Wednesday 12th November 2008

Well....I survived Tuesday and 'lunch' again. Barely. Met with Ramsay and Alan in the usual watering hole, had a very long lingering lunch well lubricated with wine. Kind of odd, that.....over the years we've moved away from beer to wine. It might have something to do with the absolutely RIDICULOUS price of a pint - or maybe we are all getting a bit more mellow in our dotage :). Ramsay, the only one of us still having to work, was one very pissed off guy. Seems BT are now messing around with their pensions (no idea how - I'm immune and therefore deaf to changes ). He can't WAIT now to qualify to leave, and there was no one more committed to the company. Sad to see what a few eager-beaver ladder-climbers can do to a great institution.

However, I made it home under my own steam. Didn't even need an escort to the station . Of course, having MADE it home, I promptly fell asleep. Its a good job these 'lunches' only happen 3 or 4 times a year - my liver is delicate enough as it is :). As a little aside, David DROVE me to the lunch. Now its been almost 6 months since I have been to Belfast, and thank God I don't have to do it every day still. Between all the new changes to the roads (ongoing) and all the changes to traffic systems IN Belfast, I really don't think I could hack all that driving. I was only the passenger, and it scared ME!! Thank heavens for free travel passes :).

Back to normality today, though. Young Thomas seems now to be recovering. No longer running that ferocious temperature, cough diminished, and he actually managed a smile or three. Rebeckah also recovered, and back at school, but still looks to me very pale and shakey. We are keeping Thomas again, tonight, just to make sure he really is on the way to recovery. I think David was grateful we asked.....the last few days, with the baby sick, have proved a bit frightening for him, I think. That does not surprise me at all - it WAS frightening, and I speak as one having gone through it myself, with my own kids. I'm still poking that thermometer in his ear, though, just to be sure to be sure :).

Rebeckah. Having missed school all of last week, she has homeworks to catch up on. Fine! But read FIVE books in one night?? Anyone who has done reading homeworks with young kiddies knows the stress that induces! We had to take turns at it, Nell, me, and Dr Stu, later. This is while juggling Daniel and Thomas! The dinner tonight was of the variety 'what have we got we can chuck in a pot quick' . No one had TIME to think of anything elaborate.

David. Things are getting confusing on that front. He had a letter from the Coroners Office telling us that the Coroner now had all the relevant information to hand (about time, in my opinion) and offering us the choice of accepting a verdict from the Coroner or opting for a public inquest. This choice is apparently a new thing, a consequence of the European Charter entitling everyone to the right to privacy. Well, simple, on the face of it, not so simple when you look into it. I have to state a few things here that are 'complicators'.

(1) The Health Authorities are engaged in a drive to shut down the local maternity unit (in a town of about 300,000 people - are they mad?) in an effort to save money by (that awful word) synergies. IE...Belfast, only 10 miles away, should be the place to deal. Absolute bloody rubbish!

(2) As a result of Jude's death, the Health Authority launched an INTERNAL enquiry to determine if any of THEIR procedures had a bearing, and invited the family to contribute. Which I did, at length, and with much bitterness. That enquiry was supposed to report by mid August, and so far we have heard nothing (but thats being followed up in light of the letter from the Coroners Office).

(3) The question now arises...has the Health Authority delayed the results of their enquiry until after the Coroner has delivered a verdict? If yes, the Coroner is not in possession of all the facts. The Health Authority would be on shakey ground if the results of their internal enquiry gave credence to the very voluble 'anti-closure' lobby, if it showed, for instance, that the maternity service had been deliberately run down and starved of money. If that was the case, then they might be shown to have some culpability in Jude's death.

Its all very much up in the air at the moment, while I write stiff formal letters asking for explanations. I certainly do not want to answer the Coroner's Office request as to what we want to do until I am sure of my ground. But even THAT is a bit of a formality also. By law, Coroners can only deliver something like 10 or 11 verdicts, and no matter what kind of spin you put on it, the only possible verdict is 'suicide'. That can be qualified by phrases like 'while the balance of mind was disturbed' etc. But this all has ENORMOUS impact on how things get sorted out legally, like life insurance, mortgage, things like that. The consensus in the family is there really is no need for a public inquest (and that includes Jude's mother, Mertie), where all the details are laid out for the delectation of newspapers who need to fill column-inches. But again, there is the niggling doubt if the Coroner has all the facts. We shall see.