It’s a bit late but nonetheless perhaps the right time to consider our winter as we are very nearly out of lockdown again, we all hope for the very last time. Meeting up indoors; over a cuppa and cake, a meal with a glass of wine or beer in a café or pub is the new treat as we follow the one way systems with masks and social distancing remaining until June. Certainly a treat for me as thinking about food has done me in; I long to be served what I have picked and then go home!
A ‘vlog’ of our family celebrations; Milo’s birthday, Christmas and generally playing in the freezing, icy weather, hope you enjoy 😊
Looking
back at our ‘Winter in Lockdown’ there has been a lot of events that didn’t
happen and Christmas was a much quieter affair, finding perhaps more irritating
ways to enjoying ourselves depending on who you are! There are so many events
which have not happened it’s an alarming thought they might all happen within
the same period of time, outstanding for me is;
- Tom Jones @ Newmarket, with Vanessa
& Steven
- Cliff Richard with mum @ Royal
Albert Hall
- Beautiful South @ Wembley, a free show
for NHS staff with Angie
- Lionel Ritchie @ South Bank London,
again with Angie
- End of the Pier Cromer Show
- Sandringham Estate Proms
I think it
will be watch this space!
After the
summer holidays I returned to my contract in Poole but not long until I was
approached to support a previous colleague in the roll out of a Patient Flow
programme of delivery, closer to home being North West London. A journey, in
relative terms just touches the M25 and half the journey to the south coast,
but a humongous challenge in both delivery demands and total difference in
organizational culture. In essence although the sentiment of the contracts were
the same, the two teams were starkly different like ‘chalk & cheese’;
embraced by one, then how hard I had to work for the other team to eventually
be accepted and respected reflected by an amazing sendoff of kind words and
gifts, very touching.
The second
contract in North West London, one of the covid hot-spots in London. I found a
place to stay between the two hospital bases, which turned into a regular walk
to and from the further hospital, a five mile stride! At some points I thought
I was walking through an Indian town with Wembley Stadium as the back drop. It
was one of those moments when I really enjoyed the stark differences between
where I worked and what I came home to, busy grey international vibe of living
in London to the green calm softer tones of Norfolk. This picture is of the
River Brent I crossed at Alperton daily; partially frozen in January.
On the cusp
of lockdown we were still enjoying our caravan from the summer, with Ma n Pa
(Sandra and Kevin) squeezing in a trip to join us for the weekend before Boris impounded
us all again! They enjoyed their motorhome whilst we spent time together; a
take away meal which was out of this world from the Pepperpot exquisite French cuisine,
introduced to the hidden skills of fossil hunting then exhibiting artistic prowess
in stone painting. Really delightful time together to be repeated, hopefully
soon.
There have been a couple of new babies come in to the family through the lockdowns, which has been a strange experience in not being able to meet them and quite curious for their parents in finding new ways to share their little one. My brother Richard and his lovely lady Sophie shared the arrival of Vivienne very early October, keeping us all informed every step of the pregnancy and then some really heart warming pictures and video snippets through out her past eight months. We met baby Viv for the first time just this last May bank holiday weekend, a beautiful happy delightful chatty little girl getting ready to rock the world. Vanessa and Steven welcomed a new grandchild from Jake and Nicola, baby Polly who has now turned one year old in the Spring. Unfortunately I have not met yet as no family gatherings permitted but by all accounts a beautiful placid delight, so looking forward to that family party to say hello!
Finally I squeezed in an acceptable ‘Boris’ sized family meal to celebrate my Sunday birthday before lockdown at our local pub, included parents and my boys with Milo’s lovely Rebecca. A nice celebration, you forget how grateful you are for these moments until not available to you!
We managed to acknowledge Mother’s Day, with some beautiful bouquets and then Milo presented me with an afternoon tea he and Rebecca had made, under the supervision of Rebecca’s mum. By the time I was back from my bike ride the table was laid with table cloth my bone china (not used very often, even surprised he knew where it was) and lots of homemade delicacies. A surprise, wonderful treat and felt much loved.
Finally a major bonus of the past lockdown winter is after ten plus years I have finally finished my Seasons Quilt, every stitch is done by hand and the design has grown with me over the years. It was locked away in a box when Milo mentioned it so I looked for it, Jerry helped me find the straight edges to then complete the last leg of edging and backing in the 2020 motif of rainbows. Its quite a weight and size, check out below how the quilt is above Dylan's head! We have enjoyed a family cuddle on a weekend movie moment, but now the qulit is tucked away in a cupboard until I know what to do with it. What do you think?
Morning Nicola, you are such a super Mum meaning comparison as per Super Woman! How you pack so much into your life with work & family I’m unsure but it’s certainly inspirational & more often than not doing something for others but a loving thought of Milo & partner preparing afternoon tea - how special was that 🥰 Do hope your work will calm down slightly with Covid hospital numbers dwindling 🙏 .... gosh I do hope so for everyone’s sake & sanity ... think we’ve all had enough now especially as the vaccine rollout has been so successful by all concerned & hopefully we’ll be helping other poorer countries soon.
ReplyDeleteOut of interest where do the models come from for the patient flow/Covid wards you plan?
Always enjoy your posts & pictures. Love the painted stones and as for the quilt it really should be hung somewhere. Maybe quilting exhibitions if not your stairwell or bedroom wall? Love to all Liz & Roger x
Thanks Liz, your interest is always guaranteed which is reassuring. Things have calmed down from the peroid of time I was discussing in the blog and with the vaccine programme you woukld expect it should not get to that pint again for Covid, fingers crossed that it the case.
ReplyDeletePatient Flow models are well undererstood and directed through NHS Improvement (NHSI), the principles of delivery for all hospitals is SAFER to deliver Discharge to Assess (D2A). My role is often in adapting the strategic model to local interpretation and this is the bit I enjoy as often it is the smaller twicks to the way a team performs which has the most significant impact. Interestingly the planning for managing Covid very much changed the wards structure, as normally wards are led by specialism and all associated teams are alined to the rhythm of the specialism. But Covid disrupted this as the wards were organised into red (definately covid patients), amber (some associated to potential covid hence needing to isolate for a peroid of time) and green (confirmed non-covid patients who are in isolation to enter these wards, now being used to get the routine surgical programme up and running again) wards. Just to note the specialism was taking a secondary place to the covid status at the hieght of the pandemic, which is an inefficent way to manage the patients illness outside of covid. At the present time all the hospitals are in a transistion position of moving their wards out of covid back to their specialisms.
Hope this is of interest and the answer you were looking for.
Thanks again Liz, great to hear from you.
Sending lots of love Nicola :)
via email from Val & Matthew
ReplyDeleteHi Nicola
We’ve just had a wonderful time reading and watching the video
Lovely memories and some great moments captured of Milo and Dylan
Tell Dylan we’re up for playing with the airplane looks amazing
Looking forward to seeing you soon
Val and Matthew x
via messenger from Milo
ReplyDeleteReally lovely video mum
eamil from Sharon Sweeny
ReplyDeleteSo loved your videos and especially your personal input,beautifully expressed and written with such pure honesty and emotion. Xx