I was late for work last night.
I rang in to let one of the sisters on day shift know but she forgot to pass the message on. Subsequently night staff were panicking somewhat when I didn't turn up and rang around my family to see if I had collapsed at home and/or had been partially eaten by my animals like most sad bastards seem to be when you let yourself go and you wear a beanie hat 24/7.
Well the night staff seemed very happy that I was indeed alive when I eventually walked through the automatic doors of the unit, which was very flattering indeed!.
I may not be the best ITU nurse of the bunch, but generally I know I am fairly fun to work with. even though I have socks older than most of the nurses that I share the factory floor with.
Younger people today, to me, seem to have a wonderful confidence about them. A confidence and an awareness that I certainly lacked when I was 20 or so.
When I was a young man, there was just three channels on the tv, phone calls were only made sneakily in a cold hallway with your parents shrieking "you you think we are made of money" and the only immediate way to share some immediate gossip was to sneak out to your Austin 1300 and switch on your brick sized CB radio
The world news was read to you formally by a jaunty Reginald Bosanquet at 10pm every night, shops never opened on Sundays and the height of sophistication was to order a dubonet and lemonade at The Stables night club on a Friday Night.
Everyone today seems so much more urbane, informed and switched on than I used to be.
pah, let's face it... they are certainly more switched on, relevant and "in the loop" than I am now......
But at least I have humour on my side............
Things may be young and bright these days but they will never, ever be able to wear white polyester flares and dance disco.
ReplyDeletenot a look I went for....I wore white tennis shorts and a tank top
DeleteWe may have grown up on different continents, but we grew up much the same--Only the car was different. But you're right, at least we have humor, which has gotten me through a lot the last several years.
ReplyDeleteYou sure do you old fart!
ReplyDelete;-)
You crack me up daily (I tune in from work when I'm in need of a break and never cease to chuckle.... but aside from humour you also have a wonderful kindness and compassion that through the telling of your stories about life honestly at times puts quite a lump in my throat.
Keep doing what your doing.
Sx
old fart indeed x
DeleteThey couldn't reach you on your Blackberry CB radio ??? call the Police ! Ha
ReplyDeletemy handle btw was "pockets"
DeleteAt least you had to actually leave the house to reach your Austin 1300. Nowadays most bums stay firmly glued to the sofa.
ReplyDeleteThe young ones may think they are all that and a bag of chips. But what they lack is their own personality. Everyone seems to be mimicking someone else.
ReplyDeleteYou're only as old as you feel folks.
I remember the days well...and we all lived in black and white; although we didn't have a CB radio...
ReplyDeletewe didn't have a television or a car.
ReplyDeleteand we slept in a cardboard box....
luxury
DeleteLife might have changed dramatically in the past 20 years, but the basics haven't. Caring and concern are still alive and well.
ReplyDeleteI remember all that stuff - the CB and my parents yelling at me to get off the phone (laughed out loud at your "made of money" line because, migawd, if I didn't hear THAT phrase 693 times a day there was no point living).
ReplyDeleteI've been meaning to do a post about what a terrible texter I am. Years of wanting to spell everything properly has gone out the window as my fat fingers try desperately to hit the right sodden keys.
The Stables -- that brought back a memory. There were 3 of us 16 year old girls and one very sure of himself young man, who was about 5 yeasr older than us. he used to drive a TVR and this night we all managed to get in, I think there was even one of us on th parcell shelf - it was a two seater. He drove us from Llandudno to the Old Hall then onto the Stables. We all walked into the place on his arms, like he was James Bond!
ReplyDeleteWoW, you have really started some memories
Thanks John
I always liked the uv lights in there that showed up my dandruff!
DeleteOh yes I remember it well. Although I didn't know anyone who had a CB radio.
ReplyDeleteWe were on a "party line" and dialed the operator to tell her who we wanted to speak to, that is when we were allowed to use the phone! Now my grandkids text me and sit back laughing at how long it takes for me to peck out a response...the little beggers.
ReplyDeletebloody hell yes!!!!!!!!!! party lines!.....where with one little "click" you could listen to complete strangers talking
DeleteYou forgot the delights of shared phone lines 'back in the day'. I'll never forget an elderly neighbour coming on the line my family shared with him and, in an exasperated tone, requesting that 'one of us put down the bloody phone' after I'd been doing the 'you put it down first/no you put it down first' routine for about 20 minutes with my first ever boyfriend. I was traumatised for years after wondering what else he'd heard!
ReplyDeleteTimes were simple then...gentle and more innocent. To get through life today a sense of humour is imperative.
ReplyDeleteThe three channels on the TV had to be changed manually,by the children...the real reason why my parents had three kids,one for each channel.
ReplyDeleteJane x
In the meantime, Alex thinks a laptop is something his Dad huddles over occasionally but is great for playing DVDs and, through the magic of Skype, allows him to say to my brother in Germany, 'Hi Uncle Micky! I have to go, I am off fishing/shooting/playing golf with Daddy. Oh, and I broke his camera again'
ReplyDeleteI remember Party Lines, clothes from the Grattan Catalogue, Platform shoes, Oxford bags and thru'penny sherbert fountains. I remember sliding down Welsh hills at the Long Mynde on bits of cardboard nicked from the bins at the back of the Kwiksave supermarket. I remember reliable Vauxhall Victors and AA men who were both smart and polite in their uniforms. I remember nice strangers living along the A5 who would let you in to their houses to call them. I remember us kids being given a 'picnic', sandwiches wrapped in greaseproof paper and being reminded to be back by tea time. I remember lots of things and most of it was outdoors.
kwik save...alas is no more tom!
DeletePerhaps I should write a semi autobiographical novel about a shy kid with a German accent growing up in a seventies English mining community during a period of strikes, collapsing governments, power cuts and a four day working week. I could call it: 'Kwik Save, My Part in its Downfall'
DeleteOnly three channels, I remember that. But nothing's changed really. I don't know how many channels we have now (I've lost count) but there's still nothing on..
ReplyDeleteI don't know John...I think wearing a beanie 24/7 is considered urbane!
ReplyDeleteI mean. The Edge wears one all the time and I think he is a hottie.. (Did I say that out loud?)
DeleteI had to look "him" up on google
Delete( I look better!)
True.
DeleteThough did you see the picture of him in the Tuxedo wearing the beanie? I'm pretty sure that means you can get away with that too!
Did you ever watch the 'Wonder Years' on the television,John? I like how you reminisce about growing up. Remember when people used to say:
ReplyDelete"I'll ring you on Friday at six o'clock?"
The world is such smaller now.
I was more a LAND OF THE GIANTS and SPACE 1999 kind of gal dave!
Deleteok, misread your title and thought it read "I only sext with one finger."
ReplyDeleteYou can imagine how eagerly I dived into this post.
dirty bitch x
Delete"I may not be the best ITU nurse of the bunch"
ReplyDeleteI bet you are x
Humour is one of THE best attributes a person can have and you have it aplenty John!
ReplyDeleteI wonder what these younger ones will be saying and comparing when they are in their 50's and 60's? And so it continues....
ReplyDeleteas ELTON JOHN warbled
Delete"it the circle of life"
we all sound as though we're getting old.........but at least we all have fun getting there.
ReplyDeleteGill in Canada
Did our elders think we were switched on and in the loop etc.,? I bet they didn't......and I remember that if you had to make a phone call it was in a red box at the end of the road that had A + B buttons, we had no central heating, no phone, no car..and on days off school a whole gang of us would take jam sandwiches and water and wonder off to the woods for hours......
ReplyDeleteI think that the fact you only had three channels and one news show had a lot to do with your youthful lack of sophistication.
ReplyDeleteWhen you look at the broad range of TV and news available to children nowadays, you see that they are immersed in a world we were blissfully unaware of when we were children. I wonder if they will still have your sense of humor when they're 50!
Television used to come on at 4:30pm when I was growing up, first the 'test card' and then Popeye, and Blue Peter.
ReplyDeleteI pay most of my bills over the telephone or online, I can't imagine being an older person, and only having these options, heck half the time, you are unable to ever speak to a live person if you need help.
No more gettting your paycheck in a little brown envelope filled with cash money !
~Jo
Three TV channels! Luxury! When TV first came to NZ, for a long time we only had one channel - and that was only in the evenings.
ReplyDeleteI used to get the "made of money" cry when I forgot to turn the light off when I left a room.
Too right...the eye rolls I get when I recommend a good blog...if it's not in a text they haven't the time to read it...fun working with the 20 somethings though...they have tons of conpassion and patience with our patients...
ReplyDeleteso much so the nurses are always hustling us along...if we're not busy and doing portable x rays we're as likely to sit down for a chat as anyone...you know how that cheers the patients!
When i was young there wasn't even a television; the only telephone was half a mile away in a box where you put tuppence in and pressed button A - if nobody answered you pressed button B and got your money back - if you were lucky.
ReplyDeleteAnd, by the way, I know from reading you every day that you are definitely a caring and competent nurse, so don't try to persuade us otherwise.
As for your socks - nuff said.
Who cares if you're in the loop or not? Just carry on doing whatever you enjoy. But you're right, the young seem to be amzingly confident considering they're coping with the most goddawful recession for decades.
ReplyDeleteI spent a mispent youth meeting boys in the local bus shelter and walking the ten minutes down to the phone box by the post office (usually in the pouring rain) to talk to my friends on the phone. The only eyeshadow available was blue.
ReplyDeleteThe sixties were the best times ever. Like medaeval life with health care and education thrown in. The only designer labels I had were my Aertex vest and Ladybird cardigan and my parents never knew what I was up to.....nowadays they just look at the kids' facebook pages and it's all there.....
3 channels, the news only came on twice a day, or in the newspaper. I was allowed to be on the phone only certain times of day, when the "rates were lower". Black and white TV, too. Humor... Yes, well, we did get something out of it, I suppose! ;)
ReplyDeleteCat
I remember when there were only 3 channels, black and white, and they all went off at midnight here.
ReplyDeleteHave a great Friday, John!
Today's young people are not "in the loop" , they're in the figging noose - thanks to D.Cameron, N.Clegg, greedy bankers and rich tax dodgers. It's not an easy time to be young.
ReplyDeleteI am in awe of their supreme confidence - which seems to start before they leave kindergarten. I don't think there is much place for an introvert in their switched on world, and it would drive me (even more) bonkers in less than a day.
ReplyDeleteAh the good old days. I'd go back if I could !
ReplyDeleteI used to sit and look in wonder at the cathode tubes in the back of the telly. Now my kids sit and look in wonder at me- that I can get by without being tech-savvy!
ReplyDeleteI mean't savy--see what I mean?
ReplyDeleteWe used to sit around the old piano and have a sing-song every friday night.... not. I did used to climb trees though. You never see a kid stuck up a tree these days.
ReplyDelete