A CHANCE VICE - REGAL ENCOUNTER

Despite the heat and humidity I had a lovely day yesterday, for one thing the air conditioning in my car was most welcomed. I drove my son Matthew, who is suffering from Multiple Sclerosis into the city for he had an appointment at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital medical centre for an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) to see if he has any more lesions in his brain.
These appointments always cause some stress for we don't know the outcome of such tests but always hope for the best.

This area is on the edge of central Sydney so it is very busy and you have three major hospitals, the campus of the University of Sydney so there is much traffic and very little parking, but surprise, surprise thankfully there was an underground car park. That was the first bonus of the day.

After checking in at reception on the ground floor and filling out lots of paperwork ( we are so used to this by now) we went to the first floor for the MRI. I stayed in the waiting room as the imaging takes about an hour; after Matthew was finished we had to return to the ground floor waiting room and make arrangements for the results to be sent to the referring specialist and his neurologist.

Whilst making these arrangements came our second surprise of the day. A very recognisable lady came in to collect her MRI results and was asked for identification, she apologised as she didn't have any ID on her, said she would have to go back to her car, that's where Matthew and I stepped in and informed the receptionist that the lady was in fact Marie Bashir the Governor of New South Wales, Chancellor of the University of Sydney and a practicing medical specialist and psychiatrist.
She smiled and thanked us for vouching for her and thanked us for being two of her loyal subjects, shook hands and from this we had a very pleasant conversation. I was really happy to meet her as she is a wonderful person, who is down to earth despite her high position, always shows humility and she is another of my heroes.
A pleasant encounter indeed, life just surprises us sometimes with these unexpected gems.

I get to visit many hospitals and medical centres in my travels and am always delighted by the art which is displayed on walls in waiting rooms and corridors.
The large painting you see above is in the corridor of the medical centre, I was quite taken by it so of course I had to take a photo, I couldn't see the name of the artist but it reminded me of the style of Mark Rothko.

You can see a reflection of my son on the left,he is slightly bending and if you look closely you can just make out the smaller person just about right of centre of the painting, wearing a cream skirt and white top, that is me.
The window from which the sun is shining overlooks the lovely old sandstone of Saint Andrews College, with its Scottish flag flying proudly, unfortunately I didn't get a photo of this to show you, maybe next time.

I always look for something positive in my travels to these places, like a beautiful painting or a lovely garden, it makes the whole process more bearable and pleasant.
We will have to wait for the results of the MRI, all we can do is hope.