Who would want to be Queen?

Hi,

I am British, and this means that I nominally pledge allegiance to the Queen.

Even though I have been a Republican since I was old enough to think, the actual idea of a politician as the person I pledge allegiance to fills me with the heeby-jeebies.

I mean, the Americans pledge to the flag, and the constitution (although some right wing types have a problem understanding that), and the Irish elect a really nice looking lady between 35-50, which I am all in favour of, but we would get President Thatcher!!.

So we have the Queen, and her job is to embody Britain, hence the slightly constipated look, the silly hats and the kids you would want to give a good slap to.

All you need is the youngest to be caught drunk and disorderly insulting a waiter... oh yeah.

They really are British.

Anyway, earlier last week Sir Edmond Hilliary died. He is the fella who climbed Everest, and was a really good fella apparently, never knew him, never will now.

Over in NZ he is an icon, and would more than likely have been President if such a post was open (now it would be Colin Meads or Buck Shellford, but I digress).

His funeral is on Tuesday, and the Queen will not be coming. This has caused a row over here as "her next official engagement isn't until Thursday" and therefore "she should be here"

Well, let me see, its a 2 day flight to NZ, and 2 days back. Do these people think that such a journey is easy? I have done it, and it wrecks you for a week afterwards. I was 36 when I travelled, and the Queen is considerably older than I, and a round trip to NZ might wreck the old girl.

What did he do anyway? No ones life was saved, no one got richer, the world wasn't treated to a new and amazing scientific discovery. A couple of guys climber higher than anyone else. Well Done, but "?"

This is also indicative of the funny attitude NZ has to the world. It may shock everyone, but no one cares about NZ, which is why I am here. It is not on the Radar of British consciousness. The last time there was a news story shown in the UK about NZ that wasn't connected to Rugby was when they found a really woolly sheep, and that was a really slow news day.

NZ is a backwater, which is the highest recommendation I can give it. This place is a paradise, and no one else cares about it.

Lovely.

But because a lady in a nice hat wont make a 12000 mile round trip in 4 days to see a bloke who liked climbing to places where no one will ever build a bar, they want to lynch her, and become a Republic!

Carry on, I say, But don't come crying to me when we get President Clark!

Why Dictators Go Mad

Hi,
THis last year has been one of the most satisfying in my career. For those who don't know, I am a Radiographer, we are the guys and girls that make the pretty pictures so the nice people in blue pajamas can fix you, and stop you dying. Scans, x-rays and stuff.
Well, this last year has seen me go from shop floor to acting up in charge.This has been nice, and a long time coming, and I am not complaining, oh no.
But there have been some things I haven't got my head around yet..
Like, why do people think it is acceptable to give me advice, well meaning no doubt, but quite forcefully in the middle of the staffroom, where I can't reply without being unprofessional? .
And why do people ask me a question whilst I am eating? Am I not allowed to eat?
I also can't get used to being observed, every time I do something, all eyes are on me, watching for the signs that I am either a megalomaniac in waiting or am unable to make to jump to charge.
Oh and that's one of the great little pearls of wisdom I have been told, (whilst drinking my tea and trying to have a break from the job) You have to grow into the role of manager, but don't change...
How??? What do they want from me!!!
It's enough to make me scream, honestly! I didn't ask for this, I was asked!
It seems my fellow workers have overnight adopted the get-your-retaliation-in-first attitude, and that they expect me to become this distant dictator figure, someone they can all hate, the enemy.
That hurts, honestly I have always gone out of my way to help anyone I can, and I rarely ask for a favour in return. I though that people might remember who I was, but some haven't it appears.
So now I have experienced this side of them, I don't really know if I would feel comfortable rejoining them as a co worker. Which is really sad, as I like my job.
So if I don't get the permanent charge job, then I will have to think about what I want from my career, and from my working life.
I have learned a lot in the 3 weeks I have been doing this, and once you learn something, you can't really un learn it, can you?
Ah Well...
Be Good, and have a happy New Year

Be Glad You are not Married To Me!!

Picture the scene, Sunday morning, Its a beautiful day outside, birds in trees, no clouds etc.

*Mike gives a sigh*

Jacqui: "Whassup?"

Mike: "Oh, nothing. Just the sudden realization that I am mortal, and will one day die"

Jacqui "???!!!"

Women of the World, give thanks to Jacqui, from sparing one of your number this fate...

Be Good

Be Glad You are not Married To Me!!

Merry Christmas, have a pay rise!

Hi,

Y'know how when you pull a brick on piece of elastic, nothing happens then you get a face full of brick?

Well.....

I have worked as a Radiographer at Hawkes Bay for 3 and a half years. In that time I have done what I consider to be "the job", in other words, a lot more that is written on my position profile.

I have always thought that you get out of any job what you put in, so whenever any opportunity came up to do a bit extra, I did.

This started with Health and Safety stuff, then departmental documentation, then some computer stuff etc.

My role changed from a basic "MRT" (Medical Radiation Technologist) to MRT (PACS superuser) PACS is the system we have for storing and retrieving digital images, to MRT Angiographer (cardiac) PACS Superuser.

All good clean fun. Job became bigger, but more rewarding. Pay didn't really go up much, but that really wasn't a concern. I could feed my family, and I don't believe in chasing the dollar.

Anyway, my PACS boss gets pregnant,(thanks Jack) and I take on her role in February for initially 6 months. Which feels like a vindication for the extra I put in. Lovely!!

Then my manager resigns. This I am pissed off with, because I really like working for her, and I will miss her input and stuff.

Then...

The Manager (acute services) and clinical head of my department ask me to apply!! and I am "acting up" until the job has been decided on!!!!

This is nice, if terrifying..

So in a 3 month period I go from MRT to Charge MRT (acting) which is a 75% increase in pay!!!!

So I bought an xbox 360, and tickets to go back to the UK to see the olds..

There is no guarantee that this post is going to be mine. I would be surprised if it was, in which case I go back to PACS administrator (acting), and there is no guarantee that THAT role will not go (if the PACS admin comes back after her baby full time)...

So in 8 months I could be back where I started.

Not really, because as long as I do the absolute best I can in whatever role I am allocated, I will have gained a shedload of experience..

I also have the knowledge that my Big Boss thinks that I candle these roles, even if only temporarily..

Which is a real pat on the back, and that is nice

Be Good

Teddy Bears and Hidden Agendas

Hi,
It never ceases to amaze me how really stupid people are. You may have heard about the Brit schoolteacher working in Sudan who managed to become embroiled in a diplomatic shit storm after getting arrested for insulting Islam.

Her Crime? Allowing her school class to name a teddy bear Mohamed.

Now the Muslim takes the graven image thing much more seriously than does the average Christian. You cannot paint God. The reason is that God said not to in one of the 10 commandments. You also cannot make a representation of Mohamed, in case it gets worshipped. In fact, in many Muslim cultures you are forbidden to paint any living thing, or naturalistic environment.

This is why in many Islamic countries their artwork is based on geometry and calligraphy. (And beautiful it is too). To a non-Christian, the puzzling thing is why Christan's tend to ignore this prohibition, rather why the Muslims follow it, but I digress.

Naming a teddy bear Mohamed is wrong under the strict interpretation of Sharia law that they follow in the Sudan. But here is where I lose the thread. The Teacher didn't name the bear, her pupils did. Now I am not suggesting that the children be punished, but what about their parents? Surely they are responsible for the religious teaching of their kids? If not the kids parents, who did teach them? Their Imam? Jail him!

The kids took a poll, so it wasn't one rogue apostate. It was most of them. If this was such a terrible insult, why didn't these kids know? I mean, if a Christan kid wanted to name the class hamster "Satan, destroyer of worlds" I am sure there would be a little murmur of dissension? So whats going on.

The teacher worked in a school where the pupils were mixed Christian and Muslim. Sudan is a country where the north is Muslim, the south Christian, and they hate each other with a passion. they have had wars and stuff, and there is at the moment a very uneasy peace. There is another thread. The British used to run the Sudan.

There is always someone who prefers conflict to peace. If you are an empty, soulless shit head, there is a happy glow from hatred that fills the hole where the love should be. I would try to feel pity for these people, but I cannot be bothered to try. Nothing makes these type of people happier that having someone to despise. In Zimbabwe, their asshole of a President manages to cling to power buy telling the people that Britain is sabotaging the economy, and wants to regain control, giving his people the unseen, external enemy that every tyrant needs. In Sudan the enemy is Britain and Christan's.

Enter a British, Christan teacher working in a school trying to reconcile the warring factions who made the mistake of allowing her pupils to make a minor gaffe over the naming of a teddy bear. So why do you thing she was arrested?

She is home now, after British Muslims protested vigorously at the injustice. In fact, every single other Muslim country condemned this act of stupidity. Though in Sudan, some people wanted her killed, but what are you gonna do? There are assholes everywhere

A Night on The Ocean Wave

Hi,
It is a shock, but Christmas is around the corner! I still have yet to get used to it being hot and sunny in November, and my psychology still isn't in a festive mood.
So it was with some confusion that I went on our departmental Christmas outing. Collinda, our resident Nuclear Medicine boss and all round good egg, organised us to go out on a jet powered catamaran onto the bay, and have a meal, a dance and a drink.
It was a blast. Because of some creative fundrasing, there was a 400 dollar bar tab, for 20 of us. Stunning!
And the views from the boat of the absolutely gorgeous Hawkes Bay made the award winning Matariki Chennin Blanc swill down with aplomb.
Fantastic!!
Then food was up, it was a buffet affair, but it hit the spot and now to the dance floor.
Less Good!!
Because I don't dance. Even whilst drunk I can't dance. I am aware that I am a 39 year old straight white male, which precludes me from any grace. I am also short, and "stocky", so grace quota in the dumps, and I am Welsh.
Therefore I am to dancing what Swartzennegger is to elocution.
So I do what I always do. I sit at the edge of the floor, and watch others gyrate whilst drinking.
Later on I gave a nice lady a hug. She has had a crappy year, and needed a hug. So I provided the hug, and I felt virtuous about it. The world needs more hugging.
I like to spread the love.
Not spreading love were the other occupants of the boat. A bunch of early 20 somethings, who got drunker and louder as night wore on, and there was aggro bubbling under the surface between one of them, a tall, thin guy, and I think his girlfriend.
Anyway, I was walking to the bar, when my eye was caught by this bloke arguing with his girlfriend. She was giving him "the Finger", and he was trying to grab her finger, I assume in order to hurt her. I will never know, because he obviously saw me looking. The next thing he is toe to toe with me, looming over me, and explaining "Why don't you watch where you are looking little man, before you get hurt"
Now in such situations, you often think of great pithy one liners, but usually afterwards in the bar, But that night, inspiration hit me...
"Why don't you fuck off, you lanky streak of piss, before I make you look stupid in front of your mates"
Now I am not tall, I am 5' 6", but I know what I am capable of, and I can size up the opposition quickly. I did Karate for a number of years, I was a Prop Forward, and I went to a shockingly shitty school, which means I can fight a bit.
Here are a few rules.
1.Hard nuts don't tell you that they will hit you, they hit you.
2.Anyone worth his salt doesn't' stand 4 inches from their opponent with his arm by his side leading with his jaw.
I could have decked him in a second, and he wouldn't have stood a chance.
All of a sudden, his mates pulled him away, and I was surrounded by all of my mates.
Bless'em! They were looking out for me!
One of his mate came to see me to apologise. I told him it was cool, but me better calm that guy down, or he would get hurt. By me.
I saw him later, all apologies, so that was OK.
ALL IN ALL, A BRILLIANT NIGHT!!

Be Good