A poem wot I wrote

Davie was sorting through some stuff & found this - I'll let it speak for itself but I must explain I was only seven at the time!!

Mummy Foote Rules .....

Davie & I went to Gloucester today to see Mummy Foote to take her out for lunch - it's her 78th Birthday on Tuesday. She is quite deaf but has recently had a second hearing aid which is helping a bit, so I didn't need to shout as much as usual. Except that Mum chose to go to Frankie & Benny's (she loves the food & the music, but often calls it by the wrong name, Benny & Joons, or Bill & Freds - you know the sort of thing) - there was a 40 min wait for a table, it was packed & NOISY!! However, she seemed to enjoy it. She made us some bonfire toffee today - none of this sugar thermometer nonsense, just years of experience.
I asked Mum if I could look through some of her old photos; I've been wanting to scan some into my PC for ages as I don't really have any family photos from before I was married. I sorted out a few to bring home & scan. It was so long since I've seen some of them; there were some excellent ones of my brothers in suits at my sister's wedding in 1974 - just the sort of thing to have enlarged for 50th birthday parties & the like.
There were some of my school photos; I've never been particularly photogenic but I came across one which isn't too hideous for public view (apart from the rabbit teeth)


However, if I'm being brave, the challenge to all your bloggers, is that I'd like to see one of your school photos too! (Wellzsie - I'm particularly keen to see if you had to wear a school uniform & therefore be without designer labels between the hours of 9 & 3.30pm).

As if by magic, the shopkeeper appeared.........

I felt old when, on seeing a picture of the lovely Windy Miller on the desktop of my computer, one of my staff said she didn't realise he was a 'real' character - she thought he'd been created solely for the Quaker adverts!!! Everyone thinks their era of Children's programmes was the best, but I reckon you can't beat the late seventies. Share your favourite children's TV programme on the comments board, and don't forget to say whether you were a Swap Shop or Tiswas person. And were you Blue Peter or Magpie?

My favourite was Mary, Mungo & Midge with the soothing narration of Richard Baker , but Mr Benn was a close second.

Jesus in a white coat

I had to deal with a particularly difficult set of parents today (Mr & Mrs X) who asked to meet with me as they were anxious & angry that their daughter had been prescribed glasses when 'there's nuffink wrong wiv her eyes'. Having already spoken to Mrs X on the phone yesterday I knew it was likely to be a very unpleasant encounter. The natural reaction is to be defensive & there is a temptation to concentrate on justifying what treatment has been given, rather than really answering the parents' concerns (however daft/unreasonable their concerns may appear).
Anyhoo, it occured to me that, if Jesus had been an Orthoptist, he would have been the best one ever and would know exactly how to handle these angry, difficult people. I have to admit I had never thought of Jesus in an NHS uniform before but it helped me to pray that I would say what He would have said and handle the situation as he would have done. In all my years of handling this sort of issue I'd never quite thought of it like that before. In the end it all went swimmingly.. although it started off with Mrs X nearly exploding with anger and walking out. By the end we were all best of friends and they were reassured and happy about their daughter's eye condition. It reminded me that, if I include God in what I'm doing, I can be part of the body of Jesus even when doing such seemingly unspiritual things as working for the NHS.

Happy Customer

Am a little snowed under today - Aaron, you are correct, I've been on too many jollys. I've spent Monday, Thurday & Friday in London this week at various meetings & my brain is exhausted. However, rather than have the opportunity to slob about today, I have spent all day doing paperwork etc to catch up on reports, invoices, appointments etc for my private patients. I need a secretary!
Anyhoo, if your printer runs out of ink, I can recommend "Smart Cartridge" in Boldmere. In the middle of trying to catch up on all the tedious paperwork, the last thing I needed was my printer to stop working. Davie said this new place had opened where they refill your old cartridge, so I thought I'd give it a try. It turned out that the cartridge was nearly full but it was faulty. He suggested that I could take it back to Tesco, as it was one of their own brand, but then he offered to fix it for free, which he did. He was an incredibly helpful chap, & I shall certainly be going back there. So nice to have some genuine & good customer service for a change.
After a few hours of happy printing, the wireless network has now stopped working for no reason at all, so I'm stuck again. Davie.... can you fix it?..... pleeeeease.......

See you Sunday

Won't be posting for a few days as am off to Newcastle tomorrow to a 2 day conference and then visiting my sister in Cumbria on the way back so won't be back til Sunday evening - hoping to back in time for the evening service though. I'm not really looking forward to doing such a lot of motorway driving so am planning to take it slowly and carefully.
Thought I'd leave you with a view from my sister's back garden in Garrigill- a world away from Boldmere.

Remember Remember the 4th of November

We have had a distinct lack of BBQs in our garden this year & so I'd like to make up for it by inviting you (yes, I mean you) to a gathering in our back yard on Sat 4th November from 7.30pm. There will be yummy food, warming drinks (that includes hot chocolate and brandy, or even both together if you want) and sparklers. We're not going to have any fireworks as it severely traumatises our moggies, but there's usually a really good view from our garden of everyone else's fireworks in the surrounding area!
If you know me well enough to read this blog, then consider yourself invited. Do we want you to bring anything? - nope, just come as you are, but please do pray for no rain that evening!
If you can come, keep the date free & let me know at some point so I can make sure I have enough toffee apples.

You're a what? Is that teeth or feet?

I now have bird flu - although it can't compete with Davie's bird flu. I have also changed the template for my blog, and I might change it a few more times before I settle on one.

In case you're wondering about the title of today's blog, that's the usual response I get when people ask me what I do for a living. There are only about 1000 Orthoptists in the country (compare that to 45000 physiotherapists) and seeing as I spend five sevenths of my life being one, it's quite important to me to know what I'm supposed to be doing, but I do appreciate that it's not really that important to anyone else - that is until they wake up one morning with double vision.

Anyhoo, should you be struck by an overwhelming desire to know what the NHS kindly pay me for doing, here is an extract from my professional body website:

What do orthoptists do?
Orthoptists are concerned with the diagnosis and treatment
of ocular motility and problems relating to vision. Some examples of these
problems are:
Amblyopia (lazy eye), which is a reduction in vision arising from a defect present in infancy or early childhood that prevents the eye from receiving adequate visual stimulation.
Defective binocular vision, which is the inability to use the two eyes together
in the correct way and which leads to impairment of depth perception.
Abnormal eye movements arising from injury or disease affecting the eye muscles or the nerve supplying the muscles, or a physical obstruction to eye movement.
Diplopia (double vision) resulting from abnormal eye movements or strabismus (squint).

So now you know. If you want to know more you can go to http://www.orthoptics.org.uk/patients/orthoptics.

There endeth today's lesson!

You're the worst pirate I've ever heard of............

Me & my good friend Johnny (how can he love someone so much that sang 'Joe le Taxi?')
Well, it's taken me a a whole week to get around to adding anything to my blog, as I've been so busy reading everyone elses! Not sure about the phenomenon of it seeming easier to express what you want to say by typing words into a PC that are more or less on a public view, than saying them face to face.
Anyhoo, this has to have been the most emotionally draining week I've known, but also one of the most powerful. I have experienced a sadness I have not known before, in beginning to miss a friend, but also experienced the joy of celebrating lives that were full of good things and that must have made God a real proud Father. I've known very few people who've died, so this has really been a whole new issue for me. I've been amazed to feel a whole new sense of community & togetherness in our church & I feel so privileged and blessed to be a part of it. There seems to be a new openess with people voicing their appreciation for each other more freely, and along with many I'm sure, I want to make sure that folks know how much I appreciate them rather than them having to wonder or guess.
When I was at a real turning point in my life a few years back, Donald (our wonderful, wonderful minister) asked me what I wanted God to say to me at the end of my life. He asked me how much did I want Him to say 'Well done good & faithful servant'? That question & its subsequent answer turned my life around and rather than the desire to see that happen fading over time, the events of the last couple of weeks have inspired me again to keep going, & to try to let go of the things that hinder me. Don't know how well I'll do; I feel totally humbled by the examples of Matt & Chris, but I'll try.

Here goes ......

I've never really seen the point of a blog before but after the recent sad events of the last week it seems a good opportunity to try something new to keep in touch with others. The technical side of it may defeat me but I'll have a go.