Watford, Hemel Hempstead, London, Surrey:

The Finale

We are on the downward spiral of the holidays; 6 days left for the South of England split between Surrey (Cobham), Watford, Hemel Hempstead & London.
We took a leisurely drive from Bridlington, through Hull, over the Humber Bridge to Lincoln. Stopped at the Lincoln Castle, absorbed some history lit a candle in the Lincoln Cathedral and had a late lunch at the local pub. Then it was on the road again heading for Luton - we were going to call in on a friend Laura and her family. Laura and I did our midwifery together, at Hertfordshire. Laura works as an independent Midwife and is also a supervisor of midwifery. It was great to see her again; it was like old times except now she has three lovely boys instead of just one. We had a great afternoon tea now it was time to brave the traffic on the A1 to Surrey.

How could I forget the traffic on the M25, nothing much changes, congestion galore, needless to say took us several hours to get to Cobham.

It was like going home, visiting Watford & Hemel Hempstead. After all I had spent 6 years working and living there. I visited my old hospital Watford General, nothing seemed to changed, it just looked busier.



Helena - Community & Homebirth mentor, Mary - Labour & Birth suite mentor: both tremendous midwives, thank you.

We had a great evening in Hemel Hempstead with my old crew from Watford, the mad midwives. It was a tremendous evening catching up with friends who were also mentors, supervisors, peers and respected colleagues. It is interesting when you get a group of midwives together how difficult it is not to talk shop, the other interesting point is no matter where in the world you work we all face the same issues, staff shortages, medicalisation of childbirth, poor case management, empowering women, negligence, bullying and over work. This could serve as a reminder that the grass is not always greener on the other side. Happy midwifery, keep on being passionate.


London is just fantastic, I love the hustle and bustle and miss going to Leicester Square & Covent Garden for shows & meals. I enjoyed the 2 days in London immensely.

We went to see The Lion King, it was just brilliant. I would of like to see several more shows however time did not allow this.

The weather was not too kind to us, it was raining, windy and cold on and off for the 2 days we spent in London. I guess that is a reminder of how unpredictable the English summer is. Oh I almost forgot how if feels to be a sardine when travelling on the tube how could you forget.
The shopping is just out of this world you are spoiled for choice – there is a down side to all this, it is so expensive and crowed you have to queue for everything. The atmosphere in the city was buzzing. Harrods is arguably the most exclusive retail store, five floors of just exquisite shopping – I was tempted with a pair of Gucci shoes on sale at £185.00 however I had already purchased a few pairs elsewhere and had to think about luggage. There was also a Christian Dior handbag @ £7,500.00 - I could not justify this to myself or my husband so alas did not buy it. We did buy all the grandchildren and I Harrods Bears, and Ian got some golf balls and a hand towel. We bought our lunch from the Harrods deli section and had it in Hyde Park.

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Whilst we have been travelling we have used the city tours the - double Decker buses, they are well worth it as you get to see everything and you are able to jump on and off at any point, its not a bad way to see the city and it is valid for 24hrs.
Its time to go home the holiday is coming to a close; we have had a fantastic time its now time to squash all the shopping into our suitcases and make the long journey home. A flight I am not looking forward to. Ciao till next time.

Northern Ireland & Republic of Ireland

Londonderry Arms - Sir Winston Churchill holiday place


Giants Causeway

Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland

We arrived in Dublin in the morning and wanted to go directly to Belfast. – Our choices were €14.00 by bus or €40.00 by train and only half an hour difference between the bus and train. Naturally we wanted as much spending money as possible so the bus/coach it was. It was a pleasant trip, spacious for a coach and we sat in the first seats, best view. What delightful countryside, so green, I looked for some leprechauns but alas did not see any. However at one point along the journey I thought I did see one sitting on a stoned wall and pointed him out to Ian and he dismissed it by saying it was a figment of my imagination. I still think I saw one. Although Ian did say he saw some fairies in Dublin. Now, whose figment of imagination are you going to believe?

In the past I have travelled through the Republic of Ireland and really enjoyed the Irish hospitality, music, lifestyle, openness, sociability and once in Ireland you can not help but try the local brew. I have seen most of the south, however whilst living in the UK I never really got to go to Belfast, and I really wanted to share the Irish experience with Ian, so we decided to do Belfast and Dublin as a whistle stop tour.

After our obligatory procrastination of where we are going to stay and how to read the map, we found accommodation at Katie’s Bed & Breakfast. It was quite central on University St Belfast, which was in the university area, off course with a street name as such. The B & B was run by a seemingly traditional Irish couple in their 50’s or so with broad accents which Ian kept saying pardon. The place had 4 floors and we were on the third floor, a small clean tidy room, with fresh fruit which really was not fresh by Australian standards. The bathroom and toilets were on the next floor down, again relatively clean but very small.
This luxury cost us €25.00 each which did include a cooked breakfast, so €50.00 a night which was cheaper than most of the hotels we called that were fully booked. After settling in we decided to go for dinner, again the usual decision making task, and which restaurant will we go to. At this point in our trip I was missing my own cooking and was desperate for some spaghetti, I was having carbohydrate withdrawals. We had spotted an Italian restaurant earlier which a taxi driver had told us was the best Italian in Belfast, for me the decision was easy, Ian came along. It was probably the best in Belfast, but not the best I have ever had, but it was good for the time and place and it is worth a visit if you are in Belfast.







We booked a day trip to County Antrim to see the top end and the Giants Causeway. What a spectacular sight, an unusual phenomenon, well worth the visit. A long the way we stopped at a few interesting places such as Carrick-a-Reed Rope Bridge, Highlights of the city tour were, the wharf were they built the Titanic and the cranes Samson and Goliath, for Ian the Guinness brewery was number 1. Unfortunately we did not have enough time to go round the brewery; we will save that for the next time.
A good way to see the city is to go on a city tour; this gives you a good idea of what you want to see




It was interesting going through the hotspots of Belfast- Falls Road and Shanklin Road – it was sad and somewhat depressing to go through these streets to see how people lived and how many people died and what was it all about, being a ‘Royalist’ or a ‘Republican’.
It is good to see how Belfast is rebuilding and becoming more united.




A great three days whistle stop - Dublin was as usual simply the best! next time we will spend more time in Dublin.

ICM opening ceremony: 28 Triennial Congress

International Confederation of Midwives – Glasgow Congress 1-5 June 2008


The opening:

ICM president welcomes the world’s midwives from 90 countries, 3500 midwives came to Glasgow to share, learn, network and have fun.
Dame Karlene Davis opened the 28th Triennial Congress of the international Confederation of Midwives. The Dame made special tribute to the 475 Australians, 200+ New Zealand, and the 150ish Canadian midwives that attended, by far the Aussies made the most noise.

On a more serious note the Dame also said she wanted ‘to see an urgent international summit to reverse the trend of mothers dying in the 50 countries unable to meet the requirements of the millennium development goals in 2015. The Prime Minister Gordon Brown welcomed all the delegates, and thanked the midwives of the world for their hard work. He also ‘wanted to mobilise a new campaign’ to reduce the number of women dying each year in childbirth, which stands at half a million.
It has been a long time since I had to stand and sing “God Save the Queen” it bought back many memories of growing up in NZ.



The opening was spectacular, with entertainment from the traditional District Pipe Band, what extraordinary talent the Scottish pipers have. The Scottish Opera with its orchestra, soprano Kate Valentine and Tenor Federico ALepre were sensational – The RCM choir were brave, Irish dancers – the children were fantastic, the amazing talent of the Scottish youth theatre the Welsh choir was superb, but what got us dancing in the isles were The Cavern Beatles from Liverpool – just awesome.
It was a proud moment sharing this opening with 3500 midwives all working towards the same goal, working together to save lives of women and babies, providing the best evidenced based, informed choice to women. I feel so inspired and proud to be a midwife.



I was at this point asked to represent the Australian contingent to meet The Princess Anne, to dress in national costume and meet the princess woh, I was chosen randomly – God knows why me! My first thought was, I have to learn how to curtsey, that can't be that hard surely, what a day!
Watch this space for more news.




MIDWIVES IN NATIONAL DRESS

Its Nanna time again! more grandchildren on the way!

It is really a busy time of year for me. Like tearing my hair out, the storm before the calm. I know it is meant to be the calm before the storm. I am trying to get this semester rounded off and get papers marked before I leave next week and get unit outlines ready for second semester. As well as tie off loose ends at the hospital. So busy, busy, busy.

Our trip to Glasgow has been planned since the Brisbane ICM 2005. Between Ian and I we have 6 children, you could call us the Brady Bunch. My daughter Faye got married in October last year and was planning another baby - At present we have 4 grandchildren and 3 on the way. Now we did say to all the children that we would be away around June/July 2008 so please do not get pregnant or have you babies around this time if you want us to be around. Maybe that's it we weren't meant to be around! no I don't think so.
Yes you guessed it, kids never listen, even when they are all grown up, maybe we should of said "go ahead have your babies" because guess what! Jodie is due the 15 July, Faye is due 12 July, and when do we return from our European jaunt - the 12 July. Now that is cutting it fine! At least Nikki is not due until October, that gives us a little breathing space.
This means I have my friends (midwives) as backups should any of them go early and need some assistance whilst mum/mother in law is away. It will make shopping in Europe more exciting having all these babies to buy for, however thank goodness for weight restrictions, meaning, we can not buy to much, which is good for me. I do have the tendency to buy too much.


Faye & Brendon's baby 20 weeks - due July
Jodie & Danny's baby picture is posted on the 19 March story in my blog.


Scott & Niki's baby 12 weeks - due October

I am looking forward to buying my Harrods Bears, might get one for all the girls (grandchildren).
9 days to go - then up up and away!!!!!!!!!!!!