An Imperfect
Life. Chapter 19
New Faces and Places.
“You’ve been dumped.
Now you know what it feels like.
Get over it!”
So I told myself but it was a lonely time with Ginny
engrossed in her new boy friend
and our set halved with nurses leaving, unable to withstand
the stresses and strains of
caring for very sick
children.
My immediate problem
was what to do with the fortnight’s holiday in February –
planned as a trip to Oxford to be with Jamie.
Just lately I had
been working on the wards with Kate – a member of our set. She
was a really good person – without being pi and I found her
a very comforting
presence.
Kate told me about Plas y Nant - a Christian Fellowship
House in North Wales.
“It’s a beautiful
spot – if you like mountains. There’s graded outdoor activities with
leaders in charge but I have to warn you Pat - there are
prayers morning and night.”
When she showed me a
snap of this old house nestled amongst
pine trees and surrounded by mountains I had no hesitation
in accepting an
invitation to join her. I knew it was going to be a special place.
Betws Garmon, is five miles SE of
Carnarvan – an area of mountains,
llyns, (lakes) waterfalls and glens. Plas itself was a rambling old
building in grounds that begged to be explored.
When we arrived there the gardens
were fragrant with the smell of pine and as we crunched our way up the drive we
had a fantastic view of a mountain – the Elephant and Llyn Quellyn.
When we first saw the Elephant –
you can guess its shape – it was diamond encrusted as a result of
all the
minute slivers of ice scattered over it.
Because of the time of year Kate and I were the only
guests, with an
influx of walkers at the week-end. This didn’t trouble us as we both
needed respite
and
Lena, the manager, made sure
we got it. Kate was a bit worried about my finger nails; off
duty
I wore Peggy Sage nail varnish a pale pink natural shade.
“Pat I’m a bit worried Lena
may be shocked at your nail varnish.”
“Kate if she objects I promise I’ll
remove it.”
We couldn’t wear it on duty of course but
since my break up with Jamie a bit of steel had entered my
soul and I no longer
felt obliged to try desperately to please everybody.
Lena was a
gentle looking lady – slight, with fuzzy hair and large owlish glasses.
In spite of her
delicate appearance she had complete control over all guests at all times, even
the
rowdy ones in the larger parties. We were privileged to have her
undivided attention during the week
and I certainly found peace and
tranquillity. One of the charming customs of the house - when it was
occupied by men and women – was the evening ritual when the men would gather
outside the
conservatory and serenade the women with the song ‘Good Night
Ladies.’ I can’t remember what we
sang back to them and neither can
Kate.
Our memories are slightly
conflicting because I believed
we had wandered over the Pyg track – just the
two of us – in fog, but Kate said we climbed
Snowdon
in a party. Maybe it was Crib Goch I remember with a lonely sheep
dog for company. It felt very
daring and was quite dangerous. We
certainly climbed at least two mountains, read lots of poetry and
enjoyed
Knickerbocker Glories in Caernarfon.
Lena
said we ought to return in the summer when
there would be team leaders and
graded walks and climbs. This was our final year of training, with
more responsibility and lots of studying so we decided to repeat the experiment
in the summer and
booked then and there.
There were to be a lot of changes in the next few months - some I was
aware of and some came as a surprise. One thing was certain, the
remaining members of our set would take their finals in October and then
leave. I would have to stick it out for another six months when I
would be old enough to take State Finals. And then what?
When I got back from Plas it was my birthday –
twenty and still unmarried - unlike Mum and Maddie. I still went out with boys but imagined I
would have platonic relationships for the rest of my life. I wasn’t
going to mope - just be realistic.
Maddie told me that Liam- Jamie’s elder brother had met a girl at Yale and they
were to be married. She was Jewish and her family had escaped from Austria
before the war. So much for Jamie’s father’s dream of his sons
marrying nice Scottish girls.
Maddie dropped the bombshell that
Paul - her husband - had got a job in Africa
and the three of them were going out there to live. We were all
going to miss them – especially Mum, Dad and the Aunts.
Evan had got a serious girl friend and Gran was in the States again so Mum and
Dad were having the time of their lives with just themselves to think
about. I knew I would never live at home again but felt a bit
rudderless. Still I had another year before I had to decide what to
do next. I saw much less of Ginny as she was fully occupied with her
fiancée.
Kate and I were very thankful when August came along and we
set off for Plas once more. It was very
different in the summer - beautiful gardens, crystal clear views and a great
buzz of excitement as people settled in and started getting to know one
another. There was a lovely feeling of fellowship and we were excited to hear
there was a German Party – it was 1950 and the war was still fresh in our
memories. I spotted them in the garden bunched together and looking
a bit glowery. I cursed the fact that I didn’t know any German
except ‘Ich liebe dich’ – the song ‘I love you.’ I went up to a
young man with a thunder cloud on his brow and said ‘Ich’ pointing at myself,
‘Pat.’ Then I pointed at him questioningly and said ‘Dich?’- meaning
I’m Pat who are you. I now think this is possibly an intimate way of speaking rather like the French tu- toying but I had no idea then. .He beamed from ear to ear and told me, in
excellent English that he was Gerhard and - still with a happy smile introduced
me to the rest of the party. I’m not sure what he said to them but
from then on there was no stand - offishness and Germans and Brits alike spent
the next week walking, eating, laughing and praying together. They
had all been children during the war - like us, and we were able to rid
ourselves of the belief that all Germans were wicked. We giggled when the boys stood outside
serenading us and sang ‘Merrily we yoll
along.’ instead of ’roll along.’ There was a lot of joshing and
teasing. One of the Brits was Johnnie -
a wag- and the last night he sang a song about all the characters which ended
up with a chorus of ‘Pat and Gerhard’ to every body’s amusement and Gerhard
demanded a copy. It was the sort of holiday where one felt one loved
everybody but it was all light-hearted - nothing serious.
Back in hospital the rest of my set
were madly swotting for the Finals in October and I was thankful that I had
another six months breathing space. October marked the end of the three
years I had been training
Just as I thought I was going to be friendless along came
Vanessa. She had joined the hospital as a second year nurse, having
done her general nursing and so was already State Registered. I
first noticed her standing languidly by the tea urn in the dining
room. She was tall and willowy with blonde hair and only needed a
couple of borzoi to be a dead ringer for Diana the Huntress. I didn’t get to know her until our final year
when Home Sister said as we were both senior nurses we would have the privilege
of sharing the bedroom in the Admin Block. This room was special; up
in the eaves of the main hospital, above sick bay and above the doctor’s
quarters - so remote it wasn’t regularly inspected. And it had a
fire-escape and a fireplace. It was a cold October and Vanessa thought it would
be fun to have a fire so we would have the luxury of dressing and undressing in
the warm. But how on earth would
we get the coal up two floors I wondered. Next thing I knew I
was following Vanessa down the main corridor; blessing the fact that she was so
tall and had been given the longest cloak in the hospital. It
reached the floor and completely hid the two buckets of coal she was
carrying. We kept that fire going for
three days until Home Sister happened to notice smoke coming from a normally
dormant chimney. She was a great sport and after playing hell with
us made us promise we would never do it again. Thankfully, she
didn’t tell Matron, (thanks Sister Walters).
Not all the sisters
were so kind and understanding. Vanessa - who the medical staff
nick-named Snake-Hips was made very unhappy by two bitchy Sisters whose ward
she was on and I had a problem with one of the Night Sisters. I was sad that
Vanessa only told me about this in later years. .Being so isolated we didn’t
get the usual wake up call from the maids and had to rely on an ancient alarm
clock. It was very large and had two
brass bells attached. One morning it didn’t go off and I was late
for breakfast. This particular Night Sister was big and bouncy and
somewhat of an exhibitionist. She glared
at me through her dark framed spectacles got hold of the alarm clock, managed
to get it ringing and to prove her point went striding down the main corridor
swinging the pealing clock triumphantly. Once on night duty she was
so unreasonable and unfair that I became enraged and determined to go to Matron
and hand in my notice.
“Pat you can’t throw away the last four years
training just because that cow was bitchy to you. You know what she’s like. The other night Jones took her 11pm coffee –
on the dot - Sister decided it was too weak and poured it onto the main
corridor floor,” Kate tried to reason with me. Fortunately by the time I came off duty I had
calmed down and agreed it would be silly to throw all the years of training
away because I had a problem with one Sister.
Common sense prevailed.
Compared to the normal Spartan single bedrooms ours had a bohemian feel
to it;
posters of Margot Fonteyn decorated
the walls, there were dried flowers in the fireplace and there
was a delicious
aroma – a mixture of pot pourri, fresh fruit and Vanessa’s scent.
In October I decided to go to the
hospital dance. I had heard that Andrew
had left the area so I wouldn’t bump into him.
After a few dances I noticed there was a bunch of chaps who apparently
were engineers from Metro-Vickers.
One in particular seemed rather ebullient and
even went up to Matron to have a chat - a rare occurrence with invited
guests. He seemed to stare at me a lot
and finally came up and asked for a dance.
He told me later he had said no way was he going to ask that conceited
looking girl to dance. I had never met
anyone quite like him and haven’t to this day.
He said his name was William.
