January 23

Non stop hospital 

One  of the most unshakeable hospital habits is the typical,  continuous work programme, Day and night the nursing staff for the patients. 

After all the months I cannot get used to it. 

My day starts at 6 am, perhaps a little earlier. My room light is switched on and two nurses give me my first check suddenly awakening me, moving me back and for in the bed, with me hanging on to the bed safety rails

It only takes a few minutes but it’s a big upheaval and off they go.

Just as I lapse into sleep another nurse comes to test  my blood sugar and then in comes nurse with the blood pressure contraption. 

Silence but only short lived.. It is breakfast, just in time  for the first dose of tablets health drinks and injections but at last quietness.

Just as I snuggle down its time fir my 'bed bath’ - more manhandling and discomfort but it is good "to settle down into a freshly made bed, tingling from the rough towelling.Then it’s orders for the the day’s meals and I start my working day getting up to date with my emails and reading the Times,

Lunch served with more medication

and my afternoon until tea is spent watching news and a film or reading my kindle - a welcome distraction and at 9pm I ."start an hour  of music  interrupted by nurses preparing me for sleep

It comes, only for another round of injections and painkillers, bed tidying and sleep, but near midnight comes the last check up and I can sink into sleep, 

worn out after my long, 18 hour constantly interrupted day.

Apart from the patients I don’t  see how the nonstop  staff can manage to keep it up and keep smiling. 

One nurse tells me she walks or runs the corridors for over three miles a day.

No wonder I cannot wait to enjoy the luxury and peace.of my bed at home.

January

 The doctor will NOT see you.

Seeing your doctor used to be easy. A phone call, the date  fixed.and in the surgery you would have anunrushed diagnosis and decinion on treatment. No cost, no hsstle. Quiet confidence and satisfaction,

J. When you got to know each other the doctor could become a friend. That was the case with my father who had long spells of illness after an accident at work.

The doctor was a regular caller where he find time to chat. He even helped Dad fill in his weekly football

In Cardiff our family were fortunate to have my cousin Don Dymond, the perfect GP with a comforting ‘bedside manner’ 

Mespecially withbchiodren who he kept happy by his hobby as a magician, reported in the local paper.

Even more useful, for many years doctors on call came out p, usually very promptly, and very reassuring. 

How time have changed. There are       Few and there is getting increasingly difficult to get an appointment with far fewer.home calls.

If our yeas ago when I had a sudden se5iiud viral illnessvpInwas fortunate to have the doctor at our door in minutes and my immediate transfer to hospital.

The situation had been deteriorating for years. Our pal oval surgery combined with another,mcreatingbovercrowding andvdelay to ge an appointment Often took over half an hour at 8.30;€am followed by a long wait at the surgery.

And it is getting worse. It is better to keep well.

January 20

 Small world

One of the many disadvantages of being so long in a hospital bed is how your world has shrunk, physically and mentally which has become more pronounced every week over the past seven months.

My life is a travesty compared with when I was fit and free.

 Frustrating, too. And not just the bed. My room can be very claustrophobic no matter how much I try to adapt.

Defining the inconvenience and awkwardness, my life is dominated by the bed, just over six feet long and four feet wide with safety rails either side. If I want anothing beyond my reach I only have  small trolley that gets complicated when full with hospital and personal paraphonalia. If I can’t read reach something  I need to call the staff with my emergency button, which I am loathe to do, especially at night. It has been made worse lately by fewer staff, and strike days.

The nurses and their assistants are very thoughtful and willing to help so I try to remember all the help I need so cut my requests as far as possible.

Having visitors is my window an the world but again the space for them is very limited - just one chair if available.

The real life save is this iPad which keeps me in touch with news and entertainment and, more important with family and friends. So easy and instant.

Without it life would be much harder. Almost like a prison cell, and I am still grudgingly accepting it, but longing for home freedom

And d

January

 January 19

Do Gooders

 The number of ‘experts’ and advisers who tell us how to lead the good and healthy life is growing like a plague . They know what is best for us and have ready answers, happily broadcast in the media.

The latest food dictator, Professor Susan Jebb , chairman of the Food Standards Authority,, is on the warpath, angry and about us  taking cake into work to share with friends 

She warns us it is as harmful as passive smoking. Even one Welsh cake?

So forget that lovely piece of birthday cake with your coffee or tea break, it might kill you

The best tea break I have ever had was in a a miners canteen on the hills of Yorkshire when I was practicing rough motor cycling in my I Corps trading. It was the biggest and most welcome ‘illegal! snack  I ever tasted, with a mighty mug of hot tea.

And I have enjoyed a tea break,with cake in the office, hundreds of times, and I am still here. 

Come on, Professor Jebb. Lighten up .

January 18

 Stormy weather 

If more evidence were needed about the reality and danger of global warming the past year or two have provided solid proof.

Baking heat - even In Britain, surging waves, widespread flooding .

And for months I have missed it all, in bed.

Floods are among the most destructive of nature whims as I have seen at close hand over the years, especially in Cardiff.

For many years it was a regular feature, with  three rivers pouring into the sea swamping whole areas of the city. Almost every year Itbwas so bad I was involved in the regular teams that tackled the problem. It usually meant daily briefings and what,limitrd  action could then be taken. It affected much of the city with some areas, especially in and around the seafront and the area around SophiaGardens . 

But it also struck suburban areas; for years Uncle George’s house by a stream was flooded time and again. 

The problem has been tackled extensively and expensively by the council  and many of the danger areas are now dry. The most important is the area leading to the sea. Despite sceptics m the huge plan it has proved a complete success.

 The three rivers flowing down to  the sea in Cardiff Bay have  been tamed. And the whole area saved. The £22 million      barrage has even encouraged salmon breeding.

But it is now certain that with the changing times, the battle against flooding will have to be fought even more effectively to limit the possible disastrous effects of global warming.

 With light and power lost sometimes for days.

And 

The cinema

I was intrigued by Robert’s blog about his filmgoing. I have been a film fan for over ninety years and still am.

My earliest visit to the silver screen was in West Ham when Mum was delighted to lose Bert, Dorothy and me for a couple of hours at the local cinema. Saturday morning matinee…thrilling with usually a cowboy serial lasting a few weeks. I remember Hop Along Cassidy - marvellous value for a couple of pence. I graduated to proper films when I was at Cardiff High School. Once a week without fail - easy too as the school had games on  Tuesday with Thursday afternoons free .- we went to school on Saturday. 

I was evacuated to my Auntie Flo  so and one afternoon aafternoon a week I made a beeline for the Splott Super cinema on Splott bridge.

I watched everything. Two films I remember were the Hound of the Baskerville and Jamaica Inn, both based in Cornwall.

Cardiff was the Mecca for film goers with a whole clutch of cinemas in the city centre apart from the ones in the suburbs like the Plaza Robert mentions.

My first date with  Rosemary eighty years ago was to the Odeon while over the years we went to most of the cinemas

The Capitol was outstanding, not just for its size but for still having a resident organist playing a massive ‘ up and down’ organ. The classical organist  was Fela Sowande.

I had practical film projecting experience when I was in digs in Hengoed. Alwyn my landlord was the regular projectionist at the Palace cinema in Ystrad Mynach - he did if for nothing and I used to help him. He needed it as there were frequent breaks, with the audience jeering as the film poured out. American popcorn became essential but I never liked it.

When on the Argus on a few mornings I took in a trade show.

Years later I produced a few films, one of the new London borough of Hounslow and three promoting Cardiff, its airport and Wales.  The downside result was I spent many evenings showing them.

I met a few cinema stars including Ray Milland, an inevitable  mining story, and became friendly with a local writer, a bus driver, who made a popular film featuring a valley being drowned  for a reservoir.

I still watch films regularly - on my iPad now in bed, a pleasant relaxing diversion in a dull life.

Most popular film yes, A Christmas Carol which I have seen time after time.

 

January 17

 Dogs galore

Dogs as pets. More common than ever, spurred on by Covid and lockdown.

Feeding, dressing and healing them has become highly profitable. 

Most of my family are into dogs, and I know what pleasure that gives them.and enjoy reading of the those important family members, child like  companions.

The latest is jet black Rufus, the delight of Owen, Karen and Robert, one of the oldest Siân’s  Austin.It made me sad seeing pictures of him looking ill and listless.

A worry for Siân as are the substantial vets fees. 

When Braydon Manor was flourishing it was  a perfect home for Beverley, Julio and their family of dogs. 

I like dogs but have  never had one.

I took to cats whom I have found good.companions - and needing less energy and cost.

One of ours, grey Smokey was Limpy for years after being knocked down by a car in Cardiff. Spot, was another of my favourites. He used to  follow me to school, padding through front gardens. One evening we thought we had lost him. He had followed us to the  pub near our home in Cardiff. It was not until two in the morning we realised he was missing, I got dressed and returned to the pub.He was sitting outside, still waiting for us.

An even worse experience was when Robert brought his Fluff  by car To Penarth for the day and we ‘lost” her… we frantically searched, even across to the pier and I made some Lost leaflets. 

Late evening, realising we had to tell Robert the bad news I kept calling her and there she was, curled up behind a curtain in the living room.

I am tempted to have a kitten when I go home and have had offers but I doubt if I will do so.