Funerals

Hmm well… on the weekend I found out my aunty died on Christmas Eve and my mum asked if I could go to a little family get together this evening and I said I would. She said my ‘grandad’ would be there and I was a little hesitant because I can’t say we really get on all that great, never have, but I tried to put my feelings about it to the side, if I didn’t go my mum would be upset and it’s a little get together to remember my aunt by, from what I thought, anyway. Also, my Uncle G would be there, and he was travelling all the way from Australia, I had never met him before and it would be a great chance to.

Anyway… this evening I was umm’ing and arr’ing whether to go or not. I really didn’t want to because I didn’t want to be in the same room as my grandad, and I just didn’t feel up to going anyway. I was talking to Callum and he was trying to make me decide and in the end after a lot of fussing about, I decided to.

As soon as I walked in the room I was greeted by my Uncle K (aunts husband) and Uncle G (from Australia), both of them were lovely but Uncle K was a little quiet which was understandable. He was really upset because of my auns death, he said it was unexpected but we didn’t know when the funeral is, I didn’t want to ask. No one knew, don’t think a dates been arranged yet…

Anyway, mu ‘grandad’ (and I use that term lightly) was a total pig towards me, he didn’t say hello or ackowledge my presence at all. I tried to talk to him but he was ignoring what I said, when he asked a question to the group and I answered, he asked it again to the others, pretending like he didn’t hear me or whatever. He didn’t look at me. Didn’t say anything to me. It was like I just wasn’t there. First I was upset and embarrassed, then I just stopped trying and waited for him to talk to me. Ha. As if that was going to happen.

My mum keeps saying “he’s changed, he wants to get to know you, he misses you” etc…. it’s a load of rubbish. He doesn’t care. He never has. He has dislike me from the minute I was born and I don’t know why?? Because I “stole” his daughter, what sort of reason is that to hold a grudge for 20 years. I thought perhaps there was a slight possibilty we could move on from it all, how wrong I was.

*Sighs* Anyway… what family ISN’T complicated.

So now that’s two funerals I’m going to. One on Friday (my uncle R, from my dads side, who died the weekend before Christmas) and Aunty P, from my mums side, who died on Christmas eve. Bad end to the year, and a bad start.

Facebook and People

Well, Callum is sitting beside me and we’re both on our laptops, on Pet Society – an application on Facebook. Callum is in the ‘Stylists’ store and is clicking the ‘randomise’ button looking at the different styles you can make your Pet look like, some are cute, others are just plain scary. My ‘Orange Pie’ (name of pet) is betting in the Stadium and has won three times on the trot. Now she has bet on ‘Sketchy’ (Callum’s pet) to win a race and wonders if he is going to ruin her stream of good luck!

I forget I have these smileys… I need to use them more often.

Anyway, today Callum, dad and myself were invited to a nieghbours for a few hours. The family only recently moved to the UK from Europe and they are a lovely family. They are quite a big family and only 2 of them speak good English (the others know bits and pieces) so these two ended up doing the translating for the family. They were showing us their family video and shown us around the house, invited us to stay for lunch but we said we would another time.

I’m tired today, and my cough is still there it’s driving me crazy. I still can’t taste food which is annoying especially as it’s Christmas and there’s all sorts of yummy food around.

Hmm… “Sketchy finished in third place”. Ruining my lucky run.

Tags: christmas, health, life, people, thoughts

A Day at the Races

Today I was providing first aid cover at a racecourse, it was a large race meeting today so they were expecting thousands of people, and it was thousands of people they got. Thankfully we didn’t get many casualties but typically, the last race something just had to happen…

The race was 10 minutes late starting and what had happened was in the paddocks, one of the horses who was due out to race went a bit crazy, flung the jockey off him who fell onto the floor, kicked another person in the paddock in the head and then fell onto the jockey, lodging him between the horse and the wall. Didn’t sustain any apparent head injuries and was talking etc but was in a lot of pain in her hip area. She was administered morphine by the onsite doctor and strapped to a board to stablise her and then had to wait for the ambulance, the race happened and the meeting drew to a close by the time the ambulance got there, thankfully there were plenty of trained personel in the jockeys hospital (on site) including 1 red cross paramedic, two private ambulance paramedics, one county paramedic (only saw one… there was probably another around, though), a doctor and a nurse. Oh, and the trainer decided to say hello too, he was very upset and wouldn’t leave the jockey when we asked him to step back, in the end he spoke to the doctor he was most concerned about any possible spinal injuries, I guess seeing the jockey strapped to the board was a concern to him, but the doctor reassured him sayinng it was more of a precaution than anything and to stablise her. Anyway off the jockey went to hospital, the other person who was kicked in the head was surprisingly ok.

I got to drive one of the ambulances today. I was a bit reluctant because I was a bit nervous, haven’t drove this one before! My feet could hardly reach the pedals and the handbrake was in an odd place! Stalled it a few times and I think I scared one of the guys I was in the ambulance with, because when we got out of the ambulance and had to get back in, he jumped in the drivers seat before I had the chance to. Haha. I wasn’t THAT bad. Seriously, I wasn’t.

I’m waiting for Callum now, he’s staying a few days and I’m picking him up in 20 minutes, then going to my mums to drop off her Christmas presents.

Tags: driving, life, people, red cross

explodingdog 2008

I was stumbling and came across this site, I saw it a long time ago and Stumble reminded me how awesome it is. You simply e-mail Sam Brown with a title of an image you’d like him to draw and he’ll draw it, and you can buy them. The drawings are so good and creative his work really is worth a look.

explodingdog 2008

Tags: links

Work and Stuff

Current Mood: Tired

Wow, what a day… work as stressful and I didn’t stop. Started almost as soon as I started work when I walked in a flat to see a tenant on the floor, not moving or talking. I was concerned but felt a sense of relief when I heard moans and groans and incoherant sounds coming from here. She said she felt sick and was vomiting on the carpet so I asked her if she fell, did she hurt herself/in any pain, did she bang her head and she said no, she just fell. My senior arrived and we had to call in my colleague to help out so there were three of us with her. It was a difficult task getting her up off the floor (she was laying in the most uncomfortable of positions) and onto a bed, we did use an inflatable cushion but she concerned me a lot, looks like she had a possible stroke.

Another tenant is dying, in complete heart failure and there is absolutely nothing we can do for her, and it has upset the staff as well as her fellow nieghbours who know about it (her friends). She is a lovely, lovely lady who has a wonderfully supportive family (unfortunately, it’s not the case with a lot of the others…), she is so weak, this lady knows she is dying, the way she talks and I honestly think people do know when it is ‘their time’. Today my boss spoke to her at length and she will not go into hospital, to be honest I can understand her. This lady knows everyone and they think of us, the staff, as good friends, family, people they know. No one wants to die in hospital on their own and possibily down to one of the numerous infections floating about on the wards… It just makes me so sad, I really, really hope she makes it through to the new year, I think that is what this lady is fighting for.
You feel useless but I think in times like this they just appreciate the company and care, my job is rewarding but at the same time you just cannot help but get attached to the tenants and you do think of them as friends so at times it can be depressing.

There’s quite a few tenants who are ill, between going back and forth to their flats and serving up the Boxing Day 3 course lunch it has been busy… my colleague asked if I wanted to go out tonight but I was so tired I said I’d rather stay in and do nothing. Ha, right. As soon as I got home I was back out at Tescos shopping (food shopping, not ‘January Sales’, they can kiss my ass). Then I cleaned up the living room. Then I cleaned the gerbil cage, and cooked the dinner, set up the new DVD player. Now I’m drinking a glass of wine.

Providing first aid cover tomorrow at the Welsh National, you may see me on the TV

Tags: christmas, red cross, thoughts, work

Merry Christmas!

Current Mood: Crazy

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Hope you’re all having a good day. =)

I am feeling a lot better today. Thank goodness. I felt so ill last week I can’t put it into words. On Saturday I started panicking because it was almost Christmas and I was nowhere near ready for it, so I dragged myself out of bed and went to town but I was home within 30 minutes. I felt so weird, I couldn’t think properly at all and I just needed to get home and as soon as I did I collapsed onto the sofa. Totally draining. My nose is still blocked one minute, running the next, which is a pain but heck, I can’t complain. My poor boss has it now and is refusing to take time off work (Christmas time and all that) but I am just really hoping I don’t catch it again!!!

Christmas Day has actually gone a lot better than I thought it would. I was finishing off my wrapping last night and realised I have actually bought a lot of presents, it’s no wonder my bank looks like it has taken a battering and when I checked to see if I got paid the other day, it seemed like I hadn’t (I was paid, just I spent so much it didn’t look like it…). Thing is, with Christmas I understand it’s all commercialised these days which, to be honest, I don’t like but then at the same time, I do like treating my friends and family and buying gifts for them… it’s just the effect it has on the bank. Ouch. >_>

Anyway today I was working. I had to dress up as St. Trinians today so there I was in my knee high boots, black skirt, fishnets, shirt, carelessly tied tie and scruffed up hair in bunches. Father Christmas popped by on his way home to drop off some presents for the tenants then we served a 3 course lunch and the boss let us home early. I didn’t bother getting changed, couldn’t be bothered. We looked like a bunch of hookers if the nieghbours wanted to talk, let them, I really couldnt care less! Haha

I was surprised by the presents I got today. I have a new Samsung SGH-G600 and it looks so sexy. Also got 9 pairs of socks (I love socks, so I actually don’t mind getting them for Christmas!), chocolates, wine, cute puppy themed diary/calendar, clothes.

Thing is… it’s not almost 9pm and it makes you think… all this stress and worry is coming to an end. All the headaches and worrying, lack of sleep for ONE DAY IN THE YEAR. It’s crazy. *Sighs* I think I’ll turn to the shopping channels. I watched Bid TV out of curiousity the other night and was shocked at the prices!! One lovely necklace went down from £300 to £50 or something… and there was a globe that went down from £1,100 to £81 :O I need to stop watching or I’ll end up buying and I can’t afford to. >_>

Anyway, Happy Christmas everyone! Have a drink for me, seeing as I’m driving in the morning to work I can’t (and wouldn’t, anyway) take the risk. No doubt there will be plenty of police on patrol in morning randomly stopping people and breathalising them.

Tags: christmas, health, life, people, thought

Hiyaz

Sorry for lack of updates I have just been sooo busy and such. The rally went really well and this last weekend I was in London and had an awesome time. This week I had a really nasty chest and ended up being on the sick from work. Today my chest is feeling a lot better than goodness although I have them dreaded ‘lady pains’ so this week has generally sucked when it comes to my physical health. I do feel really, really tired today though… my immune system has taken a beating.

Tomorrow I am back in work, my contract actually ends today so I am back to casual relief tomorrow… the woman I’m covering for is meant to return off the sick but I don’t know all the details, all I know is she isn’t in tomorrow.

Anyway just thought I’d make an entry to let ya’ll know I wasn’t dead. I’ll write a proper entry tonight or tomorrow.. probably tomorrow when I feel more ‘with it’.

See ya. x

Tags: life

Hiyaz

Sorry for lack of updates I have just been sooo busy and such. The rally went really well and this last weekend I was in London and had an awesome time. This week I had a really nasty chest and ended up being on the sick from work. Today my chest is feeling a lot better than goodness although I have them dreaded ‘lady pains’ so this week has generally sucked when it comes to my physical health. I do feel really, really tired today though… my immune system has taken a beating.

Tomorrow I am back in work, my contract actually ends today so I am back to casual relief tomorrow… the woman I’m covering for is meant to return off the sick but I don’t know all the details, all I know is she isn’t in tomorrow.

Anyway just thought I’d make an entry to let ya’ll know I wasn’t dead. I’ll write a proper entry tonight or tomorrow.. probably tomorrow when I feel more ‘with it’.

See ya. x

Tags: life

Ambulance and Checklist

Town this morning was swarming with ambulances on blue lights, I saw three in half hour, whether it was the same ambulance trying desperately to get to a location I don’t know. I think the sound of sirens have different meaning for different people, whenever I hear sirens I think of people getting help but then at the same time I wonder what goes through the mind of the ambulance crews. Being a religious reader of some paramedic/call centre blogs it really makes you realise the amount of work these guys do and the amount of crap they have to put up with in their line of work. Nevertheless it’s still a rewarding job I don’t doubt.

Anyway I posted some Christmas Cards to friends overseas, not finished yet but I have started, at least. I am going to jump in the shower after finishing this entry and I doubt I’ll update again until Sunday. I will be texing Twitter every now and then so keep an eye on the ‘Tweets’ if you’re interested. I am being picked up any time after 4pm, here’s my checklist:

• Mobile phone
• Torch
• Gloves
• Money (only a few quid)
• MP3 Player
• Flask + Milk
• Blankets
• ID Card
• Watch
• Scarf
• First Aid Kit
• Sweets
• Operation Plan
• Clinic Waste from the last event I went on, it needs to be incinerated.
• A good book (yet to decide)
• Makeup
• Uniform
• Matchsticks to keep eyes open
• Beanie

Think that’s it!

Tags: life, red cross

Auditions and Rallys

Went to the Auditions yesterday and it was a very long day and was so tired when I got home. I met a lot of the crew and there was filming all day, there was a good atmosphere. I saw a few good acts which I think could possibly get through to the second round (well, the first I guess, technically… they needed to get through the producers first, and next round they meet the three judges Simon, Piers and Amanda)… There were loads of dancing acts, many of them were practising in the holding area (with the crew filming it) and I walked into the toilets at one stage to find a dance group there being filmed practising as well… anyway it was a long day and the auditions finished about 7pm, then I headed home. Why is it when I head home from somewhere I don’t know at nighttime, I ALWAYS take the WRONG road? I miss a turning here, an exit there… last night I had to go right around the city centre before being able to get back on the right track. The other week I went to a stadium and on the way back I took the wrong route and ended up going down a very long dark road that smelt of horse shite with my sat nav screaming at me “MAKE A U TURN! MAKE A U TURN!”. Ok, Ok, geeze!

Anyway tomorrow I’m going to the Wales Rally GB Championship Final held in mid – south Wales, there will be over 100 cars competing and they are expecting over 100,000 spectors thoughout the few days. Oh joy. I will be picked up tomorrow evening and won’t be back until Saturday evening, so I won’t get online. I will be texting Twitter every now and then though, so if you’re interested, keep an eye on it.

See ya!

Tags: life, red cross