Taken with my old Kodak Instamatic camera in what I think was Southampton, but she says it’s Plymouth….and since she’s the one who’s always right when it comes to remembering stuff and I’m the one with a blancmange for a brain, I’m not going to argue! Meanwhile, that’s the smile that took my breath away the first time I saw it….and it still does if I’m perfectly honest!

About Two Or Three Years Later My wife had just become the youngest ward sister ever in the history of the Area Health Authority as well as being named “Medical Nurse of the Year” a short while before that.I was so proud of her, but notice all the paraphernalia they used to have pinned to their uniforms in those days (the solid silver belt buckle by the way, is more than a hundred years old)!Nowadays of course, they only carry pens, scissors and an ID badge…They don’t even have the hat, the sleeve-cuffs or the belt any more. I guess it’s for the best though, if only because, over the years, my wife has been, kicked, punched, knocked to the ground, had her wrist broken and even stabbed in the face with a pen by maggot-scum patients….most of whom were completely p*ssed or totally high on drugs!Things have got so bad these days that they even have security guards on the wards sometimes. Mind you, the nurses just get on with it because it’s what they do! They don’t get paid any extra for it though!