This might involve bad language*.
No 'might' about it...the one time I really need my PC and it died on me. I am working on my third TMA (Tutor Marked Assignment or essay in everyday parlance) and it is a double weighted assignment in terms of marking. So it is important. It also involves a lot of internet activity so the many hours spent today attempting to access the various websites without success led to me having to find meaningful activity that kept me well away from the PC and offensive objects i.e. hammers, chairs, Vanessa Feltz... No.1 suggested I turn it off for a couple of hours and try later. So I did and it worked! Research work now under way...


















Apart from that the greenhouse has collapsed as a result of the winds the other night. Plants alright but it now looks like an old Anderson shelter or a Tracey Emin project. Mog has lost his home amongst the stars and position as king of the castle.
However, a break from the work and I'll enjoy the quiz tonight with the added draw of real ale.
TTFN.

*Damn!

Tired...zzzzzzzzzzz

Excuse me while I yawn.
I've just finished work and I am thoroughly knackered. A combination of a wet bank holiday weekend which I worked including on-calls. I also have another OU deadline which I mistakenly thought was some time off...it ain't. It's only eleven days away... But I have promised myself the evening off with possibly a rare trip to the pub. I have moved into the position of an 'irregular' where my local is concerned.
However, the combination of work, shifts, on-calls, OU studies and the psychotherapy course is wearing me down. I realised over the weekend that I am neglecting my social life and life consists of far too much work. The old adage 'All work and no play' comes to mind and I am becoming a dull boy. So much so that even blogging is wearisome. Only four months to go but I am reconsidering my OU studies next year.

Anyhow...

The seven dwarves approach the Pope and send Dopey up to ask him a question.
D: Pontiff...are there any nuns at the south pole?
P: Yes my son, there are nuns at the south pole.
Dwarves: Go on Dopey...ask him, go on.
D: Pontiff...are there any black nuns at the south pole?
P: Yes my son, there are black nuns at the south pole.
Dwarves: Go on Dopey...ask him again.
D: Your Holiness...are there any small nuns of a similar height to me at the south pole?
P: No my son, why do you ask?
Dwarves: Dopey shagged a penguin! Dopey shagged a penguin!

Yes, it has been one of those weekends.
TTFN.

I am in a much better mood today as the insurance company paid up...just a few days waiting for the cheque to clear. A somewhat smelly dog sitting beside me having availed herself of a dip in the dock (six months in Pentonville for that offence in the fifties!). A bath awaits her on my next day off and the application of 'Frontline'...she hates both of those and it's a job I have to prepare for.
No 1 son is happy as I am going to buy him a secondhand PS2 with some of the insurance money. Mrs C also happy because it means new games for her. As for me, I am not into video games, preferring backgammon and cards instead with real people. I played some WW2 video games a couple of years ago and I had the most vivid dreams of the games each night for a couple of weeks. I was fighting in occupied France and the dreams were too lifelike for my liking and I acquired shellshock! Since then I have left the games well alone.


















I had a go at the golf games and some game with a little dragon in it.I was absolutely rubbish at both I am happy to say. Mind you, I do occasionally salivate over the aircraft games and I keep my eyes out for one involving the PBY Catalina flying boats. My level is space invaders or pacman...simple to play and movable wallpaper for the mind.
TTFN.

On the seventh day...

I am going to moan and grumble because I had four days worth of study to catch up on today. But it is not that I am whinging about...it's the fact that work was extremely busy and I was too knackered to attend to the demands of the OU course during the week. But it isn't that I am griping about. I am pissed off because I have to do a full days work and then drag my sorry arse into the 'study'. A course I reluctantly enrolled on so as to extend my clinical practice/protect myself against the young 'clever' newly qualified nurses with 'real' qualifications/meet my post reg. requirements/look clever and bolster my promotion prospects. But to top it all I am paying for this torture and the NHS gets all the benefits. Yes I am aware of free will, free markets, free Nelson Mandella....I know I will benefit as an up to date practitioner raring to apply all I have learned. But it don't half hack me off when I read about marketing consultants with MBA's (Mostly Buggering Arses) who have yet to do a full days real fucking work making decisions that effect my work and the lives of the patients I work with whilst I have to jump through education hoops to ensure I continue doing the job I enjoy.So I spent four hours sweating over a hot keyboard and books on one of my few days off studying quality assurance and health policies...

On a lighter note the following:














I'm orf to listen to Folkwaves on listen again as I read Ian Rankin's 'Rebus' ('Knots and Crosses') for the umpteenth time. I might even have a beer...Tom Wood's I think will do the trick.
TTFN.

Back in time for the match.
I decided to have a clearout of some rubbish and a trip to the council tip was decided upon. Going at 1 pm because "it'll be quieter as everyone is readying themselves for the match". Not quite along the lines of "I see no ships" or "45 minutes...WMD or foreplay to the current war"....but destined to ring in my ears as I joined the lengthy queue of every other bloke who had the same idea.
The rubbish consisted mainly of my son's old bed which had seen better days, prior to it's use as a trampoline/den/punchbag. He has a new firm bed without the dip in the middle and he slept a full 12 hours of his first night. Much needed as he had some viral leurgy which knocked all the stuffing out of him.
Last night we had a welcome night out at the Tap and the Hobgoblin Acoustic final. I'd like to tell you who won but a combination of little alcohol for two weeks and a few pints of strong ale saw me home as the winner was announced...I'll find out later. But a tremendous crowd, the best I have seen in there and three deep at the bar. A great way to relieve the stressful eight day stretch I had just finished at work.
I must away and watch the match.
TTFN.

Mea culpa.
I have neglected my blog for a week. Work and studies demanded my attention as did matters in the real world. But I survived and return, if not refreshed then certainly re-invigorated. Mind you, given the number of visitors I suspect that noise I can hear is the wind and the tumbleweed....














Not tumbleweed...

The cat is doing well and so she should be, the expensive little bugger. As for pet insurance...bollox to it. Whenever the bastards get around to re-imbursing the pittance out of the full amount spent, I shall cancel it for the cats who will have to trust to preventative medicine and swift paws around motorised vehicles. I will insure the dog who is more likely to become ill/ stick nose or head into something dangerous/ chase motorised vehicles...although she is used to traffic and ignores it.














She's fed up because short walks are the order of the day until this interminable working stint is over (weekend perleeeeese).
Anyway, I'm orf to tackle sudoku's and listen to music.
Currently listening to 'The Who.

TTFN.

"Sigh" Lentils and water for the next two weeks.
Molly's treatment in total thus far is £200.00 and rising.
Still...the New Zealand and Danish vets are gorgeous and, hopefully, I can claim some money back from the insurance company although I shan't hold my breath as to seeing the money soon.
Two hundred quid...she's worth it but Mrs.C is ominously reading Korean BBQ recipes....
TTFN.

Looking beyond the small world I inhabit and blog about, it is a great day.
A new government in Northern Ireland bringing together old enemies and, possibly at long last, peace. My mother comes from the border country so I have a personal interest in this, with family over there and having spent a lot of time there.
I am cynical enough to realise that the world changed once the Americans realised what terrorism really means and this added to the impetus to bring peace to Northern Ireland. Having said that, I hope the peace does last and that people there can get on with their lives.

Back to the ordinary mundane world of me...hungover despite not drinking too much and we lost the 'Difficult Monday night quiz'. The quiz master of this one has a unique slant on life with little relevance to life after the 1980's, apart from motorsports. Three hours of OU work done and keeping the poorly cat prisoner so we can get her to the vet this afternoon. She is curled up asleep beside me with a very jealous dog keeping watch.














I have yet to get her into the box for her trip to the vet...a slice of chicken might help. My worry is that her leg is more damaged than first realised and she could genuinely end up as a 'tripod' cat (or Yardie as one acquaintance called her dog...three feet in a yard). However, we'll see what happens and she is still agile enough on her three legs currently.
TTFN.

Life's a...

Wish you were here.

We had a great time at the beach despite the threat of rain upgrading to actual rain. But it was dry for five hours and the fresh air and hint of sunshine did us all the world of good. I didn't realise until we reached Mablethorpe that dogs are allowed on all beaches except the central beach. We could have brought the pooch after all. There were no crowds, you could hear the waves, build sandcastles and loads of clean, fresh air with a relaxed drive there and back. Exactly why I left London...that journey to Southend or Clacton...Bleugh! I feel suitably chilled and ready to face a return to the vets tomorrow with a poorly cat. Despite the antibiotics she is still limping and has now stopped using the poorly leg altogether. She might only have three usable legs but she ain't 'arf hard to catch.
I'm orf to shower away the sand and thence the Monday night quiz.
TTFN.

pfftt...sizzle!

Good grief...where have the days gone to? There it was, just about spring and one week later...sunshine. Eventually.














I have been mostly working these past seven days and just tomorrow to go before two well earned days off. Also ploughing through the OU studies with this week consisting of health and social care policies. Dry? A veritable Sahara and Kalahari combined...C'est la vie as the Alan Sugar wannabes discovered this week...fromage a pate dure (forgive the lack of appropriate accents, just listen for Clouseau in the silence and you are halfway there) may be more appropriate.
But I have been up to my ears in assessments and the old equation applies in the modern NHS:
1 hour clinical work = 2 hours paperwork.
1 hour of assessment = 3 hours paperwork.
Each hour given to an admission = "DOES NOT COMPUTE! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERRROOrrrr.....pfftt...sizzle..."
Sometimes a complicated admission requiring a variety of the great and the good (ASW; GP; Section 12 doctor;police; ambulance;hot pie sellers; astrologers) can take several hours so there goes an acre of rainforest. Just to make it more exciting, add alcohol, children and the family pet all at 2 am.
Oh! We also have to write it all up electronically but everyone wants paper copies in triplicate and my touch typing technique utilising two forefingers at a speed of six words per minute with little sleep and too much real coffee...pfftt and sizzle indeed. There goes another neural pathway.
But Bank Holiday Monday, rain or shine, we are en famille sur la plage avec des inflatables...Look out for news reports of a family rescued halfway to Holland.
TTFN.