Some Like It Hot

We're currently having a bit of a heatwave. Although I like the weather to be bright and sunny, I'm not over-keen to have the temperature so high it make it difficult to manage your day-to-day things such as merely living, going shopping or whatever. Alfie hasn't been able to settle anywhere in the house and has wandered around in an attempt to find the coolest place to lie. He spent yesterday in and out of the house. The patio door has been open so he can get into the garden, then he was in his bed in the kitchen and then out in the hallway, at the foot of the stairs and eventually settled on the sofa, laying on his back. Poor little dog. He just doesn't know how to deal with extremes of temperature. Having had a heart attack I have to be careful myself when it comes to high temperatures. I was told that I could keep out of the sun and wear a hat when it was hot when I did a coronary rehab course after I had my heart attack in 2006 it was around this time of the year and it was probably just as hot. We did a lot of exercises in the heat and on one particular session I almost collapsed on the floor. The staff where very supportive and helped me recover. I think it was the shock of not only having such a traumatic 'event' (the original heart attack) but the fact that the heat had caused me to feel so unwell. It was then that I was advised to purchase a sun hat and, wherever possible, to keep out of the direct sun. Yesterday I had to drive to Waitrose to buy some things for our evening meal and the car, which had been standing in the sun all morning, was very hot.

We had planned to go to Nuffield Health for a swim yesterday evening. Someone who works with Carol at the Academy had a disaster. She came home to find her house had been burnt in a fire. I'm not entirely sure what happened but I think one of her children had set fire to the kitchen. A great deal of damage so they have to live in a hotel until the insurance company can come up with the cash to repair and replace things. Carol said to this lady, called Gladys, that she would give her some food to give her children (she has four children, apparently) and they are currently living in a hotel which is extremely expensive and she can barely afford food. So we went to Aldi at Westcroft after Carol finished work so we could buy them some basic items. When I think what we went through a few years ago, it only seems right that we do something to help. It was very hot when we got to Westcroft and parked the car. In Aldi I said I was thirsty, due mostly because of the heat, and then Carol said I should go and get some ice-cold drinks from Costa who have a branch near Morrison's. It sounded a good idea so I walked there and ordered iced coffee and caramel drinks. Really nice and cooling and something that I think I'll have again whenever the need arises. Probably not too long if the weather keeps up as it is at the moment.

Returning to the heatwave; when I worked as a Support Worker at the house in Everton, there was an elderly lady living there who, even when it was boiling hot outside, insisted on wearing her thickest, heaviest overcoat.  She was in her late 80's and she was extremely short sighted.We used to often take the residents out and about during the summer months. I think it's what made the job interesting and worth while. We went up to London (I think I might have mentioned this in an earlier blog post) when we visited Westminster Abbey and then London Zoo. We had to make sure the client group were well protected from the sun, and this lady whom I have just mentioned, must have sweltered in her thick winter coat. We not only had to make sure everyone wore hats but we had to provide sun cream. Not so easy when not everyone wanted it applied. You could never persuade  this lady that she would be more comfortable in something thinner or to dispense with the coat all together when it was so hot. Never mind. I suppose it was a sort of 'comfort blanket' which was why she didn't want to go out without it on. Actually persuading her to leave the house in the first place was a real problem, but just mention the magic words 'tea and cake' and she'd be out the door in a flash. I'm not saying she could move fast, because she couldn't poor old love, but any mention of a bun with icing and a cherry on top and she'd relent and go out for the afternoon.

Visit to Whipsnade Zoo

Up until a couple of years ago we used to have membership of Z.S.L. (Zoological Society of London) which meant, having paid around £100 a year we could then visit either of their zoos, London and Whipsnade, as many times as we liked during the year. Incredibly good value when you consider that a single entry ticket costs around £25 and you can get in free(I'm not so sure of the individual ticket price around 5 years ago when we first became members.) The cost rose astronomically, to near-enough £200. We didn't continue with the membership as our finances at the time would not allow it. We were also member of the National Trust (and re-joined that recently.) as you can also get into their properties free. Carol found out that she could become a Fellow of Z.S.L. because she is a science teacher. So she applied and we now can visit again, both getting  free entry. It also means she has access to a lot of Z.S.L. material which is in their library at Regent's Park as well as being able to attend lectures, as well as their A.G.M. and get discount in their shops and restaurants at both Whipsnade and London Zoos. 

We went today for the first time in quite a few years. We left Milton Keynes at around 9 a.m. and had to get petrol on the way at our usual Shell petrol station and then on to Boots outside Bletchley as we thought it might be a good idea to get sun screen as it has been really warm and hot, with particularly sunny weather. We drove out of Milton Keynes along the A5 towards Dunstable and then on to Whipsnade along the Dunstable Downs, where we saw a few gliders as well as kites near the visiter centre. We got to the carpark at the zoo to find it filling up rapidly. We haven't seen so many people at Whipsnade, but considering the warm weather it's not surprising. We then found that there is now a completely new building at the main entrance which houses a state-of-the-art shop, booking hall as well as toilets (which, incidentally, were never the best feature of Whipsnade.) We had to get Carol's Fellowship car sorted out. Which meant she needed a photograph to put on the card. When we both had membership we had to have photographs taken and these were printed on the cards. This time it was just Carol who needed a photograph (I have to be 'signed in' as I'm not officially a Fellow). Fortunately they were able to find the old photo on their computer system, which was not too out-of-date to be used on the new card.) It means we can not only enter free each time, but can take the car in without further payment. As Whipsnade is quite a large zoo, it can take quite a while to walk from one enclosure to the next, although there is a bus which ferries you around if needed.

We have seen the Birds of The World presentation several times before, but we saw it again today and as usual it's really great to see some of the birds that you never get a chance to see in flight, such as some really colourful parrots and a little owl as well as some kestrels. Amazed at the speed these fly at.

A walk-through exhibit called 'In With The Lemurs' always delights as lemurs are such lively little creatures and we were surprised to find that there were baby lemurs on view, clinging on to their mothers (as you can see from the photo I took, above. We took more photographs that was absolutely necessary, but they are so photogenic it was worth taking every one of them.

 A new butterfly house  has recently been opened, much like the butterfly house we saw at Twycross Zoo a few weeks ago. In the middle of it is another display which housed a miniature crocodile in a glassed space which allowed you to see beneath the surface of the water. You walk into this heated  structure, rather like a vast plastic greenhouse. The butterflies fly around inside and some settle on you. It's an amazing experience. It is heated by some sort of steam system which keeps on billowing out over the centre of the building.

We walked around the zoo and within 4 hours we managed to see tigers, elephants, penguins, bears (several varieties) as well as camels, bison, hippopotami, rhinoseros and giraffe. There is now a new feature, a sort of walk-way which allows you to see the giraffes at near enough eye-level as well as going inside their house and I took the photograph you see below.  Made a change to be able to see these animals like this.

Not like you would if you stood at ground-level. You can virtually see them at eye-level.

Quite a few improvements generally at Whipsnade since we were last there. It was generally looking rather shabby and some of the animal enclosures were looking somewhat tired. They have built a wooden fence around the penguin pools, which seemed rather odd and you have to go in through a gate. There are a couple more shops and some lodges where you can book and stay in overnight as well as some toilets which are far more clean than they have been in the past.

We walked back towards the entrance and had a look in the new shop and then had tea in the cafe. By which time we had completed our visit and then went home via Dunstable. We didn't manage to see everything, particularly the elephants, but it does mean, with the membership, we can return anything we want to which may be over the summer holiday period. It is merely a 45 minute drive from Milton Keynes.

Hot Weather Threatened

We are being told that today may be the hottest day of the summer so far. Infact we are being warned to stay indoors. Carol suffers from asthma and I have to be careful with my heart condition not to get too over-heated. The pollen count is high and it's been very hot and stuffy over-night making sleeping difficult. We have got an electric fan on in our bedroom which makes quite a noise and also having the windows open means that there are extraneous sounds coming in which sets the dogs off barking. It seems you simply can't win with the weather in this country. It's either far too cold, with snow and ice, fog, rain etc. or at the other extreme it's so hot you can barely breathe. There is never a mid-way, happy medium. Carol has two more days at the Academy and then she's off for around six weeks for the summer holidays. We've just re-joined English Heritage so hopefully we can go on some interesting visits to castles, country houses and other intriguing places throughout England. We were members a few years ago and joined when we visited Stonehenge and also went to the History Festival run by English Heritage which is staged every year at Kelmarsh Hall in Northamptonshire. We also went to Kenilworth Castle which is one of our favourite places and hope to go to Wrest Park which is currently being restored to it's former glory. All are free to enter if you are a member of English Heritage. I have a subscription to BBC History Magazine and we got a discount for being a subscriber so we thought we'd make use of the discount and join. We are going to London sometime over the holiday and plan to go to London Zoo. We have got a 'buy one get one free' offer of entry for the zoo when we buy our rail ticket and have already printed off the voucher from the National Rail website.

Working In Care-Part 7

I have to say it was quite pleasant working in residential care when we took the client group out for the day. Not that it wasn't that streightforward, far from it. There was the packing up of the minibus, loading the wheelchairs, making sure we had all the group's medicaton, as well as a picnic, which was usually prepared well in advance by the staff who had worked on the night shift.

The whole client group were involved in choosing where they went for their day out. It was never a decision made entirely by the staff. It would have been easy to just say 'let's take them out to a zoo' and just go. A short list was made and then all the residents could choose the one place they wanted to go to, and the one place with the most votes was the place to go to for a day out.

At around the time of the Queen Mother's death, the residents at Everton decided to visit London, as some wanted to visit the places that were shown on television and used during her funeral, such as Westminster Abbey. A group had only just been on a trip to visit Buckingham Palace and been on the London Eye, the entire trip having been organised carefully, as special permission had to be gained so that the minibus could be parked close to the Palace.
We had taken a group out for the day to Hunstanton, up on the Norfolk coast not far from Sandringham. I don't remember it being particularly eventful, but it was quite hard work pushing wheelchairs up and down the seafront with parts being quite steep, which, considering it was in Norfolk, a county noted for being flat. The Senior Support worker I've mentioned in the earlier post (who will continue to remain nameless.) went somewhat over-board when we went to one shop (I seem to recall we did spend a great deal of time in shops of one sort or another.) This shop is typical of the sort you seem to find at seaside resorts, selling a wide range of items, such as the usual buckets and spades, beachballs, postcards and general souveniers you get at any seaside resort, a great deal of it absolute rubbish and the sort of things that you wouldn't willingly clutter your home up with. Anyway, each of the residents was allowed to spend some of their own money on anything they liked as a souvenier of the day and each of the carers had been given an envelope containing the cash and then we helped our resident choose an item, being careful to get receipts so that the money could be put in their care plans when we returned to the house in Everton. This was all straightforward enough, but the Senior Support went crazy when he saw the cakes, biscuits and sweets that were also on sale in this shop. He obviously knew from an earlier visit to Hunstanton that this shop existed and then proceeded to purchase a quite considerable amount of these biscuits and cakes, which were being sold at very low prices  quite large quantities. He had become a bit like a child in a sweetshop when told that it can buy what it likes with money being no object. We than had to cart all these purchases back to the mini bus to be taken home. It was a bit like buying stuff from a wholesaler. I really think he should have toned down this as it was somewhat over the top and not really the sort of behaviour for someone who had a position to uphold, but it was obviously up to him how he spent his cash.
Returning to the trip to London. I arrived really early at the Everton house and we got all the residents loaded into the vehicle. I sat in the front with the driver (the Senior Support Worker who I mentioned earlier. In fact he seems to feature quite prominently in these blog posts it would appear.) As we were about to leave the house I turned to him and said "Shall I go and get the A to Z ?'" (of London, a street atlas.) which I had bought with me and was left in my car. He turned to me and said, 'No. We won't need it." I then said "We might need it to find our way around the centre of London." To which I got the reply: " We won't need it. If we need to find our way, all you have to do is wind down the bus window and shout to a passing cab-driver. They are all good at giving directions." I was totally dumbfounded and by now we had left Everton and were heading for the motorway and central London. So, I thought, you really expect me to stick my head out of the window and shout across the street to the nearest passing cabbie? Did he not think it was going to be highly dangerous? And what sort of response do you really, honestly, expect to get back from your typical London cabbie? More likely a mouthful of abuse and not directions to the next tourist attraction. Did he not think that they had better things to do with their time?
We got into the centre of London and made for Westminster Abbey. As can be imagined as it's a major tourist attraction, parking was very difficult but we had got a space booked near enough that we could unload the wheelchairs and get the residents out and then wheel them into the Abbey,  down a specially-constructed ramp for wheelchairs, going through the visitor's entrance and in front of a lot of people who had obviously queued for some time to get in. I don't think we paid, because these were people with disabilities and I'm sure none of the carers had to pay. It was not easy manoeuvering the wheelchairs plus residents around the extremely crowded Abbey. The ancient floors are not really suitable for the tyres of a wheelchair and members of the public do not want to move out of the way either and walk very slowly around such buildings so there would be jams of people at various points of the tour round. I would have liked to have had a better tour myself, having an interest in history, particularly Poets' Corner. I don't honestly think any of the residents were that interested but it was quite an interesting tour. We can't have been inside Westminster Abbey much more than an hour and then we had to find toilets which were not very well suited to wheelchair users.
Having left the Abbey and got the residents loaded back in the mini bus, the driver (my dear Senior Support Worker person, who shall remain anonymous.) said "Where next?" It was decided to go to Buckingham Palace (we were eventually going to end up at London Zoo.) so it was decided and it was myself that managed to get us down to The Mall, the avenue that leads from Admiralty Arch and directly towards Buckingham Palace. As we drove along The Mall, this driver person (who shall remain nameless!) suddenly shouted out, "Look! Soldiers!" as a groups of horses, being ridden along the street in full dress uniform, appeared from a side street. He then insisted on stopping at the side of The Mall and me getting out to take photographs with a camera he thrust into my hands. I immediately said 'No, no, we can't stop here! You mustn't stop on The Mall!" I recalled the incident some years ago when Princess Anne (now Princess Royal) had been involved in a near-disasterous incident with a stranger who threatened to kidnap her, and how it was now illegal for any vehicle to stop anywhere near Buckingham Palace. But the gentleman insisted on stopping, and at the precise moment I was about to get out of the vehicle there was a knock on the window and a soldier in full uniform told us, in no uncertain terms to please 'move along!' I was right of course, but it took some convincing to the Senior Support gentleman that we shouldn't have stopped where we had on The Mall. Some people don't want to listen when they are told or are just plain ignorant, but we could have been done for all sorts of things, from terrorism to attempted kidnapping, just because he would have it that it was perfectly alright to stop the vehicle with only yards from the Queen's residence.
We drove on and round near Buckingham Palace to give the residents a glimpse of the Queen's home and from there we went on to London Zoo. It was myself who managed to navigate as our driver had no idea where he was going but still insisting that it would be fine to ask the nearest passing cab-driver. I have a fairly good knowledge of central London, managing to find my way around because I know where most of the West End theatres are. We got to London Zoo without incident and spent the rest of the afternoon looking at the animals (well, let's be perfectly honest, what else do you expect to do in a zoo?) It was a very hot day, so we had to find the shadiest places to go and make sure some of them had sun-screen on and had hats to wear.
We eventually had a rather pleasant picnic and then drove back to Everton and arrived back late.