Message to a few friends
Keep on swimming
Just keep on swimming
Build Up
Perhaps someone can explain the origin of this Christmas card which arrived today
Miniature people dressed up as rodents roasting a rat!
I'm totally intrigued !
I've caught up with those pre Christmas jobs, posted gifts for friends in Derbyshire, Australia ( late!) and to my nephew in Kent and dropped off other bits to people I won't see.
Everyone seems to have had the same idea .
Animal Helper Pat called around with a bunch of long holly sprigs covered in berries and a bara brith wrapped in her ususl silver foil topped with a red ribbon.
Rosemary and German Bernard, Olwen and Mr L left cards and gifts and all complained that they hadn't seen much of me this past year
I shrugged...an apology
I saw Jason the Affable despot too...we are arranging a beer or two before Christmas .
He's had his hair cut and looks even more boyish than usual
I've lit the fire and hung the cards around the living room
Below are a few of the finalists of most original Christmas card
Homemade cauliflower soup is simmering in the kitchen
An Undertaker ran over my bunion today!
He did, and it hurt.
But he was very sweet and very gay about my injury
So much so, I thought he may of even kissed it better.
He didn't.
I am in need of a silly night out.
The election has proved just how odd the world is
The ward Christmas meal is next week as is our Choir night out and pub concert but some of me wants a daft Xmas night out
I texted my old friend Bunty- the- lesbian this afternoon..apparantly she's single again
My text simply read " Gay Christmas nite out?😛🌈🍆????
She left a voice massage on my phone when I was at work limping after my bunion injury
The message shouted simply
" Graybags!!!!!!!IT's BUNTY ......AND its about fucking time! "
Gentleman farmer Ralph
Most of my regular readers will know that I live on a small lane.
The lane snakes out of the village to the south West and turns at a house and then two farms before moving away across the Valley floor.
In the second farm lives Gentleman Farmer Ralph and his gracefully polite wife Mrs L, and this morning they both stopped to pass over a Christmas Card and a couple of gifts.
I love the pragmatism of the farmer's gifts
Handed over the kitchen wall as so many gifts have been over the years,
Was a very large lamb chop
A Christmas Card
And a high viz jacket !
Since I started work at the hospice I take Mary for a walk around 6 am in the morning and at that time Ralph drives to the village shop for his paper!
" You never wear something light in the lane" he quipped " I am worried that one day I'm going to run over you!"
I'm still collating entries of the Christmas card competition by the way, I am enjoying them greatly . I will post a photo of the top 20 soon.....special thanks to Flis and to Liz in Corsica, I was very moved by your cards and gifts x
Task Orientated
I feel a little caught at the moment
Caught between work and home.
I worked a long day yesterday, will be going to work soon on a half day late and will be working a long day again tomorrow and again on Sunday
The times in between seem caught up with sleeping, chasing solicitors and dog walking
tis the way of the world.
Now nurses employ several coping mechanisms in order to deal with the stressors of the job.
When young, burning the candle at both ends is often the way to go. Black humour and sassy team support are others
Mindfulness, alcohol, holidays and duvet bashing all have their place too,
as does Task Orientation!
For those that don't know Task Orientation is where a nurse concentrates on the physical tasks that need to be done at work rather than the more stressful patient centred activities.
The job can be as mindless as you like ( when I was a charge nurse I often used to spend an hour or two a week pruning and watering a rooftop garden I had designed for my ward patients to enjoy.) but the activity allows you to come down from the mental pressures of dealing with constant distress in order to recharge or regroup.
Yesterday, late morning
It was my job to change the syringe driver medication for a dying patient
(syringe drivers, for those that don't know are medical devices that administer a specific amount of medication to a patient during a 24 hour period and medication which can be a mixture of analgesia, sedatives, anti nausea meds and the like)
The patient is a young woman and she is alone and unconscious.
It is rare to find this patient without her family and I noticed that they had left some music playing in their absence. The music sounded like the theme to Amelie
In the restfulness of the room I sat down at the bedside and occupied myself to the task in hand.
The muscle memory in my fingers is now established after the changing of scores of these syringes and the quiet task was a welcome diversion from another busy morning.
After changing a second device I stopped a moment and looked at my young patient, automatically checking her breathing rate and depth.
Then I sat still for a moment, listening to the music that was playing.
I had finished my tasks
I had several more tasks to do
But I sat there with my hands in my lap for ten long minutes doing nothing more than being there
A quiet hospice room by the sea, and The theme from Amelie played sweetly on the piano
Minds Power
Consultant Ganapatiraju Ravichandran " Ravi"
The patient was admitted in the middle of the night, something unheard of for The Spinal Injury Unit in Sheffield.
As the charge Nurse in charge of the four warded unit, it was my responsibility to help for the admission to come in and as they were being transferred from our own Hospital's A&E the admission was happening quick sticks.
All I was told was that a middle aged man was due to be admitted after a fall down the stairs at home. He was said to have a paralysis below the waist.
Our diminutive Asian consultant who had assessed the patient arrived on the ward at the same time as the patient and watched quietly as he was scoop stretchered from an ambulance trolley onto a bed.
The patient looked shocked and tired and had been partially cut out of his pyjamas, so as the nurses expertly turned him I noticed the tiniest of movements in a muscle on the patient's calf as a nurse removed a bottom sheet.
I shot the consultant a glance and he shook his head very slightly.
And so I stood back and watched the drama unfold
The patient was the only carer to two elderly parents, one of whom had advanced dementia. He had been up for most of the night dealing with wet sheets and confused aggression and had slipped down the stairs after 36 hours caring with just a few hours sleep.
The police had already implemented help for the frail parents and I reassured the patient that they were safe.
He cried and held my hand as the consultant performed the required neurological examination, his distress at his paralysis profound and upsetting.
However the patient wasn't paralysed.
He certainly had pain and was in shock from his fall, but he wasn't paralysed at all.
It was also obvious that he believed that he was
I caught the Consultant's eye again and watched some brilliant medical care in practice
The consultant asked everyone but me to leave the room and sat down next to the patient quietly.
"You have seriously damaged your spinal cord " he said carefully "but you are lucky that it will recover from any damage that has been done. It will need a week of strict bedrest here where the specialist nurses can take care of you but in one week's time we will get you out of bed and you will will go through rehab and will walk without pain and difficulty."
The patient, nodded blinking away grateful tears
And eventually he slept for almost 24 hours straight during which our unit Social Worker helped set wheels in motion that the parents went into 24 hour care.
Hysterical conversion? Psychosomatic condition?
Call it what you will, but a week after his admission the physiotherapists mobilised the patient with professional care and he walked out of the unit soon after to a life he could cope with again.
That day I learned that the mind is a very very powerful tool
and it's ability to protect it's host is wide ranging and oh so complex
Oh and I learned that a usually medically orientated spinal injury consultant could act as the best of psychiatrists when he need to
Knives Out (Spoilers)
Director Rian Johnson is reportedly a huge fan of Peter Ustinov's 1980's cinematic Poirot, and so it seemed unsurprising that he would pay homage to the genre by creating his very own movie whodunnit in the shape of the entertaining and rather good quality Knives Out
Knives Out has the crime novelist patriarch (Christopher Plummer) apparently committing suicide on the night of his 85th birthday. All of the guests at his birthday party have good reasons for wishing the old guy dead, and his visiting and reassuringly dysfunctional family are all played by a delicious selection of Hollywood elite ,
We have Don Johnson, Jamie Lee Curtis ( on fantastic scene stealing form) and Michael Shannon playing Plummer's high achieving children whilst Chris Evans and Toni Collette support as evil grandson and dippy daughter in law respectively.
Only the family nurse (Ana de Armas) seems innocent, a "fact" which is overturned as the plot takes on a twist after twist when a famous detective Benoit Blanc ( Daniel Craig) mysteriously turns up in the big dark family house to interview the suspects.
Like I said it's an entertaining romp which zigzags nicely between laughs and tension, and the final " arhh haa!" moment is clever enough for most of the audience to enjoy with gusto even though I was slightly let down by who eventually did it!
Unfortunately Craig is no Peter Ustinov - he simply cannot command respect and interest in the main role and his miscasting as the detective ( and almost bloated continual close ups ) almost ruins the film.
Thank goodness for Jamie Lee Curtis . I won't be at all surprised if she doesn't win an oscar for best supporting actress as her few scenes as the straight talking bitter business woman daughter are a delight to watch.
My Life Is A Movie
Jamie ( centre) with our choir
Tonight our choir was asked to perform in a charity concert in a school down on the coast.
We were booked to perform six songs, three in each half of the concert and our slots mirrored the ones of another local community choir whose conductor had organised the evening.
The finale was a selection of Christmas carols sung by both choirs.
I know we shouldn't of...but the general consensus from my fellow choristers made it clear to me that there was quite a large good natured rivalry between the two choirs.
I guess it was natural for us to want to be the best choir on the night.
Ring any bells?
Yes, The Gwaenysgor Community Choir suddenly entered the cinematic world of Whoopie Goldberg's Sister Act II - Back in the Habit with Our Jamie with his 1940's RAF moustache playing the flamboyant Delores Van Cartier !
We had a worrying start as our rival choir looked so effin smart when they took their places!!!
They were dressed in black, all the ladies with matching appliqué flower trim on their blouses. The men wore natty red bow ties and waistcoats and the whole ensemble stood well rehursed and neat in front of their matching conductor who waved her baton with confidence and power!
As the choir took their places , our motley group looked at each other nervously as we were all dressed in a mismatch collection of coloured shirts and dark trousers. But we need not have worried as when it was our turn ( when Jamie wiggled his arse towards the audience- something he does when conducting) we knew our more eclectic performance had worked some of its usual magic
My twin sister Janet loved his wiggle..as did Chic Eleanor and my friends from Conwy who had come over to see us perform and in the end both choirs needed a pat on their backs as comparing us was really like comparing apples to oranges! We both did very well
On her way home, Chic Eleanor flipped her pashmina and purred " Darling John Your conductor's buttocks are simply amazing!!"
After a bit of reflection I think our Finnish Reindeer clapping song swung it for us in the end.
Not the Reindeer song but our Welsh one x
A Golden Gift
It was neighbour Mandy
" I have a scotch egg for you" she said seductively " I thought you could have it for your lunch"
She popped the egg over the kitchen wall a few minutes ago
It looked magnificent on it's plate
The Best Christmas Card ....well one of them
It has to be this one which arrived today
A big cocked Santa !
I'm still judging!!!
A Blog Christmas Card🎄🎄🎄
🎄It's a quiet night so far at the hospice.
I've just written my Christmas cards and wrapped them into elastic banded bundles ---ones to hand deliver and ones to be posted.
The number of posted ones seem to diminish in number every year
I've just done a check of all of the patients with my trust pen torch....not so much The Lady of The Lamp .....more like The old fart with the torch.....
Everyone is peaceful and sleeping
Now...It's time to send my generic blog Christmas card
I picked the above photo because I think it sums up the past year for me
A bit sad, a bit emotional but a bit hopeful....
( BTW I did try to add two Christmas hats to the photo but got somewhat befuddled with the software!!)
Say what you will about the content of Going Gently ( And I have plenty of knockers!!! [ ohh arrhhh missus!]) I am constantly amazed that so many people pop in from time to time to read the ongoing saga of a middle aged Welsh homo and his eclectic brood of friends, fellow villagers and pets.
It's been a somewhat one sided year...one which has been noticeably lacking in humour, but I think I have hiked up the old bra straps and have raised, at least , a few titters along the way.
Thank you all for your contributions , support, humour, challenging, occasional bad temper, postcards , art works, questions and most importantly your kindnesses over the past year.
The blog has been a strange source of therapy for me, And it's weird to realise that so many people are occasionally plodding alongside as I trundle through life of a middle aged, newly single poof who is just getting back onto his two hairy and often aching legs again.
So I am wishing you a very Happy Christmas from Trelawnyd
I hope it's a good one for all of us....
Thank you for being there over 2019
And as the Golden Girls theme put it so eloquently
Thank You for being a friend.
Friday
I have now turned my car radio to radio 4 now on my morning commute
I cannot abide the all-too-early Christmas songs blaring out
To me Christmas songs on the radio should only start around the 20th
I'm on a one off night shift tonight...
My friend John from Sheffield rang me earlier and told me to get my Christmas lights up
" You need to get yourself going!" He said kindly
The postman gave me a shove in the same direction when he dropped off a bundle of cards
He's a new postie who looks a cheerful soul,
As did the cards he delivered
I cannot abide the all-too-early Christmas songs blaring out
To me Christmas songs on the radio should only start around the 20th
I'm on a one off night shift tonight...
My friend John from Sheffield rang me earlier and told me to get my Christmas lights up
" You need to get yourself going!" He said kindly
The postman gave me a shove in the same direction when he dropped off a bundle of cards
He's a new postie who looks a cheerful soul,
As did the cards he delivered
Lights
Lord
I went to bed before 6pm last night and woke up at 6.30 am this morning
I was tired and unwell
Dorothy was performing a rather frantic cross legged CPR before dawn in order to wake me
But I needed to sleep
Long and hard.
I am aware I've not seen much of the village, or indeed anyone but work people for days and days now, and so during a blustery and cold teatime Mary, Albert and I ventured out to blow away the cobwebs and to see the Christmas lights. Albert didn't last long, he returned home after the gales whistled hard through the Churchyard Yews , but Mary dug in and lowered her head against the wind, and like the terrier she is, she pushed on bravely with me as I pulled my scarf around my face.
We stopped first at the old police house who always put on a good show of lights and winter animals, they didn't disappoint but you have to venture up their drive in order to see everything!
The village Hall's impressive Christmas tree swayed madly and looked sweet but the award for the best show must be awarded to Wendy and Mervin's covered Cherry tree
Simple but effective
I passed the Randa's bright little house in the centre of the village and it's cheerfulness reminded me that I need to buy the Randa girls some Christmas decorations .
It's a silly tradition that I've done for a few years now.
I would have led Mary all the way up high Street to look down on the village from above but the wind was gusting like mad and a Shepherd's pie in the oven was calling me gently.
As we turned down Bron Haul and headed back towards the Church
Mary quickened her pace towards home
I went to bed before 6pm last night and woke up at 6.30 am this morning
I was tired and unwell
Dorothy was performing a rather frantic cross legged CPR before dawn in order to wake me
But I needed to sleep
Long and hard.
I am aware I've not seen much of the village, or indeed anyone but work people for days and days now, and so during a blustery and cold teatime Mary, Albert and I ventured out to blow away the cobwebs and to see the Christmas lights. Albert didn't last long, he returned home after the gales whistled hard through the Churchyard Yews , but Mary dug in and lowered her head against the wind, and like the terrier she is, she pushed on bravely with me as I pulled my scarf around my face.
We stopped first at the old police house who always put on a good show of lights and winter animals, they didn't disappoint but you have to venture up their drive in order to see everything!
The village Hall's impressive Christmas tree swayed madly and looked sweet but the award for the best show must be awarded to Wendy and Mervin's covered Cherry tree
Simple but effective
It's a silly tradition that I've done for a few years now.
I would have led Mary all the way up high Street to look down on the village from above but the wind was gusting like mad and a Shepherd's pie in the oven was calling me gently.
As we turned down Bron Haul and headed back towards the Church
Mary quickened her pace towards home
Wreck Of The Hesperus
"She's a sweetie!"
So crooned the new vet at the surgery after I had lifted Mary onto his examining table
He has floppy hair and looks like a Greek god
I had a snotty nose and had tomato sauce dripped down my jumper
"She is !" I agreed, mesmerised by his gleaming teeth
The vet touched my hand by accident as he moved her harness in order to look into her ear.
And I jumped as if electrocuted
He said something vaguely funny
And I laughed a too loud a laugh like a loon!
And inwardly I laughed at myself for doing so.
Half an hour later I was in sainsburys and I bumped into an old friend from Intensive Care
" You look rough" he said
" A mixture of long shifts and looming decri absolute" I told him
I bought provisions and ended up at the till of a cashier I have a kind of man crush on
The cashier always blushes when I speak to him
I still had a snotty nose and tomato down my front
And I did look rough as a bear' s arse!
He didn't blush much today I noted
Although I couldn't really afford it, I bought a Christmas wreath from Sainsbury's
My cashier told me it looked nice.
It was my turn to blush
I've put the wreath up on the front of the cottage when I got home
Mrs Trellis coooeeed as I did so
She was walking Blue who was wearing a matching red coat to hers
" You look tired " she trilled " Are you on night shift?
So crooned the new vet at the surgery after I had lifted Mary onto his examining table
He has floppy hair and looks like a Greek god
I had a snotty nose and had tomato sauce dripped down my jumper
"She is !" I agreed, mesmerised by his gleaming teeth
The vet touched my hand by accident as he moved her harness in order to look into her ear.
And I jumped as if electrocuted
He said something vaguely funny
And I laughed a too loud a laugh like a loon!
And inwardly I laughed at myself for doing so.
Half an hour later I was in sainsburys and I bumped into an old friend from Intensive Care
" You look rough" he said
" A mixture of long shifts and looming decri absolute" I told him
I bought provisions and ended up at the till of a cashier I have a kind of man crush on
The cashier always blushes when I speak to him
I still had a snotty nose and tomato down my front
And I did look rough as a bear' s arse!
He didn't blush much today I noted
Although I couldn't really afford it, I bought a Christmas wreath from Sainsbury's
My cashier told me it looked nice.
It was my turn to blush
I've put the wreath up on the front of the cottage when I got home
Mrs Trellis coooeeed as I did so
She was walking Blue who was wearing a matching red coat to hers
" You look tired " she trilled " Are you on night shift?
Hugs
I hugged a patient goodbye today
It's a common thing for hospice staff to do when their patients go home
Contrary to expectations
Many patients get to go home
In my experience there are two types of hugs
The first is the polite hug. The hug of affection that perhaps lasts only a second or two
It's heartfelt and warm and sometimes unexpected !!
For many hugs are rare as hen's teeth
The second type of hug is the bear hug. That long, long hug of need and want
The kind where back slaps tighten into embraces that hate to be opened.
The all enveloping hug
Tonight I came home to a dark ......silent cottage
And near empty, in my psychological reserves
I sat and cried sad selfish tears for a short while
Moments later the dogs arrived home,
In a blast of hairy, goggle eyed Bon viveur !
And bulldog and terrier hugs commenced in earnest
Big, fat, long fuck off bulldogs and terrier hugs
How lucky am I ?
The Best Agony Aunt Question
Dear Deirdre
I am 29 and have just had my first period?
Is this normal?
Best wishes
Dave ( Bristol )
Chic Eleanor and a bag of chips
We have two mutual friends who live in a nearby walled town of Conwy so today went to meet them.
The venue, the Art Deco real ale pub The Albion was a place Eleanor had never been to before, but she was game and walked into the public bar with a swirl of her lovely pashmina
She stopped short when she saw the little puddles of dogs all sat at their owner's feet ( the pub is a renown doggy pub) and she beamed
" Darling John.....the. Dogs!!! Look at all of the dogs!" She cried
And she went around the tables saying hello to each one.
I love this about Eleanor
Her ability to find joy in the simplest of things.
We met our friends Sara and Pask in the snug and put the world to rights over a few beers and when the subject of dinner came up, I suggested chips on the little seaside quayside that borders the east of the town.
Eleanor beamed again
" Darling.. chips, mushy peas and gravy sound absolutely divine"
and with a swirl of classy cologne she led the walk across town
And we ate our chips on the little harbour wall overlooking the estuary in the dark!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)