Category Archives: Uncategorized

Love letter to my Lido. I didn’t pay you much attention at first. I knew you were in walking distance of my house but with babes in buggies and the UK climate I never really explored what you had to offer. But then, lockdown, covid, months of being either in doors or behind a maskContinue reading “A love letter to my Lido”

We all have our first times.. Our first cardiac arrest, our first catheter, our first tears. Written in April 2022. A Close Shave I remember the first man I shaved. He was my friend; I was 22 years old. I stood in the bathroom of his student house, razor at the ready.                ‘This isContinue reading “The First Time”

(This is part of a longer piece in the collection of my memoir A Wall of Hearts. It is a very raw, emotive and personal piece of writing that at first I was reluctant to share. However I can imagine many other parent’s have felt/feel the same). Tiny Hands and Tiny Feet. My son isContinue reading “To Mother and to Nurse”

(A tribute to a woman I never knew: I have wanted to write this to her for a long time. I often think of her still – written Jan 2022) In April 2020 the world was hiding behind closed doors. The roads were empty, school playgrounds and parks deserted and silent. A fear had engulfedContinue reading “A tribute to a woman I never knew.”

So Boris hosted a lockdown party. Another violation of the rules. The rules he and his government made to keep us safe, to keep the NHS fires burning, the same rules that they then very much disregarded and broke. I think back to May 2020. Home schooling. Lockdown. The loneliness of not seeing friends andContinue reading “In May 2020….”

(With lots of speculation about another possible lockdown – here is my experience of London city during March 2020. This piece is part of a collection called A Wall Of Hearts, which is my memories of the world during the pandemic. Here going in to work for a shift during the first and only trueContinue reading “A Solitary Seagull”

(A reading of the winning essay for the Kimberly St John Essay Prize by Namaste Care International. December 2021)

(Written in response to the news of the alleged Downing Street Christmas Party of 2020- some readers may find this distressing. Reposting owing to the reluctance of Boris and the now government to publish whatsApp and text messages during this time.) This piece was Shortlisted for the Yeovil Writing Without Restrictions Prize 2022. …. DearContinue reading “Dear Boris, I lied too.”

The Christmas Shift 2020 (I wrote this in January 2021 following working the whole of Christmas 2020- this is completely unedited and exactly how I felt once I reflected on the period). Normally we wear tinsel in our hair, we wear sparkling glasses in the shape of Christmas trees. We walk the wards with smilesContinue reading “To Wear Tinsel In Our Hair”

(Opinion piece written in September 2021) The shortage of HGV drivers has interested me greatly. The public out-cry, the governments eagerness to change visa’s, offer short term contracts. Yet according to the Royal Collage of Nursing we currently have an estimated shortage of 50,000 Nurses in England and Wales. Of the nurses we do currentlyContinue reading “I can’t drive a HGV but I have many other skills – Opinion piece”