We are currently constantly reminded through the media that we are in unprecedented times, circumstances and seemingly everything. This is apparently quite true but after a while it does just feel like unprecedented and unpredictable are the way things have to be now. I’m honestly very much struggling to write blog posts while the outside world feels that way, all I seem to talk or write about is how anxious I am regarding the future both near and far.
Love how I’m looking less completely and utterly exhausted currently
I think one of the best ways in which I can tackle this is to focus on the positives and the small things that happen that make me smile each week. The Lavender Garden at work is a lovely place that not everyone knows about where there is an outdoor space you can sit in and soak up the sun. We mentioned it on a lunch break to our Pathology colleagues who had never heard of it so off we trotted to show them. I really must try and get out there more often and take advantage of it, even if only for ten or fifteen minutes of the day.
Mortuary team rarely seen outside the basement in the sunshine. Pandemic makes us do some strange things.
Scrubs are now in plentiful supply which is excellent and I’m loving some of the colours we are getting. Pre-pandemic we wore green or blue for ‘dirty’ work like post mortems and black for when we were providing viewings for families or other such work. Now it’s whatever we can get and there’s an array of blues, greys, browns and other colours. I’m yet to find a purple or pink in my size but I’m wondering if by the end I could make a beautiful scrubs rainbow.
I was not aware when I took these of how much you can tell I deeply dislike that brown colour
This weekend I’ve spent a lot of time wandering around the park on my doorstep and seeing my family from a safe distance. Oh and trying to avoid the news which only makes me more frustrated with the lockdown and how it will progress. Something I have been asked a number of times by people is if I think the weekly clap should continue.
The park is beautiful, and incredibly dry right now
I’ve thought long and hard on this and I can only say both yes and no. I do think that a specific time for a community to come together and acknowledge one another is a wonderful thing. Communicating with our neighbours and the kindness shown in communities are just some of the ways we have expressed and used our strengths in this pandemic. However for the clap to remain as a thank you to the NHS for the foreseeable seems a little off. I feel the applause was started weekly as a way of showing support for the NHS that has been lacking for a long time, but this has now been highlighted effectively. It should transform into something bigger, better and more tangible for the NHS and other key workers which are plentiful outside of the NHS too. Those that were deemed low skilled by the government not that long ago should be recognised now as purely being low paid only, the unfairness of that original statement now screamingly obvious from the necessity of those who could not stop going to work during the crisis.
Of course this is purely my current opinion, and does not take away the gratefulness or the tears I cried when I first heard my neighbourhood erupt into applause and cheers. I hope, what I believe justifiably, this to be the beginning of a bigger change we see in our society. We started the year having to almost beg people to be kind to one another and this is needed now more than ever.
On a much lighter note, I have also spent a considerable amount of time watching or making TikTok videos. If you have no idea what that is, don’t even think about looking it up unless you want a new addiction. Hopefully I’ll have more inspiration for some interesting posts soon, watch this space.
MG x
Mortuary Gem 
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