Winter wonderland
How are you all?, thanks to BBC world and SKY, we are aware of the weather there, and knowing how England simply “Shuts down” under more than 1cm of light snow, I have visions of you all wrapped in many extra layers. Starting with thick vests and ending with copious scarves around your necks and bobble hats on your heads [not bobbling, I might add], drinking brothy steaming soup, and doing a lot of foot stamping around braziers of roasted chestnuts….. even roasting oxes on the Thames… Its amazing how rapidly one starts to romanticize these events when your not in the midst of it.
I hope that everyone is OK and managing to negotiate treacherous roads without mishap.
They said last night, that the bad weather was set in for the next 6 weeks, this means that I shall catch the end of it in March when I return for two weeks…..Lord only knows where my vests are! I imagine many of the locals are now wearing the contents of a missing box of my assorted “Dawn`s summer/ vest tops/bikini’s & swimwear” [so its says on our manifest], to be perfectly frank much of the content of this missing box, was full of “things” that are rashly purchased at the ninth hour, with hot holidays looming and which you only dare wear once [or not at all!] Knowing that no one you meet will ever see you again. So I’m not missing the box, but I may have cause to regret the loss of the vest tops come March. Anyway,I`m thinking of you all and if I could send you some warming sunshine, I would.
[I will try very hard, to contain any comments relating to heat/sun etc, but cant promise I posses either the patience or attention span. so please forgive]
BEYOND THE GREEN GATES
Beyond the green metal, electronic gates, that contains the farm house, its buildings and gardens. Lie the vineyards to the front, they stretch out to Geritts land, on one side ,and drift along the contours of the sandy soil, seeping idly towards the Augrabies road And on the other, are separated by the access track to the farm, a large storage shed [full of Bossies “erotica furniture”] and the campon beyond that.
Beside the vines, stand Quiver trees and the odd camel thorn, which apart from the vines are the only tall vegetation, the rest being grey green low growing, scrubby grasses tufting out from under massive piles of iron streaked rocks and huge oval boulders that were cleared, many years ago, in order to create the vineyards.
Behind the farm is a small coralle, which at the moment contains, Moses decreasing flock of chickens, then the drying slabs which are separated from the uncultivated moonscape land, by patches of thick, sinuous reedy grasses that stand about 12 foot high.. They begin to wave the moment the desert winds pick up and I now use them as wind gauges.
I rarely venture into this moonscape, as at this time of year, snakes come out of their hidey holes to bask on the huge boulders in the unbearable heat [whoops] ,to warm their cold blood.
I have no desire to see how Bee,Bongo or I,would cope with a puff adder, mid saunter.[still not equipped with my bronco Lane throwing knife !].
The land here is so richly deposited with minerals, that the moonscape is liberally sprinkled with pink quartz and fools gold!,[you can kick it around its so plentiful ] and, I`m convinced rough diamonds.[these are not so plentiful, and I haven’t actually found one yet!.]
... Far beyond this moonscape, just visible on the horizon, lays our other neighbours land. Nickoo,a very conservative soul,who,I sense we see only, because he currently rents our vines.
For the past evenings, once the heat has dropped out of the day and before the sun sets, I have slipped Bongo in his bright blue acrylic“puppy collar” and clipped on his garish red woven lead, which is sadly, all I could find !.and taken both he and Bee into this, “great beyond.” Both Bee and I are suffering from the excesses of the recently departed season, and conversely, Bongo is weighty enough, to endure gentle walking for half an hour on his lead. All three of us benefit from the change of scenery .Living behind the green gates can be a little like living in a bubble. Whilst there is plenty of garden and sand dunes for the dogs to pad around in, these walks provide a good break.
Bongo has been walking around for weeks now, with a permanently orange snout, from his sand dune exploits. He delights in dive bombing them, using his nose as the attack point, Im sure that he is also convinced about the diamonds. These he believes, lie deep under the dunes .Once his nostrils are completely blocked!, he uses his paws at breathtaking speed, and like a thing possessed ,to scrabble into the dunes, and only stops when he unearths a small stick or a clump of grass, which for him, appears as valuable, and infinitely more interesting than a diamond.[I have to admit that I don’t share his view] .
So having decided that all three of us are going cabin crazy. we now walk. The dogs sit waiting for me to press the remote control,and once the gates groan open, Bee pelts off, leaving me with a little black slithering snake of a Bongo ,thrashing around, flashes of black and blue and red., until finally he calms,and begrudgingly accepts that for the moment ,I am tethered to him..
Bee changes her soporific approach to life, the moment she is beyond the green gate, and becomes a wild and dangerous creature. With her vast body mass, she pitches and wheels on her hind legs, pirouetting, leaping and charging, without the slightest regard for us or for the vines. I stand, gob smacked, by her antics. Bongo is seriously impressed…so seriously impressed, that during her quieter moments he sidles up to her kissing her jowls and telling her she is “some kind of Bitch”. As we turn towards home, she has exhausted herself, and he is able to walk by her side, proudly and urgently wanting her to take notice of him.
We return, hot and exhausted from these half hour forays into the “wilderness”, the dogs simply lap water and collapse onto the cool tiles ,and I am energized and ready to crack on with whatever it is I have chosen to do.
Wet noses and wagging tails [or not!]
I have decided that my recently acquired troglodytic lifestyle,[ caused solely by the temperature], is very unhealthy. Added to which, I have developed an alarming coke habit..not so as to impact on my septum you understand. Coke zero [which only I, drink] is being consumed at the most alarming rate, I must be sleepwalking [something of a family trait!],because I bought several liters of the stuff on Friday, and by Monday, was forced to go cold turkey, as none was to be had in the entire household, simply had to resort to Mr Vaughn’s wine..more about this later!.
Having an appointment with Mr Laterghan, the vet in Up, this morning,[Monday 2nd]
I decided to forgo my usual cans of coke on the trip, and armed myself with several bottles of iced water, which the dogs also need for the lengthy round trip.[they struggle more than I do with the lids!]
This is the first time that both have been in the car together, and I was wondering if it would work. Bee has always been a brilliant car dog and Bongo has displayed all the traits of following in her footsteps. They were both stars!!!!, its no fun driving for an hour, being “prodded” at the vets, and then back in the car for another hour.
Mr Laterghan, heralded Bongo, to the assembled and very full waiting room, as the pup that arrived on Christmas day, close to being permanently paralyzed.[there is a new spin on it!].
You could tell that not a soul believed him, as Bongo was, at that exact moment, sitting on top of a recumbent Bee`s back, with his legs splayed either side of her immense girth [like he was riding a horse] biting at her lead, throwing his head from left to right, doing his pretend “big dog” growls. And she was completely ignoring him.
Mr Laterghan whisked him up into his arms and onto his table and gave him a thorough exam, he kept looking at Bongo shaking his head and saying with a broad grin, “Bongo,Bongo,Bongo, how is it possible”. Bongo, sat looking at the vet ,very seriously, with his huge water buffalo eyes, and then decided he had been given an invitation to leap up and lick Mr Laterghan`s chin and bite his collar, wagging furiously. This man seems truly amazed that Bongo escaped any long term damage from his injury.
He then introduced himself to Bee very gently[having been informed of her partial deafness],I had requested more eye drops for her, as we have run out of the supplies I brought with me. He asked if I would take some photos of her eyes and email them to him, strange request, but he wants a colleague in Cape Town to look at the pictures and give his opinion, Both dogs given worming tabs, Tick treatments,[hugely important here as these disgusting creatures lay their eggs in the SAND!!] Both had jabs. Bongo also had his microchip injected [ouch!]. Despite his full waiting room, the vet insisted on walking with us, back to the car, watching how Bongo moved and simply shaking his head with delight at how this little chap is growing up. Finally he said “you know you have yourself a great dog there.” I just beamed….. How ridiculous…… I felt as proud as if someone had praised one of my children, Coupled with the fact that Bee has been christened by the locals as “the dog that you can take to church with you”…[praise indeed ,for these people take their churchgoing incredibly seriously]…
So, at least my dogs are paragons of virtue and health….I need to do some serious catching up!
Before we departed for the vets this morning, I did the first of my early morning swims…IMPRESSED? I was!
Disappointingly, I managed only 7 lengths of the 10 meter pool, before I needed a break, so this is now set as a target to move up from. 10 next time and then “infinity and beyond!”
Little
We have not seen him since we dropped him off in Cape Town on the 20th January, but we have heard from him, and he seems bouncy and chatty and ..Dare I say it…glimmerings of happiness are starting to pepper his conversation? He spent last weekend with a friend’s family in Cape Town and …joy of joys…..had a bumbling family weekend with them, which I know he will have thoroughly enjoyed. Cant quite describe how much I am looking forward to spending the weekend with him on the 20th Feb.
Oma [ Big`s Mum,] fly’s into Cape Town from Amsterdam, on the same day,and the weekend promises to be fun,Oma will return with us to the farm to celebrate Bossy`s birthday on the 23rd [payback day for him I think!.]And spend some time with us before continuing her Africa tour, to see friends in Jo berg. Once again plenty of anticipated joy at seeing Oma, traditionally we make each other hoot with laughter, she is a lot of fun and I know,is desperate to see how we have settled into our new lives.
RETRACTION
Following a long conversation with Jell,I have promised to explain her lack of communications from Ethiopia.
A severe bout of D+V, rudely announced itself during her return trek, from the hills. As a result she had taken to her bed in Gonda for several days and was only forced up, as they had to travel onwards to Adis Ababa, where she thought that she would find internet, still suffering, she was unable to move far from her bed and sadly the hostel had no internet. She was utterly horrified by the “howler” I emailed her, having discovered she was back from the hills,and having read the last blog she asked me to post a short explanation of her tardiness.
How are you all?, thanks to BBC world and SKY, we are aware of the weather there, and knowing how England simply “Shuts down” under more than 1cm of light snow, I have visions of you all wrapped in many extra layers. Starting with thick vests and ending with copious scarves around your necks and bobble hats on your heads [not bobbling, I might add], drinking brothy steaming soup, and doing a lot of foot stamping around braziers of roasted chestnuts….. even roasting oxes on the Thames… Its amazing how rapidly one starts to romanticize these events when your not in the midst of it.
I hope that everyone is OK and managing to negotiate treacherous roads without mishap.
They said last night, that the bad weather was set in for the next 6 weeks, this means that I shall catch the end of it in March when I return for two weeks…..Lord only knows where my vests are! I imagine many of the locals are now wearing the contents of a missing box of my assorted “Dawn`s summer/ vest tops/bikini’s & swimwear” [so its says on our manifest], to be perfectly frank much of the content of this missing box, was full of “things” that are rashly purchased at the ninth hour, with hot holidays looming and which you only dare wear once [or not at all!] Knowing that no one you meet will ever see you again. So I’m not missing the box, but I may have cause to regret the loss of the vest tops come March. Anyway,I`m thinking of you all and if I could send you some warming sunshine, I would.
[I will try very hard, to contain any comments relating to heat/sun etc, but cant promise I posses either the patience or attention span. so please forgive]
BEYOND THE GREEN GATES
Beyond the green metal, electronic gates, that contains the farm house, its buildings and gardens. Lie the vineyards to the front, they stretch out to Geritts land, on one side ,and drift along the contours of the sandy soil, seeping idly towards the Augrabies road And on the other, are separated by the access track to the farm, a large storage shed [full of Bossies “erotica furniture”] and the campon beyond that.
Beside the vines, stand Quiver trees and the odd camel thorn, which apart from the vines are the only tall vegetation, the rest being grey green low growing, scrubby grasses tufting out from under massive piles of iron streaked rocks and huge oval boulders that were cleared, many years ago, in order to create the vineyards.
Behind the farm is a small coralle, which at the moment contains, Moses decreasing flock of chickens, then the drying slabs which are separated from the uncultivated moonscape land, by patches of thick, sinuous reedy grasses that stand about 12 foot high.. They begin to wave the moment the desert winds pick up and I now use them as wind gauges.
I rarely venture into this moonscape, as at this time of year, snakes come out of their hidey holes to bask on the huge boulders in the unbearable heat [whoops] ,to warm their cold blood.
I have no desire to see how Bee,Bongo or I,would cope with a puff adder, mid saunter.[still not equipped with my bronco Lane throwing knife !].
The land here is so richly deposited with minerals, that the moonscape is liberally sprinkled with pink quartz and fools gold!,[you can kick it around its so plentiful ] and, I`m convinced rough diamonds.[these are not so plentiful, and I haven’t actually found one yet!.]
... Far beyond this moonscape, just visible on the horizon, lays our other neighbours land. Nickoo,a very conservative soul,who,I sense we see only, because he currently rents our vines.
For the past evenings, once the heat has dropped out of the day and before the sun sets, I have slipped Bongo in his bright blue acrylic“puppy collar” and clipped on his garish red woven lead, which is sadly, all I could find !.and taken both he and Bee into this, “great beyond.” Both Bee and I are suffering from the excesses of the recently departed season, and conversely, Bongo is weighty enough, to endure gentle walking for half an hour on his lead. All three of us benefit from the change of scenery .Living behind the green gates can be a little like living in a bubble. Whilst there is plenty of garden and sand dunes for the dogs to pad around in, these walks provide a good break.
Bongo has been walking around for weeks now, with a permanently orange snout, from his sand dune exploits. He delights in dive bombing them, using his nose as the attack point, Im sure that he is also convinced about the diamonds. These he believes, lie deep under the dunes .Once his nostrils are completely blocked!, he uses his paws at breathtaking speed, and like a thing possessed ,to scrabble into the dunes, and only stops when he unearths a small stick or a clump of grass, which for him, appears as valuable, and infinitely more interesting than a diamond.[I have to admit that I don’t share his view] .
So having decided that all three of us are going cabin crazy. we now walk. The dogs sit waiting for me to press the remote control,and once the gates groan open, Bee pelts off, leaving me with a little black slithering snake of a Bongo ,thrashing around, flashes of black and blue and red., until finally he calms,and begrudgingly accepts that for the moment ,I am tethered to him..
Bee changes her soporific approach to life, the moment she is beyond the green gate, and becomes a wild and dangerous creature. With her vast body mass, she pitches and wheels on her hind legs, pirouetting, leaping and charging, without the slightest regard for us or for the vines. I stand, gob smacked, by her antics. Bongo is seriously impressed…so seriously impressed, that during her quieter moments he sidles up to her kissing her jowls and telling her she is “some kind of Bitch”. As we turn towards home, she has exhausted herself, and he is able to walk by her side, proudly and urgently wanting her to take notice of him.
We return, hot and exhausted from these half hour forays into the “wilderness”, the dogs simply lap water and collapse onto the cool tiles ,and I am energized and ready to crack on with whatever it is I have chosen to do.
Wet noses and wagging tails [or not!]
I have decided that my recently acquired troglodytic lifestyle,[ caused solely by the temperature], is very unhealthy. Added to which, I have developed an alarming coke habit..not so as to impact on my septum you understand. Coke zero [which only I, drink] is being consumed at the most alarming rate, I must be sleepwalking [something of a family trait!],because I bought several liters of the stuff on Friday, and by Monday, was forced to go cold turkey, as none was to be had in the entire household, simply had to resort to Mr Vaughn’s wine..more about this later!.
Having an appointment with Mr Laterghan, the vet in Up, this morning,[Monday 2nd]
I decided to forgo my usual cans of coke on the trip, and armed myself with several bottles of iced water, which the dogs also need for the lengthy round trip.[they struggle more than I do with the lids!]
This is the first time that both have been in the car together, and I was wondering if it would work. Bee has always been a brilliant car dog and Bongo has displayed all the traits of following in her footsteps. They were both stars!!!!, its no fun driving for an hour, being “prodded” at the vets, and then back in the car for another hour.
Mr Laterghan, heralded Bongo, to the assembled and very full waiting room, as the pup that arrived on Christmas day, close to being permanently paralyzed.[there is a new spin on it!].
You could tell that not a soul believed him, as Bongo was, at that exact moment, sitting on top of a recumbent Bee`s back, with his legs splayed either side of her immense girth [like he was riding a horse] biting at her lead, throwing his head from left to right, doing his pretend “big dog” growls. And she was completely ignoring him.
Mr Laterghan whisked him up into his arms and onto his table and gave him a thorough exam, he kept looking at Bongo shaking his head and saying with a broad grin, “Bongo,Bongo,Bongo, how is it possible”. Bongo, sat looking at the vet ,very seriously, with his huge water buffalo eyes, and then decided he had been given an invitation to leap up and lick Mr Laterghan`s chin and bite his collar, wagging furiously. This man seems truly amazed that Bongo escaped any long term damage from his injury.
He then introduced himself to Bee very gently[having been informed of her partial deafness],I had requested more eye drops for her, as we have run out of the supplies I brought with me. He asked if I would take some photos of her eyes and email them to him, strange request, but he wants a colleague in Cape Town to look at the pictures and give his opinion, Both dogs given worming tabs, Tick treatments,[hugely important here as these disgusting creatures lay their eggs in the SAND!!] Both had jabs. Bongo also had his microchip injected [ouch!]. Despite his full waiting room, the vet insisted on walking with us, back to the car, watching how Bongo moved and simply shaking his head with delight at how this little chap is growing up. Finally he said “you know you have yourself a great dog there.” I just beamed….. How ridiculous…… I felt as proud as if someone had praised one of my children, Coupled with the fact that Bee has been christened by the locals as “the dog that you can take to church with you”…[praise indeed ,for these people take their churchgoing incredibly seriously]…
So, at least my dogs are paragons of virtue and health….I need to do some serious catching up!
Before we departed for the vets this morning, I did the first of my early morning swims…IMPRESSED? I was!
Disappointingly, I managed only 7 lengths of the 10 meter pool, before I needed a break, so this is now set as a target to move up from. 10 next time and then “infinity and beyond!”
Little
We have not seen him since we dropped him off in Cape Town on the 20th January, but we have heard from him, and he seems bouncy and chatty and ..Dare I say it…glimmerings of happiness are starting to pepper his conversation? He spent last weekend with a friend’s family in Cape Town and …joy of joys…..had a bumbling family weekend with them, which I know he will have thoroughly enjoyed. Cant quite describe how much I am looking forward to spending the weekend with him on the 20th Feb.
Oma [ Big`s Mum,] fly’s into Cape Town from Amsterdam, on the same day,and the weekend promises to be fun,Oma will return with us to the farm to celebrate Bossy`s birthday on the 23rd [payback day for him I think!.]And spend some time with us before continuing her Africa tour, to see friends in Jo berg. Once again plenty of anticipated joy at seeing Oma, traditionally we make each other hoot with laughter, she is a lot of fun and I know,is desperate to see how we have settled into our new lives.
RETRACTION
Following a long conversation with Jell,I have promised to explain her lack of communications from Ethiopia.
A severe bout of D+V, rudely announced itself during her return trek, from the hills. As a result she had taken to her bed in Gonda for several days and was only forced up, as they had to travel onwards to Adis Ababa, where she thought that she would find internet, still suffering, she was unable to move far from her bed and sadly the hostel had no internet. She was utterly horrified by the “howler” I emailed her, having discovered she was back from the hills,and having read the last blog she asked me to post a short explanation of her tardiness.
She said that she had been moved deeply by her work in Ethiopia, and particularly by the hill tribe experiences. She wouldn’t/couldn’t, go into any depth over the phone, but did explain that on a purely personal level, the conditions were about as basic as it gets …no running water ,electricity, no toilet facilities.nothing.They had slept in tents, and the weather plunges to below freezing at nights. She said that they has lost all sense of time there and when she and Jess realized that it was time to go back to Gonda, they had hugged each other and wept with absolute joy. To be leaving! And then felt immensely guilty, at all that they were leaving behind!. They had been warned by the charity that they represented, that they would not cope, for very long in this situation, and she felt that they were at cracking point on the day of their departure.
She has promised that she will write a piece relating her experiences in Ethiopia, and as so many people have asked how she is, I will post it on the blog. Don’t expect it anytime soon though. When last I spoke they were heading to some remote spot on horse back! Roll on her safe return to the UK mid February.
How to secure a doctoring position within the NHS without using your name
Jessie will be cross with me for posting this bit, but I have to. She, along with all other final year medics countrywide, had to submit job applications to the NHS during late summer; this is a new system where they are not allowed to reveal on their application forms, what university they attend, or their names, and they apply as a “number”.[as far as I can understand this was to stop the “jobs for the boys” system, the predecessor of the “new system”]
The job application process is like a UCAS form but about four times the length and with a medical bent. At some point on the forms Students are asked to list what hospitals they have preferences for working in, although the system is so flawed, that any preferences, are rarely taken notice of, as a result of the points system that a medical board use to grade every application.
Only those students graded in the top 10% ,will have their preferences actively considered. Those that fall anywhere below this level, get hurled into several “melting pots” based upon their grade, and this is where their “preferred” hospital choices, can affect each students application negatively.
. If you have requested that you work your F1 & F2, years at high profile London area, teaching hospital, and you score an average mark on your application, then your number is tossed into the lowest melting pot. If you score an average mark, and have asked to work in, a less high profile provincial hospital, then your number is thrown into a middle melting pot.
This is why you hear stories in the press, of recently qualified doctors, who despite having an excellent study record and exam results throughout their training, find themselves without any job at all, once they have qualified, as their application must have been scored either averagely or poorly and they may have applied to high profile hospitals. Leaving them firmly “out in the cold”.
[This is a very simplistic explanation, and for those of you who know the process more intimately, I apologize for the generality of my account. In essence though, I believe that this is how the process works.]
The entire application process is therefore very tactical, and I know that Jessie thought long & hard before deciding how to pitch hers.
That she chose to go the “all or nothing approach” Is my only claim to any involvement in her success, Its clearly genetic! But probably has more to do with some inner confidence on her part.
To her utter delight [and as usual disbelief], she has been graded in the top 10 percent, and is thanking her lucky stars that she had the courage to apply for “South West Thames” encompassing many of the teaching hospitals, that attract top consultants and professors, under who’s wings she will fly for the next two years.
Her preference has been positively accepted and she will find out where she will formally begin her F1 & F2 Doctoring years upon her return to the UK. All of this, is of course dependant upon her passing her finals which take place in a couple of months.
Despite this MINOR hurdle,I want Jessie to know that I am so deeply proud of her.[I know that she will be squirming with embarrassment when she reads this rather public congratulation] She deserves great applause, six hard years of intense study, of financial and practical and occasionally emotional hardship, borne with the most incredible focus, have to be acknowledged.
Unlike so many of her co medics at Imperial, Jessie has had to rely largely on her student loan and where she could, part time jobs. Latterly NHS bursaries, grants and an award, have all have helped her to “hang on in there”, but it has been, by no means easy for her. Her ability and intent to doctor has never been in question, but the practicalities of achieving this goal have been incredibly hard won…Woops lets not tempt fate…. the finals have yet to take place, but regardless of this Jessie; you are a bright and shining
star in my universe, and I’m totally unabashed about everyone knowing it.
My Boys, will not need me to explain that they are not being marginalized in any way by this statement, for each of them knows that they also shine equally brightly for me, and all for different reasons, such is the joy of being mother to many.
,I do know, that they will all be equally delighted for Jessie.
Mr Vaughn’s wines.
As promised, an update on my sampling of South African whites. ..Pretty disgusting, although a marginal improvement on the local wines….but so far, none to my taste . I regret bitterly taking his recommendation for Vaughns own lable “good everyday drinking white” and rashly buying three!, the last half of the first bottle found its way into a spaghetti bolognaise. Clearly I am going to have to upgrade to the BLING range!!!!!!
I know that south Africa has something of a track record in wine producing..Never on the scale of France ,but with over 350 years of viticultural experience, there are decent wines out there, I know it.
Maybe my preference for the complex white French burgundy styles, will eclipse anything South Africa can produce, but …somewhere out there is a wine waiting to be discovered and sent by the case load to the Northern Cape.
Update on art
OK…I have made a very tentative start, and am already frustrated because I cant access the materials I need…no convenient, if outrageously expensive art shop like in Newbury, certainly no “discounted” supply shop, as at university….I have hit that “sourcing problem” again…and can see that its going to cause many more frustrations.
So rather than get cross, I am trying to turn my irritation into production and think of what else I can use. not necessarily in my art boxes !….lateral thinking rules out here….So as I bid everyone a fond farewell I’m still thinking how to circumnavigate the “art materials problem “ and hope that by the next post, I will have found some solution.
Incidentally, Bongo has been utterly fascinated by my arty antics…and insisted on helping me at every stage. In reality he has been a complete blixum, and has left dog prints all over a large sheet of very expensive water colour paper, that survived its trip from the UK . I took this picture of him when he finally decided to calm down, and simply lay right in the middle of the 1.3X 1.8 sheet!!!
Blowing kisses on the lips to all.
DawnXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
She has promised that she will write a piece relating her experiences in Ethiopia, and as so many people have asked how she is, I will post it on the blog. Don’t expect it anytime soon though. When last I spoke they were heading to some remote spot on horse back! Roll on her safe return to the UK mid February.
How to secure a doctoring position within the NHS without using your name
Jessie will be cross with me for posting this bit, but I have to. She, along with all other final year medics countrywide, had to submit job applications to the NHS during late summer; this is a new system where they are not allowed to reveal on their application forms, what university they attend, or their names, and they apply as a “number”.[as far as I can understand this was to stop the “jobs for the boys” system, the predecessor of the “new system”]
The job application process is like a UCAS form but about four times the length and with a medical bent. At some point on the forms Students are asked to list what hospitals they have preferences for working in, although the system is so flawed, that any preferences, are rarely taken notice of, as a result of the points system that a medical board use to grade every application.
Only those students graded in the top 10% ,will have their preferences actively considered. Those that fall anywhere below this level, get hurled into several “melting pots” based upon their grade, and this is where their “preferred” hospital choices, can affect each students application negatively.
. If you have requested that you work your F1 & F2, years at high profile London area, teaching hospital, and you score an average mark on your application, then your number is tossed into the lowest melting pot. If you score an average mark, and have asked to work in, a less high profile provincial hospital, then your number is thrown into a middle melting pot.
This is why you hear stories in the press, of recently qualified doctors, who despite having an excellent study record and exam results throughout their training, find themselves without any job at all, once they have qualified, as their application must have been scored either averagely or poorly and they may have applied to high profile hospitals. Leaving them firmly “out in the cold”.
[This is a very simplistic explanation, and for those of you who know the process more intimately, I apologize for the generality of my account. In essence though, I believe that this is how the process works.]
The entire application process is therefore very tactical, and I know that Jessie thought long & hard before deciding how to pitch hers.
That she chose to go the “all or nothing approach” Is my only claim to any involvement in her success, Its clearly genetic! But probably has more to do with some inner confidence on her part.
To her utter delight [and as usual disbelief], she has been graded in the top 10 percent, and is thanking her lucky stars that she had the courage to apply for “South West Thames” encompassing many of the teaching hospitals, that attract top consultants and professors, under who’s wings she will fly for the next two years.
Her preference has been positively accepted and she will find out where she will formally begin her F1 & F2 Doctoring years upon her return to the UK. All of this, is of course dependant upon her passing her finals which take place in a couple of months.
Despite this MINOR hurdle,I want Jessie to know that I am so deeply proud of her.[I know that she will be squirming with embarrassment when she reads this rather public congratulation] She deserves great applause, six hard years of intense study, of financial and practical and occasionally emotional hardship, borne with the most incredible focus, have to be acknowledged.
Unlike so many of her co medics at Imperial, Jessie has had to rely largely on her student loan and where she could, part time jobs. Latterly NHS bursaries, grants and an award, have all have helped her to “hang on in there”, but it has been, by no means easy for her. Her ability and intent to doctor has never been in question, but the practicalities of achieving this goal have been incredibly hard won…Woops lets not tempt fate…. the finals have yet to take place, but regardless of this Jessie; you are a bright and shining
star in my universe, and I’m totally unabashed about everyone knowing it.
My Boys, will not need me to explain that they are not being marginalized in any way by this statement, for each of them knows that they also shine equally brightly for me, and all for different reasons, such is the joy of being mother to many.
,I do know, that they will all be equally delighted for Jessie.
Mr Vaughn’s wines.
As promised, an update on my sampling of South African whites. ..Pretty disgusting, although a marginal improvement on the local wines….but so far, none to my taste . I regret bitterly taking his recommendation for Vaughns own lable “good everyday drinking white” and rashly buying three!, the last half of the first bottle found its way into a spaghetti bolognaise. Clearly I am going to have to upgrade to the BLING range!!!!!!
I know that south Africa has something of a track record in wine producing..Never on the scale of France ,but with over 350 years of viticultural experience, there are decent wines out there, I know it.
Maybe my preference for the complex white French burgundy styles, will eclipse anything South Africa can produce, but …somewhere out there is a wine waiting to be discovered and sent by the case load to the Northern Cape.
Update on art
OK…I have made a very tentative start, and am already frustrated because I cant access the materials I need…no convenient, if outrageously expensive art shop like in Newbury, certainly no “discounted” supply shop, as at university….I have hit that “sourcing problem” again…and can see that its going to cause many more frustrations.
So rather than get cross, I am trying to turn my irritation into production and think of what else I can use. not necessarily in my art boxes !….lateral thinking rules out here….So as I bid everyone a fond farewell I’m still thinking how to circumnavigate the “art materials problem “ and hope that by the next post, I will have found some solution.
Incidentally, Bongo has been utterly fascinated by my arty antics…and insisted on helping me at every stage. In reality he has been a complete blixum, and has left dog prints all over a large sheet of very expensive water colour paper, that survived its trip from the UK . I took this picture of him when he finally decided to calm down, and simply lay right in the middle of the 1.3X 1.8 sheet!!!
Blowing kisses on the lips to all.
DawnXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
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