blog 3 part 1

[sweetiepie]

The Party Who Care

She cast a withering glance at her audience. Really, these people were stupid. They must surely realise that to work a country out of debt, a debit incurred by the previous government, it must be said, unfortunate circumstances will prevail and cuts will be made. Of course, we care about our disabled, elderly and infirm. The vulnerable and the homeless will all be cared for. She stood up, stared at the camera, and said, we will make the vulnerable, with a little care, honourable. Soundbites, she thought, what modern politics is made for.

The girls sat round a small table in the sitting room, each with seven cards in their hands. It was a daily communion, with the pretence of gin rummy or poker. If you sat alongside one wall and a little to the left, a hawk eye view of the main door could be had. It had been noted earlier on in the week that Mr Howie from 2b had a new carer. A few residents had had a change of carer lately. Mrs Brown had overheard a conversation between Molly from the baker and that Elaine one, who had an affair with Susan Young’s husband, that the nursing agency had a new manager and was having a clean sweep with regard to staffing and rotas. Mrs Brown’s grandaughter worked for the agency and she was saying much the same thing. The girls, day by day, kept account of the comings and goings. A tall man with greying hair turned up every Monday and had meetings with the warden, who herself was fearing for her job. He often inspected flats at random and paid visits to the residents. The housing was being rundown and the residents had no voice to air their concerns. The man would take notes on a hand held computer and nothing else was done. Communal areas hadn’t been painted for years. The odd job man hadn’t been seen for over a year and yet he was paid for through rent. The warden had informed everyone there would be no light in the common areas after 8o’clock at night. Cutbacks she said. Electricity to the flats would only be on at certain times of the day. The same with regard to water and heating.

Every other Tuesday, a hearse would appear and a body would be rolled into it. Someone said it was Nettie Smith. Another day Ronnie Robson. They all said he had been looking rundown lately but what a fine looking man he had been.

A meeting had been called by the management to all the residents to talk over the new policy of “flatshare”. As from the following month, those in 1 bedroom accommodation would double up with another inmate, making the living room into a bedroom. Social and living space was already available in the sitting room anyway. The tall man with the grey hair made inspections almost daily. His workforce, warden assistants to replace carers, visited the elderly with clipboards and new fangled mobile phones.

[kimbles]

hello at work and just stopped for a sneaky peak at the fibro site....when I stumbled on to this....Very good. Whens the next one out? I work for a housing charity so this was interesting. I wonder how long before this becomes a reality?? the tall grey man sounds ominous.

thanks the readjust what i needed.

[Extremelygrumpy]

I have read this three times now and I have been very upset by it... Not sure If this is a political point or just creative writing but due to my health I HAD to put my mum into exactly one of these warden control blocks with flats and communal areas. She loves it much to our relief... But reading your vision of what may come had me in tears, I couldn't live with myself if any of this happened, and it's not even a case of being able to move my mum back in with us as we had to move to a tiny bungalow.... I just wish you had been a bit more thoughtful where you printed this, as a site with people with health problems and elderly parents does not seem very uplifting or appropriate to me. On a positive note if I see Blog 3 part 2 I will know not to look at it

VG x

[Hidden]

Hi there Sweetiepie

Thank you for taking the time to write this blog. I have received a few private messages from some members who have told me that they have been upset by the subject matter and content of the blog.

Whilst creative writing is good to read, the subject matter in this blog is sensitive to some of our members and could cause upset and offence.

Many of us, myself included, have had parents in nursing and retirement homes and this is a big worry especially when we aren't well ourselves. Also there are those of us who have recently lost a parent or a loved one and are in the process of grieving. Reading about bodies being rolled out could be deemed offensive to those here who are grieving lost loved ones or who may have very ill elderly relatives.

I personally think the main issue here is the subject matter and not the creative writing. We are always happy to see the efforts of our members and many blogs are written and appreciated on many topics.

On this occasion I would say that because the subject matter is sensitive, we should perhaps curtail it and move on to another subject. We have to be mindful that the issues discussed and some descriptions could offend some of our members and we also have our Guidelines to consider on this basis.

I hope you understand Sweetiepie, please feel free to post blogs with your creative writing but please not on sensitive subject matters. General topics may be better, but of course no religion or politics to keep in accordance with our Guidelines.

Thank you for your co-operation. Any worries or concerns you may have about this, please do not hesitate to private message me and I will be only too happy to discuss the matter with you further.

Many thanks.

Best wishes.

Libs

Admin