Tempus Fugit

My life apparently has a definite 'rhythmic' variation built into it. I seem to have periods of reasonable 'ordinariness', [busy periods characterised by routine work, housework and minor DIY].

Then a fan will go on and heaps of crap will be thrown into it's stream flowing in my direction! The last fortnight is an example of note:

• I overstretch my Achilles tendon by doing no more than walking in flip flops on holiday, leaving me with a painful limp.
• My car is apparently due a new timing belt costing £300 +
• The balance due on our midwinter holiday has been brought forward by 2 months!! £600
• Work, [normally an organised madhouse] goes bonkers with problems that I have to deal with.
• My Partners mother's health deteriorates and she has to be taken to hosp late at night and complicates an already complex situation.
• After years of being on transfusions, I am having to have some blood taken away [too complicated !!], which may leave me tired and listless for a few days!!
• In the midst of this my Father passes away in a care home and his arrangements have to be dealt with by me 'cos I'm the eldest....despite the fact I know nothing of his wishes or details....
• Then [as if that's not enough] an idiot woman driver forces a car to reverse into mine...and of course drove off!! I may still have to foot this bill yet!!

Throughout all this the routine stuff still needs to be done....Thank God all the major DIY has been done.

'Time Flies' they say..... let's bloody hope so for now !!!

Some things just don't change

North Wales Hospital Rugby Club informal reunion Sept 2010

The hair maybe thinner and certainly greyer... but we could still sing!!
[Most of these lads can be seen on the photograph from an earlier post]

Stress

One of the things about working in the Caring services in the UK at times like this is the stress levels ratchet up by several levels.

The people who control budgets seem to think that making numbers add up is the 'be all and end all'. Sadly as the people who grind away at the 'coal face' of care work know that delivering a quality service is not like that at all. We see the human face of care, and the damage that can be inflicted by random or global slashes to budgets.... no-one asks us what should be done , because they won't like the answer that is forthcoming.

By nature I am a laid back sort of guy, my recent brush with mortality has served to accentuate that feature of my personality...so it came as a shock to me that, when, on my recent short sun worshipping break, I found that I was feeling the physical symptoms of tension/stress for the 1st 24 hours....If this can happen to me with the years and years of experiences I have and the laid back attitude I have in general... God Help those who are stress aware and react in response to stressors...the next couple of years will be no fun for those folks I would guess....

For those who can... I can recomend a week in Benidorm with frequent visits to 'THE WESTERN SALOON' on the Calle Gerona.... Rock music for all tastes, brilliant atmosphere, nice folks reasonably priced beer!! However, even before the cuts this is not avaliable on the NHS !!

The Blues being played in the Western Saloon.... one of nature's destressors

Good Times

North Wales Hospital Rugby Football Club

This Picture was taken sometime in the mid/late 1980's. I have lost touch with just about everybody on this photo since that time [due to all sorts of reasons]. This group of lads played the game in an era before professional rugby and paid themselves for the pleasure of playing. The idea was to have some fun, whilst pitting yourself against others in a competetive environment.... the after match socialising was often taken far more seriously !!

I am not overly romanticising these days, the times were difficult and people struggled [Thatcher years].... I found this photo and decided to share it, as the team [and hospital]no longer exists and the mere act of putting this on the internet will ensure that the picture and it's associated memories will not be lost forever.

Lovely things memories

It's been a while.....

....To say the least, but I have decided to put fingers on the keyboard again.

Lot's of stuff has happened since last year, when I last put some thoughts into the ether...

I have moved house! It was a trauma which only now I'm beginning to see the end of. We moved in, put up a conservatory of immense proportions, changed virtually all our furniture, transformed the garage into a study and are remodelling the back garden into a space we can relax in......or that's what I am told :))

During this period my treatment for a life threatening condition, that itself was threatening my life [?!] actually worked and my condition has steadily improved to the extent that I am now back working full time. In a job that is much more demanding than I had before I retired... I cannot work out how I arrived at this, but for now I have agreed and will honour my commitment...

The upshot of all this is that I have sadly neglected some of the things that I swore I would be enjoying courtesy of my enforced premature retrirement.

...So I will now set about remedying that.... with regular blogs , guitar practice, getting re-involved in local rugby....and getting back out for a pint every now and again.....

The old adage is :

'Why do we fall down?...........So we can pick ourselves back up again..'

lets see if that works huh??

The Game

So why have I not updated my blog for over a month?

Truth is I have been insanely busy, I don't even twitter anywhere near as much as I did previously. My life is usually one entire round of tasks, chores & 'Projects', but this last few weeks has been stoopid beyond belief.

Main cause of my increased workload has been the fact that we sold the house and OH finally decided on a place to move to. This is a modern 4 bedroomed house on a quiet established, but developing estate in a neighbouring village. Problem 1 is our furniture has been bought for a large Victorian Town House with high ceilings and big rooms [and I mean big] very little of our furniture will go into the new house..... problem 2 Accumulated objects, books, 'stuff' .....nowhere for them to go.

Then there are the organisational things like Solicitors, Mortgages, Removal companies, ...... and ESTATE AGENTS... Let 's just say that the amount of effort our estate agent has put into selling our house does not match the bloody outrageous fee they are charging. Grrrrr.

Amongst all this [and much more].....I went and bought my old caravan off my ex. It was a fair price, and although there was a bit of damage, she [ex] had left all appropriate gear with it. So the Bank holiday was spent with OH and her daughter having their first time in a tourer. Mad weekend as we had a wedding to go to on the Sat. The toilet facilities and making bed each night was a challenge for them I think. Time will tell whether this was a wise purchase?

So, there we have it, another daft chapter in my odd life.

'On with the Game then Holmes?

Yes, Watson, the game's afoot.......'

Stereotype reactions

So, the world is on the brink of a Pandemic of a Influenza variant [H1N1] ??

I have been watching the news, surfing the net, monitoring the twitterings and generally observing people do exactly what they were forecast to do.

I was part of a NHS Pandemic planning group for the last big scare, which petered out thankfully. However part of our briefing was a prediction of how the population would respond and how that would affect the course of the disease process. Fair play to the Brits we are following the stereotype to the letter. A significant percentage of people will sit and say ' this is all blown up of proportion....' or 'Media induced hype...' or worse' I have the constitution of an ox, never get the Flu..'...They will do nothing and set their face about not changing their habits at all.

Another significant percentage will panic and flood the health services demanding treatment they don't need.

The losers will be the vulnerable whose immune system has been compromised by illness and /or medication. They will be put at risk by the pig headed spreading disease around unnecessarily and the attention seeking using up vital stocks of anti virals uselessly.

What will be interesting this time around is that Pandemics will hit healthy immune system adults because it is a new variant.... stiff upper lip will be useless, although it might help the undertaker to shave you prior to your internment.

The good news in all this is that the UK has probably the most advanced systems and preparations in place for combatting a Flu outbreak of this scale. Much more advanced than USA for example .....

All we have to do is follow some basic hygiene rules. Good hand washing, sneeze into the crook of your arm not your bare hands, Use disposable tissues when possible then flush away as soon as possible. Avoid attending GP surgery or A&E depts unless serious complications set in. Increase fluids, use Paracetamol and stay off work. Avoid crowds and public gatherings...

Just doing this will shorten the Virus's progress through the population.

Silver Lining?? This is not Bird Flu.... now that little bugger would have wreaked havoc had it become a Pandemic......

In the word's of Corporal Jones...Don't Panic........just be sensible.