One Blue Stripe Part 2

One Blue Stripe Part 2

As Sandra walked up to the School of Nursing in her smart new shoes which were already beginning to ache and rub like she was starting school, she noticed another girl walking in the same direction coming out of another dorm house. She was petite, with the most gorgeous deep copper tresses. “Are you starting today as well?” “Yes!” Sandra said still looking at her hair. “Great, I’m Eve, so pleased to have met someone at last, where are all the other students?” she said in a full London accent, “Not sure at all”. They walked and chatted all the way passing the maternity unit, ambulances whizzing past and patients waiting for outpatients to open.

Although the hospital was an old war time hospital, the school was fairly new with a very welcoming entrance. Twelve of them nervously gathered, this was the November intake, which included five Irish girls who had never left Ireland before, an Iranian, an Australian, and the rest were a smattering from all over the UK. Eve and Antoinette were fairly local, the rest of them came from further afield.

They bundled into a room where laid out was the itinerary for the full three years, who could be that organised she wondered. Alos laid out were name badges, a set of unfolded caps with one thin blue stripe, and their uniforms. After filling out a few forms for HR so they got paid and their rent was taken out first and joining the Royal College of Nursing, they all went to the toilets to get changed and boy how they beamed, then scratched and itched as the material for the blue and white checked dresses was so coarse. Sandra was sure you could grate cheese with it. The red and black cape seemed a bit heavy and odd for its time.

Their clinical tutor showed them how to put their hair up and how to affix the caps with the hair grips they had been told to bring. As she attached her fob watch that her parents had engraved with her name, and her name tag, AKA Student Nurse Peckover, she was on cloud nine. Between her tights itching her dress itching and her feet aching in the hardened lace shoes, she didn’t know which bit hurt more, but nothing mattered she had arrived.

Eve would be the life and soul of the group and had her pocket instamatic camera with her. “Come on you lot let’s get a picture” she bellowed. The clinical tutor agreed to take the picture and they all stood with their chests in the air. “You’ll have to wait till I finish the reel she said but I’ll get some extra copies developed if you want.” “Yes, please“ shouted Noleen from the Irish contingent, “My Ma, would love to have this on the cabinet, I’m one of seven and the only one to have made it to the mainland”. It was a bit shocking on two counts, firstly one of seven! Sandra was an only child for 14 years! and secondly only just travelling? Sandra had been all over the world already by the time she was 18. She felt an instant need to show Noleen the world, but Eve had already picked up on this and said we can’t have any of that this weekend, we are going to the pub to celebrate our first day. The day of induction continued as they all sat and scratched their way through the classes.

Six o’clock that evening Sandra was outside the phone booth, so excited to tell Mark about her day, her watch seemed to be going to slow, but dead on time the receiver rattled the two rings and then again. “Hello,” She said hoping it was him, “hello my beautiful Nurse Peckover, how was your day?” It was official, year one, Student Nurse Peckover couldn’t stop smiling as she relayed the wonders of the day. Still itching she went to bed and could not wait to see what tomorrow would bring.

Tune in for the next adventure of Nurse Peckover,
‘Clinical corners’,
Coming in the next edition!