Hello. I have not vanished. I just seem to have developed narcolepsy. And I sit here, gaze off into the distance thinking and then next minute, I am asleep on the keyboard. Anyone would think I never slept. Twice this afternoon, I have fallen asleep. Thank heavens Sunday dinner is cottage pie from last night, complete with vegetables. I am not required to use the brain much.
We were supposed to get masses of snow on Friday night, but it didn't materialise. Instead, we woke yesterday to stunning blue skies and sun. It was fantastic. So I made my way down the middle of the road with the camera, and the photos you are looking at now are the result. The sun was so bright. And everyone was talking to each other out there in the street. But oh, the ice had become lethal. Everywhere.
Anyway, last night heavy rain came, and the thaw happened. By this morning, there was not a scrap of snow to be seen anywhere. It just disappeared. I took one look at the garden and nearly lost heart, because, you see, the weeds seem to love the snow and ice, and have been growing and spreading under the cover of the snow and it all needs hours of work. Oh well. It can go on the list. In never-ending list.
So when we went to church this morning, we were not sure if the river we cross in the valley would be in flood. It is running very high at the moment - just under the bridge. Inches from the road. And the fields are all under water too. In fact the nation is water-logged. I have tulips and daffodils all shooting up in the garden too. Among the weeds.
And now for something completely different.....
This article appeared on the front page of one of the Sunday newspapers today. Patients should be cared for by their families when in hospital. Now this is all very well if one doesn't have to go and work, because the government insists that the retirement age has to rise to 66. For now. It will be higher very soon. So how on earth will families be able to do this?
The irony is that this fits in so clearly with the subject I have been writing reams about recently. I have yet to start posting what I am writing, but the subject, people is CARING. What it means, how we have moved away from community, what effect it has on families, how we re-create those strings that bind us, where mothering goes in the 21st Century, how caring is becoming something we pay for, How we manage working and caring, and so it goes on. So many strands to think about.
You know, when I got married, someone, and I have NO idea who it could have been, gave us the book Hidden Art, by Edith Schaeffer. I remember opening it and thinking how old fashioned and out of date it was and tossing it to the side. And then one day, when Andrew was little, I opened it, and read it. And it all made sense to me. But I had to have moved on to the stage where my primary role was very definitely caring for my child to be able to appreciate it. It is still there on the bookshelf, right behind me. Have you read it?
And then, last night, I finished reading Andi Ashworth's book, Real Love for Real Life: the Art and Work of Caring. It has taken me a while, and I have no idea who recommended this book, or where I saw it - if it was one of you please wave so I can remember! And that also complicated the thinking. You know when your mind is getting new information all the time and you are trying to process it a eliminate as much of the emotion as possible? Yeah. That. Peter, Glynis's husband popped round on Friday and we somehow got onto the subject of caring, and he had some immensely valid points to sway my thinking as well, so it is all a big jumble and believe me, it will all emerge one day soon. Because I have a bee in my bonnet, as they say. I just want to talk about it.
So, think of my brain as a jumble of wool, and I am looking for the end so I can make a neat ball. And in the meantime, look at the little girl zooming along on her scooter today. I grabbed this photo from my daughter-in-law because, of course, they are there and I am here. And now we are about to watch Dancing on Ice.
5 comments:
I can't tell whether you are happy or sad to see the snow gone ;-) How quickly it disappeared and how wonderful it must have been to feel the sun again.
I have always said that families should be with their families when in the hospital, but as an advocate. Someone needs to oversee their care and fight for their needs, but taking care of them??? Yikes! That will be an interesting situation.
I have a bee in my bonnet, too, and would like to discuss ever so many things. The advice about having a family member remain with a patient in the hospital is quite old over here, at least. I remember one of us remaining with my mother all the time while she was in the hospital over twenty years ago. (My sister is a nurse and says that the staff is stretched to its limits.)
I read an article some years back called "What's Love Got to Do With It?" (or something similar) It was a treatise on creating a larger government and how government should be the one taking care of the people. No thank you very much. I am far more interested in the churches being allowed to do the caring and providing and the people helping their neighbors and communities. It is so much more efficient and, well, loving.
I have never heard of snow coming and going so quickly. Wow. That's pretty nice.
Family members are encouraged to be there for children and the seriously ill here but many hospitals still have strict visiting hours, limited to a few hours a day. The difference in this article was that a) it would be compulsory and b) the expectation was that all care would be given by families, while the hospital would just provide the medical intervention. I have always been the advocate for my family in hospital and have, heaven knows, fought many many battles. However, to expect the family to be there to provide all care is unreasonable. It pre-supposes a huge independent income, and no other family responsibilities.Life doesn't work like that, unfortunately. Churches feature heavily in my reams of ponderings!
Hmmm. The other difficulty with families caring for hospital patients is that as medical care is rationalised into specialist units (not a bad thing, IMO, despite some added inconvenience), journeys to hospital get longer. My mother had heart surgery at Oxford and hip replacements at High Wycombe, both an hour's drive away. And as for families who live in different parts of the country ... i think, to be fair, this report is really more of a debate starter than a serious proposal.
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