Chapter Text
As she stepped from the bus Delia was greeted with the smell of petrol, smoke and an underlying scent of grime and perspiration. Having been accustomed to the rumble of the bus and the mumblings of the other passengers for the best part of a day she was happy to hear new noises: the sound of countless cars and vans; the bustle of people walking to and from work or going out to enjoy their evenings; cafes and shops being shut up for the day and bars and pubs just getting going.
A grin broke out across her face as she took it all in. A far cry from the small town of Tenby, her home for the past eighteen and a bit years. She’d been to London once before, six years ago, to see her Auntie Blod, and ever since then she’d known she wanted to live here, where things always seemed to be going on. The antithesis of her previous home.
Don’t get her wrong, Delia loved growing up by the sea in Wales, playing on the beach and in the hills with the children from school; helping, or rather hindering, her father in his drapery shop and pestering her mother. However, one brief taste of London had captured her 13-year-old heart; the opportunities a sprawling city could supply her ambitious mind far outstretched those open to her in Pembrokeshire.
Unfortunately, her mother didn’t see it the same way; she was angry that Delia rejected what had been enough for her: a loving husband, a respectable position within local society and a beautiful daughter. However, there was no convincing Delia, she had been bitten by the bug and settled on nursing as a means of getting herself to London, leading an independent and fulfilling life in a new and exciting place. She’d worked hard to get here, sacrificing time with her friends and turning down many a date (or at least as many as were available to her in her small home town) to study and ensure she would get on to the programme at the London.
So here she was, stepping off a bus in Whitechapel to begin her new life as a nurse in the capital and she could hardly contain her excitement, even after eight or more hours on a bus.
She pulled a piece of paper from her coat pocket upon which she had neatly written instructions for getting from the bus station to the nurses’ dorms that would be her home for foreseeable future. Having studied the directions, she replaced the paper in her pocket, picked up her suitcase, took a deep breath and set off, grin still plastered upon her face.
“Watch it!” came the angry repost of the man Delia had managed to catch with her bag as she turned to set off, too consumed with excitement to consider the busy pavement the bus had deposited her on.
“Sorry!” she called after his retreating form, a slight blush creeping to her cheeks. Perhaps not the greatest start to her new life, but only a small set-back. She sighed and allowed herself a smile before setting off again, being careful to check where the other pavement users were this time.
Half an hour later Delia found herself guided to a simple room with two beds, a basin and two nightstands. Apparently her roommate had already arrived and unpacked, but was nowhere to be seen. She took the time alone to unpack her case, she’d brought mainly clothes, some anatomy books and a picture of her and her mam and dad taken last Christmas which she placed on the nightstand with a nostalgic smile; this was the first time she would be away from home without her parents for longer than a week and this time it had felt much more final than saying goodbye for a week away with her cousins in Anglesey. There hadn’t been much room for anything else since she could only bring what she could carry between the bus station and her new home as her parents didn’t have a car or the time to drive all the way from Tenby to London and back. After hanging her dresses in the small wardrobe beside her new roommates Delia lay on the bed, the long journey finally catching up with her.
She must have fallen asleep as the next thing she knew she was awoken by an unfamiliar girl gently shaking her arm. “Sorry to wake you, but matron’s calling us for dinner and I don’t think she’d take kindly to any absentees.” Came the soft voice of the girl Delia slowly blinked into focus. She looked around the same age as Delia, with short, curled, blonde hair.
“Thank you” she said, sitting up and rubbing her eyes slightly, trying to wake up, “I didn’t mean to drop off.” She swung her legs off the bed, noting she hadn’t even bothered to take off her shoes. “The journey here really took it out of me.”
“Did you have far to come?” the other girl asked with a smile, clearly finding Delia’s sleep-muddled demeanour somewhat amusing.
“From Pembrokeshire in Wales, I never thought I’d get here.” Delia smiled, finally feeling awake enough to stand. “I’m Delia by the way” she said, offering her hand to the girl.
“Betty” the other girl replied, taking Delia’s offered hand and giving it a shake, “it’s nice to meet you, roomy” she grinned, “but now we really must be getting down to dinner.”
“Nice to meet you too, lead the way.” Delia gestured to the door with another smile. Well, her roommate seemed nice, it was good of her to wake her up, Delia thought, it would be typical if she’d managed to make a bad impression even without meeting matron.
~~~~~~~~~~
“Oh mam, it’s great in London, there’s always so much going on, so much to do. Betty and I and the other girls went to the pictures on our nights off to see the latest films, we didn’t have to wait months like you do here. And there are so many people, you barely see the same person twice when you walk out, and all so busy. It’s fantastic!”
“I don’t know how you can say that; to forever be surrounded by strangers, it sounds awful!” Her mother snipped back, moving to take another sip of tea. Delia looked exasperatedly at her mother before sighing and settling back in her chair. She’d returned home having successfully completed the first nine weeks of her training, passing her exams with flying colours. They had been given a week’s leave before beginning the next stage of training: three years practical training on the wards.
“I wonder you had time to go out with all that studying you should have been doing, I thought that was why you went there in the first place.” Her mum began, replacing her tea cup on its saucer.
“Mam, you know I was studying hard, I was top of the class! You can’t expect me to be locked up in my room reading all day, the other girls would think me a swot, or a snob.” Delia said with a hint of frustration. Her mother gave her a somewhat dark look and Delia raised her eyebrows and sighed.
“Come on Edith, Delia’s doing very well.” Her father smiled warmly at her and Delia replied with a genuine smile of her own, thankful that at least her father understood her reasons for heading to the big smoke for a bit of adventure. “I’m glad to hear you’re enjoying yourself, we’re very proud.”
Her mother gave a slight huff, but Delia chose to ignore it. She knew her mother missed her, though she may not care to admit it in so many words, and was concerned for her safety, though she couldn’t understand why, she was a sensible girl and could hardly get into much trouble with the all-seeing eye of matron and the ward sisters watching over her and all the other trainees. In truth, Delia wished she could have gone out more, most of their nights spent in the other trainees’ rooms, one girl, Dot, had a record player that they would listen to while discussing the day’s exploits, occasionally sharing a bottle of something one of them had managed to sneak past matron. The nights were certainly fun, but Delia longed to go out dancing and exploring the city some more, she hoped that now they were done with training they would be afforded a little more time off, and the chance to mix with some new faces and hopefully some opportunities for a few adventures.
“Anyway Delia, I’m sure your mother would love to hear about the London chaps; have you stolen anyone’s heart yet?” Her father teased good-naturedly, dissipating the slight tension that had crept into the room as Delia blushed slightly and scoffed.
“Dad! Honestly!” She moaned. Her father laughed and even her mother allowed a small smile. “I’m going to go and see cousin Nancy!” And with that she rose from her seat and exited the room, feigning annoyance much to her father’s amusement. She quickly climbed the stairs to retrieve her coat and shoes from her room, which had remained untouched since she left it. As she exited the room she heard her father talking downstairs and paused on the landing, her ears burning.
“Well she was never going to be a draper,” she heard her father say, causing her to smile. No matter how much she tried she never could get the hang of even sewing on a button, “and you know she’d never be happy until she’s had a taste of life in a city. Don’t be hard on her for not wanting to be just like her parents dear.”
“I wanted to be” her mother replied grimly. She gave a sad smile, she didn’t want to disappoint her mother, but she couldn’t lie, a quiet life in Tenby, following the footsteps of countless generations before her, settling down with a husband and being surrounded by ankle-biters by her mid-twenties, had never been her intended path. She had studied hard and ignored the advances of any would-be suitors while her cousins and classmates had been going weak at the knees for James Dean, and managed to get herself into nurse training at the London. Truth be told, Delia never felt that she was missing out, she enjoyed working hard and loved learning about anatomy and basic first aid, even when she was a little girl she would rather practice bandaging her dolls than brush their hair. And while she could appreciate that James Dean was very handsome, she never felt she really got what all the fuss was about. Now, after all of her hard work had finally paid off and she had made it onto the course she’d always hoped to, living in the place she’d always dreamed of, she had little intention to marry and give it all up just to please her mother, no matter how much she loved her.
She thundered downstairs and into the sitting room. “I’m off, I’ll be back for dinner” she called to her parents as she headed out the door.
~~~~~~~~~~
Delia had been assigned to male surgical for her first placement and today was her first day. She was up and ready at 7.30am for breakfast and prayers before the day commenced with the three other girls, including Betty, who’d also been assigned to the ward.
“What if I forget how to tie a bandage, or trip and drop a bedpan, or catch a patient with a safety pin, or-“
“Betty, it’ll be fine, all we’ve been doing for the past two months is tying bandages and learning how to take care of patients, I doubt you’ll have forgotten it all in a week.” Delia cut in to stop her roommates’ nervous rambling. She’d learnt Betty was a worrier during the course of the past nine weeks, especially as exams approached, but thankfully the tips they’d learnt for easing the worries of patients had come in handy; it was just a shame Betty herself hadn’t realised that.
“That’s easy for you to say, you were top of the class!” Betty countered. Delia gave her an incredulous look, eyebrows aloft.
“And you weren’t too far behind if I remember correctly. Try and calm down a bit, I doubt we’ll be doing a lot for ourselves for the first few days.” She tried to sooth the nerves of the blonde, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder as the staff nurses and ward sister came to join them for prayers before the day shift began.
“Good morning girls, I hope you’re well rested after your week off and ready to start the hard work.” The ward sister greeted after prayers had ended; she wasn’t as stern as matron, but Delia still didn’t fancy crossing her. “You’ll each be assigned to a staff nurse who’ll guide you through the first days of your training; they will assign your tasks and will be your first port of call should you have any problems or questions.”
Delia looked to the line of five nurses who stood behind the ward sister as she made this speech. Some looked only a few years older than herself, while one or two looked like they’d been working on the ward for quite some years. She wondered if she’d be one of those lined up, eyeing-up the new recruits in a couple of years; she’d make sure not to look quite as intimidating as one or two of them, particularly the tall blonde nurse who stood appraising them with a rather stern look. Knowing her luck, she’d end up paired with her. Though it wasn’t in Delia’s nature to be intimidated she would feel somewhat nervous about asking that nurse a question, she didn’t look like the sort of person who’d suffer fools gladly. Although, Delia didn't mind a challenge.
“Elizabeth Shaw” the ward sister began, looking up from the clip board she held, catching Delia’s roommate’s eye and offering a smile, “you’ll be paired with Nurse Mount.” The stern blonde nurse Delia had singled out as stern gave Betty curt nod and Delia thought she felt her roommate tense beside her, clearly she hadn’t been the only one to decide Nurse Mount would make a formidable mentor. Delia offered Betty what she hoped was an encouraging smile, but she wasn’t convinced she’d pulled it off.
“Delia Busby” came the ward sister’s voice, capturing her attention.
“Present!” her voice cheerfully rang out before its owner had time to realise she wasn’t answering a register.
“Quite…” replied he ward sister with a raised eyebrow. Delia went red. ‘Well, there goes the first impression’ she thought. She caught the eye of who she now knew to be Nurse Mount who appeared to be supressing a smirk; Delia resolved she was very glad to not be paired with the woman, she didn’t like feeling she was being looked down upon. “You are paired with Nurse Brown.”
A chestnut brown-haired woman slightly taller than Delia gave her a warm smile; hopefully she’d found her slip-up more endearing than pitiful.
~~~~~~~~~~
“Oh how mortifying, I sounded like a school-girl!” Delia moaned as she flopped face-first into her pillow. Betty lay down on her back on her bed releasing a relieved sigh as she kicked off her shoes, happy to finally be done with the twelve-hour day.
“If it’s any consolation it made me feel much better about the day” the blonde grinned as she turned to face Delia who was lying on her front, her head turned to Betty with raised eyebrows.
“Well I’m glad my embarrassment helped to sooth your nerves” she replied sarcastically, rolling onto her back to stare at the ceiling. “Do you think they’ll have us washing bedpans for the next three years?” she asked. “Who would have guessed just how many bedpans a ward of twenty men could get through?”
Betty gave a grim laugh, “And to think I was worried about tying bandages, I’d have jumped at the chance to do that rather than scrub another bedpan! How was your mentor, Nurse Brown was it?”
“Oh, she was very nice, she apologised every time she sent me to scrubbing and she seemed to have a good way with the patients. I think I’ll learn a lot from her.” Delia replied, rolling onto her side to face Betty. “How about Nurse Mount? I’m sorry you seem to have been paired with the sternest nurse on the ward, I rather felt I’d dodged a bullet when the ward sister said you two were paired.”
“Oh thanks” was Betty’s sarcastic reply, earning a grin from Delia. “She wasn’t so bad, very professional, but she seemed to have a good way with the patients; she certainly doesn’t take any nonsense and she warned me not to take any from the patients either. Though I think I’d much rather have been paired with Nurse Brown, she seemed more… chatty, I suppose.”
“Mmm, I wonder someone so stern would choose to be a nurse.” Delia pondered.
“You could say the same about matron” Betty replied with a smile.
“I suppose so. Though I didn’t like the way she smirked when I blurted ‘present’ at the ward sister.” Delia replied somewhat distantly. Betty laughed.
“Well it was rather funny Delia” she smiled, “though I didn’t see her smirking, I think you’re letting your pride get the better of you.” Delia raised her eyebrows at that comment, she wasn’t proud, she just didn’t like to feel belittled, even if she had made a bit of a fool of herself. “Come on anyway, let’s get changed out of these clothes and see how the others got on, I hear Maggy’s managed to smuggle in a bottle of Johnnie Walker and I don’t want to miss out!” Betty pulled Delia from her thoughts.
~~~~~~~~~~
“Miss Busby” the ward sister called as Delia was about to make her way to the ward to commence the sixth week of her rotation on the male surgical ward, finally coming back on to day service after a week of nights.
“Yes sister?”
“You shall be reporting to Nurse Mount today.” The sister must have noticed the slight look of trepidation on her face so added, “she is an excellent nurse, make the most of your time with her.” Delia tried to disguise her expression more successfully than before.
“Certainly sister.” She replied, turning to continue her walk into the ward. She’d had gotten over the initial embarrassment of her first day and had risen to the challenge of male surgical, negotiating overly friendly and sometimes patronising patients and progressing beyond just being assigned to scrubbing bedpans and sterilizing equipment; though obviously as the new-girls the first-year students were still expected to do more than their fair share of the more menial tasks on the ward. She had also managed to avoid Nurse Mount for the most part, having been busy with Nurse Brown and then being put on various mixes of night and day shifts so that she rarely worked with the same group of nurses twice in a week.
“Nurse Mount?” Delia said when she reached the tall, blonde woman who had her back to her, sorting through the supply cupboard. She turned with an armful of bandages and gave the trainee nurse a polite smile.
“Nurse Busby, help me with these bandages?” she said as placed them in the shorter woman’s arms without waiting for a reply. “So, I have you to help me today then, well, let’s get to it! I promise not to make you clean too many bedpans, though that’s not really down to me…” She gave a warm smile and Delia thought that maybe this wouldn’t be such a bad day after all.
“The sentiment is appreciated.” She replied with a genuine smile.
“First things first, we’ll check on the patients.” She said, closing the cupboard door. “Oh, the bandages, put those on that table over there, we’ll deal with those in a minute.” They began walking, Nurse Mount taking the lead as Delia followed a couple of paces behind.
“Mr Owen, how are you feeling today?” the blonde nurse asked with a bright smile.
~~~~~~~~~~
“It was Delia, wasn’t it?” Nurse Mount asked as they sat down for lunch: leek and potato soup and a wholemeal roll. Delia nodded her assent. “I’m Patience, though most people call me Patsy; Nurse Mount seems a little formal away from the ward.” She explained when Delia gave her an odd look.
“I know, you were my roommate’s mentor for the first week or so.” Delia replied.
“Ah, Nurse Shaw, I forgot you trainees had to share rooms, how is she doing, enjoying male surgical?” Patsy asked, taking a spoonful of soup.
“Not enjoying being on nights this week, they’ll take some getting used to I think.”
“They do, but after a while you learn to live with it, all part of the job I’m afraid, and not just on male surgical.” Patsy replied with a somewhat apologetic smile. They went to eating for a short while, the morning’s work giving them quite an appetite.
“So, what brings you to the London, Delia, if that isn’t too intrusive a question?” Patsy asked after they’d taken the edge off their hunger.
“Not at all,” she replied, “I’ve always wanted to live in London, and I had a desire to do something meaningful with my life, and nursing, helping people who most need it, seemed an obvious choice.”
“Why did you want to live in London if you don’t mind my asking?” Pasty replied, giving Delia her full attention.
“I have an aunt who lives in Hornsey, my parents and I visited when I was thirteen and I fell in love with the hustle and bustle, it was quite a change from Pembrokeshire, where I grew up, and ever since then I’ve wanted to live here.”
“It is quite exciting; though I feel I hardly have much chance to get out and enjoy it.” Patsy replied, turning back to her soup. Delia felt somewhat crestfallen; while she had loved what little experience of nursing she’d had so far she hoped that she wouldn’t have to work all the time, she wanted to enjoy the freedom of living in the city too. The older nurse noticed her slightly downtrodden look and qualified her answer, “I suppose I don’t have a great deal of impetus to explore though, my father lived in London while I was at school, so I had lots of chance to see the sights in the holidays.”
Delia noted that the older woman had only referred to her father as living here and wondered where her mother was, though thought better than to ask seen as she hardly knew her. She also noted that Patsy had gone away to school, which was perhaps not surprising given her posh accent and formal mannerisms, she was clearly from a different class to that which Delia had been brought up in, but she didn’t seem snobbish with it, as Delia had originally assumed she would be. She felt somewhat ashamed for making such a snap decision about the woman based on first impressions. She’d hated it when some of the other trainees had made snide or patronizing remarks for the first week thanks to her accent; though she’d soon set them straight with her impressive work ethic and even better brain. Perhaps Patsy was similar, she certainly seemed very hard working and professional, if a little stiff, but that might just be a result of her upbringing, it was clear she didn’t mean anything by it.
“Well I am jealous, I would have loved to spend my holidays in London.” Delia replied with an enthusiasm which Patsy responded to with a small smile tinged with sadness and went back to her soup, leaving Delia somewhat bemused. Again, she decided not to probe, but found herself increasingly intrigued by the woman in front of her. It had been quite nice spending the morning on the ward with her. The ward sister was right in her recommendation, she certainly was a nurse Delia could learn a lot from and she hoped this wouldn’t be the only day she’d get to spend with her.
“You’re nothing at all like I imagined.” Delia stated, not realising she’d spoken until the words were out of her mouth. Patsy looked up from her soup surprised.
“Imagined?” she asked with a raised eyebrow. The Welsh nurse blushed, she had to get a grip on these unexpected outbursts, they’d get her in trouble one day, if they hadn’t already. She sounded like a kook…
“I- sorry, I’m making a habit of this, I didn’t mean to say that.” Patsy gave her a smirk as Delia tried to avoid eye-contact.
“And what exactly did you imagine Nurse Busby?” Delia flushed again as her stomach gave an odd flutter at the words. Her eyes flashed to Patsy, but the older nurse looked remarkably innocent. What on earth had gotten into her today?
After taking a second to compose herself she replied, “I only mean, you seemed a bit intimidating my first day on the ward, though Betty, Nurse Shaw, assured me you weren’t, well, not as much as I had thought.” Patsy gave a wry smile at that.
“I’m glad you don’t think me too intimidating now, but you have to allow me a little fun with the new recruits, the staff nurses did the same to us and a year on male surgical really toughens you up, if training hasn’t already.” She allowed Delia a warm smile, “anyway, that’s enough chitchat, we should be getting back to check on Mr Johnson’s dressing.” With that she stood and took up her tray leaving Delia to gaze after her until she collected her thoughts and moved to follow. She’d only known Patience Mount a few hours, but already she felt she was someone to be admired. It was a shame she would have to leave for her next rotation so soon.