Tuesday 16 April 2013

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.




9 comments:

  1. I had tears in my eyes reading about your nan.She's sounds a lovely person. Oh don't get me satrted on geriatric wards.My mum was eventually transferred to a Maire Curie hospital where she eventually had good care.My mother in law was in a care home 5 mins from my house and my friend is the deputy there so she had great care but during times she had to be admitted to hospital it was awful.She was sent back to the care home in a stretcher for end of life care (against wishes of hospital) we demenaded it. Withouin 2 days she was sitting in main room enjoying life and lasted another year of reasonable quality life.
    Loving your memories Kate.
    Nicknames,my daughter calls me Annie or Annie Mac, she's the only one who's ever called me Annie and that was going to be my real name as I was called after my dad's mum (who was horrible) but my mum refused to have the ie on the end, lol

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  2. I was a Katie too! Now I am Kate, although officially Kathryn :)

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    1. Snap! Depends who most people call me Kate. My boss always calls me Katie

      :)

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  3. Sweet tales of both Nan and your mom. You are blessed! I'm popping in from the a-z and must say, your blog is so charming and beautiful. I'm checking back to the "how to" pages...I'm so not techno savvy! I love that though you have MS, it does not define you completely. We all have issues and weaknesses, and we do the best we can with what we have. You have a new follower here. :-) Visit me, if you'd like:
    from The Dugout

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    1. Thank you so much for lovely comment and stopping by! Happy to meet you, I'm heading over to your blog right now!

      :)

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  4. A good friend of mine recently lost her Nan. It's hard when things boil down and there are ill feelings, but I suppose it's all part of this life--learning how to forgive and let go of the bad.

    Nicknames... I posted about this in my "A" post, but I'll quickly toss it out there: my big name was "Chicken", and I loved it.

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  5. I wonder if my mum got coco- plum from yours or vice versa? That's one of my mums nicknames for me! Your dad is one of the very few who can get away with calling me Niki. Infact both your parents still call me niki Nacky noo. I was honoured to share your Nan with you and Staffy too. They are both special to me and remembered with so much love. When I last saw Nannie in hospital she was thrilled I was pregnant, and rubbed my belly! She would have loved your little godbeasts! Xx

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  6. Kate, you made me cry then. How wonderful that you were able to nurse your Nan, that must have made her last days so wonderful and special. That really was an amazing gift to give her xx

    I have nicknames for my boys, they change into allsorts after a while. I can't shorten either of our boys names, Elliot has often been called Dotty and Ciaran likes to call *himself* Mr. Weenie and says he's a miniature Daschund. He's done this for about 6-7 years...he's a rare breed.

    Chris calls me Wench. When we met I worked in a bar to fund me through uni, he was the chef there are when he wanted a drink used to stand and click his fingers and call me Wench, it really was his way of flirting...I know, I know. Anyway - makes me smile!

    xxx

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  7. Your Nan sounds like a truly lovely woman. How lucky and lovely that you could support her like that and in turn be supported by some wonderful friends. It must've been a difficult time for you all.
    I like those nick names. I called my daughter Midge and my Son just A or Bam Bam lol I was called 'Mousey' in primary because my ears stuck out a bit! Then people called me Han which i hate! x

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