I love this place. It really has changed my life, starting back in 1983 when I first darkened its doors. What this place doesn't know about ankylosing spondylitis ain't worth knowing, believe me.
Now The Min isn't your usual hospital. It's been in the centre of Bath (or Aquae Sulis, as the Romans called it) since the early 18th Century. Inside you get a wonderful wooden staircase, oil paintings of early physicians on the walls and even the odd marble bust of important benefactors, such as Ralph Allen.
But The Min is doomed. You see it has recently been incorporated into the more modern hospital on the outskirts of Bath and given the over-inflated property prices in the centre of the city combined with an unfathomable requirement for yet more upmarket, useless, boutique shops I fear the worst. The board of the 'other hospital' are, I suspect, already counting the moolah and no doubt excited about how the sale of The Min will make such a difference to their 'bottom line'. Never mind the 300 years of history of this rather unique hospital, the people who work in it and the patients they help.
It will be a very sad day when they close the doors for the last time and I really don't want to be there when they do. I'll be happy to remember it as a vibrant, thriving place which is more than a little bit special.
It's good to have you back Michael, and great to see that you made some really splendid use of that Nikon of yours, and some good old UK made film. Not that there's anything wrong with any of your snaps here... but that first one, it's simply a masterpiece!! Keep them coming mate :))
ReplyDeleteI will be crossing fingers that the hospital still will survive the way it is today, for a long, long time to come.
Well I'm not sure about the masterpiece thing Roy but it sure is good to be back to some sort of normality - and especially to get your supportive comments. Much appreciated they are.
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