Has it really been that long?

I've been on call today, and for the first time, chatting with various nurses, it dawned on me.  I have just two days left of my current placement.  And who would have ever thought it, but it actually fills me with a great deal of sadness.  In the two and a half months since I last blogged (!) I've come to love my job.  I've found my rhythm and I can actually say I enjoy my job.  There are now only fleeting moments when I'm feeling a little swamped that I slightly begrudge it all.  And I actually feel like I can cope, actually, it feels rather natural too, and dare I say it, at times I actually think I may be rather good at it.  There are moments when clearly I'm not... but still!  I can't believe how far I've come in what is such a short amount of time.  I've just read back at my previous few entries, and I feel like a different person to that overwhelmed and green doctor.  I still can't quite believe that this is where I am now, and that I'm actually here, doing this, that thing that was a pipe dream for so long.  And now, I have to prepare myself for all new adventures in my next rotation.

So, what have I been doing since I last posted?  Well, besides that crazy 10 hour days that I barely notice anymore, and sleeping, I have:
1) been on holiday to Dublin with Lorri, which was fun and exciting, and soooooo grown up - a girls weekend away.  With complimentary champagne courtesy of the hotel apologising for the 5am fire alarm, facials, shopping, getting Lorri to love and stroke the pretty yarns at the local yarn shop, Japanese cocktails over sushi and tasty food, the search for "real" Irish music, sipping Guiness whilst posing for photos, and then ditching the foul tasting stuff, looking in the window of EVERY jewellry shop we past, being gently reminded of the violent and colourful history of the country, crazy traffic lights with awesome robotic sounds, kicking up the leaves on St Stephen's green, admiring the beautiful autumn around us!  It was awesome, thanks Lorri!

2) Buying more stuff for crafting that I could even begin to think I had the time for!  But I have still squeezed in several hats, a couple of cowls, a couple of adult jumpers, a couple of scarfs, two pairs of socks, 100g of spun fibre.

3) Spending Halloween in Bristol with my nearest and dearest, after spending the day at Fibreflurry with Mary (bless her!) then shopping at the Bullring, on a whim!  Playing mini-golf and not coming last!

4) Many meals out, some just because, some to unwind, some to catch up, some for celebrating being paid!

5) Making peace with my SHO long enough to have a lovely photo taken with him and the other two doctors on my ward.

6) Obtaining 2.6kg of alpaca fleece, which I have no idea when I'll ever get round to finish washing, let alone picking, carding and spinning!

7) Enjoying Yeovil and pretty sunsets over the hospital

And that pretty much sums up the last few months for me.  It's not been too bad at all, and boy has it sped past!

Day seven - positive feedback, elections and fibre

Busy busy day.  Started with the practice long case, for which I did manage to get some positive feedback.  So yay.  He said he would have passed me, may not have been a distinction, but a pass none the less.  And he also said he'd be happy to have me as his F1, so also positive to note that he would tick yes to that question on the mark sheet!

Then a mad dash back to Bristol, to vote.  But glad I did.  Look what was waiting for me:

500g of spinning fibre (that I found in a sale! so it's not as bad as it may look!!)  It's a variety of breeds, actually each one is different, all be it, some are just superwash versions of others, but I have read that this can give the wool a different feel. So it'll give me a chance to get a feel for different types of wool and how they handle.  I can't wait to get exams out the way and just play endlessly, all summer long :)  They're all so beautifully soft with the exception of the green one which is only slightly scratchy in comparison, but it was nice and cheap and is supposed to be a really good beginner fibre.  My spindles however are sitting at the sorting office, clearly I have a different postie everyday, so the two parcels that have spindles in them are waiting to be picked up on Saturday, where as the fibre was left with a neighbour.

And then it was a mad dash back to Weston to... er... do not very much.  Had nasty cramps all day and felt a bit wiped out so have had a lazy evening, catching up with friends on the phone and doing a bit of knitting, and peeking every now and then on election progress... I do wonder what I'll wake up to tomorrow (well later today!)

£5.60 well spent

One student South-West day ticket = £5.60.
Number of buses taken today: 9
Time spent on buses today: 4.5
Value for money?  Better well believe it!

Yes, today was just one of those days.  Throw in a cold (yes, it wasn't just hayfever afterall) and I'm absolutely shattered and can't wait to sleep!  If my nose and throat will allow it.  And why am I not going to bed now, just writting about wanting to go to bed?  Group revision session scheduled for half an hours time.  I'm not really sure I get the most learning benefit out of group revising, but it gives me a chance to spend time with others, and to get an idea of what people are revising, so I can think to myself - "I hadn't remembered to revise that yet, I'll add it to the list". 

So, how on earth did I manage nine bus journeys today?
Journey 1 (07:30):  My flat (Bristol) to town.  This was actually free, as the chap didn't have any of the cards to print a day ticket out on.
Journey 2 (08:15): Town to GP surgery to do my presentation.  I got loads of really positive feedback from everyone at the meeting, so I felt really good about it all, and that I'd actually done something right, and something useful.
Journey 3 (10:00):  GP surgery to town
Journey 4(10:50): Bristol town to Weston Town.  By this point starting to feel rather tired.
Journey 5 (11:45) Weston town to hopital. 

Sat having lunch, feeling a bit worse for wear due to the cold finally taking effect.  Flicking through magazine (Yarn forward) thinking about what else I could possibly learn to do with wool - spinning my own yarn.  Hang on a sec, isn't there a shop that specialises in all thing spinning nearish to Weston and Bristol.  Consulted timetables and websites and decide to make a dash for it, since I clearly wasn't going to be much good going into the hospital, and I had the day ticket already, so would just be making the most of it.

Journey 6 (14.10): Hospital to town.  Spent ages trying to track down the bus stop.  Website didn't mention that half of Weston is being dug up.  Missed the bus.  Only runs once an hour.  Not well impressed.  Wondered round a bit, stocked up on cold relief meds, etc.
Journey 7 (15:35):  Weston town to Clevedon town.

Visited Spinning Weal.  Fell in love!  Amazing shop, and amazing owner.  She let me play around with all the spindles and explained some of the basics.  She makes her own, very basic beginner spindles, only £2.  Gave me nearly a double bag (therefore just short of 200g) of wool for the price of 100g.  She has her own sheep, and this is wool from her sheep.  How cool is that?  So barely spent any money, and it will provide hours of entertainment when exams are over and done with... and maybe just a little before then!

My first few attempts have been interesting.  It doesn't completely look like yarn.  It's ermm, "highly textured" and most definitely a slub yarn!  But I'm getting the hang of it a little, and Sarah (shop owner) said I was picking it up very quickly.  :)  Ahhh, what fun... I do like to play.

Journey 8 (17:50): Clevedon to Weston
Journey 9 (19:10):  Town to hospital.  Completely shattered.  But all in all a very positive day.  And don't worry, I did lots of reading and revising on the bus and at the various bus stops of the South-West!

And must go think of something to give a mini-tutorial to the others on.  And then bed.  Sorry about the lack of words/proper sentences.  Just had exciting things to say but not the energy or head to say them. 

Derby Healing (Post of the day 1)

Okay, so here's the deal.  I've just checked when I last posted and it was well over a week ago.  Man, it started so well.  And for a change, it isn't actually because I've lacked things to talk about.  I agree, it's partly because I've been feeling so out of it and in a... erm, how shall I put it?  A funny mood?  But I'm determined to get myself out of it, and I know that being in Derby has gone a long way to get me started on that front.  So... anyways, the afore mentioned deal is that I'm going to attempt to put up two posts today.  The first all about Derby, and the second a quick catch up about what else has been going on.  That is, if I can remember all of Derby coherently!  It's been a while!

Thursday: a little bit of a lie in (whatelse is new!?) and then after rattling round the empty house, I decided to gate crash Sarah's.  And I walked!  (surprisingly on 32mins door to door, why did I never think to do it before?).  Just the quiet, loud, peace chaos of having little people running around.  Even if they are sleepy and are thus just perfect for long snuggly cuddles when Mummy needs the loo!:

(hehe, sorry for stealing the photo Sarah, but it's cute!!)
And then there was good food, crafting talk and doing, catching up.  And just being.  Sarah is very good at letting me do this.  Just being.  It's hard to describe.  It's nothing "special" in particular but it's perfection in stillness and unwinding (just spent ages searching for the right word, and I'm still not happy, but that will have to do!).  I don't feel the pressure to be anything but myself.  Which sounds like a stupid statement.  Do I really go through life not being myself?  No, not really.  But I'm usually a label, myself, but a particular version of it.  A medical student.  A nursing assistant.  Enthusiastic about going out.  Alone but not minding.  Crowded but not minding.  Running around.  But in these quiet moments (well, it's quiet in a different way, I mean, come on, how quiet can you be with three littles running around!?) I'm none of those labels.  And it's so good for me to stop, and be unlabelled!  And I always feel calmer and safe and more at peace from my life's stress after these times.  I'm not forced to be something, and always being something is draining.  I need a break, but I don't always realise it. 

And before I realised it, it was late.  Where had the time gone?!  And a very kind Martin drove me home.  But not before I had started to make plans for a very busy Friday.

Friday:  Met Emma and Connor at 1pm for some lunch and a wonder around some shops.  A lovely catch up and time to spend with two very dear and special people to me.  Even if the poor loves were both feeling under the weather following a nasty cold.  I can't believe how much Connor has grown.  And he's so lovely, so smilely and ready to give me his very biggest grin!  Aww, how can I resist such charm! 

Then we met up with a solo Sarah, whilst Martin took the girls to a dad's group.  Girlie day out!  Going wool shopping and wool-lusting.  Picking out colours for new projects, and in my case picking up wool for the sake of it.... well, because it was on special, and they were both yarns I have been wanting to try out... now what to do with them!?  And going to tea and cake.  Can't remember the last time we did this.  Just the three (and a bit) of us. 

And then time to tag team out friends, and meet more!  Lol!   My hot sexy SamSam (hehehe! ;) hehe!)  and Simon.  Dinner at Nandos, with sangria, then back to Sam's for more sangria, Trivial Pursuit, Scrabble and Buzz.  Lots of giggles and chatting and catching up with Sam.  Trying to get me tipsy!  lol!  Until Kev came home and again it was a case of a day that flew by.  And again, a lovely beautiful day of contrasts and such a wonderful reminder of why I'm so lucky.  I have such amazing friends, who all bring out something different in me, and know so well how to keep me entertained and to cheer me up about all the recent events.

Saturday:  I had originally planned to go to dinner at Sarah's again, and have a little bit of a games night.  But I was getting the distinct impression that my parents were getting miffed about me coming home and STILL not seeing them!  So, I cancelled dinner and did the dutiful thing of staying in and relaxing with them.  Laughing with my mum in the kitchen as we washed up and got things ready for a birthday meal for my aunt.  Awww... I will miss them not being around when I go back to Derby for Easter.  It will be so strange being in their house without them.  But I'm sure I'll cope.

Sunday:  Family day of note!  Grandparents, aunt, cousin, parents.  Tasty roast.  I never get round to doing roasts for just me.  I ate so much that I never got round to having pudding, even though mums made a very tasty (looking) pavlova and a sticky toffee pudding.  I got my laptop out and showed Gran and Hayley all my knitting and displayed all my crazy new knowledge about knitting techniques, yarn characteristics and dyeing.  I think I may have lost them.  I did get to show off my newly completed scarf for Farah.  It looks so pretty and in sunlight looks much more muted than I was expecting.  I'm dead proud on my first lace knitting attempt.  I still need to block it so that the pattern shows off properly.  But it looks a little like this:

Monday:  Story time at the library with Sarah and Emma and their respective babes.  Hehe.  Playing games like "where's Morgan?  Have you seen Morgan, Daddy?  I wonder where she's got to..." and running around with Jenna.  I love so much spending time with these kids.  I think it has a lot to do with the kid philosophy of living for the moment and making life's purpose about the pursuit of fun.  And what's wrong with that?  More tea drinking and then back to Sarahs.  On the bus for me, with a angelically behaved Jenna who asked to come along.  Only a few dodgy looks when she started talking about how everyone would be thinking "That woman came into town alone, but now, what's going on?  She's got a kid with her!"  Ermm... shhhhhhhhh Jenna!  People frown upon things like that!  I honestly haven't stolen you and your parents know where you are!  And you know where you are!  Don't make the good citizens of Derby want to lynch me!

Tuesday:  Mumsie's day off.  So quality Mumsie time.  Chilling out at home watching rubbish tv movies and nipping into town and browsing round M&S.  Such a mummy thing to do!  lol!  Only spoilt by the gaggle of chav school girls who insisted that my mother had knocked a little toddler that was with them (don't know why they had a kid with them, I'm sure most of them were in uniform).  Thing was my mum hadn't even moved her chair!  And they were really quite agressive about it.  And my mum's not really the sort who handles herself well in these situations.  They really bullied her.  Annoying bunch of little such and suchs, really upset her.

Wednesday:  Special day.  I got to see my Godmother, who I've not seen in like a decade.  It was lovely to see her.  And to feel her love and her positive effect on my parents.  She's a cousin (of some sort!) of my dad and when my parents were newly wed with little kids, and my mom's parents lived in England, she was a proxy mum for my mum.  She has a very special place in our hearts.  How lovely to still be in touch with her and for her to visit. 

And then it was time to go back to Bristol.  Already put off by a day so I could see Auntie Vonnie. 

As you may have noted, I've not mentioned my audit report.  It was really pushed to the back of my mind and instead was left as a joy for Bristol. 

Derby did exactly what I wanted and needed it to do.  It healed me.  It destressed me.  After the month I had had, I needed the love and support of my friends and family close to me.  I wasn't coping very well by myself.  I was feeling so low, and on the verge of tears that never came. And so I went back to Bristol with a lighter heart and more at peace with the crash and all it's stress.  Some good will come of it (and I think it may already have) and I needed some time, support and perspective.  And I've had that now.  I feel more relaxed about it.  I still feel very sad about it all, and obviously I wish it had never happened.  But I'm finally okay with it having happened.  I'm still not back to my normal bouncy self.  I still feel a little depressed and amotivated but it's improving.  And that's what I've got to focus on.

Escape to Derby

Now that's a phrase I never really thought I'd say!  But here I am, so relieved to be back in Derby, surrounded by my loved ones.  My cheque came today and has been duely deposited and then as fast as I could, I got my flat in order and packed up to come to Derby.  Part of me wants to say home, but I really do view Bristol as home.  My flat, my space, my rules, my life.  But at the same time... Derby does have it's charms I suppose.  And if we go by the old saying "home is where your heart is", I've very torn.  Bristol usually wins, hands down.  But as of late, with recent events, and probably the events of the last near year, Derby has edged back in.  It was where I came to heal over the summer last year, and it's where I find myself again, in need of more healing.

My mom had decided that I wasn't likely to be back today, so there was a mad rush to feed me this evening, having only got food ready for themselves.  But they were insistant that I would be eating in with them, despite Sarah's very kind and generous offer to feed me.

And there's only one slight problem.  I was supposed to have got the majority of my audit write up done before I came to Derby (plan for months, even before recent uphevels) but I've been a bit of a lazy, moppy such-and-such and haven't really made much progress on that.  Then comes the hiccup.  I've left my work in Bristol - well the data that I had collected over the last couple of weeks.  I've got my laptop (obviously) and all the background stuff I have researched, plus access to internet for anything else that I need to lookup.  It's just hard to write up results and conclusions when you don't have the data.  So I'm going to have to see how organised I can be and get as much of it as humanly possible done, so that when I get back to Bristol, I just need to spend a couple of hours on it.  I know vaguely what the data showed, so I suppose that I can just leave a bunch of blanks for specific values and fill them in later.  A bit of a hassle, but oooooh well...!

And now, off to bed.  I can't wait to get cracking tomorrow on seeing people, even though my lack of car will make it a little tricky!  I will have to familiarise myself with bus routes to friends and also do a lot more walking... mmm, but thought, didn't bring proper walking shoes... just my boots (ok, but heeled, so will hurt sooner or later) and my brown shoes, which will just have to do the job!  Ahhhh, what adventures await!

Still waiting to be enchanted by Cheltenham (and Hereford)

Well, I'm still alive!  Somehow.  Time is dragging here, and in a bizarre kind of way, I'm actually looking forward to my road trip to Hereford tomorrow (look it up on a map, I had to!  Heard of it before, no idea where it was!).  I've not heard positive things about the drive, but ooooh well, at least it'll be something to do.  Which is better than today.  We had a 9am tutorial and then that was it.  I suppose I could have been more pro-active and hit the wards to clerk afterwards, but I felt like an exhausted zombie, so I plodded home via tescos (no milk = no tea = disaster!) and stocked up. 

And then came home and did a little bit of reading, watched a little "tv" then gave up completely and crawled into bed.  Really struggled to sleep - let's blame the bed, but eventually did nap for a couple of hours, so hopefully I've caught up on the sleep I missed over the weekend and that I've not been getting because of the bedsprings sticking into my sides.  I've gotten so used to my lovely memory foam mattresses (both in Bristol and Derby) that I've forgotten this joy.

I spent a little more time chatting to my new flatmate (whose name I can't remember... oops!) and she's been wonderful and brought along a whole bunch of pots, pans, crockery and basically saved the day, bless her!  And so we can actually cook semi-decent meals.  Although, when at tescos, I mainly stocked up on things that would require minimal pots, e.g. pizza, salad, pies, stuff for pitta bread pizzas (for lunches/other lighter meals), jacket potatoes and fruit.  Miss calculated the number of tea bags I had left, so now I'm down to my last one for breaky tomorrow.  Oh man, I can't live without my tea :(  Lol, enough with the dramatics!

I've spent this evening doing some knitting (almost at the heel of the second sock now) and starting to rank my jobs, which is the next part of my job application for junior doctor jobs i.e. the next (hopefully!) two years of my life.  I've basically got a list of all 272 jobs that will available for junior doctors in the deanery (the collection of hopitals approx within 1hour radius of Bristol) and I have to rank them in order of my preferences as to which ones I want.  It's harder than it sounds, and it feels a little pointless, as I know for a fact I didn't score very well on my application and thus am not likely to get anywhere near the top of my list.  I've ranked all the jobs that have some obs & gynae in them at the top (all 39 of them!) in some sort of thought through order as this is the speciality that I'm leaning most towards.  But it's also one of the most popular, so the chances of me getting one of these 39?  Put it this way, I'm not optimistic.  And then how do I rank the other 230 odd jobs?

This whole thing has been made extra stressful as it's one of those things that I've done before with so much excitement and anticipation... and now... and now I'm not feeling it at all.  It's just a horrible reminder of all that's happened.  And whilst it has quite brought me to tears, I do find that I'm facing quite a mental hurdle to do it.  But it is interesting to see how my reasonings for ranking have changed.  Last year it was Obs/Gynae jobs, then paeds, then jobs which had both years in the same place, and then more randomly.  And I put so much effort into it.  Giving all the jobs a score out of 5 as to what I thought/felt about the rotations included in them.  And of course I got rid of all the paper that I did this on!  And I don't have the energy or inclination to do that again this year, although it was kind of useful.  This year, my priorities are more along the line of Obs/Gynae jobs, jobs with first year in Bristol (would be useful to be able to stay in my flat), maybe jobs with A&E placements (I really enjoy A&E and is prob next on my list of possible specialties after Obs&Gynae - I think my subconscious is trying to tell me something with picking the jobs with the anti-social hours!), and then... don't know.  Not sure if I really care.  I'm going to have to stop for tonight anyway, and maybe think about it on my commute tomorrow.

Resisting temptation

After all the excitement of first thing this morning, I'm cream crackered, so just a quick post.  Yes, I know I always say that and then...

First day of placement today.  Bit of a let down, the lecturer couldn't make it, so we only had some housekeeping issues to sort out.  And then I had the rest of the day free.  I could have done so much like nap, do some reading, rank my jobs, go food shopping, etc. But I didn't get round to any of this.  I mainly vegged in front of my computer, half-heartedly watching iPlayer and knitting and feeling bored and frustrated.  But I don't have anywhere comfy to knit, so I didn't get oooooodles done, but I suppose some is better than none.  And right now, I know I'm feeling extra moany, but that's probably because I'm tired, so I really shouldn't say too much, as I don't know if I'll fully mean it.  But here's a list of my Cheltenham issues:
1) they're expecting me to spend half my time (or seemingly half, tiredness may be slightly, but not greatly, exaggerating this) outside of Cheltenham, just because I have a car.  They're sending me to Hereford (officially can claim 40miles each direction) which apparently would take only slightly less time than it would to get to Derby.  So I'm not impressed, especially as I will have to pay up front for petrol and then claim back, which will undoubtedly take weeks (that last part might fall under the "may not actually mean if I wasn't so tired" category)
2) lack of stuff here - no linen, next to no cookware/crockery.  The accomodation is not really exciting me at this point in time.  So frustrated about it.
3) no tv - there's not much to do in general, unless you want to spend money (e.g. cinema on next street, oh temptation thy name is Cineworld) or it involves sitting in front of a computer screen.  We're almost slap bang in the middle of town, so there's not even anywhere decent to go for a stroll.
4) the heating is crazy - I've had to turn down the night storage heater in the kitchen/lounge and open all the windows as it was like a sauna.  It was too uncomfortably hot to sit in there, which is a shame as that's where the sofas are.
5) there's no toilet paper - we have to provide our own... apparently.  I'm not 100% sure.  But I'm guessing as I can't find anywhere and now we are out.  Mmmm, emergancy run to 24 hour tesco or beg/borrow/steal from another flat. 

Good things (perhaps?) about Cheltenham
1)  I saw three craft shops today on my walk to and from hospital.  Oh temptation thy name is yarn!  I'm pleased to report I only went in and felt (get it!! and before you say anything, I did warn you I was tired) the wool in two of them.
2).... I'll have to get back to you on that...

Sarah and I did however end up chatting for nearly 2 hours this evening, exchanging woes and frustration and having some interesting ponders about the world in which we live, which was a lovely way to kill my boredom, and was ultimately the highlight of my day.  Thanks Sarah, although be forewarned, you did such a good job, maybe back to bug you again soon!

Anyhow's, off to bed now.  Night y'all and here's to a fire alarm free sleep.

Back in Derby - yipee!

Hurrah!  I am back, safe and sound in Derby.  It's good to be back, and to know that it's a special time to spend with loved ones, be it family or friends.  I did manage to get a good solid four hours sleep this morning after my last posting.  And then really struggled to get going, bed was so cosy and lets face it, four hours sleep is not a full "nights" sleep.  Fortunately, I had managed to sleep on my break at work, and because it was fairly quiet, we had nice long breaks.  We sneaky sneaky used some of the beds in unused parts of the ward, so it was decent sleep as opposed to lying across some raggedy looking lumpy chairs in a staff room! 

I had planned to pack yesterday, but the day had somehow got away with me following all the snowy drama.  I had been organised enough this morning before sleeping to jot down a packing list, as I always forget something, so was proud of that little bit of organisation as being organised is not one of my strong points!  So in a flurry, I threw everything in a suitcase (packing not being one of my strong points either!) and was about to rush out the door when I remembered I hadn't done the dishes.  Damn!  So another delay meant all in all, I left quite a bit later than originally planned. 

The roads were lovely and clear, except the icy side road I had parked Ernie in.  I was really surprised that I completed the journey in two and a half hours, which was really good progress, as I did stop briefly for an espresso and some crisps, and the traffic being rather crazy at times and going all ridiculously slow!  And of course what would a trip on the motorway be without idiot drivers trying to do you harm?  I really wish they could hear my shouts and mutterings sometimes.  Not letting me in off the slip road when the slip road is rapidly running out is not safe driving practice.  Fortunately, it was a double laned slip road and I was able to pull over into the left lane when my lane ran out completely (luckily there was noone there at that precise moment), but could the idiot who didn't let me in not see what a dreadfully dangerous situation he was putting me in?  But stress over, I'm here in one piece and ready for the festivities.  Just had a lovely quiet evening in with my parents, catching up.  And now, although I feel relatively exhausted, my body clock is still on night shift mood and feels ready to go on staying awake through the night.  So I'm going to go lie in the darkness and hope sleep isn't too illusive!

The kindness of strangers

Sometimes I'm just peeved at all the rubbish that life throws at me, and have to fight very hard to not do the whole "why me?" thing.  Other times, I'm just continuously touched by the kindness and good will of others.  Maybe life really does just balance out... eventually!  Or maybe there is such a thing as karma.  Or maybe it's just really dependent on my mood how I end up seeing things, some days concentrating more on the positive, and other days, more on the negative.  Or maybe, just maybe, it's just human nature to see patterns and trends when they don't really exist.

Last night, I duely caught the bus and left the car safely parked, and avoiding ice skating it down Gloucester Road.  And if I'm making confessions, I think that I've thought of a New Year's resolution - SEEK HELP FOR KNITTING ADDICTION!  Joys of public transport and waiting for it to arrive, meant that I had a few minutes waiting around, so I unashamedly got the needles out, stood at the bus stop and did some rows, even getting on the bus in the middle of a row and without dropping a stitch.  I did some knitting on the bus, but it was bordering on sensory overload and it made me feel a little queasy, so I didn't push it too much! 

I left later than planned, but it ended being spot on, I was there on time, even after changing into my uniform out of my layers and layers.  I was working on one of my favourite wards, and it was a night like last night that reminded me why I like that ward, and dare I say it, sometimes even enjoy work.  I had good company, the patients were all really nice and friendly, and I managed to have time to have some lovely chats with some of them.  And all in all, nice, smooth shift.  Whilst we were waiting for handover last night, we got to talking about the horrendous weather conditions, and I mentioned that I had played it safe and bused it in.  And one of the nurses immediately offered me a lift home for the morning.  She lives in vaguely the same area as me, although I probably doubled her journey time.  I was so amazed.  Hot off the heels of the lovely shopkeeper and his advice and offers of tea, another kind deed was offered me.  I don't think I've ever been offered a lift home, and I was very grateful, as it meant I was home nice and early after the shift, and now, I'm tucked up in bed, eyes beginning to feel heavy, and able to have a nice early bedtime.  I'm hoping this will mean I'm more up for driving back to Derby later after a nice long snooze.  Although I still have to pack properly, I'm hoping, weather permitting to hit the road by mid-afternoon...