Halloween Rant

Its that time of the year where the beggars, err I mean kids, come out and ask/demand that you give them something on the very thin premise that I must do so because its Halloween. I remember way back in my day when you had to dress up and do a little routine to earn any sweets that you might get.
Not any more it seems, kids nowadays bang on your door just tell you to give them something without even doing so much as dressing up slightly. And whats more they even have the nerve to ask for money. Money!! When did that start happening and why?
Thats not all either; they'll egg your house if you don't pay up. Its like an annually enforced protection racket legalized by the concept of Halloween; well I say legalized, its more that the police are over stretched dealing with bricks through windows ( a popular replacement for the classic egg in the rougher areas) that they'll never get to your egging in time, let alone catch the kid who'll be long gone by then.

Sometimes it amazes me how much the world has changed since I was a kid; which wasn't actually that long ago...

Strange Circumstances + Bloody Eyes

Today I came across a very unusual situation; I couldn't afford to go to work.

To be honest, I couldn't afford to even buy lunch or take the bus all week, resulting in more physical exercise than my oh so lazy self is used to on far less food than I'm used to. Its been a good thing as the food I do take with me is actually a bazillion times better than the slop the serve out at the burger van (which is a hundred times better than the stuff in the college canteen) and I'm getting some proper exercise.
But I digress, I cant afford to go to work (something I haven't been able to go to recently after burning my hand (I'm digressing again)). It made me wonder how many people cant afford to go to work; it seems almost ridiculous. But it must happen, it actually made me think of the phrase "You have to spend money to make money" which is surprisingly true in almost every case imaginable.
I actually had a look about Google on the subject and came across an article about a woman who was on income support and going to work would actually reduce their income. This world seems so flawed and stupid sometimes.
I've actually lost my train of thought, well I say lost it derailed and went crashing off a bridge , I thought I had something to write about but apparently it seems to not want to be written about.

I'll just talk about other stuff...

Recently I redid my Standard First Aid certificate after not doing an annual assessment, which was actually pretty good because its easy to forget how to treat some things because all you ever do is dispense sticky plasters*. Anyway I was talking to Dan, one of the trainers, who, two years ago, subjected me to the situation of a guy having been stabbed in the eye as part of the assessments. Well, apparently he managed to make the injury look so realistic that one of the prospective first aiders doing the assessment ended up needing first aid as they had suddenly developed a nasty case of shock. It didn't surprise me in the least, I was actually one of the guinea pigs when they came up with the scenario in the first place and it made me feel a little ill! Naturally the managers decided that it wasn't a good idea to let him (or anyone else for that matter) use that scenario to assess people any more.

Anyways, I got my new certificate so I'll be able to do some duties again, I think I needed a break from it all after T in the Park so it all seemed to work out in the end.


*While being careful to make them put it on to avoid paperwork, might I add

That post that I had promised previously...

Well its settled down now, the college is easy enough despite some seemingly random and pointless things that I'll probably only come to appreciate in around 10 years time from now (if at all) and the overlap in some of the classes...
The training was pretty good, some of it was interesting anyway but either way I got paid for it so I'm not complaining. My back pain even stopped after the manual handling course, so it cant all be health and safety nonsense.

Last saturday Tim had a birthday party and I did for a change actually bring a present; a coloring in book and some coloring pencils because he started art college. We ended up singing along to Dave's guitar at 1 in the morning or something (best thing to do at that time in my opinion). After which when everyone left I slept in the back room instead of bothering with the 15 minute walk home. Some time after that I started shivering in the most violent fashion I have ever shivered so crawled into the hall and fell asleep beside a radiator hoping it would switch on. Luckily for me it did meaning I awoke with the best feeling in the world, under a coat which wasn't even mine basking in the warmth of the radiator.


All this warm fuzzy goodness leaves me in a generally happy mood these days which certainly beats the downbeat depressive days of the past year.

Piled on

A really short one for the now as I'm very, very tired.

This week I have started my college course at Stevenson. I have to wake up at around 6:30am which is incredibly hard for me as for the pasy year the average time I've woken up at is about 4pm. Luckily I've been getting up and its getting easier (though not by much). I start my new job next week too, training all next week (and an even earlier start due to longer travel time)...

Talk about having to hit the ground running...

More some time later, I really need sleep now

I'm no superman

I'm at T in the Park and I've been treating a steady flow of blisters because the punters don't know how to buy fitting wellies...

A call comes in over the radio, unconscious female by the main stage.
"Who's got a radio?" asks the person in charge of our post, trying to determine who to send out.
I say I do, its going to be a simple job - go down there, see they've drank too much and get a stretcher so that they can sleep it off in the post.

Me and a colleague are sent off and arrive rather quickly, its always quite easy to notice someone who needs our help when they're surrounded by police making sure there is enough room for them. Three other first aiders are on scene having noticed the scene on their way to the staff canteen half way across the site. I somehow manage to call for a trolley cot to transport the girl through the deafening music and am about to let the three on their break away when someone grabs our attention:
"My friend has passed out!", I tell the three who were about to go to stay and rush off to this new casualty, an unconscious female by the main stage...

I call for a trolley for this new casualty and suddenly this gets incredibly complicated.
"I need a trolley for an unconscious female by the main stage"
All I hear is a voice muffled by the music, I turn the radio to the full volume.
"Can you please repeat last message please"
I can hear it now but the sound quality is somehow distorted by the volume. Somehow I am able to decipher this in my head
"We're sending one already"
"I need another one, we have another casualty."
"Who's dealing with the first?"
"Another team who are on their lunch break"
I'm distracted by my colleague who asks me something and another member of the public who's friend is apparently very sick.
I let this guy lead me on to this third patient while trying to mentally place the other two in the growing crowds. Control then decides to ask me about the first patient (the one we were actually sent out to treat). I tell him to hold on because I'm at patient no. 3 and ask for some assistance while I'm at it.

"Sorry, we cant send any help as sending anyone else your area may cause panic"

I cannot recall seeing or hearing of any situation where lots of people wearing a Red Cross (or the cross of the St Andrews Ambulance Service*) has caused the public to break out into unbridled panic and chaos.

I can on the other hand imagine a situation where if I don't get any help panic my begin to set in.

Its about this point I start losing track of whats happened beforehand, I have no idea if there are 1 or 2 trolleys coming , in fact my mind is mostly repeating the phrase "Oh, F##k" over and over.

I run over to the first casualty to answer whatever question control asked, only to be told "Don't worry the trolley is taking them back now.", The trolley actually had taken patient no. 2 away and through some miracle the first aiders I had on that one were having a look at patient no. 3. They somehow managed to persuade pt no. 3's friends to carry him off to a post - something I was unable to do while trying to keep track of 2 other patients, where the 4 other first aiders were and what control was saying to me.

Back at no. 1 I immediately asked what was happening about the trolley for no.1 and if it had even been sent. Only to have it arrive mid sentence, but even better there is someone who has a radio with it.
Suddenly someone turns up about someone who is on the ground and throwing up, I grab 2 others and head off to this new patient.

My adrenaline has now worn off, 30 minutes was a good run but now I'm all out of it. I feel about as good as the person who is now patient no. 4, just lying there spewing their guts out onto a pair of sunglasses some one seems to have dropped.

The only thing on my mind is the last line from the theme of Scrubs

"But I can't do this all on my own
No I know
I'm no superman"



* Now called "St. Andrews First Aid"

All Quiet on the Blogging Front

No, its not a new anti-blogging film, trying to explain to the world why it is wrong.

(I fear that went over most peoples heads...)


No its me explaining to my loyal fans (All one of them) why I have not blogged in what seems like decades to them:

You see I don't feel like talking much, and that which I do end up blogging would probably inevitably be me moaning about the government, how I don't have a job or me complaining about those polar bears that have moved in next door. I mean how much fish do they need? I went up to the fishmongers the other day for a bit of kipper for my dinner and all the fishmonger could say was, "Sorry we're out of stock." I asked what he did have, to which he replied "What you see is what we have."

Long story short: I left with the thermometer that he uses to make sure the fish are cool... Well its not like he needed it anymore.

But I digress, actually what was I talking about?

Just keep scrolling down, I need time to read what I've written









































Oh yes, moaning and stuff. Well I can't be bothered doing that, takes too much time up from giving disapproving looks to whatever I was complaining about.

Well that's that then, the next post could be whenever, but I suspect that It wont be any later than September (a good while away, but all the more reason to get twitter and follow me - I'm 'Safilpope')

Goodbye for now!

The news media makes me sick.

Critically injured Metropolitan Police Officer Gary Toms aged 37, has died from his head injuries after trying to arrest robbery suspects in Newham on Saturday.


The story above got minimal coverage from the BBC News
But somehow a woman who was slapped by an officer (something that would have been the least of her worries in any other country) gets massive media coverage.

Please tell me that I'm not the only one who can see that the former is far more serious than the latter. If only to help me keep my faith in humanity, something the British media is only too keen to take form me.

Look here, inspectorgadget's blog, to see where I found the story.