Blogging from A to Z, N is for Nan and nick names

*Quick not before we kick into today's post I have had a busy couple of days at work and to add to it sorting out the last details for my friends Hen do on Saturday, so it's been all go go go.  Hence I have been slack with my post reading.  But I will get on it now, I promise.*

N is for Nan.  I have many wonderful memories of my Nan as do all of her grandchildren.  She was the sort of nan that always saw good in you.  I think you could of robbed a bank and she would defend you, saying 'ah leave the poor love alone'.  She was a funny little soul.

She always had Tunes the throat sweets on her, and use to crush them up and give us little bits. We used to love going to her house and rifling through her jewellery boxes putting it all on.  They weren't  anything expensive but we loved all the beads and bracelets she had in there.  She let us all get away with blue murder.

Over the years she looked after all of the grandchildren at one point or another.  We all use to say she looked like a cabbage patch doll bless her.  All my friends loved her too. She was the sweetest lady.  Her and my Granddad  were so in love, even at the age of 80 and 90, both their ages.  When my Granddad fell ill once and was in hospital we took my nan to visit him.  She was sitting holding his hands and he kept looking over at her and saying 'isn't my babe beautiful'.  God it would bring a tear to my eye and still does.

My Nan died 8 years ago.  It was a difficult time when she was in hospital not only because she was sick but because the poor care she received  Now I am a nurse and I am always ready to stand up for the medical professions and the NHS but not when things are not done properly which sadly happens too much but I won't get in to the ins and outs of the NHS now.  I was not happy with the ward my Nan was on and we questioned them numerous times about things.  We even sadly had to make a complaint about the care.  One of my Nan's problems was her heart and lucky for me at the time  I was working within a cardiac unit, she needed to be transferred there and I was able to use my connections to get it done quickly.  Once she was transferred to the hospital I worked in, I was once again happy as I knew my nan was now going to receive the care she deserved.

She was only there for about a week but my friends were nursing her and although a sad situation this brought my family and I relief.  I was able to over see her care and even worked on the ward that she was on, on occasion although I was in charge at the time so I didn't do her personal care.  The night she died one of my close friends was working that night and she had to make the dreaded phone call asking us to come in. But I was so happy to know that my friends were caring for my Nan in her last hours and the family got be with her in her last moments.

I know this sounds a sad tale but that is the cycle of life and I was so happy for the things I could do for my Nan whilst she was in hospital not many people are in the situation where they can do what I did or have people that are friends look after their loved ones.  It's funny how life works out in the end, my nan died on the first ever ward that I worked on as a nurse.

N is also for nick names.  Did you have different nick names when you were younger? Did your parent call you a special name?

My Dad used to call me Poppet when I was little, now he usually calls me babe, my mum to, so he'll say not you the other one or vice versa.

My mum use to call me her coco plumju's (it's a made up word, so who knows how you spell it).  Oh the other name was heartly girl.

My family usually call me Katie and always have.  My maiden name is Barraclough so throughout my childhood I was also known as Katie B, which often got shortened to B as I got older.  It's taken people a while to not call me that as I am a Rigby now.

My Aunt use to call me Katie Knackers pronounced K-nack-ers. Who know why?

From the archives

Another film I love but there were a few characters that freaked me a bit, as you may have gathered there were many characters from my childhood that weirded me out or scared me.