"Last Post - 17th April"... seems like a long time!

And I faithfully posted that I would try and keep this a bit more up to date. Well, that pretty much stopped as soon as it started!

On a slightly defensive note, I have been doing final exams. Yes, the dreaded Final Final Final Finals are upon us, and life has consequently developed a new and slightly less enjoyable pattern, involving a lot of writing, revising, sitting at a desk, and taking out as many books as is humanly possible from the hospital libraries...

However, the written exams are over, thank goodness, and varied from a dance through a fairly pleasant (I think and hope!!!) paper, and, to quote a friend, a trainwreck. Apparently, I am no longer an ethical person. Oh well.

Today was the first of three practical exams. I like to think of this one as the "procedures" exam, while the two next week will involve real patients with real problems and real clinical findings. The exam was... not the worst ever. The worst issue I had was the amount of 'rest' stations there seem to be; there's nothing worse than getting all the adrenaline going in a brilliant station, and then having to sit for 5 minutes and just wait. Not fun.

Also, apparently this makes me hungry and so by halfway through my stomach was making a LOT of noise. On the plus, biscuits ARE provided (no penguins today though, which did disappoint!).

In other, slightly more exciting news, we have a beautiful garden courtesy of wonderful boyfriend (nothing more terrifying than a man with eyes shining and a dangerous-looking hedgecutter/chainsaw thing in his hands...), with flower beds and sweetpea canes and exciting things! Also a new and VERY exciting hose - which it now looks like I won't be allowed to use, courtesy of the possible hosepipe ban...

The final interest is, of course, summer sport (watching, not playing, you understand). What with a ten hour Wimbledon match, and the excitement of England getting through to the final 16, my interest has been caught. This may, of course, have something to do with the revision-avoidance technique (never has Facebook been this desperately interesting before), but actually I DO enjoy the World Cup, despite the many miseries who tell me about the "22 men running around trying to kick a pigs bladder". I like being proud, for once, of our nation, and people actually displaying this - I love seeing all the flags flying - and people smiling and excited on the day of the game! I also like all the talk afterwards - not that I have any real knowledge of the rules and so on, but I do know the names of most of the England players, and can recognise talent, skill and frank failure!

Happy days... and it only happens every four years. Let's hope that the Olympics bring as much pleasure - maybe having it here will boost our optimism! Incidentally, we have signed up for the tickets list - pingpong is something I'd LOVE to see! - and I hope everyone else has too!

My final pleasure (and piece of advice for those in the Lancaster area) is something that another medic and I have been saving up until after this exam. Tomorrow we will be going (after a revision session tomorrow morning) to Barton Grange (just south of Galgate on the A6), a huge garden centre, with an excellent coffee shop for CAKE! Hooray for that mythical, delicious substance!


Now, however, I think it is time for bed. Exams make for an exhausted student!