23 Jul 2012 Leave a comment
in Uncategorized Tags: diet, health, healthy-living, lost, weigh-in, weight loss, weight watchers
The weekly weigh-in was not good for me this week.
I stayed the same weight again, even though I followed the damn diet to the letter.
I will continue however, partly because I’ve already paid for next months pass and partly because I don’t like to throw in the towel on anything.
Hopefully I’ll have better results next week to report.
Well done to my friend Debbie again, she lost 2 and a half pounds this week.
20 Jul 2012 3 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: city of bristol college, City of bristol College skills academy, Hengrove leisure centre, hospital nurse, interview, nursing, return to nursing course, South Bristol Community Hospital
About 5 minutes drive away from my home is a brand spanking new hospital called South Bristol Community Hospital. It’s part of a new complex built on old waste land and shares the space with a new leisure centre and the City of Bristol College Skills Academy.
The hospital was opened in March of this year and it’s departments include dental, day surgery, day assessment, physio and occupational therapy, radiology and outpatients. There are 2 inpatient wards specialising in the treatment of strokes and rehabilitation. The Walk-in centre has moved there from it’s Knowle West home and it’s now named the Urgent Care department.
I found myself there today for a job interview to work on the nurse bank as a healthcare assistant until I finish my course and can work as a qualified staff nurse. I don’t think I have ever been in such a quiet hospital. There wasn’t hoards of staff noisily milling around or patients hanging around in corridors waiting to be seen or to be taken somewhere. The hospital is well designed and tastefully decorated in grey, white and chrome, making it a pleasing and restful place to be.
My interview went very well and as long as my references are up to scratch, I have the job. I am a hospital nurse at heart and quite honestly I don’t really want to work in nursing and residential homes, so the agency I joined a few months ago didn’t work out for me.
I think it’ll be good for me to work at this hospital because it’s so close to home, this is important so that I won’t be exhausted by travelling to and from work, especially when I first return to working after not being able to for so long.
Also it’s so exciting to be part of something new, to work in a beautiful purpose built facility that is clean and well equipped.
I’m sure that if I’m offered the job I’ll be very happy there and will choose to stay there as a qualified nurse when I’ve finished the Return to nursing course.
18 Jul 2012 2 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: health, honorary contract, recruitment, Return to nurse practice course, Waiting
I’m having a really frustrating time at the moment. Although I’ve started the Return to nurse practice course at university, I’m still waiting for my honorary contract to be organised by the hospital trust where I’ll be doing my nurse practice hours. Without the contract I can’t start on the unit and I’m conscious time is creeping on and I’ll run out of time to get my minimum amount of hours done.
What I’m worried about is I’m not used to working and I want to ease myself into it and complete the hours without getting exhausted. But as more time goes by I fear I will have to cram in the hours to get them done by the end of the course.
I rang the recruitment department of the trust today to check on the progress so far, as I filled in the preliminary paperwork over a month ago. Having being on hold for so long that I listened to all of Lionel Ritchie’s greatest hits, I finally got through to someone with some answers. My paperwork had only just arrived in their department this morning, so God only knows where it has been for the last few weeks.
I still have a bit of a wait as I need to have a CRB check, occupational health assessment and mandatory training to be done. I’m trying to remain positive and hope that it’ll all be sorted soon.
16 Jul 2012 Leave a comment
in Uncategorized Tags: health, healthy-living, long term goals, reaching my goal, silver seven, size 12, weigh-in, weight loss
I’ve had a much more satisfactory week at fat club this week. At the weigh-in I lost another 1 and half pounds, making that a 7 and half pound weight loss in 5 weeks and I’ve gained a silver seven award for losing half a stone.
At the meeting our leader asked us to share our long term goals for weight loss. I said that I just wanted to get back into size 12 clothes again, I’m sure then I’d be happier with my body.
This week I feel a lot more positive about reaching my goal, especially after last weeks disappointment at staying the same weight as the week before.
My lovely friend next door, Debbie, who is also my fat club buddy lost 3 and a half pounds, so very well done to her as well.
11 Jul 2012 Leave a comment
in Uncategorized Tags: Black beard, Bristol, bristol docks, John Cabot, pirates, talk like a pirate day, The matthew, west country
On Saturday night I went out with some of the staff from where I worked before I got ill. One of the nurses was leaving to start a new job and we all went on a trip around Bristol docks on the Matthew.
The Matthew is the boat that John Cabot sailed in when he discovered America before Columbus. He was an Italian but made his home England, he set off from Bristol in 1497 originally heading for Asia to search for traders. But navigation was obviously not his strongest skill as he ended up at the Americas on the coast of what is now known as Newfoundland.
The replica that we sailed around the docks in was built in 1996 ready for the 500 year anniversary of the voyage and on May 26th 1997 the new Matthew made the same journey as John Cabot did.
The theme of the evening was pirates, so we all stepped out in our best fancy dress. It’s not an unusual sight to see pirates in Bristol there is a long history of piracy in the West country. One of the most famous pirates, Blackbeard, was a Bristolian. His real name was Edward Teach, was born in 1680 and married over a dozen women bigamously. He captained the Queen Anne’s Revenge, a captured slave ship, with a 500 strong gang. They terrorised the American coast and the West Indies for years and were responsible for over 2000 deaths. He eventually died in a bloody battle with pirate hunters, he was shot 5 times and had multiple sword cuts.
In my neck of the woods we take the annual International talk like a pirate day on 19th September very seriously and to help all of you who want to join in, here are some well known pirate phrases for you to practice:
Ahoy – Hello
Arast – Stop and give attention or Check it out or No way!
Aye – Yes
Arrrr! – I agree
Shiver me timbers – exclamation of surprise
Me hearties – My friends
Landlubber – someone who stays on dry land and is rubbish at being a pirate!
10 Jul 2012 Leave a comment
in Uncategorized Tags: Andy Murray, doubles final, fellow brit, frederik nielsen, Jonathan Marray, men's tennis, Roger Federer, sports, tennis, Wimbledon
I watched most of Wimbledon this year following the progress of Britain’s only hope of a grand slam victory, Andy Murray, even though I don’t really like him. In my opinion he is an arrogant man with no personality.
It’s only natural that the papers were full of pictures and news of Murray, especially as he was the first man to reach the Wimbledon final in 76 years. He put up a good fight against Roger Federer and gave him a good run for his money, but he lost the match.
For fellow Brit Jonathan Marray along with his Danish partner Frederik Nielsen it was a very different story. Marray, who got into Wimbledon on a wild card, was also the first British man to reach a final for a long time, since 1936. But the big difference between him and Murray is that Marray won his game.
So one would expect to see equal newspaper coverage for him, but not so, at least not in my paper. There was nothing in the Sunday paper about his win, but plenty of pages dedicated to Murray’s forthcoming game. On Monday again there were pages about Murray’s defeat and subsequent crying and just 2 columns with a small picture about the man that actually won his final.
So I would like to pay tribute to this fantastic achievement myself, it was a very gutsy and entertaining match and they deserved to win the title.
09 Jul 2012 Leave a comment
in Uncategorized Tags: health, healthy-living, Indian takeaway, positive thinking, weight loss, weight watchers
This weeks weigh-in at fat club was a bit disappointing for me, I stayed the same weight as last week.
I don’t understand it as I have followed the diet and I’ve had only one just one transgression, an Indian takeaway,(only ate half), at my brother’s house.
My group leader has tried to reassure me that this is not a big deal and I’ll probably lose weight again next week, but at the moment I don’t believe her.
I’ll just try to keep positive and carry on counting the points and see what next weeks weigh-in brings.
06 Jul 2012 Leave a comment
in Uncategorized Tags: City of Bath, emperor claudius, food, grand facade, hot springs, natural hot springs, Pump Room restaurant, Roman Baths, south west England, travel, water
At the beginning of last week my friend Jane and I needed to pay a visit to the city of Bath. We go there quite often as it’s very close to home, so we have our favourite places to go to. On arrival we were starving so we made our way to what we consider to be the best and most cosy cafe with the tastiest food, but to our bitter disappointment we discovered it was closed down.
As it was pouring down with rain we didn’t hang around for long moaning about it and we didn’t really feel like trapsing around in the foul weather, so we only made it as far as the Pump Room Restaurant. We were enticed inside by the smell of delicious food and the lovely piano playing.
The main building of the Pump room started in 1789 and was completed in 1799 and is a grade 1 listed building, the original building has been added to over the years and it is very handsome. It sits above the natural hot springs and visitors can still take the waters from the spring, the water is an acquired taste as it’s warm and smells like rotten eggs.
Adjacent to the Pump rooms are the Roman Baths, the hot springs that supply the baths were first discovered by the Celts who built a shrine at the site. The Roman Baths were probably built on the orders of Emperor Claudius and were added to and improved over the years of the occupation until the Romans packed up and moved out in the 5th century AD. The visitor site is quite big and well worth the admission fee.
If you find yourself in Bath, don’t be put off by the grand facade of the Pump Room and dismiss it as a bit posh or pretentious. The food is relatively reasonably priced and delicious. Most days there is a string quartet serenading diners and sometimes it’s the pianist who played so beautifully for us on our visit.
Bath is full of delights and I never tire of it, it’s small and perfectly formed for a charming day out.
03 Jul 2012 Leave a comment
in Uncategorized Tags: chatting, friends, friendship, girl power, gossip, listening, nurse practice, support, travel
I was reading my “Woman and Home” magazine today and there was an article on the importance of friendships for women.
I’m lucky to have many friends, women and men, that I have met through the different areas of my life such as; nursing, guiding, bringing up my boys, travelling, exercise classes etc. But I’m even luckier to have a core group of girl friends who have all, in their special way, been an invaluable support especially over the last few years.
I feel I need to name them all as if I’m making an Oscar acceptance speech because they could be reading this post, well at least I hope they are!
My good friends from work are Jane.B, George and Kate, when we are able we meet up on Fridays to have coffee, catch up on gossip and have a mooch around the shops. They also keep me updated with the news from the unit, which is essential to me now as I will be working there on the Return to nurse practice course.
Living next door is my lovely neighbour and friend Debbie, she is always around for good company and she is also my companion and support at fat club.
My friend Bev has her own health problems that are similar to mine and a very lively grand daughter to run around after, but she always makes time for coffee shop meetings to listen and chat.
Married to my brother, Sharon is fabulous, I consider her a friend and a sister and she lets me kidnap my lovely little nieces very often.
My best and oldest friend is Jane or BB as I affectionately call her, (long and complicated story to the name), we have known each other for about 30 years. We first met through scouting and although initially we didn’t spend a lot of time together, when we started having our children we became inseparable. We have shared many good times and plenty of bad times together. We have been ill for about the same amount of time and both seem to be recovering at he same time too, so we are supporting each other trying to get our lives back on track. Jane is going through her own personal problems at the moment, but we always seem to have a good time and often laugh until we cry.
A good friend listens, doesn’t judge, gives advice if needed, says nothing if that is best, tells the truth even if it might hurt, will give support unconditionally and tell you if your bum looks too big in that skirt!
I know my recovery wouldn’t have happened so well if it wasn’t for my special group of friends and I wouldn’t be without them.
02 Jul 2012 Leave a comment
in Uncategorized Tags: diet, fat club, group leader, health, healthy-living, lose weight, weight loss, weight watchers
Just got back from this weeks weigh-in at fat club and I’ve lost 1 and a half pounds.
I must admit at first I was a little disappointed as felt I had lost more and it seemed a very small loss. But my group leader reassured me that it’ll stay off better if I lose the weight gradually.
So in total I’ve lost 6 pounds, that’s nearly half a stone, so I should be very pleased with myself.
Carole Gardiner
back to life 