TOASTIES

It was my last shift at the John Radcliffe Adult Intensive Care Unit (JR AICU) last night. And it was one of those "end-with-a-bang" type shift again. Funny, I always seem to get those. Was the same at the Royal Melbourne Hospital too. At that moment, a fleeting thought would enter my head about how I should have gone with the devil in my head to take a sickie or be a no-show on my last shift. Where's the angel in my head when I need it most?

Working a row of 3 nights, I was all chirpy thinking it was my last weekend of work and the flight home was drawing so much closer. By the middle of the Saturday night shift, almost everyone in the unit knew I was leaving for warmer pastures down under.

It's funny how it's always at times like these, that everyone starts to feel they quite enjoy each other's company and will actually miss each other. Even the patients were well-behaved. The same patient who went mad on me for 5 nights in a row every time the nights went down, actually went all sweety-pie with me too. Awww.... :)

So I whipped out my camera and snapped a few pictures of the Saturday night gang. I planned it well. Pictures of us, looking unglamourous at 0500hrs in the morning, and having our "Toasties".

Definition of "Toasties" :-

Thick triangular cuts of white toast, toasted to perfect crispiness and spread with fragrant melting butter. Not just "I can't believe it's not Butter"- type spread or margarine but REAL SALTY, CREAMY, BUTTERY BUTTER. (I think I have made a big enough emphasis on the importance of butter).

"Toasties" are a real pick-me-up at that ungodly hour where we all wished we were snuggled up in bed with our patients. Accompanied with cups of tea and coffee, we chit-chat till it's time to wake our patients up for their bedbaths. ( Yes, in the UK, they insist on bedbaths at 0530hrs in the morning. )

So here's to the JR AICU gang! Thanks for a great time!

THAT DAMNED BIRD !

Talk about 180 degrees change overnight. Second day out driving through the Cotswolds was even more beautiful. Sunny, clear blue skies with a few patchy white fluffs....oh it was gorgeous. I could not wipe the smile off my face the whole morning.

Until the bird appeared and made me all paranoid.

There I was, cruising down at 50 miles/hr and enjoying the scenery on the way to Stratford-upon-Avon...this exotic looking red-feathered animal darts out of the bush and headed straight for my wheels! Kamikazi! Aaahhhhhhh! I let out a scream in the car but continued to drive at 50 miles/hr. With my heart pounding in my ears, I looked back at the rear mirror and the darn thing was running back into the bush, back the same way it came from. Maybe it decided there were too many cars behind me that it would die a miserable, messy death being run over so many times. Eewww. Not nice.

I had a sudden impulse to stop the car and go back and pick the darn thing up by the neck and scream down its throat, "What the hell did you think you were doing?" Then I thought I must have been really bird-brained to have even thought about stopping the car. Sigh.

So about the darn thing. It was a lovely animal. I said it looked exotic? It was a bit of a chicken, a bit of a turkey and a bit of a peacock. Shiny red feathers and a long neck. Yes, I found out later today that it could have been a PHEASANT. The car hire receptionist added with a chuckle that I could have had myself a nice dinner. Hmmm. Game anyone?

Now I am on a mission to find a picture of this pheasant-looking animal to show yas. :)

MY OWN SET OF WHEELS

Hired a car today to squeeze in some last minute sight-seeing before I leave the UK temporarily on Thursday next week. And boy, what have I been missing !!

Drove to the Cotswolds today and the English countryside is indeed beautiful. Here's a glimpse of what I saw but imagine foggier weather and freaking cold winds. And the atmosphere of traditional English pubs was very nice. Going back for more tomorrow....to cover Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare's birthplace and other villages of the Cotswolds.

Can't wait!

LIFE'S A MESS?

Dun u get some days where u feel like being messy, unkept, slouchy, and just plain lazy....I do.

And today is one of them. Feel like I have lost my vrrrooom power. Out of gas. Probably because I've just done 4 x12 hr night shifts. Enough to drain the living daylights out of me. Especially when I've spent the 4 x 12 hrs at work dealing with a patient that goes into panic attacks every alternate hour. He turns blue in the face and gets into a hypoxic state before becoming acutely confused. Then it is the Missy's job to try and make him pink again. (Blue - holding breath; Pink - breathing normally). I swear I exhausted the stash of chemical restraints I had at the start of the shift, plus a lifetime's worth of psychic calming powers.

That said, I still managed to spend my hours out of bed just one "plonk" over to the chair next to me. To get online to chat on MSN with friends about yet another trip. One for tomorrow - The Cotswolds. Two for next week - a toss between Cambodia or Penang. And I have been online ever since. Bed to chair. Chair to bed. And all my travel brochures and material strewn all over the room.

Haaaa....it's the can't-be-bothered day. :P

I think I've done enough today. Back to bed. Zzzzzzz...... :)