Up and Down greeting from Cranleymore

26 April ‘14 Good day to all, Family and friends Those of you who remembers Haas Das se Nuus kas and the weather report will understand when I say that we can experience all four seasons nearly in an hour! We woke up with brilliant sunshine, blue skies a slight breeze and the promise of having a glorious day.Fifteen minutes later the sun was gone the wind came up and blew every cloud that it could find over to Cranleymore and vicinity and within the half hour it rained and became so cold that we had to put something really warm on! By then my washing was on the line and I had to put my knee to the test for the run to get the 90% dry washing off the line. Fortunately it does not take away any of the beauty of spring ,the Cherry blossoms and all the trees in blossom- colours too beautiful to describe- as there are also trees with maroon coloured leaves and they stand between the 40 shades of green and the white of the hawthorn , the deep yellow fur bushes and the silver leave trees. The daffodils are coming to end of their flowering and the tulips are still coming out every few days, another lot with different colours-magnificent and a joy to the eye! We experienced a fairly dry period since just before Easter and even with the odd shower that falls, accompanied with hailstone, it has not rained a lot and the farmers are out in full force doing what they do best ,spreading the slurry as well as ploughing, rolling of the fields and all the cattle are outside . The potatoes are showing leaves and the rhubarb is ready for picking! We will be visiting the garden centre in the near future to get what is needed for the vegetable garden, it is too cold to work outside and the wind is freezing!The baskets will also hang before the end of May! Our dear cat children are lovely except for Patches who must have been hit by a vehicle - he is limping badly and the scars of where the sin was ripped off is starting to heal- but he is just like a baby and can cry like one too! Sits i n front of the back door and cry until you get up and attend to him either a rub ,a talk or may be something to drink or extra to eat! Last night I prepared supper and I know for sure that I switched the oven on -being Friday we have each our own piece of fish, Barry having cod and a piece of salmon for me. I checked the pots on the stove on the 15 minutes - noticed nothing wrong and at our usual time to ea,t I started to dish up and Barry took the fish out of the oven to discover it never cooked! He accused me of not putting on the oven -but I remember clearly that I did . So him being hungry and I never had a change , during the day to eat my ½ meal of the previous evening, as there were just not time-we were treated with some Chinese! Now that is something very rare in our house and is always something of a celebration! This morning we decided to cook the fish and have it ready for the cats- BUT an hour later when I checked the oven it was still as cold as last night ! Hoera- it was not me but the oven! Now the stove is 10 years old and has given us good service and it costs more to have it repaired than to buy a new one! We still have the plates that is working and a George Foreman as well as a fantastic cooking pan in which you can cook anything- so we are not totally dependent on take aways! It has been a very disturbing and unsettling week at work - the receiver arrived with the appointed company to take over the running of the hospital and addressed the staff at 8am on Wednesday morning and they started to work immediately -they interviewed the managers and by 1pm they called a halt realizing that the hospital was running as a risk and it was really just by the grace of God that nothing has gone wrong in the last year or more! The previous owner when he ran out of money did not keep up with safety regulations and the services of essential equipment especially in the operating theatres. The bosses of the company appointed stopped there and then all booked procedures and cancelled the rest of the week! The staff were devastated as they have already used up all their available annual leave with the lack of medications and equipment, and now this! All the consultants had to be informed that their lists have been cancelled until further notice and that in itself caused tremendous unhappiness but they realized that it was for their own good! So the hospital is temporarily closed until all equipment has been serviced , all the necessary drugs and medications made available and all possible risks have been removed! I, working now as administrative staff could go on with my work but felt very threatened as the people from this company called Centric\Health have the best computers-equipment, expertise, the know- how and superb computer programmes that they use and here we are just about at the time of Moses on the Nile in his basket! 40 Years behind- with no backup system if the computers crash as the other oak thought he could get away with it -as the whole system gave way some 18 months ago and was never replaced! Our methodology is archaic and our workforce illiterate when it comes to high felucent computer programming and the use thereof! You can just imagine what a tremendous mental and Psychological shock this brought on the faithful devoted loyal workers of the company! We all thought we are out the door! Yesterday afternoon another meeting was called as the group realized that the staff are emotional more than fragile and finds it hard to function under the circumstances and we were all re-assured that we will get paid and that the hospital will re-open as soon as all the risks has been removed and that we all still have got jobs! what a sigh of relieve! Just discovered that the sun is shining again but the wind is from the north pole. On the political front the people are in uproar and are protesting about everything! The Minister for Education wants the (our old St 8 public exam) to be removed and that the teacher must mark the papers themselves- and also to stop children leaving after that exam.Come election day they forget all about these moments of disgrunt and vote the lot of scoundrels back into power! A mother with 3 children has been living in a car for some time- but the high polite has not the slightest idea what is going on at grassroots! Two men are missing after they supposedly went to collect monies owed-part of a criminal gang - the car they were travelling in was found at a big lake near Mullingar and the police divers and foot patrols are searching now surely for their bodies- here life is cheap! Tomorrow is very special in our church calendar. Since we had a Thanksgiving service some years ago when we had the inauguration of the new organ ,the thanksgiving service stayed- took on a different theme of Songs of Praise and that is happening tomorrow, with an afternoon service and a visiting choir from Cookstown in NI. Looking forward to a very special service! Birthdays! I have no names for this coming week but should there be a Birthday happening out there! Happy Birthday and may the year be good! We also do remember those on my email address list that are going through difficult times, those who are not well, those who are recovering after surgery, those who have lost confidence and those who are tired of fighting Do not be discouraged because the Lord knows what you need and will provide- trust and believe! Thank you to all , I am not going to mention everyone by name as the list is far too long,who so regularly send a note, letter and photos! Be assured that every bit of news is new to us and just to hear about your experiences brings us nearer together! That brings me to the end of this letter that you might have found very boring- tough- you read up here , others might just have understood, what it is to be uncertain of your future! Be careful at all times, lock your doors and make sure that you leave nothing next to you on the seat while you are driving. Drive safely especially those who are daily on the roads and those who are doing long journeys! Up and down greetings, from Cranleymore where we continuously run in and out of the rain! Barry & Christina