Monday - Read the instructions

Monday

When the alarm went off (I have invested in a new alarm clock – without Timmy Mallet singing to me) it was a shock. I had been out for a usual Sunday afternoon for me (I guess it doesn’t matter what country I am in) consisting of football, and a couple of small glasses of beer. I’m going to have to start calling it soccer over here, as football means a game of legalised fighting that we know as Aussie Rules.

Anyway back to this morning, I did feel every one of my 36 years. Fortunately shirt was ironed, so it was into the Purple Peril, and off to work.

Today involved – yes you guessed it coffee time x 4 or 5, as well as an hour lunch break. I had managed to make my own sandwiches today. The picture is of us hardworking Paramedics at lunch break (We are the same the world over) My landlady Sally brings bread rolls home every day from the bakery next door to her shop (they are all out of date, so almost stale) and I had some steak left over from the BBQ of Saturday, so more steak sandwiches made up last night – yummy.

Interspersed between the coffee breaks was a Pre-Hospital Trauma Life Support course. It is actually as interesting as it sounds (unusually for the ambulance service). We all knew the stuff, but it is a great refresher. After lunch was practical assessments (I passed mine, in case you are wondering) of the morning’s learning. Normally this course is 3-4 days, with lots of practical practice, but the instructors recognise our skills, and knowledge.

After school I had to go shopping for some essentials. I had come up with a cunning plan to cook once or twice a week, and then live on leftovers the rest of the week. Today it was going to ingredients for a chilli, a beef curry, and then maybe tuna pasta bake, or macaroni cheese. (As you can see, I’ve not lost the urge to be Gordon Ramsay. I put the ingredients for my Malaysian curry (actually beef rending) into the basket. There was loads of Coconut milk on the shelf (far cry from Sainsbury’s, which has one brand if we are lucky). I didn’t look at all the tins, and picked one up that was the cheapest. Now I’m cooking my curry, I realise I have picked up Coconut Milk soup. It tastes alright, so with some other bits and bobs, it’s very tasty.

It actually smells like a Chinese Take Away, because my housemate (who is Chinese) is cooking prawn soup with Chinese vegetables as well.
And yes, just in case you thought that I missed out, I did sit by the sea for about 1 hour this evening doing some studying.