Days of Gratitude - To Jeremy Hunt: We Have A Seven Day NHS Already

Some more good things from my life - even though one of them was nine months ago.

Saturday didn't go quite as planned.  Having to visit two hospitals wasn't how I'd seen the day going when I went to bed on Friday night.  Every single person I saw in those hospitals was courteous and treated me well.  On a Saturday!  You know, one of the two days of the week the Health Secretary seems to think we don't have an NHS.  How I wish someone had made a video containing all the times he has said the words "seven day NHS."  It would be like the Donald Trump "China" video but much, much, much longer.

Yes, on a Saturday I was seen at one hospital, referred to a second hospital, was seen and assessed by nursing staff and treated by a urologist at that hospital (which thankfully could be sorted pretty easily) and was let out at just gone 2pm.  On a Saturday.

20^th May

Grateful to have got out for a while with my wife and taken her somewhere pretty.

Happy to see a heron too.

And grateful for YouTube, to be able to relax in bed in the evening with some of a Broadway production of Into the Woods.

21^st May

Today didn't go totally to plan.

Grateful that Jeremy Hhhhhhhunt is wrong when he says in every single sentence "seven day NHS" as if we haven't got such a thing.

Grateful that the seven day NHS existed for me when I got up this morning and had to go to one of our three walk-in centres urgently and got referred from there to emergency admissions at the Freeman.

Grateful that it's not a serious thing. It needed sorting otherwise it would have become a more serious thing but they managed it. It's not unlikely that it will happen again in which case I'd have to have some surgery.

Grateful that they discharged me from the Freeman Hospital at 2.05 and the bus was ready to go at the bus stop so I was able to get to church for 2.30 which I'd been thinking wouldn't be possible.

Grateful for Rev. Cecilia Eggleston and for what she's done at MCC and in the wider community and for me too during my time at that church.

@reveggleston  A wonderful woman

Grateful that thanks to the staff of Westgate and the Freeman I could still be at her blessing out service despite my little medical emergency. As of today she is no longer the pastor of Northern Lights MCC.  Here's something she wrote a couple of months ago about moving on.

22^nd May

Grateful for being able to have a day on which I did almost nothing to follow all the fun and hospital games of Saturday.

But I didn't take any pictures. So here's one from nine months ago because I've thought about that day a lot.

This is the chapel of Giggleswick School shortly before a big thunderstorm arrived. The picture was taken on August 23rd though rather than August 22nd - there were two big thunderstorms that weekend.

Nine months ago today someone invited and encouraged me to dance and play barefoot in the storm. That evening changed both our lives.  I went to bed that night hoping beyond hope that I had found a friend.  I had.  We have talked every day since and seen each other quite a bit even though we live quite a distance from each other.

Very grateful for thunder, lightning, heavy rain, and unexpected invitations.  Without that storm and without a disco that neither of us could cope with the last nine months may have been very different.

23^rd May

Grateful for NHS vouchers and special offers. So the two pairs of new reading glasses didn't cost £180 but £50 instead. Yes, I went posher than necessary.

Grateful that Blob Thing enjoyed his pot of tea afterwards and that the sun was shining over Monument.

Also nice that The Stand Comedy Club was handing out some free tickets. Yay!