Hello, Hello from across the pond where although the weather

Chris Gostling
Monday Blogger

is not as beautiful as Lake Worth, it is nevertheless gorgeous blue skies and a slight chill in the air BUT the trees are beginning to blossom. It is like a miracle, in the four weeks I was in Lake Worth everything is coming alive. We put our clocks forward last night, two weeks after you so now we will also have the lighter nights, I love that. At the community hub where I volunteer, the grass had grown so long I had to cut it, the smell was delicious, reminds me of Summer.

I can see that there has been fun and games in LW, Floffing, pride parade, always something fun going on, I love the photos which so clearly show the happiness in people’s faces.

I arrived home on Monday afternoon after a good flight and car journey back to our house. It is always nice to get back to  your home after you have been away, check the post, make phone calls, shop for basics, chat to neighbours, catch up on gossip and happenings…..

I had to be up early on Tuesday morning as I was scheduled to have a cataract operation at 9:30am, how amazing that is….the next day I could see perfectly, it was a new world! I am having the other one done tomorrow……medical breakthroughs are incredible these days!!!

I am an assessor at our local hospital, we have groups of people who are not employed by the hospital who are trained to assess the wards, Accident and Emergency, outside areas and anything else that is deemed to be necessary. It is hugely interesting and shows clearly just how are the medical staff work. We have to look at cleanliness, quality of food, access around the inside of the  building and outside the building, garden areas, ramps, wheelchair access, Alzheimer’s arrangements…..all kinds of things that make a persons experience of hospital better.

We have a programme called Better Start where we look at what is provided in nursery for pre school children, we have 10 in our area and the first little Free library was installed in The Cockleshell Day Nursery, we are hoping that it will instil in the children a love of reading that will continue throughout their lives.

And of course, we have Comic Relief coming up, also known as Red Nose Day where all over the country events are carried out to raise phenomenal amounts of money for charity. One such event was the dance off with local firefighters organised with a local primary school, the children have so much fun and it shows them how we can help charities by working together, hopefully another lifelong lesson…….

Lastly another great project was added to our town for World Downs Syndrome Day. John Bulley, a local artist completed the huge mural of Amy under the railway bridge, it is beautiful and part of the ‘recognise us’ campaign started last year.

Today is gorgeous and is set to be the start of Easter week, I am off to the community hub to open up for coffee morning, an event I love and which will followed by a drumming and spoken work programme, I love my life!