So back home after a wonderful time which involved some culture (though less sightseeing than I would have liked due to a) my brother declaring one day was enough b) the weather was lovely and there were beaches nearby and c) I was pretty weary and enjoyed the chance to relax a little. While away we celebrated our 24th anniversary (no I know I am not old enough but I was a child bride).

Back home we visited the sales, had lunch out with my parents (mum recently released from hospital, and looking better thankfully) and generally caught up on some walks, gardening and general chilling out.

So back to work. That blackberry is wonderful. I knew that I had 98 emails waiting but hadn't been (very) tempted to look at them. There was a team meeting, a 92 page Darzi review of the NHS (yipee to that) and plenty of other stuff to read and to do. I am not yet enough out of holiday mode to review anything or to have an opinion on whether Darzi is wide of the mark with his suggestions. I am still in semi holiday mode. Tomorrow I have a day out to find out about maternal mental health, a new wonderful project to embark on. So there you have it, post 1 of 31 for July (you have to start off with optimism!

The picture above is of Gaudi's unfinished Cathedral, an amazing site. I took my own pictures but haven't up loaded them (laziness you know) mine have cranes and general evidence of building work so not sure if airbrushing has gone on here!

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Since I got my first computer the way in which people plan and book their holiday has changed beyond recognition, what is more, with sites like trip advisor you can find out what real people think of the places / hotels / resorts you have chosen. There is a wealth of advice out there, choice is one thing there is no shortage of. But it sure has turned into a time consuming business.

Hubby and I along with my parents, will be travelling to the west coast of the USA in October for hubby's 50th birthday (you would think he would want to sit in a dark room but no) and he desires to spend the weekend of his birthday in Las Vegas. With 3 stages to the holiday there is a certain complexity. Even if I wanted them to, the brochures out there wouldn't quite give us what we want. I have already done hours of reading my book about California (plus the book on Las Vegas I have now mislayed somewhere in the house but thats another story) and more hours looking at fligths to San Francisco, hotels in San Francisco, flights to Vegas and back and finally holiday houses on the coast. I have also spent time looking at the Vineyards of the Napa and Sonoma Valleys, because I would like to do a tour or two with a small amount of tasting thrown in.

Yesterday my parents came over for Sunday lunch, and between cooking roast beef etc. We went through all of my work to date, tracing the steps of the holiday and discussing exactly what would be our preferences. Now all that is left is to retrace all of these steps and actually book the thing. We are not rich people, and this is going to cost more than our average annual break, we will also be travelling pretty far from home so it is important to try at least to get things right.

The internet is a wonderful thing, it gives pleasure and freedom to do things like this, but you sure can lose hours of your day while trying to do something as simple as arranging a holiday. I must say though that now we have got this far, I am pretty excited about the prospect. Now all I need to do is get the 17 year old up to speed on his cooking and housekeeping abilities!

i was playing on my bike with my mates.HURRAY IT'S THE BANK HOLIDAY TOMORROW!No more school until Tuesday.HURRAY!!! it is bank holiday tomorrow so i dont have to get up as early.

Since my last post on Friday I have been far too busy with real life to write any blog posts and when I haven't been quite so busy I've been asleep or just plain knackered!  When you have no social life, which most of the time I don't then you forget that it is tiring, fattening but enjoyable. Maybe it might be true that if you are in your mid forties you are less able to as they say 'burn the candle at both ends' plus drink alcohol and dance without getting exhausted than you were in say your twenties. But maybe I just have no stamina.  Here follows a bit of a diary like resume of the last few days:Saturday - Teen son, who at 17 seems unable to use a bus persuaded me to take him to town so that he could bank his birthday loot and have his birthday watch adjusted to fit his skinny wrists. Being the kind mother, who needed to buy a couple of things I of course did my duty, getting back just before we were due to leave for our weekend away. Hubby and I managed to get away shortly before 2pm and reached Rochester shortly after 3pm. A nice hotel actually, closely situated to Asda in case you might need any shopping (I didn't). We unpacked, then headed to the bar for a couple of drinks before heading off to the shower and getting into the glad rags. Hubby scrubbed up well and looked pretty good in his dinner suit. In to the bar at 6.15 (early, yes I know) we met up with the cousins and aunt and uncle, had another drink then headed into the function room. My mistake here was not to appreciate that the food portions would be bordering on tiny and therefore not to adjust the amount of red wine already going down my throat. Still at the time this did not seem to be much of an issue. After dinner there was dancing, a raffle at which I won a smoothie maker (and a good one at that). Hubby who had worked in the morning only made it to around 11.30, but I didn't get to bed until almost 1am.

Sunday - It was immediately clear that I had a hangover. Sadly I had no analgesia with me and Asda does not open till about 10am on a Sunday or I'd have gone shopping. Breakfast in the hotel was a bit of an anticlimax, it looked good and certainly the sausages tasted good but the rest of it was cold. Plus my body could only really cope with coffee (4 cups of it helped) and toast. If only I ever followed my own advice about the evils of drink, because then I'd never be hung over again!

We left the hotel just after 10 and headed west and then south until we reached Shaftesbury. We passed Stonehenge along the way, but hubby refused to stop on account of it being just a 'load of stones'. What can you say to that. There followed a great family afternoon (mine this time), with my god mother who is now 70 and many of my aunts, uncles and cousins. We all met in a pub (diet coke for me), had sunday lunch in my cousin's cafe and then chatted, ate birthday cake and chatted more. Just after 7pm we set off home, hubby in the back of the car as he apparently needed sleep (beer, his football team losing plus general tiredness) and teen son (who had arrived with my parents) in the front. An hour later and travelling down a dark road I don't know we apparently ran over a nail or some other sharp object and got ourselves a puncture. What followed was a bit of a saga; fed up slightly enibriated hubby who wanted to sleep but instead found himself in the middle of a dark cold place changing a tire, a spare wheel that Reuault seems to want to keep located under the car rather than where it needed to be, me who managed to park up on a grass verge and who apparently drove over a nail on purpose and a calm and helpful teenager who now knows how to change a tyre.

Monday - Rather than remain in bed as I would have liked, I set off bright and early to be reminded how to facilitate a course (this takes place tomorrow and Friday). Learning stuff, having to pay attention and having to drive an hour each way doesn't make you any less tired than you already are. Hubby was just as happy as ever when I got home since he needed 3 tyres for various reasons and is now £200 lighter.

Tuesday - We both took a day's annual leave to go out with my brother and sister in law to see the Al Murray pub landlord TV programme being made in London. Today's sagas included delayed and cancelled trains (apparently a fatality up the line), 2 hours spent queuing in the freezing cold close to the thames, and my sister in laws constant complaints about everything (ranging from my brother to the distance between the train lines on the underground and train delays being caused by this Labour government!). Al Murray though was good and perhaps I might be seen on TV on Friday!

So there you have it. Life has been fun, I have experienced a little drama and stood in the cold too many times. I ache right now, and could do with more sleep - roll on the weekend!

Now though it is the weekend, and folks I am going away for that weekend. Tomorrow hubby and I are off to a hotel in Kent for a dinner dance and on Sunday we are off to celebrate my godmother's 70th birthday in Dorset. So there you have it, despite not dressing casually, not eating breakfast baps or doughnuts I still have that Friday feeling!

What is more, Change of Shift is up at Crzegrl.net. For her Murphy's Law has been the problem. While I am away relaxing, wining, dining and probably breaking my diet you can be doing the sensible thing and reading the great posts over there!

Update - change of shift is now available as a video blog, now how great is that? I am hosting on May 1 and I am not sure how I can even come close, after all there are no helicopters at my place of work!

For those who don't know, the picture above is a crunchie bar, a rather sickly but not unpleasant chocolate with a honeycombe centre. At one time there was an advert which played on the fact that Crunchie gives you a Friday feeling. The punchline was: Thank Crunchie it's Friday! This blog is turning into public service broadcasting!

The post office also seem to think it is still Christmas, one of hubby's cousins only received our Christmas card on Friday despite me posting it about a month ago. It is good to know that British industry continues to flourish in its efficient way! I wonder if any of the other people I sent cards too also didn't receive them in time?

Christmas is a time for being with families, actually for me that is the main thing about it (I am not getting into any kind of faith / religious stuff here) rather than what you give or what you receive in terms of presents. Trouble is some of the other people find that whole thing more of a chore or duty type thing. This led in our family to both my sisters in law kind of 'playing up' and showing off by having bickering episodes with their husbands and my mum their mother in law. This kind of thing happens every year and actually I just keep out of it, but it does make me long for spending my Christmas lying on an exotic beach miles away from them all.

With my own in laws I experienced a different kind of family Christmas, one spent visiting my husbands 96 year old granny in hospital. She was admitted on 23 December with an apparent urinary infection, much more confused than usual and scratching her carers at any opportunity. By Christmas Eve she had been rehydrated and was a little less confused and was reasonably comfortable (though I think constitpated) and I am pleased to say receiving some reasonable nursing and medical care.  Father in law though was struggling under the weight of responsibility and hubby and I went back to her home to get her some things for her hospital stay and then encouraged him to speak to the doctor and ward sister. Being busy on Christmas Eve unexpectedly like that meant that I had no opportunity to buy things I didn't need, which was not an altogether bad thing. Hospital wards with sick and elderly people in them are not the most fun places, but as a glutton for fun we were back there on Wednesday (Boxing day in the UK). Granny looked to be on the mend (sitting out of bed and reasonably with it) but for some reason father in law's only concern was what she had eaten for her Christmas dinner. He seemed unwilling to find out what was happening in terms of her medical condition and didn't want me to ask either. This had me thinking, even though she is old she is still his mum and if he doesn't ask there is no hope of getting news he doesn't want. secondly it had hubby and I wondering if he preferred her in that hospital ward amongst other elderly people under constant supervision rather than in her own care home environment where she isn't getting all the attention that she needs, though she is well cared for in terms of daily needs. This poor man finds himself at 73 with a son with motor neurone disease for whom he is the main carer, a wife who is increasingly frail though the same age as him and then his mum who he still has to worry about. Christmas is a time for families, but they are not always as they seem. Some of mine thinks they are pretty hard done by, but actually they are not, sadly they are too busy bickering and getting one up on each other to really know that!

So here is my count down calendar:

Wednesday  - Slimming world Christmas party. The same two pounds has been gained and lost a few times recently. Which means that since my cruise at the end of October I have only lost 2.5lb. 2008 will be a new year though and actually 18lb since August isn't so bad. So after the weigh in I am going to enjoy myself with my slimming chums.

Thursday - Pay day. I still have a number of key people to buy for, including my 2 nephews, 2 neices and my parents. Nut actually I know what is to be bought and I intend to pick all of them up on Thursday evening after work.

Friday - Last working day before Christmas. I will be popping out of work at lunch time and buying my last few things. I will also be picking up some nice food and drink. I haven't yet wrapped even one present and my intention is a nice bottle of wine, some nice nibbles (ones not allowed at slimming world) and present wrapping, perhaps with carols!

Saturday - Hubby and I are planning a late afternoon trip up to London to see the lights. One of the great things at Christmas is to see the decorated shops and the lovely lights adorning all the major shopping streets.

Sunday - A day for chilling perhaps?

Monday - Christmas Eve and last minute shopping, maybe something to wear, maybe just a wander around especially if any of the shops move into early sale mode! Then it is off to my parents during the evening and Christmas will begin.

This post is due to my lack of post ideas for today, lets hope I can do better tomorrow!

So one day missed, but I'll make up for it don't you worry. Daily posts at life in the nhs continue. The great cartoon above is reproduced from: http://www.nicholsoncartoons.com.au/

Last year I was flush from my Agenda for Change back pain and I have to admit that I was a bit on the over generous side. This year things are very different and I really need to cut back and not spend too much, but if anything that made choices of presents easier rather than harder. I quite like Oxford Street for shopping, it has several good department stores, where you can pick up some good quality gifts without necessarily breaking the bank, especially as on such store had a one day sale meaning I was able to get between 10 and 25% off quite a few things.

I actually love Christmas, but tend to dread the start of things, but now I have begun the shopping, and the inevitable will happen then I might as well look forward to it and embrace the thing.

I cannot describe quite how tired I felt before I went away. I had not been sleeping well in the couple of weeks leading up to the trip and was finding it hard to function. Yesterday as I returned to work properly (I had been to an out of town meeting on Monday) I did feel rested and certainly more alert. However there is that strange feeling you get on that first day, where nothing that is said or done can quite affect you, where everything just washes over you. Sadly that feeling doesn't last for very long (usually a day in my experience). The good feeling was also tempered on the way home by the fact it was dark (clocks went back on Sunday)  and that petrol has now reached a pound sterling a litre. It is going to be a long winter!

For pictures of our trip, have a look in the side bar as I have uploaded for the first time to Flickr.

Well the Mediterranean.  Tomorrow, before dawn we set off for Barcelona to join the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Voyager of the Seas. From Barcelona we will be visiting the south of France near Nice then travelling on around Italy and visiting places such as Pisa, Rome, the Amalfi Coast and Palermo. I hope to return with some photos to post here, so great tales of our journey and hopefully feeling somewhat more rested that I do today.Life in the NHS resumes in a little over a week.

There is so much about my work I would like to discuss here, but I am finding that actually the individual problems and issues that arise there are more difficult to disguise than any patient problem I have ever come across, and that is saying something.

In just under 3 weeks I am to become a lady who cruises and so I am concentrating in my spare time efforts on planning the whole experience. Before you begin to wonder (based on my recent posts about money, debt and cars) my in laws have decided we are to be treated to this cruise and therefore to a cruise we will be treated. My research so far has informed me that for some people traveling on cruise ships and then talking about it is like a full time job to some people.  There are people on a cruise forum I have been visiting to get information and advice who have 3 or 4 trips booked into the future at any time. It is surely like another world, and it is one I had never considered entering but find somehow oddly compulsive. Apart from the chance to see places like Rome, Naples and Pisa the main thing I am interested in about this whole thing is in actually coming face to face with these people who go on cruises and in seeing them in action. I am looking forward to getting to a warmer place, to getting a bit of a break and to generally getting away from it all.

Quality time with the man in my life
My lovely hubby has spend much of the 6 weeks working nights. Well actually he has been working overtime and nights so that he has been leaving in the afternoon before I get in from work and not getting home until 7am, which has meant seeing about an hour of him per day. This at least prevents any arguments or generally getting fed up with each other, but then again it doesn't allow for much in the way of interaction at all, and a tired man is generally not the happiest of men!

Yesterday we had a day out on our own to kind of catch up with each other. We considered the idea of a trip to the coast, but then settled on getting the train into central London and acting in a kind of touristy way. Hyde park was particularly crowded and indeed was looking pleasantly green. The good weather (oh how we have waited for more than 2 consecutive sunny and warm days) brought out families, people walking for Crohns disease, people roller blading, skateboarding and even just strolling. Hubby had the bright idea that we should walk from there to the banks of the Thames and that is one long walk. We had lunch in a pizza / pasta restaurant that for some unknown reason had no pasta yesterday!! Strangely typical of London that one! It was a nice pizza, but I just hope it doesn't affect my weightloss that has been going well (9lb so far). Mind you the walking must have helped, and it meant we had time together when we were both awake to actually speak to each other in a grown up manner; maybe we'll do it again soon!!

One of our number has just got back to work following surgery and was sad to report that her experiences in a local NHS establishment had not been the best. This had started with having to plead not to be sent home while the list was canceled; there was no recognition that you might have gone on sick leave from work, arranged child care and generally psyched yourself up to get this surgery out of the way when you are told suddenly that they are short of an anesthetist today so will be canceling the whole list! Then waking in terrible pain, because the anesthetist they managed to find didn't usually do this list and didn't think you would need more than voltarol! But the worst experiences seemed to concern the knowledge, attitudes and general availability of nurses to actually provide care that patients needed and deserved in a timely manner. As a nurse, my friend found the experience she had both shocking (you never believe it will be that bad), frightening (at least she knew what should happen and could ask for it) and also depressing (is this really what the NHS is like now?)

The trouble is that much of the poor care that we are seeing in our wards now is due to the pressure that nurses find themselves under. There are often just not enough nurses for the number of patients and what nurses there are, may not have as  much experience and knowledge in that field as they should. If you are struggling with poor ratios of nurses to patients then what time is there for giving the patient anything more than the minimum and what time is there for people to be adequately trained and supported to become better nurses?

Over at Mental Nurse they have begun a petition to improve nurse patient ratios (by having a minimum safe level declared). They have not only blogged about this subject but they have now started a petition on the Downing Street Website. If you are a British citizen then please go over there now and sign up. If you are not, but have something to say about this subject please leave a message below (obviously you can do this if you are British too!).

Of course I am just jealous. I have had my own 2 weeks holidays and now that the weather is finally hot, sunny and best of all dry, I want to be somewhere else. Having said all of the above however, what a joy it is to drive to work in the mornings, what is usually at least an hours journey is being done in 30-35 minutes and you can't grumble at that!

On my way home from work, I popped into the local dry cleaners for hubby's suit. I slightly accidentally washed his Ted Baker suit trousers (the floor is no place for things you don't want scooping up and placing in the washing machine), luckily they have come out as good as new (so long as they didn't shrink of course). Tomorrow hubby has decreed we shall go to another horse racing event. This time we are going up market, hence the suit. I have told him gambling is a slippery slope to somewhere unpleasant, and he is not to make a habit of it. However, I intend to have a good time and stroll around as if I have money (though I don't). I won't however be wearing a hat.

So yesterday for the first time in my life I went to the races. We are talking horse racing here and this was an event that we have been planning for quite a while, and is part of the celebrations for my birthday (Monday) and my mum's birthday (tomorrow). This was an evening meeting, consisting of 6 races and then a concert performed by Jools Holland, Lulu and Ruby Turner. I am not the kind of person who is generally interested in horse racing and betting and I have always thought of events like Ascot and the Derby as a bit on the pretentious side (women dressed up to the nines and men in top hats). But this was much more relaxed, and even in the poshest section of the course there were few hats and all of those were worn by women. We started off with a wonderful picnic in the field that was being used as a car park and then went into the course itself. My first few attempts at betting were not so successful, but I found the whole thing quite exciting, I can see how people get hooked. It was also fun to watch other people milling around, I also went to the most up market portaloo I have ever seen. The last 2 races were the most successful for us all, and hubby and I ended up going home with more money than we had arrived even taking account of the exorbitant prices for drinks. At about 9pm the concert began. Jools Holland is a great musician and is accompanied by a wonderful band, he plays kind of jazzy, rhythm and blues kind of stuff and provided great entertainment even without the 2 solo artists that joined him on stage. I have to say that Lulu is looking and sounding as great as ever.

This morning it was back to reality with a bump as I have set about cleaning the bedroom of my darling teenage son who returns from France on Tuesday. If I say dust you will get the picture! I also found a large number of pennies and 2 pence pieces all around the room which suggests that he doesn't think that this is real money, how things change! Still nothing is going to stop me having that summer feeling for the moment and long may it continue!

So that's my first day back, but it is only right to finish off with some pictures of where I would rather have been!

This first picture is of the Yellow Train in the Pyrenees and the second the Etang (inland sea) near our beach house.

My own family (I mean relatives rather than my husband and son) is generated mainly through my mums side and the numerous brothers and sisters my maternal grandparents had. This means that any family occasion, including funerals tends to be large. They have pretty much without exception been cremated rather than buried. It was strange then today to attend a funeral attended by no more than 13 people, which was a burial. These people were all related in some way (directly or by marriage) to the person who had died, and my first thought and concern was that you could live for 77 years and have no friend or acquaintance left in the world who wanted or could attend your funeral. The family are not well off as such and a burial is not cheap, but I personally wouldn't like the idea of being stored in the ground either below, or on top of others in a communal grave. My final observation on this matter was that sometimes peoples complex lives, and the fact that their wife has a child from another marriage can cast strange effects on the whole proceedings. Perhaps the talk of getting the home of the person valued, even before they have been placed in their communal grave is a little premature and leads to the wrong kinds of thing being discussed at the wake afterwards. As my husband said, it was extremely unpleasant to hear people discussing property and money when they should have been discussing memories of the brother, step father and uncle who had died. Also perhaps spare a thought for the elderly lady who has lost her husband and the love of her life. So that was how I spent the last day of my 2 week holiday. More tomorrow!

When I was at school there was no such thing as a school prom, the idea hadn't yet arrived and anyway as children of the 70s we were more comfortable dancing to the music of Saturday Night Fever at a disco (yes I am showing my age here). Earlier in the year when my son first brought home the letter giving details about the prom he first of all said it wasn't his scene then swiftly moved on to the thought that he wasn't a suit type of person and why couldn't he wear jeans? Since then thankfully (though jeans might have been cheaper) he has thrown himself into the whole prom idea, and here is the result. A pretty handsome lad even if I do say so myself!

The event was held at the conferencing facility of a local stately home, so they had a great setting and luckily for once we had good weather so they were able to enjoy time outside in the grounds. What else he and his friends got up to is not really for me to know, but apparently a great time was had by all. So that is the end of year 11, now we just have to wait for the exam results in August.

I am a bit worried that I didn't put any kind of reflective analysis at the end of my dissertation like I think I was meant to and thought about this over the weekend. I have decided that I will put it into my reflective portfolio instead and they can like it. I have also arrived at the thought that the reason I felt unable to go there was that I was just pretty exhausted, I had nothing left to say on thursday before I submitted. I am also left with that so what feeling, is having a masters going to do anything to me, will my life be different? Will I find that new wonderful job? (Not that there is anything wrong with the one I currently have).

So this week is starting with a bit of fun. No work for me today, I am off for a spa day with a couple of friends. Hopefully that will give  me something quite fun to write about later on or tomorrow. Watch this space!