Reflections on Salt Water

I was recently reminded of a time back in secondary school, many years ago doing cross country. For a while I had been in front of one of the sporty girls who then overtook me as we got to the end. For no reason at all she came to find me at the end, took the time to speak to me and explain how she had used me as a pacemaker giving me a few tips for running.  There was no need for her to do that and I don't know why she did. Hopefully I thanked her at the time though because those few words made a difference and changed the way I approached cross country. I went on over the next few years to do a lot of competitive running, visited some interesting places and really enjoyed it. The point of this story is that we rarely know how a tiny bit of advice or support will affect someone. What a difference it may make to someone's life. In healthcare we are interacting with people all the time, sometimes for only a very short time. I have had the privilege of hearing  Tommy Whitelaw ...

A selection of book reviews which show the power of books to bring us other peoples stories, show us history, give us new ideas and support with new skills. I have had a few submission deadlines over the last couple of months. After years of using the Harvard referencing system, I was required to use the Vancouver system for one assignment and needed to refer to Cite them right by Richard Graham to help me out. This book is easy to follow and contains so much information that it was straightforward to use an unfamiliar system. It covers many different systems and lists the different sources with clear guidance on referencing anything from an ancient text to a social media post. If you want a bit of guidance or confidence with referencing, this book is a valuable tool. It is also available online. Whilst textbooks are essential to provide an evidence base for practice there are many books which help us develop our understanding and compassion in other ways. The impact of illness does n...

Some book reviews and a bit of spring colour. There is a word for the smell of old books; bibliosmia describes that special scent that is given off by books as they age and the pages decay. I understand the magic of holding a real book in your hand and feeling the pages but I also love my Kindle. I know that some people have strong feelings about electronic books but I love the advantages of them. I was able to carry War and peace around with me easily for the length of time it took to read it and I can read books in poor light by altering the size of the writing. To me these are real positives. This is not actually meant to be an advert for Kindles but it is relevant as a couple of the books I have been reading recently were electronic versions.  Kindle flatlay So, on to some reviews. Trekker girl Morocco bound: Life after blood clots or how I learned to live and love life as a thrombosis survivor  by Dawne Archer Trekking across the Sahara is a massive challenge and this is ...