I love the internet. One minute you’re reading a Discworld fanfic (a well written one). The author includes a note about how she met Terry Pratchett and Stephen Briggs at one of the DW Cons, and she got pics. So I take a break from reading to check out her LiveJournal to see if the photos she spoke of are there, and instead find myself reading her accounts of her daughter being born with Hypotrophic Left Heart Syndrome and the years of surgeries, problems and successes (my favourite bit being when little Olivia calls herself Nein-Nein (No-No in German) because that’s what’s said to her as she toddles about!) Well worth a read – would be nice to find out how they’re doing now (last update Nov ’07). Then reading the comments there are comments there from another fanfic author who’s stories I read years ago who’s friends with this lady. Small world.

From the Amateur Transplants genius of Dr’s B and K comes this little gem that even for us veterinary anaesthetists has several notes of truth…

The Anaesthetists’ Hymn

You know Amateur Transplants. They are the duo of the sublime London Underground song. I have their CD, I want their DVD. *snigger* only those involved in statistics (as in “lies, damn lies and statistics”) will enjoy the joke, but on Dr B’s blog is a lovely line “Amateur Transplants Blog is written for entertainment purposes only. Any resemblance to real persons living, dead or otherwise is purely due to chance (p>0.005).” Love it! He gets my vote (is he standing for election?)

Sorry my blog seems to be mostly “look at what I saw on You Tube today” lately. I should probably include some more personally relevant updates!

As readers and pay-attentioners of my blog (and indeed family and friends) will know, I currently work as a veterinary anaesthetist and have done for a few months now. It’s not been too bad – as a certain French colleague commented; I am a “tough cookie”, and 13 days non-stop work/on call over the Christmas period doesn’t bother me, and once I know what it is I am doing, I’m content. Surprise me with new information and I am briefly unhappy, then let me work out my job and I am happy again. Being on call when you are only called out for surgeries (relatively infrequent, and if you are called you have to go in, so no indecision) and being backed up by 2 senior staff members is so, so much more better good than being on call, fielding random calls from MOPs and knowing there’s only a 70% chance that the boss will answer his phone is you need him, let alone help you.

That said I’ve had a fun few weeks off anaesthesia. We get to spend a few weeks visiting other services. Last week I pottered about in cardio, learning things I no doubt should already know. Lovely bunch, the cardio team. This week I’m likewise pottering about in equine learning things about horses I probably should already know also. It’s all good, all very enjoyable, the world is a lovely shiny place and yes I am over halfway down a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc (and not very nice Sauvignon at that, I previously enjoyed Calvet Limited Release Sauvignon Blanc, but this bottle tastes more like vinegar. Glad I didn’t buy two like I was planning – I’d bought two bottles of red for cardio and equine respectively didn’t want to look like an alchy by buying another white as well. A shopping basket of only four bottles of wine and half a dozen free-range eggs and 2 litres (damn metric) of goat’s milk may raise eyebrows. Not that I’m particularly bothered what the 10.30pm staff at Tescos think of me…)

Aaaaaaaanway.

2.06am?! When in blazes did that happen?!

Cat Bloopers 1 – tears of laughter, so funny!
Cat Bloopers 2 – actually quite impressive tricks!

And some people can draw real good.

I have nothing further to say, so I’ll leave it there!

Designer breeds are wrong.

Labradoodles (Labrador x Poodle) rock.

This is a conundrum, a puzzle and a contradiction. Good-O.

(Following anti-battery hen posts, aren’t you glad my posts have returned to random drivel? Natural order resumes. Free-range is still fairer.)

Through the second half of last year I gradually became more aware of (or more bothered by, since I was already aware of) the inhumane way in which the vast majority of egg laying (layers) and “eating” chickens (broilers) are kept in the UK.

“Battery” layers are kept in wire cages, with barely space to turn around. After a year or more in the cage they are culled. Now the easy bit is not buying eggs from “caged” birds. Barn is better, free-range is great, home kept is best and organic is more of a personal choice. The trick is finding mayonnaise, quiche, cakes, egg pasta and all those other products that contain egg; if it doesn’t say free-range in the list of ingredients, it’s battery.

Standard broiler chickens are kept in the dark for 40 days with an A4 area of space each, no environmental enrichment, no natural light, only 30 minutes of darkness a day and no space. After 40 days they are slaughtered.

Yes, it costs more, good welfare always costs more. Free range pork costs more than indoor pork. British beef is more expensive than beef from many non-EU countries where welfare laws are more lenient, or absent. Our welfare laws are in several cases stricter than EU directives, making our food more expensive to produce. However, unless they exist on a chicken only diet, buying free-range is not going to make a major difference to many people’s expenditure. And in my view it’s worth it.

As an avid meat eater I firmly believe we have a responsibility to treat the meat we eat well when it’s alive. Either that or don’t eat it.

Links of Note:
Battery Hen Welfare Trust
Hugh’s Chicken Out Campaign

Back after Christmas! Christmas was good fun – I was working a lot but managed to fit in all the traditional Christmas events – visited the cousins on the 23rd, cooked Christmas dinner, had traditional Christmas day at home, got loads of lovely presents, visited the other cousins on Boxing day, Grandma’s on the 29th and New Year’s Eve at ours. All good!

My resolution this year is no chocolate, sugar or cake – so far doing ok-ish, only eaten my Christmas chocolate, and had a little pandoro and pannetoni that a colleague brought from Italy.

Another resolution is to eat free-range, and further increase my awareness of where my food comes from – buy local, buy free-range.

Happy New Year!