So I started work on the 12th March and settled into the routine fairly quickly. I'm pretty used to changing workplaces now since I've been locuming for three years. It wasn't hard to settle in here since my nurses are all friendly and easygoing and basically a whole heap of fun.
I work Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays in the branch clinic at Gornal and Wednesdays and Fridays I spend at the main branch in Wombourne (only a short walk from home except I usually drive in case I get an outcall (or so I say. I haven't had one outcall yet and basically I just like to sleep in)). I also work some Saturdays but that isn't too bad either. No on call. I haven't had too many busy days at work and I've generally had time to go home at lunchtime and spend some time chilling out with a book and sometimes I even get up the energy to go for a jog in my lunchbreak then shower before going back to work!
My first week here I was unfortunately very sick with an ear infection. I even went to the doctor for it! That's how sick I was. What a great start.
My health luckily continued to improve. Not hard considering I thought I was going to die (of an ear infection, trust me all the dogs I've seen with ear infections since are treated with good doses of pain relief. When I first fell ill I had no pain relief in the house and I was up at 2am eating chocolate for the promise of endorphins).
A couple of weeks later I was treated to a visit by my friends: Snooze, Emma (who I worked with in Townsville) and Emma's friend Canadian Steve. There was a distinct purpose of this visit: We wanted to go to Reflex, the 80's bar. And so we did. Once again my health deteriorated but luckily only for that night and it was self induced and mainly involved memory loss. I do remember making an important discovery that night however. I was introduced to the absolute marvel of curry chips. Really why would you have tomato sauce, gravy or salt&vinegar when you could have curry. Mmmmmm.
Easter long weekend came around and I had plans with Snooze to go to Snowdonia National Park in northwest Wales. We stayed in a little cottage in the country with several of Snooze's friends who I thought were great fun. Really easygoing and good for a laugh. The ewes had just lambed so there were gorgeous little lambs everywhere (lots of twins over here). The countryside was absolutely stunning with stone (and sometimes slate) fences. I also noticed that there were stone walls supporting the roads as they cut into the sides of the mountains! What a job!
I found a book that told me how to pronounce some of the Welsh sounds but still couldn't pronounce the Welsh words on the roadsigns. But I'm not entirey sure the Welsh can either. It is all too weird-looking.
It was a fun four days. The first day we went to a strange little place called Port Meirion which was the most unWelsh thing I've seen (not that I'm an expert on the Welsh and their culture after just an Easter break!) but it was really cool. There was a beach nearby and the sun was shining and it was warm and we all chilled out walking along the beach getting decidedly lost.
We checked out a castle after this and had a pint in the pub opposite the castle. It was a lovely chilled out day of exploring actually. Our pint nearly made us too late to explore the castle but luckily we did. We made the most of it too and the views it gave us of the surrounding countryside were spectacular.
The next day was climb Mount Snowdon day. It was the day that discovered I am unfit for mountain hikes. But the views were worth it. Everyone told me that it would usually be raining and I shouldn't be able to see anything for the clouds for the time of year we were there but it was pristine with a cloudless sky.
And so came Easter Sunday and I discovered just how much I liked the people with whom I was spending my Easter weekend because we had an Easter egg hunt!!! It was of course the highlight of my weekend despite the gorgeous scenery and lovely people I was being introduced to. I mean it's an Easter egg hunt!!!
So for the rest of the day we ate Easter eggs (or I should say I did, I don't know about everyone else, they may have had a bit more self-control). We did plan to go for a walk but were all worn out from the day before and chilled out for the day.
Back to Wombourne the next day exhausted after a fun weekend. But I only had two days of work ahead of me before I was to have yet another long weekend for BSAVA congress!
