Beware...there is a thief amongst us

I have just come back from a random little supermarket adventure in the rain with one of the heathfield guys (who shall remain unnamed).
This particular heathfield lad has , I am afraid to say, fallen into the ways of crime - having placed his bar of chocolate on the check-out to pay for it, he walked out of the store and climbed into my car with a bag of bananas in his hand which , apparently overcome by the distraction of being in my wonderful presence, he had forgotten to pay for!! Tricky!

The Spinster Song

I am not a child!
I am not a little girl!
Am I just a face amongst the crowd?
Will you see me..... as a woman?

A beautiful song I think you'll agree!

Well done to Mal Pope who so beautifully depicted the feelings of Christian spinsters in his musical 'Amazing Grace' set in the 1904 Welsh revival...

Medical one-up-manship

As many people will possibly already know, sneaking a look into my medical notes makes for interesting reading....

When other people get a bit of a bad belly on travelling, I develop dysentary.

While others get let off school with a bit of a tummy ache, I get rushed into hospital with appendicitis.

A bit of a head cold for normal people quickly mutates with me into viral meningitis.

At the moment I have had a grotty cold and a rash for about a week. Upon visiting the doctor this morning (and getting a second opinion from another Dr in the centre) I have been informed that I probably have chickenpox (again) and have to take the rest of the week off, avoid pregnant women and small children, and go back tomorrow for a futher opinion from the big boss Dr who knows about dermatology.

You may well ask why I didn't go to the doctor a week ago, if I had, the chance of spreading an infectious disease round South Wales would have been lost and, as everyone knows, if things go away within a week they weren't that bad anyway.

So... anytime you're free do pop along to ours for a cup of tea and some varicella zoster, the spots really are very fetching. Also if you've seen me recently and you might be preggers, do see a Dr. Ta.

Fran

xx

Heathfield Hobbies- what ever next?!

A worrying array of activity has been entering the house recently... it all started off with Mim investing in some knitting needles and wool... but things took a new found low when Sar discovered the delights of 'Map Analaysis'. This involves sitting and analyzing the numbers of the motorways in Britain. The photo speaks for itself- the sense of delight on her face was overwhelming. PLEASE, SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, HELP!!!!

BABIES!!

My medical studies have gotten a whole lot more exciting and incredibly, overwhelmingly amazing this week! For the first time EVER i am loving medicine, I'm going in at stupid o'clock in the morning and staying in till ridiculous o'clock in the early hours (like 4am).
What brings about this sudden change of heart? (the clue is in the title of the blog)
Yes its BABY week!
I actually get to see babies being born! It is the most incredible experience ever! (has it put me off having babies...NO! has it made me more broody than usual...YES!)

One thing i have discovered though is that i don't handle shift work very well, especially doing nights and then continue having to get up early for the rest of the week...my poor housemates had to suffer the evil glares of a very sleepy zombified Hannah-Lady this morning (don't think Sar has quite accustomed herself to this weird state of mine yet!)
I did however manage to handle the scary consultant lady who keeps having a go at us because our consultant doesn't teach us (is that our fault - NO - he is a loser!) even in my tired state! Wohoo! One up for me the humble med student!

I'm going to go nap now to try and catch up on sleep! If this blog makes no sense - its cos i'm sooooooooo tired.

The Hannah Lady
xxx

The modern version of Catherine Morland

The learned and well read amongst you willl realise that the title contains an allusion to a book by Jane Austen called Nothanger Abbey. In it Catherine Morland, the antethesis of a good heroine, is scared out of her wits by an overactive imagination and too much reading.

I'm currently in a (mental) hospital called St David's, as a student, not a patient, although that might change as the weeks progress. St David's is an old victorian mental asylum made out of dark stone on the top of the hill away from the town behind a stone wall where the sun never shines and it is always gloomy. Everytime I go through the gates I get scared, very scared.

When I return to my lonely B&B, situated up a very dark single track lane overshadowed by trees I am still scared. I think that there is a monster in the bathroom and the rain taps on the windows as if someone is out there!

Apart from becoming worryingly edgy I have been trying to contain myself by switching on the bathroom light, flinging wide the shower curtains (the landlady come in and shuts them completely everyday when I'm out so you can't see into the bath at all...at least I hope it's the landlady) and telling myself in my head not to be so stupid. I'm still convinced that the man who lives across the hall is an escaped convict but I might deal with that fear soon.

Moving on to happier things, I'm very glad that Sarah has now posted on the blog although I am puzzed as to which anonymous person has commented that she rocks. The list of possible authors is very long, but not particularly distinguished.

Yes they are my wellies in the picture but it's not me wearing them... the mystery continues...

I'm currently so desperate (for company) that I'm missing everyone, even the boys across the road who made me cry!

Fran

xx

Welsh Weather

Hello all, I feel that my first blog should be filled with effortlessly witty and clever comments, but I can't think of any so I'll just talk about the weather.

Pictured is a crazy member of our house (guess who??).......crazy for two reasons:

1. liking gardening; and

2. liking gardening in the rain.

Myself, having recently recovered from getting a cold after walking in the Beautiful Brecon Beacons in the pouring rain on Sunday, am not a fan of the Welsh weather. Much prefer the weather in Birmingham, where the sun forever shines :)

Nevertheless, I have to admit that rain can be fun, especially when being half soaked by a coach on North Road. Oh how we larffed.....heehee :p

love Saire xxx

Crummy Cake- AGAIN!

Mim has been back in the kitchen attemping for the millionth time to rectify her Victoria Sponge making skills... but to no avail.

However hope is on the horizon: The Hannah Lady and Fran have discovered that Delia's Complete Cookbook recipe (which Mim has faithfully followed) is deficient in eggs.

Perhaps joy amongst the Heathfiels Girls will soon arrive.
Lx

The Dental Student Mentality

The following is a text conversation between resident Louise and a coursemate (Caron!!!)

Louise "Jst saw ur new patient cycling, infact the bus is following her. CU l8r! Lx"

Caron "How funny! Hope it doesn't run her over, got a couple of good fillings 2do on her! C ya later x"

The new girl

With the arrival of Sarah, the average attractiveness rating of the house has increased exponentially. She comes from Birmingham and drives a bogey coloured car. Currently unsure of which church to settle in she continues to do the rounds checking out the talent.

Her social work masters is going well, she spends much of her time talking to little old ladies (nothing new for the house there, that's what we all do everyday) and eating cake.

This weekend she and Mim sucessfully managed to make some delicious chocolate cakes even if they were a bit saggy in the middle (the cakes, not the girls.) We even let the boys across the road have some (again, of the cakes, not the girls.)

As well as the human members of the house, we currently have some mice in residence. Lou doesn't like them all that much but we haven't tried them roasted yet so her opinion may change.

Fran

xx

Life moves on...

Life amongst the Heathfield Girls moves on... Vix has dispatched us (although has the honoury position of bloggage access) and Sarah a.k.a misunderstood has embraced us. We have also been blessed with the moving in of The Heathfield Guys (check out their blog too!). An intro to Sar shall be coming shortly...

Lx

101 things to do with a tourniquet

As term drags onwards interminably we are having to wrack our brains for things to do on placement... stare at the fattest patient in the world... dare each other to ask attractive SHOs for hugs... avoid the scariest consultant in the world...

A very productive lunchtime was spent working out the uses of tourniquets after we had walked round the hospital with them clipped round our heads.

1) Catapult
2) Belt
3) Whip
4) Substitute bra
5) Braces
6) Hair Tie
7) Sweat band
8) Funky choker
9) Reins for small children
... the list goes on

all the third years stared at us and listened attentively to all we said, they've also taken to asking my permission before seeing patients on the ward I'm on (one annoyed the house officer so much she sent her to get a history off the lovely old man with multi-lobar dementia)

Fran

xx

Reflections on Malawi

Feel like i should make some comment on recent Malawi trip...

16 people from Cardiff CU in Malawi for 14 incredible days

Actually have no idea where to begin, how to put down into words what we all experienced in the two weeks there.
God is amazing, He brought us so close together as a team, He gave us opportunity after opportunity to share His love with the people we met - whether it be children in the orphanages, villagers that gathered round our trucks to see why 17 white people had stopped in their village (we only needed the loo and to get drinks and ended up singing and telling them about Jesus - its amazing the way God has a purpose in every moment), people in very very remote villages off the beaten, pot-holed track, who we showed the Jesus video to, people in Hospital, people in Prison, God gave us the strength and motivation for everything we did - and we could not have done any of it without Him.
He also revealed Himself to us in the magnificance (is that a word?) of His creation.

What did i learn?
God is almighty, all powerful, awesome, beautiful, wonderful and so full of love and grace.
God can use weak and broken people to do His work.
God is the reason for my hope and my joy and i need to live in Him daily

How awesome! And how hard it has been to hold on to that hope and joy in this country where 'possession and self-interest' is everything and God and relationships and community have so little value.


There is the total of my reflections on Malawi (i'm in a reflective mood right now...you may get the comedy highlights another day!)
Hxx

Fantastic deals on a huge range of holidays, flights, breaks and more...

... a continuation of the lastminute.com theme, since it is after all an on going issue in the Heathfield house.

At 11 o'clock last night a remembered that I was supposed to be moving house today, tricky! After a mad scramble of crazyness, involving me actually getting out of bed during the morning part of the day, (nearly) all of my possessions have been shoved, in no paticular order, into various boxes, the lids of which have no hope of closing, even if one person sits on top whilst another covers them in duct tape.

The feat however can be considered a success, despite the bomb site appearence of my heathfield Rd room. Afterall one car load of clutter is now in the new house, another in my parents Garage, and I didn't have to call in sick. You could almost call it a miracle!

The highlight of the morning came at midday (about the time I had to leave for work) when I recieved a call of distress from a Chinese friend of mine. Disaster had struck, she had called her husband, he however could not make it back from London. So Dad and I went to the rescue. We shoved some tissue paper into the hole that the spider had run into, assured her that it would not kill her, and zoomed me off to work.

The adventures never end, however my time in the Heathfield house nearly has. But what a joy it has been!

Vix

lastminute.com

Heathfield Girls are the personification of lastminute.com: whether it be the 'oh its 9pm but why not to to Greenbelt now?!' (aka Fran and Vic) or 'oh I have an exam tomorrow' type of revision (aka Vic) or 'maybe I should delay my medical studies to study psycology for a year even though the deadline has long gone' (aka Mim). Many more examples could be mentioned but they will suffice to prove a point.
Lx

Make Tea Not War

After nearly a month of gallivanting I have returned smelly, tired, slightly ill and with a new t-shirt bearing the phrase used as the title of this post to Heathfield Road.

We flew out of Stansted the Saturday following all the arrests, it's not everyday you get a free grope. We spent the week doing lots of activities in the French alps, particular highlight- a meal most of the way up a mountain in a tiny restaurant surrounded by goats and cooked by the French equivalent of Dirty Sanchez followed by a lift down a mountain track in the back of the pick-up truck driven by aforementioned frenchmen with added eau de vie (plum flavour.)

The night rounded off with a visit to the locals' club/bar in the village, luckily we'd all had tetanus shots before travelling.

A quick turn-around at home followed before departing in my car for France for a week with my family. I drove without killing anybody even when I was in France- did cut up a really slow English driver on the way into the ferryport on the way home, felt quite bad but managed to avoid a show-down on the boat. We didn't do much, it was a bit of a rest before sorting out the house as Dad has new job starting in DUNDEE, that's in SCOTLAND, where it's COLD and DARK and about 500 MILES FROM PORTSMOUTH. It should be really fun, lovely scenary, lots of things (like sea level traversing and outdoor climbing hint hint) but it is quite a long way.

After visiting the parental home to pot the forest of plant cuttings my mother had entrusted to me I rushed back to Cardiff as we had decided to go to Greenbelt, which had already started.

The story of Greenbelt with all it's interesting people we talked to will have to wait 'til another time as I'm going to go and eat some of the nice food I brought back from France- yes I smuggled both dairy and meat products through customs.

Fran

xx

There's nothing so good for you as dirt.

Many recent reviews of 'good bacteria' containing yogurts lead me recently to the consideration of investment. On futher pondering however, I realised that my organic vegetables come delivered in a rich source of 'good (possibly/hopefully) bacteria' included in the cost. As a result I decided against both the yogurts and washing the Rocket that arrived in last weeks box. Extra humous was used in my daily sandwiches instead, to disguise the taste. Without thinking twice, the same measure was carried out the remains of the rocket this lunchtime; only to discover a mouth full of soil by halfway through my roll. So it seems that the soil tends to sink to the bottom of the bag.

Even I admit I may have gone too far this time.

A hungry Vix

Mim's exciting adventure

This will be my third time to try to write and send this email, as before my computer has either crashed or the electricity has cut out - ah well it´s all part of the Nicaraguan experience!

The most part of last week and this week has been spent travelling round to
different communities and planting Nim and Acacia trees and pitaya plants.
The people we´ve visited have been really welcoming and grateful for the
trees that it really has been a joy. One guy we met was really enthusiastic
about his farm and showed us round his land - he had mangos, lemons, pitaya,
corn and beans growing. When we asked him if he sold his produce, he said
that he didnt because he believed that the earth and all of its produce
belongs to God. He had therefore decided to share his produce by giving it
to his neighbours as a demonstartion of God´s provision. What a principle to
live by! And I´ve seen this sort of attitude in other people too, they are
content with just making enough money to feed their family. There is also a
much greater emphasis placed on relationships and therefore a much stronger
sense of community. How different to the UK where life seems to be so
focussed on making as much money as possible to make life as comfortable as
possible, often at the expense of relationships and community life.

Today we went to another farm and helped locals dig a huge fish tank. Once
the tank is completed they plan to buy 300 fish for 1 cordoba each (about
3p), keep them 3 months till they´ve grown to full size and then sell the
fish for 10 cordoba each (about 30p). Although the land here is so fertile,
harvest can be ruined by a dry season, and so people are trying to develop
new ways to produce food. A fish farm sounds like a great idea to me, and
the people here really do need something to supplement their rice and beans
diet!

Most afternoons we are going to the deaf children´s home, and take crafts
and sports equipment with us. We have a lot of fun and are really getting to
know the kids. Last week we went to one of the members of staff´s birthday
party which involved eating ice cream and dancing. We taught them the YMCA
dance which made us feel like fools, but we gave it our best shot!

There´s one boy at the deaf home, who isnt actually deaf but has cerebral
palsy and is severely handicapped, called Mario. He is 15 but is so frail
that he looks a lot younger and sadly he spends most of his time lying in
bed with the light turned off. The women who work at the home clean and feed
him but give him very little attention or affection. Over the last few days
we have been trying especially hard to show that he is an important person
and one who should be loved as much as the other children. Yesterday we took
him in his wheelchair and out into the garden where the children were
playing. He giggled a lot and loved watching the children blowing bubbles.
It was great to see him being so resposive and hopefully the children and
staff will continue to include him in thier activities. Please pray for
Mario, and that we would be able to encourage the staff to show him love and
value.

Last Friday, Hannah, Sam, Jon and I went to Managua (capital of NIcaragua)
for an all night Christian youth event. This was a memorable experience that
started with the crazy 3 hour bus ride with other youth from churches in
Condega. The event was held at a university campus and was very charismatic
with worship, prayer, drama, dance and talks. Strong black coffee kept us
going till 3am and then we all drove back to Condega. It was great to be a
part of this event and to see how God is working in so many young people´s
lives here.

The water has been off here for the last 3 days so we´re all starting to
smell. Trying to wash out of buckets as best we can but it´s not the same as
a proper shower. There´s road work being done which explains the disrupted
water supply but it also means we have no idea when its going to come back
on.

I could go on and on about all the things we´re seeing and doing, but I´ll
stop here. Nicaragua is such a beautiful country and we really are having
such an amazing experience, there is such a lot to learn from these people.

1000 miles in a week

I reckon I've travelled well over 1000miles in this past week.
Since landing in Heathrow airport just over a week ago (yes they let me through the security!)
I have been from :
Heathrow to Pembrokshire - Malawi Training weekend
Pembrokeshire to Cardiff - visiting vix and Fobbs (plus i managed to lose my wallet!)
Cardiff to Bristol - visiting Bethy (where we baked cookies)
Bristol to Frome - visiting my parents
Frome to Leicester - visiting my almost grandparents
Leicester to Ripon - visiting my brother on camp where i spent 12hrs washing up!!
Ripon to Nottingham - to visit Elisa
Nottingham to Frome - to rest and sleep and to pack for the next adventure
and tomorrow i will be going back to Heathrow again.

So tomorrow i set off for Malawi! All very exciting! Can't wait!

Love
Hx

ever the comforter

Victoria seems to have taken a few lessons from Job's comforters. Having been informed Fobb's neck is tinged yellow she sent two messages:
"R u sure the ga hasn't screwed over ur liver!" 18 Aug 2006 15:34
"Reckons ur heads gona fall off!xx" 18 Aug 2006 15:37