Ouch!

Sometimes you look at things and think "what's the point?"
I have thought this about wasps for quite sometime. I really don't think that they have a great purpose in life. They just exist to annoy other forms of life.
I think this especially at the moment and here's why.

Yesterday, we were due to have some relatives of WW visit for lunch. This being the case, I thought it best to take the beast for a walk myself.
The usual route follows a road for a few hundred yards, onto a private track and then a footpath. This was done without incident. It was a nice sunny day, so shorts, t-shirt and flipflops were in order.
Part of the path passes through some bushes; sloe & blackberries. Part way through these, I felt a slight stinging to my upper arm. Nettles, I thought and went to rub the spot. It was then that I felt quite a large insect. Sod it. I wasn't totally sure what it was, but no residual sting, so highly likely that a wasp was the culprit. Bugger things.

I've been stung by a wasp before and knew that I was in for an hour or two of discomfort. Never mind. Towards the end of the walk, about 15 mins later, I felt a bit odd but thought nothing of it.

By about 16:00, my arm had really swollen up. Very tight around the elbow. So off to Boots. The pharmacist recommended some anti-hystamines(sp?) and said the swelling should reduce in about 20 mins.

I had a fairly restless night, punctuated with bouts of waking up due to a painful arm.

08:30 we decided that hospital was the order of the day, as my arm bloody hurt and was still massively swollen.

On arrival, the waiting room seemed pretty quiet; a good sign.
Waiting rooms are fantastic for people watching. I wasn't really in the mood, but couldn't resist looking at the various characters.
Of most interest, I guess, were a pair of young-ish women, one of them with a toddler. Both were dressed similarly. Sovereign rings a plenty, not a wedding ring in sight mind.
All their time was being taken up with wild movements of their thumbs accross the keypads of their matching phones.
The child that they were with seemed quite poorly and was coughing and wheezing - possibly from being stuck in a lounge full of cigarette smoke?

Anyway, 20 minutes and I was called through, taken into a booth. A doctor showed up fairly quickly and we had a chat about the cause, symptoms etc.
All in all, we were there just over three hours. I had several blood tests and they also administered some intravenous drugs.

The swelling hasn't subsided much, but is a bit more comfortable.

So, it seems that I might have an allergic reaction to wasp stings (never before mind). We'll see when they get the other blood tests back.

So, ladies and gentlemen, that is why wasps are not at the top of my Christmas card list.