26 February, 1942

 


The Nurses Home,
General Hospital,
Nottingham.

Thursday 26th  10 a.m.
 
My Dear Stan,

I am so sorry that I cannot get my nights off as I said in my previous letter.  I honestly did not know until this morning that Sister had changed them and I sent you a telegram as soon as I came off duty.  I do hope that you get it in time.  I am really sorry if it has messed up your leave.

You see, I have got another staff nurse on now and she has not had a day off for last month and she cannot have the nights off that she wanted as we are taking all emergency cases that particular week, so Sister decided to give her the nights off that I had asked for.  I was furious when I heard about it and went to the office immediately.  Of course, as she is more senior to me I just had to let her have them.

Sister then tried to make me have from the 12th – 16th but I put my foot down and said no, as they were no good to me.  She wanted to know why so I sort of explained and then she very kindly informed me that, as a nurse, I would have to be prepared to make sacrifices.  Gosh!  I don’t seem to have done anything else since I started nursing 3 years ago.  I just gave her a curt thank you and walked out of the office.  I am determined to have from the 22nd – 26th of March.  It means that I might have to go to Matron but that does not worry me, I will have them.

If you have already asked for the beginning of the month I hope you can manage to change it.  Please forgive me for messing you about like this but really, it is not my fault.  I suppose you will be claiming compensation or something similar when you next see me!

It will seem ages before I do see you again.  About 6 weeks I think, between last time and the next.  Thank goodness for the post.

Please excuse this awful scrawl but it just matches my mood.  I felt really wild when I started this letter, just to think that we work 11 hours a night for a month and then there is all this fuss about our off duty.  I feel so much better though, now that I have told you about it.

I will have to close now, although my letter seems full of apologies.  Hoping that you receive it before the weekend.

Love Grace x

 


Comments

  1. Anonymous27 February 2024 at 10:08

    It must have been so difficult with both subject to the dictates of those above. I am old enough to remember when letters or postcards were the only means of communication. Often it was by postcard - it was cheaper!

    ReplyDelete

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