Matilda & Angel

It was 1987 and it was winter night filled with snow in York.
I was transferred to take charge of an elderly ward as staffing was dire.
I was a very junior staff nurse supported by two support workers.
The support workers were two Jamaican ladies of mature years.
I was told to refer to them with a respectful " Mrs Lewis and Mrs Dawson by the handover nurse
" They will show  you the ropes" I was told carefully.
I had never really spoke to a person of colour before. You never saw many non whites back then in North Wales and Chester, where I grew up and trained as a psychiatric nurse, but I was bright enough even then not to pull rank on two experienced nurse aides, and so I stepped back and allowed myself to be told what to do.
Mrs Lewis and Mrs Dawson worked at their own pace. They were unhurried and respectful, as they washed dirty bottoms and undressed the confused and the mute and I watched with some awe as together they bedded down 25 confused elderly ladies with the tired  and practiced ease of two broad hipped grandmothers that had seen some hardship over a 40 year career.
They sang together as they worked and they laughed and hugged their patients with some warmth when hugs were needed and by midnight the ward was quiet as they dished out their own suppers of rice and peas and jerk chicken at the nurses station.
I was given a plate too, with a napkin and a glass of homemade ginger cordial  and as I listened to them chat and laugh and I answered their questions about my home and family I realised just how sheltered I had been for the first 20 years of my life
At 6 am I asked their Christian names.....Matilda and Angel,  I was told and we all laughed....
It was a cold and snowy night in York and I took charge of an elderly ward of 25 senile patients
And I learnt more about good nursing care and life from twoblack,  big hearted support workers in 10 hours than I ever did from six months of my psychiatric nurse training.

Wild Flowers

The Flower Show Committee has shown an interest in taking over the care of the village Flower beds. Having said this some bright spark has planted  out two with wild and cottage flowers this year and the results, are rather beautiful. 

Carrot Goldfish On A Sunday Night

Sunday night and no nursing shift to contend with as per! 

We have spent most of the afternoon titivating the back garden as it has been entered into the " ornamental" class of the Garden section of the Show. Our old teddy boy judge Mr Butler will judge the village gardens tomorrow and will be accompanied by Matriarch Irene with her clip board. His adjudications will be read out on the 5 th! 

The Prof is reading in the armchair by the window. 

I am sat on the couch covered by Welsh Terriers.  

Jenny O sent this latest entry in the novelty veg class. 

Dream Kitchen

I'm 55 and have never had a kitchen I could be proud of! 

Finally , at retirement I have been just given the green light to " sort it" 

We are going to have a new kitchen!!!!!!..with a floor ! With 1940s cupboards, with a ceramic sink under the window and with large bottles of milk in a free standing refrigerator  while the cookies bake in the oven

This is what It will look like 

A Call To Arms

It's a sad fact that whilst calls to Samaritans are on the up ( and considerably on the up since the introduction of it's freephone number 116123!) the number of volunteers the organisization has to deal with calls from the suicidal, the distressed, the unhappy and the lonely are dwindling rapidly.
There are many factors that have come into play to explain this worrying trend. Volunteer apathy and the fact that the baby boomers no longer have the spare time they once had to give to altruistic endeavours may be partly to blame where as , busier lives, competition from the more " sexy" charities and changes to the charity practice have their own parts to play in people leaving the service.
Whatever the reason, my local branch of Samaritans is now down to just 25 members. ( see link below) and we despirately need new blood
http://www.rhyljournal.co.uk/news/178333/rhyl-samaritans-plea-for-volunteers.

Samaritan training is comprehensive, interesting, thoroughly supportive and at times great fun. It provides a chance for you to give something back to the community. A community that sadly needs a service where kindness, a little warmth, some common sense and a listening ear is often all that is required to keep someone on the straight and narrow.

Be Still My Beating Heart

My Slightly Surreal Life!

Sometimes life in Trelawnyd can be somewhat surreal
Yesterday was a case in point.
At 3pm I walked past the village Hall
All I could hear was " Elvis"  singing Viva Las Vegas to  rapturous applause!  
The Friendship Group is 35 years old!
They organised a buffet and an Elvis Impersonator !
How wonderful was that?


Ps Auntie Glas's house
http://peterlarge.com/sales/high-street-trelawnyd/
I note the the kitchen table is still there, i am in two minds to ask her daughter to sell it to me

Unprofessional Behaviour

As the echoes of the news of my retirement filter through the interweb, I have been in touch with several old workmates, a couple of which reminded me of certain situations where I wasn't the most professional of nurses!
Here are a few memories , many long forgotten ( by me)

• Before selfies were popular, I once took my own photo with the ward wound camera as I posed next to six sleeping patients in their beds!
• I once washed a patient while wearing an oxygen mask ( I was told piped oxygen was a cure for a hangover)
• Working with a rigid ward sister, I once removed her padlocked suggestions box from the wall and filled it with a snack plate of cheese and biscuits(?) before replacing it.
• I once gave a prank playing colleague a cup of tea with a patient's dentures placed in the bottom
• I once gave an hysterical patient a victory v sweet telling her it was a sleeping tablet
• A support worker I had was well know for sitting in a favourite easy chair on nights. One Christmas I arranged for her husband to collect it and he wrapped it in colourful Festive paper and a big bow and gave it to her for her main gift!
• Working on a mother &baby psychiatric unit, I was caught washing a baby's bum under a sink's mixer tap!
• I once set up a false urine bag on a patient's bed complete with a goldfish in it!
• I was once friendly with a paralysed patient who due to a pressure sore was only able to mobilise face down on an adapted hospital trolley. Without him knowing I drew a smiley face on his buttocks
• There are more stories regarding false turds made out of chocolate, sitting on a patient's dog on a home visit, a flying full urine bag bursting.....shoplifting psychiatric patients in Woolworths.... dropping a patient down a fire escape and getting a drunk colleague's arse stuck in a window of the ward's linen room,  that I wont go into detail about.............

Deadline

The deadline for the Novelty Veg/fruit photo competition is just a few days away, please can they be sent to me at jgsheffield@hotmail.com by Wednesday 26th

Summer Storms

Terrific thunderstorm this afternoon, with a few of the homes on the lower part of the village briefly getting flooded
We were ok,.........just!

Do Dogs Think?

Well obviously, in their own sweet, dim way, dogs do think but they do it in that hung ho, let's-run-our-faces - into-a-door kind of way which so often makes them so lovable and indeed dog-like. But yesterday I was fortunate to be able to watch Winnie process the information she was given by a complete stranger then act on that processing. You could see her thinking about it.
It was an interesting thing to watch.

We were out and about when two strangers came into view. Winnie was off the lead so stopped briefly to eye them both carefully. The strangers were a mother and her middle aged son. She was driving a mobility scooter. He was carrying the shopping and paused to pat Winnie on the head whilst chatting . His mother, who looked as though she had a CVA obviously wanted to stroke Winnie too but had pulled too far forward to be able to reach so without really thinking about it her so told Winnie to say hello to her. In actual fact he told Winnie twice and pointed at his mother as he did so, and quite clearly the bulldog understood what he wanted from her, for after a moment of contemplation she gave a snort like a bull and then ambled over to the woman and raised her head up in greeting.
She not only followed a simple instruction but she processed the request in order to follow that instruction.
This is a trait common in bulldogs I have found.

I Friggin Hate Selling Raffle Tickets!

Two hours and I only sold 20£ worth of raffle tickets....it was a case of too much chat not enough sales pitch

• Mrs Trellis had a rant about the proposed HS2 ( high speed train) line to Sheffield which will destroy a newly built housing estate and told me all about her kitchen cabinets which are just to be painted 
• Meirion Jones and his neighbour were somewhat surprised that I took an executive decision and entered his garden into the show without his permission! 
• Ceinwen was watching the end her favourite to show, as her hubby bought a tenner' worth off me  
• Jean was laying slate chippings  onto her newly designed front garden when I stopped she was showing a great deal of bust in the heat of the afternoon ! I pretended that I didn't notice
• A new woman in a rented bungalow near the affable despot told me she wasn't interested in buying a ticket. I told her to have a nice day and pulled the head off one of her roses when I walked down her drive
• Ian P bought a fivers worth....and I found myself promising to watch his bees when he is on holiday
• I've only got 200 tickets to go! Hey ho

Plas yn Dre

" Plas-yn-dre Isa" is up for sale.
In Welsh the name of this old grand house which is now one half of an old grammar school dating from the 1600s literally means lower mansion of the town. The house next door is called Plas-yn-dre Uchaf (The higher mansion of the town)
Are you still with me?
Plas-yn-dre still dominates the village. The upper house has almost been renovated in a Georgian Style and now looks mighty fine with it's new sash windows and grand front door, The lower house looks slightly less impressive in comparison, what with it's new pvc window surrounds and door, but this house is held in much affection by many of the older Trelawnyd-ites for it is the home of Auntie Glad.
Plas-yn-Dre, like I said is up for sale. It stands just how Gladys left it last year.....spotless and gleaming. I spoke to a Mr Roberts from Caerwys yesterday, who was collating information about the Flower Show for an article he was writing  for the Flintshire Chronicle. He knows Gladys from old " You could eat your dinner from off her floor"  he mused " she always kept a tidy home" 
I hope the new owners do the old house justice.

Plas yn dre isa

Onwards upwards

Is the next chapter...........

Nice People

 I worked with a doctor that I didn't know last night.
English wasn't their first language and my ever present irony was somewhat lost on them, which I found amusing.
Doctor " I hear that this weekend is your last here"
Me " " yes I finish my very last shift on Monday morning"
Doctor " why you are too young to be leaving work , what will you do with yourself?"
Me " I shall sit around the house eating crisps and drinking beer"
Doctor looking concerned " Do you think that is wise?"

I was rather touched by the succession of gifts and cards that found my way to my bedspace last night.
A gift from the Filipino nurses, a backbone group on itu made me smile, a series of fat club busting cakes were hidden behind the nursing station and a beautifully wrapped carrier bag of goodies which included new wellington boots, garden compost and dog treats were dropped off by another rather tearful colleague

my patient was critically ill....so I didn't have the time to get maudlin, I 've been very lucky to have worked with so many nice people.
.....and I have one more shift to go.....

Dragonfly

I am working tonight and Sunday ! My last two official shifts as a nurse! Hey ho
I will leave you with a photo of Albert who I snapped as he watched a dragonfly dart through the cottage

Out Of The Blue

I wasn't going to blog today, I was going to let Anne Marie bask in her justified glory! Ive made minted pea soup and a batch of butternut squash curried soup. I've painted the neighbour's wooden fencing and I've scrubbed the overlooked dirty scum marks off the bath.

Not much has happened today

Then as Mary and I stood at the junction of Marian and London Road, on our powerwalk, a small black hatchback sped past and something fairly hard and white flew out of the passenger window and hit me square in the chest!
The projectile didn't hurt me, but I was somewhat shocked!

It was a shop bought cheeseburger with just one bite taken out of it.!
I took it back for the bachelors to eat! 

Thank You Anne Marie

Anne Marie has supported The Trelawnyd Flower Show for many years now!
I love this!
A woman from New York State having a huge influence on a tiny Welsh event populated by just a few hundred people!
How wonderful is that?
This year , as always she has sent a box load of home knitted items to sell on Auntie Glad's stall....
Oh behalf of the show committee.....Sailor John, Trendy Carol, Animal Helper Pat, matriarch Irene, Terry and Ann, Heulwen and Derek, Val , Meirion and Daphne and myself
We Thank You x 

Duelling Banjos

Not everyone in the village is a smiling, happy character right out of The Darling Buds of May. In fact some are just downright mean.
Last night was a case in point.
I was selling raffle tickets door to door when found myself at the door of a somewhat prickly woman I had tried to conscript into entering the flower section of last year's show soon after she had arrived in Trelawnyd from a village further along the coast..
I should have known better, for as soon as she had bought her raffle ticket, she launched into what only could be called a bad mouthing tirade against her neighbours.
I tried to change the subject by complimenting her hanging baskets and planters but this seemed to infuriate her even more and she spat out that she would never enter anything into the show as one neighbour "always won everything" 
I should have walked away, but as she went on an on about how awful people that I actually know, where, I became so irritated that I dropped a grenade into the mix by smiling sweetly and adding " Have you ever thought It could be you?" 
She hit the roof
" Derek! Billy!" She called behind her " This man has just insulted me!" 
It felt as though we were in some strange movie as slowly two large stern rough looking men lumbered to the door behind her and I suddenly realised that the woman wasn't playing cards with a full deck.
Suddenly I had visions of being thumped out of my second best Walking Dead T shirt, so rabbited on a bit about how friendly I HAD found the villagers until the elder man slowly got bored and ambled back inside.
It was the oddest of confrontations .

Gop Hill and The Village

A recent video of the neolithic burial mount on Gop Hill below which the village nestles.
There is a lovely shot of the village at the end!
Relax and enjoy
Ps..tomorrow's post tells the tale of how I was nearly beaten up selling raffle tickets today!