One night my mum and I were Granny Sitting in the days of little black and white crackly TV; sets watching an imposing ; loud drama with scary music.
Slowly, the door began to open, easing onto the door, a wrinkled hand appeared, a flash of white-cottoned leg appeared, a body long white hair partly covering the face!!! Mama and I stood frozen on the spot stifling screams, suddenly realising it was my Gran! What a relief! It was like having live drama in our own front room, did we laugh afterwards, whilst seeing her safely back into bed.
Education , oh! Dear, how often did I sneak a first look at reports going home
Could Do Better Has the Ability! I so often read.
Lessons were fine for me, should I find them interesting, otherwise boredom set in and may be I would drift off into a make believe world.
When I was 12 we moved to a brand new Secondary Modern School, didn’t we think we were the bees knees, uniform too!
I was allowed to leave school at the great age of fourteen as my birthday was in the Easter holiday. You guessed right I am an Aries, so a bit of creativity, stubbornness and inconsistency with me, so if I don’t know me, what chance do you good folks have. I had gotten myself a job to go to, out into the big grown up world. In the local Co-Op, as wait for it, an accounts clerk, if you please, this was me someone on a good day in school, lucky enough to achieve 10/100 in Maths!
Every few weeks when I became bored, or not able to pick the job up, properly, easy enough to call in at the Job Exchange and find another, be it office, shop or even a handbag factory. Mum and Dad never really knew from one week to another, just where I would be working. Was I a handful, who knows?
I wanted to be a nurse like my big sister Valerie. I had been in the Red Cross for a time, learning useful First –Aid and Home Nursing. I applied to Dry burn Hospital in Durham City and wait for it, passing the General Nursing Council Intelligence Test. That was a start, I spent 2 years as a Nursing Cadet plus 2 days at The Technical College learning of Anatomy and Physiology and gaining O Levels too. At the great age of 18 a student nurse I am let loose with real live patients, sick in their beds in hospital wards. Learning my nursing trade from cleaning out bedpans to giving a blood transfusion. 3 hard years of work I took and passed my SRN. I was now a proper nurse, letters after the name too! During that time I did an Obstetrics Course giving me another piece of paper.
During the training period my dear friend Christine and I took a holiday over to foreign parts, by coach three days to reach Italy, costing the huge amount of 19 Guineas. Whilst on this holiday I met my dear husband to be, Gerald.
After my registration as a nurse, I applied to hospitals in Coventry. This was the City my Gerald lived in with his family. Holiday romances do work out. Successfully obtaining a position in Orthopaedic and Emergency, Casualty to you the front line of hospital work. Shortly afterwards Gerald and I were married. After a while I did a spell as an Occupational Health nurse in Industry, so boring after the previous work, following this for a period in Infectious Diseases. Then along came our son in the days before Maternity Leave, 2 years later our daughter was born. I needed to get back to work, otherwise a waste of 3 years of training. I worked in a small General Hospital, working weekend nights, which I did for many years as the children grew up.
We loved the sea and spent many years camping, then in our caravan, which we kept at Hayling Island near Portsmouth, until sadly my dear husband passed away, 6 years ago, leaving me totally bereft.
My health over the years had deteriorated, causing me to take Ill Health Retirement. My life had gone in a circle, I finished my nursing after having low back surgery, on the very ward, I had started nursing on in Coventry. Not so long after my husband died I was crippled and needed a Hip Replacement, again on the same ward. This was fantastic after suffering greatly in constant pain.
Two or three years ago was the start really of my poetry writing on a small scale. My local paper was looking for people wanting a change in lifestyle, giving the prize of time with a Life Coach. I wrote my wishes in poetry form I won and a great feeling of success it gave me. This was the start of my nurturing seeds for poetry. Writing poetry I find can be a great tool for healing and a way of communicating with others.
I have been a Church going Christian for most of my life; my church produces a magazine 3-4 times a year. I have been delighted to write pieces for the magazine for others to share.
The Internet is a wonderful tool for sharing ones thoughts and emotions with others in England and over the world.
Did I mention I am a grandma to a lovely little boy Stephen and his sister Simone, a Godsend to me?
