thinks. An early breakfast so as to be up early and available
to have a day in the town and the need to seek some medical help for Noel.(won’t
go in to details here). We had to collect a landing ticket from one of the bars
and of course when you have 2000 people on board it can be a little crowded. Can’t
imagine what it’s like if a really big ship pulls in with 4000 passengers plus
another two thousand of multinational crew.
So
waited two hours for our turn to get off and face immigration and by about 1030
we were in a taxi en-route to the medical centre which had been prescribed by
the Travel Insurance Company and we got to this rather old building and
slightly dirty waiting room littered almost with corpse’s, and signed in. I
also had to phone the Insurance Company who had to approve the consultation and
would need to approve any subsequent work by Doctors.
We
had to wait for almost 90 minutes to see a Doctor and finally we were put in
the room as the Doctor will be here in just a moment. After another 40 minute
wait and me haranguing everybody that passed I understand yet again that the
Doctor would arrive shortly as he was just finishing a staff meeting, What???
Anyway
the Doc arrived, I explained my problem in less than 5 minutes and said he is
unable to help as they don’t have the facilities and knowledge and equipment to
run the tests, great, and I would have to go to a specialist!!! Wow great waste
of almost three hours.
Now
as it happened I had been in touch, one week ago, with the friends we plan to
spend some time with in Austin and asked to him to look for a specialist who
can handle my issues and he had made an appointment for Friday afternoon for
me. So off we went and got to this big medical building with attached hospital
and there was just time to grab some soup and sandwich prior to seeing the
Chinese Doctor. Again I had to phone the Insurance Company and assure them I
had a referral from their Doctors but the new Doctors wanted some confirmation
that they would cough up from the consultation to which they said they would,
but only for consultation and not for treatment, which requires and approval
and so on. By this time I was pretty upset and waited another half an hour
whilst they sorted this out whilst the Doctor sat waiting patiently in his
office waiting for all this to be sorted. Finally I was taken through, after I
said I would pay the bill and claim it back, to be to be weighed and measured
and have my blood pressure taken which was at remarkable level of 138/85 after today’s
hassle plus a period of almost of 9 days of worry.
Half
an hour later and USD 410 lighter I left the surgery with the knowledge that
his work would take effect within two day and any problems give us a call.
And
we complain about the NHS
We
walked for a while but as San Francisco is one big hill and my old knees are
not good at going steeply downhill we caught a taxi back to the ship where we
arrived around 4.00pm and in time for a cup of tea and cake and a rest.
It
had been a slightly fractious day but went for dinner in the main restaurant
and interestingly talked to the Philippine Wine waiter about Manila where he
was complaining about the crowds and birth rate growth which should be stopped,
where have I heard that before, and then went to the theatre to see a six piece
Dixie Band for about one hour, they are local San Francisco band but bloody
brilliant and much better than the on board bands.
We
sneaked in to the cinema and there was some empty seats and so we watched about
70% of the film ‘The Book Thief’ before retiring to cabin for the last night on
board the ship.
An
early morning again tomorrow as we need to have had breakfast, cleared the
cabin and in the waiting station by 0915.
