Audrey’s Blog on living well with disability and breast cancer

I wrote this poem after a creative writing class in a Gallery very near Waverley station. It evoked so much in a week that the Flying Scotsman took us back in time and the new Trainspotting filming has started across the city. Hope you like it. And thanks to Angela for the photo that's started it all off.....choo choo Glenrothes with Thornton Trainspotted Edinburgh transported to another time and peace broken by memories Glenrothes with Thornton a flying Scottish memory of fields rapeseed blazes red rusted bridges Excited journeys Promises of joyful train trips Childhood life stretching ahead unknown

I'm part of the Health and Social Care Academy team so I'm not able to take part in the creative competition we have just launched but I'm keen to write something as the questions really made me think. What changes would make a difference to my life? What would a healthier or fairer Scotland mean for me? I found myself focussing on what a healthier Scotland would mean to me. And yes we all know now that exercising more, eating less processed high calorie foods, drinking less alcohol and less high calorie soft drinks would make us healthier but I'm wondering if there is something even more fundamental than that. When we know that loneliness is a major concern across all age groups, when stress and mental health issues are at epidemic levels in our schools, workplaces and for those on low incomes too; then external solutions cannot be the only solutions. Something deeper needs to shift in our society. It's complicated at some levels but I suspect a