The man lying in room 1, bed 3

You would almost be forgiven for thinking you were in an old folks home, because all those that are in room 1 are elderly and significantly incapacitated.

The day that I visit most are sleeping, unable to get out of bed. This isn't for want of trying as I overhear one man desperately asking for the physio who didn't come again today. Apparently there are only 3 physios for the entire hospital.

Spilt coffee cups litter the floor and I'm unsure how long they have been lying there.

There is one man in bed 3 that captures my attention, his slight frame completely overwhelmed by the hospital bed. Protruding cheek bones and sunken eyes. Silvery white and speckled grey hair. His skeletal body is covered in ugly deep purple bruises. Nasty bruises that looks like he's suffered the worst beating of his life.

You almost want to go and touch him to make sure he's still breathing.

But there is life in this 91 year old yet. It oozes from him as soon as he starts speaking to his visitor and he lights up the entire room.

"I've still got all me marbles" he tells her. You know I'm 91 I am, born in 1922. Had a good life I have."

His visitor tries to coax him into drinking and eating but he continually refuses."I don't want to mess myself" he says.

"It doesn't matter, we'll change the bedding" says his visitor.

 "There is no spare bedding" he retorts. 

"Ohhh but we have loads of spare bedding, it won't matter" his visitor tries again.

But the old boy has an answer for everything..."It will cost too much money,can't afford it".

Eventually after much coaxing and a carefully placed urinal bottle, he takes his first sips in almost 24 hours. When he pees, the excitement is overwhelming for him and the whole ward. I just want to high five him. 


His visitor is not a relative, just someone that knows him and she gets his sister on the phone from Manchester. His sister can't travel either as she isn't well. And as they're on speaker phone we all hear the conversation.  

It's evident this lovable larrikin is close to his sister. They love each other and yet will probably never see each other again. While I choke on unshed tears with these thoughts, he jokes and smiles at her from afar.   

With the phone call over his visitor tries once more to get him to eat. He does manage a few spoonfuls. 

The next day she's not there so it's up to the nurses, unfortunately they don't have the love and dedication that a friend or family member have so the food goes uneaten. When they change his bed they don't explain what they're doing, they yank the bedding out and don't understand that a man of 91 who has suddenly gone blind is owed some kind of explanation, respect and care. He screams in pain, and shakes in fear not knowing what is happening to him.

As we leave this sad place in room 1, bed 3 our lovable larrikin reminds the nurses when they again ask him to eat...

"No dear, just let me die. I've had a good life."

A stay at the South Place Hotel

It's not often you take time out to holiday in your own city. Typically you want to escape it. Think of the smog, crowds, cement... who really wants to stick around for that?  Wouldn't wide open spaces, green fields, flowers in bloom and fresh country air be what you crave? Perhaps it's what you prefer, I know it's typically what I prefer.  But sometimes it's worth staying local and pretending you're on holiday.  We recently stayed at an inner city hotel right smack bang in the middle of high-rises, cement, road works and after work crowds. Now that might put you off, but you have to have an open mind and I must say I was pleasantly surprised by my two nights stay at The South Place Hotel.  

Located just near Liverpool Street Tube Station (less than a 10 minute walk), South Place Hotel is unassumingly set among city work blocks.  Unless you knew it was there or if you walked past during a Friday after work drinks session you would walk straight past. 

A new and modern hotel, South Place has only been open for 12 months but its surprising the level of detail it has to make your stay extra special. At the reception desk you are provided with a refreshing minted tea to sip on while the friendly staff check you in. 

The rooms are modern, not huge but big enough for just a two night stay. A comfortable bed and pillows makes it extra hard to get out of bed in the morning, that and probably one to many glasses of red the night before.  The motorised blind completely blocks out any sunshine (let me rephrase...light) so if you have flown in the night before and feel like wasting the day away you wouldn't know what time of day it was.

I loved the detail in the room, from a fresh lemon and lime for your G&T to personalised directories of activities to do either in the hotel or nearby. Then there's the 'oranges and lemons say the bells of st clements' body products in the bathroom.

A great restaurant doubles as a breakfast room and I can highly recommend at least trying the breakfast one morning while you are there.

The hotel has its own games room equipped with pool table, lounges, library, board games and even a turntable if you want to try your DJ skills. Once again I lost all rounds of pool.

If you want an excuse to stay in London after work one night or are looking to surprise your other half, then stay at The South Place Hotel.

Bye for now!

Be consumed.... by the Barossa

It's not often I just do a small random post without pondering for some time over what the hell I write, however this morning I was catching up on news from home and was so proud to see that the South Australian Tourism Commission in collaboration with kwp! advertising won an award at the Cannes festival for a TV ad promoting the Barossa. Well done South Aussies!

One of the secret hideaways in the Barossa

If you haven't seen the ad, definately go and have a look. It's raw and engaging, particularly with the haunting music of Nick Cave.  

Read the article here and see the ad here; http://beconsumed.southaustralia.com/ 

An escape to France

In the South West of France in August the bright yellow sunflowers are in full bloom.  Scattered amongst the lush green fields, some filled with ripening corn, they grab your interest immediately and you just want to stop the car and run out to take photographs. Unfortunately the narrow windy roads negate the ability to stop at those opportune moments so you have to settle for winding down the window, driving quite slowly and snapping as you go.

Yes... one of those happy snaps from the car

We decided to drive to France.  

Unfortunately we had timed our departure with the Friday of a bank holiday weekend. Some four hours later (the usual journey one and a half hours) we arrived in Folkestone ready for our train journey.  I thought I was used to traffic until I came to Blighty. I've never seen anything like that in my life, the jam went for miles and we were stuck there stationery for ages. Thankfully we had a fully stocked car and eventually got there in the end.

Our first night in France (other than the brief stopover in a town near Calais which isn't worth mentioning) was in Chinon at a hotel called Le Plantagenet. Located in the south-west of the Touraine region, Chinon is most famous for where the future Charles VII sought refuge and where in 1429 Joan of Arc came to acknowledge him. While we only had one night there we timed it well with markets and what looked like a harvest festival.

Joan of Arc Place, just near our hotel

Joan of Arc statue

One of the many decorations for the harvest festival

Part of the harvest festival

Next we headed to the Loire valley where we decided to go see some Chateaux's. With so many options, we kept it to two...the Chateau D'Azay-le-Rideau - also known as the 'jewel of Renaissance architecture' and Chateau de Chenonceau. I can't add more to the descriptions other than just say the photo's are what really do them justice (see below). 

Chateau D'Azay-le-Rideau

Chateau D'Azay-le-Rideau

One of the grand fireplaces in the Chateau D'Azay-le-Rideau

The Indre river 

A gorgeous little cottage on the grounds of the Chateau de Chenonceau

Chateau de Chenonceau

Chateau de Chenonceau

Staying locally in the Loire valley, we found our own Chateau, the Chateau de Jallanges near Vouvray. And for those people that have asked or are going to ask... no it wasn't haunted.

Our welcome to the Chateau de Jallanges

The Chateau de Jallanges. 

Driving further South West we found ourselves in the Lot region. And for the rest of the week we stayed in a lovely country house near a town called Montcuq. In between relaxing in the clean and peaceful countryside, a long way away from traffic jams in Blighty, we found time to check out some of the local wineries such as the 500 year old Chateau Lagrezette. I would definately recommend visiting this winery, they were extremely helpful and had a great selection of wines.

Chateau Lagrezette

This beautiful Chateau sits just near the winery

I do like France and I like the fact these places in Europe are so close to. A little tip for those of you trying out France for the first time, take a phrase book because the French certainly don't like to speak english.

Now I'm off to the gym to try and work off some more of those croissants I over indulged in.
Bye!

My First Red Velvet Cake

Red Velvet cake is as it sounds, a lusciously moist deep red cake layered with a cream cheese icing. 

Are you hungry yet?

I found this recipe in one of the cake magazines I've been collecting (picture below).   The base was quite easy, it uses a lot of red colouring so make sure you have a good quality one else you'll be pouring the whole thing into your cake. The other tip... have enough cake tins so you don't have to re-use them and re-line each time. Thankfully I had three 10 inch cake tins handy.

The icing was something I've seen while perusing the local cake shops. It is time consuming but very effective .My tips... crumb coat your cake and create a smooth base before you start. Use disposable piping bags and just trim the tip off the end until you get the right size. 

To get this effect you need to pipe large dots up the cake and alternate the colours by one. Using a clean palate knife smooth out one side of the dot and make sure you clean your knife as you go.

Now what to do with the rest of the cake.... Might have to take it into work.

Happy baking!