On the frontline

I was out with Springburn Ambulance Crew tonight. I joined Frank and Peter on an evening shift for a couple of reasons. First I wanted to find out what kind of pressures they face in the job. And secondly I was interested in knowing how alcohol adds to the pressure. I will be able to post in a more informed way in a few weeks because I got so much out of it that I've asked to do a Saturday night shift. Tonight was only 3 hours but it was an interesting taster.

Callout number 1 to a 56 year old man who had drank rather a lot of whisky and then overdosed on 12 of his wife's anti depressants. We got there and he was refusing to move because he wanted to watch the Celtic game. The crew couldn't leave him - they have a legal "duty of care" and managed to persuade him. Part of me was thinking "don't be so ungrateful" but of course part of me really felt for the guy who lost his job last year and was turned down for one last week. We dropped him and his family off at Stobhill and headed out to ...

Callout number 2 and a 58 year old woman who was having chest pains and numbness in her left arm. She'd had a stroke a couple of years ago and was very nervous in case she was having another one. She got a bit upset in the back of the ambulance because her sister had died at 58 and she was scared it was her turn. The crew were great with her, put her at her ease and were very reassuring. We took her to Stobhill too. Hope she's okay.

Callout number 3 was a 44 year old man who was, what can only be described as "morroculous" - is that how you spell that great Glasgow word meaning drunk out of one's mind? He'd wet himself, was lying on the ground unable to get up and his hands were covered in needle marks. He was so out of it he could barely hold his head up. What a waste of money that is taking someone like him to spend the night in hospital when he really doesn't need it. But what can you do with him? The guys in the crew have given me some ideas on that and I'll post once I've looked into it a bit more.

The last guy had me shaking my head in despair - what a mess he was. I felt angry and frustrated with him for having so little self respect that he could do that to himself. I wanted to shout at him to sort himself out. And that is a natural reaction I think. How many times have you passed someone in that state in the street? How often do you feel any sympathy for him? Not often I bet. But the trouble is that behind every man or woman like that is someone with a terrible story to tell. A story that you'd have to be incredibly cold hearted not to sympathise with.

So whilst I wanted to shake him, part of me wanted to just give him a big hug. I didn't obviously - no matter how compassionate I was feeling, there was a whole load of urine there and I didn't fancy getting it all over me. But as I looked at him struggling to tell us where he lived, his mouth dripping in blue tinged saliva, I wondered what had happened to him and I wondered how differently his life could have turned out with a little more luck.

So it's been interesting for me but I want to see more and I want to get a feel for how bad things can get on a Saturday night. Therefore I'll be doing a full night shift as soon as I can fix up a date.

UK Border Agency's welcoming attitude!

Obviously I'm not being serious because my experience of the UKBA is anything BUT positive and this week they've just caused huge embarrassment for this country. They have taken the incredible decision to refuse entry to Scotland to the Pakistan Pipe Band for the World Pipe Band Championships. They were here last year, no problems that I'm aware of so why, now, are they suddenly being told they can't come? I will be writing to the UKBA for answers - it's getting to be ridiculous when it gets to the stage that we can't welcome something as brilliant as a pipe band from Lahore. Of course it's going to be too late for this year but we need to know why they are being treated like this.

The best bit of the holiday so far ...

I have to say I've had a fantastic holiday so far. It's been tiring but exciting and interesting and scary all rolled into less than a fortnight. Every single day has been brilliant but today, the best thing ever happened. No it wasn't hoisting the Saltire above the St Andrew's Hotel but I will definitely blog on that with photos and youtube link later because it was a pretty moving event and very special.



It wasn't anything to do with Sri Lanka, it was getting the news from my amazing niece Christie that she got her Higher results and she got A for French, A for Spanish, B for English and B for psychology. It's all the more amazing if I tell you that just over a year ago, she was only planning to sit 2 Highers because she didn't know you needed more than that to get into Uni. She had a vague plan of what she wanted to do (languages degree) but her school had no idea at all and were quite happily letting her just do 2 Highers.



Anyway fast forward, she left school, went to the James Watt college in Greenock, TAUGHT HERSELF the basics of Spanish (because her school refused to let her do Standard Grade), focussed herself completely on the task in hand, and now it's paid off. She has impressed me so much with her determination and I am so happy for her. Her aim is to live and work in Spain or France for the next year in order to become fluent in one of those languages and then study Mandarin at Edinburgh University the following year. It's a tough course to get into but I have a funny feeling she'll get there.



So that's it. In an amazing fortnight where I've experienced so many things I never ever expected to, the highlight has been hearing her news today. I think it's probably just as well I don't have kids of my own - I'd be dancing through the streets of Colombo telling anyone who'd listen! I'll stick to being an ecstatically happy Auntie I think!

I wonder if I could put out a press release about this ...

Saltire in Sri Lanka

Got 3 mins left in bloody expensive internet cafe so just time to tell you I'm about to head to Nuwara Eliya in the Hill Country. It's a 6 hr drive and I'm staying over and making same journey back in the morning. However it's for a very special reason. Last year I visited the St Andrew's Hotel and they had no Saltire flying, only a Union flag. I promised I would supply them with a proper St Andrew's flag and today I'm taking it to them. We're having a small ceremony and I cannot wait! Very excited. Long journey but well worth it. Updates and photos later - maybe even a copy of my very long speech lol.

My dad's birthday

Today would have been my dad (Bobby's) 70th birthday. And I would not have been in Sri Lanka, I'd have been at home with my family making a big fuss of him. He'd have been loving every minute but telling everyone it was actually his 60th. He had a real thing about ageing. Remind you of anyone? Yes I have inherited my dad's fear of growing old I think. Not that I am. And not that he was. He and my mum bumped into someone many years ago and as my mum chatted away to her he did the same, pretending to remember who it was! When my mum told him later that it was someone who had been a very close friend he was horrified at how much the woman had aged. My mum gently pointed out to him that he too had a few lines and creases on his face and he was genuinely surprised to hear that. He also wasn't prepared to accept it. Like I said, remind you of anyone?

I didn't help because I used to tell him that I'd tried to visualise him as an old man and I just couldn't do it. I couldn't see it. Perhaps it was a prophecy because he was only 58 when he died. Wrinkles or not I think he'd have preferred to have had a bit longer. Anyway like I said he'd have been 70 today and I really hope if there is some afterlife that he's having a brilliant party - sadly for us but luckily enough for him, I think he's got enough folk up there now to make it go with a swing.

My first speech in a temple

Saturday was a fantastic day and I'll update fully on it when I'm home. But the highlight of the day had to be speaking at the Inauguration of The Venerable Rewatha Thero as "Chief Sanga Nayake of Great Britain". I will blog when I have the pics to put up but it was a great day in a beautiful temple and it was very special to be in Sri Lanka honouring the man who has become known as The Maryhill Monk after he opened a Buddhist Vihara in Maryhill Road. I also managed to wear (and keep on) a sari! More later but it was a very special event.

My unique haggling skills

I have developed a unique haggling method out here and Anne (my friend who I'm in Sri Lanka with) seems to have adopted it too. Earlier, I was getting a tuk tuk to meet Anne in the centre of Colombo and the guy asked me for 400 rupees. I said no, too expensive, it's not far, how about a better price to which he said 300. Still I said no and he eventually said "okay, 200". Great, I'm thinking and then I start to feel guilty as I realise that going from 300 to 200 saves me 50p which he needs a lot more than me. So I say to him "I know, what about 300". He looks at me like I'm mad but accepts my new offer and off we go.

En route we get talking and I ask him about his family. He has 2 daughters and one is 22 and at university. I say that I know it must cost a lot of money to put his daughter through uni and he tells me he will work every hour to do that for her because "you get a husband and what if he is bad news or he gets into trouble in his work. It is far better that my daughter can take care of herself even if there is no husband or the husband is no good". I'm liking what I'm hearing and again feeling guilty as anything.

So we get to the meeting place and I give him the 400 rupees. It's two pounds and it's the right thing to do. But this guy must have thought I was a "crazy woman" doing all that hard negotiating and then giving him what he asked for in the first place.

Anne of course was laughing at me when I told her this but tonight, we beat a guy down on price and somehow by the time we got back, she was handing more than the price he asked for in the first place! Like I said, it's the right thing to do but you do wonder what they must make of you!