Bev to London

28.07.01

BEV HERE

My energy has gone into appealing the UKCC Registration for Health Professionals decision NOT to give me Nursing of Midwife Registration.

The Brits are not used to this challenge and I don’t have high hopes but need to give them a go.

2 days ago I was interviewed by a dusty Academics at the biggest University for Midwifery Training in London. She didn’t know what to do with me, they have been instructed to arrange an adaptation course to get me up to their standards for Midwife Registration. The problem is they are embarrassed by my experience.

Of course I have already done all the practical stuff they want. So now I have to study to the equivalent of Post Grad Level. The vast majority of practicing Midwifes in the UK would not meet the current criteria.

In an increasing litigious society with medical model domination of health, they are desperate to present nursing and midwifery as an academic qualification.

I have to front up to the uni next week and write an academic essay under exam conditions.

Like a 2001 graduation midwife would know how to do.

Frustrating.

It will be next year before I pass.

The exam topic is:

Discuss care given by a midwife to a women having her first baby.

It doesn’t matter that I have been doing this for 20 years I will have to quote research and write in academic style.

So you see why I am also pursuing appeal.

Off to the Museum today. We have 2 way radios, marvelous takes all the apprehension away from getting separated.

A lot of people here.

The underground is like rats in a sewer.

Cleaner than that but same anonymity and a dehumanizing experience until I get desensitized.

ALVIN HERE NOW

It is great having Bev here with me, we will be able to get through all the above barriers together. I’m looking for a new posting in South London. Probably doing Community Psychiatric Nursing. I won’t need a car as I’ll be able to walk along a street or suburb to find enough trade.

Bev is coping well with the change to city life. She went into the city on her own the other day and found her destination. Once you get the major landmarks sorted then its not a problem. The railway stations are a good reference point. They are set in a circle about the city and you can radiate out from them.

We do have walkie talkies which I think have really helped Bev and I to reduce our anxiety over being lost. The units are as big as a cell phone but have a range of up to five miles.

Providing you are with in a bulls roar you can quickly find a spot to rendezvous.

BEV HERE

I was sitting on an underground train with Al when he realized it was the wrong one and got off.

OK so I hurtled out 10 miles in the wrong direction while he contemplated his error of judgment.

A nice bloke saw what happened and managed to gesticulate a message to Alvin as the doors were closing, that he should stay put and that I would return.

So there are real human beings traveling and help is just an enquiry away.

Within 5 minutes I was back at Alvin’s platform

My thoughts were going back to NZ.

As Alvin says I am growing more confident and I did travel alone once, and I did reach my destination.

The train that I got in that time was a surface train, quite old with manual doors, 1950s style.

But I nearly got out the wrong side of the carriage onto the electrified tracks. Again a nice young bloke sitting by the door practically foot tripped me to stop my exit.

ALVIN HERE

We live near a park which is surrounded by Blackberry Bushes. The fruit is in full flesh at present and we have had blackberry and apple pie for puddings, Bev is freezing the surplus. Most of the locals we talk to don’t know much about the berries and have nothing to do with them leaving plenty for us.

The school holidays commence today and traffic jams are the order of the day. I think we will go to London and check something out, I’m still not sure what will happen until it does.

We buy a one day travel card which allows us to jump on and off all the buses tubes and the Thames Ferries. I suppose we could travel up to a hundred miles on a days outing. The newer tubes are nice and smooth with tidy ungraffited windows.

The central and northern line is very primitive compared.

The load speakers remind you to MIND THE GAP which is often a step of up to a foot between the platform and the train.

The air supply in the old system is very poor. You can look around and see people asleep or yawning due to the lack of oxygen. The smell is also like a football clubs used socks locker room after a game.

Well we are both off this weekend and are away to explore more of London. I’ll wander Bev past the abode of the fat faced fourteen year old female to se if Bev gets the same response as I.

I wonder what will happen next

Andy Capp and Flo