New rotation now and life over the past week or so has been crazy hectic, though thankfully the pressure has eased off now and I've finally found some time to make an entry...

The current rotation is surgery, which consists of a week of orthopaedics, a week of soft tissue surgery and one on imaging. Last week I had the Ortho week which was hell on earth, I felt overworked with little if any respect paid to Pete's vital out of vetschool life. Final year work is quite enjoyable and I definately much prefer the all practical approach to vetlife, but when workload goes so massively beyond 8-6 that i can't fit in all the other things I like to squeeze into life it's not dificult to feel some course resentment. However (moan over), the actual work for the week was interesting, I had a couple of good cases to look after and on my neutering day was able to achieve a rabbit spey and castrate. The assessment for Ortho is based on case care and a referral letter, hopefully my case care will be fine to pass, and as for the referral letter I based mine on a shoulder lameness case which I actually found interesting.
This week work is based in the imaging department taking x-rays, watching US and gerenerally trying to come to grips with the role of diagnostic imaging in the vetworld. Work is now 9-5 and I've loved the extra time today needed to sort out many Pete organisation type things (probably shouldn't talk in the 3rd person so much, oh well).
To pass imagaing I've x-rays to assess every day, a day is spent on US and I have to be ticked off for taking a suitable chest and abdo x-ray.
Mark recieved this week for the last 3wk rotation of Small Animal Medicine 2 = Merit. Can't complain.

Other than work social life has been put on hold last week due to Ortho and illness (managed to contract myself a sub-lethal strain of what I'm told is metro-manflu, was bedridden for Tues though this was better than a day of megastress work). Last week I did have a great night with Sarah on Weds, cooked some food, watched a film (much needed de-stress).
Over the weekend I caught up on some much needed sleep and spent time with Sarah at a house party, watching films, walking dogs and calving pumpkins (noticed the error on read through but thought too comical to edit). One very enjoyable weekend!

Other organisational type efforts....
Band practices going awesome! New covers sound good, and our songs coming along well, Andy will hopefully be joinging us more regularly over nxt few wks for a crucial bass imput.
OpenMic2 is set and I'm trying to get people signed up.
Panto rehearsals all good, had one tonight. I've got so many lines to learn though it's not funny.

Upcoming important stuff...
Xmas ski trip needs sorting and paying for (26 of us including Rich are off to France the week before Xmas, can't wait!).
Nxt wk in uni it's onto soft tissue surgery, which is potentially interesting and not too heavy on the workload depending on case input at the time.

Tonight I've got stuff sorted had a chat to the Mother and generally got my life back on track to sail through the next week. I'm not sure whether I wish for a quieter life or not, becuase I don't think I'd know what to do with myself if I wasn't constantly busy.

Right now it's enough typing and off to Dave's/John's for food and family guy.
TTFN xx

Back into the swing of things now and I feel much more settled, so now I'm into the general routine of vetlife the blogs will follow their standard once weekly pattern, allowing many no doubt highly interested people a quick climpse through the window of the life of a final year vet (at one point that was scary terminology but now I feel I've spent enough time here, though it's still highly enjoyable I definately am sensing that time should be soon drawing to a close on this life chapter)... not entirely sure where that rather overly emotive blurb came from but then I tend to just type as I think with these things.

And so...over the past week things to mention include work, london, Mat's birthday, a drink, my birthday, organising and upcoming events...

Work wise the past week has seen the closing of a cat medicine rotation and the commencing of a week of pathology and opthamology.
Cat medicine week was time consuming (which I always resent) though fairly useful. I had some interesting cases to work up and got to iron out a few of my slight practical issues. The cat week is assessed on answers to questions, practical skills, a physical examination (cat), and a case report. The report took me most of Sunday night which after being busy on call all day wasn't ideal.
This week has so far been ideal, minimal hours and intersing work (ish). Monday we received a slide for us to interpret and conduct a talk on for Thursday, I'm fairly sure mine is a mast cell tumour but could quite easily be mistaken. Tuesday was spent on clinical pathology and today was opthamology. I now feel fairly confeident in doing an opthalmic examination, which is nice.

That's enough work (was lots in the last blog), next rotation is surgery so no doubt they'll be lots more to talk about there.

Saturday me, John, Dave, Paul, Jim, Kieran, Laura plus Dad, Rich and Han all went to london for the day to watch Spamalot for mine and Dad's birthday, it was a highly comedy performance enjoyed lots by all. After we went for a meal then to Soho for drinks.
Mat's birthday was Thursday, Laura cooked food and there was a mas pub attendance (we got him a record box). Yesterday was my birthday, had a pretty good day, unfortunately had to get my pathology slide sorted which meant 3hrs of my birhtday was spent in the pathology barn which is never ideal. Though the evening was cool, we had takeaway then went pub. The house got me some drum kit shaped cuff links.

Night before last I went out to Bris for a first date type drink with a girl called Sarah. Had a great night and hopefully will see her again tonight at the guillemots.

Gerneral organisation is slightly reduced as our house party is pretty sorted including PA booked, I'm now only acting in the panto (playing a Welsh cattle vet) and Open Mic 2 is well underway.

Upcoming fun includes band tonight, jam plus panto rehearsal tomorrow and drinks Bris Fri.

Avid fans and readers will no doubt be joyed to see that the Scales vetblog has not come to an end, though the finale is now certainly in site given that I’ll be sitting my final finals in June and by this time nxt yr should theoretically be busting out some real life hardcore vetwork and may even be earning my very own money…

It’s been many months since my last entry at the end of 4th yr and obviously there are ridiculously large amounts of general Pete life that could be included, though due to constant time constraints only vitals are possible.
Important points to mention I feel: Summer (hols/ems etc), the 5th yr, 1st wk, ongoing org, upcoming events…

Summer was fantastic in places and highly monotonous in others. 2months out of the three I spent doing compulsory work experience all over the country and in the other month I managed to get away for 3w in Greece and spent 1w with friends plus working.
Work experience was pretty good and definitely useful for the majority of the time. It got quite tiresome towards the end of summer as I think there’s only a certain amount of standing and watching a person can take before wanting to get much more hands on. Though to be fair all the places I went to were awesome at getting students involved but still there’s only so much they can let you do before we manage to stretch the practice day length significantly. Some of the best experience was with my good friend Kieran, as consults and operational issues were addressed plus out of hours socialisation was quite ideal, including a comedy night in Marlow and a viewing of the band Get Cape.Wear Cape.Fly.
Other than ems the summer holiday was excellent. The family spent 3w in Greece which was ideal. We had a villa for the five of us in Crete for 2w and then me, Rich and Han went off islanding to Santorini and on to Athens to fly home. I’ve wanted to do a little bit of travelling with the bro/sis for a long time and the experience definitely lived up to expectations. Santorini was by far our favourite place, island was beautiful, though Athens was pretty dam filthy.
The other week I skanked off I spent working at the vetsim conference (always an enjoyable view days) and camping in Penzance with friends. Most comedy events were the tent sick incident or the stolen Weatherspoons chair.

Right, next point to address, the big bad 5th year…
The year really started before summer with two of our three week rotations. These now continue until the end of next term. The year is spilt into groups of 11/12 and each group rotates around 3w blocks in the following areas…
Anaesthesia, Surgery, First Opinion Practice, Equine, Small animal medicine 1 and 2 (including Dermatology, ICU, Pathology, Cat medicine and Dog medicine) and Farm 1 and 2 (including farm hospital, farm practice, ems, abattoir, preventative medicine, and reproduction)… may have missed some areas but I’m sure the jist is achieved.
Currently I’m on SAM2, I had Derm last wk and this wk I’m on Cat medicine. Derm was an easy/useful and fun wk, we saw cases Tues to Thurs and had to produce a report on a fictional case we were each given. I think my case was lethal acrodermatitis in an English bull terrier, but only results next wk will tell.
Cat medicine is slightly less ideal, lots of cases hard work and more stress.
Basically the 5th yr is a hands on practical based year were hopefully we’ll gain some of the clinical skills required once we reach the big bad outside world (that I think is the idea anyway).
Personally I find I spend too much of my time trying to survive the 5th yr than actually getting on with some good learning, but that’s probably my slightly lazy attitude to the whole ordeal. What I mean is my efforts go into making sure clinicians can’t pick faults with what I’m doing and making it through one rotation to the next (I’m sure I’m not the only one). However without realising it no doubt some quality vet info must be seeping into my head when I’m surrounded by the whole thing every day.

Enough vet jabbering the 1st wk bck needs considering… Basically other than getting on with some quality derm wrk the 1st wk has been one ongoing greatness of alcohol fuelled nights, including the fresher’s party, a Langford bar night and a house party. All nights were amazing. The party was fairly lame on the pre-clinical front but 4th/5th yrs made up for the lack of enthusiasm shown and generally went pretty crazy, I also got slapped by a big dark dude but that’s another story (don’t worry family face isn’t to damaged). The bar night involved the stranglers playing for a clinicians leaving do, generally a good night though no specific stories except for John, Dave, me, Ian, Paula and Aniket getting half naked, covered in flour and dancing on a kitchen work surface till the early hours of the morning. Important props included tea towel, spatula, rolling pin, dog bowl, mop bucket and an England flag. Me and Dave got hurt by breaking 3 spatulas, never good.
Over the weekend the main event was the treasure hunt which due to last years madness was supposed to get band. Thankfully the current organisers did a wicked job and fun was had by all freshers and older years involved. Me and Milnthorpe took a team round and they were all absolute legends, the fish was kissed, the games were won, the carrots were sucked and the elephant walk was accomplished.
Not much to say about the party Sat night except comedy moustaches and much dancing, John was an absolute legend as somehow he managed to solely revive a dying party.

Back to school Monday and it was a major shell shock, I’ve spent yesterday and today trying to restore some kind of organisation to my life.
Things Pete is currently trying to organise…
- Soiree, levator’s last 1st term performance, will be awesome (can’t way to play to the school as final years).
- Panto music, I’ve landed myself the role of music coordinator for the panto i.e. get some kind of a band together.
- Spamalot, group of us are off to see the theatre production of monty python and the holy grail for mine and my dad’s birthday, this Saturday (birthdays other days).
- Open Mic, organisation of the 2nd is in the pipe line.

Other big upcoming events include Mat’s birthday, my birthday, and the gillemots (spelling?) with John. Plus I’m off for a drink with Sinead tomorrow and we’re jamming Sunday.

Tonight it’s off to the freshers pub crawl, I’m going as a breakdancer, will have to bust out some crazy big moves. Pauls made me an awesome ketoblaster thing.

Sorry last bit all rushed, have to get moving to go now and give my diarrhoea cat a klean prep.

Speak soon, it’s good to be back. x

The end of term was a week last Friday and now I’ve finally managed to find some time to get this end of year blog done. Stuff essential for inclusion in this final 4th year entry include; whatever I can now remember about the last week of term, current ems involvements and plans for the summer…

The last week of term wasn’t especially exciting as time was still heavily taken up by the equine rotation, though there were a couple of parties and also some end of term essential organisations.
End of term parties consisted of a little gathering at the vet nurses on Wednesday to celebrate Elle’s 21st and a footballers/footballer’s wives party at the girls house to celebrate the last day of term. For this final party my little sis Hannah and her boyfriend came over to experience an infamous vet party first hand. To be fair the girl’s party was pretty tame but I think most people had gone home, no doubt getting away from Langford was the majority’s priority. Comedy antics at the pty were minimal though there was some quality pole dancing by numerous guests (obviously myself included).
As far as end of term general organisation goes…
The panto is pretty much solely in the hands of Honor as I’ve taken a major step back, though no doubt I’ll be involved in the final production. Reason for the step back are time constraints and some slight group friction.
The spay clinic team has been sorted and consists of Me, Mat, Jim, Laura, Kate and Em. The idea is to raise as much money as possible next year to get loads of the year away to somewhere exotic that requires free veterinary neutering. Hopefully I’ll be able to sort out some musical events to get some cash together, other thoughts include themed bar nights, an end of term fete, sponsored events…etc
Levator Ani are currently on hold till we can get our selves in gear for the Soiree next term, though it’s yet to be confirmed that we’re actually playing. No doubt will all get sorted and practices will commence when next term starts.
The final year calendar has been sorted and the theme for our year is tv shows. It looks like I’m going to be present in a couple of months, once in supermarket sweep with the house plus Kate, again in a stars in their eyes type one for Levator and Blue Juice and also with the majority of the year’s male constituents in match of the day (for all those who play 5 a side in the EDC).

As far as work is concerned over the last week of term the priority was to make it through equine unscathed and to not have to repeat due to any last minute mistakes. Thankfully all went well and after collecting my results today I somehow managed to come away with a merit in the rotation, comments were: enthusiastic and pro-active (was pleased to see hyperactive wasn’t to follow).
Final thoughts on the equine rotation are… A tiring three weeks were the majority of the time I felt like I was treading around egg shells just to keep the working environment friendly. However I’ve learnt masses both medically and practically, and most important I think I now have a fair grasp on the overall veterinary perspective of equine work, I now feel I could go back to my notes and my brain would slot the info into the appropriate areas of equine work, now that it has a vague idea what it entails.
The next rotation when I return is small animal medicine2, which after a whole summer of small animal work should hopefully go fine.

Last but most important section, my summer…
In all other summers of vetschool I’ve achieved great mind broadening excursions to some amazing places, and though this summer has a definite holiday perk there’s no way it’s going to stand up to past experiences. The reason for this is 11wks of ems eclipsing my summer; I’ve just completed a wk at my foster practice in Derby which was good due mainly to the fact that it’s nice to be away from uni and not being constantly assessed. At the end of the week I joined the practice in a 5a side football competition and though Scarsdale FC weren’t the most pedally gifted (I’m such a geek) we did ace our last game and certainly were strong contenders for the sportsmanship award. After 5a side there was free food on behalf of a drug company, and then I went off to meet the lads in Derby for a big Blue note (indie club) session. Highlight of the night has to be that I’m in touch with a vet I met on the social after a shameful super sleazy manoeuvre involving a phone number and napkin type item.
Further ems this summer includes 2wks in Bristol doing CAS wks (being a slave check monkey), 2wks with big K down south learning from the master, 3wks in Derby at multiple small practices and 2wks near Bristol doing small also.
In the small amount of time I have available off I’ve got half a week sorted camping down Devon with the old 6th form mates, and I’m doing my three day stint at Vetsim, so will no doubt see some avid fans there. However the big trip of the summer this year is Greece with the family for three weeks. All five of us are spending 2wks in an apartment in Crete and then Rich, Han and I are off island hopping for a week, with stops at Santorini and Athens, should be fantastic.

Well I feel that’s enough I for the final 4th year entry, next time I write I’ll officially be in final year, though technically that started with the first rotation 7wks ago, plus everyone in foster refers to me as final year which still causes a twinch of anxiety every time I hear it, I know finals are far too ridiculously close for comfort. However on the bright side I’ve already sat all my written exams plus I’ve got a whole year of practical work to get this vet lark filed appropriately in my head before I start revising for the 7end of year vivas that decide if you’re going to make a safe vet of appropriate ability.
So now it’s gin up and soldier on for what has potential to be an interesting, fulfilling, sunshine involved and always alcohol fuelled summer.
TTFN xx

It’s Sunday night and I’m sat infront of the footy relaxing, something I’ve been unable to do for a fair while as life recently has been hectic to say the least. Since I last wrote I’ve made it through 2/3 of my equine rotation, driven to Suffolk twice, and attended a multitude of nights out/partys etc…

Last weekend Rich came over Friday to attend a couple of partys and generally relax as life’s been pretty stressful for the guy recently. Friday night I took him over to a 5th yr house party which was a good laugh despite the lack of people, features of the night included Ian’s multiple Vindaloo recitals, Rich and Paul’s Crouch and Becks dancing, Ian’s telling off and the crappy paddling pool.
The peach of the term’s social events took place Saturday with the Jock’s football/slipslide party. The partying started at 2:00pm with the England kick off and finished at roughly 4:00am after much carnage and drinking associated destruction. The guys had sorted out a few TVs for the match, constructed an entire outdoor bar, made a fire, sorted a bbq and generally turned the house into an ideal pty venue. However the highlight of the day was the huge plastic sheet in the garden covered with fairy liquid, wall paper paste, soap-suds and water. This was used for a multitude of party games including football, late night half naked sliding and general sliding antics, Rich even attempted some crazy frontflip slide.

The past week has been incredibly busy and stressful. I had both Monday and Tuesday off uni to drive over to Suffolk for my Granddad’s funeral, which went as well as it could go and was appropriately respectful for the old gentleman. Myself, Rich and my cousin Neil all made speeches which we managed to deliver ok.
After arriving home Tuesday night it was back to the grindstone as equine work continued for the rest of the week.

The equine rotation has gone really well so far, this I feel has had nothing to do with my equine knowledge but my group gelling together well and opposing the potential super awkward clinician force as a team. I’ve had two cases so far, one lameness case and another hyperlipaemic horse. Can’t say anymore than that, but all’s gone well and hopefully I’ll pick up another case this week. We have to get numerous things ticked off on equine of which I’ve now sorted them all out but my referral letter which I’ll get nailed on Tuesday. Tasks so far completed include and iv injection, clinical exam, radiograph taking, a talk on epistaxis (nose bleeds) and a reproductive practical. Fingers crossed I’ll have equine ticked off this time next week, which is a massive bonus before the summer as it’s definitely one of the harder rotations with a lot of on-call.

Another great night out definitely worth a mention was on Thursday when me, Tom and Nick gate crashed the girls night out. Nothing especially comedy to mention apart from Tom and I’s love heart distributions which got some fairly amusing responses.

This weekend has been Mum’s 50th birthday party back over in Suffolk again (so another 9hr round trip). The close family all came over to Nanna’s for a bbq and general booze up. The whole family had a much needed good time and I spent most of the day playing the unexpectedly aggressive game that is croquet.

Upcoming stuff includes much equine work and on call duties, a pub crawl on Weds and Hannah plus boyfriend coming over for a house party n Friday. I also need to sort out a panto meeting plus we’ve started the ball rolling on spay clinic organisation for when we qualify, will explain at a later date.

The most important thing to have happened since I last made an entry is the sad passing away of my Grandfather. I debated whether to include this in an entry but as I like this blog to accurately reflect on my life it would be insulting to Granddad not to, plus I hope to keep all these entries when I finish as a reminder to myself of everything important that has taken place during each week at Vetschool from yrs 2-5. All my family is currently in Suffolk where the Scales family originated, and I’ll be driving over once the date of the funeral is set. My upcoming rotation next week is equine and though it has a reputation for giving students a tough time I’m sure they’ll be completely amenable as far is giving me the necessary days off is concerned.

The goings on in Langford over the past week are relatively non-eventful apart from completing my first rotation and consuming immense amounts of bbq food.
The farm animal rotation I’ve just completed was ended by a week of bovine/ovine reproduction. For this we had to produce two reports and present group answers to 17questions taking into consideration many aspects of fertility work and cattle health. The reports were on the fertility performance of a local farm and on the fertility capacity of a semen sample. Other than reports we had 2tutorials and 1practical. The 1st tutorial went over our Interherd fertility report and the other was on a day book scenario, taking into consideration which calls are emergencies and how each call should be dealt with. Highlight of the 2nd tutorial is that we got to do it outside in the sun, much to the displeasure of all passes by stuck in CAS buildings all day. The practical for repro was on pregnancy diagnosis and ultrasound scanning in cows, this practical was definitely the highlight of the academic side of the week as I finally feel slightly competent in regards to rectal pregnancy diagnosing cattle (a big achievement for someone who on every PD practical last year ended up waving my hand around for a bit giving up and going home).

To celebrate the end of my first rotation I joined in with the bbq at the bell house and then had a few drinks at the Old Inn in order to wish Andy a happy birthday. After the pub a few of us went back to the bell house to check on the progress of the hot-tub plan. Basically the guys had been over to asda and purchased a 25quid good size paddling pool, filled it with hotwater by connecting a hose to the kitchen hot tap and putting in half a bottle of lynx shower gel for bubbles. The results where pretty impressive, as temperature was bath quality and there was room for the 8of us that stayed in there drinking beer till early morning.
Yesterday I went over to the jocks to watch the match, and now feel that learning the Crouch dance is going to be an essential skill for the upcoming month. Then in the evening I had a bbq here, not very eventful though many people came over for a pleasant evening.

Today I’m going to get some food shopping done, play some EDC football, and get ready for starting equine tomorrow by attending 8o’clock checks. Currently there’s no news on panto, hopefully they’ll be a meeting next week, and band is still on hold, probably till starting jams next term for the Soiree.

It’s Saturday afternoon and I’m hung-over at home after a big wedge outing last night, I remember being told by past 5th years that going out is very difficult in final year, though we’ve now made it into Bristol the past two Fridays, so maybe they over-exaggerated.
The past week has pretty much revolved around farm animal hospital, with the rotation eating up the majority of my time, though I haven’t resented this in anyway as the week has been really productive. On the rotation students are responsible for the care of the in-patients plus they talk through appropriate lines of treatment/carryout workups with the hospital clinician. Cases this week have included:
- Lame cows/sheep.
- Alpacas.
- Hernia operations.
- Goat listeriosis.
To monitor animals checks take place at least 3times per day, plus we’re on call at nights and weekends.
Every Friday after the preventative medicine group give their talk (ours was last week and went well) the hospital students present the current in-patients to the rest of the FAS students and all the clinicians. I was given two hernia ops and a lame cow to present, and all went fine plus I was able to answer most questions. However one clinician didn’t appreciate my slight bit of chat-back after a slightly daft question and proceeded to interrogate me on antibiotics. Though I think it all worked in my advantage as I answered a few difficult questions and the guy was made to look a bully. I also had three clinicians separately congratulate me and apologise for the guy’s behaviour…so basically one enemy/many friends made.

Over this weekend I’ve little planned, today has mainly involved recovery from Em’s and Steve’s birthday celebrations from last night, plus I’ve had to go into the hospital twice to do checks and administer drugs. Tonight I’m off to the cinema with the Bell House to see Xmen3, and am very much looking forward to seeing it. Tomorrow I’ve got lots to organise/sort out, and I’d also like to get a bit of bovine reproduction revised for next week when I’ve got an interherd fertility report to write on a local farm.

As far as other interests are concerned, band is on hold until we can find some time to practice, the aim at the moment is to start getting some ideas together for next term’s Soriee. Also on the panto front I’ve yet had time to organise a meeting, hopefully next week we’ll get one sorted.
On the sport front football has now commenced every Thursday between the year and clinicians. Unfortunately I couldn’t make this week, but will start next.

At long last I’ve finally found the time to catch up on my blogs. I think it’s probably been a good 5/6weeks since the last entry and though you might think that I’d therefore have a vast quantity to say I unfortunately haven’t. The reason for this being the shockingly time consuming task that is revision, however these were the last written exams I may ever have to sit (depending on passes/post-grad potential qualifications). Other than exams it’s all about the commencing of clerking rotations, and maybe an idea of general social events recently gone/upcoming now that I can actually have a social life again after 6wks of solitary CAS/FAS revision confinement…

Exams this time were the super giants of CAS and FAS (companion animal science and farm animal science), which between the two basically cover the whole of veterinary science, for a brief over view for anyone who might be interested the general gist is…
CAS1:
Small Animal Medicine (cardiology, renal, liver, endocrine, toxicology, infectious disease etc.).
Small Animal Orthopaedics and ENT (ear nose throat).
Small Animal Nutrition.
Dermatology.
Behaviour.
CAS2:
Horsees (orthopaedics, medicine, surgery, ENT, reproduction).
Opthamology.
Anaesthesia.
FAS1:
Cows plus some small ruminants.
FAS2: The dregs of the course i.e. housing, pigs, birds, growth etc.
…I’ve no doubt missed some areas out but least that’s a basic overview of exam content. To get through all the material was an absolute nightmare, 6wks of 10-12hrs work a day then a week of non-stop mega revision over the exams. Thankfully this will hopefully be the last time I have to cram for exams and hopefully I might have a fair idea before starting to revise for final vivas next year.
The exams all went fine, there were no major successes or problem papers, and so fingers crossed for all round passes some time next week when the results are posted. Failure will mean resists Aug to be allowed into final year (scary scary stuff!).
Here’s a general idea of how each exam went…
CAS1: As I had 3extra days of revision for this, plus knowledge from vet legend Keiran’s tutorials, this exam went pretty good. Had a couple of difficult questions on spinal neurology and orthopaedics, but other than these the rest of the 12 I feel I answered pretty good, including questions on Hypothyroidism, Atrial Fibrillation, Chemotherapeutic agents etc.
CAS2: Went ok, unfortunately due to a slight muddle up by myself I sat this exam after only knowing from midday the day before that it was to take place (I thought like a muppet that we had CAS1 fist…logically?!).
FAS1: Went well, even though I class cows as my weaker area. The paper was fairer than CAS and required much more application of knowledge than simple regurgitation.
FAS2: Went really well (though I feel like a bit of a grade A looser for stating this).

That’s a basic overview I feel of the forth year final written exams, these beauties came to a closure Friday just gone and the day was spent barbequing in our garden, drinking much beer, playing much guitar and then heading off to the annual barn dance. Can’t say that much antics particularly took place, though the majority of the year was in a fair state, and though I thought I was fairly sober (due to no memory blanks) the entire weekend hangover said otherwise.

Right now the year is a stress fuelled clerking frenzy. We started our appropriate rotation today, mine being FAS, other options include Mat on Anaesthesia, Laura on Surgery, Paul on dog medicine, Jim on FAS etc. each rotation lasts 3wks and we must achieve at least a pass in 6 out of the 7 rotations in order to take final year vivas.
The year was incredibly stressed on Sunday, and there was a definite all round feeling of being plunged in at the deep end after only finishing exams on Friday.

My first week is on preventative medicine. Today my little group of four went off to a Sheep farm to inspect a flock for lameness problems. We’re expected to produce a report by Friday to present to the other two FAS rotations and all the clinicians (little bit daunting, but I’m sure it’ll be ok, sheep lameness is a fairly easy topic to research).

Over the upcoming week as far as social concerns the calendar is bleak, the only think potentially on the list is a bbq over the weekend if the weather’s nice, if not I’m off home for much essential relaxation and home comforts.

………………………………………………………………………………………

As I closing note I think it is necessary to sum-up what I feel is the importance of final year commencing…
The feeling when I woke up today was one I haven’t felt since starting primary school/secondary school/uni i.e. that of embarking on something completely alien. It was weird that I lost far more sleep stressing about beginning clerking that sitting any of my recent exams, though this is probably because I’m so used to exams by now.
The significance of the year ahead promises to be that dissimilar to all education previously undertaken, and therefore marks the next step in the long ladder of veterinary qualification. It’s daunting to think that lectures are completely a thing of the past and that future learning carries considerable responsibility, with a major emphasis on maturity and professionalism.
However on a more upbeat tone, I feel I’ve now finally properly got my leg in the door of the veterinary profession, and it’s onwards and upwards to qualification and life in the real world… crazy!

This is the last entry of a forth year associated with lectures, and therefore takes place at the end of an era. Next term it’s onwards and upwards with the start of clerking rotations that will take us up to viva finals at the end of 5th year. However the fact that this massive chapter in vet life is over and the final instalment is soon to be upon us does not come as much of a daunting prospect as I feel that it is long overdue. There is only a certain amount of lectures one can take and this threshold was reached some time in 3rd year.

Even though this may be the last entry it isn’t going to be excessively long, basically because I’m about to go out for mother’s day (I know it’s Saturday, Hannah can’t make tomorrow due to work commitments). Main things to cover are a gig, a party, a quiz, an exam and revision…

The exam was FAS on current affairs, I wrote for an hour on avian influenza and the new welfare bill. I think some of what was written may be relevant so I’m sure a pass will be achieved.
The second Langford bar quiz of the term wasn’t as successful for my team as the first as we came 5th and not 1st. Paul’s knowledge of music associated with films impressed all.
The gig was the VetAid night myself and Chris Queen had been planning for the past month. The night was a major success, both mine and Chris’ band played without probs (except for slight mic trouble for a couple of Blue Juices’). The Langford Stranglers clinician band headlined the night and pleased all with a four song encore. The night raised £650 for the 5th year spay clinic and so much praise was aimed at Chris and I.
Thursday just gone was the last lecture of the year, the final words of vetschool lectures being… “Anaesthesia is lovely”. I’d like to say that the year went crazy and ripped up the lecture theatre but it was fairly passive (probably due to the fact that most of the year spent the last lecture asleep, including myself).
To celebrate the end of vetness in its purely theoretical basis the year went mental at John’s house in cocktail dresses and suits. The night had every aspect of vetness I could want; dancing, drunkenness, stupid antics, potential scandal and female issues, what more could a budding surgeon ask for.

Now it’s onto the next 6weeks of revision hell, 12hours a day, all of FAS and CAS to cover, in a word it’s going to be a bitch. Though once done that’s it, no more material to learn, no more written exams to sit and I’ll be learning only for my own ability. Wish me luck.

xx

As far back as I can remember is Thursday so I’m going to start from there. This either means there’s nothing worthwhile to talk about before then, or that the weekend has stolen much of the previous week’s memories.
Thursday was the second Langford Bar quiz of the term, which a few of my house plus Stevie attended. I ended up on a team with Claire, Ben, Paul and John and somehow managed to win the event, the prize being four bottles of wine. I put the win down to a combination of post-grad knowledge and slight text cheating (though this was standard procedure for all teams involved, not that that makes it right of course, I’ll just have to live with the guilt). The deciding round ended up being the last as we were second for the entire quiz up until; I think it was probably Claire’s amazing TV theme intro knowledge that clenched it for us. Victory to 6FinaF.

Friday night was a jam followed by me cooking for Tamsin and John. They both were fairly impressed with my honey trout effort, and T has gone on to let most of the yr know that I’m god’s gift to the kitchen (which is definitely not the case), and now anyone who comes round is gonna except michelin star quality Pete cooking.
After the meal it was round the Crown for all, including my house plus JP and Kate.

The weekend in general was majorly unconstructive. During the days I think I did some exercise and got some jobs/stuff sorted and organised.
Saturday evening Claire cooked a house meal and then me and Mat were meant to be lambing for the uni, but when I went out at 10pm to check another 2of our yr showed up who had swapped to our day from another, which was ideal as it meant Mat and I didn’t have to go back that night and were free to attend the 5th yr house party.
The party was of the theme gay/bi/confused and was one comedy evening. As my house went over later none of us really bothered to dress-up, though Jim did put on one of Hayley’s tops and Mat went as straight. Important occurrences for the evening included much crazy dancing, Hayley stealing a massive ornamental sheep, loosing Jim (again), me busking for alcohol (2cans and 2bottles achieved), and one guy in 5th yr being sent away for stitches.
Sunday night was much more subdued, I watched a film and went to bed. Mat also cooked a house dinner.

Yesterday I spent most of the day actually working! We’ve got a FAS exam on Thursday on veterinary current affairs. My group has split the research between us and I’m covering the government’s contingency plan for when/if Avian Influenza arrives. I put together a fair chunk of material yesterday and have just reproduced it to distribute later.

Last night it was another jam in preparation for Friday, which is now the biggest think (other than the poxy FAS exam) on the agenda. Thankfully last night’s jam went well and we’re confirming the set list as follows…
-Some Might Say
-Get Back
-All These Things I’ve Done
-Ian’s Song
-Matinee
-Pulp
-My Song
-Can’t Stand Me Now
-Life Less Ordinary
Everything is pretty much sorted for Friday now, I ordered some lighting and extra staging last week and Chris has sorted a backdrop. Fingers crossed now for a wicked night.

Think that covers about everything, will no doubt write the end of next week for the last entry of the term, before the start of the biggest revision session ever.

xx

PS: To Grandparent readers, especially those of the Scales variety, thank you kindly for the letter and money, but I regret to say that I will not be toning down the content of the entries, as I like to feel they accurately reflect my veterinary student life (I’m sure you’d all rather know exactly what’s going on rather than a slightly fictitious version). Hope all is well, love you lots. Peter.

Currently I’m sat in my bedroom listening to Bob Dylan and eating gone off grapes which I only bought today, Morrison’s let me down, though I did buy a very tasty Sea Bass that I ate tonight, which I suppose makes up for their mistake.
The past week has mainly been spent going crazy with little Bro in Newcastle, followed by a couple of days of life re-organisation in a vague effort to get things back on track.

2nd Trip to Newcastle went something as follows…
- Arrived Thursday morning and spent most of the day house hunting with Rich and his mates. Apparently my veteran student housing knowledge was required, retrospect of whether it exists or not. The trip was successful as the four of them put their name on a house. In the evening we went out to celebrate by having a very sociable curry. The plan was to go to a curry house which the guys had an extra-special discount for, though upon arrival it was shut and so regrettably a more expensive restaurant had our custom. After the meal it was off to Digital night club for an Indie night of which the highlight was Carl from Libertines playing a short set, the fact that it was completely unexpected made it even more quality.
- Friday was a day at the coast followed by a cinema trip and a few drinks in Jesmond where Rich’s new house is. Some very nice bars and cliental, though unfortunately all shut at 11:00.
- Saturday we had an amazing day in Durham, which included going round the Cathedral and the Castle, having a few drinks and getting an all you can eat Chinese, where we caused mild havoc. The castle guide was incredibly bizarre due the over-enthusiastic/slightly mental tour guide, and the Cathedral was phenomenal, can‘t say I‘ve seen many other buildings in England more impressive.
- Saturday night we went to Northumbria’s student union, where I got far too hammered for my own good.
- Sunday we woke very late and after watching Team America spent the afternoon going round a few record stores. In the evening I treated Rich to another Indian and then marched back over to the student union to see Death Cab For Cutie play, who it was decided by all are ridiculously good live.
- Monday I returned to reality in Bristol.

The past couple of days I’ve mainly been trying to get life back on tracks, including copying up/sorting out notes and organising stuff for VetAid and the Panto.
VetAid is now a week on Friday and preparations are almost sorted. The night is going to include three bands; Blue Juice, Levator Ani (my band) and The Langford Stranglers (a clinician band). The aim is to play lots of music and raise money for the final year spay clinic. My band finally got its set list sorted on Monday night and are now looking to Friday’s jam to find out the length of it.
Panto organisation continues tonight as I’m hopefully going to type up the thoughts from last weeks meeting in preparations for the meeting I’ve sorted tomorrow night.

I think that covers everything recently, though I’ve just realised I haven’t mentioned work (probably because there’s not vast amounts to say, lectures finish forever in 3wks and I can’t wait, work however should include revision, though as I’m going to be doing 6wks solid work over Easter I’ve not got that much enthusiasm for starting yet).

TTFN x

This is only going to be a short entry as I’ve got a lecture in 30mins.
Crucial items of significance to cover might include work, ball, pub crawl, foster practice and ongoing band plus panto fun…

On the work side there isn’t a great deal to say, lectures are continuing 9-5 as standard, though I’m pretty sure I’m very close to reaching my tolerance for them after 4yrs. Thankfully all lectures finish by the end of this term, then it’s onwards and upwards to the clerking rotations of final yr.
Main work area of importance is revision which I’m now feeling the heat of more and more, and therefore have finally started getting some done. Not a great deal I might add though, however having started at last I can maybe try and ease myself into it (or that’s the why I’d like to put it to explain my extremely slow revision start. I’m sure all will be ok though, mates in final yr didn’t start till Easter).

Ball was a good night, though nothing really comedy to mention. Highlight being dancing to the whole of the Mo-Funk set with some 3rd Yrs, both Sinead and I had bruises on our hands the next morning from overly banging the tambourine the front man gave us.
Vet vs Law vs Medic pub crawl was a pretty good night. Everyone gets dressed up in appropriate clothing and competes against the other courses to buy a drink at the most bars (Law tends to win as they’re the only ones who take it seriously, vets and medics tend to stay together in the cheapest bar and get hammered).

The majority of my recent time has been taken up with Foster Practice at home Weds to Fri and then lounging around at home over the weekend getting some highly essential recouporation and rest.
Foster was a good time, highlights included mastering my iv injections and cattle blood sampling and also witnessing a cow cause destruction of a practice car.
My reasoning for doing foster mid-term was that I only did 3days at Christmas (hopefully no supervises will read this) and also it was Mel’s leaving do and Rose’s birthday who are both befriended vets at the practice. The leaving do meal thing was Friday night and was awesome as vets buy lots of drinks! Most comedy point had to be my dance off with the senior small animal partner Paul.

Ongoing areas of importance include band and panto. We had a jam last night and thankfully it went really well (as last weeks jam was shocking). The triple band night “VetAid” is set for the 17th March, will discuss more closer to the time.
Panto efforts are to continue Weds with a second script meeting. The first was really successful as we managed to get loads of ideas together and a basic plot line sorted.

Thursday it’s off to Newcastle to see little brother for 5days, will no doubt include all details of this excursion in great detail next week. After this I suppose it’ll be time to actually start knuckling down and properly getting on with revision.

Tuesday lunch and there’s actually not that much to report for saying a whole weeks gone by, an achievement which doesn’t regularly happen as I normally seem to be constantly rushed of my feet.

Work wise lectures continue to plod on with little much to say; only potential large source of interest for me is small animal orthopaedics this afternoon. It’s an unusual feeling to actually be sort of looking forward to going to a lecture, but then as I hope to go into small animal surgery future wouldn’t look great if I didn’t fancy learning a bit on the subject.
Most pressing work matter is that of revision for CAS and FAS exams at the end of Easter. I’ve tried numerous times now to start this arduous task but am yet successful. The plan is to begin this evening and drown my valentine sorrows with a bit and cattle medicine, oh joy.

Non-work stuff to mention over the past week includes one awesome night out and a highly unproductive weekend.
The night out mentioned was for Claire’s birthday, for which a good 30+ people managed to make it into Bristol using the newfound mini-bus transport system. Nothing especially comedy occurred, it was just one all-round fun night out.
The unproductive weekend involved much 24watching, a bit of exercise and the pub. However Friday night was an unsuspecting good laugh. John took pity on me being home alone for the weekend and invited me out with him, Sue and Sue’s little sister. We drove into to Bristol for food and drink and then returned to the Old Inn to get some pints down John, as the guy was driving. There’s always something really cool about a good night out when one isn’t expected, what was expected to be a quiet meal ended up one comedy night shared by all.

Last important thing to mention before rounding this up is the NME shockwaves tour last night, which was an incredible. Kate’s boyfriend Jack very generously got me and Mat some tickets and the line up included Mystery Jets, We are Scientists, Arctic Monkeys and Maximo Park (which completely ruled the gig, Monkey’s hype took away a bit of the enjoyment, though they were still quality).

Over the upcoming week main point of interest is the ball on Saturday which is always quality.

Today it’s all about swimming, work and pub.

TTFN

Results are in and I’ve made it through another gruelling set of exams. Achievements are a merit in pathology and C in VPH. Both of which I’m really pleased with (as Pathology is incredibly difficult and VPH is amazingly dull. Onwards and upwards now to CAS and FAS exams which take place at the end of Easter i.e. not long at all, so unfortunately revision is going to have to once again begin soon. The most daunting fact of all is however that once these last set are done in only a few months I should theoretically know all I need to begin practicing. Thankfully though there’s the year of clerking to look forward to when hopefully all the info will maybe become part of my general knowledge and not just some facts and figures learnt to forget after an exam.
I feel that after that exam rant that work over this week should probably follow, though there’s not really that much to tell. ENT (ear, nose and throat) is continuing in its highly exciting fashion, we’ve now received the lecture notes for the subject which reside in a mega beast 183 page booklet (with no pictures!!). The lectures for the subject aren’t too bad as no extra notes are obviously necessary plus the lecturer is interesting, the only complaint is the volume of them. We’ve a full morning of ENT today and have another Thursday.
Other current subjects include equine medicine, which is going well (mainly because we’re forced to write notes, and so it’s easy to stay awake), and exotics (a ferret and guinea pig lecture yesterday).

Big talking point for this entry is another brother weekend of fun and antics. However this time the weekend was extended as he arrived Friday morning and went home last night.
Over the weekend the activities included:
- Friday day Rich and I went for a walk to the crown but managed to get lost over the fields on Jim’s crazy route. However once navigation had been sorted we located the pub and met useful guy who took it upon himself to organise our site-seeing weekend.
- Friday night I organised a lads night out into Bristol, including mini-buses, curry, bar crawl and club. The night was an absolute success and fun was had by all (even if I say so myself). Comedy occurrences included Steve’s curry spillage, Jim getting kicked out of Wedges, Hugo’s and Ian’s standard jokes, and the loss of many good men in Bristol for which Tom conducted a minutes silence for on the return trip. We lost Mat for most of the night to a Gay bar but apparently he had a good night so all well.
- Saturday day was predicated by the crown guy, it involved a drive to a cider farm plus cooked breakfast, and then over to Wookie Hole for much touristy fun. Mat accompanied me and Rich on the trip, and I thing it was agreed by all that Wookie Hole is a quality place for an afternoon out. Attractions there included caves, underground rivers, a fairy garden, dinosaur valley, the chance to make paper!, a run through the mirror maze if you dare, and those crazy distorting mirrors that everyone loves.
- Saturday night was the Hungarian Folk dance at Langford, not a bad night though no Hungarians arrived. Unfortunately some people got a bit rowdy and damage was created, this has now led to the bar being shut straight after licensing hours finish, worse things at sea and all that.
- Sunday me and Rich drove over to Weston for fish and chips at the sea side and a look round SeaQuarium, which was surprisingly good for Weston.
- Sunday night was relaxation and films, an early night was essential due to general tiredness felt by both members of the Scales party.
In summary another awesome weekend with Rich, next one to occur beginning of March when I fly over to see him in Newcastle.

Only other things left to mention are that Panto and band organisation is yet to occur, hopefully we’ll jam this week and I’ll get an e-mail out to find out if Andy and I are organising the Panto officially or not,

Tonight everyone’s out for Claire’s Birthday, Bristol again, should be a good one.

Finally I’ve managed to get some time to sit down and once again poor out my immensely interesting life. This is obviously a sarcastic comment as the principal thing taking place, again, has been revision. Though I suppose there are a couple of social events to mention plus maybe a bit of Xmas and New Yr to consider…

I’ll get the work part out the way first, which as I mentioned has revolved around revision, this time for a Pathology exam and practical, and a veterinary public health (VPH) exam. Revision’s taken 3wks-ish which I spent at home, this may have been slightly ott as the exams actually went pretty good…
The written for Pathology was worth 40% and the practical 20%, the other 40% was done in the 1st term and in 3rd Yr. Written went really well considering how ridiculously difficult pathology is, questions involved the inflammatory reaction, lymphoma classification, diabetes mellitus, neoplasia development, plus others. Unfortunately the practical went unsurprisingly bad, though as 99% of the yr has this concern I’m not overly worried. Reason it was so bad is that histopathology is without doubt the most brain paralysing subject ever created and to learn for it is equivalent to slowly and repeatedly banging ones head against a wall. Just above this on the boredom scale lies histology, but as I passed this somehow in second yr things might be ok, will have to wait and see till Wednesday when the viva lists come out.
As for VPH we had only one written exam which though was incredibly tedious went fine. Three hours of answering questions such as “devise a cleaning regime for a chicken processing plant” or “explain how drip rate and carcass colour are related in pig meat” are far from any sane person’s idea of an interesting subject.
One big bonus about these exams is that I’ve finally got my head around Pathology and so can understand and keep up with companion and farm animal science lectures.

Before revision started I actually managed to achieve a slight Xmas and New Yr. Xmas was all fun and appropriately family orientated. I managed to bag myself a record player plus the beginnings of a rapidly expanding vinyl collection.
New Yr involved a meal out in Belper with Hayley at a surprisingly nice Thai restaurant (for Belper that is), and then on to Belper’s one token bar/club/hole to see in the New Yr with Rich, Hannah, Hayley and friends.
Before Xmas I worked at the workshop conference in Nottingham, not much to say here really, except hard work and some slight debt removing income.
One other important event to mention is mine and Rich’s one mid-revision indi night out into Derby, where I let off a lot of revision stress with much comedy dancing, and ended up bringing some random Derby lass back to Holbrook for essential apre-drinking tea, nothing underhand a might add we just wanted the lift home.

Right now I’m back in Langford Vet School typing away on schools comps as my lap-top keyboard has broke, though that’s a slight exaggeration as it still works, you just have to have the touch of a giant to get a letter to come up.
Since I’ve been back there’s been one pretty awesome night out on Friday (post-exam drinking). We all got mini-buses into Bristol and went pretty wild. Nothing scandalous took place but overall had a much needed awesome night.

Coming up there’s work, work, work and maybe some social life thrown in. Lectures have re-started and they’re amazingly relentless, 9-5 and all hardcore fairly un-miss-able. Current subjects include eye, nose and throat surgery, equine medicine and renal medicine.
Coming up on the social side…
Tonight a bunch of us are off to see the rakes in Bristol.
Over the weekend my little bro is over which should be cool as hopefully there’s to be a lads night Friday in Bristol which I’m organising and there’s a barn dance type thing in Langford on Saturday night.

Next time I write I’ll remember to mention the panto, and the pressing importance of the final written CAS and FAS exams (just put this in as a memo to be honest).

This is the entry for Saturday just gone (forgot to post this on Sat)…

Running a bit late on the blog entry this week I know, though I do have except-able excuses, mainly langford open mic night organisation and pathology DSE.

Firstly and most importantly…The premier Langford Open Mic Night.
I decided a good while ago that it’d be a bit of an alternative interesting evening to organise an open mic night for the vet school this term, of which the date for was Wednesday just gone. Thankfully the evening was a fair success, though this now means I’m wanted by the vet school to produce future evening’s entertainment…
I ran the night at Langford vet student bar, which was fairly cramped for the 150-200odd people that came, though this added nicely to the atmosphere, with people on chairs and tables all round the back of the audience. I ran the night in two halves, with 15 acts in total between the two, these included…
- Charlie on the trumpet.
- JP, me, 2x andys and Claire plus Chris doing 2 acoustic numbers.
- 8 freshers doing a very special “Freshers fit club/fat fighters” dance.
- Andy Henderson as Ronan Keeton.
- Marsden singing two solos.
- Ian and Chris doing stand-up (Ian went down a storm with great vet related and non-vet related jokes, unfortunately Chris was not quite so comically blessed).
- The enders singing and dancing two boy-band numbers (highly amusing).
- Jenny and sarah singing Mariah wotshername’s Xmas song.
- The new vet band Blue Juice (debut performance and really good).
- Me and Em singing a counting crows duet.
So as you can see an amazing diversity of performances.
The evening was intended to be a light hearted talent contest type evening but without the competitive edge. However I did involve the judgement of Professor Domingo Tortonese to add another aspect to the evening. He awarded the following prizes…
Best overall performance…JP
Most entertaining act…Enders Take That rendition.
Most talented performance…Me and Em (no bribe I assure).
The night ended off with an after party at my house, where we all got hideously drunk at and played limbo…which was nice.

Other important non-work related occurrences over this past week include Paul and I getting wasted last night in front of the tele and then making it for last orders at the Crown, which we decided to take round to the guys in John’s car…fairly random. Then spent the evening playing guitar and decorating the guys lounge with paper chains and beer cans (their tree looks awesome).

Thursday night I had a pleasant evening in Bath with Hayley, getting a bit of last minute Xmas shopping in (which I’ve now finally completed after today’s Cribs excursion plus ice rink trip). Bath is really impressive as far as Xmas decorations and lighting goes. They’ve placed a very Christmassy outdoor market around the Abbey, which Hayley and I spent the majority of our time pottering around (so to speak…basically I bought food and mulled wine and Hayley went from one jewellery store to the next).

The only critical work related item to mention is Pathology DSE (which I’ve handed in today). For this we get given a tissue sample and slide and have to write a short report on pathology seen and possible aetiology. I received a section of lung from a ragdoll breed of cat. From the microscope I diagnosed diffuse, probably acute, interstitial pneumonia and from the macroscopic section consolidation and pneumonia. The sample was taken from a kitten which died following pyrexia and dyspnoea (fever and shortness of breath). Many other kittens in the litter also died from the disease.
I’ve diagnosed feline calicivirus, will see whether this is correct or not when I get my report back next term.

Only thing left to mention is the social life this upcoming week, with Xmas dinner tonight, clinical panto tomorrow, xmas party in Bristol Wednesday and the last night of term Thursday. Could be a broke much subdued Pete driving home Friday.

Tuesday evening and after much organisation I’m hoping to get over to the pub for last orders after completing this entry.

Over the week there actually wasn’t that much on for once, main items on the agenda included bingo!!, a house party and numerous films plus take-away…

But firstly work related issues must be addressed. The main subject causing time to be swayed in the work direction is currently pathology. Last week we had our final mini-test on the liver and pancreas which went ok (not as well as I’d have hoped after actually putting a marginal amount of effort into it but never mind). The continuing effort in the subject is due to pathology DSE which begins this week. This basically involves us receiving a slide each and writing a project on it. I’ll have more info next week on this once the project is fully underway.
Other work achieved over the past week includes beginning to revise for veterinary public health, one incredibly sleep inducing subject to revise for, but at least I’ve begun.
On the lecture front the equine orthopaedics course is one of the main areas being presently covered. The subject is fairly interesting, though made unfortunately aggravating as I find it difficult to stay awake when the lecturer insists on keeping the lights on their dimmest setting.

Anyways, as far as socialisation goes over the past week things have been, as general, fairly active. I had a hilarious night Thursday when a horde of us went to the free Garla bingo night in Weston. The experience was most certainly unforgettable, and going by the fact that I got a bingo and won £25, plus Hels got a line and won £30 and Dave got two lines and won £40, plus beer was only £1.50 a pint, it was a hilarious, incredible cheep, alternative night out.

On Friday it was the vet nurse’s house party (safari themed). The evening started round at John’s, who cooked my house and his fajitas and then progresses to the Old Inn and finally the party. Amusing antics of the night included…
- Jim, Hayley and I stealing three chairs, a bin and a bunch of cleaning products (other people stole a toaster, an abs cruncher, paving slabs and an inflatable snake).
- Paul, Paula and I having an arms behind the back, eat two mince pies off the table competition.
- Getting saturated completely from head to toe by seeing how many vets we could get in the bath.
- Much amusing dancing with wild animal props.

Saturday was spent mainly in bed then in front of the tv with no food, then in front of the tv with Indian takeaway.

Sunday I worked.

The item taking presidency on Pete’s current agenda is the Langford bar Open Mic night scheduled for next Weds. The reason for this is that I’m the sole organiser (I aim for it to be my contribution to vet event organisation over the five years). Will explain all next Tuesday (probably Thursday as no doubt I’ll be incredibly busy the day before).

Today has been dedicated to that marvellous beast that is the horse. Though this maybe sarcasm I do in general not dislike horses, it’s just that after a day of lectures and practicals on the subject, plus the prospect of the same tomorrow, enthusiasm tends to wane. Lectures were mainly on equine reproduction and though the content was interest sustaining the complication came when the lecturer decided, for no apparent reason, that an hour and half lectures were appropriate (we’re used to 50mins), and surprisingly enough concentration does in no way span that long. The practical involved all participants taking a clitoral fossa swab to check for VDs and also appreciating were vulval stiches are placed to act as prophylaxis against vaginal wind sucking (I’m sure that’s sufficient info for all non-vet student readers).
Other work related issues recently mainly revolve around pathology as we’ve had many dermatology and liver lectures. In fact we’ve a liver plus pancreas DSE (directed self education) test on Thursday, so it’s brushing up for that tonight and tomorrow.

I think that maybe the first time I’ve started off talking about work for a long while, I doubt that’s because work’s been particularly interesting recently because I’m completely fed up of lectures, maybe I just sub-consciously wanted to get it out the way first…

Before I talk about the weekend I should mention that my clinical tutor group went over to our tutor’s house for dinner Wednesday (very generous of him I thought). Martin and his wife are both clinicians at Bristol and so a good impression was essential. Unfortunately I hadn’t eaten since very early on that day and after a couple of beers and marguerites I was uncharacteristically drunk for such an occasion (no joke intended). However thankfully I kept things together and once sufficient alcohol was consumed elsewhere I felt much more at ease. Good point’s that myself and a 5th Yr called Justyn ended up bantering with our hosts for most of the evening and so hopefully will have made a lastingly good impression (will see in 5th yr when I meet them on rotations).

The weekend was phenomenal… little bro (Rich) flew over Friday morning ready for Levator Ani’s Soiree performance in the evening. We made our way over early evening to set up and get sound checks sorted. The guys the Ents Reps had sorted out for us were excellent, the sound quality/levels were really good and they fully mic’d up my drum kit. The evening’s set list was a complete success with many congratulations all round after. Also Golden Touch which I’m on rhythm plus lead vocals for couldn’t have gone better… so ideal all round!! Rich I’m sure had a good night though he managed to consume enough alcohol over the course of the aft/evening to bankrupt a small country.
Saturday was hangover day, which was made even worse by the polar Bristol conditions along with our heating breaking down. To take our mind of things me, Rich and Paul went off for 9holes of pitch and put. This was an incredibly amusing activity, I think I may actually be the worst golfer ever (no exaggeration). My average was double figures for most holes.
Saturday evening was poker at the guys house whilst sat round their fire drinking vintage Bristol cider.
Once Rich and I finally got ourselves into action on Sunday we went off to Chedder Gorge. Here we had a day of cheese and cider tasting. We returned with six quids worth of very random cheeses and 10pints of cider. This was all consumed in the evening in front of perhaps one of the worst films ever… Detroit City Rocks (Hugo’s Recommendation).

Rich left Monday morning and since then I’ve been getting organised and aiming to do some work. The big think on the agenda at the mo. is the open mic night in December that I’m sorting, so a lot of time this week is going to be devoted to getting it under way.

This entry is mainly going to be themed around AVS, as it’s been by far the most important item on the past week’s agenda…

AVS = annual veterinary sports/social, social fits the mould best as the only sport I saw was mud-wrestling by the Dublin nutters. The weekend occurs obviously yearly and the location rotates around the six vet schools. This year AVS was held at Glasgow university and it was an incredible event (big thanks no doubt due to impeccable organisation by the Glasgow AVS ents, esp. Gordon, to whom I owe the thanks of “thee” Glasgow AVS t-shirt)…
The weekend commenced Friday mid-day when the ridiculous bus trek began, thank fully my guitar (coined “Gary” by the girls?!) accompanied to prevent pre-drinking boredom. However once drinking begun the coach ride went remarkably quick. Comedy coach events include me playing sit-down in a services with most of our coach sat down, much to the amusement of passing by travellers, the incredible rapping/beat boxing achieved by double figure’s worth of vets, me falling over a car whilst someone was in it, Mark placing parts of his body into the hands of a famous plastic purple dinosaur + grinding with a musical Santa.
We arrived at the club Fri evening very close to closing time, infact as Bristol was the 1st to be called away many of us had virtually no time in the club. However due the bottle of wine necked before the club I was completely oblivious to home time and ended the night dancing with Sue and a bouncer on an empty dance floor.
Saturday theoretically is sports day, so off John, Sue, Caz and I went to the sports field, though the only time we made it out of the tent was to watch Dubliners fight and through mud at each other. The tent was amazing fun, the only people there were 50 or so Dubliners and equal Bristolians, and everyone got incredible filthy and drunk then danced like nutters to some great indy tunes for an entire afternoon (was as close to an AVS equivalent of leeds/reading as no doubt possible).
Saturday evening was held at the union. Before hand we did a sort of min-pub crawl across Glasgow, which I missed a fair chunk of as I found myself a very friendly bunch of Newcastle non-AVS girls to go round some bars with first.
The union was very impressive, a multitude of bars + a huge club upstairs and its own Subway!! The night here was definitely an improvement on the subsequent, for one we didn’t arrive at closing and also I didn’t get quite so smashed so it was possible to remember the night. There’s a few comedy antics worth mentioning from the night:
Pete getting thrown out with his 70’s style terminally ill retro hoover which he dragged across Glasgow.
Gav and his girl getting thrown out for sleeping.
Andy urinating into a pint, which the bouncers saw, and then drinking it (his logic was that he had to do something really impressive for the bouncers to let him stay in once they caught him urinating in subway… unfortunately downing it didn’t accomplish this).
Nick sticking his tongue down the throat of every girl he saw.
Much much comedy dancing, especially to the world famous tune of Wannabe?!
Sunday’s bus journey back was pretty much spent asleep. I found myself a sleeping bag and some floor space then hibernated until Bristol returned.

Other than AVS there’s not been a great deal on, no doubt I should mention some work achieved over the last week so here goes…
Yesterday was another pathology mini-test, this time on the gastro-intestinal tract. Don’t think it went too bad, which was quite surprising due to the weekend’s antics. Thank fully I managed to squeeze in a bit of revision for it so all well.
Other recent work includes the start of our large animal orthopaedics course, continuation of dermatology in pathology and general lack of VPH efforts. However the VPH situation is currently being addressed as yesterday I began organising my notes and sighing myself up to begin revision in the subject.

Main events for the rest of this week include the Soiree and my brother visiting for the weekend. Levator Ani are once again playing at the Soiree, and so many evenings this week will be devoted to rehearsals. Though thankfully I think everything should be fine as jams were going really well before AVS. Line up this year is as follow…
Greenday –Holiday
Coral – Dreaming of you
Ash – Shining light
Razorlight – Golden touch
Ash – Life less ordinary
Franz Ferdinand – Matinee
Levator Ani – Vet life
Brim full of asha (comedy encore)
I’m drumming for all except Golden touch which I’m rhythm plus vocals for (could be nerve racking).
Will report next Tuesday with full details of the performance’s success or lack of…

xx

This entry may be marginally disjointed owing to the fact that I’m trying to do a thousand and one other things at the same time, plus it’s gotta be relatively quick if I’m to join the house film watching session this evening.

Anyway, essential inclusions for this week’s entry are my three day mid-term demi holiday with little bro, a little bit of chat on general work efforts or lack of as you will and maybe also up and coming antics…

At the beginning of term I thought it would be a nice idea to take a little break at some point during the term and visit my little brother who’s in his 1st term of uni studying History at Newcastle. This trip was scheduled for Thursday of last week until Monday morning, so quite a substantial study break. I thought visiting him might be quite an unfortunately long drive but thankfully Bristol airport is conveniently close to where I live, plus the metro at the other end made the excursion incredibly easy.
I was there for three full days, in which we managed to cram a ludicrous quantity of fun and activities. This included two insanely awesome evenings out, one of which being student themed and the other Geordie, a trip to a modern art gallery (got the culture part covered), Rich Scales’ tour of the quayside + millennium bridge, much shopping at the metro centre plus city centre, a Chinese meal out, a visit to Wet n Wild water park, one cinema evening and a very tiny quantity of quiet time enjoying Monty Python’s meaning of life (the middle bit of “Where’s The Fish?” being significantly the most used quote of the weekend).
I feel I could write an absolute essay of my time in Newcastle but there’s pressing matters at hand, so I’ll just bullet the highlights…
Newcastle uni… Thought the campus and halls where really impressive, with the most amazing location to the city centre possible. The union was a fair size and includes an excellent large sized club.
A most random talking/music/plastic blob orientated piece of modern art.
Helping Rich buy his 1st guitar.
Friday night’s antics in the union (inc. chatting up the dj’s girlfriend, almost knocking out an female fresher, two guys thinking me and Rich where gay judging by our dancing (which was pretty dam hilarious me things).
Saturday night’s Geordie experience, don’t think I’ve ever been out when it so blatantly obvious that every person is really up for a good night. It seemed to give every bar an amazingly hyper atmosphere.
A very tasty plus inexpensive Chinese meal.
Lots of laughs and jokes with little bro, whom I seem to be able to have the most random, hilarious conversations with.

Now back in Bristol and it’s back to the grindstone so to speak as I’ve a fair bit of work to catch up on. Though I’m managing fine, as during this blog I’ve been photocopying missed notes and handouts. I’ve not really much to speak about on the work front apart from the past couple of days.
Work in pathology is continuing with the gastrointestinal tract, I’ve managed to work my way revising through Oesophagus plus stomach pathology and hopefully will soon get round to nailing intestinal pathology as there’s a mini-test on this subject on Monday. In companion animal science work has included dermatology, which is relatively interesting. However this result I feel is mainly due to the lecturer keeping things interesting and running through at an ideal pace. Basically I reckon a good lecturer can hold attention and get across the information of any subject within reason (i.e. I don’t think it would be humanely possible to make half a century of meat lectures for veterinary public health in anyway interesting).

Well that’s al I’ve got time for, the only thing left to mention is AVS… A trip to Glasgow for all vet schools to meet, exchange pleasantries and leave… will tell all next week.

TTFN xx