A Week Without Rain !! Must be Spring!!

Well it looks like spring has finally sprung, we have had a whole week without any rain and the garden is finally coming to life. I had a few days off last week and it was great to be able to potter around the garden weeding and getting the place straight again. Over the past few months we have been gifted lots of garden plants in particular roses, which I love. I have finally found a space for all of them and I can't wait to see them all in bloom. 

It was so warm that after all our labours we were able to sit on the patio and enjoy a cup of tea in the warm sunshine, it was bliss! even came in with a bit of a rosy glow!

The weekend started with a quiz night at school. A once a year event that we have been going to for years and years !  I am the 'maker of the spoons' The losing team win a wooden spoon ! I have been doing that for years as well! Its a great night out a chance to meet up with 'old' friends from years ago ! There is a knack to the evening, you have to aim at coming second, second is respectable, last is acceptable, but winning will bring down a whole load of problems in the form of setting the quiz for the next year!

So the idea is to try very hard not to actually win. We achieved our aim perfectly and came third by 2 points perfect!!! By way of a twist this year they decided to draw straws between the top and bottom team to see who who set the next quiz and the poor old losing team lost again! A great evening out!

Sunday the 16th was the Anniversary of my sister Val's  passing, I know that time flies as you get older but it was 1999 that she left us. We took a trip over to the Crematorium and visited her grave to lay some flowers.

It was difficult to get a photo through the glass, but it has been a few years since I had looked at the book of remembrance. Hard to believe so much time has passed and that her daughter Emily is now a Mum herself. 

While at the cemetery we visited Nan and Grandads graves as well.

I can remember them so clearly, visiting them and having a cup of tea with them. The smell of warm tomatoes in Grandads greenhouse, Nan making cakes that didn't rise!! Happy memories. They really loved having great grandchildren, but sadly never got to see Beth as although Nan knew I was expecting she passed away in the September before Beth was born in the November.

Because it was such a gorgeous day the grounds looked beautiful, a typical spring day in English countryside. 

I hope this weather continues, the papers are saying we are likely to have the hottest summer ever this year, but I have heard that one before!!! Have a lovely week, don't work too hard!

Its been a Beautiful Weekend!!

It does now feel like Spring is just around the corner! This past weekend we have had beautiful spring weather, its nearly been warm (well I have swapped my duffle coat for a fleece jacket!!) I popped in to Tesco and they had some lovely strawberries, they smelt wonderful and when I opened the punnet there was this one enormous strawberry the size of a large plum ! Not only did it look nice it was really tasty. Sometimes strawberries out of season taste very bland and watery, but these were summer in a box, gorgeous!!!

Sometimes I despair at the standards of education and understanding around all things mathematical. I do not consider myself to be a maths whizz kid, being a child of the 70's I only managed a grade C 'O level'.

I was surprised to find these great offers in a store in town.

I spoke the shop assistant who was stacking the shelf nearby and asked why she thought that anyone would buy these fantastic deals? She completely missed the point and told me that they were multibuys and would save me money!! I said clearly they wouldn't save me money, but she didn't get it. So I said if I add up three packets of crisps at 32p a packet how much would it cost? she said £1 !!! There is no hope!!

Today we went out to lunch at my Auntie June and Uncle Ed's, Ed is my Dads younger brother. For years I have been interested in my family history and I was really pleased that Uncle Ed had some photos of my Nan and Grandad that I had never seen before. The photo above of my Grandad was taken in 1945 when he was 24 years old, what caught my eye was the similarity to Carl, the cheeks, the eyes even the hairline and style, its quite uncanny. Carl is roughly the same age as this photo as well. The other striking thing that I remember about Grandad was his bright blue eyes. Nan had Hazel eyes, so all of their sons had Hazel eyes. When I was pregnant with Laura and planning in my head how she would look, I did wonder if we might get a blue eyed baby. (Tom has blue eyes and I thought there was an outside chance that I might have inherited a blue gene from Grandad) Anyway Laura turned out to have very dark brown eyes, but when Carl came along he had grandads blue eyes!! They are definitely Grandads colour as they are a different shade to Toms!! We managed to crack the blue eyed gene again with Beth, although her eyes are closer to Toms in colour!

I love looking at the old photos. My memory of Grandad was as an elderly man, so its hard to see a resemblance, looking at this much younger photo is striking. The similarity between my cousins sons and Carl is also quite amazing, so they are all connected on my paternal line!!

I am looking forward to a few days annual leave at the end of this week, plus the delivery of a bookcase for our bedroom. I think that I will have to start Tom on a new task of trying to sort out the mess in the loft, a few hours a day and we might start to be able to see the floor again!!!

Have a great week. 

Trying something new.

The advantage of being off of work is the extra time you have to sit and think about things, I like to think and ponder , but even better than that I like to 'do' things, try my hand at things. The advantage to trying things is that it occupies me body and mind!! We have recently redecorated two bedrooms, I say we, I have the ideas and I have been project manager!! Tom has decorated to my command!! I have helped clear out cupboards and under the bed in our room, you know offering express instructions and holding the black bags!! Its taken some time as I have not been physically able to help too much, but we are finally there. We unearthed lots of 'stuff' mainly 'stuff' that is too good to throw away, but no longer required. All that happens with that is that you store it for ten years and then throw it out anyway!! I suppose if you were able to keep it for another thirty years it would become 'vintage' and be worth a fortune. Sadly I end up getting rid of stuff long before it becomes valuable again.

Anyway I found some old curtains that had been in the conservatory many moons ago, I packed it all up with the intention of giving it to the local school, the more I thought about it the more I wished I could put it to some sort of good use. I was looking on the great time waster - Pinterest when one of my friends pinned a picture of a braided rug made out of strips of fabric. I did a bit of research and although I liked the look, it was clear that you would need to braid the fabric and then sew it together in a spiral, it was the hand sewing that put me off, but it had tickled my interest so I eventually found instructions to make a crocheted rag rug, it had everything I needed, used rag strips, grew quickly and did not require sewing up afterwards. So I ordered my giant crochet hook (20mm size) and started to tear up the material into two inch wide strips. 

This part was very satisfying, the quickest way to do it is tearing great for venting your frustrations. I found that if I ripped along the length and stopped around an inch from the end, I could move over two inches and rip back the other way, before I knew it I had a huge ball of yarn !

So the next step was to start crocheting, it was quite easy, I tried several different ways before I settled on a simple strip. I planned to put it by the side of my bed, so it needed to be around two feet wide by 4 or 5 ft long. I unpicked it a couple of times until I was happy with the result. In the end I made a 15 chain and then did a single crochet into each stitch, at the end of each row I added an extra stitch to allow me to turn the corner and crochet back along the other way. I carried on until I ran out of fabric.

I love the effect, its knobbly and somehow rustic!! Its multi coloured effect is much nicer than the dated curtains that I made it out of. 

The finished article!! I have found it quite addictive, it grows so quickly I managed to do the whole rug in two evenings. So once that one was done I started to think about doing a round one for the spare bedroom. 

I had run out of fabric, so again looking on line other people suggested that duvet covers are great for rugs, so I put a wanted on my local Freecycle site and was given two king size  blue sheets and a dozen blue and white pillow cases, all had seen better days, but that didn't matter as I was going to rip them up and it saved sending them to the dump!!

So I started on a circular rug .

You don't have to worry about the fraying on the sides, or making sure that its only the right side showing, the variation of the right and wrong side gives it an interesting texture, the blue looks quite like washed denim.

To make the rug circular its best to work it on a table to keep it in shape, you have to judge the shape and occasionally add in stitches to keep it flat. There is no exact science to it, you just have to make sure it stays flat. If you do it too tight it starts to turn into a shallow bowl shape, which is not what I was looking for!!

Here is the finished article, just right for my 'dressing room' The pale part is made out of the pillow cases and I finished it off with the last of the dark blue. To give you an idea the rug used one blue king sized valance sheet and twelve pillow cases !! 

This afternoon I tore up the rest of the sheets while watching Sunderland come second in the cup final. I actually felt it was a good game, just a shame that Sunderland lost. I just have to decide what to make with these mammoth balls of yarn!! I have a couple of ideas but I think I'll think about it for a while and see what I decide to do with them!!

Hope you all have a good week, as I sit here its pouring with rain yet again, I would love for it to be a bit warmer and a whole lot dryer some time soon!!! 

They are out!!!!

Finally I think spring is on the way, this week at last, my first three daffodils have flowered. They look very cheery and I really hope that the rest of them flower soon. The weather this week has on balance been better and the daffodils and a few crocus makes the world seem cheerier.

This week was also my birthday, so it was nice to be able to celebrate with my family and friends. The night before I went out for dinner with Madeline, Sue and Sandra at the Long and Short Arm. Incredible value as they have a two for one menu, we had dinner and sweet plus a bottle of rose for £45 !! Bargain!!

We had tried to take a bit of a selfie with all of us, but it was just a bit on the cramped side, so the waiter took this one !! Madeline seems to have her eyes closed in both of the shots!!

This is the selfie!! Eyes closed again Madeline!!!

The next day at work Barb made me coffee walnut cup cakes, very nice!!!

Beth bought me a chocolate birthday cake, so we did the happy birthday thing with Laura, Tom and grandad.

Carl arrived a little later and bought me another cake, made by his own fair hand!! Karen (over the road Karen!!) made me some lovely chocolate Florentines, so lovely that everyone who tried them, loved them, so bang went my birthday present !!!!  So all in all I had a very good birthday!

This week I started back at work, its been a bit of a mixed experience. I am glad that I am only doing a phased return because I have found it all quite exhausting!! I have decided that when I grow up  I would like to  have a career as a furniture painter or a seamstress!!! 

Have a lovely week!!

The calm AFTER the storm!!

We are very lucky here in my part of Hertfordshire, we are not at risk of flooding and we usually only have the 'normal' weather to deal with. A huge part of the rest of the country has been flooded since before Christmas its something that must be soul destroying. Over the past few days we have had a really horrible storm, the wind was raging all night and I could hear stuff outside crashing around and  as there was a full moon with a quick look out of my bedroom window I could see one of the fence posts had broken and the fence was flapping around, still upright but flappy. The following morning I think we were lucky to get away with one broken post. All around there were fences down and trees uprooted. The weather has certainly been doing its very worse. Today is the first day in a long time where it hasn't rained and better than that it is sunny with a blue sky. I have daffodils nearly ready to bloom in the garden so perhaps spring is in the air after all. 

After a while off of work I am heading back tomorrow. I am still using my walking stick, so I am going to have to ease myself back in gently, I am going to have to take it slowly and not overdo things. Its a bit of a worry, I am sure once through the door I will be fine, it feels like stepping into the unknown again.Wish me luck!!

Just after Christmas, in the sales I bought myself an Amaryllis bulb, I planted it straight away and it grew very quickly. When it came into flower it was beautiful!! I was so lucky that I took these photos because the next morning it committed suicide!! It fell over and landed on the floor with a broken neck! I have chopped the stem off, but you are supposed to allow the leaves to grow on so that it will flower again next winter. I will have to take precautions next time to keep it upright!

I like a nice bargain, I have been quite limited as to what I have been able to do while recovering, but I have been able sit down and chop things up!! I have a food dryer which I haven't used that much, but a few weeks ago Tescos were selling apples for 5p each, a bargain, so I bought two quids worth and set about drying them! I sliced them and cut the middles out. The pile of middles looked really pretty. I dried the rings and now have two jars of apples which make tasty snacks. 

This coming week is my birthday so I have some evenings out planned !! I am looking forward to celebrating with friends and family!! I hope you all have a good week

My poor abandoned blog.....

I have had this blog for years and I have always really enjoyed updating it as a way of sharing my life with friends that I don't see all the time. I know that friends drop in who live locally to me and lots from as far away as Australia, Canada, Italy and the USA. So far I have always had lots to share being a crafty person always with something on the go, but recently I seem to have not been in the right head space.

I think the decline started after my holiday last year and all the trauma that went with that. I then had my op followed by the loss of Mum. I have been on auto pilot really since then. 

There is such a lot to do after a bereavement. Those first few weeks seem to have gone by in a bit of a blur. Some things were much easier than others. Some companies excelled themselves and some have made life down right difficult. I would like to give 02 a great big pat on the back, in the middle of all the confusion that Mum suffered in those final few weeks she managed to run up a huge mobile phone bill. She used her phone to contact us and accidentally sent us photos that she had received. Her last bill was over £300 instead of the usual £25. We finally phoned them to say she had passed away and were put through to a dedicated department who took the number from the death certificate and simply wiped off the bill! No quibble just told us that should any bill turn up we were to return it to the bereavement department. As it happened no bill ever turned up. So ten out of ten to 02.

Last week I received the report from the hospital into the fall that Mum had. It was quite a comprehensive report that surprised me as they had carried out the investigation into themselves. Even more surprising was that they identified five things that they had done wrong which led to Mum falling over. The most damming was that the physios had updated her notes to say that she should not be mobilised with a zimmer frame, she was unable to lift her feet and take steps, using the zimmer frame would be dangerous and could lead to her falling due to tripping. Sadly the staff did not read those notes for two shifts and continued with the zimmer frame which ended up with exactly what the physios feared, a fall which ultimately resulted in her death.

I was shocked that they had admitted their shortcomings. We still have not heard anything back from the Lister hospital about the complaint we made about the assault. They are well past their times (as per their own published policies) In fact we still have not heard anything from them. That is despite having two independent witnesses to the incident. We have decided this week that the only way forward is to sue them for assault and negligence. I am sure that its the only way that they will take any notice of us. I am still appalled that we have to go through all of this, its clear from the report into the fall that if they had followed their own rules Mum would not have fallen at that point and we would not have been doing this. I appreciate that Mum was not a well person but the fall finished her off and they knew there was a high risk and did not take the correct action. 

I am still recovering from my hip operation, I had a set back last week when I jarred it and was unable to walk for a few days, I am back on two sticks and it is settling down. I am not sure if I will be able to return to work next week as planned I'll have to see what my GP has to say. I have not been able to make good use of my time off as I have just not felt up to it, which I suppose is why I am sick!!! The combination of operation and bereavement is quite difficult to deal with.

On a positive note when we were in Florida I met a lovely chap called Scott who has a 'Green Monkey' face book page, he is aiming at getting pictures of green monkey all over the place, having fun. So I have decided to join in and photograph Green Monkey in England!! Last week Carl took me to Ikea and he (Green Monkey - for clarity!!) experienced his first ever Meatballs dinner!!

A little something to lighten my mood!!!

I wish this rain would going away its getting a bit boring now !!

Summer seems a long way away....

This winter seems to be going on for ever, the weather here has been very very wet and lots of people have been flooded out of their homes, we are lucky not to live in an area susceptible to flooding, I have no idea how people cope repeatedly dealing with damage to their property. The only good thing is that we have not had any snow, I hope we don't get any I have my hip to worry about this year and I don't want to end up on the floor any time soon!!

I can hardly believe that its only two months since we came back from Florida, so much has happened that it seems like a lifetime ago. I have been looking over the photos and I realise just what a nice time we had when we were there it was sort of lost with the issues that some of the party had and the loss of Mum not long after we got back. Just look at the sunshine I could do with a bit of that now.

Mary Poppins, practically perfect in every way, that film makes me smile every time I see it.

We also enjoyed the parades somehow the parks didn't seem overly packed, but perhaps that is just my rosy memories of our time there. 

We spent a couple of evenings in Old town Kissimmee, always a load of different things going on there. Some really nice off the wall shops and lots of interesting things to look at !! We spent Halloween there and it was buzzing!

There was a place called 'Funspot' next to the shops and it was heavily advertised, there was a huge swing and I mean huge, I was so tempted to have a go and if I ever go back I may well do it!!!

Tom and Beth towards the end of the night exhausted and ready to head back home!!!

I wish it was still summer :(

Happy New Year.

Time is whizzing by again. New year has been and gone. We celebrated with Madeline, John, Tom and Gracie. We started early and finished early, not that we are not able to keep up with it all, but Madeline was working the next morning and she didn't think that her 'clients' would appreciate her breathing alcohol fumes all over them early New Years day!!!

We decided to go with the Zombie theme, Madeline and John went as themselves!!!

We got to use our Christmas T shirts again as as we dressed up as zombie elves and zombie Santa's!! Grace was a Zombie Brownie and we all look fantastic!!

We had a lovely Chinese early in the evening and just the odd bottle of port (or two!!!!)

At the allotted  hour we went out in the garden and set off our 90 round whistling whizz bang firework, that sounded like some mini war in the back garden!! You can't let a new year go without a Chinese lantern. This one took an age to fill up with hot air, mainly due to the gusty wind, when it finally took off it headed straight for the house !! It crawled up the wall and crept over the gutter and bumped off the roof before disappearing over the top, by the time we got around the front it was fast disappearing off in the distance!!!

We had a great evening and I am hopeful that we have welcomed in 2014 in a happy and positive way!.

My friend Jane gave me a lovely gift of an empty jar, with a pretty lid. It doesn't sound that exciting, but it has  great potential !!

The idea is that you make a note of the positive things that happen and post the notes into the jar. The thing is you only ever remember the really bad or really good things, when along the way there are lots of things that happen which make you smile and feel good, you simply don't remember them!! I have already posted one little message in there along with the date, I hope that it'll be fun looking back at 2014!

I have had a couple of hospital visits for my hip and it is gradually getting better. I have progressed to just one stick for most of the time, although it still feels very stiff and the wound feels achy, there is no pain in the actual hip as its no longer there!!I am still working very hard to walk properly and defeat the limp. The consultant has said that ca take up to six months to go, so a while yet!

Christmas has been and gone!

This year it was always going to be a difficult Christmas. We were all expecting things to be difficult, but we tried to carry on the best we could in the circumstances. I was lucky because I had bought most of my presents before my operation in November which was lucky as it turned out!! I was able to  wrap most of them before as well, leaving little to be done before big day. So for us it was the food shopping that had to be done, we decided to hit Asda this year for a change, their drink was cheap so well worth the change!

I am very proud to have three beautiful God daughters, and it was lovely to be able to get them together for a photo with their 'Fairy God Mother' !!!!So left to right Becca, my longest time god daughter, who is beautiful talented and lives far too far away for my liking! After me is Gracie, my youngest God Daughter and the one most likely to become Mrs Davidson (if my perfect plans come together, after all she has grown up with Carl and they have been long time friends!!) But if that doesn't happen then she will one day be in charge of Waitrose media department and will earn lots and lots of money!! Finally on the right is Emma, she is the young entrepreneur, from the low times she has picked herself up and started her own business renting baby birthing pools to mums to be. All of these girls will do well and I am sure they won't forget their Fairy God Mother!!! 

On Christmas day Beth did one of her world famous 'selfies' this time we all managed to cram into the frame!! It turned out to be the surprise snap of the Christmas. We had invested in some Christmas tops, three Elves and two Father Christmas !

Christmas was a subdued affair and I felt very blessed to have such wonderful friends and family who gave me beautiful gifts. I have some beautiful opal jewelry, perfume, photo frames to name but a few. 

Considering where we were we had a good time, we are looking forward to the new year with the hope of better things to come.

Catching up....

I think its true to say that this year has been a particularly hard one, not only for us, but also for lots of other people as well. We started with so much hope and expectation, not much of that came to fruition. 

Sadly on the 7th of December Mum passed away. She finally had her repair operation on the 6th of December and on that evening she was uncomfortable but talking to us. They had told us that she was being looked after in intensive care as a precaution. When I left at the end of visiting time, I felt positive, she looked like she needed a good nights sleep, but was with us.

When Dad and I went in the next morning we were met by the ICU Consultant and his team. He explained that overnight they had been having serious problems stabilising her, her heart was racing and blood pressure dropping, they really needed that to be the other way around. They told us that she was at crisis point and they were not sure they would be able to turn things around. We decided to call the rest of the family in, she wasn't fully conscious, but she was opening her eyes and squeezing our hands when we called her.

By the afternoon she was noticeably less responsive, she didn't seem to know we were there. The Consultant said that they were still giving her drugs but they were having no effect her heart rate was climbing and was running at 150/160 bpm . She had an underlying heart condition which had come back with avengence. The Consultant said that at this point the best they could do was make her comfortable and allow her to slip away. It was clear to us that she was not with us, the heart monitor was racing and although she was breathing on her own she was struggling, they were giving her oxygen. From that point it was a very quick 3/4 of an hour before she passed away. 

It was pure devastation all around very hard to comprehend how we had ended up here. 

My over riding emotion was anger, anger at how she had been treated by the East and North Herts NHS Trust, who had simply failed her when she needed it most. The irony of it all is that the actual fall that lead her to this final situation was an accident, she was adamant it was no ones fault, a pure accident. The previous incident at The Lister Hospital despite being reported was going no where fast until the point where Mum passed away. They have now some 9 weeks later phoned to say that they will invite us in to discuss the outcome of that investigation!!! I have no faith in their ability to investigate themselves, and I have no doubt about the outcome of whatever investigation they have 'carried out' . In the past they have only ever got their act together once we have gone outside to either the National Press or our local MP. So I am not holding my breath. 

I am not sure what to do going forward, part of me wants to move on and part of me wants to stand and fight, but I am not sure I have the fight left in me to do anymore of that. I am recovering from a major operation and if I fight them they will close ranks and it won't bring Mum back . I am very very sad that the last months of her life were so unhappy. 

So I must try and take the positives from this situation. Mum is no longer in pain and I pray that she is in Heaven with my sister and all the previous relatives that have gone. 

I will remember all the positive things and the fun times we had and how her positive influences have shaped me and my family. It has made me determined to live life to the full and not to put things off because its simple one day tomorrow will not come and it will be too late. I will try and do as much as I can now and not live to regret the things I did not do!! I need to gather myself and make some important decisions. I am a child of the 60's which put me and my fellow baby boomers at great risk as once we get to be elderly the NHS will be less equip to deal than it is now. 

On the 19th of December we celebrated Mums life at her funeral. We had a lovely Church  service at St Bonaventure in WGC. Father Norbert knew Mum, he visited her in hospital and had been the butt of her plain talking (as he called it!!) she had told him a couple of days before her passing that life in WGC was agreeing with him too well as he was putting on a bit of weight!!! Because he knew her the service was personal and a great tribute to Mum. Beth excelled herself, she was the only one brave enough to get up and pay tribute to Mum in the form of a Dear Nan, letter. She was fantastic, although it was an uplifting and funny letter there wasn't a dry eye in the house by the time she finished. 

The Church looked beautiful with both Christmas and pink flowers, we had asked people to wear a little splash of pink so Beth said it was obvious looking out at the congregation that people had done so. 

Looking back on the day I would say that we did her proud, we made the floral displays so we could use flowers that she loved, we included pink her favourite colour and it felt warm and comforting rather than bleak and upsetting.

We are blessed with fantastic friends and family who all attended the service. They have been so supportive of both me and dad, I have had a steady arrival of flowers and cards over the past weeks. Friends have stepped up to the mark and helped with flowers, cakes, transport and just being there and able to step in when the going gets tough. I can't thank you all enough for all that you have done for our family.

We are hoping for a better 2014, Rest In Peace Mum, you are missed.

xxxxxx

History repeating itself.

We are having a terrible time of things at the moment and I am so cross with the NHS (the part of it that is causing us a problem) This is an exact re-run of a situation that happened three years ago when mum broke her femur for the first time. 

Recently mum was admitted to hospital initially to have a knee replacement, before that could happen she contracted a urine infection, so she was transferred to The Lister hospital in Stevenage where she received in patient treatment for that infection. While she was there she was assaulted by one of the nurses who seemed to think that she should not have wet the bed, despite having an infection and no one answering her call bell. The other patients in the bay reported that she was slapped and left exposed on the bed, one of those patients got up with a broken leg and went over to cover her up. I am so angry with how she has been treated. I reported the incident to the Matron and to this date we have heard absolutely nothing, not a letter , not a phone call, NOTHING. We are not living in a third world country, this is 2013 in Great Britain. Mum was frightened to say anything because she had to stay in hospital there so declined Police involvement despite the hospital calling in the Police. If I had been there I would have ensured that action would have been taken, but I was not.

She was transferred to the Queen Elizabeth the 2nd hospital in Welwyn Garden City where she subsequently had her knee replacement. She recovered well from that until last Thursday when in the care of the Hospital she fell and fractured her ankle and femur (again) She has been in considerable pain and initially fell foul of the weekend intervening because as we all know no one becomes ill at the weekend the NHS simply shuts down and goes to skeleton staffing, so she had to wait until Monday for an operation. We then started to be told that she had a complicated fracture and she would need a specialist surgeon to deal with it, She was Xrayed and waited. Tuesday morning they decided to operate and when she was seen by the anaesthetist they called the operation off. The bloods were wrong and she needed several transfusions to build her up. That was done straight away. We have no complaints about that the operation needs to be as safe as possible, we were not seeking to force them to carry out the operation unsafely.

What truly ticks me off is the lies that were trotted out to us we have been told that there hasn't been a surgeon available because of the complicated nature of the operation, so how did that anaesthetist call off an operation where there was no surgeon?? We were told she would be transferred to a specialist hospital, then they couldn't go ahead because they didn't have a clear X-ray, apparently it had been asked for but no one had taken her there!!! You can see the X-ray department from her bed, I could have pushed her there myself. 

We asked when the operation would happen, we were given more half truths (if I am being generous) downright lies. we have had every excuse that they could muster while quite clearly no one knew what was going on!! They couldn't even tell us which consultant was dealing. 

Throughout all of this Mum has been sat in bed drugged up to the eyeballs in a great amount of pain. She is mentally and physically going down hill and we are seriously concerned for her. 

The very best crap excuse that they have come up with is that the surgeons can not operate because they have lists full of elective surgeries!!!! If they don't operate on those people they will breach the 18 week rule and the hospital will be fined!!! I can not believe that they can use such a crap excuse to keep a 77 year old woman in this position.

This morning I phoned the hospital and had a very full and frank discussion with them, I also contacted PALS and my MP. this has started to get results. Mum is deaf in both ears and while in hospital she has lost both hearing aids, these are the tiny in the ear aids which cost £1500 each. We have them insured, but the insurance company need a letter from the hospital to say that we have reported it to them. I asked for that letter nearly five weeks ago, five weeks where Mum has not been able to hear properly, five weeks where she has not understood what is being said to her. I have chased up this letter , an incident report, because I am pretty sure they were thrown away by staff changing the bed. on a weekly basis, it has not been forth coming. How dare they leave her essentially deaf because they can't be arsed???

Her operation is supposed to happen tomorrow and they have told us that the surgeon dealing is Mr Harishbhai Parmar. He looks to have a good track record, so I hope he has a good nights sleep and that he is able to repair the damage.

Please say a prayer and spread this message, people should be made aware of how the NHS treat our elderly vulnerable people, IT IS DISGUSTING.

A break in usual service!!

I hope to be able to resume my blogging very soon, but on the 14th I had an operation to replace my arthritic right hip, I had been waiting some time for the operation and I honestly thought I had gone in with my eyes open. While in the main I was prepared I was unprepared for how emotional I would feel afterwards and that has really knocked me for six. 

Anyway I am now back at home struggling with sleeping on my back and coping with the awful surgical pressure stockings which they want me to wear for three months!!! I am sure I won't manage that as they are driving me absolutely nuts . I also have to do blood thinning injections for a month it's certainly not a bed of roses.  I know in the long run it should be a huge improvement but it feels that result is a long way away at the moment! 

So once I am in a better frame of mind I will resume blogging!!!

Back to see Harry Potter!!

The weather was glorious, in the 90's it was fantastic to be able to wear summer clothes and not worry too much about feeling chilly!! We decided to make an early start and headed off down to Harry Potter Land to do the ride. Last time I visited I wasn't able to get on the ride as the seats were too small. There had been a load of complaints about the seat size and this time there were some more generous seats, however I am pleased to report that on this visit I didn't need one of those as I fit in a regular one. 

There wasn't very much by way of queue, but when we were queuing it was interesting, lots of Harry Potter stuff to look at.

Once we actually got to the ride it was a combination coaster come simulator ride. We were chasing the golden snitch! It was a very strange ride. I have a pretty good stomach for most things, but this one really made me feel queasy. I can only remember one other ride doing that to me and that was at Alton Towers back in the 80's. To be honest I was glad to be off this ride and we didn't do it again despite the very small queues!

I really like how they stage set the whole of the area, we were able to buy a post card and have it stamped Harry Potter World. There were streets and snow capped buildings, a great experience!

Laura treated herself to a 'butterbeer' so we all had a sip, it was very nice!!!

Just as you leave Harry Potter land is the entrance to the Dueling Dragons Roller Coasters. Again I had been unable to ride last time so I had to have a go this time. It was quite an experience, it seems as if were would crash into the other coaster, we got that close at one point!! I can say that I have done it now, but it wasn't a very comfortable experience as you had to sit on your shoes if they were likely to fly off. If there is a next time I'd wear trainers!!!

We headed over to wards the Superman ride and had a go on the tea cups and The Hulk Roller Coaster.

The Hulk is a massive coaster that goes upside down several times!! I loved it!!

Universal seems to have moved with the times and everytime we visit there is something new to see or do, along with some of the old favourites. They specialise in HUGE roller coasters and simulator rides, which is fine by me!!!