Wednesday, December 29, 2010

SOME UNUSUAL SIGHTSEEING

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I have been the recipient of some strange  invitations since I moved to Sicily but I think the  strangest must be the unexpected one I received this morning:  bumping into a friend of mine who is a gastroenterologist, I was prevailed upon to  go with him to his departmental waiting room in the hospital  to view a display of the objects he has removed from patients' stomachs over the years.  

A splendid array of plastic jars contained nails, screws, items of jewellery, curtain clips, coins, ring-pulls and batteries:  the Modicani, it seems, love to swallow batteries and they don't consume them one at a time! The average, I discovered, is six in one go and not all of these were small batteries of the kind that might power a toothbrush - which brings me to the weirdest specimen:  I should have thought it would be rather challenging to swallow a conventional, adult-sized toothbrush but one patient obviously hadn't met with any difficulty at all and there the object was, still intact and proudly displayed on a shelf all to itself.   Few of the patients, said my friend, had been children.

I shouldn't think that the display would cheer you up much if you were waiting for a colonoscopy but it is certainly one of the sights of Modica!

7 comments:

Leslie: said...

Now what on earth would prompt people to swallow such things? I'd think that the batteries could kill you if not the toothbrush causing a blockage! Whew!!!

CherryPie said...

That does indeed sound like a very strange display!

Rachel Cotterill said...

What an incredible display! I have enough trouble swallowing an asprin...

Whispering Walls said...

Happy New Year WL!

Miss Footloose said...

Since you love to write about food, and show photos, this is an interesting change of pace. However, I am grateful this post did not include a picture!

With all the good food around on Sicily to put in your stomach, you wonder about the sanity of people swallowing batteries and toothbrushes. Actually, I don't wonder ;)

Unknown said...

Hi my friend

I wish you a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Look my kitchen:

http://amigadamoda.blogspot.com/2010/12/cozinha-da-kinha.html

Bjoooooooo..........

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

No idea, Leslie! I'd have thought so, too... Isn't it just, Cherie? Me too, Rachel! E buon anno a te, WW. Hi, Miss Footloose. Well, I do like to write about food but I often write about other things as well. COuldn't get a clear picture! Hi, Kinha and happy New Year. Will be over to yours shortly.

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