Before we left home on this trip, I bought a Powerbank for our phones. It isn't something that I've ever used but the OS maps app tends to sap phone power, as does the NHS Test and Trace app, which needs bluetooth to properly work. So I bought one of these...
I chose this one as it has a USB Type-C connection which is bi-directional and can handle higher charging current. This means that the Powerbank can be re-charged more quickly and itself can charge an attached phone more quickly too, using a USB Type-C to Lightning cable (not shown).
It can also charge my MacBook Air using a Type-C to Type C cable.The unexpected benefit of one of these isn't the ability to put it in your rucsac for when you are walking but that it allows 'cordless' charging at base too, so the phone never needs to be out of your hand. 😆
Covid-19 security seems to be all over the place as we move around and visit establishments such as cafes and campsites. Some sites have their facilities closed and some are open. Some are trying to enforce social distancing within say, the toilet block. There might be a notice saying "two people maximum" and ask that you wait outside but it isn't enforced.
Some places have the QR code for use with the app but others insist on a manual record of name and phone number. I wonder what they do with that? Does someone have to input the list to another 'portal'?
In a pub you have to wear a mask as you walk in and sit at at table but then you can remove it. The poor staff have to wear a mask or visor all the time. Some places don't seem to enforce adequate distance between tables whereas others are visibly spacious.
I wonder who keeps an eye on all this?
To the more serious stuff... very soon after arriving on Mull, Dawn was bitten by a tick. She didn't know this until over a week later, when a very strange rash appeared on her stomach. An infected tick transmits Lyme disease and if you are bitten and develop this rash then you have the disease.
Looking back, Dawn now realised that she had felt discomfort over two successive days which she though was an itchy tee-shirt label. We aren't in the habit of checking for ticks as usually we are fully clothed when walking, especially in cool weather such as we are having. However there are times when you need to have a pee and this is presumably when the tick latched-on. This would have been when we were walking at Coggan on the first full day on Mull (Monday). This is on the south of Mull and there are more deer than humans in these parts.
The rash that developed was first noticed on the Thursday of the following week. It might have been there earlier but we aren't parading in front of mirrors and I suppose she just missed it.
So the next morning Dawn attempted to talk to the Doctor but couldn't get past the receptionist who simply said "go to a Minor Injuries unit at a hospital". Obviously this was ridiculous and so a little later she rang again and spoke to someone else and with some persuasion, was added to a Doctor's call list.
However the Doctor said the same, she had to go to Minor Injuries where they would assess and issue medication if necessary. By now we were in the Scottish Borders, enjoying nice weather and we packed up, which only takes 30minutes and drove to Melrose hospital, only 20 minutes away.
We were able to walk through the doors to A&E where next to their desk is the minor injuries desk. They took her three vitals as she stood at the desk (O2 (98%), pulse (91) and temperature 36.8). As the nurse typed her details into the keyboard it must have pinged the Doctor because he came out of A&E to look for her. Very speedy!
Anyway he looked at the rash and the mark in the middle and without doubt said, tick bite and three weeks of antibiotics. "Let's hope they do the trick". He wrote the prescription and we took it into the town, went to Boots and then had a cream tea to celebrate!
What a smashing, quiet hospital is the Borders General Hospital 😀
Update: no symptoms of Lyme disease and little trouble from the antibiotics so far but precautions need to be taken, especially careful in the sun and also if taking indigestion remedies. There's not much known about Lyme and most of what is known has been collated by 'sufferers'. No-one in the UK is classed as a 'Lyme disease specialist'. We hope that the antibiotics work because otherwise Lyme can linger for years.
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