defibrillation angels

The easter weekend was not going well for me but I wondered to whom I could turn. It’s so hard to find someone locally who’s on my wavelength when it comes to sensitivity and empathy and I feel quite desolate sometimes, although that's not surprising when there's so much desolation around. I was starting to think that downshifting was not all it was cracked up to be. I like to think however that the local nurse and I share an almost sisterly bond. I saw her today chatting to old Mr Sutcliffe from number sixteen. I could see she looked very concerned about something so I went over to offer some helpful advice. I could see that Mr Sutcliffe was really not interested in the conversation at all and obviously wanted to spend his sunday laying around on the village green. He certainly needed the sun as he was very pale. 'You look very concerned dear', I said, ‘but I hope you're not thinking about downshifting because it's not all it's cracked up to be.' She looked at me in a way that confirmed that this was indeed exactly what she was just at that moment considering. Mr Sutcliffe didn't express any view on the subject and just carried on getting paler. This is normal. The locals I find are often this reluctant to engage in conversation. This is understandable as most of them didn’t even go to Oxford so they probably don’t want to talk to someone like myself for fear of exposing their lack of proper southern education. ‘Hold these’, she said, indicating some round thingys attached to wires that she had put on his chest. She flicked a switch and his eyes opened with a start. He looked up at me. 'Heck!' he cried 'Either I'm not dead yet or I did something bloody awful when I was alive!' It was a miracle! A local had spoken to me! Sunbeams shone down through the clouds onto our little group ‘Now,’ said my nurse friend, ‘what can I do for you Rilly?’ I pointed to her amazing bit of resuscitational wizzardry that she had just demonstrated to me. 'Well' I began, ‘I couldn’t borrow that to jumpstart the car could I darling, and then I thought perhaps I could use it on our bloody rowers as well'.