Why is frosted glass so hard to find in London?

Royal Brompton Incarceration Sketch tour – (2 of 5)

Okay so the Royal Brompton hospital Cystic Fibrosis Unit, sounds like the Hilton hotel, right? TV, computer, En suite…But I forgot to mention that after every meal time for the first 48 hours there was a small prick to test for Diabetes – regardless of whether you have the complaint or not. If a prick is missed the 48 hours is reset. So you can be sure I was ringing the nurses for my prick after every mealtime.

The sketch above is the view from my narrow window in my room. I can see across to the Nurses Quarters and the stair well. At night I developed a game to guess which room a person lived in, by watching to see what lights come on as people climbed the stairs to their accommodation. A bit like in Sneakers. I noticed that people left items on their window ledges – most notable running shoes, bottles of drink and a big red plastic bag – I’m guessing full of rubbish and part of an extreme refuse collection. A sport that seemed to start at 4 in the morning with the clearing up of bottles from the public house at the end of the alley. One day it rained and all the possessions got wet.

This sketch is of my view from my en-suite see-through window and quite a surprise for me as I am used to frosted glass in a bathroom. I guess when you are 4 floors up dignity goes out the window.

 

More from the Royal Brompton Incarceration sketch tour…

Royal Brompton Incarceration Sketch Tour 2012 – My room (1 of 5)

So in March 2012, almost a year after my last hospital admission,  I found myself in the Royal Brompton National Heart and Lung hospital for IV drugs to finally get rid of an infection that caused me immense problems in 2011. To pass the time I used the opportunity to sharpen up my sketching skills and to try and find something nice about London.

The main entrance of the Royal Brompton Hospital South Block where the specialist Cystic Fibrosis (CF) unit resides in the old Private wing. All CF patients get their own room with en-suite, TV, computer (if you want one), fridge and for some reason an exercise bike. What I like about the buildings in London is the reflections of trees that appear in the windows.

Below is a pencil sketch of my bed. As with most hospital beds it can be put into any position. It also gets stuck in any position which I found out to my cost on the first night when the end of the bed became dipped all night long and I kept slipping to the foot of the bed. I don;t like to disturb the nurses for such trivial matters so I woke in the morning scrunched up and achy.

I don’t know what interior decorator was in on the day they painted my room, but lime/yellow/brown walls seemed to be in. The slit window was my only source of light and also breeze in a room that got upto 36 degrees at night. The vinyl chairs in hospital are almost comfortable and yes, snot green in colour. NIce. Aids the recovery.

 

Coming up on the Royal Brompton Incarceration Tour…Albert Bridge…Why I drew the blinds in the Toilet…Motorcycles and buildings.