Steelers NYE party crashed by Blaze

I've just go back from Sheffield where the blaze were playing. It was one of those games that is a shining example of all that is good about the sport of ice hockey (bar the officiating). The match was full of incident with Coventry taking an early lead, only to be pegged back to 2-1 at the end of the 2nd period. Sheffield grabbed a 3rd goal and with a serious injury to one of the Blaze players it looked to be game over. However a thrilling comeback by the blaze saw the game go into overtime.

With the scores level at the end of overtime, it came down to the dreaded penalty shootout. Much to the visiting supporters delight, the blaze edged the shootout, thanks mainly to some superb netminding. The blaze fans went delirious. For me personally, it was the best match of any sport i've been to since Coventry beat Arsenal at Highfield rd a few years ago.

So anyway I might post in a bit some words of wisdom for the new year, but untill then...

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Panto and more

Right then, lets see if I can get through typing up this episode without pulling the power cable out the back of my laptop again!

It's been fairly quiet over the last few days with the usual post Christmas, pre new year mix of late nights, lie ins and port and lemonade. On Friday however I donned the sja uniform once again for a trip to the theatre to watch the panto. This time I was joined by my laser quest nemesis (See here) for the duty. After picking up tea from subway and catching up on the latest news we strolled on down to the theatre. It was an Ok panto, and thankfully we didn't have much to do.

During the evening, hot shot and I were talking about this blog. "It's good, but why do you bother. I mean it's just an online diary isn't it? and do you really want people reading all that stuff?" she said.

This got me thinking, yes I do have to be very careful with what I write, and obviously there's quite a lot that i'm not going to say here. I remember owning a CB radio years ago, and the rule of thumb there was never say anything that you wouldn't shout across a crowded room.

I also see blogging a not just as a diary, but more of a discussion of things that are important to me. For example at the Ricoh arena for Coventry city matches, all that my colleagues get is me telling them what do do. There's no way i can communicate what i'm thinking, or what my thought processes are.

The main reason for blogging has to be that I can keep a record of what happened and be able to look back and reflect. It'll also form part of my autobiography, maybe ;-)

So anyway, back to today. It was a football match day at the Ricoh, this time Southend were the visitors. The match finished 1-1 and quite frankly i was glad i didn't have to pay. We did have a couple of jobs to do, and were quite thin on the ground but all in all it wasn't too bad at all.

I've had a quiet night in tonight, and spent it liserning to Little Britain night on BBC7 radio. There were a couple of sketches about St. John. I'm sure there were some members that would take offense, but I think it's important that we can laugh at ourselves. I've got my mint imperials, glacier mints, tic-tacs and humbugs already for next year.

Anyway hopefully i'm going to Sheffield to watch the blaze away to the squeelers. Then back in time for my nye email and blog entry, so until then...

It's Blaze time!

Yup the Coventry blaze do it again with a 4-2 win over the Newcastle Vipers. It was a good game to watch with plenty of fisticuffs. It was a great game for the guys from Coundon to catch as their first game, and I think they were plesently suprise by what they saw, well it couldn't of been worse than the skyblues anyway.

The Coundon folks are a great bunch, and it's so good that we've managed to keep in touch in the eleven years since leaving school. It's fascinating to see that amongst us we have an atomic weapons project manager, an architect working in dubai, a manager for one of the big city firms, and me, the cardiac techincian :-)

Anyway, yesterday I mentioned about ebay, well I finally managed to make my purchase, and as usual ended up spending more than I intended, but I think it'll be worth it. With any luck it'll come tomorrow or Friday.

Talking of which, I've no idea what's happening tomorrow, I think sis is comming round but no idea when. She should have some good pics of her hols. After that it's Panto day on fri, which i'm actually really looking forward to for several reasons. So untill then i'll leave you with this picture, which hopefully will embed properly.


Picture: Mark Tregold

Skyblues vs Ipslightswich

Well I finally finished charging the radios at 2:15 this morning! So a lie in was in order this morn. Then it was off to the Ricoh for the boxing day match vs Ipswich. Things wern't too bad as we were quite well covered for members. The match itself wern't too bad either although in the end Coventry lost 2-1.

With any luck tomorrow i'll get to see a winning team as the Newcastle vipers visit the skydome and all being well i'll be there to watch them. I'm hoping that the mini reunion with some of the folks from school happens, and that I can introduce them to the joys of ice hockey.

At the moment i'm scowering ebay for bargins, the item i'm after finishes at midnight, so fingers crossed...

Merry Christmas Blogfans

It's Christmas day, the presents have been opened, lunch eaten and the Queen has said her bit. The parents are sleeping off lunch and the cat, well she's not even woken up.

Anyway lunch was a mighty fine affair at the White Lion and i'm well and truly stuffed now. I've got to charge all the SJA radios up ready for tomorrow in a bit. It's Ipswich tomorrow so with any luck the home fans will have somthig to cheer about. That reminds me acually, it must be 2 years ago since the arrest at Highfield Road. That was the 1st and only time that we've been sucessful. With any luck, that'll not be repeated tomorrow. Well thats it for now, Monsters inc. is on in a bit so i'll think i'll go watch that.

Bad day for blaze and Skyblues

Well in fact it was an awful day for the skyblues as they lost 3-1 away to Luton. The blaze did slightly better loosing 3-2 in overtime to Hull who seem to be their bogey team this year. It wasn't all bad news however as Belfast lost in normal time.



Anyway, tomorrow is christmas eve so what better way to celebrate than to do a bit of last minute shopping. Thankfully i've not got much to do, so should be done by lunch time. I've been thinking about whether to write an email like last years. I found it earlier today and whilst it was probably relevent last year it just sounds a bit pompous now. Anyway, here's my xmas email from 2005:

Dear All,



I'd like to wish everyone a very merry christmas and a happy new year. 2005 has proved to be an eventful year for the St. John Ambulance across the world, with it's members involved in natural disasters in the far east and closer to home with the July 7th bombings. At this time of year we can all reflect on what being a member of the organisation really means. It is a belife that in times of crisis, strife and national emergency we should not hide or do nothing. We will help our common man, we will help those in need. And whilst our organisation is not perfect, and i'm sure we are all aware of difficulties that exist, it would be wise to remember Aesops quote

"United we stand, divided we fall".

We have much to look forwards to in 2006, and I for one am proud to work with each and every one of you.

PRO FIDE, PRO UTILITATE HOMINUM.

JH.

Actually it's not bad reading it again, I quite like bit about not doing any thing and that certainly was linked to the threat of strikes in the ambulance service. I think this year i'll wait and do a similar post on new years eve instead of Christmas eve. But I think my themes are likely to be collective responsibility and teamwork. But i'll have to sleep on it.

Nightmare before Christmas.

It's been a funny week this week, with only two days work it should of been fairly easy but of course things never turn out that way. I had a suprisingly easy drive to Portsmouth on Wednesday, and although it was foggy it wasn't too bad. On Thursday however it was a diffrent story. Driving from Portsmouth to Weston, along country roads, in fog so thick you can't see the kerb on the opposide of the road is not fun. Thankfully I made it to Weston relativly unscaved although I did have one or two close shaves.

The day in Weston turned out to be fairly bog standard, untill we reached the last patient, who decided it would be a good idea to arrest. Thankfully training kicked in and within seconds they were fully recovered. Before setting of for home we had a spot of lunch in the 'Rafters' restaurant. It's one of the new style of hospital canteen where everything is cooked-chilled then re heated. It's really beyond belive that after so much bad PR, hospitals can still get away with serving food so bad. I mean some hospitals are pretty good. Take Raigmore in Inverness for example, their food is always fresh and there's such a wide variety.

Anyway rant over, I've got to finish my Christmas shopping tomorrow, and then all being well theres an ice hockey match in the evening. It's Hull Stingrays this time, a team i've never seen before so it should be good.

Probably the best bit of SJA PR ever!

Casino Royale - Fast cars, Fast women, and, Cardiology!

What a fantastic film Casino Royale is. I've always been a fan of the Bond series of movies, most of which i've only seen on TV. The first Bond film I went to see at the cinema was Golden Eye. Thinking about it it must of been at the ABC cinema in Plymouth. But anyway I was a bit doubious atbout Daniel Craig playing bond, but having watched the film i'm completly won over. He's easily got to be the best since Sean Connery.

Anyway, without giving too much away, there's a scene in the film where Bond is poisened. Realising this he goes to his rather nice Aston Martin DBS (I want one!) where an array of gagetary allows him to be linked to the 'Q' department. Some technical wizedry later and Bond is diagnosed of having Digitalis poisioning. Of course Digitalis Toxicity is one of the things we look out for at work on ECG's. For those who don't know, Digitalis is your common old garden Foxglove. It's also used for the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias.

Now obviously there's a bit of artistic licence going on, as one of the effects of digitalis, is bradycardia, so what ECG did Mr Bond have? Yup Ventricular TACHYcardia. Ho hum.

Mind you I guess you'd have to be really sad to notice that :-)

Also Mr Bond hasn't done his cpr protocol update, infact had I been his assesor I think i'd of referred him, I mean what's he doing doing 10:2? That's not in the 8th edition!

Anyway in other news, I managed to do two really daft things today. The first was messing about with one of those glow stick things when I had the idea that the glowing fluid could be drained out of the tube. So using the closed sharp object to hand, which happened to be a corkscrew, i proceded to puncher the tube. Unfortunatly this bright green glowing substance spurted out right into my eye. So doing a bit of first aid that is in the 8th edition, i rinsed it out with copious amounts of water. Still at least I can see better in the dark now!

My second daft thing was to lock myself out of the house. As sis is in China I couldn't pop round and get the spair from hers. So I had to call my Dad to let me in. Doh.

Tomorrow i'm off to Portsmouth in the evening then Weston on friday. So probably no blog untill Saturday (Unless somthing interesting happens tomorrow)

The SJA secret santa.

About a month ago, a few of us had the idea of having a secret santa instead of having to buy presents for everyone. Luckily for me I picked out Mr Ice Hockey, and knowing that he'd brought a video ipod after seeing mine (imitation is the highest form of flattery!) I decided that itunes vouchers would be in order. So anyway, there's me feeling really smug that i'd got somthing no one else would of thought of, when as we were opening the pressies I noticed several other people holding the same bits of paper that i'd given, doh. And to make things worse, Mr Ice Hockey says that he's going to look for some Thompson Twins classics. Oh dear.

My present was a bottle of vodka and a drinking version of naughts and crosses. Of course naughts and crosses is immortalised in the film wargames, as the unwinnable game just like a nuclear war. With any luck this version wont have quite the same effect.

SJA Christmas meal.

It was arguably the social event of the year, with much hype surrounding the annual christmas meal. Unconfirmed reports suggested that all annual leave for the police and ambulance service had been cancelled.

The evening started at the Cocked Hat in Coventry (One of the places we've not been barred from!) where around 40 folks tucked into their Christmas meal, accompanied by the obligatory liquid refreshment.

Following the meal, several of the hardened drinkers ventured into town to continue the evening. Our first stop was the Oak. Now for me the oak ticks all the right boxes, loads of bar staff, lots of seating, hot food trailer. It was good to catch up with people and have a right old natter.

Now it wouldn't of been a proper SJA night out if someone hadn't of ended up being arrested/taken to hospital or consumed vast quantities of alcohol. So it was rather unfortunate that the oak had a promotion that involved consuming 4 shots of a brightly coloured sickly sweet aniseed flavoured drink. The prize was a limited edition santa hat. Now most sensible people would of resorted to ebay to avoid consuming the afformentioned drink. But oh no, why have one limited edition santa hat, when three will suffice. I'll leave the maths to you!

Of course this had the effect of reducing our party as said person departed for the saftey of bed. Our next port of call was a new one for me. I'd heard lots of good things about Rainbows and the amosphere their. Many of the girls really enjoy it as they can get on with dancing without distraction from the blokes!

In truth it was just like any other nightclub, busy, hot, smokey, noisy and with the obligatory pools of vomit. It was ok, but I do prefer the oak.

So tomorrow sees the inaugural Coventry SJA secret santa. I've absolutly no idea who's getting my pressie. I'm quite pleased with what i've brought, it's new, modern and in truth really easy to get.

Anyway, this is the last week before Christmas and with only two days work on thursday and friday it should give me chance to get organised.

Glad to be down and out!

Woo hoo, only two working days before christmas. I've just come back from my last overseas trip this year, and what a trip! Whilst sitting at Brum airport I recived a text saying that a day had been cancelled. So a christmas shopping trip to Sligo was in order for Tuesday. Anyway this time I caught the hopper from Dublin to Sligo, and it was the worst flight i've ever been on. As we approached Sligo airport, the whole plane (An ATR 42 for all you flight fans) started to jump aroud the sky. Inflight magazines took on a new meaning as they went literary in-flight around the cabin. Several of my fellow passengers decided it was a good time to do their 'Hail Mary's' whilst others simply closed their eyes and mouthed silent prayers. What did I do, I hear you say. Well after ensuring the structual integrity of the arm rests, and checking that there really was a life jacket under the seat (Sligo runway has lots of water at both ends!) I decided to relax and admire the view. Well actually i didn't as i was more worried about the in-flight inflight magazine heading in my direction.

You'll be pleased to know that we all survied relativly in-tact and that I had a good few days. It was nice to explore Sligo a bit more than what I normally get chance to. My airport experience was not going to end on Sunday though. For the first time in my life I had that sentence that you never want to hear spoken to me. "I'm sorry sir, i'm going to have to call the police" And what was my crime? Well in the course of my work, I could be exposed to ionising radiation, X-rays to be precise. So in order to ensure I don't get nuked and end up like the incredible hulk, I wear a small orange badge, called a TLD (Thermo-Luminescent Dosiometer). TLD's are designed to measure exposure to x-rays, so what is it not a good idea to do? Yup you've got it, put them through the x-ray scanner. For most airport's this isn't a problem, as most of the time all it takes is a quick inspection by a senior security bloke and a quick swab. But oh no, that wouldn't suffice today, so the police were called.

As images of latex gloves passed through my mind and the dilemma of who my one phone call should be to, several of the passengers behind me seemed bemused, with me standing my ground, i'm sure some of them must of thought I was up to no good.

Eventually, the security manager came of the phone and said that the police were happy (i.e didn't want to leave their coffee) and that all it needed was a quick swab, which came back clean. The whole episode was very good natured, and the security staff advised me to write to the head of airport security in order that confusion can be avoided.

So thats about it, but lots of other things happened at home and in SJA this week, and i'm sure my phone bill is going to reflect the fact. Some of them i'll put on here in the near future, and some may have to wait. Some are good, some are not. But untill then.....

Coventry City 1 Burnley 0

It's been a football match day today and i've not been at work for a change. All in all it was a quiet match with not a lot to do, my collegues in the ambulance service spent most of the time discussing the possibility of landing the air ambulance on the pitch! I have to admit it would look rather cool and would certainly make the front page of the local paper.

Coventry won the match 1-0 thanks to a Colin Cameron penalty, but in truth should of won by more. The Blaze wern't so lucky tonight, losing 3-0 in Belfast. They really need to win tomorrow to stop Belfast pulling away.

Unfortunatly i'll be off to work tomorrow so i'll not make the game at the skydome, but i'm sure someone will text me the result. Talking of travelling to work tomorrow, it's going to be an interesting journey as i'm flying to Dublin on one of my least faviort airlines (Clue: it's not the orange one!). Then i've got to catch the Air Arran hopper service to sligo. I quite like the hopper service as it often feels like you get personal service with the planes being so small.

As i've prevously said in my blog, i've been thinking about not sending cards this yeat. Well i've been thinking about which charity I could give money to instead. There are thousands of charities out there, each with very compelling cases. It's obviosly going to be a very personal decision to me, so I was thinking of what i've seen and done this year. It would be easy to donate money to SJA, or to the British Heart foundation, the two organisations closest to my heart, but to be honest, these are big well known charities. I could also give money to the RSPB, or to the National Trust, as i've experienced the work they do this year.

But after very careful consideration i've chosen the charity C-R-Y, thats Cardiac Risk in the Young. Every week approximatly 8 young people die from undiagnosed heart conditions. Many of these cases recive national media attention, such as that involving the former Coventry City manager, Terry Yoraths' son, Daniel. For me in a proffessional capacity, I don't get to see many cases, but every now and again there is one. It's these cases that make me stop and reflect on the fragility of life, and how cruel it can often be.

If anyone is interested, the web site is here. I'd urge you all to take a look and leave a comment for me on the blog.

Tough week

I'm back from Aberdeen once again. It's been a tough week dogged by problems, so i'm quite shattered at the mo. Anyway i'm so glad i've got access to mobile email, as it means I can keep track of all the messages o the sja list. One grabbed my attention this week as a member from Cheshire metaphorically pressed the nuclear button. She'll probably regret that message, but maybe, just maybe some good may arise.

SJA have also set out the offical position on our involvment, and for once I wholeheartedly agree with the whole document. It would be unethical for us as an organisation to withold any of our resources once a request has been made.

Anyway by all accounts the SJA carol service was a great sucess and the tunout wasn't too bad at all. Hopefully i'll get chance to go next year.

I had some good news about work today, i've swapped an Aberdeen week for two days in England, and had a Saturday shift cancelled, which is good. It means i'll be able to get sorted for Christmas properly.

Talking of Christmas, i'm debating wheather to send cards this year. It's such a waste and i'd think i'd rather just donate 20 quid to charity instead, but it's somthing i'll think about this week.

The big weekend

Now where were we, ah yes. Well Saturday saw our annual works conference and get-together. It's always a great opportunity to find out whats going on, and this year lots is. Unfortunatly I can't write about it on here for many reasons, some of which will become clear in the future, but suffice to say I came away feeling positive about things and hopefully some new opportunities will develop.

On sunday I spent most of the day recovering from saturday night but managed to get through the whole day without spewing, which is good. Sunday evening once again saw the trip to the skydome to watche the Blaze vs Nottingham in a big 2nd vs 3rd clash. Coventry started slowly and the end of the first period saw them 2-0 down. The 2nd period was better but once again the Blaze went in 3-2 down at the 2nd interval. The 3rd period was one of the most exciting i've seen, with the Blaze scoring 4 to make the final score 6-3.

Post game visit to the kebab shop followed where my constitution was completly restored with donner meat and chips. Mmmm.

Anyway it's back to Aberdeen this week then a visit to the bank on friday to talk about mortgages.

The SJA lot have got a busy week whilst i'm away and i'm disapointed to be missing the annual carol and gift service. I really hope they get a good turn out. So anyway, gotta go pack bags.

By knowing our past we can shape our future

Well what a weekend! I'll do a proper blog entry after the ice hockey later. But for now I found this article on iccoventry.

By Stephen Hallmark

AN AMBULANCE driver who helped ferry hospital patients to safety during the Coventry Blitz has died, aged 89 - just before the anniversary of the city's darkest hour.

Father-of-two Norman Davies volunteered with the St John Ambulance and drove the distinctive black and white vehicles belonging to the Hospital Saturday Fund.

During the fateful night of Thursday, November 14, 1940, Norman and the crews were called upon to do what they could to save the injured and dying as the city burned.

The Blitz was something Norman didn't like to talk about, but he was later rewarded for his bravery with a Dale Medal, awarded by the Coventry Hospital Fund.

His wife Barbara, of Earlsdon, Coventry, moved to the city from Halifax during the war and was drafted to the Armstrong-Whitworth factory.
The 84-year-old, who has four grandchildren, said: "Norman, who was born and bred here, dearly loved Coventry. Without men of his ilk, the city would not be the place it is today.

During the Blitz they went around the roads to do what they could. When they returned to their station near Stoney Stanton Road the hospital was bombed and an ambulance was blown onto the building's roof.

One of his friends was struck by a piece of shrapnel and died just five feet away from him.The ambulance crews then had to transfer patients from Coventry and Warwickshire to safety.Sadly, just a week later, Norman's brother Ronald Plant - a pilot in the 603 Lancaster Bomber squadron - died in a mid-air collision with a Heinkel.

It was just two weeks after the family had celebrated sister Eileen's wedding.Soon after Norman, a dental technician, was called up to the army where he served in Bristol in the Royal Army Dental Corps.Barbara, who worked on the first ever Lancaster bomber to roll off Coventry's production lines, said: "Many soldiers broke their dentures to avoid being sent to war, so Norman was kept very busy.

He always joked that he'd lie to his children about how he spent the war because it wasn't very glamorous!
Barbara came to Coventry to be a nurse, and although she ended up working gruelling 12-hours shifts six or seven days a week in a factory, she volunteered with the St John Ambulance.
She said: "That's how I met Norman. It wasn't Romeo and Juliet, but we had similar interests and fell in love."We all shall miss him dearly." After the war Norman worked for Precious Metals Depositors and was a member of the Freeman's Guild, the Masons, and Probus.He died of pneumonia last Wednesday. His funeral will be held at St Barbara's Church, Rochester Road, Earlsdon, tomorrow.

Penultimate dentist visit.

This morning I paid yet another visit to the dentist, this time to have a temporary crown fitted. With any luck my new crown will be fitted in under a fortnight.

Anyway i've also had my hair cut. Blimy this has got to be the most uninspired blog entry ever. I'll finish it here and with any luck i'll have somthing to write about later.

Yes it's another video

I know, two videos in a row, but i'm just making sure this blog is as close to the MySpace version as possible.

Ladies and Gentlemen I give you the one and only Sigur ros.

SJA video

On one of my trawls through Youtube I came across this promo video from SJA Canada. It's good and is much better than most of them on Youtube

A vision for '07

I'm back in cov after few days working in Aberdeen. It's not been a bad week at all, really busy and we've done quite a few interesting procedures. Weather was good and no real problems. I've been flying with bmibaby up to Aberdeen the last couple of times, and to be honest they're not too bad at all. Definitly miles better than a certain two other budget airlines (clue, think orange and irish!) The flight back to brum leaves at 6.35, which is tight! I'm not convinced i'll stick with them as the last thing I need on a thursday evening is to be missing my flight!

So what else has happend this week. Well there was the dentist on monday, which was ok as far as any visit to the dentist can be. I'm having a temporary crown fitted tomorrow, which will be fun. Anyway on Monday i'd just come out of the dentist and crossed the road. The pavement was damp and covered in these red berries that had fallen of a bush. Of course I then lost my footing and managed to base over apex on the pavement. I'm hoping that not to many people saw me do that. So I managed to get mud and crushed berries all over my jeans. And i grazed my knees, somthing that i've not done for probably 15 years!

So this weekend sees the annual works conference. I'm quite looking forwards to finding out whats going on, and which direction the companies going in. There's also the chance to catch up with everyone I don't usually get to see. I must be good and keep my alcohol intake down. On Sunday I was going to go to the West Mids sja conference, but it's been cancelled due to lack of interest. This is a real shame as I was looking forwards to finding out what was going on. Still it's been rescheduled for sometime in the new year, so with any luck the top bods at county can generate a bit of interest for it.

I've been thinking a bit about next year. I've come to the conclision that one of my aims, within sja at least, is to emphasise the concept of collective responsibility. I think it's nearly always the case that when things don't go according to plan, it's never one particular thing. More often than not it's a number of things. This is often bourn out in reports following major incidents, many of which could of been prevented.

So what does this mean in practice? Well it's about fostering mutual respect and being open to constructive criticism. Thinking outside of the box, and working out novel solutions to issues, before they develop into problems. It's also about giving everyone control of the direction that the division, and their own sja careers takes.

So is this realistic, of is it just another one of my pipe dreams? Join us next year to find out.

Well thats it for now, roll on the weekend!

A little bit of the Caribbean in Coventry

Todays sja duty saw the three of us at Coventry Cathedral where the Barbados fellowship were having a thanksgiving service to commemerate the 40th anniversary of their independence. This was followed by refreshments at a local church.

It was an univentful duty with nothing to do. The people there were really nice and treated us well, feeding us with some intresting Barbados grub. It's one of the things I really love about sja, is that you get to be apart of events that i'd never dream of going to.

Well tomorrow sees part 4 of the dentist saga, followed by flying to Aberdeen again in the afternoon, so no blog untill thursday. I'm hoping that Decembers rota will come soon so i'll know what im doing then, but i'm fairly sure i'll not be at the football on Saturday as i'm off to the works conference. It's only near Daventry but i'm going to stay the night on saturday so I can have a drink or two. Not too many though as i've got a suspicion that i'll be flying out to Ireland on the Sunday.

Chilled out

Well i've done absolutly sweet FA today, which is good. This morning I ended up playing 'The Movies' for ages, first time i've had chance to play a computer game in a while.

So seeing as I havn't got anything got much to say, how about an anecdote from the archives?

Well here we go, Anecdote number 1 - The Southwold experience.

This year I took the fairly unusual step of going on holiday with parents, somthing i've not done for a few years. Anyway we arrived round about saturday lunchtime and walked down to the peir for a spot of lunch. Southwold peir is quite unusual in itself as it is on of the few new peirs in the country. As we gazed out along the cost, a strange object loomed out of the haze. Ah, that must be sizewell nuclear power station.

Our cottage was a wooden structure located on the road from the town centre to the harbour. It was a nice place with great views across the marshes behind the house. My room faced the sea and I had no trouble falling asleep with the sound of the waves breaking against the beach.

The only bad point about the hols was that i managed to ding the rear bumper whilst reversing into the drive, but a bit of scrubbing and it's now nearly invisible.

The whole holiday was fantastic, and the weather was great for October. I never thought i'd ever enjoy birdwatching (feathered) but it's very relaxing. The real highlight of the holiday was a very small resturant, located just down the road from where we stayed. It was a real find, great food, live entertainment fabulous service. I really hope that they can make the venture a sucess. So here's the plug, Casa Mia. I'd really love more than anything to be able to go to their new years eve party, but at a grand a ticket, it's slightly out of my price range!

So thats it for now, i'm doing a sja duty tomorrow at the cathedral which shouldn't be too bad. So untill then, TTFN.

Essex Adventure

Woo hoo, it's friday and i've actually got a couple of (relativly) free days to look forwards to. But more about that in a mo. Anyway looking back at yesterday, I have to say it was quite sucessful.

I didn't take part other than taking the ambo to the college, mainly as I was still frozen up from my latest trip to the dentist. So I went in civvies and played on my phone and listened to the radio for the afternoon. I see it as being very positive that we as a division can form strong links with the local community and hopefully we can build on this for the future.

However tonight i'm informed that we broke some kind of regulation in not imforming county. Well this sounds like rubbish to me, the ambulances are ment to be used and if we can improve the image of St. John then I can't see how anyone can complain. I belive that people will not join an organisation with negative attitudes, and by heck sja is negative at times.

But who am I?

I like to think that A&R is different to the fuddy duddy image that unfortunatly blights the organisation and that is due to the fact we have a fantastic bunch of members who want to make things better and who are not content just to sit back. To you, the members of Allesley & Radford you're all stars.

I've been to work today, in Colchester! It was supposed to be Weston Super Mare, but a last minute change ment I had to go to Essex instead. In short it wasn't a bad day, a very slick morning saw us do 7. However the afternoon went a bit pear shaped. It started off ok, and it looked like we'd be out mid afternoon time. But then came a call from A&E that they had a patient requiring an emergency pacemaker!

To cut a long story short, it was one of those trickey cases, that required a lot of concentration, but thankfully worked out ok in the end. I left at 5.20 still with the adrenalin buzz from the last case and had to tackle the A120/M11/A14. Not a pleasent experience!

I've not got much planned this week end, a bit of housework and washing tomorrow, and a duty on Sunday. No ice hockey this week. So untill next time....

Water Ingress

What's this I hear you say, another blog entry,at gone half one in the morn, what can be going on?

Well, my f***ing roof is leaking AGAIN! Over the past month i've spent £330 getting it fixed, and it's still not fixed! I'm really really annoyed and can't sleep with the constant drip drip drip.

It's at times like this that I wonder wether it was worth buying a house, i'm just so annoyed now that i just want to hold my hands up and say, i've tried, i've failed.

I guess i've always been the eternal optimist, and i know i'm tired and hence in a bad mood but things are grim. I'm almost hoping the roof will fall in, at least i'll be able to claim off the insurance then.

I could just pack some things now and go round to mum and dads, and i know they'd make me feel welcome, despite it being so late, but I can't do that. It would be giving up.

So i'm writing this, as a record of how i feel. With any luck i'll look back and think "ah that was a bad patch, but things worked out ok"

Back from Ireland

Well i'm well and truly cream crackered. Just got home from 3 day stint in Ireland.

Ireland is a really beautiful place, especially up north around Sligo. I never get tired of driving through the mountains, lochs and waterfalls. It's a real privelage to be able to work somwhere like that and it certainly beats commuting across Coventry day in, day out.

I always wonder though if I could live there in the future but I think i'd miss cov too much. Maybe i'll retire there with a house over looking Benbulben or the Garavogue.

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day, i've got dentist appointment at 10.30, then taking ambulance to Henley college to show students there. Hopefully there'll be an ambulance to return to hq after. Then i've got to drive to Weston Super Mare to work friday. Plus i've got to do some admin and get stock for the units. Ho hum.

I've been thinking about this blog over the last few days. If I just keep writing stuff along the lines of work-->sja-->ice hockey then it'll soon get boring. So i've decided that on the very dull days, when there's not a lot to write about i'll start putting some anecdotes down, Things that stick in the memory, things that have changed my world, and things that'll hopefully get me a book deal (only joking). So thats it for now, tune in soon for part 3 of the dentist story, and to see if we made it out of Henley college alive.

Just another day at the Ricoh arena

Today saw Sheffield Wednesday at the Ricoh.

The duty started without incident, which gave me chance to eat my cheese and relish sandwiches, the same relish that we brought from southwold on my hols. Anyway wilst munching on my lunch in med 1, JD called me to talk to a prospective new member. She seems quite keen so with any luck she'll join the division.

As for the match itself, not a lot happened. There were a couple of coin throwing incidents. In light of the incident in Wales the other week, where the 4th offical was knocked out I hope the club give these idiots lifetime bans.

We were down on number which made things tight, but there were no problems. Coventry won 3-1, thanks mainly in part to two sendings off of Sheffield players.

I'm off to Ireland tomorrow, Sligo --> Tullamore --> Sligo and then Weston super Mare on friday.

Laser Quest

Well tonight was absolutly fantastic! A group of us from sja all went to laser quest and had a right good time. As luck would have it there were 5 lads and 5 girls, so being totally un pc we had a battle of the sexes competition. In short there was absolutly no contest, with the blokes thrashing the girls.

I managed a respectable rating of 2nd of 5 over all, ironically the only member of the girly team to get the better of me was Katie. Oh well, mustn't grumble.

Tonight was a sucess, and its certainly somthing to remember for the future, the only down point is that it seems impossible to please everyone.

In other news, i've just booked the car for next weeks trip to Ireland so we're all set. It's a bit of a nusence that i'm missing the lights, but i'm sure my sources will report back.

Home again

Well i'm home from Aberdeen and all in all it wasn't a bad week, nice to be back in modular lab tho. Any way i've just come back from the dentist for a bit more work. had 5 shots of local today! With any luck i'll of thawed out by lunch time

Whilst i've been away, a storm has been brewing in SJA Coventry. the following email was posted on the AR_JD site.

I know its good that alot of members help covering operational duties and I may not do as many as others, but I do, do alot for youth within the county and havent booked most of them.
The point is I'm shocked that the most important event of the year being Remembance Sunday was so little in adult numbers. Members jump to go on big duties like godiva and football hoping for the chance to treat blood and guts, but a boring duty they don't bother. It says alot about their character. Its disrespectful towards what work St John Ambulance did in the wars and in recent terror attack in London. Also, disrespectful to people who died in these conflicts.

St John Ambulance isn't all about blood and guts. it has a historical value too. what kind of public relation does that show for the organisation?
I did think members should be only going to the duties they want to especaily some units. its only seems to be mainly three units that do all the duties.

Now I agree with the sentiments, as was a pretty awful turnout, and once again the youth section did us proud, but I think we need to look at the reasons why people didn't attend.

There have been several replies and many people have taken it as a personal insult which is a great shame. I hope that the poster of the origional email dosn't get any grief. I always intended the AR_JD site to be a unoffical forum where anyone can post their views without fear and recrimination. I'm sure this will run and i'll add an update when i know more.

On the positive side, my day in Windsor is cancelled, so its off to the football tomorrow instead . CCFC vs Sheffield Wednesday.

That reminds me, the only time i've been to Hillsborough was the day that i passed my ambulance aid. Must of been '99.

Thats it for now.

Rembrance day

Well I thought i'd better give this myspace thing a go now, wouldn't want to be left behind, so here it goes.

Today has been one of those funny sort of days that you can look back on and think "Well that was interesting". It all started with the remembrance day service in Coventry. Now, I hate rememberence day, it's just too darn depressing, not to mention cold or the fact I have to dig out my best uniform for it. This year was no different, I spent hours last night polishing my boots, so there was at least a bit of shine there. Within ten minutes of arriving at the muster point, we get a shout to an RTC just down the road. So off me and the DS went, trying to avoid the various people who seem advers to a large white ambulance hurtling towards them. we arrive on scene only to find your average RTC site, car vs pedestrian. My gut feeling (and obs) say that it wasn't that bad, but you cant take chances with that mechanism of injury. So cas was immobalised and county called. Police did a good job keeping road clear for us so all in all, not a bad job. As it happened it was the only job from today.

Had to do all the paper work which took yonks, then went to mcd's to reflect over a large Latte before lunch at parents. If there is one thing that makes rememberence day seem so much better, then thats a fantastic sunday lunch with all the trimmings, followed by gooseberry pie.

Chilled out during the afternoon and read sunday papers before hot-footing it to the skydome for Coventry vs Basingstoke. Not the best game i've seen, but the Blaze ran out 4-2 winners. Visited Coventry kebab shop for a post game large kofte and then home.

Dentist tomorrow, then Aberdeen in afternoon. So i'm back later this week, then dentist, then ireland.