Rainy Days Sunday, March 21 2004 by: Dave ([email protected])

Not much time today til the computer room closes, and some dumbass was deleting my pics off the server before I could upload them... weird. Anyway, I'll write here in a bit. Here's some pics of pubs and stuff... King William IV, real nice place in a village just outside Cambridge The Market in Cambridge and some big church Weetabix, weird Robin Hood and Little John; pub not too far from the hospital, frequented by ICU staff Some pub I saw from a car... The motorway just outside Cambridge

And I've started watching ER, oh no... Thursday, March 18 2004 by: Dave ([email protected])

Had a brilliant lecture this afternoon entitled "Medicine and War". The guy taking it was an Orthopaedic Consultant from Addenbrooke's who started out talking about Egypt, Greece etc. and the place of doctors in war including some stuff from Troy, then talked about different ideas on wounds and stuff through the ages, talked about World War I&II, gas and how the prevailing winds meant the germans got gassed too... a bit about Florence Nightingale, and the Crimean War and stuff. It got really interesting when to my surprise it turned out that he'd been in the SAS and been involved in the Falklands on a classified mission (which he mentioned was in a book somewhere if we actually wanted to find out...). He'd also been in the SAS entry team involved in a situation at the Iranian Embassy or something, and been in the middle east, and jungles and stuff. At one point he described being forced at AK47 point by a whole lot of rebels to save a goat's life... he killed it by stabbing it with a trocar (chest drain insertion) unfortunately but somehow got out of the situation :) Best lecture I've ever heard I think. His story about how he got into the SAS was amusing too, just went to some Army recruiting place and whispered to the guy at the desk "I want to join the SAS", the guy was deaf so he ended up shouting "I WANT TO JOIN THE SAS!", everyone on the street apparently heard.

Green Scrubs!!! Nooo! Wednesday, March 17 2004; St Patrick's Day! by: Dave ([email protected])

Righty, time to update my favourite site, now your favourite site... Dave's Medical Misadventures in the UK! Been about a week and a half here and I'm getting the hang of it, the fact that everytime I actually feel like showing some initiative there is nothing to do is irrelevant, i think I know how to read ECGs better and that's all that matters. Spent the morning in ICU today... was the only person wearing blue scrubs... everyone else, nurse and doctor alike was wearing green and I don't think it was because it was St Patrick's Day. Confusing. Last night went out for dinner with the rest of the elective students, 4 of us in total, according to the Elective Coordinator it seems like not all of the expected number turned up for the elective, guess they actually found out the weather forecast before coming to England and decided to go somewhere where the Sun actually shines :) So, Mike (Washington D.C.), Petros/Peter (Athens, Greece), Dipti (Leicester, England) and I headed out into the coldish night to the Regal Witherspoon (Not a bar run by Reese Witherspoon) for dinner which was good; lamb burger with a bottle of stella followed by choc fudge cake (which I can recommend if you ever go there). I reckon Dipti wanted some of the cake, but was too nice to say so even when asked... Here's some pics from Cambridge, but oh yeah, Pac can you PLEASE drop that cd off at my old flat, I mean if you managed to drop it off before I got back it would be nice... quicker better tho :) Dipti, Me, and Peter! I love phone booths. Me and Mike talking to each other, he's happy the flash obscured him... Me and Peter at Witherspoon's, one the local Student eating places, Dipti and Mike refused to be photographed :) Well, until outside anyway. The outside of King's College again, big old place, hate to live there, must be cold... :) The street King's is on, old old place Cambridge, they don't seem to like knocking things down, stuck in the past.

Starsky & Hutch Sunday, March 14 2004 by: Dave ([email protected])

Really good movie, I know nothing about Starsky and Hutch but went and saw this last night and it was highly entertaining, Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson are a great pairing on screen too, oh Hi Mark! When's it coming out in New Zealand? :) Best scene ever (Photo from IMDB)

I walked round all of Cambridge... almost Saturday, March 13 2004 by: Dave (email)

After having a big sleep in, first really since I got here due to jet lag and trying to impress A&E people by being there early, myself and Peter (fellow elective student from Greece) decided to go have a look around Cambridge and the colleges (31 in total but we didn't see anywhere near that many). Also went for a closer look at the shops in town... The most impressive college looked to be King's College but it was shut to visitors today for some reason, even had a guard/official person outside asking for id... crazy. Saw Trinity College, the outside of Clare College and saw people on the Cam river, punting. You can hire punts without punters too... ie. you punt. Saw some poor people trying this, imagine zig zagging bumping into the side of the river repeatedly while others laugh. Might go see Starsky and Hutch later... just to annoy Mark seeing as it ain't out in NZ. Anyway, here's a few pics: Me beside the river Cam, like Amsterdam except less drugs Big gate to Trinity College, it started hailing for 5 mins as soon as we got inside A restaurant? on Sidney St, very very suspect Me again inside the grounds of Sidney Sussex College, about to be kicked out :) Nice shot of river Cam in the 'Backs' behind the colleges Either part of King's College or Clare College, probably King's Part of the common room for Med students at Addenbrooke's

Nothing much to say Thursday, March 11 2004 by: Dave (email)

Just thought I'd have at least 2 entries here before I put it on the net so it looks ok. Oh yeah, if you guys want bigger versions of these pictures, you can wait unless you really want one, then email me... not that a big blown up picture of me looking stupid is anything anyone would ever want (except you Danny... and no, you're not getting one). :) Another day of exciting A&E is over, got a bit more teaching, got a bit more wrong when asked stuff by Registrar but that's pretty usual. Played some table tennis and pool with other elective students. Beth just sent me this one, tis Me, Beth, Alix and Kristyn at airport before I left, Pac's taking the pic.

Some pictures on the net! Thursday, March 11 2004 by: Dave (email)

No, not those kind, I finally managed to organise myself to use the computers here and make (well, modify actually) a website so I can put some pictures from here on the internet! Just been at a couple of lectures here which are for the medical students primarily but they've all just finished a big OSCE so they just nicked some food and left... reminds me of home. It seems a universal rule, medical students are out for free food at all costs. Anyways, here's some pics: The emergency department building at Addenbrooke's. Some planes at LAX as I was leaving on Virgin Atlantic (nice hostesses...) for Heathrow. Cambridge, the main street (ish); St Andrew's Street which turns into a pedestrian only thingee. The Kitchen at the Clinical School... neat. Me in scrubs in my room, I love wearing scrubs and I get a neat smart card with me name on it. Why did I keep on writing neat... damn :)