Anatevka

The Ukrainian Village looks somewhat deserted.
I think it resembles the forlorn  Anatevka at the end of " Fiddler On The Roof"
The once busy " roads" and " avenues" are quiet and empty.

The problem with buying in batches of hens is that they tend to stop laying and will die away more or less at the same time. A couple of years ago I took in forty chickens from a guy in nearby Llanasa, whose wife told him " It's either me or the hens" ..he chose his wife....(but only after an afternoons self debate), and the Ukrainian Village was suddenly bursting at the seams.
Over the last twelve months all these older hens have gently died away, as did old Bingley the turkey

And so there are only twelve animals on the field to face the winter.
Four hens. Four geese and Irene and Sylvia.
Of course, this hiatus will now allow me to dismantle and burn the flimsier hen houses and repair the good. Over the winter these all will be fumigated and cleaned in readiness for the new hens which will come in the spring.
" Bosoms" will need clearing too, with getting married in the spring, the allotment had been over looked this year.

I'm picking up Liv and Eve from school today and briefly thought that I would get them painting the first of the hen houses this afternoon but the weather isn't quite up to it.
I will teach them to prepare a curry for the Prof's tea instead...after they give Mary her first bath.
It should be an interesting bun fight

Celebrating Practice

My old friend and colleague David Ash ( centre) with the staff of the Spinal Injury Unit Sheffield

I work for a health board which is in " special measures"
This is not the place to discuss such matters, but suffice to say that for a variety of reasons, I am , unfortunately ashamed of the place that employs me.
Of course at times like these, good practice and excellent care can sometimes be overlooked . Especially when morale is low and policies and proceedures overwhelm Workers on the shop floor.
I 'll share with you a short story.
A few weeks ago , I took handover from a fairly -new-to-ITC nurse called Caroline.
It was Caroline's last shift on intensive care and her handover was detailed and precise. Every aspect of her patient's care had been completed to a high standard. The family had been supported and given appropriate information and the patient had been washed with a diligent care   , with the myriad of lines and ivs all neatly labelled and organised. Caroline had done a good job on her busy day shift and I told her so.
When morale is low in a Hospital trust , positive feedback is sometimes the first thing to go missing I always think

Yesterday, I received some feedback for some ' basic' nursing care , I gave over a decade ago and it came out of the blue.
On facebook, I read an entry celebrating the work of one of my colleagues from the Sheffield Spinal Injury Unit who had recently retired.
Illustrating the entry was a group photo of the present day nursing and medical staff and I left a bright a breezy comment wishing my old colleague well and commenting that I only recognised a few " old faces"
A former patient from the unit commented on my comment. He wrote

Pete *" I remember you John, I think, were you not in charge of Osbourne 1, and was planning on moving to Wales, if so then I remember you well, you took the time to wash my hair for me, after a month of being in ICU, I will never forget the feeling of the warm water running over my head, simple things hey, but that I am so grateful for.

I was incredibly moved that this guy had remembered this tiny bit of essential but ever so simple piece of care after ten years and I was reminded that time and time and time again, I witness such unsung moments at my place of work . Moments that will be remembered but perhaps overlooked in
this climate of " special measures"
So all of us, but especially to the managers who have to firefight on a daily basis.
Take a minute to praise those small vital moments of nursing care

The Walking Dead Episode 5

The Alexandrians need to harden up

Well we had to have some downtime on The Walking Dead
Five episodes of full octane mayhem could have been all a bit much for anyone
So episode 5 proved to be somewhat of a plodder.
Maggie is pregnant, Lumpy Denise kissed Tara, Spencer got pissed and Aaron did what any self respecting gay superhero would do....he gave big hugs.
Ok Deanna did the mad lady in charge bit and handed leadership to Rick who had a big snog with Jessie,   the only practical Alexandrian left.oh  and Sam hid upstairs eating cookies.

It viewed like a soap opera.....which was ok...slightly boring but ok.
I missed Carol and Michonne and Daryl.......these newbees are terribly dull.

Pussy Safety

I didn't sleep well last night.
When I was driving home through Dyserth around 1.30 am I saw a cat crossing the road in front of me. It was on the opposite side of the road but crouched as I neared it and just as I thought I had safely passed it , it inexplicably ran back where it had come, right under the wheels of the car.
And the car bounced noisily over it.
I stopped and got out but the cat was nowhere to be seen.  I Suspect it was seriously injured and had run off to die somewhere.
It made me feel quite sick.
When I got home , I watched a banal recording of the final Downton Abbey until the wee small hours of the morning, then I lay in bed wide awake until 4 ish listening to The Professor breathing next to me and Winnie snoring from her living room arm chair.
Funny, I can nurse the sickest of patients and deal with the dying and the grief stricken. And I can see the saddest of sights at work but , I always sleep the sleep of a baby after I get home.
Didn't work for me last night!

Albert this morning

Safe, sound and bored

Favourite Time Of The Week

Sunday lunchtime is my favourite time
I have ten minutes before the beef is cooked.
We are having brisket, garlic mashed potatoes, sprouts and cabbage and will be sitting at the dining room table.
I have enjoyed the Sunday replay of radio 4's " Just a minute" whilst the Prof has been rearranging our jumper drawer, only popping out to drop some flowers off at Mrs H's house. I am glad I called round, being burgled for many people is a terribly traumatic experience.
It's the remembrance service at the War Memorial in the village at 2.30..it's a pity that it is not advertised more, being essentially a church and chapel thing......We shall pop down later with Winnie in tow.
I think remembrance Sunday can use a British Bulldog .....

 As it turned out, the weather necessitated the service be taken inside the village hall. Winnie and I remained outside by the war memorial, she stole a few large mouthfuls of Albert's high protein breakfast and I couldn't risk her opening her bowels on the Polished memorial Hall floor!

Calling All Cars!

Auntie Glad, Like all other Trelawnyd-ites 

Should be on full alert

This is a purely Trelawnyd based blog entry. Mrs Trellis had just called around with a squeaky toy for Mary and was having tea and  cake with the Prof when I bumped into Doctor's wife Pippa down the lane. She informed me that there had been another break in, in Trelawnyd and that Mrs H's bungalow on Rhodfa Arthur's had been the target and the police were on their way.
So message to all.....be on your guard and keep your doors locked........they are out there.......out in the dark.............

" You slaggggggg"

After a strenuous bout of face fat pulling , I separated Winnie from Mary so that the bulldog could have a peaceful half hour in bed at breakfast time.

You can actually see her smiling don't you think?

Anyhow today's blog......well it's about the super prison which is planned to be built some twenty miles away. Apparently it is going to be the biggest penitentiary in the UK with over 2000 cons being banged up at any one time!

There is going to be a recruitment drive locally for Prision officers and the like, and I guess the knock on effect of support services will help with the poor employment figures in the area.

I have only one experience of prison life and that was in the American midwest. 

I was visiting a spinal rehabilitation centre and asked my nursing guide why the unit had so many portering staff. 

" Portering staff?" She repeated, confused at my question

" You know all the men in orange uniforms that are taking the patients to gym and occupational therapy" 

" oh them" the nurse said " they're prisioners from the local prison" 

The prisoners proved to be an invaluable asset to the rehab unit. Not only did they carry out portering duties, they ran messages, fed the patents who were unable to feed themselves and interacted , albeit on a supervised level with the mainly young patient population of the facility.

I asked the nurse why having the prisioners around worked so well

And she gave me some guff  about " raising self esteem, getting cons beck into the workplace and intigrating people of all classes and experiences"

" oh" she added with a smile " they are cheap" 

Keeping Your Mimsy Clean

It's going to be a mixed bag kinda blog today....
Anyway first things first.
Thanks to a Trelawnyd resident Nev Lancelotte for allowing me to link in a video he made of Trelawnyd over two decades ago. I have placed it on Going Gently's sister blog " Trelawnyd Voices from the past"

http://trelawnydhistory.blogspot.co.uk

I found the video somewhat of a bittersweet one as all but four of the characters shown have now passed on. ( If you look closely you can see Auntie Gladys complete with her Arthur Askey specs on)

But it is a wonderful little bit of social history.

Secondly

The light was fading and the quality of the " snap" is somewhat poor but have a look at this

George and Mary 

And compare it to this

George and Meg nine years ago

What goes around comes around

And finally......I'll leave you with this thought

I have never heard of the word "Mimsy" before

But I think it's a cracking word.

Perhaps a good name for a dog?

  Aka Mrs Slocombe 

" My Mimsy got a dreadful soaking this morning out in the rain

I had to stand her in front of the fire to dry off" 

Oh yes! Hours of fun