Recollections Begin

Part of my reasoning to start this blog was to share some memories, a feat I have spectacularly underachieved at so far.

So, where to begin? I would start at the beginning, but that would be too time consuming and frankly, boring. I would start my recollections from when I started work... but to honest a plastic factory is a plastic factory and bundling plastic pipes into long hessian sacks was as boring as it sounds.

Nope, I will transport you to a time in the summer of 1975 and my attempt to get a job at a Mental Hospital. After visiting a relative there, I had dated a girl who worked as a cadet nurse and she had inspired me to devote myself to the support and care of others worse off than me. Actually she told me it was a doddle and they would pay me to go to college.

So I ended up in front of a double door that was fully 20 feet high and 10 feet wide [What the fuck went through here ??? ] Inside the first sight was a clock that went backwards and a marble bust of someone who looked extremely constipated. That fact that the receptionist spoke from behind a screen gave the impression for a moment that the voice was coming from the constipated bust figure. I should have left then.......

In the following 32 years I have met, befriended, nursed, annoyed, argued with and enjoyed more characters than I would ever meet in an office ... Had some of the funniest moments of my life, and some of the worst it has to be said.....

An early recollection was the sports dept. Wards of patients would come to the main hall and participate in remedial exercises.... Swinging arms in time and shaking legs, sitting and standing, standing on one leg etc. all in time to the music, which was invariably 1st world war vintage. Surreal is the term that comes to mind now. Another task was to take the more able bodied on walks etc. with staff off the wards. On one occasion we attempted to play rounders on the cricket pitch... ignoring advice from older students not to be daft !! we lost 2 patients that morning, one running off in full pelt trying to shoot rabbits with his imaginary gun. We found him knee deep in the stream/river trying to tickle imaginary trout. The other hid in the inside of the cricket roller to sleep..... frightening the life out of the poor sods who went to move it an hour later to get at the boiler room door. At this time of my life I was 17, seriously stupid and gifted with a degree of optimism for life that would see me get into all manner of scrapes & near misses .... I wouldn't trade those memories in for a King's Ransom.

The hospital is long gone but memories linger [and I am sure, with time, distort] and I will attempt to recall some of the more memorable ones here [after verifying the accuracy with others] ..... Oh and checking the laws on slander and libel :o)))

Tell me that it's true.......

Today I had a request to retweet a post in support of a project by some mums, to help the NSPCC by downloading a copy of 'Tell me there's a Heaven', A request I passed on and duly downloaded the track. I asked myself '...why this one?? ' I have tons of this stuff via e mail, facebook, Twitter and acres of trees are pushed through my doorstep pushing some cause or other. I can't honour them all, I have neither the time, energy or resources. However I do choose a few to support, and that support is ongoing despite appeals or offers ..... I have seen all the Psychobabble about why we do this and been in a few discussions about which charities are more deserving than others etc. It's all Acaedemic.... we all know why WE do it and we keep it to ourselves and keep supporting the ones we choose.

This one, I love the track, didn't have it, wanted it and a charity benefitted. That sounds like a win to me.

On other topics, my son got burgled the other night, some toerag(s) got in and nicked some stuff. He is a recent student, he can't afford to replace all this stuff and insurance is an expensive commodity and difficult to get..... I just hope whatever piece of lowlife tries to plug the stuff in and gets electrocuted, then gets arrested and spends days in cold turkey, followed swiftly by some life altering accident. Benevolent ?? me? No. My bio says warm and generous.... but that only applies if you live within societies laws and conventions.

Finally, Congratulations to Oirland and their Grand Slam. I did think it was beyond them, but I was wrong.... The British & Irish Lions look to be a strong kit this year if the selectors look properly at what happened [and the European Cup]..... I'll be watching.

Apologetic post

I really, really didn't want this blog to develop into a ranting place but several things have conspired to lead me here. Firstly, and a bit of a theme developing here

HBOS..... They are spectacularly useless.... They are still insisting that I cancelled my DD when every time I ring the operators can see that I have done no such thing. As I am a genuinely nice bloke I am giving them another chance to rectify this and just apologise...am I clutching at straws?? Probably.

M56 .... A bloody nightmare example of giving motorway planners a blank piece of paper and saying 'here draw me a road..... ' It is closely followed by the M62 for nightmare roundabouts... Traffic lights that let 2 cars through at a time... crap...

Judgemental People.... to Echo Gemmak500's post from this morning... what is up with these people? Dean Martin had a line which went '... It's your world Frank [Sinatra], we just live in it!! ...' Too many people believe that what they say is right and they say 'you are entitled to your say, then we will do it my way...' The only saving grace is that these people tend to have short brutish lives... Sadly they attempt [not always consciously, admittedly] to screw other lives up in the ensuing melee of their own self belief.

I promise [a note to myself as much as anything] that the next post will be upbeat and positive. If I can't do that just yet maybe a story or two from the past....

6 random things.......

I've been tagged by @Gemmak500 to do the 'six random things about me' meme, haven't done this sort of thing before so here goes nothing...

The rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up

1. Weight. I am overweight, to put it mildly. Truth is I'm fat. This is a situation that has haunted me all my life from a teenager, I have had periods where I was not fat, and periods when I was skinny [only to be told I looked ill !!] and periods when I was 'chubby' [WTF is that?]. I have reasons which other people call excuses, and I have recently shed 6 inches from my waist measurement. I will keep trying [more in a dedicated post]

2. Dark Eyes. from the age of 'very young' I had dark circles under my eyes, in fact 'around' my eyes would be far more accurate. This led to various nicknames 'Dai Panda', Dai Sunglasses', Dai goggles', Dai Cont [but only in Caernarfon... North Walian joke sorry folks]. In my late forties, divorced, ravaged by Chronic illness and on loads of medication, my dark circles have gone.... ? why? don't ask me I lost control of my body years ago.

3. Bodhran. I play the Irish drum. Not classicaly as in 'play a jig /reel' more as You play it and I'll back you once I've heard it. It's a surprisingly tiring and very cathartic instrument to play. As long as you remember a few basic etiquette rules it's fun at parties too.

4. Psychiatry. I have worked in Psychiatry for 33 years and can firmly say that people who make choices about their bad behaviour then blame it on their upbringing/parents/schooling/sibling/lack of favourite toy are not mentally ill. They have a disordered personality. It is not the same thing, despite what our nanny state government will have us believe.

5. Antique Maps I collect Antique Maps. I have about 35 in all at the moment, but I also love Globes as well, much more expensive though. I also have a world map I bought from IKEA. It is the size of a pub pool table [thankfully we have the wall space to hang it!]. I love all Antique stuff, but have to be choosy.

6. Useless Knowledge. I am a mine of useless facts and figures and retain stuff that will be completely redundant [unless I make a guest spot on QI ]. I don't why I do this but I do. I don't have to revise etc. usually one pass and it has been stored. Now I am not in work this stuff seems more redundant than it was before.... where is the logic in life??

As I am new to this blogging lark, I don't think I know 6 blogs to put this up to....

but http://alrighttit.blogspot.com/, http://ramblingsofblueeyes.blogspot.com/ http://girlwithaonetrackmind.blogspot.com/ are 3 that I have followed of late with some amusement and at times awe.

Tribulations.....

And the painting continues.... Bathroom walls, toilet walls, Plate racks, Key cupboards, Shelving, Back door and so on to be followed in short order by acres of hallway walls. The worst bit is yet to come...... GLOSSING, I dislike gloss. No matter what I do I cannot gloss without getting it everywhere, and it is an arse to get off anything. Water based emulsion [easy to clean], don't get it anywhere except the walls. I am cursed by Gloss, Gloss haunts my dreams and leaves me pale and sweaty

Is there an upside to all this?....... No, not this week. Wales lost, I still drank too much and suffered all Saturday with a headache courtesy of Reverend James [See pic]...... HBOS sent me a letter saying they were altering the conditions of my credit card because of a missed payment when they had cancelled my DD at their end. Absolutely Fuckin' Amazing !!

So it is March 1st ....Gwyl Dewi Sant...... the weather is turning colder again, my car brakes are beginning to make strange noises and I have to have more 'tests' to check out strange joint pains.... but and here is the point.....If I can feel/endure/tolerate all this, I am still a functioning, conscious individual ......and I regularly thank whatever deity you may believe in for that.

The weather will become warmer [much warmer if you listen to some people, although if you want to scare yourself shitless google ''Thermo-haline sinks'' ] my car will be sorted by a man I know and if my joints will hurt well then so be it... I have a good GP!! Wales will win again and again... HBOS will not change but my emotional response will, and if they continue in the same vein, so will my pension fund, pension and accounts.....

Oh, as for the Gloss .....did I mention I don't like Gloss.......