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Surrey Vet School
As you will probably all know, this year there is going to be another vet school joining the mix with Surrey opening their doors to vet students in September 2014. Understandably, there has been A LOT of talk about this in recent months with both the BVA (British Veterinary Association) and AVS (Association of Veterinary Students) voicing their concerns. To say that the news wasn’t taken well would be an understatement and, to be totally honest, I can understand their concerns. OK, all this may make absolutely no difference to whether to apply to them but I do think that if Surrey is on your list of unis then you…
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150,000 visitors
At some point earlier this year (before I got hacked and lost everything), without much fuss or ado, my little website passed the 150,000 visitor mark. Not bad considering I inhabit such a tiny corner of the internet and cater to such a specialist niche, so I just wanted to take a minute to say thank you for all your on-going support. If I could say thank you to each of you individually I would but that would main visiting 69 different countries from around the world so I’m afraid this will have to do….Thank You!!
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A Journey Through Namibia
I’ve been lucky! I’ve had the opportunity to see some extraordinary parts of the world and experience the animals and cultures that originate from them. In 2007 I was lucky enough to travel to Africa for the first time and headed to Namibia. Being only 17 I wasn’t prepared for the impact that this would have on my life. A year before this I had travelled to the Yukon to follow in the footsteps of the gold prospectors, an experience that had changed my life unimaginably and yet, only a year later I was in a situation where my view of the world would be tested again – in more…
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A Month on the Mountains Edge
When I first applied I’ll admit I didn’t actually give it much thought. I’m a strong believer in making the most of every opportunity presented to you so I was never going to say no to a month in Colorado, you’d have to be mad right?! Well, this particular opportunity was presented to me in December 2013 so has been on the boil for a while but I must admit that the reality of what I was doing didn’t actually dawn on me until a fortnight before take-off. I’m giving the impression that this was something epic, something akin with the adventures I have been lucky enough to embark on…
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A Time of Change
The last couple of weeks have been weird. That’s the only word for it. WEIRD! I am now free and clear until I start final year in August so what am I doing until then? Well, actually, I’m going to Texas for 5 months. Random I know but when these opportunities come knocking, you have to grab them with both hands. Unfortunately I’m not really able to tell you much about it other than the fact I am VERY excited! (Hint: Note the addition of ‘occasional production assistant’ to my twitter bio) The whole thing is a bit surreal but it has brought forward something I’ve been dreading for months.…
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An Hour of My Day
It’s at Saturday and a mere hour until we close our doors and officially switch over to out of hours. Saturdays are always a nightmare so I’m virtually counting the minutes until the building will be mine alone. My nurse is monitoring a patient as they recover from anaesthetic while I stare at X-rays trying desperately to work out why the cat on the table is so painful it wouldn’t let me examine it conscious. X-rays are one of these things that you can stare at blindly until the pieces miraculously fall into place and everything suddenly becomes clear. Like one of those magic eye puzzles, sometimes you just have…
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If You Go Down To The Woods Today
There are very few moments in life where a single look can silence you. Good or bad these are few and far between but I can guarantee that they will stick with you forever and I am sure the memory of the moment I am about to write about will stick with me longer after everything else has gone fuzzy. A while back I posted this: So I feel I should now explain. Tap. Tap. Tap. I scrunched up my face and tried to ignore the incessant tapping on my forehead but it kept coming. Whatever was going on with Caroline, the girl I had spent 2 weeks sharing a…
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My Unhealthy Love of the Natural History Unit
Fresher’s week is over and, although only 2 weeks in, there can be no doubt that we are very much in the thick of it. Despite being reminded at every opportunity that in a mere 20 months time we will be graduated and, most likely, working in general practice, I have decided to bury my head in the sand and pretend this is like any other year. And so, 4th year begins and I move through it in an impenetrable cloud of denial. Most vet students will back me up when I say that the best way to fit everything in is to work steadily throughout the term so that…
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Televised Animal Cruelty
Another series of ‘I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here’ is over and once again I am left with a bitter taste in the back of my throat. With one notable exception, my discomfort cannot be attributed to the actions of the celebrities but rather to those responsible for the production who continue to to use animals as a source of entertainment with no regard for their welfare. This series included a variety of invertebrates, small mammals, snakes and crabs (to name a few) which formed part of the ‘Bush Tucker Trials’ and were once again thrown into uncomfortable, and often deadly, situations for the sake of our so-called…
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Thank You For Introducing Me to Wallace
The last couple of months have brought with them a barrage of exams which has forced me to put aside the hours of natural history documentaries that I have saved on my iPad and actually buckle down to some work. Thankfully the iPlayer app allows me to save these for the month that it may take for me to get up to date. I realise that this is probably starting to sound like I work for the BBC but I promise there is a point. You see this all means that I have only just had the pleasure of watching Bill Bailey’s Jungle Hero, a wonderful two part documentary on…
