Loath to leave Okinawa, the morning of departure my body revolts. My leg is very painful in a new area – hamstringish. My right eye is very red and vaguely painful. By the time I get to Haneda, I have great difficulty walking, my eye is very painful and I have poor vision with lots of floaters.
Stumbling around in Haneda, a kind disabled truck driver asks if he can help.
This is the first time I have been driven around an airport since I broke my leg in 1980.
Hooray! Back in San Francisco but definitely under the weather. I hope that my eye condition, which seems identical to a previous complaint I had in Mexico a couple of years ago, will go away, https://thequietripple.com/2019/01/22/huatabampito/
It does not so I go to the Emergency Room (ER) at UCSF hospital. I point out that I have no health insurance and would like to know how much debt I am letting myself in for. They avoid the question. Anyway, I wait for 7 hours with very painful eye before a disinterested eye doctor shows up.
He recommends a whole series of further appointments and tests. I have a strong feeling that he is fishing for business camouflaged by concern for my health. I ask how much the treatment he suggests will cost but says he does not know. Dreadful experience; something badly wrong here.
Apart from that it is great to be back in San Francisco.
The guys restoring the house immediately cover the front of the house with scaffolding.
Very rapid progress is being made on the house, which is a pity as we have paid half rent for the last 2 years because of the restoration disturbance.
I go to the Pork Store for breakfast.
Such a great place serving non pretentious Californian food.
Fingers crossed that both eye and leg make rapid progress so I can burst out into the wilderness soon.
The Quiet Ripple Defines The Pond 
Quite the right thing to do. Hope it all settles down super quick.
Me too after all that waiting and God knows how much money when I get the bill!
Hey Neil, sorry to read about all your health problems. How long are you staying in the US ? Get back to Okinawa soon. Bises.
Thanks for kind words. I hobble around blind at the moment which makes me feel slightly elderly. I go to Europe in May; Scotland, England maybe Geneva. Then back here before setting off to the wilds of Canada. Probably go back to Okinawa in August. Hope you are all thriving!
And in other news Martin Gruber OP tells me that Tim Leckenby (remember him, your brothers certainly will) left Panama three years ago and now lives in northern Ukraine near the Belarussian border with his Ukrainian wife and mother-in-law.
Pleased to hear that!
Very much enjoy your missives; no grass will grow under your feet! Oh, and YES, I think Ric and I are thriving.
Hi Rachel!
Gosh, that eye doctor story is appalling. Hope that the eye’s condition is back to excellent very speedily before you have to sell the truck or something. How’s the leg actually doing? Seems to it can do the kilometre or so there and back to the Pork Cafe. Great interior picture that – not the food but the background. That guy’s beard is fabulous – straight out of the Sixties.
Keep going and I’m glad you’re heading back to civilisation before the November election!
Hi Alan,
Leg is getting better. Started as a torn calf muscle but then mutated in to painful hamstring. I can walk but with significant limp. My eye seems to be improving but vision still blurred. I hope it clears! Pork Store is an excellent place, full of ageing hippies. I think I will be coming to see Rosy in the first week of June. Will you be around? We could have a get together.