Saturday 23 July 1664 in which Pepys has a fling and is ashamed of it
This was the day I had been waiting on albeit in a neutral state of mind when I hoped to move forward in my role as patients’ representative for the Bristol area group of hospitals. My enthusiasm can only last for a certain amount of time and in the last month or so it had waned considerably.
Patients for Quality Trauma Discharge are selected carefully based on a number of criteria: the severity and type of the injuries, the age of the patient, the ability to cope with insults in general were some of the factors. The hospital are trying to build up the quality of service not only with these people but with others who may need some type of ‘after sales service’. We were about 45 min into the conversation during which I heard what the criteria are for people being identified for special treatment and what literature they are provided with when suddenly I had my ‘eureka’ moment
When the trauma team representative said that they were having difficulty in building up a database of services in the regional area, my ears pricked up. whilst I was in London I researched and produced two books, one being the Homeless Directory for London and the second being an AIDS/HIV directory for London; all the services in the 29 boroughs were included. Confession: I have somewhat of a ‘thing’ for assembling data and when they said they needed a regional directory of all services that trauma patients might require for Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire I realised that that this type of task was up my street and it is the sort of activity that I do well and efficiently.
I felt a great sense of peace at this point and felt that the purpose of the meeting had been achieved as in ‘we can all go home now’ which was just as well because my counterpart only had a one-hour meeting and it was ten to the hour when we made the discovery. I celebrated by going off to get a coffee and cake. Now I must find out how much this whole thing is going to cost me because I don’t think the hospital will pay for it though you never know. It will benefit them so maybe they should pay something
in the main reception area of Southmead Hospital
I then had a talk with my website manager on the phone. The construction of a relational database geared to hold up to say 1000 organisations over three counties would probably require about £2000. I don’t know whether I’m willing to spend this out of my own moneyso if I can get the hospitals to pay for it on the grounds that they will benefit then that is the direction I will take.
And now, off to the centre of Bristol where I’m going to see a film at the watershed. I love walking through certain areas of the city as they are so laid-back, cool and trendy as the following pictures will illustrate.
large-scale graffiti
speaks for itself
a whole road junction transformed
original street art
heavy duty graffiti
political statement
an enterprising food outlet
And so to see the “city of ghosts” at the Watershed avant-garde cinema which I think is sponsored by Bristol Council. It was a close up and personal view of those who campaigned against Isis in Syria. The more cornered ISIS were the more brutal they became including public beheadings, shootings and hangings of people who were against Isis. We saw the whole scene through the proponents of an anti-Isis movement who eventually realised they had no choice for their own safety but to move to Turkey but when there realising that this was not safe and they eventually moved to Germany where they were relatively well looked after.
The problem was that ISIS followed them there and one of their number was killed in Munich. There was a focus on one particular freedom fighter whose father and brother was killed in the hope that he would give up the fight against ISIS but he vowed to stay on and fight at great personal cost to his nerves and his emotional stability. The film is harrowing and we saw scenes of children of of eight years of age being trained to shoot people in the head We saw public shootings and people moving from refuge to refuge knowing that Isis were determined to kill them.
Syrian people, indeed Arabs in general, express themselves very warmly to each other and men hug and kiss other men in a very nurturing manner. Because I am so used to seeing violence and dreadful things it did not affect me very much but there were others in the audience who were moved to tears.
I left the movie and sauntered back to the bus station in the evening sunshine dressed only in a T-shirt. I popped into the nearest Tesco express and bought a very nice portion of diced chicken in a lemon sauce which have been reduced to £.81 from £3.25 because it was the last day that it could be sold – the so-called best by date. I have always had my doubts about the meaning of ‘best by’ but never mind I had a lovely meal and felt satisfied. The bus from Bristol to Street in Somerset goes through lovely countryside and on the way I received through the open windows of the bus a glorious breeze of lavender from the adjacent fields. Oh to be in the country it is such a positive nurturing experience.
And so to home, watched the programme on the 20th anniversary of the death of Diana Princess of Wales and then to my office to write this diary.
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