Blot on the landscape

Thanks for all the kind words about my first attempt at blogging my current experience. A bit of a sideways swerve with this one as a few of you asked me to go into more detail about the lady I mentioned who I encountered on my first older people’s ward. I’d not really had any experience of dementia before. My grandfather had developed it very late on in his life, but I’d been shielded from any realistic understanding or experience as he didn’t live close by. So when I met Grace on the ward, she was my first proper encounter. As I mentioned, it was a busy ward with a mix of older people who were admitted with either physical ailments or due to mental ill health or often, both. On reflection, the layout and logistics of the place placed much or almost all of the onus of care on meeting the physical needs of patients as it was a medical ward first and foremost. It meant staff were always busy, with around 30 patients all with varying needs, many needing assistance to wash, dress...

Well I thought I’d try my hand at blogging, mostly as a way to distract myself from a bout of clinical depression, but also to reflect.  I guess I should start by saying hello and introducing myself, but where to start?  Well a lot of people call me Blot, a nickname I picked up whilst working as a landscape gardener back in the late 1980’s. I’m a husband of 29 years and father of two girls, though I guess I should say young women now as they are both in their early twenties. For the past two decades, we’ve lived in a small village in Yorkshire, England. It has two pubs, a village store, primary school, church and a recently modernised village hall. It’s twelve miles where I grew up & I guess at some point I’ll write about that, but that’s for a later piece.  Work has, like most, been a huge part of my life, that is, until late last year when it became increasingly difficult to cope with. I’ll likely discuss aspects of that at a later date too, if I find writing ...