The Tree

 I worked last night and went straight into university this morning. Surprisingly my presentation went well, well enough for me to feel somewhat christmasy at teatime.

So much so that I bought a miniature Christmas Tree from Sainsbury’s on my way home.

Bun was intrigued from the get go and watched the lights through narrow eyes before turning her back on it.

Weaver just ignored it and sat under the sofa with a Christmas reindeer in her gob. One of the gifts I need to send to my friend Nia in Australia tomorrow.

I’m off the 20th of December to the 28th and I’ve filled most days with something nice, whether it be meeting my friend Nigel in Chester, and then my friend Colin for a concert at the Liverpool Philharmonic, or having friends Nick and the velvet voiced Linda over  for dinner alongside Chic Eleanor. 

I am also catching up with the family on Christmas Day after seeing a film at the Picturehouse on Christmas Eve Day  ( instead of doing nothing) The film Christmas Eve at Miller’s Point looks just up my street. Oh I want to see the traditional barrel rolling in Denbigh on Boxing Day and on the 27th it’s Wicked  and lunch with my friend Ruth

Carol Of The Bells

I’m covering sickness tonight and stayed in bed for most of the morning and early afternoon . I woke around 2pm disorientated but with a nasty smell in my nose. Mary needed a shower and had one , we had a walk then for a treat shared a cheese bite share box from McDonalds before going back to bed. 

The village looked cheerful in the winter sunshine 

Malinka Ley Vey was out walking and I saw that the village Christmas Tree had been erected by Dai Ellis and David Paulus. Now Mr Ellis and I have never got on but I do respect his constant commitment to Trelawnyd and its residents . 

Credit given when it’s due

A Thoughtful Way Home

 My shoulder was aching at work today and I asked a member of staff if she could rub it for me.

This she kindly did with some banter talk about her regular masseuse and boy did her hands feel good and my aches felt better after she had finished.

Apart from hugs at Sioned’s leaving do, I can’t think of when I last felt someone’s hands on me.

It’s a sobering thought 

I miss hand holding and phyicality  and everything in between     

I am resolved to book myself with a local therapist 

Wintery

 It’s stormy .

I took the Welsh to the beach and we hugged the Promenade wall to keep out of the wind.

I’ve made a fish pie and the fire is lit.

It was my nephew Leo’s birthday yesterday .

He went to see Wicked and said he loved it.

I’m not sure I’m going but this scene intrigued and moved me

A lovely silent performance by Cynthia Erivo

Leaving Do

 Every company, Charity , ward , and hospice has its rules and regulations. 

And every one deals with a hierarchy that enforces the status quo with varying skills and exhausting constraints 

On a night out  tonight  , with a  much loved colleague leaving 

We are just people saying goodbye to an old friend 

Just people 

Friday night out

 I loved this snippet in the village Facebook yesterday

Sweet……

Amy Hulson-Jones

19 November at 18:52  · 

Just wanted to say a big thank you to the two lads who gave their home-made sled to my children tonight. My kids were using their coats to slide down the Gop Admittedly, my parenting skills can be questionable at times but the parents of the two lads we met tonight have nailed it Thank you for your kindness!

Sophie Shute

This will be Jenny Morris boys I’m sure. Absolutely lovely lads they are. I saw them walking down with their sleds 

I’m going to a leaving do tonight , which is a rarity as work remains a 60 mile round trip .

I’m catching the train from Prestatyn to Llandudno around five and am walking to a small brewery where the do has been organised . I’m going early and will be leaving early as the trains home are limited but I want to go as I respect the nurse that has left

And for once with colleagues I can relax and have a drink  

Ps I love this video, pure joy

 

More Lessons

 I was 21 when I first administered the " last Offices" to a patient, I must have done it hundreds and hundreds of times since

The elderly man had lived seventy years of his life in an asylum .

He had no family, no friends and had a life devoid of the normal happiness's that the rest of us take for granted. 

He had no belongings to speak of and even his clothes were picked from the generic clothes store and I remember feeling incredibly sad at the overwhelming " emptiness " of a life not lived.

The ward sister opened a window as the man died and crossed herself 

A nicotine stained enrolled nurse in her sixties had the job of talking me through the procedure of " 

laying out" , a job , I am glad to say, she took incredibly seriously.

She showed me how to shave the patient, wash him with a reverence he deserved and dress him carefully in a shroud . We combed his hair precisely then wrapped the body in a sheet, securing the last fold over his face with a safety pin and a gentle comment of " good night"

When we had finished, the enrolled nurse lit a cigarette and took a big drag of it.

Sensing I was still a bit shaken by the whole experience , she offered it to me which I refused,  then shared with me her own personal philosophy on the situation.

" Every life is important" she said carefully ......."no matter how it is lived..remember that fact"

 

That was in November 1983 on Irby Ward at the West Cheshire Hospital 

41 years ago

It was snowing

 I have never forgotten it.

Roger’s First Snow

 

At dog walk one yesterday morning the fields looked grey and icy and very cold

Roger who has never seen snow before, looked perplexed as he went on tip toe into the white ice

Is was up to four inches in places and he looked uncomfortable and looked to Mary to teach him what to do. 

Every few seconds in he bit mouthfulls of the snow and let the coldness fall at his feet.

He’s a darling 

I loved him even more when he sat down at one moment, his eyes wide with shock with his arse in the cold

During college he sat next to me facing the camera 

Watching everyone on line as Welsh terriers do 

The counsellors on line waved at him and called his name at the end of class

And he smiled as terriers do and sat unmoving like a puppet  , enjoying the attention offered.

It’s 6.15 am and the lane is covered again with snow, fingers crossed I can get to work