Tuesday – I wasn’t going to do any more overtime!

I explained last week about the long game that I was playing. It involved working at Mandurah depot, which is listed as a country depot. Part of the appeal of working at a country depot is that because it is supposed to be out of the city (although in reality Mandurah is just another Perth suburb – another example of Aussie logic which I don't think I'll ever learn), and as such, there are a lot of penalties (a penalty is the Aussie way of saying allowances, and it is a positive thing, not a negative thing – you can see how I'm easily confused) attached to working here. Anyway the penalties amount to about $800 a week, so I had said that I wasn't going to do all the overtime that I had been doing.

Tuesday was involved with more visa admin. Yes it is a never ending process. The latest stage I got to is that I need to prove to the government that my qualification as a UK paramedic has got an equivalency here in Australia. (If it doesn't what have I been doing for the last 6 months – actually the official Australian title I'm applying for is a very grandiose sounding Intensive Care Paramedic) It involves getting a piece of paper from some government department in Melbourne (yes, like every other step in the visa process it costs a packet).

I had sent off copies of my certificates and other documents that were requested about 2 months ago. That wasn't sufficient, (and there was some problem with a couple of the documents that I had sent in already) and so I had to get more copies of my passport (I had that here) and my birth certificate (still in the UK), and they also wanted the actual scores of my exams during my paramedic course. I'd managed to get them through Sussex Ambulance Service (as such), which were sent to me, via Jane in England.

Anyway, the rest of the documents finally got sent off (I don't think that I'm able to supply any more documents, as I don't have many more in my possession), and also sent off to the UK for a document that says I haven't got any convictions from the police. (It is a little different from a CRB check, and also costs more money).

Anyway, with all these expenses I had decided that my little overtime hiatus had better end, so off I went to Mandurah again for two night shifts on overtime. Tuesday was really an easy night, and my partner was another paramedic, as there wasn't any wombles to work with. It was quite an easy night, and I got about 5 hours sleep. I'll take that over working any time.

Also Congratulations to Duncan and Rachel on the birth of their little girl Lily.