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.