Breaking Formulae

The word ‘bustled” comes to mind when the nurse returned with the doctor to recast my arm (bustle. def: To move about briskly, and often with a show of ostentatious behaviour). The doctor ‘bustled about’. Around me and particularly, the nurse. Making a clear show of his intention to do an ‘excellent’ job of aligning the arm he so recently broke. I had the feeling it wasn’t for my benefit, but more for the approval of the nurse. Working with her to align and re-cast my arm, I seem to recall he did most of the plaster application and finishing. They smoothly and quickly covered my re-broken limb with more of the Plaster of Paris.
The amazing thing about the old Plaster of Paris (Gypsum) was that, as it ‘worked’, the materials heated up, to start the drying out process. It gives you a particularly warm feeling on the arm (or wherever they had to plaster). In some ways it was very much like the feeling of resting the limb in a bowl of warm water (if it wasn’t for the weight). The bad thing was, if you rest your arm in a bowl of warm water, particularly when the weather is  cold, as it often was in Dunedin (where this break occurred), there can be a somewhat annoying side effect. Yes, it tended to make you want to pee. If you had just had a plaster cast put on, seriously, within a few minutes, it could easily make you feel the need to find a bathroom, somewhat urgently.
I sat there after the doctor and nurse had finished. My arm placed in a sling, and I had been given a couple of, whatever was the equivalent of a couple of Asprin’s back then. The nurse casually enquired who was taking me home. I said “The bus”. I climbed down from the bed and thanked them both. They both stood looking at me. “Sorry”, the nurse asked. “How are getting home from here?” “The bus. It stops right outside my house” I replied calmly, as I picked up the school bag. “Thank you” I was by now really wanting to find a bathroom. The warming effects of the plaster were starting in. Have you ever noticed how while you know you regularly need to urinate, you can often hold on, for considerable time. But, when you know you are within walking distance of a toilet, it suddenly gets harder and harder to ‘hold on’ and, there seems to be an inverse law (more physics and maths again) that the proximity of the bathroom facilities are directly proportional to the increase in the pressure of the bladder. No doubt you could, with some research, actually establish a formula of pressure where ‘Pi’ stands for pressure intensity, ‘To’ for Toilet, ‘R’ for range, and of course you would have to include time in the factor ‘T’. Resulting in something like the usual rules, you would have maybe; To/R.x = PI/T.y.  Although it would probably be ‘Time over Pressure Intensity’ instead, as anyone in a rush would confirm.
(Continued tomorrow)