Dyl the Doc

Recent Telegraph comment

2012-01-05T14:03:00.000-08:00

From a GP in response to an article on the shortage of GPs.
Seems he'd been saving it up for a while:

I'm a GP. I left school at age 17, rubbish comprehensive in
South London, no qualifications upon leaving, pulled my socks up and
went to evening classes 4 nights per week for 3 years to get O and A
Levels to get into medical school whilst working as an office junior in
the day. Dream achieved and won a place at a London Medical School.
Worked hard there and even won a few prizes. Worked as a houseman doing a
1 in 2 rota for the first year after qualification and then several
years as a junior hospital doctor doing 1 in 3 rotas. The nights on call
were busy and never more than about 2-3 hours sleep per night but youth
made it bearable. My out of hours rate of pay was just 1/3 of my
weekday daytime 8:30 am t0 5:30pm rate and not time AND 1/3. The NHS
really did quite well out of the medical labour force.
I switched to general practice after about 10 years of hospital practice and took up post about 15 years ago.
I've never been busier as a GP. The Public seem to feel it's there God given
right to have access to my services as often as they see fit. They'll
demand a home visit at the drop of a hat, are rude to my hard working
reception staff, are lazy, malingering, two faced, spiteful and in many
cases unwilling to take any responsibility for their own health and are
often the most dire of parents to their young kids. I see the same
pathetic, whinging, spineless flotsam time after time. Many will have
miserable, erratic, unfulfilled stressful, low income lives and come to
see me with their psychosomatic illnesses and neuroses looking for a
cure. when in actual fact there is no cure and their misery is a result
of their own past failings.

I'm obliged pay 6ooo pounds per year in Medical Indemnity because this lot are so litigious.

My small minded envy ridden countrymen are only too willing to believe the
tediously frequent and totally nonsense press stories of us GP's
having astronomic salaries and of being incompetent to a man. It's as if
the public have an instinctive resentment of anybody who has become a
doctor and the media feed this.

Sixty odd years of free at point of delivery health care has corrupted the people of Britain who now
seem to think that as it's 'free' then they'll have as much of it as
they can grab and that the State and the States representatives are
responsible for guaranteeing every facet of their security and
happiness.

The very elderly who knew life before the Welfare
State came about are entirely different in their attitudes and are a
nobler group of people who are a much more rewarding group to treat.

There
is a shortage of family doctors and it's no wonder. The Public deserve
what's coming to them. Still, if it's so easy and lucrative they can get
trained up do it themselves.

Banksy?

2012-01-03T12:42:00.000-08:00

Has Banksy been in Totnes?

Family Tree

2011-09-26T00:54:00.000-07:00

Spent some time on my family tree this weekend.
All going well loooking at the Kekewich's and Pendarves's of Cornwall when my wife spots a wife called Catherine Courtenay in the early 1500's - married to John Kekewich who was MP for Saltash and Sheriff of Cornwall. She mentioned that Courtenay was the family name of the Earls of Devon. Followed up said Catherine and found a lineage all the way back to Alfred the Great!

Lineage

Me born 1968 in Totnes
Son of:

Bryan Watkins born 1926 in Exeter
Died 2009 Torbay
Son of:

Elsie Heard born 1905 in Exeter
Married Claude Watkins
Died 1996 in Brixham
Daughter of:

Katie Kekewich born 1873 in Exeter
Married Alf Heard
Died 1966
Daughter of:

Robert Burton Kekewich born 1831 in Cape Town
Lived in Southford House, Staverton. Went off with and married Caroline Jarman the scullery maid from Newton Abbot. Lived on Exe Island on what is now Shooting Marsh St.
Lived off the income of his relatives.
Died 1898
Son of:

George Kekewich born 1778 in Islington
Graduated Cambridge in Law, 1800
1809 was Judge and Commissioner-General of Vice-Admirality Court of the Cape
1812 married Catherina deWaal descended from original Dutch.
Died 1862
Son of:

William Kekewich Born 1736 Bowden House
Died 1799
Son of:

Pendarves Kekewich Born 1697 in Hackney
A director of Royal Exchange Assurance in 1759
Died 1775 in London
Son of:

Samuel Kekewich Born 1657 in London
Was a merchant based mostly in El Puerto de Santa María, Cadiz
Married Mary Pendarves in 1694, from a family of merchants from Padstow / Penryn
1698-1700 MP for Sudbury
1698 on the Committee of the Old East India Company
Died 1700
Son of:

Peter Kekewich Born 1605
Died 1680
Son of:

Edward William Kekewich Born 1561
Died 1621
Son of:

Catherine Courtenay Born 1532 in Landrake, Cornwall
Married George Kekewich 1560 (MP for Saltash 1553, 1576 Sheriff of Cornwall)
Died 1571
Daughter of:

Edward Courtenay Born 1495
Died 1555
Son of:

Edward Courtenay Born 1453 at Powderham
Fought alonside Henry VII at Bosworth
Died 1509
Son of:

Sir William Courtenay Born 1400 at Powderham
Married Margaret Bonville dau. of William Bonville of Shute (nr Axminster) and Margaret Grey. (She was daughter of Reginald Grey, 3rd Baron Grey de Ruthyn, a powerful Welsh Marcher lord, who was the implacable enemy of Owain Glyndŵr)
Died 1485
Sir William was son of:

Philip Courtenay Born 1404 at Powderham
Married Elizabeth Hungerford in 1425
Died 1463
Son of:

Sir John Courtenay Born 1384 at Powderham
Married to Joan Champernowne
Died 1406
Son of:

Sir Philip Courtenay Born 1346 Exeter
Was knighted by Edward the Black Prince, along with his brothers Hugh and Peter, in Spain the day before the Battle of Najera.
Imprisoned in the Tower in November 1402 for clerical abuses against the Church.
Suppressed Owain Glyndŵr’s Welsh revolt in 1399/1400
Died 1406
Son of:

Margaret de Bohun 2nd Countess of Devon Born 1311
Married Sir Hugh de Courtenay the 2nd Earl of Devon in 1325
Powderham was in her dowry.
Son William was Archbishop of Canterbury 1381-1396
Died 1391 aged 80. Buried in Exeter Cathedral.
Daughter of:

Elizabeth Plantagenet “of Rhuddlan” Born 1282
She first married John I, Count of Holland, who in 1299 died of dysentery
On 14 November 1302 Elizabeth was married to Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford, 3rd of Essex, also Constable of England. On the first day of the Battle of Bannockburn Humphrey was one of the first to lead the cavalry charge. In the melee and cavalry rout between the Bannock Burn and the Scots' camp he was not injured although his rash young nephew Henry charged alone at Robert Bruce and was killed by Bruce's axe.
At the battle of Boroughbridge in 1322 Humphrey led the fight on the bridge, but he and his men were caught in the arrow fire. Then one of de Harclay's pikemen, concealed beneath the bridge, thrust upwards between the planks and skewered the Earl of Hereford through the anus, twisting the head of the iron pike into his intestines. His dying screams turned the advance into a panicked rout.
Elizabeth died 1316
Daughter of:

Edward 1st “Longshanks” Born 1239 Palace of Westminster

Hammer of the Scots.Died 1307
Son of:

Henry 3rd 1207-1272
Son of:

King John 1166-1216

A rubbish king.Son of:

Henry 2nd 1133 Le Mans - 1189
Married Eleanor of Aquitaine

I've seen their tombs at the Abbey of Fontevraud near SaumurHenry’s mother was the Empress Matilda
Son of:

Empress Matilda 1080-1118
She was married to Geoffrey, Count of Anjou
Her father was Henry 1st Her mother was:

Matilda of Scotland 1080-1118
Daughter of Malcolm 3rd of Scotland and:

Saint Margaret of Scotland 1045-1093
Also known as Margaret of Wessex
Born in Exile in Hungary
Her father was :

Edward Aetheling 1016-1057
Son of:

Edmund 2nd (Ironside) 988-1016
Son of:

Aethelred the Unready 968-1016
Son of:

King Edgar (the Peaceful) 943-975
Son of:

Edmund 1st 922-946
Son of:

Edward the Elder 874-924
Son of:

Alfred the Great 848-899
Who burnt the cakes...

Leatside

2011-09-04T11:26:00.000-07:00

I felt rather gutted this week to find that our move back to Babbage Road with the Leatside Surgery has been put back a further three weeks.
As it stands we will be operating from there again from Monday, October 24th.
I know that a deferral of the moving in date of only three weeks doesn't sound like very much in the grand scheme of things but having spent quite so long now working in a portacabin I'm just beginning to feel a bit jaded with the whole experience.
We were so anticipating getting back in to a proper building at the end of this month and now felt so close, that a further three weeks nearly doubles the time we will now have to spend in the portacabin's. It's a funny thing psychology isn't it. Double the time but still only three weeks.

Drunk

2010-08-05T13:48:00.001-07:00

I had eighteen bottles of whiskey in my cellar and was told by my wife to empty the contents of each and every bottle down the sink, or else... I said I would and proceeded with the unpleasant task. I withdrew the cork from the first bottle and poured the contents down the sink with the exception of one glass, which I drank...

I then withdrew the cork from the second bottle and did likewise with it, with the exception of one glass, which I drank. I then withdrew the cork from the third bottle and poured the whiskey down the sink which I drank.

I pulled the cork from the fourth bottle down the sink and poured the bottle down the glass, which I drank. I pulled the bottle from the cork of the next and drank one sink out of it, and threw the rest down the glass. I pulled the sink out of the next glass and poured the cork down the bottle.

Then I corked the sink with the glass, bottled the drink and drank the pour. When I had everything emptied, I steadied the house with one hand, counted the glasses, corks, bottles, and sinks with the other, which were twenty-nine, and as the houses came by I counted them again, and finally I had all the houses in one bottle, which I drank. I'm not under the affluence of incohol as some thinkle peep I am. I'm not half as thunk as you might drink. I fool so feelish I don't know who is me, and the drunker I stand here, the longer I get.

Cycling on pavements

2010-03-17T06:39:00.000-07:00

I'm against allowing people to ride on the pavements.
Of course, if people want to cycle these days, which is to be encouraged, then they want to be safe. Most cyclists now seem to routinely cycle on the pavement, even if they are going along a wide, safe road. Pedestrians are at risk from this and it is illegal.
Bicycles are, in law, carriages (as a consequence of the Taylor v Goodwin judgment in 1879) and should be on the road not pavement.
By pavement we mean, in law, a footway. A Footway means a way comprised in a highway, which also comprises a carriageway, being a way over which the public has a right of way on foot only [Section 329(1) Highways Act 1980].
When I was a kid in Totnes cycling was only on the road. If you went on the pavement then you always worried in case a policeman saw you and reprimanded you. Same if you cycled home without lights at night. Noone ever cycled down the town.
Nowadays though the police seem uninterested. On the pavement outside my house my wife and kids have been nearly run over several times by adults on bikes cycling the wrong way down the one way street on the pavement. Do they feel it is their right? Do they just not know the rules?
The defence is of course that it is safer to cycle on the pavement. Not, I don't think, when it comes to junctions. Cycling on the road is much safer when going across side roads. Cyclists seem quite happy to risk life and limb each morning at Redworth lights nipping across in odd places between lines of traffic. Watching cyclists go across at Pelican crossings with the pedestrians scares me too.
Kids should be taught how to cycle safely on roads. The more that local cyclists cycle on the roads then the more that car drivers will get used to them and accommodate them. Cyclists should always wear a helmet - even when just on cycle tracks. They stop you damaging your skull when falling 4 or 5 feet onto a hard surface. They don't protect you from getting run over.
Cycling offences are punishable by on the spot fines. I think cycling down the town in Totnes is dangerous and should be penalised. "Furious cycling" is the old term for cycling recklessly. Lets hope Jason and the other PCSOs know this one.

Totnes Trojans

2009-12-03T14:44:00.000-08:00

I've been interested reading bits of the old if largely fictitious history of Britain written by Geoffrey of Monmouth
I do like the fact that he has Brutus landing at Totnes, then setting about defeating the Giants of the land.
I stumbled across something the other day suggesting that Troy was not in Turkey but in fact near Cambridge; and that all the heroes of the Iliad were Celts.
There was a suggestion that the British tribe the Trinovantes were named for New-Troy or "Troi-novantum".
Attempts to date the Trojan wars usually place them in the 12th or 11th centuries BC. Carthage was said to have been founded in 814BC, and the subsequent passage of the Trojans took them up the west coast of France and to Britain.
I just wonder if we shouldn't make a bit more of this, even though it is all so unlikely.
The entire country of Britain founded or started in Totnes!

Wordpress

2009-11-19T15:05:00.001-08:00

I’ve been having a look at wordpress as part of my Totnes Caring role.

It looks rather good. A simple but very smart tool for publishing and easily editing a website.
I wonder if it might be helpful for managing the surgery website- certainly, even with Macromedia Contribute, it still isn’t as easy as it could be. As our website is largely text it shouldn’t be so tricky to migrate it if we wanted to…

Totnes Caring

2009-11-18T15:08:00.000-08:00

I have become a Trustee of Totnes Caring.

GP Training

2009-11-09T15:25:00.000-08:00

Back from 2 days on Peninsula GP Trainers Conference in Newquay last Thurs / Fri.
Always good and sternly educational.
Had one of my two baths a year!
Got some reasonable pics and some nice ones of waves and rocks.
A week off next week now. If the weather is good then I plan to try to get up early and get some good morning-light photos if I can.

Tea

2009-06-03T12:41:00.000-07:00

I just received today an order from Le Palais des Thés in Paris.

Last order I had a taster pack of "Grand Jasmin Monkey King". A lovely mellow jasmine scented Chinese Green Tea. “Harvest of the Monkeys”. Legend has it that monkeys were trained to pick the highest shoots of wild tea plants. Good stuff so 100g of that this time. €6.80/100g

Previously I had a 100g of "Blue of London - Earl Grey of Yunnan". "Yunnan is one of the best black teas in the world and with a fresh and delicate bergamot from Calabria, it gives a particularly fine and well balanced blend." I agree, compared with subsequent Earl Greys I've found it is just so much more subtle. Lovely. €7.30/100g

I do like to have a Darjeeling in. Can be expensive the posh stuff, so a nice but cheaper one this time called "Grand Himalaya" first flush of 2009. A tea that develops as it lingers, well sustained by the astringency of the woody, vanilla notes and a few planty notes. €7.50/100g.

I'm working on my taste for Green Tea and Oolong/Wu-long, so got 100g of Tie Kuan Yin. Wu Long, intermediate fermentation (40%). The darkest and the most woody of the semi fermented teas from China. A beautiful amber infusion, which evokes cinnamon and liquorice. It is the Chinese’s favourite tea. I haven't tried it yet. It certainly smells like it will be a powerful brew. €6.00/100g

Last I ordered a fruity tea. Thé des Concubines. In creating Thé des Concubines, Le Palais des Thés wanted to recapture the unique, welcoming atmosphere of a Chinese tea house. This rare tea is a refined, delicate blend of green and black China teas with rich, fruity notes of cherry, mango and vanilla. Contains rose petals and pieces of fruit. I tried this one at work today before coming home. Tasted rather like a fruity-tea tea-bag. Pretty though. €5.00/100g.

Roadside Shrines

2009-06-03T12:28:00.000-07:00

I can't exactly put my finger on why I have never been keen on the idea of roadside shrines to accident victims. I have always winced a little as I have driven past. Why do they make me feel uncomfortable?

I suppose on the one hand a shrine is a little bit Catholic. I think down here in the Westcountry we do seem to be very protestant in our tastes. Not showy. The overt nature of the shine is counter to that preference.

Something more though about grieving in general.

Are roadside shrines more common since we've more or less stopped burying our dead? Nowadays we get a cremation and an urn of ashes. We scatter the ashes. No headstone or memorial.

My preference has been always to advise relatives dealing with the ashes to choose a favourite spot of the deceased where they will always be able to return to remember.

I don't think that the roadside is the best place to do this.

Surely by doing that we remember the death and are reminded of our grief.

Go instead to a favourite place and remember their life and in doing so it gradually helps our grief resolve. Don't lay a wreath on a verge on the anniversary of a death. Instead, visit the place you used to enjoy together on the anniversary of their birthday or something more vital.

TQniners

2009-05-08T13:22:00.000-07:00

I was searching for any references to Leatside on any blogs and stumbled acoss this one..
http://tqniner.wordpress.com/
It is nice of them to have made such appreciative comments, but I have no idea who wrote the blog....

More Tea

2009-04-25T04:38:00.000-07:00

I got some more of the Nepalese Oolong.
I think out of all I've had so far this one suits my palate best.
I did get a couple of new ones... some Spring Dragon Well Lung Ching Green Tea and Smoked Russian Caravan Tea.
The green tea notes are "This hand-picked and -processed green tea from the hills just west of Hangzhou, Zhejiang province (red on the map above), has been famous since the eighth century. It is known for its full, round flavor, unique nutty taste, pleasant jade-green color, and wonderful aroma. Hand fired in a large wok, it takes on a flat shiny appearance."
I found it had an aroma when first infused that it took ages to get a handle on. Turns out, I think, it smells of roasted chestnuts, hot, just as they are peeled.

Green tea comes from…

Green tea comes from the plant Camellia sinensis. This is exactly the same plant as all types of tea (oolong, white, black) come from.
Only the newest leaves (the top two) and the bud are plucked.
Unlike oolong and black teas, the leaves are barely fermented (oxidised) and are instead baked, roasted or sun dried to avoid oxidation.
When the leaves are dry enough they can be rolled into different shapes until they are completely dry.
The quality of tea will depend on its origin, the point during the season in which it is harvested and the exact processing techniques used.

The Smoked Russian Caravan Tea says "Strong smoked tea. Sweet China India and Ceylon Blend. Good Keemun makes tea a little fruity. This is an almost exact Russian Caravan. Well blended to give a strong sweet smokiness and fruity Keemun finish."
"This is not Russian tea! It takes its name from the trading camel trains that made the 16months’ round trip from Asia along the Russian borders into Europe in the mid 17th to early 19th centuries, where tea was first sold in Europe through the Orange Houses of Holland. Traditionally, Russian Caravan consists of China Keemun, fine Formosa Oolong and just a trace of Darjeeling and China Green teas. Some people like their Russian Caravan to have a little smokiness in it, to evoke the smell of the campfires during the long journey. "
Smoky is the word. Smells like a camp fire. Nice dark strong tea though.

Holidays

2009-04-18T06:44:00.000-07:00

I've been arranging my summer holiday.

This year I am going to drag the wife and kids to the Vosges hills in Lorraine.

Where? you ask? Why? even.

Well, the starting point was the expense of a Brittany ferries crossing in August. Terribly expensive.

Dover - Calais is a whole lot cheaper! But when you are in Calais, where do you go? Might as well head inland, cos from there it is just about as far to the Atlantic coast as to Alsace.

I once spent 4 months at medical school in southern Germany which is actually not to far north from Alsace, and i have fond memories of the area.

You may remember that prior to ww1 Alsace and Lorraine were German territories, sort of.
Then after the treaty of Versailles they were ceded back to France with the Saarland (which is where i was at university).

Coming, as I do, from so near the coast, there is something rather oddly nice about being so far inland as that part of Europe.

It is certainly worth a trip for a holiday. So we are visiting Gerardmer, on a lake in the hills.

So we hope to see the countryside, experience the life, maybe visit Colmar and Strasbourg. perhaps pop over to Freiburg.

I have bought a new big tent for the trip, now that my children have gotten so big.

It arrived yesterday and the bag for it is enormous! 42Kg.

Got to wonder next if I can fit our canoe on top with the roof box for the trip. Might be too much hassle.

Tea again!

2009-01-17T08:00:00.001-08:00

I am now the owner of a couple more teas... I've got two keemuns now
and the Mao Feng is the best- a chocolatey sort of smell to it.
Writing this now I am drinking the Pu-Erh. Earthy is the right word I
think... something of the taste of that smell of ripped up moss...?
Really quite a potent brew though in terms of colour- one teaspoon
easily making a litre pot. Probably should use more for more flavour
but I'm learning....I think getting off coffee was surprisingly easy
but am still surprised at how much tea I can drink without it having
the diuretic effect coffee seems to have.
I might have to get some more Blue of London Earl Grey du Yunnan... I
ran out and miss its subtlety.
I have also now got some Golden Yunnan - the tasting notes say it has
"a fruitiness,almost dry taste that quickly becomes a favourite." It
certainly has a distinctive taste that I really can't quite put my
finger on. Slightly off milk?

Palace Pu-Erh

Organic palace grade of Pu-Erh. Aged for three years. Sweet and Earthy
to taste. Chinese consider this to be the healthiest of all teas.
Background

Pu-Erh teas are a strange anomaly in the tea world. Normally tea
buyers look to buy the fresh plucked spring or summer tea flushes of
any tea. But with Pu-Erh buyers are looking for the best aged tea.
Some fine Pu-Erh cakes are never sold before they are thirty years old
or older at which point they are so expensive only a connoisseur would
buy them. When I say expensive I mean a good cake, about 375g, of
around thirty years old can fetch up to £1000.

Our Palace Pu-Erh is loose and aged for three years. Ageing these teas
brings out a sweetness, somehow richer, stable flavour, not found in
the original Green cakes. In our Pu-Erh the beginnings of the sweet
flavours are starting to show. This gives a very round cup easily
understood by someone new to Pu-Erh. Palace Pu-Erh comes from Yunnan
in South West China. The tea is plucked by the Dai People from ancient
tea trees growing wild in the province. These trees were originally
planted by the Dai 1700 years ago. And there are still some trees to
be found that been dated to around 1600 years old. Many of these trees
will have been used for Pu-Erh production for centuries.

Pu-Erh starts as a green tea that is compressed into cakes as the
cakes age they start to oxidise very slowly. Over time they become
Black tea and our Pu-Erh is a black not a green tea.

Mao Feng Keemun

One of the finest Keemun teas available. Strong, sweet and fruity.
Perfect tea for all occasions. A great gift.
Background

Keemun County in Anxhui China produces many grades of Keemun tea. Mao
Feng Keemun is a hand production tea. Tea masters must work this leaf
tea up to 400 times in pans before it is ready. The finished tea is
tightly rolled and packed with fine flavour. These Keemun teas are
often compared to wine. The comparison is valid if you compare
Keemuns' unique fruitiness with other black teas. Mao Feng Keemun has
an extra quality, fuller body reminiscent of dark red wines. This is
one of my favourite black teas. In Autumn I drink Mao Feng Keemun in
the afternoon. It has an excellent refreshing quality that picks me
up.

Will Coles

2008-12-10T15:59:00.001-08:00

Will Coles passed away Monday 10th December 2008.
Suddenly, in his Pub.
He was 61.
He will be greatly missed.

Alcohol and Tea

2008-12-10T15:56:00.001-08:00

I seem to have cut right down on alcohol recently.
I just began to feel that it was too easy to consume a whole bottle of wine in a single evening.
Sometimes more. Not really getting drunk. A bit scary really.
I worried I was going to turn into one of those unsuspecting middle aged boozers with liver failure.

So I have decided to cut back and have discovered tea.

Not PG Tips but posh tea. In my new Bodum Tea Infuser.
I originally sent off to Paris- Palais du Thes - and got some lovely stuff.
Darjeelings, Assam, some Earl Gray made with Yunnan China Tea.
Since then I discovered that theres a great tea seller just near here in Ermington.
Silent Lion Tea.
My wife got me started there with some purchases off Totnes Market.
So I now have a lovely Oolong from Nepal, a Wulong from Taiwan, Chai which is like mulled tea. (V christmassy!) and now a Keemun. Possibly my favourite so far.

It is really just as exciting as a posh red wine, and I can't think why I haven't discovered teas earlier.

I'm not sure it will totally distract me from the booze- so I'm sure the odd cold lager will still pass my lips (my favourite ever is still Karlsberg UR pils from Homburg in Germany). Pilsner Urquell is on a par with it but both of differing characters.
Whisky was once my thing, but now I just get heartburn after it, which is a helpful deterrant!

Ollie Marsden

2008-10-24T16:04:00.000-07:00

Weds 22nd Oct.
Just finishing Hockey that evening when I was called over to the side of the pitch by one of the Rugby lads.
One of them had collapsed and subsequently died despite all our efforts at resuscitation.
21 year old trainee teacher Ollie Marsden.
A young life, snuffed out.
Turns out he had Arrythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy. One of the well known causes of sudden cardiac death in the young.

Olympics

2008-08-23T13:55:00.001-07:00

I've been on summer hols the last 2 weeks and with the weather being so poor have watched quite a bit of the Olympics.
TaeKwondo reminded me a lot of that bit on MP and the Holy Grail where the Knight gets his limbs chopped off- I think there's a bit where he is leaping around with no arms trying to kick the other one... that is a bit like WTF TKD.
Swimming was good for us but is Phelps really that good- he won medals swimming just different distances mostly... I'd be more impressed if he perhaps did some high diving too or some triathlon.
I actually really got into the Beach Volleyball- very skilful and athletic.
The Hockey was a bit of a disappointment but today I saw the mens bronze match which was fantastic. 3 goals in the 1st 5 minutes and such aggressive play. Beats me why they don't apply the rules though as I see them written in the rulebook.
Eurosport showed a lot of Handball. Tried to play it once in Germany. Harder than it looks.
Why is Rhythmic gymnastics in there? And anything synchronised.
The white water canoeing was exciting and it looked like a very taxing course. Harder than Nottingham?
British Cycling was on top form. I think i used to cycle to work near the velodrome on Aylestone Rd in Leicester.... back then we didn't get medals of course. Oh, and a Totnes link- Chis Boardmans radical carbon fibre bike of a few years ago- built in Totnes wasn't it?

Cropredy

2008-08-23T13:34:00.001-07:00

I took the children to a music festival. The last festival I went to was Elephant Fair at St Germans back in about 86? - we went to this one with another family who are musically inclined.
Cropredy is folk-based mainly... set up and run by the Fairport Convention. I wasn't expecting them to be great, but they were actually really good. 3 Daft Monkeys from Cornwall were our other favourites. We had the Bob Marley tribute band "Legend" and a Zappa tribute as well. Another one I really enjoyed was the ska/folk of Whapweasel. v good. Some scottish stuff- Scottish gaelic singing, and some lasses from the Orkneys....
Camping in the rain was lovely. We got the car out of the field ok but it took some hours to leave...

Mixed Hockey

2008-07-18T15:40:00.000-07:00

Going pretty well this year- after NO WINS AT ALL last year we have already racked up a massive TWO wins so far this season...
both admittedly against the same team; who clearly can't be as good as we are.
One more game next week to round off the season - v Tavistock at Marjons on Thurs next week- 7pm pushback.
Table etc
After that I think it would be nice to have an end of Season barbecue - perhaps on a beach? Beach Hockey??
I'm going to Cropredy this year. A bit folksy for some but we are looking forward to it..
Then a couple of weeks off after that...

Old but still good... which are you?

2008-03-30T11:03:00.001-07:00

Hockey players come in four types. Here is a look at them.

1. GOALKEEPERS

1.1 The antisocial misfit who never wanted to play team sports anyway. Tends to have a low opinion of defenders and, rather than issuing helpful commands from his 'D', moans loudly every time the defence even looks like letting one through. He only plays in goal because of the pleasure he takes from preventing others from scoring and thereby enjoying themselves. Objects to the no-offside rule because he doesn't want company in the 'D'.

Telltale sign: Wears his mask during half time.

1.2 The extrovert show-off. Spends a lot of time diving and sliding about. Has a tendency to play near the top of the circle because he wants to feel part of things. Is as likely to tackle his own defender in the 'D' on any spurious pretext, as he is to mow down an attacker. Shouts a lot and gesticulates wildly, often at people at the other end of the pitch. Becomes moody and irritable when his defenders are on top and he has nothing to do. Welcomes the new no-offside rule because of the increased scope for shouting.

Telltale sign: Spends more time on the ground than standing up - even during the warm-up.

All goalies, of whatever type, are inherently incapable of being at fault when a goal is scored, the mere fact of a goal-scoring opportunity being proof positive that the defence is solely to blame.

2. DEFENDERS

Characterised by a strong hit, every defender's secret desire is to aim an onrushing forward with a pressure-relieving bullet that comes off the ground at about ankle height. The actual destination of the ball, if it misses ankle or shin, is secondary. Defenders regard their point made when attackers back off nervously upon their getting the ball. When things go wrong defenders blame the midfield, either for not coming back to help, or for coming back to help and thereby pushing others out of position (details of this position argument are usually hazy).

Defenders like to be seen as players who can keep their heads and calm things down when all around them are panicking. It is estimated that 60% of goals scored are as a direct result of defenders trying to look calmly in control instead of just getting rid of the ball. Defenders hate the no-offside rule because they can't stand imperiously on the 25 any more.

Telltale sign: Secretly admires authority figures.

3. MIDFIELDERS

Midfielders have to carry a heavy burden: they have to be able to play hockey, which, involving the close and skilful control of a small ball with a ludicrously shaped stick, at speed on a fast surface, is understandably difficult. Their mastery of these arts gives them an air of superiority and they have a tendency to become insufferable. They are obsessed by pushing, stroking and passing the ball instead of just hitting it like everyone else. They drone on endlessly about concepts like "width" (they don't apparently realise that hockey pitches come in a standard size), "shape" and "pattern" and other hopelessly cerebral drivel. Defenders merely put up with midfielders and regard them at best as in the way, preferring to try to hit the forwards directly rather than route it through these dubious types in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders are socially awkward, much to the relief of everyone else. Midfielders don't yet know about the no-offside rule, but they had never heard of the offside rule anyway.

Telltale sign: When suggesting what's wrong at half time they seem to be talking about an entirely different sport.

4. FORWARDS

There are two types to watch for, wingers and real forwards:

4.1 Wingers are a sub-breed who are surprised to learn that the white spherical object is not just something to be chased out of play but should ideally be stopped and given to someone else wearing the same colour shirt. Wingers treat the game as an excuse to run up and down the touchline with a stick in their hands, chasing things and wagging their tails, interrupted occasionally by the whistle. With the advent of the no-offside rule they are expected to become no more than an amusing but functionally irrelevant addition to the game.

Telltale sign: Loyal, enthusiastic, requires plenty of exercise and fresh water.

4.2 Real Forwards are egotistical mercenaries who will do anything (yes, anything) for the glory. Moody and unpredictable, they spend most of the time striking heroic poses or standing, hands on hips, staring back disbelievingly at the utter shambles behind them. Rarely very fit compared with the midfield they hate running and only do it in short bursts as a last resort, far preferring to see someone take it to the goal-line and cut it back to the top of the 'D' where they will arrive belatedly to smash it in and acknowledge the acclaim of the multitude. Forwards spend a lot of time optimistically attempting and failing to effect a minute deflection to a hit towards them, onto which they can latch. Success or failure is of course entirely random, but the head-clutching when it goes wrong and the smug pride when it just happens to fall right gives us a clear insight into the deep personal inadequacies of forwards. Forwards rarely try to score with anything other than a full-blooded hit, so that the speed and venom of the ball will distract everyone from their essential lack of directional control, or at the very least hurt someone. Forwards claim to welcome the new no-offside rule but are actually dismayed at all the extra running they might have to do and are secretly planning to ignore it.

Telltale sign: Has a deep need to be admired combined with very little reason to be.

Maxiscoots forum newbie post

2008-02-24T09:42:00.001-08:00

This is a little bit I posted on a scooter website (Maxi-Muppets) about myself....

Hi- I just stumbled across this forum today.
I'm a GP in Devon, living and working in Totnes.
When I first moved I had an old Cavalier but soon realised that in a car I was just going to be constantly sat in Summer tourist traffic or in winter school traffic in the rain, so, aged 32 got a scooter.
Started with A Kymco Ego 125- which I was very happy with, but was seduced by the magazines into getting something bigger so got a T-Max in 02.
I've been a sort of 2-wheel evangelist ever since. Some think that as a Doctor I ought to be more "responsible". I don't care- I just love the feeling on my scoot. Fresh air and the smells in the lanes on a summers evening. Just going for a ride- something I never did in the car.
It suits my work- house calls means pulling up right outside the house, wherever it is and grabbing my medical bag from under the seat. I have that big old Givi topbox as well so can even do a half-decent run to the supermarket. Givi tall screen. V good. Short dark screen in the summer
Haven't ever been really far. Up the M5 to Bristol a few times. Bournemouth too. Fuel consumption vs 14l tank doesn't really equate for long trips. Mind you, the seat is distinctly bum-numbing after 100miles anyway.
Crashed it once- Feb 28th on ice-cold wet road in the dark some plonker pulled half-across the traffic to get out from a filling station. Practically invisible side on- almost stopped by the time I hit him though. Got away with a sore toe. Quite smashed up though and had to spend a couple of weeks being mended- bent forks and all the fairings of course. Had a loan scooter from Bennetts insurance- some crappy 50 vespa-a-like. Scary.
Got on local telly once- did a half hour bit on being a GP so I had the cameraman on the back filming over my shoulder while I did some vists. Some top-gear style overtakes too. Good fun.
Impressed with the T-Max. 6th year now. It lives permanently outside. No major problems at all. Battery suufers in the cold though so now charge it up when I can and have a battery-booster in case. Of course there is no kick-start or bump-start for that matter. Got brighter Phillips bulbs- the ones with the orange glow...??

Testing new email thing

2008-01-17T13:58:00.001-08:00

it might be sad, I know but this is the first time that I've realised that I can post to my blog directly by e-mail.
It really isn't hard to go to my blog and edit it but being able to post text and pictures by e-mail from wherever might turn out to be helpful.
Myself and the whole family are soon to go for a few days to Vienna. The children are very excited about the possibility of ice skating because each year at about this time that the Vienna city council lays out an ice rink in front of the town hall. I myself haven't skated since I was quite young so I shall be quite nervous about this too.
We will be staying right in the city centre and very much intend this to be a few days of eating and drinking.
the last time we were in Vienna we had some of the most enormous schnitzels at one of the restaurants there.
This time I think we're hoping to be a little more adventurous, but limited a little bit with what the children are happy to eat.

How to marshall Jets

2008-01-08T10:10:00.001-08:00

Dweezil Zappa Plays Guitar Rig

2007-12-16T16:25:00.001-08:00

really good bit of Eruption in the middle

Kaossilator

2007-12-16T14:07:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeQOuNBuJwg

Dweezil Zappa -- Let's Talk About It

2007-12-14T15:10:00.005-08:00

Flu

2007-10-22T13:35:00.000-07:00

Did all the flu jabs I'd ever hope to over the last few days. The patients remarked that it was like a conveyor belt, which in essence it was.

Letter from Peter Holden to his MP

2007-10-12T15:00:00.000-07:00

Peter Holden was one of the GP team who negotiated the current new GP contract.

Below copied with his permission is a letter from him to his MP…
I think it so eloquently explains and clarifies the current GP position.

1 - I was one of the 8 doctors who negotiated the whole of that deal. Not only was I present in the room but asked the killer question of what happens if there was to be overperformance................. Answer from Mike Farrar, the NHS team lead "The NHS Bank will bank roll it". We spent a WHOLE day telling them it would overperform. They checked back with ministers including The Treasury and the rest is history

2 - there are just 2 doctors left of that team of 8, myself plus Dr Laurence Buckman the GPC Chairman

3 - There are NONE of the core NHSE team and NONE of the DoH core team still around and active on this work who negotiated the whole deal start to finish, so what the quality of advice to ministers is I don't know but from other interactions there is huge misunderstanding and misconception about the GPs first ever written contract!

4 - Both sides adopted the principles of a "wise agreement" through principled negotiation backed by facts. All of my team and many of the NHS/DoH core team were all trained by the same negotiator training consultancy. There was almost no positional bargaining and little horse trading

5 - There has been a concerted government and probably No. 10 inspired campaign for several months about:
• access to GPs,
• extended hours opening,
• and out of hours services
They are 3 different things but the government is trying to coalesce them. Part of the campaign has been to smear GPs by constant reference to their performance related pay earnings which are referred to a net earnings. Such net earnings are NOT take home pay but Net of practice expenses BEFORE tax, national insurance, sick pay insurance and surgery mortgage capital repayments.

6 - At no stage during the current media onslaught against GPs has the government in the shape of No.10, The DoH or ministers contacted the General Practitioners Committee of the BMA - the body with whom the deal was done- about extended hours of service. We have received not one phone call, no letter, no email no communication about extended hours. None of the negotiating team, nor my chairman has even had any informal approaches concerning extended hours from senior civil servants nor ministers in our day to day business including when paths have crossed. All that we have had is megaphone defamation from a government which governs by assent from the baying crowd whipped up by spinmeisters feeding the chatterati via the media

Out of hours services (Services outside M-F 08:00-18:30)
Out of Hours are the responsibility of PCTs and have been since 2004. The NHSE, Treasury and DoH underestimated the cost and complexity of a service which GPs had provided at an uneconomic cost and a massive personal price since the inception of the NHS in 1948. For years the DoH officials had been denying the GPs assertions about the burden and the costs. Quite how my practice went from 7 out of hours call per week average with 2 out of bed calls when I joined in 1985 to 60+ calls per week and out of bed 1-2 times per night (despite dropping obstetrics) in 2004 beats me. It was in fact the rise of consumerism coupled with a belief that there was 24 hour general practice. There never was 24 hour general practice and still isn't...just an out of hours service for emergencies and urgencies. What is more Saturday morning surgeries were never for routine matters as we did not have full services or staff available. Even now privately and also in a letter from DoH to one of my "constituents" the DoH concedes that GPs and their staff are entitled to proper work life balance.

The out of hours services horror stories occur because the PCTs wont commission sufficient cover and are using Eastern European doctors whose command of idiomatic English and knowledge of the system makes them slow. (I know what this means to patients. My own mother in law died because of the new arrangements when NYED failed). GPs in Derbyshire myself included work for the service (which is a good one) and actually there are fewer sessions than we are prepared to work as some of the work is being skill mixed to variable effect.

GPs have NOT stopped doing out of hours; they have ceased to be the body responsible for making that provision. GPs still work in significant numbers on the service and there are fewer doctor shifts than takers

Extended hours is about the provision of NORMAL General Practice into the evenings and weekends.

As you are fully aware modern General Practice requires receptionists, phlebotomists, Health Care assistants, practice nurses, district nurses, pathology and X-ray facilities (and the ability to discuss findings with a consultant), access to social services etc. Rough calculations indicate that to keep open my practice at HALF staffing for 2 evening per week to 9pm and for 3 hours on Saturday morning would cost in the order of £100K per annum and there would be no district nursing district nurses, pathology and X-ray facilities (and the ability to discuss findings with a consultant), or access to social services at that figure. With the new contract we took on 52.5 hours of opening based on 37.5 hours of staffing and funded the difference from our "overperformance". PCTs have always been free to commission extended hours and some GPs (my practice included) are prepared to provide it IF COMMISSIONED at a commercially acceptable price. We are NOT prepared to simply be a "GP with a prescription pad" working alone with patients having to return to complete the consultation just so that the government can have a soundbite

I have asked my staff if they would (for pay obviously) be prepared to work extended hours and to a man/woman said not at any price. In any event in order not to breach the EWTD we would have to take on and train yet more staff something which would take considerable time and resource. As they pointed out the evening bus service is dire, they would have difficulty getting home and patients would have transport difficulties in getting to the surgery. (Buses, for example, after 1800 hours to Cromford are at 1900 and 2100 only and their are none to the outlying villages)

Access
This is about the ease with which patients can make and obtain an appointment. A survey has been done and there is a satisfaction rate of 84% (The London Evening Standard [deliberately?] got it the wrong way around on Thursday. (Analysis of this survey results in politically difficult messages Most of the 16% are practices of a particular type, in a particular geographical locations, serving a particular type of population,with services delivered by a doctor qualified from particular parts of the world). I know of many leading edge practices where they refuse to try to meet the 48 hour target (and forgo the resources) where the urgent and emergent are dealt with today but a routine appointment is 15-17 working days away.

My optician [as opposed to the local spectacle supermarket] is booking 5 weeks ahead, my dentist 14 weeks, my solicitor 5 weeks, and my accountant 4 weeks. The Derbyshire Building Society wanted me to make an appointment to deposit a significant sum last week and yesterday PC World couldn't touch my computer for 3 weeks.

As you know from your formal visit to the practice in December 2005 (?) Doctors have always struggled with their appointments systems we are now on the 8th version since i joined the practice and much of the problem concerns workforce resources and increasingly surgery space! The de facto moratorium on practice premises funding (unless you are in a Labour area LIFT scheme) means that we cannot increase our staffing as we are hot desking already! We have always seen anyone with a clinical priority the same day and a clinical emergency on an immediate basis. Mr Blair's interference over the 48 hour access target (which we by and large meet) has meant that we cannot forward book significant chunks of the appointment book. I DO recognise the problems which working people especially those who commute have in gaining access, but they are the very same people who do not want taxes to rise! Of course I could operate (and actually would take pride in) an 0700-2200 ROUTINE service 6 days per week (provided nobody was required to work compulsorily more than a 40 hour working week) but that is neither affordable nor cost effective and even if we have the resource the staffing is impossible on current workforce.

GPs are tired of the "banks and supermarkets opening argument". The longer banks and supermarkets open the greater their profits. What is more it takes at least 5 years to train any of my professional staff to work independently and a year for my non professional staff. Shelf stackers, and checkout operatives take a matter of weeks to train and the operation of the store does not require the continuous shop floor presence of the board of directors. The only people banks employ are sales people and money counters and again take little real training. Indeed medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine are the only professions where nothing can happen without the actual presence of the most highly skilled and trained part of the team individual working on the shop floor or immediately available to do so.

The ultimate insult has been the appointment of Ara Darzi to review General Practice. What does a TERTIARY world class surgeon know about general practice or primary care?

The crude attempt to blacken GPs for the political prize of 16 hours per day general practice even if does mean a return to paid slavery for GPs personally is despicable. To blame the GPs for the NHS deficit is deceit. Irrespective of the financial facts the government have conveniently forgotten the long term health gains already accruing from tha performance related practice resource deal - the Quality and Outcomes framework. Doing this by means of public envy and disapproval our earnings is beneath contempt and is hypocritical. ministers conveniently omit the facts in addition that GPS still have to provide a service for a 40% longer working week than the norm. GPs still exceed the EWTD. GPs only have to adjust their individual referral patterns by 1 referral per day to double waiting lists. 40% of GP income is Performance related pay. GPs are stunning value for money. It is fascinating to note that the new accession states in the Baltic have adopted the British primary care system becasue of its cost effectiveness.

The new GP contract was negotiated and agreed with the knowledge, influence and intervention of No.10, HM Treasury as well as all 4 Departments of Health. It was further endorsed by the independent Doctors and Dentists Pay Review Body whose recommendation was not amended by the Prime Minister or the Chancellor at the time and they did not see fit to interfere with its findings! Gordon Brown and Tony Blair therefore had at least two opportunities to veto this deal if they felt that it had been too generous. The GP pay rise was deliberately substantial in return for substantial extra work and to correct the massive workforce crisis in General Practice. It was designed to correct 15 years of pay drift from repeated interference with DDRB reports Remember that GPs were only required by Ken Clarke's contract to do 26 hours over 42 weeks per annum, you now get 52.5 of responsibility with an actual average of 44. The fact that out of hours was priced by the independent DDRB as late as 1997 at only a few thousand pounds meant that the loss of it could only cost us a few thousand pounds.

Patrick, you need to know that the massive relentless adverse and unfair media onslaught of the past few months against GPs has demoralised them hugely. Cheesing off GP will damage the NHS because of the corrosive effect it has on morale. We have a massive GP retirement bulge looming in the next few years and the UK needs as many GPs as it can find. The government assertions border on lies, they are distorting the truth in a manner which if I indulged in my practice I would be struck off.

I hope that this information helps to inform debate and I am happy to elaborate

Peter JP Holden FIMCRCSEd MRCGP DRCOG
Member BMA General Practitioners Committee North Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Nottingham (approx 800 GPs)
Member BMA Council Central England Constituency (approx 6,000 GPs)

New Season of Hockey

2007-10-01T14:12:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how nervous I've been building up to this first league game, only really realising it now that it is over.
What a relief to have won, and with a confident display too...
Godders seems to fit well into the team and it was nice to see Wendy back playing.
Best thing of all was this new, confident Smudge though... quite prepared to really hit the ball.

2007-10-01T13:56:00.000-07:00

Apparently my Daemon is a Snow Leopard...

agree??

Cracked Rib

2007-06-24T14:08:00.000-07:00

I know just from being a GP that a cracked rib can be sore, but mine is odd. I did it falling flat on my back in the second game against Bombardier down at lipson. Straight away it was sore. Over the next few days I began to appreciate how this was affecting me. Lying down was painful. Burping, coughing sneezing and so on really sore. Hiccups! Lifting things and moving heavy stuff about seemed fine though mostly... nearly 3 weeks on now and it is still quite sore but not really stopping me doing anything now...

Umpiring

2007-03-21T02:25:00.000-07:00

Over the last few days I have found myself reflecting on my umpiring performance last weekend.
I think we knew in advance that it wasn't going to be the easiest game of hockey.
Early on I had to green card their number 44 for dissent, knowing that on a previous occasion when I had given her a green card following this she had behaved much better.
The real issue was the number 13 I think it was at the back.
There seemed to be an issue with her in the second half particularly trying to assist Rachel in her umpiring. This number 13, who I know is a qualified umpire, out of my vision on the far side of the field was clearly getting in an altercation with Lucy. All I really heard was her raised voice swearing loudly. In dealing with this I gave her a yellow card and the bit I'm a bit worried about is when I gave lucy a Green card. I had told the number 13 that the card was for bad language,- how then did I justify Lucy's green card? I think in the end it was to demonstrate to the Plymouth Valley team that I was trying to be fair. So how does that work? Given that the game was always likely to be difficult as an umpire my priority was to keep the game flowing and moving along with as little incident as possible. In this context I think the most minor sanction of a green card is demonstrate to the opposition that I recognised that the incident may have been contributed to by Lucy's play in some way. I don't think at that heated moment that a talking to would have been recognised in the same way. True, I didn't see what happened, (and why on earth didn't I ask Rachel if she'd seen it?) but we have to recognise that a green card is of so little consequence.
Learning point for me is to try to keep calm in this heated situation and keep rational.

New Kit

2007-01-16T16:46:00.000-08:00

Well, how do we feel about even more new hockey kit?
I think that the hoodies have been quite a success. possibly a bit warm? but they do seem well-made, they look quite smart and were quite well priced. you can see how the addition of an embroidered badge and some words or numbers can increase the cost of an item quite markedly. If you click on the following link to the Mercian clothing http://www.barringtonsports.com/hockey/Category_Mercian_Hockey_Clothing.htm
you can see that the basic price of the hoodie was only £14 50. the embroidery was £3.50 , letters for names were 50p each, if the numbers were about £3.
All this together means that when we're choosing new clothing for team kit if we start with the basic price of a desirable piece of clothing in a range where we would ordinarily be happy to pay an amount of money, we have to remember that all these extras to increase the price somewhat.
so if we were to look at a further training top such as http://www.barringtonsports.com/hockey/Product_Kookaburra_International_Training_Top.htm
then the price would probably come in around £35.
this week's hockey match we will be playing Liskeard. I noticed that last weekend they drew with Tavistock, which perhaps doesn't bode well for our hoped-for success against them. I remember when we played against them last their new coach was big on set piece plays. So if we can concentrate on a good penalty corner defence that would be a good start.

After Paignton

2007-01-15T01:48:00.000-08:00

I was disappointed to see Charlotte leaving the match early on Saturday. During the first half Shelley and Wendy hadn't managed to get on as a sub at which point she thought being there was a waste of time so left early with her mother.
She has been a little bit of an enigma. Sammy first heard about her from her father when he was teaching her to ride a motorbike. He'd explained at the time how she was having a bad time at Teignmouth and Sammy suggested that for a more community spirited club that she might come to Totnes. She did this first at the season opener which was Totnes tournament during which she played really quite well. Since then her performances have never reached the same level unfortunately.
I do feel however that if she were to persevere and would come to training she would begin to improve her game somewhat and that if she were to continue to attend we could work on speed and agility and general basic hitting and pushing skills which might then mean she could incorporate back into the team. As it stands however she has been the weakest player on the team and I don't think that we will actively pursue her to come back unless she indicates that she wishes to.

Pulled Calf

2007-01-11T15:10:00.000-08:00

after doing really a bit too much exercise yesterday I had a bit of a stiff calf this morning.
We went for a bit of lunch at the Kingsbridge inn, which was very nice. A few drinks and some nice food but interestingly when deb went to pay there was no one left on the staff to pay so I popped back this evening to settle up. On leaving the pub is slightly stiff calf of mine went into big-time cramps so fully dosed up at present I'm hoping that it will be settled before I have to umpire on Saturday. It was funny old weather today. When we set off to lunch it was blowing a gale with very heavy rain. By the time we left the pub that roads are dry and it was quite a pleasant afternoon.

Further Update

2007-01-08T10:48:00.000-08:00

well I've been busy this week doing a variety of different things.
The hockey season restarted with a Devon cup match a way at Ottery St Mary .it's a shame we didn't win But it does put us into the plate competition. I am glad that the girls are playing well again at present, and are putting plenty of effort in, even if were not getting the results.
I've also been busy trying to complete my application to become a GP trainer. This week I had to undertake a tutorial with one of my fellow GPs who was already a trainer. Reviewing the video today I found myself wondering whether it was him that was very talkative or me that was very quiet. One more piece of work to do before the surgery visit. This will happen in February. It's a bit of a moot point at present whether we are in fact qualified to take the new registrar who starts in February. His name is John and he seems like a nice chap when we met him. Certainly he seemed to have some confidence about him and I'm sure he'll do well.

First Post

2006-08-30T03:53:00.000-07:00

Getting started with blogger. I'm unsure as to how often or what exactly I'll post, but then I'm posting this from in the middle of my morning surgery as a GP.... so maybe I'll find the time.