A different walk ...

In the upside down world we're living in just now, today I'm thinking how trivial my blog is in the bigger picture of front line workers doing their best to keep us safe ... and all I'm doing is staying home in a lovely setting and writing the occasional blog.

I feel rather out of control, not in the usual sense of the phrase but that I can't control simple things that I usually take for granted, like ordering a big shopping delivery whenever I needed it, and receiving it with the majority of items in stock; like popping on the bus to the shops in Marlow or walking into Henley, a lovely walk of just over 2 miles which I can't do now because of my age and recommendations to stay at home. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining ... I (we) have our health and wish to keep it that way ... I feel 'in limbo'.

Beautiful spring blossom here at Hambleden Marina.

We all have worries and concerns about our family in these troubled times and for me that's lying heavily.  We have several close family members in frontline employment including the police and nursing.  

We took a different walk the other day ... passing the pregnant cows 

and turned up Rotten Row ... 

a very steep hill.

We eventual turned onto the Hambleden Estate ...

 and carpets of woodland bluebells

One of our granddaughters is a nurse and is currently working long hours on a covid ward.  She tells me of the difficulties she's experiencing, especially of low staffing levels.  On her current ward the recommended number of trained nurses is three, but even before the corona virus pandemic there were only two.  The staffing recommendation for the hospital she works in, for a covid ward is six trained nurses but ... yes, you've probably guessed ... there are still only two.

and the views as we leave the woods behind us ....

 are stunning as we look towards Hambleden Village

The NHS has been under-funded, under-staffed, under-paid and under-equipped  for more years than I can remember and this has to change.  The government are doing their best (?) to entice people into the medical profession but until they pay them the salary they deserve and provide the necessary wherewithal to do the job, why would people take up nursing or become doctors?  People who train for years and years are doing this not because it's a 'job', it's because it's a vocation.  It's what they passionately want to do. I know that's the case for our granddaughter who has wanted to be a nurse since she was three and has worked against all the odds to train to be the best nurse she can be and fulfil her dream.

We were lucky to be passing this field just a very few moment after these twin labs were born, We watched in awe as the first twin latched onto its mother's milk while she licked the birth fluid from her second one.

This is the fifth winter at Hambleden and never before have we seen the ditch in the meadows leading to the village running with water ...

 until this year .

When it reaches Rotten Row most of the water goes under the road through a culvert and carries on until it reaches the outlet into the mill stream immediately behind Still Rockin' and into the River Thames.

Being careful as we pass through the kissing gate without touching it with our hands ...

 we're home safe and sound ... just as I hope you are ... and wish that we all could be.

So, when this pandemic is over and the costs (in lives) are counted, will the government put in the money to make the NHS and Social Services fit for purpose? Will they recruit the right people?  Will they train them well?  Will they pay them what they're worth?  Will they provide whatever is needed to enable the staff to do a good job?  I really do hope so.  

If this unprecedented time doesn't right some wrongs, well, I don't know what will ... unless we all do any and everything we can to ensure that the current and future governments change their attitudes and put our taxes to use where it is needed most.

I would like to think that when all this is over, those frontline staff who have worked tirelessly to keep the rest of us safe and well will be rewarded.