Apr
20
2008
2

RC Part 26 – The Other Side of the Dale by Gervase Phinn

Another quick read, The Other Side of the Dale by Gervase Phinn. It was another 10p charity shop buy, and whilst I knew I knew the name of the author I couldn’t work out why. I have only just realised that he also wrote the book A Wayne in a Manger which I think I gave to birdie for Christmas a couple of years ago.

The book is about Gervase Phinn’s experiences as a newly appointment County Inspector of Schools in North Yorkshire. The front cover of the book has a quote which describes him as The James Herriot of Schools which seems to me to be very accurate. It is a lovely humerous book but a very gentle read. His love for his job and his commitment to the children he meets is obvious and he relates amusing stories of his visits to schools, and in particular the things that the children say to him.

I really enjoyed it and will keep an eye out for his other books.

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized |
Apr
18
2008
1

Louise’s presents!

I also meant to say, for Louise’s birthday I made her a fabulous apron. As she is now getting old she needs an apron to wear in the kitchen. It was either that or a housecoat. The pattern is designed by a woman who goes by the name of Montessori by Hand. Her blog is really inspiring as she has loads of fantastic craft projects on the go. This apron is fully reversible and has a fab ruched bodice and flared skirt. Here are a couple of pictures, ably modelled by one of my work colleagues in the office!!

DSCN4229DSCN4234

I also made her a special card, although I decided not to put her age on it as it just didn’t look right!

DSCN4235

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized |
Apr
18
2008
8

Happy Birthday Louise!!

53

Yesterday was my little sister’s 30th birthday (how did that happen?) but I didn’t have time to blog about it.

She and I are like chalk and cheese at times.

She is tall, slim and beautiful… and quite frankly I am not, but I adore her in so many different ways. She can be a pain in the backside… like she will not acknowledge that I am always right. She is a terrible cheat and playing Monopoly with her is an event few will repeat. She is extremely competitive and loves winning and her love of sport to manage her emotions is well known amongst her friends. She is gorgeous, fun to be with and if she gets a fit of the giggles it can take a while for her to pull herself together. If we both get the giggles together it is a bit of a nightmare.

Her obsession with keeping her hair curly and the fact she spends all her time scrunching it up when it is wet really irritates me. There is only one thing that irritates me even more than the hair thing and it is the fact that she will ALWAYS leave some toothpaste in the sink when she has finished brushing her teeth. She is a great driver, but a lousy navigator. She is much more Godly than me and she is more conservative in her views. She cannot spell for toffee and her writing is almost as illegible as our Dad’s.

She cannot hold her drink these days, although in the past she was much more hardcore. As Dad can testify when he went out in the middle of the night to town to find her when she was about 16 – I was already tucked up in bed by that time, as I was so drunk I couldn’t stay awake! Although I do remember desperately trying to act sober when Dad came into our bedroom to ask me where she was.

Louise and I might argue at times, we have our issues, but for me blood will always be thicker than anything else. She has had a rough few years and life is now being good to her, something I am so grateful for. I love her to pieces and cannot imagine my life without her. I know I have been a complete bitch to her at times but I adore her and who she is. I miss her when I am not with her, and yet when we are together we wind each other up. What I do know is that I can rely on her totally and I love her very, very much.

So, my darling Louise. I love you, I miss you and thank you for being such a wonderful sister.

Louise4<a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/34746081@Louise8Louise3
33

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized |
Apr
17
2008
0

RC Part 25 – Iris & Ruby by Rosie Thomas

Time for one of the 50p books I purchased at the hospital last week.

Iris & Ruby by Rosie Thomas was an unexpected gem of a book.
This book is a beautiful story, with three heroines, 82-year-old Dr Iris Black, her distant daughter Lesley and her stroppy 18-year-old granddaughter Ruby.

At 82-years-old Iris is living in a big old dusty house with two Egyptian servants who are almost as old as she is. Her quiet world is interrupted when her difficult granddaughter with piercings and major attitude lands on her doorstep from England. They have barely spoken for years as Iris does not get on with her daughter, but somehow Ruby persuades Iris to let her stay. During the course of the book Ruby encourages Iris to talk about her early years, living in Cairo in the 1940’s when she was working as a civilian for the military. The story unfolds of Iris’ great love for a soldier called Xan who died during the conflict and the impact this had on all her subsequent relationships. The book beautifully captures the bustling streets, the horror of war and the loss of every person involved in the conflict. It also shows modern day Cairo, the tourism and the historical parts of the city and the descriptions of the place are vibrant and rich and made me want to visit to see whether it really is like that.

The relationship between Iris and Ruby is initially tenuous and yet it develops into a deep and respectful love, and as Ruby’s confidence in her own person develops her softer, kinder and more gentle nature appears. In so many ways this relationship reminded me of the the relationship I had with my Gran Nora. Gran would talk a lot about her experiences of living in Guernsey during the Occupation. At times she would repeat herself and yet I would find a deep need in myself to ask her questions and try and share with her some of those memories. I miss Gran a lot, and yet I know I shared some really special times with her. In particular just before I came home after Christmas I went to visit her in hospital after her fall. As my flight was leaving in the afternoon the nursing staff allowed me to visit in the morning, outside of visiting hours and we shared a whole uninterrupted hour and we talked and talked and then Gran prayed with me. What a precious memory as she died 8 weeks later. I miss her very much.

Anyway, it is a long time since a novel affected me so deeply. I couldn’t put it down, and every time I picked it up I felt I was transported to a different world. It is a beautiful story of fragmented families, strong, rich and painful histories and the reconciliation that can happen when people make the decision to talk, and to talk honestly.

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized |
Apr
15
2008
4

RC Part 24 – Sepulchre by Kate Mosse

I have just finished reading Sepulchre by Kate Mosse. I really loved her first novel, Labyrinth and I therefore had high expectations of this one.

It is a time-shift novel, set over two different eras with different characters telling stories which intersect over the decades. The first story is set in 1891 – 1897. It is about the Vernier family, specifically brother and sister, Anatole and Leonie and their visit to the country to stay with an aunt they have never met at her house called Domaine de la Cade near Carcasonne. The story is spooky in places, involves a bit of tarot and at times it got a little confusing,.

The second story was much easier to understand (until the end of the book) and it focuses on a young American woman called Meredith Martin and is set in 2007. She is researching a book on Debussy and her journey takes her France and she also ends up staying in Domaine de la Cade which is now a hotel. Not only is she researching a book but she is also looking into her family history which seems to stem back to the Carcasonne region.

I enjoyed this book but it didn’t seem to have the same drive as her first novel and in places it felt a little clunky. The stories about the family were interesting but some of the weird paranormal stuff became a little trying towards the end. I wish she had developed the Debussy theme a little more, as it seems that this could have added a bit more depth to the story. Having said all that, I did enjoy it, it was just the ending which irritated the crap out of me because it all seemed a little convenient and rushed.

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized |
Apr
14
2008
10

Feelings

Tonight I am feeling unbearably sad and terribly lonely. I guess over the last few days I have been reminded so much of how hard it can be to be single and living on your own when things are tough. There is no-one to come home to and offload and share those feelings. No-one to give you a cuddle, make you a cup of tea and share the pain. Somehow sadness multiplies the lonelines infinitely until there are no other emotions. They become all-consuming and unhealthy, and yet there is no-one there to help pull you out of it.

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized |
Apr
13
2008
6

Is it just me?

I was sitting in church today getting more and more irritated. There was a woman there with a a toddler who just kept grizzling, shouting, crying etc. He disturbed the sermon and all the prayers but the woman made no move whatsoever to take him out of the service and into the creche. It really wound me up, but then I started wondering that maybe it was just me who thought it was inconsiderate.

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized |
Apr
11
2008
3

A timely reminder

Like most people I can find the people I work with irritating at times. However, today I have found out how great they can be. My boss had mentioned to me yesterday that should I need it the organisation has a debriefing service for use after serious incidents. I don’t feel a great need to use this provision because today I got into the office at 8am so that I could write up the incident form, talk to the coroner’s office etc. One by one the rest of the team arrived and everyone was there at about 8.30am and we just sat and talked. We talked about our feelings, the emotions of dealing with the death of a long-term client and the trauma of finding a dead body. We also laughed about the silly things the client had done, like the fact that he contacted the paramedics a couple of weeks ago so they could break into the closed off-licence for him. I was almost proud of him when I heard this story! Most of all though I felt their support, kindness and the affirmation they gave me for all the work I had done with this client. I truly work with an amazing team of experienced professionals.

Today I had to telephone the mother of the client who died and when she found out that I was one of the people who had found him she said to me “Oh darling. How awful for you. Are you OK?” Her compassion for me in the middle of her grief was extraordinary and she has invited me to the funeral, telling me that I am like one of the family! (and what a dysfunctional family to be ‘adopted into!!) What potentially was a nightmare conversation was made easier by her humanity and honesty.

A few weeks ago one of my clients described me as being ‘hard’. If only they knew the truth. I feel deeply for my clients and the things they have to go through. I have cried for them in private and worked my arse off for them on many different issues but most of all I was reminded today that it is always a privilege to work with these people. I expect them to disclose all sorts of information to me, to tell me their deepest fears and failings and yet time and time again they surprise me with their compassion and kindness.

What a job! A mixture of grief, hope, anxiety, frustration, fear and delight. Who could ask for more?

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized |
Apr
10
2008
5

Not so happy :(

Sometimes I get a stark reminder of how shit this job can be.

One of my clients has been conspicuous by his absence for the last few days. I was starting to get worried about it so I phoned the police station (they hadn’t seen him), phoned the hospital (they hadn’t seen him) and finally phoned his mother who said that he was really drunk on Sunday and they’d had a bit of an argument. Finally I went to his flat with one of my colleagues and persuaded a neighbour to let me in where we found him dead on his sofa.

I am absolutely gutted as he was a lovely bloke, even when he was drinking he wasn’t too much trouble… in fact he was a crap drunk. He was a real Eastender and ran with the big boys at times, but went into ‘retirement’ a few years ago. I keep wondering if I had done enough for him but I had bent over backwards to help him and gone above and beyond the call of duty in so many ways. I think I knew yesterday that something had happened to him as usually he would have been falling through the office door asking for help.

I am gutted for his family and the world will be a much less colourful place without him in it.

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized |
Apr
09
2008
3

Oh, so happy!

I bought a fabulous skirt from a charity shop today for the bargain price of £3.50. The best thing about it though is that it is a size 16. I don’t think I have worn that size since I was about 16 years old.

The smallest things keep me happy but it would appear that the dieting and exercise is finally paying off!

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized |

Design: TheBuckmaker.com WordPress Themes