Suicide Isn't Painless

Has anyone out there seen or know the significance of this tattoo? The chances are that you may not have, but I suspect that you may well do in the short term future, for the semi colon tattoo is a statement of life  over suicide .
Where as an author may use the semi colon when they do not want to end a sentence when they could have, the semi colon tattoo represents a life which could have been ended because of depression, heart ache, mental illness or grief but hasn't. 
It's a very visual sign of hope and solidarity. 

I have very strong feelings about suicide. 
I believe that, the majority of people that suffer from suicidal intentions can be helped in some way, whether that be with talking interventions, medical care, warmth, support, appropriate problem solving or just time, but I also believe that for some the autonomy of suicide is a course of action which may be right for them. 

Years ago now , I was responsible for the overall care of an actively suicidal patient who had been partially paralysed in a failed suicide attempt. She was a bright,professional woman with a history of depression and unhappiness as long as your arm and from day one on my ward she tried to seriously self harm herself on a daily if not hourly basis. 

We nursed her on a mattress on the floor because she tried to throw herself out of bed face first. We supervised her 24/7 under inadequate support from the psychiatric services and we fought for weeks to get her the mental health care that she needed after she was sectioned under the mental health act.

Weeks passed into months and our care kept the woman safe. She was treated medically for her depression. She was supported by a multi disciplinary team that cared for her and she was taught to look after herself in a wheelchair.
The only thing we couldn't do was to cure her innate unhappiness.
A year after her admission to our unit , the psychiatrist involved in her care, finally took the decision to reduce the level of her supervision. This decision was not taken lightly , and I am now sure that it was a response to the fact that everything that could have been done had been done for her. Her family, her nurses, her physio and occupational therapy staff all agreed with her request to be given  a little more space.

A few hours after the supervision had been reduced, the woman took herself into the car park. She lay down between two cars and put a plastic bag over her head. 
It was what she wanted to do.

****************************************************************************

Ok I feel a need to change the subject., so I shall leave you with the latest entry in the International Novelty Veg competition.....

Zzzzzzzz Nation

Well I am surprised it's taken so long for another Zombie based tv show to surface 

given the success of The Walking Dead

But tonight Z Nation started on Sky ( thanks catlover for the heads up)

Dont worry, I won't be banging on about it with the excitement and loyalty I have for the likes of Daryl Dixon and Carol the housewife badass

It's a load of crap!

I was so disappointed I had to go up to the spar garage 

Where I bought a pork pie

( they don't sell scotch eggs)

Fat Club

Tuesday lunchtimes are earmarked for fat club.
The meeting takes place in a church Hall in a nearby town and although the " weigh in " isn't until 12.30 there is always a queue of fairly miserable looking individuals , lined up in front of the scales.
For the past month I always seem to find myself behind a middle aged lady who had obviously seen better days health-wise.
For over four weeks she had not lost any weight , and seemed rather disillusioned with the whole attempt at slimming.
I steadied her with an arm as she heaved her slippers off before the scales thing and in a loud stage whisper she gasped " Here's hoping ....I haven't had a sausage sandwich all week!"
I mimed crossfingers as she heaved herself on
And I couldn't help over hearing the leader say " Half a pound on I'm afraid"
The woman looked at me crestfallen
" AND I had a large poo before I left the house  " she said with a sigh......

I will leave you with a couple more blogger entries for the flower show.. The first is a wonderful photo for the photography class "relaxation"  ( yes bloggers can enter everything and all entries will be posted back to them) and the second is another entry in the International Novelty Veg/ fruit class...enjoy

One Drop Of Gravy Too Much

Roger Moore

The Prof

Tom Stephenson seemed rather amused with the childhood photo of the Prof that I posted on Saturday. I can see why very easily, for it shows a little boy who possesses a great deal of character and opinion and one , who, from the age of six, probably never really suffered any fool gladly.
Tom stated

  " John says The Prof doesn't smile much and the picture would support that. I always sense an air of mild disapproval coming from over John's shoulder - about everything, including the rest of us in the Blogosphere. Not in a nasty way, more of a tired, almost resigned sort of way. I am sure he loves the animals really."

Now I have absolutely no doubt that the Prof loves the very bones of me. He is constantly amused by my clumsiness, finds my inability to pronounce even the most simplest of words rather endearing and  always seems to be smiling ( albeit inwardly) when I have trouble dressing myself in an outfit which could be mistaken for something fairly smart..
But I, and the mundane things in life do exasperate him to such a level sometimes that I am sure that
one day his Roger Moore eyebrow will explode from the top of his head.
I guess that is part of his charm
He is poised and in control of his emotions in public and his work, whereas I adore a good emotional romp.
He finds blogging somewhat of an odd phenomenon and although I know he reads Going Gently more or less every day, he always does so with the general world weary air of " Whatever Next?"
To many he is a closed book, a common trait of many a man ...... He thinks that I run off at the mouth too much.

Yet we dovetail together rather nicely and have done for many years now......even though the sight of me wearing one more of my gravy stained walking Dead  t shirts may yet put him a home for the mentally bewildered.

Holiday Time

Now there is one things poultry keepers dread and that is coming back from a holiday. Invariably when someone else is left in charge and routines are changed then one disaster or another will befall the flock. Old age and infirmity have reduced my chicken numbers drastically this year. Because we are going to Kent and then Sydney, I have not replenished the casualties as yet and so the Ukrainian hen population has gently reduced to just eleven girls. Moriarty, the old cockerel died just the other day as he sunbathed in the sun, leaving Joe the latest new waif and stray rooster in charge.
12 chickens, four geese and Bingley remain..a manageable number for the teenage boffin Cameron to look after when we are away me thinks.
When we return, A younger flock can then be introduced...............anyhow, my friend Eirlys who lives just on the other side of the village rang me the other day, all breathless and a bit fraught. She was on holiday and had left an elderly relative in charge of her large flock of hens. She wanted me to check up on her.
In the middle of the day three foxes had ambushed the birds in the centre of the farm outbuildings and in the frenzy that followed, even the presence of the elderly woman swinging a broom had not frightened the foxes away. Luckily a passing lorry driver had spied several hens jumping over the farm wall and into the road in a bid to escape and had stopped to help. Eventually he managed to scare the foxes away but not before around 20 had been killed.
I called up to Eirlys' farmhouse yesterday afternoon to buy eggs for another villager. ( I haven't got enough eggs to sell at the moment) and at least one of the foxes was about, for I saw him jumping over the farm wall when I arrived. Eirlys was out, and luckily all of her remaining hens were shut away in the barn.

You turn your back for a second.........hey ho

Anyway am working later so I will leave you with a couple of the latest novelty veg & fruit entries

Keep em coming ! 

And a final thought for all parents and dog owners out there
Have a nice Sunday

The Prof

It is well known that The Prof doesn't smile much

He's an inside smiler

I wondered if it was always the case

And the answer is....

Yeap!

The Choir Concert

The choir out of their usual maroon uniforms

The Trelawnyd Male Voice Choir " Noson Llawen "was the best concert I have seen in the Hall to date. This was thanks primarily to the choir's new Musical Director Ann Atkinson who proved herself to be a talented Singer herself as she belted out the Habenera whilst draped over the front row of grinning choir members.
I have posted two short videos of the performance, and apologies for the state of the filming , I couldn't raise the ipad too high. One video is the choir belting out a " pirate " song and the other was a quick video of the compare who is a very Welsh Farmer from the sticks!
Enjoy

A Turd In The Bookcase

I have had only two visitors this morning.
The first was a new resident from the village who had received a " welcome letter" from The Flower Show Committee along with a request to participate in the Show .
He kindly entered one of his own paintings into the art class and seemed chuffed that his entry was the first one I have received.
I sat him down in the living room with Winnie who was happy making goo-goo eyes at him as I pottered around trying to find my paperwork in the kitchen and when I returned the man pointed to William who was looking all innocent and said in  rather a surprised voice  " That dog has just shat on your bookcase"
I tried to look nonchalant and said   " He does that all the time...he likes to back into things" which is perfectly true and managed to scoop up the offending article with a tea towel without causing too much fuss.
" I've never had a dog" the man said thankfully giving William a dirty look.

And for the third time in as many weeks I thought to myself  " these animals WILL be the death of me.... "

Anyhow the second caller arrived when I was scrubbing the rest of the turd from the bookcase's glass door with a bit of kitchen roll. It was Mandy our neighbour who gave me a big vase of flowers. She does this on a regular basis , not because she loves me, but because her and her husband are always popping away on trips and she doesn't want to waste the vases of flowers she has around the house.
Its a good system, I must say.

My original subject of today's post , ( before I got sidetracked by a turd on the bookcase and neighbours with flowers) was the subject of cheating! Yes, it has been brought to my attention by an eagle eyed blogger that ONE of the international entries to the NOVELTY VEGETABLE/ FRUIT class WAS BOGUS!
( duh duh durrrrrrrrrr!)
Apparantly this clever collection of mice

Had been lifted directly from the website " pure and simple bakes" http://pureandsimplebakes.com/2013/03/30/i-have-mice-in-my-kitchen-edible-ones/
Naughty naughty......thank goodness I didnt put who the culprit was next to their entry...but you know who you are and so it's a case of smacked bottoms all round......the work may be inspired by images from google ( thats where I find my ideas) but must be made by your own fair hand

Rather like this creation!

So keep em comming!

Tonight the village Summer concert by the Trelawnyd Male Voice Choir takes place

For a village event it is surprisingly high brow for the choir has in support 

some nationally well known opera singers and musicians 

I will sneak in my ipad and will record perhaps the tiniest bit of the singing

So you can get a feel of the quality of it all!