As I ran round the village first thing this morning, a number of my regular nodding acquaintances commented that it was “warmer” today. I beg to differ. The correct description is “less cold”. But there was still ice on the millpond and, more dangerously, ice just below the surface of the puddles on the bridle path, waiting like a booby trap for any unsuspecting walker or runner going even moderately quickly.
The sense of community works though; we were all warning those who crossed our path of places with ice remaining or fallen trees still not removed. We need to look after each other.
In the village centre they were distributing small christmas trees to participating shops, cafes, even individual houses. These trees will be positioned above the main doors of such places. They will be decorated ready for the great “Light Up Delph” ceremony, which will take place sometime very soon.
In the 1960s all the girls wanted to have smooth glossy hair with a smooth glossy fringe
down to their eyebrows, just like Cathy McGowan, presenter of the pop-music show “Ready Steady Go”.
This was in the days before hair straighteners and the vast range of hair products available today, something of a nightmare for those of us with annoyingly naturally curly hair. I used to plaster my fringe to my forehead with one of the few products available, Amami Setting Lotion, and cycle to school secure in the knowledge that it would not shift. Arrived at school, I would comb out my stiff fringe and, lo and behold, a fashionable soft fringe would emerge. Of course, if PE was on the timetable for that day, and if we had to go outside to play hockey in the drizzle, all my efforts were in vain.
Nowadays, Claudia Winkleman’s is the fringe to emulate.
Even with my hair straighteners I am not sure I could quite achieve the “look”. Besides, if I were to manage to do so I suspect it might lead to divorce proceedings judging by Phil’s explosion whenever her image appears: “Good grief! How can she see anything?”
Anyway, here is a link to an article about clip-on fringes and the difference it can make to a woman’s confidence and life in general. Who knew that such a thing as a clip-on fringe existe
At around the same time that I was trying to have a fashionable fringe, I remember that our family doctor would “pop in” to check up on how the family was getting along. Similarly, moving on to the 1980s, I remember regular home visits from a health visitor in the few weeks after my babies were born, checking up that as a recently-delivered mother I was coping and the baby was thriving. I’m fairly sure that doesn’t happen now. Here’s an extract from an article about the NHS from today’s Guardian:
“GPs can no longer guarantee safe care for millions of patients because of a dangerous shortage of medics, Britain’s top family doctor has said.
Prof Kamila Hawthorne, the chair of the Royal College of GPs (RCGP), said surgeries were desperate to hire more doctors to meet soaring demand for care but could not afford to do so because of a lack of core funding.
Exhausted family doctors have been working “completely unsafe hours” because their surgeries did not have the cash to recruit new staff or replace those quitting, increasing the risk of serious errors or deadly conditions being missed, she said.
“GPs will always push themselves to do what’s best for our patients, but we can’t go on like this,” Hawthorne said. “GP workload pressures are so pronounced that many of our members are telling us they are worried they can’t guarantee safe care when there aren’t enough GPs to keep up.””
Now, there are masses of recently qualified doctors whom would love to join a team at a local surgery. Unfortunately the funds are not being made available to fund those extra doctors and provide a more efficient service. When you do manage to see your GP, you have to be rather assertive if you want to see a specific member of the team, at least at our local surgery. I’m pretty sure there would be fewer mental health problems if GPs had the time to get to know their patients and maybe notice problems before they became crises. In the same way, I am sure new young mothers would cope better with adjusting to motherhood if there were more regular support.
But it’s all down to funding and I expect someone will call me an idealist, a nostalgic idealist at that!
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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