Monday, February 26, 2007

Look what I found!




Sainsbury's surprised me - if you look up high or down low, you can find these delicacies hidden....

Monday, February 19, 2007

FINALLY bit the bullet and bought a card reader for my camera - some finally something more interesting that miles of text!

Below are great pics of all the snow we had last week - it was beautiful. I don't have to worry about getting to work in it either, so it's all just fun and exciting! We had a bit of a snowfight and got some pics of it at work before we got stuck into the day.

Things have been cruizing along here, work is getting busier now (which I told is more the norm thatn my first couple of weeks here). I'm currently working my first full weekend, which was total chaos yesterday morning.
One highlight this week (though I wasn't lucky enough to do the surgery) was a bull-terrier who has a bit of a thing for eating items of clothing. One of the other vets retrieved a lacy lady's g-string, some shoelaces and few other unidentifiable items from his small intestine. It's the third time he's needed surgery for this, and the parents are threatening to get rid of the dog if the kids don't learn to put their dirty clothes in the basket!

I went ice skating last weekend with some people form work, which was lots of fun! It felt like I was about 16 again, I think the last time I went was back at school or early uni. Most of us could skate ok, so we had a bit of a tag game going on, darting amongst all the other people there.
I went along to a women's breakfast with Claire's church last Saturday, which was about thankfulness. It was a really good perspective change - we have so much to be thankful for, and if we believe those things come from God, it really cahnges our attitude to life.

I was invited along to lunch with Claire's bible study group, which is made up of people of Indian, Egyptian, Aussie, Malaysian, Lebanese and English backgrounds - made for some really great conversations.

After that it was off to Buckinghamshire to Big Pete's place for his housewarming. He's a friend from uni who has been over here a while, and is now settling for a couple of years. He has a lovely little house, which backs on to some nice countryside, so after staying up till 4 am it was out for a walk in the woods and then in to town for a Pub Sunday lunch - such a relaxing day! It was great to catch up with a few other guys from uni who are working in and around London as well. I think there are about 20 people from my year in the UK at the moment!

If you think I crammed a lot into one weekend, then you'd be right and Iw as rewarded with a shocking dose of the flu this week, which I somehow managed to work through, and on into this weekend. I've banned myself from any outings til next weekend so I give myself a chance to recover!

I managed to find Lonely Planet on Peru last weekend as well, so I've been reading up a bit of Peruvian history and culture - it's so interesting. The trip over in August keeps getting bigger - it's almost stretched to a 6 week tour now. I'm getting a bit exciting about it now!


It doesn't look like much, but this is both my home and my work at the moment. The clinic is on the bottom, and there are lots of flats, as well as a couple more blocks in the total complex. 4 of the flats immediately over the clinic are occupied by staff.

Meet Zola




My apart from Jess, my other flatmate is a 7 month old Silver Tabby British Short hair called Zola (said with a South African Accent, it sounds even more exotic!).
She provides plenty of entertainment, and is a beautiful little thing as you can see....



smiling for the camera



She has an obsession with plastic bags!



such a poser



Playing in the snow before work last week. It was forecast to snow, but it was still fun and exciting to wake up to it that morning! Martin (the only straight guy in the practice!) is already making a snow ball to throw at some poor innocent....



View from my front window (with a cute kitty too!)

Zola discovers snow



you can see the 'what the..?' expression on her face here - the first time she's ever experienced snow!

Zola in the snow



A little cat in a big white world...........

'Blue Steel'




OK, so it was 3am at Pete's housewarming and things were getting a little silly (but seemed perfectly logical to those familiar with Zoolander)......

A walk in the woods

A walk in the woods




With friends from uni after Big Pete's housewarming - the Buckinghamshire countryside in the background

Archie with his mummy and daddy

Sunday, February 04, 2007

Archibald William Wilson Gartrell




This weekend I am visiting Will and Isa Gartrell, who are now a family of 3, with baby Archie, now 5 months old. It was great to just hang out with these guys! I last saw them only 6 months ago, thought is seems a lot longer - so much has happened in that time.
Archie is a happy baby (overall!), and he especially likes his Noah's Ark book, which I am reading to him here (got a bit bored the second time round though!).