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asked by one of the hospital’s neurosurgeons to be present at a brain operation.
My immediate, concerned reaction was to say that I had never been in an
Operating Room, to which he replied “You’ll be fine!” The patient was 15 and
suffered from grand mal epilepsy which failed to be controlled by medication.
Additionally, her right arm was almost totally unusable and her IQ was very low. The
surgeon explained that surgery was only contemplated in very severe cases such
as this. Although I was a little nervous about this new experience, in fact, it proved
to be very interesting. Patients who are being operated on, of course, are covered,
with only the area left open that would be operated on. So when the skull’s burr
holes had been done and the skull cap lifted back, the brain was the only visible
part of the patient’s body. My job was to take notes for the neurosurgeon. It was a
delight that the result was extremely good. The teenager’s arm regained all feeling,
the epilepsy was subsequently controlled very well by medication and her IQ rose a
lot. When the Ontario Nursing Education project was finished, I was asked to take
charge of another such project in Manitoba (the province immediately West of
Ontario). Although a wonderful offer, I had, by then, decided that I would return to
the UK. (For those of you who are wondering what happened to my good friend,
Jean, she had previously returned to the UK and met her husband-to-be. We
retained a very strong friendship until her sad death in 2013).
When my parents knew of my proposed return to the UK, they sent for an
application for Marks & Spencer’s trainee management scheme. I was interviewed,
accepted and started the one year training. This consisted of nine months working
with food and textile supervisors as well as three months’ theory in the London
Head Office classrooms. As I’ve always enjoyed learning, I found this interesting.
Staff Management at M&S consisted of staff recruitment, training, health and
welfare as well as time spent on the shop floor. At Christmas, management helped
on the shop floor when everyone felt as though the world had descended! My first
appointment was to Holloway Road store which had a big shrinkage (financial loss)
problem. I was told that thieves weren’t content with stealing from tills but stole the
tills themselves! I was then transferred to Grays store in Essex and continued to learn
about retail. However, I then decided that shop management wasn’t for me and,
although I have retained an interest in the subject, I wanted to get back into
writing.
I did this, first, with a display and exhibition company in Barnet for which I wrote
articles, before moving to a division of Tarmac in St Albans, Hertfordshire. This was
the company’s second largest division of seven and consisted of 26 companies
and six thousand employees. For this huge division, I started a divisional brochure
and wrote articles on the prestigious work that was carried out on, for example, the
Lloyds building in London and one of the Wimbledon tennis court roof covers. As
Tarmac was a major player in the construction field, I also showed MPs around
each of the division’s companies. After I had been with the company for two years,
we were told that Tarmac’s Chairman had decided to centralise, and our Division’s
employees were to be made redundant.
Sadly, threaded throughout all this was my declining marriage. Our final home was

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