Rose Tinted Glasses

Love that expression!! To be honest I'd far rather view the world that way than the alternative. But really this isn't about viewing the world through rose tinted glass, rather it's about viewing things with fresh eye's.

When we are young everything is brand new & life is full if firsts. As we get older we begin to take those things for granted or at least relegate them to ordinary or normal, unless we stop & look closer. If we go on holiday to a new location everything is new & different. Trees & animals are exotic, architecture & culture can be vastly different & it is all very exciting. It has the potential to make a life long impression (& often a desire to return to that place).

This is how it was for me with Brisbane in Australia. I'd traveled there twice before for holidays had loved everything about it from the heat through to the wildlife. Alas there is more to life than heat & widlife, & with the mailleman working over there for the last 5 1/2 months, I was also well aware that as a tourist taking time out to have break you aren't looking at the things that really matter should you decide to move there to live. Hence the last trip.

I needed to look at things with fresh eyes - from a different perspective. I did & although the descision has been made to move there in my heart the jury is still out.

 My new glasses - see,  no rose tinting at all, but they too have made a huge difference to how I see things!

Disclaimer: I didn't take my rose tinted glasses with me ....heck I don't even have rose tinted glasses unless you count my Didymiums.  My sunglasses are orange &that is about the last colour lens you need to wear in Brisbane!

Boom boom goes my heart....

Earthquakes and a heart attack, all within days of each other. There is nothing quite like someone close to you suffering a heart attack to put a little old earthquake into perspective, among other things...

While Christchurch was facing the aftermath & aftershocks of the earthquake, I found myself face to face with mortality.

At around 12.30am last Wednesday morning I found myself with an Ambulance in my driveway & paramedics in my lounge. My partner Allan (known to some of you as the mailleman) was, very calmly, in the throes of having a heart attack. It's not really possible to describe how someone can 'calmly' have a heart attack, but he did. His controlled manner, even when I could see & hear he was in considerable pain, kept me calm & thinking clear enough to do everything I needed to do quickly & efficiently without giving way to the panic that was quickly rising in every fibre of  my body.

To be honest I didn't need to do much apart from make the choice of not listening to his request of 'dropping him off at Accident & Emergency because he had a chest pain' & instead dial 111.

I can't praise the manner & actions of the emergency operator & the paramedics highly enough.Thanks to everyone concerned he was in hospital & being treated within 30 minutes of the first pain which had woken him from sleep. Within 12 hours he had undergone an angioplasty & had a stent placed in the left anterior descending artery to his heart. 

He's recovered so well from this that he came home on Friday, with a new lease of life.....

Why am I writing about this here, you may ask. Simply because I have been somewhat preoccupied, inconsistent in responding to emails & answering questions, remembering to publish blog comments & pretty much everything in between. My mind it seems has turned into mush, I have the concentration span of a gnat & less focus than a blindfolded bat. I know that I'm in a state of serious forgetfulness when I forget one of the first dances I learned at dancing & fail to notice red lights!!  

My apologies in advance for any vagueness people may encounter .

I'm hoping it's temporary :)

"Boom Boom Goes My Heart" - or as line dancers know it,  "Chica Boom Boom"