We had a really nice Christmas this year. It was lovely being in our new house and actually having the room to put things like the tree and the Christmas food.
And what a lot of food we had. I'd been buying bits and bobs every week and putting it on top of one of the cupboards in the kitchen so I already had quite a few things. Then one night last week the doorbell rang and on the way to answer it I heard people running and then a car speeding away up the road. I opened the door and there was a rather large hamper full of Christmas food with a note saying it was a gift from all our friends at church. I only just managed to drag it inside as it was rather heavy.
The next day I told Laura about it and she said she had planned to make up a hamper for me too. It's a good job she didn't as we already had enough to feed a small army. In the end she decided to buy me a turkey which she delivered on Christmas eve.
My father also came round on Christmas eve to invite us for Christmas dinner at their house so I'm cooking my turkey today instead.
Levi was so excited I'm amazed he slept at all.
Saturday, 26 December 2009
Now for the big one. When Levi was seven we used to get the train to school every morning. At that time Virgin trains used to run from Bournemouth station and every time he saw the Virgin train he'd get really excited. He'd look through the windows and study every detail of it.
Then he discovered Hornby trains and whenever we went into a shop that stocked them he'd stand and study the Virgin train set.
Last year after Christmas and his birthday he ended up with more than £180 and I asked him if he wanted to buy a Virgin train set with it. I bought him a Hornby catalogue to look at but when it came down to it he couldn't bear to part with all his money in one hit. Instead he frittered it away on little bits and pieces. He still had fun buying things but when the money was spent he didn't really have a lot to show for it.
A couple of months ago we went to Hobbycraft and he spent hours studying the Virgin train set again. He said he regretted wasting his money and wished he'd listened to me and bought the train set.
Little did he know that I had been saving up to buy it for him. They cost £200 so it was going to be a joint birthday and Christmas present.
In the end I didn't pay £200 for it as I managed to get one from Amazon for a lot less.
He saw the box when it was delivered and guessed that I'd bought him a train set but I told him it wasn't as there was no way I could afford £200. A few days later my dad delivered a big sheet of MDF which I'd asked him to get for the base board and Levi said 'I knew it, that's a Virgin train set'. I told him it was a train set but not a Virgin one as I couldn't afford £200. I told him how much it cost and he then spent hours trawling through the Hornby website trying to work out which one I'd bought him.
He was blown away when he unwrapped it. He kept saying 'how did you afford it' and 'I can't believe I've got it'.
It was worth every penny just to see the look on his face.
Wednesday, 23 December 2009
Oops!
This is the bus stop where we normally wait to get the bus into town. Apparently the ice on the roads was so bad that yellow buses suspended all services this morning.
Hopefully it will be alright tomorrow as I need to pop to the supermarket to get a few last minute food bits.
Tuesday, 22 December 2009
Making sweets
We've been really busy today making sweets to give as gifts for Christmas. First Levi made some festive fudge and then I had a go at Turkish delight. Tomorrow I'm going to make some toffee as well. I bought some nice little festive gift bags from Lakeland to pack them in so they should be quite nice when they're finished.
Monday, 21 December 2009
Levi's service project
This afternoon Levi is going carol singing at a local nursing home with the rest of the primary children. This is part of a service project they've been doing for their faith in God award. As well as the carol singing the children have made these cushions to give to the old ladies. Levi really enjoyed sewing it and unlike the girls he got on and did it by himself, unfortunately he managed to sew the back to the front when he was sewing the beads on so we had to unpick it and start again.
Sunday, 20 December 2009
The Nativity
This afternoon the primary children performed the annual nativity play at church. This is only the second nativity that Levi has been in as when he was at school they only seemed to do the politically correct non religious stories. Last year Levi was a wise man but this year he got to be Joseph.
As he's at that sensitive age where he dies at the mere mention of the word 'girls' I took the opportunity to tease him a bit about being married to Mary and jokingly asked him if there was going to be a kissing scene this year. He was very embarrassed bless him. I thought I was bad but then last week a couple from church offered us a lift to the Christmas party and on the way there they asked Levi if he had any lines to say in the play. Before he could reply the husband said 'it's easy being Joseph, all you have to do is shout push'. Levi was mortified, it was very funny.
As he's at that sensitive age where he dies at the mere mention of the word 'girls' I took the opportunity to tease him a bit about being married to Mary and jokingly asked him if there was going to be a kissing scene this year. He was very embarrassed bless him. I thought I was bad but then last week a couple from church offered us a lift to the Christmas party and on the way there they asked Levi if he had any lines to say in the play. Before he could reply the husband said 'it's easy being Joseph, all you have to do is shout push'. Levi was mortified, it was very funny.
Then for the finale. The little girl who shouted hello to her parents decides she wants to use the microphone so she starts pulling it down to her height, another little girl thinks this looks like fun so goes over to join her but the first little girl decides she doesn't want to share so starts trying to push the second little girl off the stage. A shepherd then has to step in to stop it turning into a brawl.
Monday, 14 December 2009
Christmas
Last year I bought the children chocolate advent calendars. When I was a child I really enjoyed opening my advent calendar and discovering what was behind that little door every day. I was expecting my children to get as much pleasure out of their advent calendars as I got out of mine, but they didn't. Instead every morning they'd wake up, walk into the lounge still half asleep, open their calendars and shove the chocolate straight down the hatch without even looking at it.
So this year I decided to buy traditional advent calendars hoping they'd get the same pleasure I did as a child.
Anyway the 1st of December arrived and at 6.30 in the morning I went skipping up the stairs to remind Theo to open his before he went to college. After lots of encouragement and me using my 'I'm really excited it will soon be Christmas voice', he eventually opened the first window to reveal.............a trumpet!
To say he was slightly underwhelmed by the experience would probably be the understatement of the century.
Levi moaned a bit, then showed a bit of enthusiasm, then didn't want to open it so I opened it, then the next day he hit the roof because I'd opened it and now I'm not sure how he feels about it.
People on the HE special list have been talking about Lego advent calendars so I think I'll try one of those next year.
Yesterday I spent hours putting up my new Christmas tree. It's quite big and you have to fit all the branches individually so it took most of the day. When it was finally up I didn't have the energy to decorate it so I left it until today. I wanted to see if my fairy would fit as I only had about 6 inches between the top of the tree and the ceiling. I had to fold the top branch in half to get her on but she did fit.
Then disaster!
I forgot she was up there and decided to move the tree a teensy bit further back and she fell off and look what happened! I did try to super glue her back together but for some bizarre reason super glue works on everything except broken fairies.
I found these for Levi. You might not be able to see from the picture, it's a stocking and Santa hat with the Liverpool FC crest on it. They weren't cheap but he's pleased as punch with them. I was trying to get some Liverpool baubles for the tree but they were out of stock everywhere.
He's quite excited because he's off to see his beloved Liverpool again next week with Uncle Matthew. Lets hope Torres is playing or I'll have to put up with another week of him ranting about it.
Parliamentary petition
On the 8th of December more than 70 MP's took part in a mass presentation of the parliamentary petition asking the government to think again about the proposed bill implementing the recommendations of the Badman review into home education.
The previous record for petitions presented on the same day was 44 and we had over 120. It was also quite something to have so many MP's turn up at the same time. 70 doesn't sound like a lot but it's more than 10% of the members of parliament.
Many thanks to Graham Stuart for organising it.
While this was happening about 70 home educators were holding a candle lit vigil outside.
I managed to collect signatures for 4 different constituencies and met with my MP to discuss home education, the review and the petition.
The previous record for petitions presented on the same day was 44 and we had over 120. It was also quite something to have so many MP's turn up at the same time. 70 doesn't sound like a lot but it's more than 10% of the members of parliament.
Many thanks to Graham Stuart for organising it.
While this was happening about 70 home educators were holding a candle lit vigil outside.
I managed to collect signatures for 4 different constituencies and met with my MP to discuss home education, the review and the petition.
Thursday, 19 November 2009
Well that was fun!
Theo was ill for three days and then he felt fine. By Wednesday though Levi and I had started getting symptoms of the same illness. We didn't feel bad at first, we just had an annoying tickle at the back of our throats.
We were supposed to be going to Laura's Halloween party but when we woke up on the Saturday my tickle had turned into a bit of a cough and Levi's had become a sore throat. Mia's still only little and we didn't really want to give it to her so I phoned Laura to say we wouldn't be coming to the party.
I then spoke to Jeris who asked if we wanted to go to Ollie's Playland in Poole and as we felt well we decided to go. Big mistake. Levi ran round for about ten minutes and then started complaining that he was tired and wanted to go home to bed. We managed to stay for about an hour and a half then Jeris took us home.
Within about half an hour we were both burning up and showing all the symptoms of swine flu. I've had colds before and I've had flu before but this was bad. Lynda was also suffering from flu so we were spending lots of time sympathising with each other about how awful we felt and how nobody was looking after us.
Whenever I get a cold I have to keep a close watch on my asthma as having a cold often leads to me getting a chest infection and ending up in hospital. My asthma was fine until the Wednesday, then my peak flow started dipping a bit. I phoned the doctor and asked if he could do me a prescription for some steroids as I knew I'd probably need them in the next couple of days. Theo collected the prescription at 7pm and my brother drove him round trying to find a chemist but they couldn't find one open so I asked him to take it home and get my mum to collect it the next day.
My mum had been bringing food for us every few days. Because my dad has asbestosis we couldn't risk him catching what we had as it would probably kill him so my mum had to put the food on the doorstep ring the bell and then leg it.
Anyway, that night my asthma got really bad. I have a nebuliser at home but no matter how many times I used it it wasn't stopping my symptoms. I very quickly got to the point where I couldn't talk or get upstairs so I couldn't phone anyone or get the children to get help. Luckily Theo has to get up at 6am to get ready for college so when he got up we phoned the out of hours doctor again. He said I had to go straight to hospital.
I didn't really want to wake my mum at 6 in the morning so decided to leave it until 7. Theo helped me get upstairs so I could have a bath and get some fresh clothes on as there was no way I was going to hospital stinking (my temperature had been over 39 all week). Anyway I got out of the bath and got dressed at 6.45 and then the doorbell went. By some miracle my mum had decided to get up at the crack of dawn and drive all the way over to the big Tesco at Tower Park as soon as it opened to get my prescription.
She came in and I told her what the doctor had said. She said the hospital wouldn't want to take me in if I had swine flu and suggested I take the steroids and give it an hour to see if they worked. She then went off to do something and by the time she came back I was really struggling to breath and had turned a lovely colour. My hands looked like a corpses hands, they were all dark and my nails looked all yellow and nasty.
She phoned the doctor again and this time they said to call an ambulance. A few minutes later a paramedic car turned up. He came in wearing a protective mask and gave me another nebuliser with some oxygen. It didn't work at all so he gave me something else but that didn't work either so he called for another ambulance to take me to the hospital.
Levi really likes emergency vehicles so was very excited by all the commotion. They got him to hold the oxygen when they took me out to the ambulance and as he was walking along he said 'this is the best day of my life'.
They gave me yet another nebuliser in the ambulance again with no effect. When we got to the hospital they put me in a little isolation room and everyone who came in and out had to wear mask, gloves and an apron. They gave me all sorts of different drugs to try and get my airways open but nothing worked. My oxygen levels got lower and lower eventually hitting 71%. My heart was also very fast so they put me on a heart monitor. After a couple of hours the doctor came in and said they were going to move me to resus.
There were two other patients in the resus room and as you can imagine they were very unwell. Well because of the risk of infection from me they made the other patients put on protective masks and they had to isolate the whole resus room. All the doctors had to wear protective clothing and when the other patients were moved out of resus they had to be kept in isolation too. I even heard them talking about having to close the department.
As you can imagine I felt awful. The A&E staff have enough to do without having to spend all that extra time taking precautions.
Anyway they gave me a drip with magnesium in it which worked wonders and they put me on some high pressure oxygen so by 6.30 that night I was well enough to go up to a ward. They did an x-ray and told me I had pneumonia and if I hadn't come in when I did I might not have seen another day.
The next day the doctor said how much better I looked and he decided to turn the oxygen down. Within a couple of hours I was struggling to breath again. They then moved me down to the acute admissions unit where I continued to have breathing difficulties. When the doctor came round on Saturday morning he called an intensive care doctor to come and assess me. Needless to say that was really scary. She walked in dressed in a dark blue uniform and said she was an anaesthetist from intensive care. I had visions of them saying they'd have to knock me out and put me on a ventilator. They'd called her because my breathing was so fast and my oxygen levels were getting really low again.
Thankfully she decided I hadn't quite reached the point where I needed their help and that I'd be better off where I was. She then put me back on the high pressure oxygen again. The doctor came back later to tell me I didn't have swine flu after all.
I've been in hospital loads of times before with my asthma but I've never had an episode like this where the drugs haven't worked and where I've needed constant oxygen. It was rather frightening, I kept thinking about what would happen to the boys if I didn't make it home. I also thought about my faith and how sloppy it is sometimes. I'm about to start temple preparation classes but my life is far from temple worthy at the moment. As I lay there realising that life really is too short I decided to put my life in order.
On Sunday evening Bishop Kenchington came to give me a blessing. As soon as he put his hands on my head I felt a great sense of peace and knew that everything would be ok.
When the doctor came in on Monday I was feeling much better so guess what..........
he took the oxygen away. He was about to leave the room so I asked him if I was ok with no oxygen at all. He said 'no you'll be fine' but then he thought about it for a minute and decided to check my oxygen levels again. I'd only been off the oxygen for about 5 minutes and they'd dropped really low again so the doctor made the very sensible decision to put me back on the oxygen again.
Later that day they moved me up to the respiratory ward. I was put into a bay with 4 other women and a short while later we were joined by another nice lady. We all got chatting(as much as you can when 4 of you are oxygen dependant). It was quite funny at times listening to our coughing chorus. 2 of the ladies had the same rare lung disease, me and another lady were the asthmatic representatives, one lady had a heart problem and had had a chest infection and the other lady Angela had lung cancer and was waiting for a chest infection to clear so she could be moved upstairs to start her chemotherapy.
They were lovely ladies and as the week went on we built up quite a bond. Then on Wednesday night Angela began to have difficulty breathing, the staff were in and out to her all night but by the morning she seemed to have stabilised. At 8am on Thursday she was sat up in bed chatting to us then all of a sudden she started having trouble again. We all sat in shock as the crash team arrived and tried to resuscitate her. We heard them say she had stage 4 terminal cancer and there was no chance of recovery. Then they decided to let her go.
We then had to listen while they brought her husband in to see her.
The staff were really nice. They kept coming round to check we were all ok and they brought the chaplain up to see us. He spoke to everyone individually and then led us all in a prayer for Angela.
Thankfully by Friday I was off the oxygen and by Saturday I was well enough to come home.
I've been at home for a week now and I'm feeling much better. The doctors have said it will take me a while longer to completely recover but I'm making good progress. I even managed to go out today.
I'm really grateful to all my lovely friends who visited me, sent cards and gifts and phoned to see how I was. Most of all though I'm grateful to my wonderful mum. Not only did she look after the boys for the 10 days I was in hospital but she also brought me fresh clothes nearly every day and she cleaned my house from top to bottom.
We were supposed to be going to Laura's Halloween party but when we woke up on the Saturday my tickle had turned into a bit of a cough and Levi's had become a sore throat. Mia's still only little and we didn't really want to give it to her so I phoned Laura to say we wouldn't be coming to the party.
I then spoke to Jeris who asked if we wanted to go to Ollie's Playland in Poole and as we felt well we decided to go. Big mistake. Levi ran round for about ten minutes and then started complaining that he was tired and wanted to go home to bed. We managed to stay for about an hour and a half then Jeris took us home.
Within about half an hour we were both burning up and showing all the symptoms of swine flu. I've had colds before and I've had flu before but this was bad. Lynda was also suffering from flu so we were spending lots of time sympathising with each other about how awful we felt and how nobody was looking after us.
Whenever I get a cold I have to keep a close watch on my asthma as having a cold often leads to me getting a chest infection and ending up in hospital. My asthma was fine until the Wednesday, then my peak flow started dipping a bit. I phoned the doctor and asked if he could do me a prescription for some steroids as I knew I'd probably need them in the next couple of days. Theo collected the prescription at 7pm and my brother drove him round trying to find a chemist but they couldn't find one open so I asked him to take it home and get my mum to collect it the next day.
My mum had been bringing food for us every few days. Because my dad has asbestosis we couldn't risk him catching what we had as it would probably kill him so my mum had to put the food on the doorstep ring the bell and then leg it.
Anyway, that night my asthma got really bad. I have a nebuliser at home but no matter how many times I used it it wasn't stopping my symptoms. I very quickly got to the point where I couldn't talk or get upstairs so I couldn't phone anyone or get the children to get help. Luckily Theo has to get up at 6am to get ready for college so when he got up we phoned the out of hours doctor again. He said I had to go straight to hospital.
I didn't really want to wake my mum at 6 in the morning so decided to leave it until 7. Theo helped me get upstairs so I could have a bath and get some fresh clothes on as there was no way I was going to hospital stinking (my temperature had been over 39 all week). Anyway I got out of the bath and got dressed at 6.45 and then the doorbell went. By some miracle my mum had decided to get up at the crack of dawn and drive all the way over to the big Tesco at Tower Park as soon as it opened to get my prescription.
She came in and I told her what the doctor had said. She said the hospital wouldn't want to take me in if I had swine flu and suggested I take the steroids and give it an hour to see if they worked. She then went off to do something and by the time she came back I was really struggling to breath and had turned a lovely colour. My hands looked like a corpses hands, they were all dark and my nails looked all yellow and nasty.
She phoned the doctor again and this time they said to call an ambulance. A few minutes later a paramedic car turned up. He came in wearing a protective mask and gave me another nebuliser with some oxygen. It didn't work at all so he gave me something else but that didn't work either so he called for another ambulance to take me to the hospital.
Levi really likes emergency vehicles so was very excited by all the commotion. They got him to hold the oxygen when they took me out to the ambulance and as he was walking along he said 'this is the best day of my life'.
They gave me yet another nebuliser in the ambulance again with no effect. When we got to the hospital they put me in a little isolation room and everyone who came in and out had to wear mask, gloves and an apron. They gave me all sorts of different drugs to try and get my airways open but nothing worked. My oxygen levels got lower and lower eventually hitting 71%. My heart was also very fast so they put me on a heart monitor. After a couple of hours the doctor came in and said they were going to move me to resus.
There were two other patients in the resus room and as you can imagine they were very unwell. Well because of the risk of infection from me they made the other patients put on protective masks and they had to isolate the whole resus room. All the doctors had to wear protective clothing and when the other patients were moved out of resus they had to be kept in isolation too. I even heard them talking about having to close the department.
As you can imagine I felt awful. The A&E staff have enough to do without having to spend all that extra time taking precautions.
Anyway they gave me a drip with magnesium in it which worked wonders and they put me on some high pressure oxygen so by 6.30 that night I was well enough to go up to a ward. They did an x-ray and told me I had pneumonia and if I hadn't come in when I did I might not have seen another day.
The next day the doctor said how much better I looked and he decided to turn the oxygen down. Within a couple of hours I was struggling to breath again. They then moved me down to the acute admissions unit where I continued to have breathing difficulties. When the doctor came round on Saturday morning he called an intensive care doctor to come and assess me. Needless to say that was really scary. She walked in dressed in a dark blue uniform and said she was an anaesthetist from intensive care. I had visions of them saying they'd have to knock me out and put me on a ventilator. They'd called her because my breathing was so fast and my oxygen levels were getting really low again.
Thankfully she decided I hadn't quite reached the point where I needed their help and that I'd be better off where I was. She then put me back on the high pressure oxygen again. The doctor came back later to tell me I didn't have swine flu after all.
I've been in hospital loads of times before with my asthma but I've never had an episode like this where the drugs haven't worked and where I've needed constant oxygen. It was rather frightening, I kept thinking about what would happen to the boys if I didn't make it home. I also thought about my faith and how sloppy it is sometimes. I'm about to start temple preparation classes but my life is far from temple worthy at the moment. As I lay there realising that life really is too short I decided to put my life in order.
On Sunday evening Bishop Kenchington came to give me a blessing. As soon as he put his hands on my head I felt a great sense of peace and knew that everything would be ok.
When the doctor came in on Monday I was feeling much better so guess what..........
he took the oxygen away. He was about to leave the room so I asked him if I was ok with no oxygen at all. He said 'no you'll be fine' but then he thought about it for a minute and decided to check my oxygen levels again. I'd only been off the oxygen for about 5 minutes and they'd dropped really low again so the doctor made the very sensible decision to put me back on the oxygen again.
Later that day they moved me up to the respiratory ward. I was put into a bay with 4 other women and a short while later we were joined by another nice lady. We all got chatting(as much as you can when 4 of you are oxygen dependant). It was quite funny at times listening to our coughing chorus. 2 of the ladies had the same rare lung disease, me and another lady were the asthmatic representatives, one lady had a heart problem and had had a chest infection and the other lady Angela had lung cancer and was waiting for a chest infection to clear so she could be moved upstairs to start her chemotherapy.
They were lovely ladies and as the week went on we built up quite a bond. Then on Wednesday night Angela began to have difficulty breathing, the staff were in and out to her all night but by the morning she seemed to have stabilised. At 8am on Thursday she was sat up in bed chatting to us then all of a sudden she started having trouble again. We all sat in shock as the crash team arrived and tried to resuscitate her. We heard them say she had stage 4 terminal cancer and there was no chance of recovery. Then they decided to let her go.
We then had to listen while they brought her husband in to see her.
The staff were really nice. They kept coming round to check we were all ok and they brought the chaplain up to see us. He spoke to everyone individually and then led us all in a prayer for Angela.
Thankfully by Friday I was off the oxygen and by Saturday I was well enough to come home.
I've been at home for a week now and I'm feeling much better. The doctors have said it will take me a while longer to completely recover but I'm making good progress. I even managed to go out today.
I'm really grateful to all my lovely friends who visited me, sent cards and gifts and phoned to see how I was. Most of all though I'm grateful to my wonderful mum. Not only did she look after the boys for the 10 days I was in hospital but she also brought me fresh clothes nearly every day and she cleaned my house from top to bottom.
Tuesday, 27 October 2009
Out of hours GP services
I went to Birmingham yesterday for an EO meeting. I was supposed to catch the 18.14 train to come home but got to the station in time to get the 17.14 instead.
I thought I'd phone Theo before the train arrived to let him know what time I'd be home, he sounded awful when he answered the phone so I asked what was wrong. He told me he had a really bad headache and had been about to go down the stairs when he'd gotten really dizzy and fallen down them. This had happened at lunchtime and he hadn't bothered to tell anyone!
I told him to get straight back into bed and then I phoned my mum and asked her to go straight over. I then got on the train and spent the whole time worrying about what was happening as my phone signal always dies as soon as I get on the train.
I eventually got to speak to my mum who told me that Theo had a really high temperature and a very sore throat. She said he was fine and that he'd gone to sleep so she'd left him to it and gone home.
I finally got home at 21.40 and went straight up to check on him. He was really burning up so I made him get in the bath and gave him some paracetamol. I started asking him questions while I changed his bed and he told me he'd fallen from the very top of the stairs and hit his head several times. He said he hadn't blacked out when he fell but he was unable to get up for a few minutes and afterwards was violently shaking, seeing double and feeling sick.
I then got quite worried so I phoned the out of hours doctor. I called at 22.10 and when I explained what had happened the woman said she'd have to call an ambulance. I said I wasn't really sure that was necessary and would prefer just to talk to a doctor. I said that I would be happy to have an ambulance if the doctor thought it was necessary. She was quite insistant that she'd have to call an ambulance but eventually she gave in and said a doctor would call me as a matter of urgency.
When they still hadn't called at 00.45 I phoned back. I was again told someone would phone me which they did at 01.25.
You've got to laugh haven't you, one minute it's so urgent they're insisting on sending an ambulance and the next they're leaving you for three and a quarter hours before they call you back.
It's a good job it wasn't anything urgent!
I thought I'd phone Theo before the train arrived to let him know what time I'd be home, he sounded awful when he answered the phone so I asked what was wrong. He told me he had a really bad headache and had been about to go down the stairs when he'd gotten really dizzy and fallen down them. This had happened at lunchtime and he hadn't bothered to tell anyone!
I told him to get straight back into bed and then I phoned my mum and asked her to go straight over. I then got on the train and spent the whole time worrying about what was happening as my phone signal always dies as soon as I get on the train.
I eventually got to speak to my mum who told me that Theo had a really high temperature and a very sore throat. She said he was fine and that he'd gone to sleep so she'd left him to it and gone home.
I finally got home at 21.40 and went straight up to check on him. He was really burning up so I made him get in the bath and gave him some paracetamol. I started asking him questions while I changed his bed and he told me he'd fallen from the very top of the stairs and hit his head several times. He said he hadn't blacked out when he fell but he was unable to get up for a few minutes and afterwards was violently shaking, seeing double and feeling sick.
I then got quite worried so I phoned the out of hours doctor. I called at 22.10 and when I explained what had happened the woman said she'd have to call an ambulance. I said I wasn't really sure that was necessary and would prefer just to talk to a doctor. I said that I would be happy to have an ambulance if the doctor thought it was necessary. She was quite insistant that she'd have to call an ambulance but eventually she gave in and said a doctor would call me as a matter of urgency.
When they still hadn't called at 00.45 I phoned back. I was again told someone would phone me which they did at 01.25.
You've got to laugh haven't you, one minute it's so urgent they're insisting on sending an ambulance and the next they're leaving you for three and a quarter hours before they call you back.
It's a good job it wasn't anything urgent!
Friday, 16 October 2009
Life since the move
Apart from the quick post about Grampy the other day I haven't been able to blog for quite a while. We moved house at the end of August and although we had the phone connected within a week of moving in, it took almost 2 months to get the internet back on. We've also been really busy trying to get the house sorted and finding new activities for Levi as we're too far from Boscombe to continue with what he was doing before.
So far things are working out really well, he joined a new Scout group which meets about 300 yards up the road. He also started gymnastics and trampolining, he hated it at first but I told him he had to give it four weeks and thankfully by the second week he was really enjoying it. We found a new music teacher to give him cornet lessons and I'm hoping to get him into a new band now that he's no longer involved with the Salvation Army or the Coda fiddle orchestra. He didn't take too kindly to the idea of not going to his church on a Sunday and reacted very badly to having to come to my church.
In fact he didn't really cope with moving at all well and life was pretty unbearable for a while. He was in a foul mood all the time and most days were taken up with trying to reassure him and deal with the almost constant meltdowns he was having. He'd got it into his head that when we moved in the house would already be decorated and all the carpets would be down. We couldn't unpack most of his things until his room was decorated as we didn't want to have to move everything again so nothing was familiar and he hated it.
Thankfully my brother gave him a TV set and a playstation 2 for his room so he was able to sit and play with it which kept him occupied most of the time. And the bishop also arranged for two brothers to come round and decorate Levi's room. My mum bought him a Liverpool duvet set and matching curtains and I got him some Liverpool posters, a football shaped Liverpool cushion and a funky football lampshade. We don't have any carpets down yet but having his room looking nice (and full of Liverpool things) has helped him feel more settled.
Now that we're in a bit more of a routine we're going to get back into a few more educational projects. We started with these cakes which he made for my mum's birthday.
Another major thing which I should probably mention, we finally had our appointment with the paediatrician. I was really freaking out about this as we had been offered a late cancellation appointment which meant I only had 48 hours notice so my head wasn't really ready for it. Thankfully I was able to phone Sandra and Ann to talk it through. In the end it was ok. The doctor seemed really nice and she gave us a provisional diagnosis of Aspergers Syndrome. We now have to wait to see various other specialists for a few more in depth assessments which will give us an official diagnosis and a full picture of what his difficulties are.
More EO videos
While I was away from the internet the rest of our EO information films were put onto youtube. Theo is featured in a few of them and I think they came out really well.
Our garden
This is our lovely new garden. As you can see from the picture it was a bit overgrown so we had a lot of work to do. My mum brought the lawnmower over so we could cut the grass. We filled 5 large sacks with the grass clippings. I got my friend to come over and clear the veg patch which you can see on the right, she filled 23 large sacks with the weeds.
Levi really enjoyed pushing the lawnmower but because he's so skinny it was quite an effort for him to move it around.
As you can see apart from the overgrown veg patch the only other things in the garden are fuchsias. Hundreds and hundreds of fuchsias. I was going to take them all out but the other day I found out that fuchsias produce fruit. I found some fruit on someone else's plants the other day so we tried some. It looked like a long red grape and it tasted quite flowery, not sharp but not overly sweet either. The book I was reading says they're good for making jams and jellies.
When the veg patch was cleared we found even more frogs and a newt.
We also have a pair of foxes residing in the field at the bottom of the garden. I normally see them just as the sun's coming up in the morning but Levi and I both saw them late last night when we were sat at the bottom of the garden having a bonfire.
The only thing I don't like about this house is the spiders. I don't do spiders at the best of times but this house is full of them.
With the lovely weather we were having I'd been leaving all the windows open, at least I was until I saw this monster on the window about 10 feet from my bed. You can't really tell from the picture but it was massive. It's body was about the size of a 1p coin.
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
My Grandfather
My grandfather died last week. We all knew his funeral was going to be a bit out of the ordinary but weren't quite expecting this.
This is what the local paper had to say about it. There was also a photographer at the funeral taking pictures but I'm not sure which paper he was from.
Last Post honour for D-Day landings marine Jeff, 85
Monday, October 12, 2009, 09:20
A MILITARY funeral will take place today for a former Royal Marine from Paignton who fought in the D-Day landings.
A bugler will sound the Last Post when Jeff Skinner is cremated at a special funeral service.
The 85-year-old was a member of the Royal Marine Association. He landed on Juno Beach in Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944 along with the Canadians.
Mr Skinner, a Royal Marine from 1940 to 1946, was responsible for ship-to-shore communication.
He was born in 1924 in Morthoe near Ilfracombe in North Devon, and had lied about his age to join the Army at 16 and 47 days.
After being demobilised Mr Skinner, who lived in Paignton for most of his life, worked in the printing industry as a signwriter and calligrapher.
Iain Wilson, of the Royal Marine Association Torbay branch, who will be reading Mr Skinner's eulogy at his funeral, said: "He was quite a busy lad.
"During his childhood he suffered from tuberculosis, spending a considerable time in sanatorium conditions.
"He joined with HO 28 Squad in Stonehouse Barracks on September 4, 1940.
"He qualified as a Signaller (RMS3) at Devil's Point Signal School, Plymouth, and was posted to HMS Poyer Quartier and HMS Joberg operating out of Londonderry and Larne in Northern Ireland.
"After D-Day he remained at the beach establishing communications with HQ Ship HMS Hilary, laying telephone cables in the area.
"In late 1944 he was drafted for service in the Far East. Jeff was promoted to Colour Sergeant.
"Due to the Japanese surrender, in 1945, he returned to Stonehouse Signals School until Class 'A' Demob in February 1946.
"His pride in the corps was paramount. His skills as a signwriter and calligrapher were outstanding.
"He was in demand for all types of artistic work, which he never refused."
On September 15, 1990, Mr Skinner was made an honorary life member of the Royal Marines Association for his service to the corps.
Mr Skinner created and hand wrote the names of the 3,975 Royal Marines who died during the Second World War for a Book of Remembrance which can be seen in the chapel at the Commando Training Centre Royal Marines in Lympstone.
Mr Skinner also produced a similar book to commemorate the British personnel who died during the Falklands War.
Mr Wilson said: "He never took a penny for this work. That's the kind of person he was."
Mr Skinner produced similar works for other organisations including the Royal British Legion, the Not Forgotten Association and the US Marine Corps.
Mr Skinner will be remembered by family members and friends as well as 20 members of the RMA while a bugler from Plymouth Royal Marines band will play the Last Post.
A Royal Sergeant Major from Lympstone will also attend.
The funeral will take place at Torbay Crematorium at 4.15pm today.
Thursday, 13 August 2009
Look what I've got!
At last, after nearly 5 years of waiting we've finally been housed by the council. It's a nice old council house so it's got solid walls, good sized rooms and a lovely big garden.
The previous tenants were elderly so it's nasty old wallpaper in every room so it will need decorating from top to bottom. The garden doesn't look like it's been cared for in quite a while either so that will also need a lot of work to get it up to standard.
It has 2 double bedrooms but I've decided to let the boys have a room each and I'll get a sofa bed so I can sleep in the lounge.
I haven't got a definite date yet but they think it might be next week.
Monday, 10 August 2009
Tuesday, 5 May 2009
Dr Death turns up over the road
There's been a lot of talk in the press this week because Dr Philip Nitschke aka Dr Death was coming to the UK to begin a series of workshops on assisted suicide. Assisted suicide is one of those subjects that I see both sides of. I understand that when someone is suffering it can seem like the more humane thing to do but the bible clearly says that only God has the right to decide who lives and who dies. I think it's one of those things that although I wouldn't encourage it I wouldn't condemn someone for choosing that option either.
Anyway when we went out this morning we saw a camera crew walking down our road and this evening we saw a satellite van parked on the corner so we were wondering what was going on. It turns out Dr Death was holding his first workshop over the road at Hamilton Hall.
Hamilton Hall is a naturist hotel for gay men. Julie told me ages ago what sort of an establishment it was and I have to say I didn't believe her so I looked it up online. Not only is it a naturist hotel for gay men (women are strictly forbidden) but they actually run sex 'workshops' which from the descriptions on the site sound like orgies. And all a stones throw from my house. I can't wait to move.
Anyway this is what the Echo had to say about it.
Dr Death’s visitors brave media circus at Bournemouth hotel
IT can’t have been an easy decision for Dr Death’s “customers” to make a stand and attend his first-ever suicide workshop in Bournemouth.
Most of them elderly, those interested were shocked and angry to find themselves at the centre of a media circus and in a small, crowded room in the country’s only gay naturist hotel.
The majority were fearful their faces would appear on television and in newspapers, perhaps alerting their families to the fact that they were considering euthanasia.
But such was their interest in the subject matter that they were prepared to battle it out to give them peace of mind for the future.
Bournemouth was not selected for the workshop by chance.
Dr Philip Nitschke bluntly declared that the town’s “demographic” – the fact that is has a high proportion of elderly people – made it the obvious choice.
Speaking to the Daily Echo, he said: “We were always interested in coming to Bournemouth,” and, referring to last year’s problems with securing a venue, he added: “There was censorship and a wave of hysteria last year, but we knew people in Bournemouth were interested in what we have to say.”
During an hour-long public meeting, Australian Dr Nitschke outlined his belief that everyone has the right to choose a peaceful death.
He urged people to make “end of life plans” well in advance and outlined various ways of dying, including lethal doses of barbiturates, saying: “You want something you can just pick up, drink and die.”
The audience was even shown a video, called DIY with Betty, which showed how to make a plastic bag to go over your head.
The short video, one of the two played during the public session, was accompanied by cheerful music, not dissimilar to that heard on children’s television.
Dr Nitschke was smartly dressed and had clearly won the admiration of his audience, often making them laugh when he made jokes about his serious subject.
After the meeting, visitors were then told they could attend a more detailed workshop. The only rules were that you had to be over 50, sign a disclaimer, and pay a £25 fee to join Exit International.
As members of the public queued to sign up, many shifted around uncomfortably in their surroundings. Signs up in Hamilton Hall in Carysfort Road, Boscombe declared “Life is short, break some rules” and “Be nice or leave”.
But what did members of the public think of the presentation?
Ron Hands, 77, of Southbourne told how his wife died of cancer 20 years ago and added: “I want to die with dignity. I saw my wife suffer and I am thinking about my family.”
Peter King, 66, from Christchurch, added: “I think it is extraordinary that humans are the only animals who can’t be assisted in death – it is hypocritical.”
Paul and Beverley Waller travelled from their home in Weymouth to attend the workshop and Paul said: “We have often thought that we would like to be prepared for when we could be ill. We do not want painful deaths or to be a burden to our family.”
The press were then asked to leave so that more detailed discussions could take place in the closed workshops. Dr Nitschke plans to hold further workshops in Brighton, Stroud and Glasgow before more dates in Singapore and Australia.
Anyway when we went out this morning we saw a camera crew walking down our road and this evening we saw a satellite van parked on the corner so we were wondering what was going on. It turns out Dr Death was holding his first workshop over the road at Hamilton Hall.
Hamilton Hall is a naturist hotel for gay men. Julie told me ages ago what sort of an establishment it was and I have to say I didn't believe her so I looked it up online. Not only is it a naturist hotel for gay men (women are strictly forbidden) but they actually run sex 'workshops' which from the descriptions on the site sound like orgies. And all a stones throw from my house. I can't wait to move.
Anyway this is what the Echo had to say about it.
Dr Death’s visitors brave media circus at Bournemouth hotel
IT can’t have been an easy decision for Dr Death’s “customers” to make a stand and attend his first-ever suicide workshop in Bournemouth.
Most of them elderly, those interested were shocked and angry to find themselves at the centre of a media circus and in a small, crowded room in the country’s only gay naturist hotel.
The majority were fearful their faces would appear on television and in newspapers, perhaps alerting their families to the fact that they were considering euthanasia.
But such was their interest in the subject matter that they were prepared to battle it out to give them peace of mind for the future.
Bournemouth was not selected for the workshop by chance.
Dr Philip Nitschke bluntly declared that the town’s “demographic” – the fact that is has a high proportion of elderly people – made it the obvious choice.
Speaking to the Daily Echo, he said: “We were always interested in coming to Bournemouth,” and, referring to last year’s problems with securing a venue, he added: “There was censorship and a wave of hysteria last year, but we knew people in Bournemouth were interested in what we have to say.”
During an hour-long public meeting, Australian Dr Nitschke outlined his belief that everyone has the right to choose a peaceful death.
He urged people to make “end of life plans” well in advance and outlined various ways of dying, including lethal doses of barbiturates, saying: “You want something you can just pick up, drink and die.”
The audience was even shown a video, called DIY with Betty, which showed how to make a plastic bag to go over your head.
The short video, one of the two played during the public session, was accompanied by cheerful music, not dissimilar to that heard on children’s television.
Dr Nitschke was smartly dressed and had clearly won the admiration of his audience, often making them laugh when he made jokes about his serious subject.
After the meeting, visitors were then told they could attend a more detailed workshop. The only rules were that you had to be over 50, sign a disclaimer, and pay a £25 fee to join Exit International.
As members of the public queued to sign up, many shifted around uncomfortably in their surroundings. Signs up in Hamilton Hall in Carysfort Road, Boscombe declared “Life is short, break some rules” and “Be nice or leave”.
But what did members of the public think of the presentation?
Ron Hands, 77, of Southbourne told how his wife died of cancer 20 years ago and added: “I want to die with dignity. I saw my wife suffer and I am thinking about my family.”
Peter King, 66, from Christchurch, added: “I think it is extraordinary that humans are the only animals who can’t be assisted in death – it is hypocritical.”
Paul and Beverley Waller travelled from their home in Weymouth to attend the workshop and Paul said: “We have often thought that we would like to be prepared for when we could be ill. We do not want painful deaths or to be a burden to our family.”
The press were then asked to leave so that more detailed discussions could take place in the closed workshops. Dr Nitschke plans to hold further workshops in Brighton, Stroud and Glasgow before more dates in Singapore and Australia.
Friday, 1 May 2009
Baby P
Like everyone else I was upset when I heard the details of what had happened to baby P then today I read this about his 2 year old sister. When will these people learn that seen does not equal safe. These children were seen 60 times in the last 8 months of baby P's life but they weren't protected.
Boyfriend of Baby P's mother guilty of rape
The boyfriend of Baby P's mother was found guilty on Friday of the abuse of a second child, the rape of a two-year-old girl.
The girl, like 17-month-old Baby P, had been on the child protection register of Haringey Council in north London.
Baby P, whose first name can now be reported as Peter, died in August 2007 at the hands of his mother, the boyfriend and their lodger.
The toddler's death horrified the public and led to a nationwide review of child protection which recommended that overstretched children's social workers should be given extra training to address problems in the system.
Haringey Council said after the verdict it accepted that things had gone "badly wrong" with its child protection services.
"We live every day with the knowledge that more could have been done and apologise again to everyone affected," said council leader Claire Kober.
The abused girl, now aged four, gave evidence at the trial at the Old Bailey, becoming the youngest ever witness at the court, the Press Association reported.
The court was shown a 30-minute video of police interviewing her when she was three, in which she said the man had hurt her.
She was then cross-examined by defence lawyers and told them what she had said in the video was the truth.
The mother, who like her boyfriend cannot be named, was found not guilty of cruelty to the girl.
The mother and boyfriend were tried under false names to ensure a fair trial.
In November, the boyfriend and lodger Jason Owen were found guilty of causing or allowing Baby P's death. His mother had pleaded guilty to the charge.
Judge Stephen Kramer told the couple it was likely there would be "very substantial sentences" in both cases.
"There is no doubt that Peter and this young girl suffered terribly at the hands of these people," said Detective Chief Inspector Graham Grant after the verdict.
Details of the sexual abuse against the girl had emerged after police began their investigation into Baby P's death, Grant said.
"It is telling that this man denied rape and in doing so forced a very young and vulnerable child to endure a daunting criminal process at the Old Bailey," Grant added.
Baby P suffered a broken back and over 40 horrific injuries during a campaign of domestic violence despite having been seen more than 60 times by police, doctors and social workers.
A second serious case review into the toddler's death has yet to be published because of legal concerns.
But Graham Badman, chairman of Haringey Local Safeguarding Children Board, said the review had concluded that the boy's death "could and should have been prevented."
"It said the actions of the protecting professions involved with Baby P were lacking in urgency, lacking in thoroughness and insufficiently challenging to the child's mother," he said.
Sharon Shoesmith, head of Haringey's children services, was sacked without compensation in December.
Boyfriend of Baby P's mother guilty of rape
The boyfriend of Baby P's mother was found guilty on Friday of the abuse of a second child, the rape of a two-year-old girl.
The girl, like 17-month-old Baby P, had been on the child protection register of Haringey Council in north London.
Baby P, whose first name can now be reported as Peter, died in August 2007 at the hands of his mother, the boyfriend and their lodger.
The toddler's death horrified the public and led to a nationwide review of child protection which recommended that overstretched children's social workers should be given extra training to address problems in the system.
Haringey Council said after the verdict it accepted that things had gone "badly wrong" with its child protection services.
"We live every day with the knowledge that more could have been done and apologise again to everyone affected," said council leader Claire Kober.
The abused girl, now aged four, gave evidence at the trial at the Old Bailey, becoming the youngest ever witness at the court, the Press Association reported.
The court was shown a 30-minute video of police interviewing her when she was three, in which she said the man had hurt her.
She was then cross-examined by defence lawyers and told them what she had said in the video was the truth.
The mother, who like her boyfriend cannot be named, was found not guilty of cruelty to the girl.
The mother and boyfriend were tried under false names to ensure a fair trial.
In November, the boyfriend and lodger Jason Owen were found guilty of causing or allowing Baby P's death. His mother had pleaded guilty to the charge.
Judge Stephen Kramer told the couple it was likely there would be "very substantial sentences" in both cases.
"There is no doubt that Peter and this young girl suffered terribly at the hands of these people," said Detective Chief Inspector Graham Grant after the verdict.
Details of the sexual abuse against the girl had emerged after police began their investigation into Baby P's death, Grant said.
"It is telling that this man denied rape and in doing so forced a very young and vulnerable child to endure a daunting criminal process at the Old Bailey," Grant added.
Baby P suffered a broken back and over 40 horrific injuries during a campaign of domestic violence despite having been seen more than 60 times by police, doctors and social workers.
A second serious case review into the toddler's death has yet to be published because of legal concerns.
But Graham Badman, chairman of Haringey Local Safeguarding Children Board, said the review had concluded that the boy's death "could and should have been prevented."
"It said the actions of the protecting professions involved with Baby P were lacking in urgency, lacking in thoroughness and insufficiently challenging to the child's mother," he said.
Sharon Shoesmith, head of Haringey's children services, was sacked without compensation in December.
Wednesday, 29 April 2009
Paignton College
My old school hit the headlines today when one of the pupils was diagnosed with swine flu.
A 12-YEAR-OLD girl from South Devon has been diagnosed with swine flu and one family member has symptoms.
The girl's school has been evacuated and shut down and will remain closed for more than a week.
The girl, who was on the same flight as the Scottish couple confirmed as having swine flu, is one of three more confirmed UK cases of swine flu on top of two previously identified, Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the Commons today.
Paignton Community and Sports College was today evacuated and will be closed for more than a week.
The 12-year-old girl with swine flu has been named locally as Year 7 pupil Amy Whitehouse of Paignton.
Friends say Amy returned from a family holiday on a farm in Mexico at the end of last week.
Charlotte Cleverdon, aged 11, was in her class 7G1 when they were told Amy had swine flu.
She said: ''This afternoon at 1pm a teacher came in and told us what was happening and we were going home.
''Everyone started crying and holding their noses. I know Amy well. She's nice and I am worried about her.''
Charlotte's mum Lorraine, 36, said: ''It's a shock. I am really worried and I just want to get my daughter home.''
Every pupil from Amy's year was kept back at school to be given a dose of anti-viral drug Tamiflu.
Parents and pupils at Paignton College said they were ''very angry'' Amy had been allowed back to school.
One said: ''I am furious. We are not being given the information we need. We are not even allowed to ring our children on their mobiles.
''It is very worrying. I just want to get her home so there is less risk of infection.
''We were told the girl and her family have been to Mexico and staying on a farm.
''We have been here for hours but the kids are staying in until they have had a dose of the anti-flu medicine. It is chaos and everyone is scared.''
Mum Sheena Gill said: ''There are no words to describe it. It is frightening. Devastating and very scary.
''My daughter is very upset and we are off to the doctors to get her checked out.''
Her daughter Gordanne, 13, added: ''We were told one student has wine flu. I don't want to get it. Lots of children were crying.''
A father of a Year 7 pupil said: ''I can't believe they let somebody go on holiday to Mexico then return to school. It is unbelievably negligent.''
Amy is a pupil at the college's junior school for Years 7, 8 and 9 at the Waterleat Road Centre in Paignton.
Sources say she returned home from Mexico last week and initially felt fine but later began to suffer flu-like symptoms.
She is being looked after at home and the school is likely to stayed closed until May 11.
Anxious parents of children who attend the same school as the 12-year-old swine flu victim today said they were concerned for the youngsters’ safety.
The Year 7 girl, from Torbay in Devon, attends the college with more than 1,900 other children.
The two-site college will be gradually closed throughout the day as 230 pupils from Year 7 are given anti-viral drugs. The school will then remain closed for seven days.
Staff at the school referred all inquiries today to the local health authority, Torbay Care Trust.
Frantic parents today flocked to the junior site in Waterleat Road – attended by the ill schoolgirl – to check on their children.
Many aired frustrations that they were not aware of the outbreak until the Prime Minister confirmed the latest infections during his questions session at the House of Commons earlier today.
Lisa Walton, 36, who has two sons, Liam and Jack, at the school, said: “We just had no idea about what was happening here. The school had not told us about it, and my son said the pupils were told around 1pm today.
“Right now we just don’t know what to think. Obviously it’s a worry.”
Another parent, Michelle Buswell, whose 13-year-old daughter Emma attends the school, said it was “a shame” parents appeared to be some of the last to know.
“Obviously I’m concerned. We’re lucky we heard about it on the radio so we could come down,” she said.
“I can’t fault the staff here, it’s just a shame it hit the media before the parents.”
Debbie Hutton-Hands, 43, has two daughters, Amy, 13, and Zoe, 12, at the school.
Amy said: “The girl that’s ill is in Year 7. All the Year 7s were running around like maniacs shouting ’Cover your mouths’.
“At first we thought it was a prank. Now we just hope everyone is okay.”
Mrs Hutton-Hands said: “It’s a worry for us. My daughter already has a cough and a cold, and I work in the community with the elderly so obviously if we caught it, it would stop me from going to work.
“My husband will already have to stop work because he works at the school as a cleaner.”
Paignton Community and Sports College, which opened in 1992, has more than 1,926 pupils on roll, including 285 Sixth Form students. The majority coming from the Paignton area.
Schools Secretary Ed Balls said the school’s headteacher Jane English was supporting the child and family and making sure parents were well informed.
“Our clear advice is that schools and children’s services should continue to operate as normal,” he said.
The 12-year-old victim was on the same flight from Mexico as the Askhams, the Scottish couple who have also been diagnosed with swine flu, Health Secretary Alan Johnson announced earlier.
The case was highlighted by Gordon Brown during Prime Minister's Question Time.
The girl's school has been closed as a precaution and the pupils have been offered anti-viral medication. The girl is said to have 'mild symptoms'.
The girl is one of three more confirmed cases. Gordon Brown said that all new cases, including the girl, had recently been in Mexico. The other cases are in London and Birmingham.
The Prime Minister told MPs: “There are three further confirmed cases, one a twelve year old girl from Torbay; two other adults -- one from Birmingham and one from London.
"All of them have travelled recently from Mexico. All of them have mild symptoms. "All of them are receiving and are responding well to the treatment that has been effective so far, the use of Tamiflu.
"In the case of Torbay, the school in which the twelve year old is educated will close down for the time being and all the pupils will be offered the Tamiflu antiviral."
A spokesman said: "We can confirm that a single case of swine fever has been confirmed in the Torbay area.
"This concerns a secondary school pupil who recently visited Mexico. She returned to school last Wednesday and developed mild flu symptoms at the end of last week.
"She was seen by a local doctor who took throat swabs. These have now been confirmed as the H1N1 strain which is the same strain as identified in the previous two cases in Scotland.
"The patient is in isolation at home and has already responded well to treatment. She is said to be recovering well and is in good spirits. Her family have also been treated with anti viral drugs."
The trust confirmed that one close family member also has mild symptoms. Test results are awaited.
They added: "It has been agreed with the Health Protection Agency that those students who are most likely to have had close contact with the girl at the college will be offered anti viral drugs (Tamiflu).
"This is around 230 students in her year group. As an absolute precaution it has also been agreed that the college will be closed from the end of the day for seven days to minimise any risk of the virus spreading. "
Jim O’Brien, Deputy Director of Public Health at South West Strategic Health Authority, said: “These steps are strictly precautionary to minimise any risk to college students and staff. We are keen to reassure the local community that only those who have had close contact with the student need to be offered anti viral drugs.
“It is important to remember that the student is responding well to treatment and we would urge people not to be unduly concerned at this stage.
“We have worked hard in the South West to prepare for this type of event and we are now enacting our plans with NHS and local partners.
“This case is one of five now confirmed in the UK and the advice remains the same for everyone, which is to telephone your healthcare provider for advice if you develop flu symptoms and to exercise good basic hand hygiene and ensure that any used paper handkerchiefs are destroyed promptly to reduce the spread of germs.”
The symptoms of swine flu are similar to normal flu, and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, chills and fatigue.
Some patients have also reported diarrhoea and vomiting. In very young children, the warning signs include fast or troubled breathing, a bluish skin tone, a failure to interact with others, and being highly irritable. As with seasonal flu, swine flu varies in severity, with the worst cases leading to fatal pneumonia and respiratory failure.
Lib Dem MP for Torbay Adrian Sanders said he would be working closely with his neighbouring Tory MP for Totnes Anthony Steen as the school drew pupils from both their constituencies.
Mr Sanders said: “I think people will be surprised but I think it’s an indication of the global world we live in. Nowhere can escape this sort of thing.
“What we need to ensure is there’s adequate supplies of antiviral drugs for everyone who’s going to require them.”
He would also be seeking clarification on the position of vulnerable groups who received the annual flu jab, and whether they would be receiving anti-viral drugs “as a matter of course”.
The new strain seems to be more lethal to those in the 25 to 45 age range - an ominous sign, as this was a hallmark of the Spanish 1918 flu pandemic that killed tens of millions worldwide.
Younger people were probably hit harder by the 1918 flu virus because their immune systems over-reacted.
A 12-YEAR-OLD girl from South Devon has been diagnosed with swine flu and one family member has symptoms.
The girl's school has been evacuated and shut down and will remain closed for more than a week.
The girl, who was on the same flight as the Scottish couple confirmed as having swine flu, is one of three more confirmed UK cases of swine flu on top of two previously identified, Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the Commons today.
Paignton Community and Sports College was today evacuated and will be closed for more than a week.
The 12-year-old girl with swine flu has been named locally as Year 7 pupil Amy Whitehouse of Paignton.
Friends say Amy returned from a family holiday on a farm in Mexico at the end of last week.
Charlotte Cleverdon, aged 11, was in her class 7G1 when they were told Amy had swine flu.
She said: ''This afternoon at 1pm a teacher came in and told us what was happening and we were going home.
''Everyone started crying and holding their noses. I know Amy well. She's nice and I am worried about her.''
Charlotte's mum Lorraine, 36, said: ''It's a shock. I am really worried and I just want to get my daughter home.''
Every pupil from Amy's year was kept back at school to be given a dose of anti-viral drug Tamiflu.
Parents and pupils at Paignton College said they were ''very angry'' Amy had been allowed back to school.
One said: ''I am furious. We are not being given the information we need. We are not even allowed to ring our children on their mobiles.
''It is very worrying. I just want to get her home so there is less risk of infection.
''We were told the girl and her family have been to Mexico and staying on a farm.
''We have been here for hours but the kids are staying in until they have had a dose of the anti-flu medicine. It is chaos and everyone is scared.''
Mum Sheena Gill said: ''There are no words to describe it. It is frightening. Devastating and very scary.
''My daughter is very upset and we are off to the doctors to get her checked out.''
Her daughter Gordanne, 13, added: ''We were told one student has wine flu. I don't want to get it. Lots of children were crying.''
A father of a Year 7 pupil said: ''I can't believe they let somebody go on holiday to Mexico then return to school. It is unbelievably negligent.''
Amy is a pupil at the college's junior school for Years 7, 8 and 9 at the Waterleat Road Centre in Paignton.
Sources say she returned home from Mexico last week and initially felt fine but later began to suffer flu-like symptoms.
She is being looked after at home and the school is likely to stayed closed until May 11.
Anxious parents of children who attend the same school as the 12-year-old swine flu victim today said they were concerned for the youngsters’ safety.
The Year 7 girl, from Torbay in Devon, attends the college with more than 1,900 other children.
The two-site college will be gradually closed throughout the day as 230 pupils from Year 7 are given anti-viral drugs. The school will then remain closed for seven days.
Staff at the school referred all inquiries today to the local health authority, Torbay Care Trust.
Frantic parents today flocked to the junior site in Waterleat Road – attended by the ill schoolgirl – to check on their children.
Many aired frustrations that they were not aware of the outbreak until the Prime Minister confirmed the latest infections during his questions session at the House of Commons earlier today.
Lisa Walton, 36, who has two sons, Liam and Jack, at the school, said: “We just had no idea about what was happening here. The school had not told us about it, and my son said the pupils were told around 1pm today.
“Right now we just don’t know what to think. Obviously it’s a worry.”
Another parent, Michelle Buswell, whose 13-year-old daughter Emma attends the school, said it was “a shame” parents appeared to be some of the last to know.
“Obviously I’m concerned. We’re lucky we heard about it on the radio so we could come down,” she said.
“I can’t fault the staff here, it’s just a shame it hit the media before the parents.”
Debbie Hutton-Hands, 43, has two daughters, Amy, 13, and Zoe, 12, at the school.
Amy said: “The girl that’s ill is in Year 7. All the Year 7s were running around like maniacs shouting ’Cover your mouths’.
“At first we thought it was a prank. Now we just hope everyone is okay.”
Mrs Hutton-Hands said: “It’s a worry for us. My daughter already has a cough and a cold, and I work in the community with the elderly so obviously if we caught it, it would stop me from going to work.
“My husband will already have to stop work because he works at the school as a cleaner.”
Paignton Community and Sports College, which opened in 1992, has more than 1,926 pupils on roll, including 285 Sixth Form students. The majority coming from the Paignton area.
Schools Secretary Ed Balls said the school’s headteacher Jane English was supporting the child and family and making sure parents were well informed.
“Our clear advice is that schools and children’s services should continue to operate as normal,” he said.
The 12-year-old victim was on the same flight from Mexico as the Askhams, the Scottish couple who have also been diagnosed with swine flu, Health Secretary Alan Johnson announced earlier.
The case was highlighted by Gordon Brown during Prime Minister's Question Time.
The girl's school has been closed as a precaution and the pupils have been offered anti-viral medication. The girl is said to have 'mild symptoms'.
The girl is one of three more confirmed cases. Gordon Brown said that all new cases, including the girl, had recently been in Mexico. The other cases are in London and Birmingham.
The Prime Minister told MPs: “There are three further confirmed cases, one a twelve year old girl from Torbay; two other adults -- one from Birmingham and one from London.
"All of them have travelled recently from Mexico. All of them have mild symptoms. "All of them are receiving and are responding well to the treatment that has been effective so far, the use of Tamiflu.
"In the case of Torbay, the school in which the twelve year old is educated will close down for the time being and all the pupils will be offered the Tamiflu antiviral."
A spokesman said: "We can confirm that a single case of swine fever has been confirmed in the Torbay area.
"This concerns a secondary school pupil who recently visited Mexico. She returned to school last Wednesday and developed mild flu symptoms at the end of last week.
"She was seen by a local doctor who took throat swabs. These have now been confirmed as the H1N1 strain which is the same strain as identified in the previous two cases in Scotland.
"The patient is in isolation at home and has already responded well to treatment. She is said to be recovering well and is in good spirits. Her family have also been treated with anti viral drugs."
The trust confirmed that one close family member also has mild symptoms. Test results are awaited.
They added: "It has been agreed with the Health Protection Agency that those students who are most likely to have had close contact with the girl at the college will be offered anti viral drugs (Tamiflu).
"This is around 230 students in her year group. As an absolute precaution it has also been agreed that the college will be closed from the end of the day for seven days to minimise any risk of the virus spreading. "
Jim O’Brien, Deputy Director of Public Health at South West Strategic Health Authority, said: “These steps are strictly precautionary to minimise any risk to college students and staff. We are keen to reassure the local community that only those who have had close contact with the student need to be offered anti viral drugs.
“It is important to remember that the student is responding well to treatment and we would urge people not to be unduly concerned at this stage.
“We have worked hard in the South West to prepare for this type of event and we are now enacting our plans with NHS and local partners.
“This case is one of five now confirmed in the UK and the advice remains the same for everyone, which is to telephone your healthcare provider for advice if you develop flu symptoms and to exercise good basic hand hygiene and ensure that any used paper handkerchiefs are destroyed promptly to reduce the spread of germs.”
The symptoms of swine flu are similar to normal flu, and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, chills and fatigue.
Some patients have also reported diarrhoea and vomiting. In very young children, the warning signs include fast or troubled breathing, a bluish skin tone, a failure to interact with others, and being highly irritable. As with seasonal flu, swine flu varies in severity, with the worst cases leading to fatal pneumonia and respiratory failure.
Lib Dem MP for Torbay Adrian Sanders said he would be working closely with his neighbouring Tory MP for Totnes Anthony Steen as the school drew pupils from both their constituencies.
Mr Sanders said: “I think people will be surprised but I think it’s an indication of the global world we live in. Nowhere can escape this sort of thing.
“What we need to ensure is there’s adequate supplies of antiviral drugs for everyone who’s going to require them.”
He would also be seeking clarification on the position of vulnerable groups who received the annual flu jab, and whether they would be receiving anti-viral drugs “as a matter of course”.
The new strain seems to be more lethal to those in the 25 to 45 age range - an ominous sign, as this was a hallmark of the Spanish 1918 flu pandemic that killed tens of millions worldwide.
Younger people were probably hit harder by the 1918 flu virus because their immune systems over-reacted.
Another 'known' child death
Detectives are continuing to question a young woman on suspicion of murdering her four-year-old daughter.
Chloe Fletcher was found dead after her 22-year-old mother left her home in Wallasey, Merseyside, in the early hours of the morning to ring police from a phone box nearly half a mile away.
She was arrested shortly before 2am on Wednesday at the scene where little Chloe's body was discovered in Oakdale Avenue.
The woman remains in custody and is being questioned by detectives. A post-mortem examination is being carried out to establish the cause of death.
Police appealed for help and urged witnesses who saw Chloe's mother making the emergency call to get in touch.
A force spokesman said: "At 1.42am, police received a phone call made from a public phone box on the corner of Poulton Road and Brentwood Street in Wallasey.
"Detectives are keen to speak to anyone who witnessed anyone using the phone box at around 1.40am on Wednesday morning or has any other information to call them on 0151 777 2265 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111."
The appeal was issued as Wirral social services confirmed Chloe and her family were known to them.
A spokesman said: "We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to everyone in the local community affected by this tragedy.
"The little girl and her family were known to a number of agencies, including the Children's Social Care team at Wirral Council, but given the early nature of the police investigation it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time."
Chloe Fletcher was found dead after her 22-year-old mother left her home in Wallasey, Merseyside, in the early hours of the morning to ring police from a phone box nearly half a mile away.
She was arrested shortly before 2am on Wednesday at the scene where little Chloe's body was discovered in Oakdale Avenue.
The woman remains in custody and is being questioned by detectives. A post-mortem examination is being carried out to establish the cause of death.
Police appealed for help and urged witnesses who saw Chloe's mother making the emergency call to get in touch.
A force spokesman said: "At 1.42am, police received a phone call made from a public phone box on the corner of Poulton Road and Brentwood Street in Wallasey.
"Detectives are keen to speak to anyone who witnessed anyone using the phone box at around 1.40am on Wednesday morning or has any other information to call them on 0151 777 2265 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111."
The appeal was issued as Wirral social services confirmed Chloe and her family were known to them.
A spokesman said: "We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to everyone in the local community affected by this tragedy.
"The little girl and her family were known to a number of agencies, including the Children's Social Care team at Wirral Council, but given the early nature of the police investigation it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time."
Cradle art exhibition
We finally had a bit of sun today so we went down to the gardens to look at an art exhibition.
You can get more info about the exhibition at http://artbournemouth.co.uk/
The most distinctive and controversial is “Parasites” – two large, ugly sculptures of shoppers carrying McDonald’s, Tesco and Primark bags.
They lurk by the bandstand and are attracting numerous photographers.
Artist Rene Farda, 29, said it was inspired by the worst side of “crazed” shopping culture you see in town on a weekend.
He said: “They don’t think what’s behind the products they buy.
“They contribute to problems all round the world.”
The black paint reflects a saying in his native Slovakia – if you do evil, you are said to carry a black stain.
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