As Winter Turns to Spring

As Winter turns to Spring.

Now — now, as low I stooped, thought I,

I will see what this snowdrop is;

As winters dark aura covers the land the humble snowdrop defies its icy grip and emerges to give us hope that Spring cannot be denied and will soon banish the cold. 

So shall I put much argument by,

And solve a lifetime's mysteries.

A northern wind had frozen the grass;

This tiny delicate flower must be the toughest tenacious and hardiest of our garden flowers. Pushing its slender leaves through the hardest of frost bitten soils in the first two months of every new year. It raises our spirits and we are glad to see those pale green shoots topped by a shy white bowing flower head.  

Its blades were hoar with crystal rime,

Aglint like light-dissecting glass

At beam of morning prime.

Snowdrops were first described by the classical Greek author Theophrastus in the fourth century BC.

Rembert Dodoens, a Flemish botanist described and illustrated it in 1583 as did Gerard the herbalist in 1597. The genus was formally named by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. He described it as a single species Galanthus Nivalis. Other well known botanists have contributed to the knowledge of the species and there are around 20variations of the galanthus specious. The most common and the most prolific are the Galanthus Nivalis.

Its angled, slender, cold, dark stem,

Whence dangled an inverted cup

For tri-leaved diadem.

Beneath these ice-pure sepals lay

So well beloved are these delightful little blooms that there are dedicated Snowdrop walks in big estates across the country. Its small white scaleless bulbs escape the most ruthless of garden clearances and pop up in the most unexpected places the following spring.  

A triplet of green-pencilled snow,

Which in the chill-aired gloom of day

Stirred softly to and fro.

Mind fixed, but else made vacant, I,

Lost to my body, called my soul

To don that frail solemnity,

They are the easiest of flowers to spread around the garden. Just dig up a clump when the leaves are still green but the flowers have faded. Divide it and replant small clumps where ever you want to see these special little flowers.

Its inmost self my goal.

And though in vain — no mortal mind

Across that threshold yet hath fared! —

In this collusion I divined

Some consciousness we shared.

Strange roads — while suns, a myriad, set —

Had led us through infinity;

And where they crossed, there then had met

Not two of us, but three.

                                                                                          Walter de la Mare

A New Year, Already?

I’m conscious that I should write a blog page but seem to have a bit of a writers block. So what should I write about??? Knitting? Web pages, I write and administrate two now getting Tech. cleaver in my dotage! My fancy new Home help called Alexa?

I wouldn’t have thought of investing in a home hub. I was never quite sure about its usefulness, even though I’m loving the age of technology. However since this Christmas present from No 3 son I’m warming to it. Being of a certain age the memory gets bit questionably at times now days. Well, OK, maybe more than a bit! Now, as soon as I realise I need to put certain things on the shopping list I just tell Alexa to add it. Great. No more getting home from shopping and thinking Damn I forgot the gravy granules, or whatever. No, with Alexa also linked to my phone I have the list with me when shopping. No more swearing because the list is still at home on the kitchen worktop either.

She’s proving useful when I’m cooking as well. Her timer is impeccable. Now when I put something in the oven I tell her how long I want to cook it and bingo, she’s spot on. No more fiddling with my little clock timer trying to set it. Or forgetting to set it as I was doing something else so I would then forget what time I put the food in the oven or on the hob.

She tells me what the days weather is going to be like and updates me with the morning news headlines. I can ask her to play me music for whatever my mood is. Or, if I’m really lazy she can read to me from the book I’m currently reading. She’s a fountain of knowledge, can tell jokes, ok, naff jokes. 

She should have been able to switched light on and off for me. But the sockets I bought so she could show my how cleaver she is wouldn’t hook up to my WiFi. But I’ll investigate other makes and will get her to let us switch lights on and off from our chairs. She could control our heating, our TV or let me see who’s at the front door, warn me of intruders, but the extra pieces of Tech needed would stretch the budget a little too much at the present, but watch this space. I’m hooked!

Floating in the Silken Water

Now the weather’s changing and the air temperature is cooler Most mornings have found me in swimming in the lido. Now there’s space. Space to swim, to lose yourself in a mindful swim, then, Lengths completed, to flip over, relax. Floating gently with the liquid silk waters washing around you is pure bliss. To lie there and watch the clouds float across the blue of the sky, or just shut your eyes and feel the gentle movement of the water around you. 

OK so this is not me!

This morning, swimming under a cloudless cerulean sky with the Sun in the South East and the Moon still visible in the South West you could help but be mesmerized by the shimmering silver, gold mesh-like strands of light bathing the pool floor.

As the high summer heatwave has dissipated and more normal cooler weather set in the Lido queues and crowds have opted for other school holiday pursuit.  Families and children still arrive but the regular swimmers have enjoyed a quite few days.  Peaceful swimming. No weaving around the person stroking powerfully towards you. They didn’t see you, their swimming line has been invaded by teenagers jumping and diving in from the sides.  No sudden stopping as children stray across your swimming path. No batting a beach ball, that's just hit you on the head, away, back to the laughing children next to you. 

If you're a strong swimmer you opt for the lanes and swim clockwise or anti-clockwise in rhythm with the other strong swimmers. Les active swimmers, like me, try to swim their lengths around the hoards of fair weather swimmers and the kids just having fun. 

Fletton Quays.

New and Old.  Fletton Quays and Historic Buildings .

The derelic site on the South bank of the Nene in Peterborough is undergoing a drastic transformation. It's has been part of the Councils plan for some time now but our Council always takes time to bring plans to fruition.

A Computerised view of Fletton Quays

The former warehouse size buildings, housing B&Q and Matalan stores have been demolished. As has Aqua House at the entrance to the site. The old Whitworth Mill and the railway shed at the bottom of the site are being renovated, transformed and repurposed. New council offices, a hotel, a multistory car park, retail and leisure facitites are also planned.

Whitworth mill before its Renovation

Weston Homes is  the company building  the super modern apartments on the riverside Quays as well as restoring and renovating The Gables on Thorpe Road, and a short row of Victorian houses used by the NHS on Thorpe Road. To restore these Important historical buildings requires a considerable amount  work in planning, surveying and liaising with local city planners, English Heritage and many other Bodies before any work can begin. The aim is to remove all or most of 20th century add-on buildings and repair the scaring these later extensions leave on the building and to sympathetically repair and conserve as much of the fabric of the original building as possible, Where this is not possible, work to make the building as user friendly for modern living as possible, the building work must reflect the present day level of architecture in the  buildings life as has happened in the buildings past lifetime. The cost of these  renovations are far greater than any new build, so Westons offset these often massive cost by sympathetically planning new build apartments and houses on the Historic buildings site.

The Gables before transformation

The Gables began its time line in 1895 as a home for a wealthy local Coal Merchant  J. H. Beeby. Designed by the architect John Alfred Gotch, the red brick building was in a Tudor/Jacobean style. In 1933, J. H. Beeby’s widow sold it to George Ralph Baker, a director of the engineering firm of Baker Perkins. By 1947 the house had been transferred to the ownership of the newly created NHS and used as one of the two Maternity Units in the City. In 1970 when a new purpose maternity unit was opened it was then used for psychiatric care. Many building were added to the old house during its years in the NHS ownership. The house eventually became obsolete when the new City hospital was built in Bretton and has stood empty and neglected for the last decade.

The Gables transformation almost complete.

The Heatwave Cools at Last.

Well, the weather’s changed thank goodness. I think. I didn’t cope well with the heatwave of the last few weeks. Another effect of the aging process as in my younger days I use to adore the hot sun.  My arthritic joints are another anathema. Most people with arthritis love the hot weather. My joints prefer cool dry weather. 

Most mornings have found me in swimming in the lido.  As the high summer heatwave has dissipated and more normal cooler weather set in the Lido queues and crowds have opted for other school holiday pursuit.  Families and children still arrive but the regular swimmers have enjoyed a quite few days. 

in the Heatwave, families poured in to enjoy the Lido

The cooler weather has meant Space. No weaving around the person stroking powerfully towards you. They didn’t see you, their swimming line has been invaded by teenagers jumping and diving in from the sides.  No sudden stopping as children stray across your swimming path. No batting a beach ball, that's just hit you on the head, away, back to the laughing children next to you. If you're a strong swimmer you opt for the lanes and swim clockwise or anti-clockwise in rhythm with the other strong swimmers. Les active swimmers, like me, try to swim their lengths around the hoards of fair weather swimmers and the kids just having fun. 

welcome clouds

Fewer suntanned bodies in the water and more rain and cloudier skies have cooled the water slightly and the regulars all breath a sigh of relief. There’s space. Space to swim, to lose yourself in a mindful swim, then, lengths completed, to flip over, relax and float with the liquid silk waters washing around you is pure bliss. To lie there and watch the clouds float across the blue of the sky, or just shut your eyes and feel the gentle movement of the water around you. 

That's a Shameful way to Treat the Aged.

There has been an increasing number of reports over the last few years about how the elderly are treated. Especially in Care Homes. I know these reports are sensationalised for the Media, but as a person of a certain age this still worries and concerns me. I dread the day my husband and son begin to struggle to care for my needs. I'd hate to have to rely on strangers to care for personal care. This looms terrifyingly closer as the years pass more rapidly than I'd like. I struggle to keep my mobility as arthritis continues to ravage joints. My only form of exercise I can continue to do with relative ease is swimming. Luckily I enjoy this and find it therapeutic not a chore to be endured.

The reports coming from Doncaster about the allegedly appalling treatment of elderly dementia residents and their family being given a measly 30 minutes to find a new care home beggars belief. Having had to find suitable care homes for my Step Sister in Law after she had a devastating paralysing stroke and my elderly, doubly incontinent, increasing frail, nonverbal, prone to choking Parent I know what a traumatic time consuming thankless job this is. There was no way could I have ever managed to choose a care home from a list presented to me by a stressed Social Worker as those Doncaster relatives had to. 

I looked at numerous Care Homes on the internet and at their Care Quality Commission reports. Made umpteen telephone calls and appointments to view Homes and discuss my relative's needs. I discussed with other immediate family my findings and recommendations. Then when you've chosen a home there are other formalities to go through such as the financial situation and the Manager of your chosen home has to be assured she has the staff and equipment to care for your relative before she/he accepts your vulnerable much-loved relative.

The Media reports state that many of the staff were crying, the residents were crying and relatives were crying. The place was in chaos. Medical records weren't sent with the resident. Their placements hadn't considered whether they had the facilities to care for the resident's needs, That a shambles. Whatever evidence the Council had for shutting the home, previously inspected and rated as Good, at such short notice, there must have been a better way of handling it. Heads should roll for this unforgivable treatment of such vulnerable people.

Having completed a search through the internet articles it seems the Doncaster City Council Social Care policy for the elderly has been in total disarray now for several years. Reports of threatened closures have been happening now since 2014. That seems quite sufficient time to get your policies and commitments in an acceptable position. Going from crisis to crisis speaks of poor leadership and management.

Maybe there should be thoughts given to a radical new Countrywide policy that removes profit-making from elderly care.  After all, if the St Johns  Ambulance Association can run 'Not for Profit' Care Homes then why can't all Care Homes be run on a similar model.  

Departed Swimmers

Memories recovered.

Last week, a few of the regular Lido swimmers were interview  by Keely Mills, Peterborough’s Poet, and the Lido’s Poet in Residence. She is producing a series of programs for BBC Cambridgeshire. One of the questions  our interviewer asked us was ‘Who could we remember from the past who is no longer swimming’. We all responded in unison ‘Walter’. 

The Interview with Keely

Walter was not a born and bred Peterborian. He came Peterborough after escapeing from  Latvia as a 14 year old during the war. He was an eccentric. A body building, strong man and a Lifeguard at the Lido for many years. He taught many of the young tearaway teenagers to swim. Most of his zany antics were done for charity. Most were reported in the local press and some made the BBC television. So over the years Walter became a local celebrity. 

Later thinking about this question I realised, No, Walter wasn’t the only Lido swimmer who is no longer with us who we remember fondly. There were actually quite a few.

There was Marion and Ken, Great Cathedral supporters and organisers. Their exodus from Peterborough was to move North to be closer to family. Marion, a retired school teacher, organised our impromptus lunch time picnics. Before the advent of Vivacity there wes no morning coffee to be had at the pool. The Cafe had closed years before. So we’d walk into the City and have coffee and toast at the little Sundays cafe off Cathedral Square. Often she would organise a lunch at her home in Stanground. When they moved Jeanne and I decided we should keep the lunches going as well as organising the Christmas dinner outing.

Maggie, John, Marian & Ken

Then there was Dot, a strong willed octogenarian, who raced up to the lido on her mobility scooter. Dot believed her scooter gave her the right of way and heaven help you if you got in her way! She started swimming in the Lido back in 1965. As she reached her 80’s she didn’t actually swim much but she got in the water whatever the weather and temperature and ‘pedalled’ her way to the deep end where she would pedal back and forth to exercise he damaged legs. Once out she would shower then one of us, would  dash out of the pool to help her to get dried and dressed. Later when she could no longer manage the pool we would arrange a gathering for a little lunch or tea, first at her home then later in her care Home until she died.

John, Marian & Dot.

Russel was another swimmer He was well known at the Lido from a young 9 year old lad until his eighties. He was a great one for chatting to the Ladies. He could swim the length of the pool underwater. If he was behind you, you just knew at any moment if you looked down there he would be overtaking you by swimming under you. He arrived on his bike one morning to be told it was closed It was June 8th 1940 and a pavilion had been the target of a Luftwaffe bomb. After his wife died he spent more and more time at the pool. He was always at our picnics, and lunches. A mild stroke slowed him for a while but not for long he fought his way back to health but was banned from any more underwater swimming. A couple of years later we began to notice his health deteriorating. Janet began to look out and care for him more and more. Two weeks after a diagnosis of Motor Neurone disease he sadly died. 

iris ,Russel Coe and John Reynolds

Big Russel  or Russel Hunter Rowe was another keen Lido swimmer for over 15  years who became ill and left us. The wooden bench outside the mens changing area where they would sit and dry off, was loosing its personalities. The Ladies the table at other end of the pool had christened the Bench ‘The Last of the Summer Wine Bench’ after the long running television program. Its still there today  and still used as a drying perch for those not so agile swimmers.

Most recently there was Chris, a tall good looking fit 60plus year old, With a head of silver curly hair he was to be seen swimming his 32 length, mile most mornings. Then at the end of a Lido season s few years ago we heard he’d been diagnosed with cancer.  The disease progressed so quickly and  he died at the new Year. Chris’s sudden demise shocked us all badly.

A  Lido End of Season Picnic.