Sunday – Work is getting me down!!! I think not

There is a legend of a highwayman named Dick Turpin, who ended up as Lord Mayor of London. He stole money off people and then ended up as landed gentry and eventually became the Lord Mayor of London. (I know I have paraphrased the story a lot.) Most places in the world, you get paid for a fair days work, and anything more than that is unfair, and you don't seem to be given any thanks, let along money for it.

That isn't the case working for the Ambulance Service here in Perth. Today was a regularly rostered day for me, so dutifully I drove to Victoria Park (about 30 minutes away – just south of the Swan River) for a regular shift. I can't remember whether I mentioned that I have a new location to work from. (No longer in the desert, but right in the middle of the city; however I'm on a day ambulance, so for 8 week, there is no nights – apart from overtime – and the latest I finish is 8 p.m.)

The sunrise was quite spectacular (I have to be at work at 7 in the morning) and I did have to take a photo of it. Anyway, I arrived at work looking forward to a busy day. I didn't have a shirt to iron, as I wore the one from the other day where I only did 1 job in Rockingham. We carried out the checks, and then sat down for brekkie. Sure enough, it wasn't long before we got a call.

The busiest airport in the southern hemisphere (according to their press office) is a small regional airport here in Perth called Jandikot Airport. What contributes to the high volume of flights in and out of the place is the number or Royal Flying Doctor Service airplanes that operate out of here. Each flight can bring in 3 or 4 patients, and that means that there needs to be an ambulance for each patient. At Landsdale we didn't get sent to Jandikot, as we are so far north, but from Victoria Park, it is only a 15 minute drive.

As we arrived at the RFDS (Royal Flying Doctor Service) hanger, we could see the plane just taxiing in to its stand on the apron. All of the other RFDS planes were there and looked like they had been there for a long while, which means that there wasn't going to be many transfers in the early part of the day. "What a bonus" I thought, as we loaded our patient onto the ambulance.

We unloaded the patient from the aeroplane and took them to hospital, and then headed back to the depot. Once we arrived at back at the depot, we counted 4 other ambulances waiting for calls ahead of us. "It must be a very busy depot" I surmised from that. There were more ambulances at Victoria Park than there sometimes were at Brighton Ambulance Station, and that was a very busy place.

Well, we didn't do anything until about 3 in the afternoon, and that was for a regular patient who really didn't have anything wrong with them. (We took them to hospital, as that is what they want, and that is what the company wants, as they can charge them £250 for the trouble.)

So my day entailed 2 jobs in the ambulance and watching the whole of series 1 of the TV show "The Office", all the while getting paid £15 an hour.

The totals are staggering. Someone who doesn't need hospital should get charged £250 (don't worry, she is a member of St. John's, so she won't get the bill), I get paid £200 for working all day – even though I watched TV for most of it, and the RFDS transfer is also billed to some insurance company.

Dick Turpin probably never took in on day £200 in his money, and he was considered a crook. I wonder what people will call me. Answers on a postcard please!