An Enlightening and Fascinating Read

Goodbye!

2011-07-10T21:27:00.000+01:00

So, even though I actually posted today and everything, I think it's time for a change. I have been on this site for seven years now and it's all feeling a little outdated and cluttered. It's time for a cleaner look, I think. So, without further ado, I direct you all to:

Rufibrenta!

All will be explained. Also, I suspect that despite today's enthusiasm for all things blogging and photo-sharing, posts there will become as infrequent as ones here. But who knows! Toodleoo.

Update

2011-07-10T14:28:00.000+01:00

Exciting things in the past
A ten-day holiday in Spain with my family and Tom. We stayed in a lovely villa in a golf resort just outside of Murcia, and spent our time relaxing in the resort's many pools, visiting local cities and sites, and a two-day side trip to Granada to see the amazing Alhambra.

Five weeks at Slimbridge; my best volunteer experience yet. I could happily have stayed at Slimbridge forever. Unfortunately, funds did not permit it... but I will have to go back.

Tom's birthday! He is 23, as I will be in a few weeks. We feel old.

In a similar vein, the cats had their birthday - they just turned two. Not quite so old.

Exciting things at present
It's not terribly exciting, but it does mean that our financial situation will get much better - I have a job! I am going to be a charity fundraiser in a call centre; picture those unbearably cheery people who say "Hello Mrs Smith! My name's Julia, I'm calling from A Very Good Cause, do you have a quick minute to chat?" Hey, it pays the bills.

Exciting things in the future
And the bills it pays are for our next home - Nick has a job in London next year, and Tom and I are less in love with this house than we could be, so we are upping sticks again for a lovely little flat much closer to the centre of Bristol. It has a little courtyard patio thing which I am going to fill with lovely plants in pots, and I am really looking forward to it.

Hungary! A while back I managed to get a fully funded (!! transport there, accommodation, food, even pocket money) volunteer placement with the Barn Owl Foundation in Hungary. They have a shelter for rescued owls, and work on habitat management, education and so on. I'll be there for nine weeks, September to November, and I can't wait.

The next big adventure

2011-05-15T14:52:00.000+01:00

On Tuesday I start a six or seven week volunteering stint at Slimbridge! Slimbridge is one of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust centres; a combination of nature reserve open to wild birds, and a collection of captive waterfowl. It is a fantastic place, a world leader in waterfowl conservation and an important site for birds generally, and I am going to work there! (Unpaid. But still). I will be an Avicultural Assistant, working primarily in the Duckery where they raise the baby ducks and geese. It's full-time, but not too far from here on the train, so I will live at their volunteer hostel during the week and come home for weekends.

I am so - freaking - excited. I primarily worked with Durrell's waterfowl when I was there in 2008, and I think they might be my favourite group of birds. They seem more inclined to have personalities than a lot of the other kinds. I'm looking forward to working with red-breasted geese again, for whom I developed a great affection in Jersey.

So pretty, right?

When I arrived at Durrell there were a few groups of youngsters that had been hand-reared. While I was there they got big enough to go out in the zoo with the rest of the group, but they stayed ridiculously tame the whole time, running up honking whenever they saw a keeper with a bucket. They were one of my favourite things about the zoo, and one of my fondest memories of my time at Durrell is spending a few hours one afternoon baby-sitting them. They were being bullied by the adults of another goose family, and were still figuring out the basics of goose life: I was to try and encourage them onto the grass to eat (they hadn't realised ivy and gravel were not suitable goose food) and also onto the lake to swim, because they had never been in the water. I sat on the floor with them, and eventually they came over, sat around me, and went to sleep.

This was Limpy (my nickname). He, as you may have surmised, had a limp, and couldn't keep up with the rest of the group. His mate was very loyal and stayed with him; they could often be found in with the flamingos. He was always there when I cleaned out the flamingos in the mornings, and enjoyed being sprayed (gently) with the hose. By the end I could recognise him by his face, but at first I used the fact that he had not been pinioned: you can see his wings crossing each other, scissor-like, over his tail. All the others only had one full-length wing.

I am sure Slimbridge will be just as much fun!

A selection of 2011's mini adventures

2011-04-11T15:29:00.002+01:00

At the zoo

Our mother asiatic lion playing with one of her cubs.

I'm afraid I couldn't tell you what this is, but it was very charismatic, and it and I regarded each other closely for quite a while.

One of the roul rouls that live in our walk-through bird exhibit. They know our green uniform, and when you go into the bird house in the afternoon they know it's live-food time - crickets or mealworms, oh boy! - and cluster around your feet.

Two of the inca terns that live with our penguins. The one in the background is eating a fish.

One of our keas eating some mango. I love the keas. They are so clever and inquisitive. After I feed them in the afternoons I like to kneel outside the wire mesh of their enclosure. One of them usually follows me up to the door and I pass him bits of leaf through the wire; he pulls them through and waits to see what I will pass through next. I always get tired of this game before he does.

At bird ringing

Holding a lovely male blackcap. We could tell from his clean, shiny head and noticeably pointed tail feathers that he was a young bird, hatched last year.

A pair of bullfinches that were caught in the net together, just inches apart. Apparently this is quite common. Pairs are inseparable, and if the net does only catch one, the other will usually hang around, calling for its mate. (Those are not, I hope it's obvious, my hands).

A great spotted woodpecker. Beautiful birds, tricky to handle though.

In Oxford

Tom graduated. I was proud.

At home in Bristol

The weather cheered up enough that we were able to have a barbecue - first of the year! Please note the daffodils in our otherwise completely bare flowerbeds - we are not planning on staying in this house long, so it felt pointless to do a great deal of planting, but I needed a bit of colour for spring - and the fact that the boys could not do without a laptop for an hour or so, and brought it out in order to play Thief while the burgers were cooking. (They also bought a 24p pizza from Sainsbury's which we did attempt to barbecue. Whether the failure was the barbecue's fault, or whether it is simply impossible to make a 24p pizza edible, is anyone's guess).

In Peterborough

Back in Peterborough for a family visit, Tom and I took his dog Archie out for a walk. Archie is an English bull terrier. Before I knew Archie, I was a little apprehensive of bull terriers. I had never met one in person, and I'd always thought they were kind of ugly. Archie converted me from the beginning, when I went with Tom's family to meet him, as a puppy, at the breeder's. He was just a little sausage of a thing then, all snuffly nose and tiny teeth, but he was gorgeous, and he has grown into an absolutely lovely dog.

Archie loves me because I frolic with him. I run around madly and caper and bark, he does too, we take breaks to catch our breath, and we're off again. It's awesome.

I want a dog.

Handsome chap!

Hello, friends

2011-03-25T15:27:00.003Z

A quick update on what I am up to these days:

1. The zoo! I was lucky enough to be given a second day, so every Wednesday and Sunday sees me there, pootling around on the bird section. I've gotten to know all the rounds pretty well now so the keepers can pretty much turn me loose and I know what's what. I'm really enjoying getting to know the birds better, too - we have some fantastic ones. And now spring has sprung the zoo itself is looking better and better. The animals love the warmer weather and are out and about more, for better views, plus the icing on the cherry is our two Asiatic lion cubs! It's a critically endangered species, so it's a brilliant achievement for the zoo, but more importantly they are super cute.

2. Bird ringing! For those who don't know, all bird ringing (ie. the placing of little metal bands around birds' legs for identification) in the UK is overseen by the BTO. There are ringing stations dotted about where volunteers get together most weekends to ring birds. The BTO collects all the records and information, and it all forms a hugely important resource for conservation and research. Bird ringing lets us find out things such as migration routes; lifespan; population size; territory size etc. etc.

The practicalities are these. Every Saturday, I get a lift down to the Chew Valley Ringing Station south of Bristol. We get there for around eight in the morning and set up mist nets. Then we sally forth from the station every half hour, extricate any caught birds from the nets, put them individually in cloth bags, take them back to the station, and commence recording. They are weighed, measured, aged and sexed; their fat score and body condition is assessed; their ring number recorded or a ring placed if they are a new bird; if they are exciting (for instance, an eight year old dunnock we caught a few weeks ago) they are photographed; and then they are released, none the worse for wear.

I love working at the zoo but it is something else to actually handle a real, wild bird. And there is so much to learn - getting the birds out of the nets itself is quite an art - and every species has its own little quirks and tricks.

3. And that is all! I quit the letting agents, because it was rubbish, and so I spend the rest of my days at home, playing games, reading, whatever. When we first moved to Bristol I felt a little lost and I was often unhappy at home on my own, but I have adjusted, and I'm a lot better at finding things to do to keep me busy and happy.

In which Hobbes successfully intimidates another cat

2010-11-23T16:09:00.003Z

One of the things that we really liked about this house when we first saw it was that it was cat-friendly: there is no way for the cats to get between the back garden and the road, no side passageways or accessible roofs over which they could climb. Instead there is a nice strip of green spaces (with the exception of our 'garden', which has a bit of growing to do before it can truly earn that name), with only low walls between them, backing onto more gardens at the end. It must be cat heaven, with fences, trees, decking, and all manner of other garden accoutrements for them to climb over, inside and under. And so it is - in addition to our two, we have seen at least five other cats, possibly six. There is a mostly white one with black splodges, which came to visit us quite early on and attempted sneaking inside to steal their food.

Of course Hobbes and Murphy can rely on each other to provide backing, and Hobbes sometimes waits when I let him out for Murphy to join him, and only then will he sally forth. (These photos were taken back in the beginning when our garden was still full of junk left by the previous tenants. Blog on that subject hopefully forthcoming).

There is a Murphy-lookalike, which actually hopped up on our kitchen windowsill the first day we were in the house, and I panicked because I thought Murphy had escaped. There is another fully black one, and a large fluffy ginger. There is at least one tabby, possibly two.

I saw Hobbes on our patio, and went out to say hi, when I noticed the tabby on next door's roof. Hobbes and it had obviously seen each other but were politely pretending ignorance. Once Hobbes had me, however, it was a different matter - he jumped up on the wall and positively stared.

The tabby didn't quite know what to make of this and so did the sensible thing and fled.

... and Hobbes was quick to press his advantage.

Cat at play

2010-11-06T15:19:00.002Z

A slightly late Halloween

2010-11-02T16:24:00.002Z

"What on earth is this? Murphs, any idea?"

"Dunno mate. Smells a bit odd."

"All I can be sure of is that I do not like it."

"Maybe if we stare at it for long enough it will go away."

"Some kind of glowing device... ingenious!"

At least, that's how they sound in my head.

I am so bad at this thing

2010-08-29T10:36:00.003+01:00

So, it's been three months or so? And even longer since I took the effort to type out something longer than a caption. You will forgive me, I hope - things have been busy here, at least for the last few weeks.

August 13th was my last day at work. We had a rabbit spay that day, I think. Nice to have an op to finish work on. I left my uniform and my "Trainee Veterinary Nurse" badge behind, and that was that. This last year has taught me so much, about animals, people, and about myself. I have a better idea of what exactly I want to be, and apparently I am even more picky than I thought, for I can't count vet nurse in that category. I am not interested enough in the medical and surgical side of things. Zookeeping it will have to be.

On that note, I applied for a part-time keeper job at Bristol Zoo, but I was rejected. Turns out they'd received 125 applications for that single position. Learning that made me feel better; it's hardly surprising that I with my two months' zoo work experience was not the best candidate, but it was still a blow. So it's back to the original plan - volunteer at the zoo (they take volunteer keepers if you can commit to one day a week for six months) - and wait till they'll have me. I'll get a part-time job too to bring in some money.

And now it is only three days until the move! We have taken down the posters and packed up the books, and already our little flat is looking quite bare. I can't believe we have spent a year here. I am sad to leave, but looking forward to the Bristol house, and the first month or so of getting everything just right. The obligatory video 'house tour' will hopefully be exciting enough to get me to blog again, at least.

A lucky find

2010-05-15T13:14:00.002+01:00

It takes something as exciting as a free storage unit to rouse me from my non-blogging stupor:

I found it down the road with a post-it saying "If you can use this, please take it!" So I did. And now I am using it, most satisfactorily. I think I will paint it though.

Some people will do anything for a parking space in Oxford

2010-05-03T16:21:00.002+01:00

Dad came up to visit us a few weeks ago. Sleeping on the sofa in the front room, this was the sight that greeted him at three in the morning. I was woken by his yelp of surprise, and then his yell of "THERE'S A CAR. ON FIRE. OUTSIDE THE FLAT". Naturally I called the fire brigade and they arrived a few minutes later, by which time the car was a towering inferno and its windows had started to pop (literally) off. A liberal splashing of water and sand later, all was well, even if the car behind had been slightly melted.

Exciting stuff!

A great victory

2010-03-22T09:36:00.003Z

I would like to draw your attention to the top-left, and mid-right of these photos, respectively.

Yeeeaaaahh. About six or seven years after I got the game, but still. And I even beat Ganon!

Recent adventures

2010-03-13T14:12:00.002Z

A number of new things have been entertaining Hobbes (and therefore Tom and I) lately.

1. Windows, opened for the first time since September or so in honour of a few gloriously sunny spring days. Hobbes was fascinated.

2. A strange young man outside those windows who scrubbed them with a wet sponge, creating a huge number of appealingly chaseable water droplets. Hobbes was a very helpful window-washing assistant.

3. A comfy new bed, lined with Hobbes's (mine) chosen furry cushion, to sleep off all that excitement.

Day two of the Keep-Hobbes-Awake-At-All-Costs-Programme

2010-03-06T20:34:00.005Z

I have a confession to make. I will preface it by saying that Hobbes is great; my life would not be complete without a cat around, and he in particular brings me moments of great happiness, amusement, and wonder. However: he is also somewhat of a little devil.

Normally he sleeps for most of the day, and then has some crazy time in the evening. He puts his ears back, fluffs up his tail, and gallops about the place madly, chewing whatever he comes across. I can cope with this. It's a little annoying, especially when we are trying to go to sleep, but I can accept that he is young and insane and needs to have a frolic. This last week, though, has been particularly bad. In addition to the evening episode he has started having early-hours-of-the-morning frolics. I am slowly woken by the sound of persistent scratching or chewing or clawing, and because it is a gradual awakening it is that much harder to get back to sleep, so when I have to get up for work I am grumpy and snappy and not very well disposed towards Hobbes.

Help was at hand, however, in an edition of Your Cat magazine that I was reading on a slow day at work. A young couple with a young cat of their own were having a similar problem. The cat slept all day, then partied all night, resulting in frazzled owners and a cat very confused as to why no one seemed to like it anymore. The suggested solution: keep your cat awake all day. Whatever it takes, be it constant playing, hiding their food around the house, or taking them for walks on a lead (!), DO NOT LET THEM FALL ASLEEP. I came home that evening galvanised, and pronounced this plan to Tom. He was sceptical (he is, after all, the one who will have to implement this whole thing), but he agreed to give it a go.

So, yesterday morning, when I left for work, Tom came into town with me to spend the day at the library, and we put Hobbes outside. He's never been out while we have before, and he ended up being out for a good six or seven hours. That's a record! When Tom got in that evening Hobbes came in, ate, and then flopped down to sleep. That night's frolic was a little less exuberant than normal, and there was no gambolling about in the wee hours. I awoke refreshed and happy.

Today Tom's been away, so I put Hobbes out this morning and resolutely closed my ears to his miserable pleas. I took pity after a while and let him in, but every time he closed his eyes I chucked his catnip mouse at him, which got him up for a few minutes. When I wanted to settle down with a book, I put him out again. I let him back in permanently at six and he has been asleep since then, obviously exhausted from his shattering morning miaowing outside the door. I would really rather he would go and actually do something in the garden, like climb trees or chew sticks or eat grass, but as long as he is awake I don't mind. We'll see what tonight brings, but I am hopeful. I really want to love him unconditionally, rather than in a I-only-love-you-now-because-I-was-actually-able-to-sleep-last-night sort of way.

Hobbes has left the building

2010-02-23T18:11:00.002Z

Omigosh, you guys. I just opened the door to take the recycling out and Hobbes shot out like a rocket. He didn't hesitate in the hallway, didn't even look back. He ran straight out into the garden and into the darkness. I stood and gawped after him like a loon, being utterly unprepared for the situation of having a cat that goes outside of its own accord. Sure, that was always the plan. Sure, every cat I've ever owned has happily and daily gone outside. Sure, Hobbes has slowly been getting more confident in the Great Outdoors.

But nothing prepared me for this.

This is a Good Thing. And I am happy.

Eek, must catch up

2010-02-19T20:15:00.003Z

I am the worst blogger in the world. In the interests of getting back into regular blogging, a quick summary of everything that has happened since the end of November:

1. We had Christmas. I worked Christmas Eve, then Tom drove us back to Peterborough in thick fog, with Hobbes mewing in the car the whole way. We spent four days at my house, and Hobbes coped admirably, given that he has never really liked other animals and there was one crazy dog and two older cats already in residence. At first he spat and hissed; then he decided he wanted to play and spent Christmas following them around, snatching at their tails (well, Zapp's tail. Sweep doesn't have a tail, and even if he did Hobbes wouldn't have got to it, because Sweep sensibly kept well out of his way). Christmas was lovely and it was fab to meet Suki - the aforementioned crazy dog - who only has three legs and therefore beautifully complements Sweep. If only Zapp had something cut off, we could start a little amputee menagerie.

2. While I'm on the topic of pets (when am I ever off it?) Hobbes ate a two-foot long piece of string. One morning we found piles of vomit everywhere, and he seemed very quiet the whole day. I had decided to take him in to work the next morning if there was no improvement, but that evening the whole situation was made abundantly clear when I had to pull the string out of his bum. It was gross. Still, he's lucky he could get rid of it the 'natural' way... surgery wouldn't have been fun.

3. Hobbes was diagnosed with feline chlamydia. Stop giggling at the back. In cats it tends to cause eye problems and a runny nose. He had another bout of conjunctivitis, but this came on fast, and was worse than last time, so I took him in to work. Because he is insured, we could afford the luxury of an expensive viral test, which unfortunately returned a positive result. It means that he may suffer recurrent conjunctivitis for the rest of his life; we are going to try some special eye drops that should combat it, though. He must have caught it as a kitten. It tends to be transmitted via close face to face contact. Careless nuzzling is a dangerous thing.

Hobbes is like a real cat now.

4. In clearly less important news, Tom got a PhD offer (with funding!) from Bristol! This is really, really fab. The university's probably the best for Tom's particular brand of number theory, and we are both ready for a change, having been at Oxford for four years now. We should be able to afford a house! So obviously my imagination is running completely away with me: I will get a job at the zoo, we will get a second cat and maybe a dog, I will take up gardening etc. Even if none of these heady wishes come true, it will be wonderful. I am really looking forward to September. It will mean giving up this job before I get the chance to go to college, but I am confident I can find another that will make me happy.

5. We had a billion tons of snow. Literally. Look!

On the morning of these photos I was working the early shift. I left the house at eight and Tom had to help me open the outer door to our little flat complex, because the snow was holding it shut. I'd just had a shower and my hair, still wet, froze into little icicles.

I think that will do in the way of an update. I'll try and get back into the swing of things.

Recent Hobbes, in pictures

2009-11-27T20:51:00.002Z

Hobbes is growing up fast. Once he finished all his vaccinations we started letting him out into the garden, under supervision at first, and then increasingly on his own.

... That was the plan, anyway. Turns out Hobbes, despite being a cocky and confident chap when inside, is actually a big wuss. I thought that, with the flat being so small, he would be bouncing off the walls raring to go out, but the first time we opened the door and said "Come on then Hobbes!", he hid. We coaxed him over the doorstep but couldn't get him - even with treats! - further than the front passageway, so drastic measures were called for.

We put him on the lawn.

I thought he would enjoy the feeling of grass under his paws, but I was wrong. He made a beeline for the nearest shelter, which happened to be my parked scooter, and cowered behind it mewing pitifully.

He has improved considerably with repeated (forced) expeditions to the garden, and I am happy to announce that the other day he even had a little frolic, of which I present the following evidence:

He was even brave enough to check out my scooter:

My first two weeks as a trainee vet nurse

2009-11-07T13:03:00.002Z

I am happy to report that, so far at least, I love my job. When I get up at an ungodly hour and drag myself into the shower, I am not particularly pleased about having to leave my warm bed, and Tom, and Hobbes, but I am already looking forward to getting to work, seeing what cases we have, what animals are in, and learning more.

I have learned so much already, and I am starting to feel more and more useful. My first few days were an exercise in keeping as much out of people's way as possible, but now I can actually be of service to the vets and my fellow nurses - I can set up the operating theatre, monitor an animal during a procedure, and clean up afterwards; I can give injections and remove catheters and draw up the correct dosages of various drugs; I can walk dogs on drips (not as easy as it sounds); I can correctly restrain cats and dogs for ultrasounds and taking bloods and sedation; I can use an anaesthetic machine; I can run blood tests and file the results; I can microchip animals; and, of course, I can do a lot of cleaning. But I don't really mind the cleaning - I like the feeling of getting everything clean and hygienic and more pleasant for the animals in our care, and having everything set up and ready to go in case of an emergency.

The practice where I am working mostly sees dogs and cats, but even in those two species the range of cases I have seen already is fascinating. We have a large number of spays and castrations, obviously, but I've seen lots of other things as well - a tiny kitten (three months old, smaller than Hobbes) that had inexplicably eaten an earplug (!) and was at death's door before we got it out; the next day, it was bouncy and happy as if nothing had been wrong. A German shepherd that had swallowed a large stick. A cat that - from the array of bones we got out of its stomach - appeared to have eaten a whole rabbit. A labrador caesarean that ended wonderfully with the birth of four healthy puppies - and, at the other end of the spectrum, a chihuahua caesarean that was less happy, with the extraction of two, long-dead pups, apparently killed by an infection. A cat hit by a car, that came in as a stray, but was reunited with his loving owner because he was microchipped. A collie, hit by a car, that had to have a leg amputated. A cat that had abnormally large eyelids, so we had to snip little bits off. A dog that had eaten a chocolate brownie and couldn't stop throwing up. And the list goes on.

There are some pretty low moments. We had a twenty-one year old cat with major organ failure, resulting in a grossly swollen stomach. It was so aggressive we had to sedate it just to examine it, and the kindest thing was to put it down. Euthanasia is peaceful, but always sad. Yesterday we had an elderly diabetic cat pass away. A cat it lived with had died two weeks earlier, and ever since it had been pining, calling for its friend and not eating. It went into collapse, and we couldn't save it. A case that particularly sticks in my mind happened in my first week - in the evening, a lady brought in a muntjac deer that she'd found, hit by a car, in the road. There was nothing we could do for it - one of its hind legs was completely shattered, there was probably damage to the pelvis, and it was gushing blood from a deep wound on its thigh. We put it to sleep. It was a beautiful animal.

But all that comes with the territory, and is made up for by all the times we can make an animal better or more comfortable. The people I work with are brilliant, and I am very, very happy.

Because I can't really take pictures at work, here is a video of Hobbes being his usual adorable self:

Cambodia, pt. 1

2009-10-23T12:37:00.004+01:00

Before we deployed to the forest to get on with the project we spent a week in the capital, Phnom Penh, getting last-minute kit, attending briefings on the methodology and scientific background, and generally being tourists and enjoying civilisation while we still could.

We visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, a high school which was turned into an infamous death camp (S-21) by the Khmer Rouge. Out of 14,000 or so people 'processed' by the prison, only twelve or so survived. It was not a pleasant place to go, but I think it's a necessary visit for anyone going to Cambodia. Without seeing a place like Tuol Sleng you can't really comprehend what the country has been through, and what it is still recovering from.

On a more light-hearted note, in one of the stairwells there, we found a little cluster of bats:

We saw the Royal Palace, which was absolutely lovely. In one of the courtyards was a strange, rather out-of-place-looking white pavilion. It was apparently a gift from France in the 1800s.

Another key landmark in Phnom Penh is the Independence Monument, built in 1958 to celebrate freedom from France. I liked it best by night, when it's lit up:

We explored various markets, all of which were hot, busy, and crammed to the gunnels with essential items from live chickens to stereos, with a liberal helping of cheesy Khmer cassette tapes thrown in for good measure:

A few of us visited Wat Phnom, a little temple built on the only hill in Phnom Penh. It was fantastically kitsch, with statues of the Buddha rubbing noses with strings of fairy lights, neon lighting, and gaudy paintings.

Near the end of our week in Phnom Penh, we went on a boat trip on the river, and watched the sun set over the city.

One week down, ten more to go...

Hobbes is adorable, again

2009-10-23T11:40:00.001+01:00

Hobbes has discovered that he can make the (not really very big at all) leap between the table and the kitchen counter, resulting in scenes like this:

My scooter is here!

2009-10-19T15:53:00.003+01:00

... and it is AWESOME!

It's brand new, and the website I bought it from said "some assembly required". Their instructions were something like "Just pop the front wheel on and you're good to go!", so I thought it couldn't be too hard, but an hour or so later and only seconds away from a heated argument between me and Tom, we gave up and called a mechanic. He put the wheel on, charged up the battery, checked it over and was generally super.

So now it's roadworthy!

I'm just not sure if I am.

It's going to take a few days to sort out insurance, registration etc., but now my references have come through so I'll hopefully start work this week!

Hobbes is really excited, as you can see.

A shocking state of affairs

2009-10-14T18:08:00.003+01:00

So I noticed that the last post had no pictures of Hobbes in whatsoever. This is a terrible oversight and an issue I plan to remedy immediately with the following pictures taken by Tom's friend Ryan, an awesome photographer and a cat lover to boot:

There, that's much better.

A very eventful week

2009-10-13T14:18:00.003+01:00

As you may or may not know, I have been frantically searching for a job ever since I got back from Cambodia - which is only about three weeks, but it feels like forever. Adult life is expensive! There's rent and council tax and utilities bills, and food shopping and pet food and vet fees, and it has all been a bit stressful as I had no idea when I'd be getting some money coming in. So I handed my CV in to millions of shops in town, and signed up with a temping agency, and emailed off my CV to various places just for good measure, looking for something - anything - to tide me over for the year. Getting a job I might actually enjoy seemed about the unlikeliest thing that could possibly happen.

Then, last Monday, I got three phone calls. One was from the temping agency, saying they'd found me a job for a few months as a cashier, and could I come in for an interview straight away. I was thrilled and said yes. The second was from a different bank, saying they had a position available on a permanent basis for a cashier, and could I come in for an interview in the next few days. I was even more thrilled, and said yes. The third was from a veterinary clinic I had sent my CV to in a fit of wild optimism, saying they had a vacancy for a student veterinary nurse, and could I come in for an interview sometime soon. I pretty much squealed with glee.

I should explain a little about becoming a veterinary nurse. The process is this: you persuade an accredited training clinic to take you on, and then for two years or so you take a day out each week to go to college, ending up with an NVQ in Veterinary Nursing. If you're lucky, your clinic will pay your college fees; some do, some don't. It's hard work - you're working full time and studying for exams at the same time; the pay is very low and doesn't get much higher; you work long hours and some weekends and some bank holidays. When I think about vet nursing, though, all I see is that magical phrase, "working with animals". None of the drawbacks really matter.

So I went in for an interview, and it went well, and I was invited back to spend a morning at the clinic, shadowing the nurses, helping out, seeing what the job involved, that kind of thing. And at the same time I was interviewing and completing paperwork for the other two jobs, and trying desperately not to let my hope that I would get the vet nurse job run away with me. And at the same time I was learning to drive, and looking for, a motorbike, because I could only get the vet nurse job if I had my own transport. It's a floating position - the clinic is run by a large company which owns several practices in Oxfordshire, and you work at two or three of them, depending on who needs you, so there's a fair amount of travel involved.

Yesterday I spent the morning at the clinic, and I had a whale of a time. I walked some dogs, helped draw up medications (handling syringes is harder than doctors and nurses make it look; there's a knack to it), watched a dog undergo surgery for a lacerated paw (I monitored her heartbeat!), prepared the operating theatre for a lump removal, helped ultrasound a cat (soon to be an amputee - she had a cancerous bone growth on her back leg; we were checking her kidneys to make sure it hadn't spread before we took the leg off) and generally thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Yesterday afternoon I was offered the job. It's provisional - although I have now done my CBT and so am allowed to drive a bike or moped up to 125cc, I haven't actually got such a bike or moped - but as soon as I get one, which will hopefully be within the week, I can get to work. I'm so excited!

Of course I am going to be working my buns off and have very, very little money, but I still think I am the luckiest person in the world. I'll have a bike of my own, which I've wanted for years, the job of my dreams, a brilliant flat with the ever-lovely Tom, and crowning it all, like Miss Hamard's proverbial icing on the cherry, Hobbes.

Life is good.

Tour of our flat

2009-10-07T09:49:00.000+01:00

An unfortunate side-effect

2009-10-04T10:39:00.002+01:00

The antibiotics appear to be working; Hobbes's eyes are clearing up, and although he has started to protest a bit more about the tablets I have mastered the knack of getting them down him, so all is well.

However, the antibiotics do seem to have some unforeseen mental repercussions:

Hobbes now thinks he is a fruit.