The World According To Auntie Glad

 I’ve just been The Crown 

The pub is under new management 

An Older and pragmatic couple

I met a friend from the village who is newly separated

And it felt good lending an ear so to speak .

Before we parted

He shared that he hated coming home to an empty house

And I was reminded of some sanguine advice given to me by auntie Glad when the Prof left

I shared it

“ When you go out in winter John, always leave a light on in the cottage- “ she said, her watery blue eyes gentle and twinkling

“The light will welcome you home” 

And my friend smiled at the simple power of it

Kissing

 Eye Hospital appointment today made bearable by professional care, a great consultant and a meeting with fellow patient Mo who is the leader of the village Friendship Group.

I had several scans which shows the bleed in my eye improving 

But does anyone else feel like this ? When the doctor , or nurse or technician is scanning my eyes so close up and intimate like , I suddenly have the real urge to kiss them.

Am I unique in feeling this way?

Answers on a postcard

Moon River

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.

Bootham park hospital York in winter

Job

 

The email came through this afternoon. The hospice had received enough voluntary redundancy applications amongst the nursing staff for the cost cutting to be completed

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