Not much to report so I shall leave you with this summer happy song
Sunset
Not much to report so I shall leave you with this summer happy song
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.
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
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