Jenni’s blog

Today I was supposed to be making big in-roads into our waiting list for initial appointments. It would have gone well if people had actually bothered to turn up, over the course of the whole day only 1 person turned up! Now whilst that was good for the admin I've had piling up around my ears it was bad for our wait times. All of those people that haven't turned up will have to have another appointment offered (for some this was strike 2 of a potential 3) and then people complain about how long they have to wait to be seen.

School holidays are always a nice time at work. A lot of people in the team only work during termtime, so its nice and quiet and there's a bit of a blitz mentality. We always have nice cake and actually have occasional chats that we don't stop and have otherwise. My clinic workload doesn't reduce, but I don't have to go out to schools. Means there's time to catch up on reports and write programmes for children. Its always a nice feeling to start the new half term with a relatively clean desk.

Plus, school holidays mean its easier to take time off and go visiting.

I spent the weekend having a wonderful time down in London at Gemma's. I drove down which was a novelty, its been a long time since I last drove on the M25 and it was the furthest I've ever taken this car. The roads were pleasantly quiet which meant I got a good chance to test the car out... I'm not convinced that the reported top speeds are accurate - if they are then mine is breaking the mould :)

The weekend was spent mainly watching films. I have finally seen the 'Back to the Future' trilogy. Yes, I'd managed to get to my ripe old age without seeing any of them. I'm so so glad that I've seen them now, and just wish that I'd been watching them for years.

We all loved 'The Unicorn and the Wasp'. I thought it was very funny, and well written - it really felt like the step up from 'The Shakespeare Code'. I also really liked how it was woven around Agatha Christie's disappearance, felt quite clever to me.

Today back at work has felt a little like a rude awakening. I've felt really irritated by the smallest things today, so have ended up trying to be as invisible as possible. I think the fact I got missed on the tea run almost every time may have contributed to my irritation... just an inkling though.

Yup, I'm back just one day and already I'm whinging. Today I had my semi-regular catch up meeting with my line manager. That in itself feels like a bit of a bone of contention - I'm the only person who has these meetings, and I start to wonder quite how long they want me to work there before they cease. The bit that really got me though was when she suggested that I have anxiety about my health, and this causes me to give up quicker than most people. It just showed me that after over 18 months she hasn't got a clue about me or what I'm like.

Luckily its not only me who is have issues with her, she's ruffling a lot of feathers. We all end up having hushed whinging sessions, which is cathartic at the time but very bad really. I don't want my workplace to end up like that - considering its an all female office there is very little of the stereotypical women together behaviour. It'd be a real shame if that changed.

Long story short I've decided I miss blogging and so I'm going to try and actually use my vox on a more regular basis. I've realised I have more to say than things about work (well occasionally) so when I do I'm going to say them.

Now to remember how to update my profile pic (I barely remember when my hair was that short and curly).

I decided three weeks ago to get up earlier in the morning so I could actually put my contacts in (my allergies have been playing havoc with the continual wear idea) and put on a proper face. The first few days it was a bit of a wrench but I settled quickly to the new routine.So of course the two days, both within the last week, that circumstance saw me leave the house wearing glasses and no make up were the days I met two of the finest males I'e seen in a very long time. Funnily enough, looking as rough as I did on both occasions, neither bloke gave me a second look.

I met one whilst I was observing the palate investigation clinic at Birmingham Children's Hospital. I went because a child I work with needed to attend, and the very nice speech therapists who work there invited me to go and observe the procedure. It was a really interesting morning, but I learnt that I need to check train times the night before rather than on the day - I checked whilst in my pyjamas half way through my Shredded Wheat and discovered I needed to leave the house in 15 minutes.

The second one I met at the local Minor Injuries Unit that I spent my Thursday morning sat in. Unfortunately I managed to sprain my achilles tendon, a pretty painful trick. I've spent the last four days sat with my foot up and alternating between ice packs and painkillers. Today's the first day it's felt any easier which is a good job as I have no intention of staying off work any longer. Even I can only be entertained by House and my knitting for a finite amount of time!

Does anyone know anyone who drives a Citroen C2?

Its been more months than I care to remember since I last blogged, to think I was waxing lyrical about the signings Villa had just made in the transfer window and in the meantime the season has ended and the window has opened once more.

I really did think that after about 6 months I would have gotten to grips with my job and got my energy back. Unfortunately with every week I work I take on a little more which means I have a little more to think about and sadly working in two different teams gets progressively harder. But enough excuses!

As well as trying to get back to updating this on a semi regular basis, I'm also trying to get to grips with Facebook. As it now seems that most of the world is using it as a primary communication method I guess I need to start using it. I have to admit that I'm still finding lots of it baffling - is this a sign I'm getting old? I'm okay with adding friends, changing my status and writing on people's walls. I'm okay with joining groups that I'm seeing listed on other people's profiles but haven't a clue on starting to find them... and as for applications??

I had the pleasure of being sat in Villa Park yesterday afternoon to watch two of Martin O'Neill's new signings make their home debuts. The season for Villa started brightly - the effect of being free of David O'Leary and Deadly Doug at last, but then the same old problems reared their heads, a young small squad meant that as soon as a couple of players got injured or ill it was difficult to field a side plus subsitutes of Premiership worthy players. Now the January transfer window has been and gone we have 4 new signings. Yesterday we had the plasure of watching two (John Carew signed from Lyon and Ashley Young signed from Watford), the disappointment of watching one (Phil Bardsley thankfully only on loan from Man Utd) but no chance to see Shaun Maloney the last minute signing from Celtic.

It wasn't the greatest game of football, the slightly struggling Villa against the really struggling West Ham. The last ten minutes were painful to the point of disbelief as Villa seemed to forget how to defend. The best part was watching Carew and Young playing wih Gabriel Agbonlahor just off them - this looks like a set up with a lot of promise :-) Perhaps there's good times ahead...

...suggestions for budgie names?

ETA: for boy budgies

Haven't been online, boo bah, yadda yadda yadda. This will be fairly short as it seems in the week that I haven't managed to blog everyone one my bloglines has had a million things to say... I plan on going to bed in about 40 minutes but I don't expect to manage to get much read by then.

Work's been pretty good this week. We had a whole day meeting on Monday which was a nice ease into the working week. The rest of the week was pretty hectic culminating in my first thankfully non-major filling in of an incidence form (turns out violence happens outside of hospitals too). I've got another busy week this week, though am only now realising the stupidity of arranging to go on some observations in Malvern at 9am on Friday (means leaving about an hour earlier than normal). One of my colleagues has also recently got engaged so there've been some really nice off topic moments within the office.

Out of work I have mainly been sleeping, or wishing it was time to sleep already. I had assumed that by now I could just bounce straight back from a routine infection but it seems not. We've been a little busy this week as it's been Richard's birthday - he was playing a gig on the day so we went out the night before instead for a meal.

I read the last book I'd received for Christmas / Birthday so I'm now on the ones I received at a huge discount from Mango after they messed me about a lot. I can always be bought off with books. The one I'm reading at the moment is the new one by Kirsty Crawford, "The Secret Lives Of Husbands". I read her first novel and felt all of the way through that there was something missing... I have to say that I'm feeling the same about this, though I can't put my finger on what the problem is.