Good week, Bad week...

Lots has been happening this week - here's a summary (of what I can remember):


GOOD: Won the annual Hospital Pub Quiz along with a bunch of other anaesthetists ("The Gas Board"). Six points for knowing the Noble Gases - thanks Tom Lehrer!

BAD(ish): Went to a club afterwards - sober - on a student night; there were people there who were literally half my age. And the "cheese" they played (which for me is stuff like Come On Eileen, Living on a Prayer, etc) was only a few years old like Firestarter. I'm getting old, man...

GOOD: Was included in an article in Hospital Doctor (a weekly medical newspaper) about comedian doctors, alongside Harry Hill, Graham Garden, Graham Chapman, etc... wonder if I can put that on my CV?


BAD: Finished moving house - now live 50 miles away from Sarah.

GOOD: Finished moving house - now live 50 miles away from Sarah
(only joking if you're reading this, honey!)

BAD: Finished moving house - now I can't find anything because I don't know which box /bag any of my stuff is in. Out of thirty dotted around the new flat.

GOOD: Finished moving house - now live 50 miles away from Birmingham.


BAD: One of my colleagues was badly electrocuted by some faulty medical equipment - they're OK now after a few days in hospital but it really shouldn't have happened in the first place.
Shocking.

BAD but also GOOD: Pipex have, after 3 weeks, STILL not sorted out my internet connection at my new place (so I'm typing this at 2am on a break on an Intensive Care night shift).
However, this has meant that I'm not spending so much time sitting at my computer - and I've rediscovered my CD collection - some CDs I haven't listened to in years, early REM & Mansun, old compilations, NME cover discs - fantastic!

BAD: I found out that I own a Betty Boo CD (it was second hand...) Lord, please forgive me...

BAD/GOOD: One of our young but terminally ill patients quickly got much worse & died. We try not to get too attached in this job, but even so, several of us were crying. His family were all with him though, and he didn't suffer. It still sucks though.

GOOD: Completely out of the blue, 4 different nurses/students have said really complimentary things to me this week - I don't think they're after anything... (but you can't be too sure)


That'll do. You lot have been a bit stingy on comments of late, so feel free to contribute (preferably something reasonably sensible, but you can only do your best!)

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House-warming

Studies have shown that, apart from death and divorce, moving house is the most stressful thing you go through in your life. Oh, I can believe that...

I thought I'd have finished over a week ago - I only just gave the keys back to my old place tonight. I am covered in dust, my chest full of the wheezes and have a car full of crap* that I couldn't bring myself to throw away (and that's after 2 carloads of journals & magazines to the paper recycling bins and 7 rubbish sacks of junk). And now I have to drive over to my new place, empty the car and tidy all the stuff away somewhere before I can go to bed! Gah!!


Can't wait to be back at work tomorrow, should be less stressful!

* Literally crap - some goit let his dog take a dump on Sarah's doorstep, which I stood in on my way out and didn't notice until I got into the car... grrr...
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BTW The central heating in my new place is fully electric and divided into zones; I have no idea how to operate the frankly baffling controller - so one room is freezing cold while another is hot enough for CDs to melt.
Not funny but relevant for the title of the post.

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Fire works

I went to a Firework display on Sunday
(or "fire bombs" as Mum calls them - bless her) .

Hundreds of people were there at Edgbaston Cricket Ground; it was hosted by a local radio station so we all had to sit and listen to DJ banter and watch a couple of live R&B acts & a dance display and then join in several Mexican waves before they finally let us see some bloody fireworks, over an hour later.

The organisers had, however, made one crucial error.

They'd sat us so that we filled one half of the oval-shaped stadium - fair enough, we could all see the music stage & the big screens. Unfortunately, some clever-head had forgotten that to truly appreciate a fireworks display, it's nice, nay essential, to be able to see the fireworks in the sky.

And half of the audience had a roof above their heads.

Well done. No really, genius.

(We figured this out early enough & went to stand elsewhere - but duh!)

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Centrefold

It's wrong enough that until last week, Argos's website apparently had a home-poledancing kit in their Children's Toys section.

But I saw this in passing at the weekend:















Sending out the wrong messages, surely...?

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Moving vile Asians

OK maybe that's too harsh a title for a post about my parents.

But man, it was Nag City this weekend.

I haven't finished moving into my new flat, but they came to visit anyway 'cos they were in town for a conference. So I had my work cut out, from making the flat presentable, to ferrying them & their friends around and trying to keep them fed & entertained.

But I survived with my sanity intact, just...

Culminated this morning in Mum & Dad wanting eggs for breakfast - there were none at 2 local petrol stations but I eventually found a supermarket, followed by another one which was actally open.
I bring home my hard-earned quarry - my parents then tell me off for eating eggs, which are unhealthy! I just can't win!

I also tried to teach them how to say "Cotswolds". We went via "coleslaw", "cold sore", "Cat's World", Costwell" and "cots swill" but they eventually got it.

Then they changed their mind and decided to visit somewhere else instead.


Nnnnrrrrrrggggaaaaaaarrrgh!

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Moving Violations

I'm still moving house. There are now two properties in my name which are an absolute tip - I'm aiming to get them both tidy by the weekend... not sure if that's gonna happen as my old flat is literally thickly carpetted with papers that I need to deal with - revision notes, lyrics, newspapers, sheet music - sadly I have to fight the urge to shove the lot in a bin/bonfire as I need to keep a significant proportion of them.

A few days ago I hired a Ford Transit. It's huge in comparison to anything else I've ever driven (you could easily fit a bed in the back of it^*) and really meaty to drive.

IT WAS SO COOL!!!

I even bought myself a big Yorkie and put a copy of The News Of The World on the dashboard. Unfortunately I couldn't find anyone to sit in the front with me pretending to be my pikey missus and kids.

I'm used to pootling around in my automatic Ford Focus (before you start, I buy automatics and after a couple of years I give them to my Mum & get myself another car).

It was sad having to give the beast van back. But at least I'm less paranoid about possibly crushing other vehicles now. I didn't have any accidents driving the van - but two cars hit mine today - both their fault but it's still suspicious...

Ho hum
Back to work
-S-

^* I'm not sure I'm allowed to tell you Sarah's feelings on transit vans but I think you can guess...

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Amazing what they can do nowadays...

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