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Totally surreal

Posted in around the UK, family and relationships, Health, It's my life, Travel, tagged commuting to work, Coronavirus, Travel on March 23, 2020| Leave a Comment »

My next job/assignment starts today and the day hasn’t had the most auspicious start.

My alarm didn’t go off when it was supposed to 🤪🤪 Fortunately I had been awake for a few hours already and thought to check the time….only 10 minutes out, but with a taxi booked, I had to hustle.

I got to the station with plenty of time to spare and whilst waiting for the train, heard the dreaded announcement….my train was cancelled due to trespassers on the line 2 stations down.

I immediately sought out one of the station staff and secured authorisation to travel on the highspeed route instead…so

At the moment I’m travelling on the highspeed route to St Pancras. And its surreal….

This route is always packed to the rafters with commuters and you would be lucky to get a seat. The train is virtually empty…besides that

The train is stopping at all the small stations it doesn’t normally stop at, and I had a momentary flutter of concern…am I on the right train? But yes, it seems I am.

These are extraordinary times. Very few cars on the road, people few and far between- social distancing 😉 and an empty train

I’m just hoping that I don’t have any issues with the underground getting to my next departure point. The services have been drastically reduced and I am a tad nervous about making my connection. Besides the reduced service, I have 2 heavy grocery bags to carry and an unwieldy suitcase to lug around. 😕😕

I haven’t seen anyone wearing a mask yet 😷😷😷 and no-one has sneezed 🤧🤧 in my vicinity…so far so good. I’m being careful about what I touch and my elbows are getting a good workout 😂😂

One of the people in the houseshare coughed pretty much right through the night (hence my lack of sleep), so I used a sock on my hand to open or close doors, turn on taps and flush the 🚽 and I’m diligently washing my hands at every opportunity 🧼🧼🧼🧼

Fortunately I haven’t had any contact with her, so I can only hope her note on the fridge door was truthful “Sorry for the coughing, I have a cold.” Everyone and everything is suspect now and its quite unnerving.

Strange times. But the air feels cleaner and last night the sky was so clear I could see hundreds of stars.

Stay well every one and please be sensible about following government guidelines. I have a healthy distrust of the government on most days, and I have a healthy regard for some of the conspiracy theories that abound, but I’m still not at all keen to either contract this virus or pass it on to my loved ones….so to that end, I’ll take the news at face value and I’m being a good girl and not rebelling against the advice….

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Shopping for lockdown

Posted in around the UK, family and relationships, Health, It's my life, news from around the world, Uncategorized, tagged Coronavirus, family, Travel, uk lockdown on March 22, 2020| Leave a Comment »

I’m not someone who panics easily. I tend to be calm and logical in the face of adversity and hold my meltdown for the after party…..LOL

Whether panic is needed seems to depend on those who seed it …~Na’ama Yehuda

But I must admit to having gone from “bloody Chinese eating wild animals and treating those and other animals in a most appalling way – the animals have risen and are taking revenge” a couple of months ago, to the faint stirrings of unease, and concern at how fast this virus has spread and how vicious it is.

I’m guessing that none of us expected this virus to jump borders and spread so rapidly, taking down swathes of people and leaving fear and despair in its wake.

But suddenly we’re in the midst of a pandemic that the authorities seem unable to contain. And so the infected numbers and deaths mount up. Every day now the figures go up in the hundreds rather than the occasional report of one or two.

For obvious reasons this has brought about a sense of panic and the possibility of a lockdown is causing irrational behaviour.

I know that I for one have started to feel somewhat stressed….mainly for my little family; my daughter, son-in-law and my cherished grandson.

While we were away in Devon last week the first reports of panic buying started to filter through. I said to my daughter that as soon as we get back we must go shopping. Well that turned out to be a bit of a fright since the shelves were practically bare of essentials and necessities…..panic buying was in full swing.

However, we calmly walked along the aisles and bought whatever we could find, particularly things that can be used in soups and stews. Baby food was high on the list of essentials and nappies. We bought as much by way of prepared food as we could without emptying the shelves.

Since then I have raided my tax savings and on a daily basis I buy a small quantity of whatever I can find focusing on dry goods and tins where there’s availability.

We went shopping at Tesco’s a few days ago and the shock of the empty shelves was so overwhelming for my daughter that she had a meltdown in the store. Like she said, she has a baby to consider, and besides that her levels of empathy for older people wandering about looking for something they could buy was just too much.

I’m due to leave tomorrow morning for my next job…in the depths of Somerset, a 4.5 hour journey on 2 trains and the tube, and frankly I have no idea what will happen in the next few weeks. Will I contract the virus? Will my elderly client? How long will I be stuck there? If I do get ill basically I have no home to return to for either recovery or self-isolation.

Of course I wouldn’t want to return to my daughter’s home because I may well end up infecting them, and it begs the question….when my assignment is completed in 2 weeks time, should I even have any physical contact with them at all? And what of my accommodation? It’s on a very tenuous basis anyway. I rent a tiny room on an adhoc basis in a shared house. I have no lease and no guarantee that the landlady who currently rents out the room would even allow me to return to the property if I need to self-isolate.

Besides that, I have no food where I stay between jobs. I can’t store stuff there because not only have the permanent residents recently helped themselves to some of my fridge stuff, but where would I keep it….its not a permanent place of residence with a secure place to store anything? And even if she agrees to let me stay there, I wouldn’t be able to prepare anything in the shared kitchen if I was ill as it may affect the other residents.

So even though I don’t normally panic, I do confess to feeling rather uneasy and uncertain. I can only hope that the person I’m going to care for over the next couple of weeks doesn’t turn out to be a nightmare, and if I’m required to extend my stay due to a lockdown, that we’ll have sufficient food to see us through.

The other aspect is the worry I have for my family….will they have sufficient food for an extended period if there’s a lockdown? Will they be safe from the virus? Will I be able to return to help out if they happen to get ill? I have urged my daughter to be very conservative with her food and to not waste anything….I can only hope that they do.

My grandson is right in the middle of weaning and I worry that she will not have enough food to cope with his requirements. A lot of food already goes to waste when he plays with the food instead of eating it and it ends up on the floor and subsequently into the trash.

So while I am not normally given to panicking, I do admit that I’m beginning to feel incredibly stressed and worried, especially if there is a lockdown and all that that implies.

Onwards….

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A Covid party for one

Posted in around the UK, It's my life, walk 1000 miles 2020, tagged Coronavirus, Covid 19, Ramsgate Harbour, sunset, walk 1000 miles on March 22, 2020| 3 Comments »

Last night, sitting in the tiny little room I currently call ‘home’ (no, not really a home; I hate this room but it has a bed and electricity) getting more and more claustrophobic, so took myself out for a sunset walk to the harbour.

Its really weird walking through the deserted streets, most of the shops and stores are shuttered. The wind blowing a gale and rubbish swirled around like drunken dervishes.

Passing other walkers, they hurriedly lift their scarves to their eyes and scurry by…I guess it’s a bit like it was at the height of WW2. Otherworldly and covert….who’s the enemy? Them, me or Covid-19!!

The view of Ramsgate from the harbour arm is always lovely but I didn’t tarry since I was getting blown off my feet. I think I walked back quicker with the wind at my back pushing me along.

Ramsgate from the end or the harbour arm

Looking out to sea….so windy I could barely stand up

On my way I stopped off at Peter’s Fish Shop and bought a box of hot chips and fish gougons, then into ASDA for tartare sauce and a bottle of Gallo Rose. Again, it’s totally weird to see the empty shelves…something we were expecting with Brexit on the horizon, but Covid-19 has knocked that out the water.

Fish gougons and chips, washed down with a good rose and the sultry tones of Kenny Rogers

Back in the room I put on some Kenny Rogers (may he rest in peace) and had a party for one….

Overall I got in just over 3.6kms (slightly over 2 miles), and although I’m not doing as much boots-on walking as 2017 and 2018, the miles are slowly adding up.

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Sulphur & White

Posted in around the UK, It's my life, seaside towns of Britain, tagged broadstairs, Dougray Scott, filming in Broadstairs, Sulphur and White on March 9, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Dougray Scott was in Broadstairs!!! How did I not know??? Be still my beating heart 💓💓💓

https://theisleofthanetnews.com/2020/03/06/starring-role-for-broadstairs-in-feature-film-released-in-cinemas-today/

Broadstairs and various other locations on the Isle of Thanet often feature in films and my daughter and I were lucky enough to have seen Maggie Smith during filming of The Lady in the Van a few years ago (when we still lived there).

I spotted the article about the film Sulphur and White in the Thanet News, and I am devastated 😥😥 broken hearted 💔💔 etc etc…..how did I miss this?

Now seriously, I do wish these film companies would give us advance notice of who will be in the area BEFORE filming, not after. For sure I would have rescheduled all my jobs…..😂😂😂

On balance, I’d rather have seen Dougray Scott than Maggie Smith…no offence to Maggie of course, but Dougray would have been pleasing to the eye. Oh well, some you win, some you lose 🤪🤪 I guess I shall have to go see the film.

Not yet too old to have a heart-throb 💓💓💓💘.

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Flick the switch

Posted in idiot category, memories of days gone by, tagged baby boomers, getting older on March 3, 2020| Leave a Comment »

One of the most irksome aspects of getting ‘older’ is….you get forgetful ..like forgetting a word you know you know, but…it sits on your tongue and when you no longer need it, it pops into your head. 🤪🤪🤪 How often do you say “where are my keys, or phone? – usually it’s in your hand 😂😂😂 or going into a room and forgetting why you’re there. Annoying, to put it mildly.

But one of the things that annoys me the most……I forget to flick the switch. My phone battery usually lasts much the whole day depending on my activity. But now and then I have to charge it up to last till bedtime. So I plug it in and carry on with my day. A few hours later I go to unplug it and continue my use. Except….

Except when I look at the battery it hasn’t charged. I curse the phone; bloody rubbish they make these days….and then I realise 🙄🙄🙄 I forgot to flick the switch. Urgh

How often does that happen to you?

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Driving in the middle of nowhere

Posted in around the UK, It's my life, Uncategorized, tagged driving on November 26, 2019| Leave a Comment »

The area that I’m working in is very near to a designated Dark Sky area….and it lives up to its name. Its DARK at night. So dark that if I’m standing outside I can barely see my hand in front of my face.

Its super cool for a restful sleep (I like it pitch dark when I sleep), but it’s not super cool when you have to drive in this dark, which I had to do last night.

Just after my break yesterday I realised that my face was swelling up again; same place as last time. That pesky parotid gland again 🙄🙄 And remembering that I ended up in hospital for 3/4 days the last time because I ignored it, yesterday I went into a bit of a panic.

I still have 10 days of my assignment to complete and I cannot afford to lose that much money. Besides which the agency wouldn’t be able to find a replacement for a few days. So I immediately got onto Google and did a search, found a surgery, cajoled the receptionist to get me an appointment and to her absolute credit she booked me in immediately.

And thus it came about that I had to drive in what can only be described as a black hole. The only benefit is that on the obscured turns, you would see a cars lights for miles. But on unfamiliar roads, with nothing to show landmarks, it was a bit nerve-wracking.

However, I’m glad I did, because the doctor put me onto some kickass antibiotics and that seems to have held the infection at bay…for now. At least it hasn’t gotten worse. As for the dark sky, just maybe before I leave we could have at least one night of clear skies, I might just get to see the stars 🤨🤨🤨😉 Do you think the universe might comply with my wish?!!

Meanwhile, the grey skies continue and the forecast is for much the same for the next week

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23.01 an evening with Levison Wood

Posted in book reviews, It's my life, Travel, tagged adventure, an evening with levison wood, cadogan hall, long distance walks, walking the nile on November 23, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Okay so this post is a bit out of date LOL. I really didn’t get to do much blogging once baby arrived. However, since I am no longer living at ‘home’ I’m working my way through my drafts and updating as I go…..so this particular evening dates back to 23.01.2019….10 months ago LOL…blimey talk about slow….anyhow

At Cadogan Hall for the ‘Evening with Levison Wood’ in aid of Tusk Org. Looking forward to hearing more about the adventures of @levison.wood #WalkingtheNile & #Arabia – disappointing to discover that the books are presigned and there’s no ‘book signing’ at the event as such, as I understood it would be. 😂 😂 I brought both mine with. 😏😏Ah well. Still, I’m sure the event will be interesting. (update: Mr Wood graciously agreed to sign my books after the event, which I thought was super cool) Actually its quite weird to be in #London again, haven’t been for what feels like ages. The last time I was at Cadogan Hall was for the Scarlet and Gold Military Band event a few years ago. Time just flies

A most enjoyable Evening with Levison Wood at Cadogan Hall listening to tales of derring do and adventure. Loved watching the snippets of film and hearing anecdotes of people and places while travelling around Arabia, as well as his work with Tusk. Its shocking how many beautiful animals are being slaughtered for the greed of a few. 💔💔 After my initial disappointment apropos the book signing, after the show, I decided that I would ask once again if it was at all possible for Mr Wood to autograph my books… One of the Tusk ladies asked on my behalf and I’m delighted to say that he very graciously agreed to sign them for me, albeit a bit hush hush. 😊😊 I shall treasure these books and one day I will read them to my little cherub Jamie and hopefully awaken a sense of adventure and world travel in his soul.

walking the nile levison wood, books to read, book recommendations

such an interesting albeit scary book at times. a very good read

Travel travel travel… It really does change your perspective and perception of other people’s lives, values and beliefs. I wish more people could/would travel and adventure in other countries, I’m pretty certain the world would be a better place. Meanwhile, I’m back on Granny duty while Mummy and Daddy catch up on sleep, and as I write I have a wee baby boy cuddled up in my arms. I’ve been singing him a lullaby and he’s fast asleep. He’s already changing and I’m pretty sure he’s put on a bit of weight 😂 😂 😂 ergo my arm is getting tired from holding him up. I’ll have to do some weight lifting to keep up. 🤗🤗👶🏻💙💕 Thanks again to @levison.wood for a most enjoyable evening and for signing my books 📚

Said goodbye to my Mountain Warehouse backpack tonight. I bought it nearly 2 years ago intending to use it for the #Camino2017 pilgrimage from Porto to #SantiagodeCompostela but bought the #Osprey Tempest instead, which was much lighter, and therefore never used this one. I tried to sell it since I paid nearly a day’s pay for it 🤔😯 but no success. I was going to donate it to a local charity shop but the thought of someone who could afford to pay a decent price for a backpack, buying it for next to nothing, I decided instead to donate it to Centrepoint, the homeless people’s charity. They assured me it will go to a person who would get the best use of it. I’m well happy with that 😊 I’ve sent it onto its next journey with god-speed and good-luck.

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19.01.19 Peanut is on the way

Posted in family and relationships, gratitude, It's my life, tagged baby, first baby, first time parents, giving birth to a breech baby, natural birth, newborn on November 19, 2019| Leave a Comment »

At 00:1038 on Saturday 19th January I uploaded an instagram post “HOORAH!!! 👏 👏 👏 Finally I can say #Peanutisontheway❣️ 👶🏻💙 We’ve just arrived at the hospital. My daughter has been having on-off contractions throughout the day and night before, but now they’re coming full on. Hold thumbs all goes well 😊😊💕”

And so it came to pass, right on schedule at exactly 40 weeks from conception, in the wee hours on the morning of the 19th January 2019, prospective parents and ready packed suitcase in the car, we set off on what we hoped would be the real deal….the arrival of baby Jamie. We checked in at the QEQM and straight to the labour ward. All week we had been focusing on room 8 since that was the room with the birthing pool as well as which it was large enough to accommodate the 3 of us as well as my daughter’s Doula and the midwives.

lucky number 8

On the way we contacted her Doula, Maisie, who lives in Deal and she arrived not long after we did.

After a quick check of all mother’s vitals, baby’s vitals and some monitoring they decided, after about 40 minutes that she wasn’t yet far enough along to stay in and suggested we go home, that she have a nice warm bath and come back later. Besides which the cramps/pains had subsided by then.

00:38 on the 19th – Maisie (Doula), Mummy and Daddy waiting for Peanut

Home we went….at about 4am 19th January. We prayed all the way that Room 8 would still be available when we returned. Fortunately home was then only a 10 minute drive away.

Less than 2 hours later I phoned the labour ward once again and advised them – I didn’t ask if it was ok this time…I TOLD them – we are on our way back!! When we arrived, they confirmed that yes, she was now in full-on labour, 5cms dilated with what we had correctly classified as proper contractions, coming thick and fast and PAINFUL!! Taking her breath away. How my heart ached for her.

Thankfully Room 8 was still available and we settled in for the long haul….this was it and finally I could say…..

PEANUT IS ON THE WAY hoorahhh!!!

We set up the room as best we could with the candles and lights she wanted….but frankly she was already so well advanced that she was only aware of it all in the periphery of her mind…..her Mama instincts were in full flow and she could only focus on one thing….breathing through the contractions. As she has said herself, if we had stayed in the first time around earlier that morning, she would probably have enjoyed setting up the room, getting into the pool earlier and just relaxing in that environment. But as it turned out, by the time all that happened, she was too far along to really enjoy it all.

In due course we asked if they would fill the birthing pool, since she was keen to have, if not an actual water birth, then at least her labour in the pool. As baby was breech, it wasn’t really conducive to or safe for a water birth. It was hard going by now as she was having very strong contractions and in a lot of pain. But with careful guidance and assistance from us all, we got her safely settled into the warm water. Her husband stripped down to his swim trunks and settled in beside her to offer support. Maisie and I hovered around and provided support between vitals being checked and by now, gas provided by the midwives….who I might add were amazing.

19/01/19 – 08:22 in the birthing pool – beautiful beyond compare

At some point the Consultant that had upset them both so much a week before by insisting that because baby was breech that she HAD to have a c-section, brought in the ‘big boss’; the head Consultant – despite their constant protests and saying that they wanted a natural birth as far as was possible, he insisted that it was God’s will. How I restrained myself from slapping him for making such a stupid comment is beyond me. Seriously??? An induced c-section is NOT safer than a natural birth and mothers have delivered breech babies for centuries…my daughter was herself a breech baby (albeit eventually a c-section due to sudden complications). As far as the pregnant parents were concerned, they were in the right place if there was an absolute necessity to deliver by c-section.

By now my daughter was in a tremendous amount of pain and focusing only on the contractions and the imminent birth. This woman, who shall remain nameless, marched in like some Nazi surgeon and despite the position my daughter was in, bent down at the side of the pool and insisted that she, my daughter, tell her all the dangers of proceeding with a breech birth. Wtaf???? At which point my son-in-law absolutely lost it…..he rose up out the water like some sort of underwater god, water streaming off his body, and with his hand pointing in her direction, told her to “fuck off out of here right now”. LOL If you knew my son-in-law you’d know that that was so totally out of character as to be like chalk and cheese. He doesn’t ever swear. Long story short…..the two consultants left pretty pronto.

Meanwhile the contractions were now becoming so powerful and so painful that my daughter could no longer keep herself upright and we were becoming fearful she may slip under the water. She struggled to stand and was so weak that she could barely lift her head never mind stand up to get out the pool. So, as she recalls, I put on my Mother voice and with all the Mama power I could muster, I spoke right into her ear and pretty much commanded her to “get up and get out the pool”. Which gave her the strength to actually get up.

From there on things got hazy and crazy with the pain escalating and the midwives in and out. Trying all sorts of different positions that were really not at all ideal, they eventually brought her a birthing stool and finally she was in a comfortable enough position to give birth. It didn’t take long before we saw baby’s wee bottom appear and as he slowly made his was into the world we all did our best to comfort and ease Mummy’s pain. We took turns to hold her hand, mop her brow with a cold cloth, rub her back and shoulders while the midwives provided the gas and medical advice. So far, so good.

Suddenly his legs popped out and then his wee body and arms and shoulders…..very nearly there. A breech birth is really difficult to witness and frankly I was terrified…..but I kept my wits about me and kept taking photos and videos so they could have a record of the birth. They had the absolute best midwife in attendance that you could ever wish for in this world. Although this was her first breech delivery, she was calm and collected and reassuring, offering guidance and a commentary of where he was and how he was progressing. Suddenly and apparently not ideally, his body went white as he prematurely drew breath…but his head was not yet born and now she had seconds to get him out. With the Granny on the sidelines shouting “don’t pull him” she gently slipped her fingers into the birth canal hooked her fingertips above his cheek bones and with a deft sideways twist she slipped his head out. 12:45 on the 19th January 2019 our beloved baby boy was born.

But, now he wasn’t breathing, so she rubbed him down vigorously and gave him a solid thumping. My heart stopped LOL I’d never seen a baby being thumped like that…and you know how fragile we ‘think’ they are. She quickly passed baby over to the midwife on standby who rushed out the room to put him on a ventilator, and returned less than a minute later with baby Jamie lustily yelling… “Hello world, I’m born!!”. Hurrah, he had breathed on his own. What a CHAMPION!!!

19.01.19 at 12:46 Mummy, Jamie and Daddy

It was crazy after that. We were all crying, the midwives were checking vitals, my daughter went into meltdown, and Daddy was sobbing. She simply couldn’t handle all the emotion and was still struggling to deliver the afterbirth and just couldn’t hold the baby, so instead I gave baby Jamie, all 7 lbs of gorgeous newborn to Daddy for some precious skin to skin. To our amusement and Daddy’s intense embarrassment, baby immediately tried to latch onto his nipple hahaha

19.01.19 13:02 precious skin to skin time with Daddy

We attended to Mummy and got her settled, wrapped up in a towel and then she was able to hold her precious son. It was such an amazing experience and I am so joyful and grateful that I was there to support them, provide reassurance, my boobs to rest on (for Mummy’s head during contractions), and witness the final stages of Jamie’s incredible journey into this world.

19.01.19 Mummy, Daddy, Granny and Jamie

My precious daughter is now mother to a beautiful precious little boy….and I am finally a Granny 🙂

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I’ve been trepanned

Posted in gratitude, Historical, It's my life, memories of days gone by, other peoples blog, tagged https://lasmithwriter.com/2017/05/12/balds-leechbook-the-doctor-is-in/, memories, trepanning on November 17, 2019| 4 Comments »

As mentioned in an earlier post, since logging off both twitter and facebook I needed something to read in the mornings before work, so I gravitated back to workpress. I also realised that except for the post on toilet paper in June, and barring the odd repost or quick article prior to that, I hadn’t blogged for over 3 months and most particularly since my grandson was born. My posting activity compared to previous years looks quite scarce.

I have over 100 drafts waiting to be posted, 90% of which are about my delicious grandson and his journey since he was born. I cheated a wee bit and used my (daily) instagram posts as the basis for the drafts, but somehow I just haven’t had the time to actually flesh them out, checking for spelling and grammar (my bugbears), add images and actually get as far as posting them.

But now that I am no longer living at what used to be my home, and since I am working more (to save on accommodation costs), I have more time to blog….and I’m making up for lost time 😉

So, whilst reading the next article on the fantastic blog I discovered under the tag ‘Saxons’ : ‘the traveller’s path” I came across the word ‘trepanned’ on her post ‘Bald’s Leechbook: The Doctor is in‘ – and the word literally jumped off the page at me and I had an epiphany…..I too had been trepanned. LOL

When I was about 15 months of age my mother fell down a flight of stairs with me which resulted in a damaged head and a brain bleed. So the surgeons drilled 3 holes into my skull; 2 on the right hand side of my head and 1 on the left in order to flush out pooled blood and bone fragments. This left 3 small indentations in my head that make for a good story today (and over the decades 😉 ) and I get perverse pleasure out of making people feel the bigger hole in my head. They’re usually very squeamish about touching it, but I insist….. hahaha!!

What was weird to me is that I have told that story many times over the years, and I’ve read the word ‘trepanned’ many times whilst reading various books, but I have never associated the word with what had been done to my head. Till today! So there it is, I too have been trepanned. I am however rather glad it was done in the 20th century and not the 8th 9th or 10th, since I think the survival rates of the patients were not as high then as they are today….although to be fair, as the author mentions in her article, many people did survive and this is known due to the fact that when ancient skeletons are dug up at various archaelogical digs, they sometimes find skulls with holes that show signs of having healed. Of course some of said holes are acquired during battles fought and possibly won, but some are of a shape and size to indicate trepanation. Fascinating.

To conclude the story about my trepanned head, the fall down said stairs was as a result of my Mother wearing stiletto heels. One of the heels got stuck in a groove and resulted in the fall. From what I understand my Mother lost a baby as a result of the fall and I had to learn to walk again and ended up wearing support boots for many years. There’s one photograph in particular that I can visualise as I write, and that is one of me at the top of a slide, wearing a little embroidered dress and pair of solid brown leather boots that reached halfway up my tiny little legs, securely buckled. My Mother is standing at the bottom of the stairs and still wearing heels. Interestingly (to me anyway), I don’t recall my Mother ever saying whether or not she suffered any damage to her body beyond the trauma of losing the baby, which apparently was a boy.

Courtesy of wikipedia – Trepanning, also known as trepanation, trephination, trephining or making a burr hole (the verb trepan derives from Old French from Medieval Latin trepanum from Greek trypanon, literally “borer, auger”) is a surgical intervention in which a hole is drilled or scraped into the human skull, exposing the dura mater, to treat health problems related to intracranial diseases or release pressured blood buildup from an injury.

And in case I haven’t whetted your appetite to find out more, or induced shudders of repulsion, here is a nice shudder inducing graphic image to get you going LOL Hopefully I was unconscious when the surgeon drilled the hole in my head!!!

painting by Hieronymus Bosch depicting trepanation (c.1488–1516). courtesy of wikipedia

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One year ago; best news ever

Posted in family and relationships, gratitude, It's my life, me and Peanut, tagged being a granny, family and relationships, first time granny, granny to jamie on May 11, 2019| 1 Comment »

On the 12 May 2018 at approx 2.30pm, I received what can only be the best news any mother of a grown up daughter could hope for!! I was to become a Granny 🙂 To say that I went ballistic would be a complete understatement…I did the whole Greek Mama shrieky thing LOL

Getting the news 🙂

I was quite simply over the moon. This was not something I was expecting (sorry for the pun), and had made my peace with the idea that I may not ever have grandchildren. I guess I should have known better! The planets had aligned; my daughter was in a really good place in her life, she had met a wonderful man, they were engaged to be married, she was settled in her home, her business was doing well and life was good. The universe knew that the time was right.

becoming a granny, first time parents, first pregnancy

I’m going to be a Granny 🙂

The months both dragged and flew by with visits to a clinic for an ultrasound that showed the wee bub sitting comfortably in the position he was to pretty much maintain for the full 40 weeks right up until he was born.

first baby, second trimester, ultrasound, listening to babys heartbeat, granny in waiting, first grandchild, ovia app, knitting for babies

isn’t that just extraordinary….so tiny and yet so very real

Ultrasound ❤

Each week was marked with images of his progress off the ovia app,

one the day I received the news, this is the size of the bub; a poppy seed

photographs of Mummy’s slowly expanding belly,

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Lots of clothes shopping (we ended up with wayyy too much), various excursions as nursery equipment was collated and frequent trips for treats LOL I’m surprised he doesn’t look like a treat…oh Wait!! He does!!

After a relatively problem-free pregnancy, he didn’t after all make it easy for Mama and stuck to his guns, resulting in a breech birth.

Finally the big day arrived and exactly 40 weeks to the day (according to their calculations, not the NHS’s) without any further ado, my tiny, beautiful, cute, gorgeous, exceptionally intelligent (of course), delightful little grandson arrived. Albeit very traumatic for Mummy, his birth went fairly smoothly and I had the privilege of being able to support her right through from beginning to end. We, Simon (her husband), Maisie (her Doula), myself and of course the beautiful Mama, were all in shell-shock and I’m still bemused by the fact that I actually managed to get through her labour without going to pieces.

Jamie, just 10 minutes old cuddled on Mummy’s chest, Maisie, me and Daddy

In fact she had, a few weeks before, asked me to knit her a birthing blanket. The idea was for me to knit this blanket whilst she was in labour, to focus my mind and keep me calm and occupied….it didn’t quite work out that way, and 4 months later the blanket is still under construction. Mostly because I’m forever holding the baby or taking photos of him rather than knitting….oh and working. I have 2 other cardigans 95% completed that I have never yet found the time to complete.

So Jamie, my precious little boy, here you are….just hours old

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and now you’re fast-growing, gorgeous, funny almost 4 month old with a mega-watt smile that lights up the room and my heart.

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I loved the idea of being a Granny, but I love actually being a Granny even more that I ever thought possible.

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He’s now 16 weeks old and I can hardly believe that the weeks have flown by so quickly.

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What a charming little boy he is, and we are so blessed to have him in our lives.

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