The Morgan quietly sleeps.....

.....awaiting a return to action, following my unexpected period of confinement in the Manchester Royal Infirmary.
Seven weeks I have spent there, seven b....y weeks!

It started with a visit to Blackpool Victoria Hospital after I had complained to my congenital heart disease nurse about increasing breathlessness. I didn't come out, but was transferred to Manchester at dead of night following an echo cardiogram that showed a large blood clot attached to the leads from my pacemaker to my transposed heart.

They did not have the equipment at Blackpool to complete what was going to be a rather dodgy operation due to the fact that my old upside down ticker has been beavering away for 72 years and is getting a little tired, in fact at one stage Newcastle upon Tyne was a possibility.

Anyway I survived the operation and the tender mercies of the NHS, operated largely by goodwill from a wonderful, but overstretched workforce where the nurses don't even get paid overtime. They are short of nurses and ancilliary staff on every shift.

The food in Manchester is absolutely appalling, although I did during my final days there find that the Kosher menu for some reason was very pleasant indeed by comparison, doubly wrapped, hot and with vegetables that I could recognise.

Another major complaint was the lack of discipline on the wards. I think that I am correct in saying that peace and quiet are essential for those recovering from serious operations, not the level of noise I had to endure from nursing staff and other patients late at night and then being wakened at 5 or 6 am to have your blood pressure taken.It should be a case of lights out at 10.30 and then a period of calm until, say 7.30am.

Towards the end of my period of confinement I was getting extremely depressed and somewhat emotional and I think that this was due in no small way to the fact that I was absolutely worn out through disturbed sleep and the operation of course.

Just dreaming !!!!!!!!

As is my wont, I have written to the Chief Executive, Jeremy Hunt MP, my own MP and others to pass on my observations that revealed an NHS teetering on the brink of collapse.

No driving for a minimum of 6 weeks and then on the 26th May I'm back in again for a defibrillator to be fitted that will mean a further spell of being banned from driving. It's a terrible prospect as I love my driving. I have completed the necessary forms for the DVLA and just hope that their decision about my future driving will be favourable, it should be but you never know.

Three holidays have had to be cancelled, two of which I am in the process of trying to recover costs from our Insurance Company....so quick to sell you the policy but somewhat reluctant to pay out it seems to me!

So that is my sorry story. While you lot have been out and about in your Morgans I have been banned from driving but, believe me, I've got plenty of plans in my mind to make up for this temporary misery.