"the fags got me"

 

Beach Ballroom Aberdeen 22July16 [met my future husband there Spring 1971]

Said Emeritus Professor Ian Reid to me in an Email shortly before he died in June 2014.  We had got back in touch after I'd copied him into another Email sent to his former colleagues at Ninewells Hospital working in DAIS/Dundee Advanced Interventions Service which provided NMD/neurosurgery for mental disorder or, as I called it, brain surgery for mental illness.

I had first met Ian at the SEAN/Scottish ECT Accreditation Network conference at Stirling University in October 2011 and thought he was a mental health service user.  He wore a big woolly jumper and was sitting at the lunch table with other folk who I knew through MH matters, and got annoyed with me when I spoke out against ECT, saying how my Mother got many shock treatments against her will at Murray Royal, for no good reason or suchlike.

I didn't know that the woman about my age at the table, taking her soup through a straw, was the poster girl/main spokesperson at the panel later on, FOR ECT.  And I was in the front row when she told the story of her husband calling the CPN/community psychiatric nurse to get her more ECT, as if this was a good thing. I was horrified, my face would have said it all, couldn't hide it.  Also on the panel were Dr Lyons, head of the Mental Welfare Commission at the time, and maybe another 2 folk with Lived Experience.  Can't remember exactly as it wasn't a positive experience, having to sit through stuff which I disagreed strongly with.

I didn't know until after this event that Prof Reid was the "king of ECT" as I called him [blog post I wrote with a play on words], a key proponent of the treatment, even being called as an expert for the programme 'Call the Midwife', to advise, so he told me.  And he was on the BBC giving ECT to a man in Aberdeen where he worked, although I said at the time that if he had given it to an old wifie against her will then they would never have broadcast it.  Would cause an uproar and an outcry.

Then Ian bullied me in an Email one Sunday not long after this SEAN event and had to apologise, inviting me up to Aberdeen to meet his colleagues and a woman who asked for ECT, found it useful.  He met me from the train and gave me a lift in his car to the cafe for lunch, it stank of smoke and everytime he got out of the car he lit up a fag.  I'm not keen on fag smoke, my Mother was a smoker, it helped her counteract the effects of the Depixol antipsychotic injection she was on for life, due to abusive psychiatric treatment in her earlier years.

That was in January 2012 when I first met up with Ian in Aberdeen and he talked about having me speak about mental health recovery to his colleagues and students at a later date, however in the February my son went into Stratheden Hospital and my life changed, I became a whistleblower.  And Ian continued to engage with me by Email, sharing journal articles, stories from his past, we had things in common, both worked in Woolies as teenager, he in Dunfermline, me in Perth.  Ian also said he had read my Dad Willie Patterson's Jeff Hawke stories with his Grandpa, when a wee boy.

I met up with Ian for a second and last time in February 2014, lunch in an Aberdeen cafe, for I thought he lived in the city or nearby, but I found out later, from the funeral notices that he actually lived near Dundee, in Newtyle, Angus.  At our lunch, upstairs in a cafe off Union St, he sucked on an Ecig surrepticiously, and I noticed that he struggled a bit with the stairs, as if he was in pain.  He walked me to the bus stop and as he left I felt a sadness because I couldn't have worked with him on ECT research being so against the treatment.  I'd have tried to influence folk against it, was biased.

And when he told me about his Emeritus title and terminal lung cancer a few weeks before he died, again I felt sad.  I received word of his passing in a text from his wife when I was in St Mary's Monastery, Kinnoull Hill, Perth, at a MH event.  What a great loss, I thought, especially to his teenage daughter, not having her Dad around any more, for I'd seen photos of her with her friends and Ian on his facebook.  I could empathise as I lost my dad in 1969 at 16yrs old when he never came back from London, although I saw him once briefly in 1971 at Belsize Rd to check he was ok, then was at his funeral in 1986 down there, Kensal Green.  

I was aiming to attend Professor Reid's memorial service at the University Chapel in Aberdeen and had bought train tickets in advance but I wasn't well on the day, had flu and couldn't make it.  I was very busy that year attending MH events in London, Manchester, Scotland, it caught up with me, had to rest.  And then in the September 2014 I got word from the Ombudsman that I'd won my case against NHS Fife for "unreasonable treatment" of my son in Stratheden psychiatric Hospital, February 2012:

 

link to Express article

 

"We need critical voices to bring balance" 5Dec2014 complaint to HIS; Navigating the System

First some family photos:
 

me at around 4yrs old, Kingswell Terr in background

Selfie c1963 of my Dad William Cunningham Patterson 1929-1986

photo taken by my Dad

Mum typed RARE BIRDS, had photo on her living room wall at Pow flats

-------------
 

From a blog post I wrote 7 February 2015 on my Healthcare Improvement Scotland page:

"On 30 January 2015 I received a letter via Email from Robbie Pearson, Deputy Chief Executive, Director of Scrutiny & Assurance, Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS), to say that the complaint I raised, on 5 December 2014, against Karen Goudie, HIS National Clinical Lead, in respect of her social media exchanges with Dr Peter Gordon, had been upheld."

page one

page two

 Taken from blog post 7Feb15:

"Prologue

This is the story (or process) of my campaign, in respect of the complaint to Healthcare Improvement Scotland, which began on 5 December 2014 when I came upon a twitter conversation between Ms Goudie and my friend Dr Gordon.

This led to my raising a complaint by Email and sending it to the HIS leadership on 5 December at 21.25, copied in to Ms Goudie.  Who made a reply at 23.04 that same night, mentioning "police Scotland" and including evidence she had gathered which had my name on it.  

I opened the Email from Ms Goudie the following morning, 6 December, and replied at 08.05, maintaining my complaint.  I was unhappy with what I perceived to be a defensive attack, trying to further discredit Dr Gordon and me, by association.

There followed further correspondence with Christine Hill, HIS Complaints Officer, in response to my request for a copy of the HIS social networking policy, receiving the information on 10 December.  

On 18 December I wrote to ask for confirmation that my complaint was being considered and eventually on 6 January I was informed by Ms Hill that Robbie Pearson, Director of Scrutiny & Assurance, would be looking into it.  I received the complaint response letter from Mr Pearson on 30 January, replying on 3 February 2015 with my thoughts about his decision. ..."

---------------

This complaint took a lot of time and energy to persist in winning my case, in the defence of my friend at the time Dr Peter Gordon, Consultant Psychiatrist, who I had got to know through his Sunshine Act Petition to Scottish Government in 2013.  Initially I had wanted him to help me with a project I had in mind, and asked him via his NHS Forth Valley Email:

But I don't know if he responded, can find no Emails, he used a few, different addresses and even different names on same Email address.  Instead I began to help him with his mental health activism, campaigning, whistleblowing and he eventually would share confidential information via both his NHS Emails at Forth Valley then at NHS Lothian (he is now retired), telling me not to share them so I didn't and won't be doing so.  He also forwarded on Emails from family members, work colleagues, friend, others, and I haven't shown them to anyone else either.  Although I suspect that he was not so confidential with Emails I sent him.

Because, after I advocated for him in this complaint, which resulted in both of us getting an apology, a male friend of his, an employee at the time with Aberdeen City Council, sent me an Email from his work address, suggesting that we nominate Peter for an empire medal.  I didn't let on at first that I knew who he was, because he could have been anyone and also because I thought it was bare-faced cheek.  I had done a wheen of work raising this complaint and if anyone deserved a medal it was me.

The Email he sent had some confidentiality bumph at the bottom, implying I should say nothing to anyone:

I said nothing for 2yrs then got fed up in 2016 with the doctor grumping in an Email, his biker chum staying for the weekend, that I said something like, no wonder you're fed up, having to spend time with that twat, or similar.  I'd about had enough of being his penpal.  I was getting bored.  He checked with his chum who couldn't remember sending me such an Email, so I forwarded it, as proof.  And then Dr Gordon was dismissive of it and his friend's forgetfulness, saying he was the same after ECT.  Aye right.

-----------

I got more skilled at raising complaints, writing blog posts and engaging virtually by Email, on social media, these years since my son was subject to "unreasonable treatment" in Stratheden psychiatric Hospital February 2012.  And I did learn things from watching Dr Gordon's videos and reading his blog posts.  As a community education worker since 1980 it has always been about lifelong learning, empowerment and collectivism, although in more recent years I've had to become more of a lone ranger.

Navigating the System idea was a good one I thought, having done so since first becoming a mental patient in 1978 then in 1984, finally in 2002, also helping my sons in their journeys in and through the psychiatric system.  I was fortunate to have a psychiatric survivor mother and science fiction writer father when growing up in Perth, Scotland, and to have married, twice, a man who is anti-psychiatry, his mother having experienced episodes of mental ill health due to losing babies.

Navigating the System blog post 12 July 2014:

engineering consent - the art of manipulating people (Bernays)

"The central idea behind the engineering of consent is that the public or people should not be aware of the manipulation taking place." Wikipedia

----------------

New Year selfie with my son Daniel after the bells 1Jan21

another New Year 2021 selfie later that morning

 

2 August 2012 - Notes And Other Fairy Tales In The Land Of Make Believe

 Written for Mad in America blog but it wasn't featured.

 

River Eden Cupar, photo Daniel Muirhead 25Dec14

Once upon a time there was a psychiatric establishment called 'The Land of Make Believe'.  Where some people wear uniforms (I'll call them the Uniform) and the others don't (I'll call them the Others).  The Uniform write notes (Notes) about the Others.  Sometimes at the time or sometimes after.  These Notes are very important to the Uniform.  They have undergone copious amounts of training on writing Notes, storing Notes, carrying Notes around.  And meet in a big room to have discussions about the Notes, the Others and The Land of Make Believe.

The Others are more interested in talking about themselves to others, both Uniform and Others.  However the Uniform seem to have little time available for talking, or listening or anything that isn't to do with the Notes.  Therefore the Others find themselves taking up smoking as an activity and sitting with Others in the smoking area.  Even the smoke resistant sit with the smokers, to have human contact.  Meanwhile the Uniform get on with their Notes.  Changing them if necessary.  To fit the story of the Uniform.

Labels are another important factor in the writing of Notes.  The Others can't just be distressed or anxious or worried.  They've got to be given a diagnosis or two that equates to a mental disorder.  Otherwise the Others shouldn't have come through the looking glass into the Land of Make Believe.  Where Notes are like the Jabberwocky to the uninitiated or non-Uniform.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

The Uniform write in the Notes when the Others are misbehaving (according to the Uniform) and this may result in a visit to the Land of Dame Slap, a school for bad pixies and fairies, at the top of The Faraway Tree.  Or forced treatment in Jabberwocky language.  Bad medicine or a necessary evil, according to whether you are the Others or the Uniform.  The Notes will justify the actions and the end will justify the means.  Which is another uniform, compliant, harmless, emotionless, humourless outpatient.

Of course this is only a fairy tale.  Isn't it?

13 July 2015

25 years a complainer about psychiatric treatment

On the first day of the week, this Sunday morning, I was remembering that it was about 25 years ago this month that I first raised a complaint about the psychiatric treatment in Stratheden Hospital, by Cupar, Fife, when my oldest son was an inpatient of Lomond Ward.

1998 with Edwin, both of us graduating

 

Edwin had experienced a breakdown (psychiatry calls it a psychosis) in the summer of 1995 after being away at Strathclyde University, Glasgow, and then a relapse at the beginning of 1996 due to the prescribed antipsychotics which depressed him, and so he suddenly stopped taking the drugs which can be a shock to the body.  This led to him being given ECT/shock treatment to his head in Stratheden Hospital, resulting in a critical incident and ambulance to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, and we were sent for, in the middle of the night.  

I was separated from my husband and he wrote many notes at the time, for sending to the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland, incase our son did not recover from the abusive psychiatric treatment (I have these notes).  However he survived and was transferred back to Lomond Ward, Stratheden Hospital, and this is when I raised a complaint with NHS Fife about deficiencies in his care by Nurses.  I still have the response to that complaint somewhere, a letter from the Senior Charge Nurse who later was in charge at Weston Day Hospital, Cupar, her husband the General Manager at Stratheden (keeping it in the family), both nurse trained.

Then in 2002 I entered Lomond Ward voluntarily when undergoing a spiritual experience at the menopause, my body changing, the end of my natural childbearing years.  And I was detained for 72 hours in this psychiatric unit and forced to swallow a toxic drug, Risperidone.  I didn't resist for long, far too risky, for I was known as a complainer to these Nurses and was put in the end female dorm down the long corridor, single rooms opposite with male patients in them.

I remember waking up one morning and seeing a strange young man come out of the end room, curtains open in the female sleeping dormitory.  No respect for my privacy and I made sure to wear clothes in bed and to get out of that very risky environment ASAP.  I could not trust the psychiatric Nurses to protect me.  And I phoned my ex-husband from the ward to alert him to my predicament.  For he's anti-psychiatry and had helped me escape ECT in 1978 when Nurses tried to force me to sign the form agreeing to it, when an inpatient of Hartwoodhill psych hospital in Lanarkshire.

 

And so I asked my husband, the father of my 3 sons, to remarry me and we did this at Cupar Registry Office on our 30th wedding anniversary 4 July 2002, together until the summer of 2011 when he left, separated since then, and I divorced him 2 years ago this month.  

We are not compatible and I appreciated that he helped me in 2002 as a witness at psychiatric appointments, and a companion as I became a mental health "service user", attending Weston Day Hospital 2002/3, eventually tapering a cocktail of toxic chemicals - Risperidone then max dose Venlafaxine then 800mgs/day Lithium, by 200mgs a month to zero.  Back to PT paid work in May 2005 despite 3 fractures on right fibula caused by Venlafaxine and a titanium plate, and in May 2006 I was working FT at Adam Smith College with 2 PT evening posts, in Newcastle Primary School Glenrothes and Teaching 'Introduction to Counselling'.

I also did another postgraduate qualification, TQFE in Care Subjects at Stirling University, 2007/8, self funded, taking holidays off my college job to attend lectures, graduating in June 2008 when I was running vol org Peer Support Fife, my own independent MH training (delivering WRAP) and doing a paid PT Action Research post with Perth council.

 

PS Fife website

 

Muirton Fairfield Blog started March 2008

 

January 1996 I was in the middle of a BA Adminstration Management at Fife College, achieved Best Student, completing the degree in 2 years instead of 3, having taken extra units on the HNC Office Admin course at Elmwood College, plus my 1st year Maths pass at Aberdeen University 1971 was taken into account.  That academic course was the most enjoyable I've experienced up to this date.  However I do hope to study more in Dundee after we move there, this year if we get offered a suitable house with a garden by Dundee City Council Housing Services, our names are on their list, from 2012 when I first applied.   

My youngest son Daniel and I are very much looking forward to a fresh start in Dundee.  Here are some selfies and photos of my travels last year in Dundee:

16Nov20

 

8Dec20 Swanny Ponds, Stobsmuir Park

 

21Oct20 Castle Street

21Oct20 back of Wellgate

14Oct20 Reres Park

 

2Oct20 Hilltown, Alexander St in background

 

'Origin story: what do we know now about where coronavirus came from?' 12Dec20 in The Guardian

'Origin story: what do we know now about where coronavirus came from?' 12 December 2020, Sarah Boseley in The Guardian

Intro:

"Maria van Kerkhove was staying with her sister in the US for the Christmas holidays, but checking her emails. As always. Every day there are signals of potential trouble, said the World Health Organization virologist who was to become a household name and face within weeks.

“There’s always something that happens at Christmas time. There’s always some alert, or a signal of a suspected case. The last several years it’s been Mers [Middle East respiratory syndrome] – a suspect case travelling to Malaysia or Indonesia or Korea or somewhere in Asia from the Middle East. So there’s always some kind of signal. There’s always something that happens,” she said." 

 

The World Health Organization virologist Maria van Kerkhove has become a household name during the pandemic. Photograph: Fabrice Coffrini/Reuters

Excerpts:

"... Covid-19, as we now call it, looked like acute pneumonia when it killed frail and elderly people. And it is possible the first people to catch it had no symptoms.

The first clue was the market, but what looked like a slam dunk at first is now uncertain. Of a sample of 41 early confirmed cases, 70% were stall owners, employees or regular customers of the Huanan market, which sold seafood but also live animals, often illegally captured in the wild and slaughtered in front of the customer. But the first confirmed case had no apparent connection.

The market was closed by the Chinese authorities on 1 January and comprehensively cleaned and disinfected, which was helpful to hygiene but destroyed clues. Nonetheless, swab tests showed traces of the virus in areas where wild animals had been held. In late January, an inventory list emerged from the Da Zhong domestic and wild animals shop in the market that gave a flavour of the trade. It included live wolf pups, golden cicadas, scorpions, bamboo rats, squirrels, foxes, civets, salamanders, turtles and crocodiles. It sold assorted animal parts, such as crocodile tail, belly, tongue and intestines."

----

"For the WHO, which launched an official inquiry in the summer, the questions about which species might be the intermediary and whether there may be a lasting reservoir of virus are crucial. “So far, susceptibility studies conducted in several countries have shown that domestic cats, ferrets, hamsters and minks are particularly susceptible to infection,” said the terms of reference published in July. Cats can get the virus and transmit it to other cats. There were positive samples from nearly 14% of more than 100 cats tested in Wuhan. Farmed mink – first in Denmark and the Netherlands and then across Europe and the US – have been found to carry the virus and been culled."

----- 

"That was important to say, said Josie Golding, Wellcome’s epidemics lead: “It was a bunch of prominent researchers coming together to say this is why we don’t think it’s made in a lab: because you would never make a virus like this and there are too many links to other viruses that have been found in the wild.”

Nor is it likely to have escaped accidentally from the Wuhan lab, said Golding, who used to work in a high containment facility in Pirbright, Surrey. The idea that one person got infected in the lab and spread it to the entire world is the stuff of movies, she said. “Show me the evidence … It just doesn’t seem very realistic.” It is far more likely that animals were infected and people picked up the virus from them."

 

complaint about Glenrothes Michael Woods swimming pool management 20 November 2020

back door of Michael Woods leisure centre 20Nov20, 11.31am

outside front entrance of Michael Woods leisure centre 20Nov20, 11.34am

Important Information at Michael Woods leisure centre 20Nov20

---------------

Dear Ms Walker (also writing to your PA)

I am writing to complaint about the way I was treated in the Michael Woods swimming pool 20 November 2020, booked to swim at 10.30am, and about the fact there were no staff in the changing rooms to ask what the rules were post Covid19 Lockdown.

I hadn't swam in this pool since well before Lockdown so didn't know the rules for the pool swimming.  Reception staff only told me about no shampoo in showers.  And when I went into the changing rooms there were no staff around to ask about pool rules.  I didn't even know how to get to the pool as the usual way was blocked, and it wasn't obvious.  Other swimmers told me where to go and I walked on my own through what seemed like cupboard spaces then around another closed off pool, various trip hazards along the wall, protruding onto path I walked on.  Had to be careful walking, I only have one good eye and usually wear bifocals, was wearing prescription goggles with just long distance lens.  I could easily have tripped if not very careful, didn't want to fall.

Then when I eventually reached the open pool I immediately spoke to a young lifeguard, asking him why there were no staff in changing rooms on duty, he said they were away doing something else, sorting out a room or suchlike.  Then I noticed there were 3 busy swimming lanes and 2 empty lanes, and headed for one of the empty lanes.  I'm a Carer for my son who lives with me and is socially isolating due to lung issues.  He is prone to pneumothorax, his last operation in 2017, very painful.  Therefore I did not want to swim in a very busy lane when there were 2 empty lanes.

I wear ear plugs at times in swimming pools due to build up of wax and was wearing one that day, swimming up and down, so could not hear anything on side of pool if it was addressed to me.  I swam for 20mins in the empty lane and no-one else joined me, and only latterly did some folk go in the end empty lane but no-one into the lane I was in.

I then got out of pool and showered without using shampoo, noticing that a male swimmer used shampoo in showers opposite me, breaking the rules (manager never called the police out on him).  And after showering just with water I went through to changing room and got dressed.  On coming out of cubicle fully dressed, ready to leave, I was taken aback to see 2 Policewomen waiting just outside changing room to escort me from the premises, telling me I was banned.  I recorded my conversation with the police officers, just audio, told them this, incase I got arrested for no good reason.  I noticed what looked like the Manager standing watching us from the changing room, dressed in shirt, trousers, I didn't know his name although I asked what it was but no-one said.  Many others were watching the police confronting me. 

The policewomen said they had to respond to callouts whether justified or not, and walked me along the corridor, pointed to where the exit was, out a back door, for I didn't know, and then they went out the front door, leaving me to go out myself by the back door, some other swimmers came with me, leading the way around side of building, for I didn't know how to get back to the carpark.  And we saw the policewomen coming out the front entrance of the Michael Woods Centre as we turned the corner where Covid19 testing was going on behind a fence.

As I reached my car and put my swimming stuff in the boot a man drove by in car, wound his window down, said he was a retired policeman, asked if I knew the 3 male swimmers who had accompanied me out the back door and around the building.  I said no.  For I didn't know them, hadn't met them before, either in the pool or changing room or anywhere, they wore face coverings, one of them said he used to work as a lifeguard in there but I couldn't identify him again, his face was covered.  I only used to occasionally swim in the Glenrothes pool, have swam in the Olympia Dundee most days since the summer of 2018, before Lockdown and some of the time since then, inbetween lockdowns. 

I am not happy at being banned from Glenrothes pool for no good reason.  I didn't know the rules and there were no staff on duty in changing room to ask.  I'm not happy at the Police being called out on me, that was excessive force and I don't know why the Manager did this.  He could have spoken to me after the swim, letting me know what the rules were in the pool rather than have me expelled from the premises by the Force and banned for swimming in an empty lane.  I could not understand why that happened.  I don't intend to swim again in the Glenrothes pool, that has put me right off going there.  No staff in changing rooms when there should have been, especially after the male swimmer, student nurse Schickoffer was jailed in 2016 for taking photos of young girls in cubicles at Glenrothes pool over a period of 6 months:

https://www.fifetoday.co.uk/news/glenrothes-man-jailed-filming-young-girls-swimming-pool-changing-rooms-1257671

I contend that the Manager of the Michael Woods swimming pool, Glenrothes, that morning 20 November 2020, did not do his job properly, ensuring that staff were on duty in the changing rooms.  That was a dereliction of duty, Health & Safety issue, on his part, not on mine, and I should not have been punished for his failures.  I would like an apology for his actions and assurances that Fife Sports and Leisure Trust will have at least one member of staff on duty at all times in the mixed gender changing rooms of the Michael Woods leisure centre swimming pool.

Copying in my MSP Willie Rennie and regional MSP Alex Rowley, for their information, also Courier Reporter Michael Alexander.

Yours sincerely,

Mrs Muirhead

 

Chrys Muirhead

Arts & Crafts

carer, writer, storyteller, swimmer, knitter, cyclist, photographer, gardener, traveller

ChrysWrites.blogspot.com

ChrysMuirheadWrites.blogspot.co.uk

@ChrysMuirhead
sketchfab.com/ChrysMuirhead

------------

 

I've just been escorted by 2 Policewomen @FifePolice out of Michael Woods Glenrothes @fifeleisure #FifeLeisure swimming pool changing room for apparently "breaking the rules".
But I didn't know the rules.
No staff in mixed gender changing room before swim for me to ask. pic.twitter.com/U1qEukN96x

— Chrys Muirhead (@ChrysMuirhead) November 20, 2020

 

 

"don't be led astray" I wasn't; "go quietly away" no, why should I?

 These words were said to me by women who I knew through the swimming at the Olympia Dundee, in December 2019 and February 2020.  Both of these ladies were dementia widows, the former from Dundee, latter from Perth, we went to school together.  All of us about the same age.

"don't be led astray" was said to me on the morning of the Xmas Tea Dance when I was drying my hair in the changing rooms, chatting to this Dundee woman who asked what I would be wearing to the dance, I said probably the usual, thinking denim shorts with tartan braid, but in actual fact I wore a short skirt, Black Watch tartan, from Primark, and a green patterned shirt:

Queen's Hotel bar before Xmas Tea Dance 17Dec19

I was heavier back then, lost a bit of weight now, after medial collateral ligament injury on left knee, so hope to do more dancing in the future, fitter.

When my fellow female swimmer said to me "don't be led astray" regarding the dance I didn't know what she meant and tried to question her about this but she said no more, gave no details, didn't spell it out.  I don't drink alcohol, don't like the taste, never have done, and so I wouldn't be losing any capacity at the dance unless my water got spiked at the table, most unlikely, anyway I would be keeping an eye on it.

I assume that she was led astray at the Xmas Tea Dance the year before, by a man, possibly the Englishman who led the "In Group" organising the get-together and seemed to know a lot of women who swam at the pool, chatted up new women on the scene, even at the cafe upstairs, making a beeline towards them, even though his hips were needing "done" again, so he said.  He walked with a stick but could still move fast, nearly kissing me on the lips in the autumn of 2019 when I gave him £5 deposit for the Dance, in the changing rooms of the Olympia pool when drying my hair.  But I averted my face and gave him my cheek, wasn't happy at his space invasion.  I was interested in dancing, not in him. You can catch germs through saliva, very risky these days with Covid19.

I really didn't like this guy, to be honest, thought he was a creep, but I liked some of the folk in his "In Group" which is what he called it.  And so I started joining them upstairs in the Olympia cafe at times for a cuppa after swimming.  And heard tales of his home village near London, how he met his Dundee wife on holiday, when they were both middle aged, she had died a few years before, and how he had a half share in the house he lived in, the other half owned by his stepdaughter.  He talked about his cleaning woman raking through his dead wife's clothes [I thought this was in very bad taste], some of them still with labels on, allowing her to choose which ones to send to her poor relatives in Poland, saying some Polish words which she may have taught him.  

He had a large tattoo on his chest of his dead wife, very realistic as I saw photos of them together on his facebook page.  I just thought, well done to that Dundee lady for leaving her mark on this Englishman.  But I wasn't impressed with his comments about his father-in-law being a drunkard and Dundee men not respecting women, him having worked alongside them as a bricklayer.  I suppose he meant how they spoke which I thought was ironic, considering his actions, suspecting that he preyed on vulnerable, lonely women in Dundee, leading them "astray" if possible.  For I had witnessed his behaviour and eventually was pestered by him in the pool, showers and changing room, having to raise a complaint with Olympia management.

I danced mostly with women at the Xmas Tea Dance December 2020, only one women's choice Scottish Gay Gordon's jig with a male swimming friend who was single as I'd got to know him quite well in the Olympia since about September 2018, also sometimes sitting with him at Greggs cafe on the High St, Dundee, if we happened to be there at the same time.  He was from Hilltown originally and we had shared stories and photos about our families.  But we didn't sit together at the dance and I wasn't led astray by anyone there or afterwards.  I went there on my own and left by myself, heading home.

The comment "go quietly away" was said to me in a bullying manner when I was in a queue at the Tesco Riverside cafe in February, by the Perth woman after I mentioned to her that I'd be raising a complaint about the pest in the pool.  I was taken aback by her words and manner, and told her to go quietly away, in response, although felt like using stronger words.  What was she getting at? She had witnessed me upset in cafe with Englishman after hearing him talk about missing his Philippines trip, implying sex tourism to me in the changing rooms, after goading me about my name "Chrys with a "y"' which I'd never said to him. Although I did say this to the other dementia widow when first meeting her in pool early in 2019.  And she said that her name also had a Y in it, but I found out much later that this wasn't true.  [maybe after she had been led astray]

But the Perth woman hadn't witnessed the changing room goading by the pest and heard me saying to a friend about my support of a Philippines girl Regina Mandantes through Tear Fund, to get an education. She was from a very poor family and I gave money for her to attend school, monthly for years, from when I ran the Scripture Union Group at Castlehill Primary Cupar 1993-97 and afterwards, until she grew up, money going to her family so that she could stay at school.  I was distressed at the thought of poor girls in the Philippines turning to prostitution to earn a living, with rich English or British tourists.  A population of 106million and only 7million covered by health plans.

I now wonder if the Perth woman thought I'd been led astray by the pest? Telling me to go away from the Olympia as if I had done something wrong when that wasn't the case.  I raised a complaint about this pest and it was upheld.  The Olympia Manager at a meeting I had with him not long before Lockdown in March said that the Englishman had "lost his moral compass" however I thought this was being kind, assuming the guy ever had any morals which I didn't know, had no assurance of, from what I'd witnessed of his behaviour over a period of months, including trying to kiss my lips without my permission in the Olympia changing rooms, taking advantage, in 2020 a serious breach which could have caused Covid19 virus.

That man is still swimming in the Olympia Training Pool and I'm banned.  Very unfair as I did nothing wrong.

hand delivered letter 8pm on 3 December

 

I have written an Email, 2,800 words, to Leisure and Culture Dundee Acting Director/Managing Director Judy Dobbie going into detail about what happened on 3 December in the Olympia training pool and changing rooms, mentioning a number of incidents and also the filth at the base of the pool which I saw when wearing my prescription goggles for the first time in nearly 2 years, from the end of November 2020.  I was shocked to see the state of the pool under water, what looked like green slime with toeprints in it, various other detritus at ends and corners, as if the pool had not been cleaned for ages.  Since being banned I've swam in both the Dundee University and Cupar Public pools and they are both immaculate underwater.

Excerpts from this Email sent to Ms Dobbie on 6 January 2021:

"No Duty Manager to be seen in the Olympia pool or changing room areas while various activities were ongoing, toddlers learning to swim, people with autism in training pool, only [named member of staff] in the changing room behind a screen.  Lifeguards unsupervised, taking direction from a mother who was forcing her toddler to swim against his will, crying that he wanted to go home, for up to 40mins."

"a group of lifeguards horsing around, a female with hair in bun, glasses, smaller, with what looked like a spray bottle of chemicals point it at a male lifeguard and spray him playfully"

"Regarding the directional signs at end of lanes, they were often going the wrong way from usual after Lockdown ended and this confused many swimmers, including me as I couldn't see the signs without spectacles, until halfway down the lane.  I heard many other female swimmers complain about this when in the pool and some males swimming right towards me, very risky if doing crawl without looking where they were going.  On one occasion an older man in his 70's who was swimming in the medium lane same as me, someone I know well, and his wife who swims in the fast lane, got confused, as a lifeguard actually changed the directional signs halfway through our swim time, and asked me what was the right way, for he'd forgotten although we had swam there for 2yrs."

"in November 2018, as you will be aware, I'd raised a complaint about an incident in the Olympia where I was bullied on the poolside by Duty Manager Ian [don't know his second name] after I'd raised concerns about Health & Safety issues in the flumes.  I mentioned it to lifeguards in the passing, how the water had run out in the flume I was in, halfway down, in the dark, I got stuck, had to propel myself, a man and boy behind me, and I just got out the end before they did, whooshing behind me. 

I never did get an explanation as to why the water ran out, stopped in the flume when I was in it.  Two male lifeguards later accused me of lying about it, when I was in the showers, and I refuted this, then they said it could have been a new lifeguard pressing the button by mistake"

"recently an aggressive male in changing room, undressing in an aisle, blocking my way to locker, saying he only had "TEN MINUTES" to swim, a big muscled, taller, younger man than me, who eventually went into a cubicle and then came out right next to me as I removed my clothes from locker, standing very close, intimidatingly"

"my way was blocked by the fully dressed, tall, young woman wearing glasses and a face mask.  She looked agitated, not sure why.  I asked her to move so I could access locker but she didn't so I retreated and asked her to follow me, into the wider area end of cubicle aisles ...  

It's chilly with aircon in changing rooms and I needed to get dressed.  I couldn't understand what the tall lassie was saying to me, even when she lowered her mask a bit, so I just took the opportunity to access my locker, remove clothes.  At this point [member of staff] joined her at end of cubicle aisle and I asked her who she worked for, she said clearly Carr Gomm, an organisation I know, from being a MH activist and campaigner.  They follow me on Twitter. ...

when I got out of the Olympia building by the Gallagher retail park exit, I raised a complaint about this worker with Carr Gomm via twitter, then went off to my car to drop off my swimming stuff then up to the M&S cafe for refreshments and a warmup"

M&S Cafe 3Dec20 after stressful swim at Olympia

 

M&S Cafe 3Dec20