My favourite song
Sung wonderfully
Btw
It’s almost time for a new rescue bulldog !
And finally
Matilda and Angel
It was 1987 and it was a winter’s night filled with snow in a picture perfect 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 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 two black, big hearted support workers in 10 hours than I ever did from three years of my psychiatric nurse training.
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 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 two black, big hearted support workers in 10 hours than I ever did from three years of my psychiatric nurse training.
Bootham park hospital York in winter
Job
There will be no compulsory redundancies.
I rang Nu first who suggested gin and lots of it
And I’ve been messaging people for the past hour, thanking them for their support
Finally I took Roger up the lane to Mr Poźnan’s neat bungalow and told him personally
And I hugged him with the longest of Disney hugs
- Never Far From Me
The lights in the cottage at night
Show her cataracts and in the gloom I now see an old lady
She’s now almost blind in one eye.
And walks a little stiffly now
But she eats well even though her weight is now light for her size.
We walked out last night at dusk.
Roger now leading as she once did
She following
As he once did.
We stopped at the field gate
And Roger dipped his head to the grass
But Mary didn’t……
She stood still and held her head up to the night breeze and closed her eyes
And in that moment
I couldn’t have loved my old girl more
Ponies
Two of the field ponies have been moved so the remaining ones are vocal and calling into the night for their loved ones which is behaviour I sort of like even if it is sort of melancholy
Saw a so so sit com in Chester this afternoon The Materialists
Badly cast but Pedro Pascal was cute as a middle aged Latino button
Hey ho
Mr Poźnan
Village Leader Ian called in to see Mr Poźnan a week before the flower show. He sold him raffle tickets and asked if he’d enter something from his garden. Mr Poźnan entered his rhubarb even though he’s been unwell for a long time now.
I saw Mr Poźnan on the morning of The Show.
His eyes are always twinkling and are a watery blue like Auntie Glad’s,
And he always has a gentle smile on his face, even when his hip pained him, as he walks
His rhubarb, as it turned out, was a winning class, which tickled him and his wife
Before judging, he gently held my elbow and guided me to a quiet corner of the hall.
He was serious and straight to the point
And how I didn’t cry then and there , God only knows
“ I hear your job is under threat ? he whispered with only a hint of accent “ do you need any money?”
I looked at him silently and his blue eyes nodded “ Just say and it’s yours” he added kindly
I could only smile awkwardly, my lips tight and sensing my emotion ,
He squeezed my elbow and whispered again
“ Your trousers are inside out by the way “
And he was right, my trendy linen pants from Madrid were indeed inside out
La leyenda del beso / Intermedio - Grupo Talía
I’ve not shown this video before as it didn’t feature the lisping choir …it’s it’s a masterclass in Spanish zarzuela
I was in the audience for this, and I can tell you the hairs on the back of my head were raised throughout
It’s hot today, around 30 degrees. I’ve cleaned the cottage after sleeping a few hours and braved the cat litter tray with a heavy heart and a stomach lining in my gullet.
Weaver is out hunting.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if I caught her trying to pull a dead buffalo through the cat flap one day. Bun is curled up on my bed clutching a sock
How the two girls are so different never ceases to amaze me.
Mary has bald patches after her phantom pregnancy and Roger has learned to squeeze himself through the cat flap but unfortunately only outwards rather than inwards
No news today
Porto Goodbye
One of the most beautiful things I’ve seen recently
The medical students from Porto University saying goodbye to their training city
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