Stability

It has been terribly wintery today with lashing rain and gale force winds, the field looks bruised and battered as did the deserted beach (above), and I was not surprised that all the poultry (including the usually robust turkeys) all retired to their houses early.

Chris is working in South Wales today, so won't be back till late, so with the weak William fast asleep with Albert next to the fire and the other dogs heaped on the couch I have wrapped all those small Christmas gifts I bought earlier today. the small "thoughtful" ones I need to send by post to friends in Sheffield,Derbyshire,London and Australia!.

I also had a chance to read Nige's wonderfully written blog about the sense of stability he experienced during "our" earlier days in Sheffield and this (coupled with a certain sadness relating to Ravi's funeral which took place this afternoon), got me to thinking of our salad nursing days.

Unencumbered by the firefighting problems of being a manager, we were idealistic junior nurses in a busy city. We worked hard and partied hard. We forged friendships and formed what has been described in the nineties as an "urban family". Yes in retrospect it was all a bit Bridget Jones's Diary, but it did work.....it gave us all a certain sense of security and stability........and it gave us the sense of belonging to something worthwhile and worthy.

Do I miss those days?........no I do not, but I do miss some of the people however, and although most of the group I still keep in touch with, some members, of course have disappeared from the radar.

Now, over a decade later, I have a new "country" family. Simplistically, I play mummy, Chris daddy and the kids all have feathers or fur. We all bring to each other a stability which can be taken for granted occasionally, and which is sometimes at times overlooked......

Loosing a friend and colleague like Ravi, makes us all reflect and reminisce, and it is at these times, like Nige so eloquently stated, that we realise that our own lives are pretty damm good.