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!