tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7242447.post-1120569022195830382005-07-05T13:41:00.000+01:002007-02-14T02:15:40.163ZOK, so I last posted in March and now it's July. How did that happen? I think time has speeded up, although it's odd because at the moment it feels like things are taking forever and going really quickly all at the same time. I can't wait to be finished my course, although I still have two years and nine weeks to go (not that I am counting). I can't remember whether I mentioned I had a placement in a private hospital - it was very good, and I have just finished another placement in a children's nursery, which I will for the sake of politeness describe as less good. I didn't learn much on my children's placement that bore anything like a passing resemblance to something which I may need to know for my course, however I did learn the following. 1) Small children are very tiring. They never stop talking, showing you things, breaking things, and causing general mayhem. You have to watch them every second of every minute, unless you happen to like your walls covered in crayon and your trousers covered in snot. 2) It is entirely possible, if you have enough money, to pay other people to look after your child from the age of 3 months onwards, for 10 hours a day, including all meals, so that your parental role is reduced to collecting them from nursery, wiping them with a damp cloth and putting them to bed immediately upon arriving home. Weekends and holidays can also be covered using a combination of baby sitters and holiday childcare facilities, thus leaving you free to carry on your existance unhindered by the demands and needs of your offspring. Alternatively you can achieve the same result by not having any children. 3) I have always had an inkling that I didn't like the kind of people who live in the Surrey commuter belt, name their children "Theodore" or "Germaline" or some such thing, drive fancy cars and can't be bothered to raise their own children. I have learned that I was right: I don't just dislike them, I positively detest them. So as you can imagine I have been an absolute joy to be around for the past 5 weeks. My placement finished last week and as I breathed a sigh of relief on my way out of the building I became aware that I felt a little unwell. 48 hours of mystery puking virus later I will add another learning to my list: 4) Children are not only tiring, noisy and smelly. They are also diseased. Anyway it's all over now. I have two weeks of college, and then I have three weeks off, during which time I will be spending a fortnight in Normandy with the man, my sister and Jon. Hoping for good weather, and that someone will deposit a large sum of money in my bank account before we go, however that seems pretty unlikely. Almost as unlikely in fact, as being paid for the work which I have actually already done.... Try this for a triumph of bureaucracy over common sense: I recently began working for my local hospital, on a contract which requires me to do a very small number of hours per month but on the understanding that I then work as and when I can and I will get paid anything over my contracted hours as overtime. As is the case, except for some reason it turns out that I will get my overtime hours paid for at the end of the year. So now I am having to chase NHS Professionals up and try to get registered with them, a process I got halfway through before I signed my contract with the other place, and which took about two months (to get halfway through) which is why I ended up getting a contract. It will actually cost the hospital in question more per shift to employ me through NHS Professionals than it will to pay me overtime as a direct hospital employee, however it would seem this is the way it must be. Well that's it from me. I am supposed to be working but I think I might go to sleep instead. <div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7242447-112056902219583038?l=flufffrommybrain.blogspot.com'/></div>Flohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06471274142989570176noreply@blogger.com3