Scott’s Spiel

So recently I’ve been contemplating whether starting my own St Andrew’s Section in the West End would be a good idea or not.

According to the regulations I only need 4 members to start a “Section”. This would be attached to a Company (would I have a say in which one? no idea) and if I achieved 12 members after it year it could become a Company itself. Honestly, I don’t see 4 members being a problem. With some decent effort I don’t even think 12 would be a problem. The problem comes when I try and think about the logistics involved.

• To hold meetings I’d need some sort of hall. This would involve money, probably around £100 a month.
• To train I’d need equipment. Equipment costs money. Storage is also a problem
• New members would need to undergo a full course before being allowed on duty. This cost me £60 to go through (probably not the best deal in the world). Could I pass on some of this onto the applicants?
• Income probably wouldn’t happen until a number of members were able to go on regular duties.
• Uniform costs.
• The time and effort involved, combined with me going into 3rd year, might burn me out.

On the other hand, there are a number of pros:

• I wouldn’t be annoyed at my current situation any longer
• I would be leaving a, hopefully successful, Uni society behind when I left. That’s pretty cool as well as looking good on my CV.
• I might be able to expand upon the training normally provided.
• There would be a much more social aspect, great for everyone meeting other people, etc.

I’m still not too sure. Theoretically it would be comparable to the LINKS aspect of St John’s ambulance which seems to work well.

At the moment I’m going to wait until I start back again. This way I’d be able to see how much time I’ll have and how much I can get annoyed about my current company.

So today I found this article which lead me to the rather excellent new facebook design. Applications seem to be back in the proper place (out of view) and I hope it stays that way.

However, this quote from the article (my emphasis), really got me wondering:

Facebook expert Tony Beresford said that the site’s revamp was a positive move.

Just how in the world do you become a Facebook expert? Answers on a postcard please. Google pointed me here which I totally agree with.

Maybe I could be a WordPress expert? Certainly a Mac expert. Perhaps I’m a Scottish culture expert?

Sigh, not going to be reading Sky News again in a hurry,

This is usually the bridge I walk over on my way to work. As you can see, on Saturday my options were a bit restricted. I didn’t even know the bridge could do that so was a little surprised when I saw it. The River Festival was on and a number of boats were in the area which is why it was raised. Thankfully there’s another bridge a few minutes down the river and I managed to get to work on time (phew!).

Work itself is remarkably different at the weekend than the weekday. Things are a lot more relaxed and enjoyable as the majority of us are students. I’ve gained a lot of experience already at phlebotomy but I know I could do with more practice. When we get to the haematology ward then I really notice how much I struggle. Thankfully, most patients are happy to let me try a couple of times and many know they have, quite honestly, terrible veins.

I felt so sorry for the patients that I decided to go into town on Saturday and donate blood in the afternoon. One of my first aid colleagues works there but was unfortunately on a training course. Nevertheless the member of staff I was with knew him well enough to slag him off.

I’ve been told by 02 that I can’t get an iPhone until my contract is almost up. While this obviously makes business sense I was hoping for something similar to what they did for the original iPhone. Hopefully when they get a decent level of stock they’ll start to offer an upgrade to those who’ve registered interest. This puts my aim of christmas quite possible but we’ll see.

Scary, eh?

It’s all downhill from here…

T in the Park 2008 begins tomorrow evening in Balado. I will be joining festivities early on Saturday morning where I will be part of the first aid team onsite. I’m covering the hours of 10am-6pm on both the Saturday and the Sunday. Honestly, I can’t wait.

The atmosphere will be terrific, the bands will be awesome (any bets on whether Amy Winehouse will turn up?) and the first aid requirements are likely to be greater than any I’ve experienced. Because of that, I’m not quite sure the best way to prepare. At the moment it looks like I’ll be a foot patrol on the site which means the majority of cases I can probably send/escort to a first aid post. I do imagine I’ll be rotating around throughout the day.

Ideally I’d like a few (not too many!) cases where I might need to rack my head to think of how to deal with it. Interestingly we have a number of St John’s members from down south (particularly Leeds) who are coming up, a few on my shifts and possibly as my partner. This would be quite good, I’d love to hear about the differences between us. On the other hand if they wear the green uniform everyone is going to treat them like ambulance staff. Should be interesting!

I’d planned to do some live-twittering but we’ve been told phones should be off whilst on duty. I might manage to slip a few in during my breaks and in the evenings.

All in all, I hope the weather stays nice and that I don’t loose anything I need. Hopefully I’ll be enjoy myself!

In other news, I have 1 week remaining of teenage years. Ahhh! May be getting an iPhone for my birthday though!