Yazz - The Only Way Is Up

Gawd it been a busy day

The four staff on duty today were on their feet all shift.

And when we finally finished work

My fellow staff nurse looked at me with tired eyes and said with succinct economy  “ I’m Fucked!”

I bought two cheap scotch eggs from the local spar shop as huge waves lashed the West Shore in Llandudno. 

The whole of the North Wales coast is under flood warnings this weekend as gales push the high tide South.

The scotch eggs weren’t too calorific or tasty 

So I didn’t finish them as I listened to radio 2 on the way home

The Only Way Is Up by Yazz kept me awake

It transported me back to The Roxy nightclub on Bootham in York circa 1988

A club frequented by nurses on Thursday nights 

Accessed by a door and a staircase, a stones throw from Bootham Park Hospital just outside the city walls.

Thursday nights were alternative nights

Where nurses partied hard, and where we shared the dance floor with gay men and women , a few moody goths and a couple of badly dressed transvestites/ drag queens who spent long hours sat at the bar like Barbara Stanwick and Rosalind Russell after a dozen vodka martinis

I always wore a red bow tie back then , which complemented a set of red braces over my white grandad shirt.

And I alway danced like loon with anyone who would dance with me

Happy days

I’m top left…..Martin Kirby is the guy in the light shirt (/we are still in touch) the lady in green is Tracy Birkin , a wonderful nurse who could chase and catch any escaping patient whilst wearing high heels and a pencil skirt x