Reading Margaret's blog has brought back many memories of my nurse training. It was hard work, but also good fun, probably the best 3 years of my life. I had a secondment for my Psychiatric training waiting for me after completing my RGN. Before the training I had done voluntary work at the ESMI Unit at Accy Vic. I loved it there and the ward sister and manager had arranged for me to have a psychiatric training secondment so that I could go back to work on the psychiatric unit with dual qualifications.

I looked forward to my psychiatric placement during my general training, I thought I would feel at home there and I already knew some of the staff. How wrong I was......

I wouldn't go so far as to say that I hated...

This has been bugging me for a while. Now I know that men and women are fundamentally different, but there is no greater difference between the 2 genders than the ability to give directions. My expericences in the last 12 months have led me to come to the above conclusion..... Here's why......

I have a generally good sense of direction and am able to read maps. I usually get to wherever I'm going without getting lost. On the other hand, Sparky has a fantastic sense of direction, and always seems to know exactly where he's going without the aid of a map, compass or any other diagrammatic navigational aid.

The main difference between us is that when Sparks is directing me anywhere I tend to feel quite lost. Here's...

I'm looking forward to a night out. My hair is washed and I'm letting it dry naturally. I figure that I'll have more luck with the straighteners if I don't tire my arms out trying to blow dry the mop first. Had a couple of fairly uneventful days at work, easing myself in gradually so to speak.

Went to visit my mate Angie the other night. We were looking through brochures for ideas of where to have this Carribean wedding. Everywhere looks lovely, and I don't really mind where it is. Her daughter was moaning because she wants to come to the wedding and can't if it's abroad. She's nearly 19 and working but still expects her mum to pay for everything. She got pretty short shrift from me, as much as I love her to bits it's high time...

Had a phone call from Sparks this morning. He's not a happy bunny. The hotel that they are staying in in France is a real dive and 5 miles out of town. They are hopefully moving to a new place tomorrow after refusing to stay in the dive any longer. The factory is as hot as hell and the French won't let them work on Sunday, so they are losing pay. Believe me, that is enough to tip Sparks over the edge....... At least he sounds alright, in a tightly wound sort of way. We still don't know when he will be back.

The good news is that Grego has managed to get a babysitter for Saturday, so she will be coming with me to the meet up/ drink fest. I can't stay out too late or drink too much because I am working on Sunday.

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Had a message from Sparks this morning. Their ferry arrived safely in Belgium this morning and they are stuck on the Belgian peripherique in traffic trying to make their way to Charleville in France. From the messages that I received last night, it sounds like he may have had rather a lot of Strongbow on the ferry.... Not a bad job this.......Getting tanked up on the ferry and being paid for it.

Decided yesterday that I am going to start giving blog karma. I really enjoy reading some of these blogs, but have never noticed a karma button on the blog pages. A lot of effort goes into writing the blogs, and some of them are so amusing/witty/touching, that I decided that they deserve karma. Gave out my first lot last night, but unfortunately...