Happy Together

It's gonna be an odd weekend.

One of my best friends is getting married.

It's his stag-do today (my first ever proper stag-do) - so of course, we are going to destroy him. Then it's the wedding tomorrow!

They're holding it in the arse-end of nowhere (fiancee's home village) so I'm guaranteed to get lost between the venue, the pub, my hotel, etc...

Bit stressed because he wants me to play at the reception tomorrow.

I want to do nice songs... but I they're boring - I've given up on the Baywatch theme and now learning some Kaiser Chiefs, The Feeling, The Turtles (60s band, not Teenage Mutant variety)...

And of course, I have been asked to do some of the medical/comedy ones. A wedding. Yikes...

Plus he has a bearded chemistry teacher as a best man.

There is a high likelihood of disaster.


Tch - what am I worried about, what could possibly go wrong...?

Glastonbury Medic

I had a fantastic weekend at Glastonbury.

I was there to work, but I had Friday & Sunday off, so I got to enjoy most of the Festival too!

I drove down on Thursday evening and there was no traffic at all because just about everyone was already there. So my first challenge was to battle single-handedly in the dark with the brand new tent I'd just bought. It was looking great... until I realised I'd mistaken the inner tent for the flatsheet - so theoretically I could stay in it... but it wouldn't be waterproof & it'd be see-through. I started again.

My first overnight shift in the medical centre wasn't too bad at all. The mental health team were far busier than me, dealing with a number of pill-poppers, most of whom just needed reassurance & a quiet lie-down. I took a trip with the ambulance crew when they transferred a punter to hospital - blue light & siren, very exciting!

The shift finished on Friday morning & I made my tired way back to the volunteer medical staff's private campsite. The organisers had scraped together enough cash for much nicer portaloos & showers than the ones in the main site; if you think I missed the true spirit of the festival, I don't care - you're just jealous.

I tried to get some sleep during the day but it wasn't easy (usually I'm quite good at sleeping anywhere); I woke up every now & then to hear that it was still tanking it down with rain & there was a different band on the main stage in the distance.

Early evening, rested, I finally ambled down to the actual festival in my wellies. The mud was already ankle-deep and like quicksand; I kept getting stuck and nearly falling over - which is why I didn't laugh every time I saw someone else tumble in! Getting around the site took quite a bit of effort - everyone there got a free thigh & bum workout just from sticking & unsticking. Later in the weekend the mud became much more liquid & slurry-like. Either that or the loos had overflowed.

There were more than a dozen stages to wander round. But when I first got there, I was hungry & more interested in the food stalls. There were so many different things on offer, from stalls selling your average pie, burger, chips etc to a place that did Australian meats (if you're wondering, crocodile is quite soft & tasty, whereas kangaroo is more meaty).

I found a brilliant place, the Banyan Tree Cafe, which had an open mic (guess where this story is going...). A guy went up & did some rap/poetry & then played some reggae. Some of his mates joined him & it turned into an impromptu samba dance-off, with lots of the cafe staff joining in on various instruments; there ended up being a dozen people on stage.

Well how do you follow that? With a middle-class off-duty doctor singing rude songs at a piano of course. Went down surprisingly well - by the end of it a crowd of about a hundred people had gathered - more than when I started! ;o)
In any case, technically now I can say I played at Glastonbury!

I wandered round the stalls which sold everything; trilby hats, didgeridoos, wind chimes, you name it. I really wanted to buy some fire poi from a juggling stand but thought I'd better try at home first (eg. with rolled-up socks) before I invest 50 quid in the real thing.

Best bit of the festival? I think I've developed a thing for girls in shorts & wellies... Rrrawr...

My next shift started on Saturday afternoon. Much busier with lots of people turning up with minor injuries like blisters & trench-foot, twisted ankles, and one rare condition which took all four doctors to diagnose!

I could hear the main stage from the medical tent so it wasn't so bad; and I got out in time to catch the end of The Killers (who rocked!)

On Sunday I investigated the smaller stages - found some amazing acts in the Dance tents, including a funk/rap band called Loose Cannons. Saw a trumpet-based jazz act called Beirut and made it over to the main stage for The Kaiser Chiefs who were brilliant.

There was an hour before the next act - so did I use my backstage pass to go hang out in the celebrity hospitality tent, before rocking out to The Who and then returning backstage to drink with the stars & get more stories for the blog?

Or did I go to the campsite, pack up the tent while there was still some light, get out of the car park before the ground had been completely blended to mush by vehicle wheels, drive home before the mass exodus of thousands of cars down one road & sleep in my own bed before coming to work today...?

Sorry.

I'll go backstage next time, I promise!

Amateur Transplants reform for a gig!

Yes, for TWO nights only,


Amateur Transplants are proud to present:

THE BLACK & WHITE MENSTRUAL SHOW

at the
New Players Theatre,
Villiers Street,
London WC2N
(next to Embankment tube station)

Wednesday 4th July & Thursday 5th July 2007
at 7.30pm


Songs performed will include old favourites and new tracks from the forthcoming difficult 2nd album "Unfit To Practice".

Tickets available from http://www.fridaytowers.com/blackandwhite/


The shows will sell out* so get your tickets soon to ensure avoid disappointment!


*probably true, seeing as we're emailing everyone who's ever bought a copy of the CD whose email address we still have from when they bought a CD. As well as everyone else in our email address books. So hurry!

Crammed

I feel good about myself when I make efficient use of my free time.
In no particular order, in the 48 hours, I have:

- been to a musical recital where I sang to (& offended) the entire concert hall,

- interrupted my mate while he was proposing to his girlfriend,

- met dozens of friends who were first year medical students when I became a doctor, and saw them finally qualify as doctors themselves,

- planned a new show with Adam! (details to follow soon)

- crossed London to buy one replacement earbud missing from my stethescope,

- taken a mate out for a birthday breakfast,

- wondered why it was taking all the staff in a music shop to deal with one customer... (turned out he was Bill Bailey),

- been to a Summer Ball at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea FC's Ground,

& bought a load of camping gear to take to Glastonbury tomorrow


All in all, I've caught up with about 100 old friends I haven't seen in the last 1 to 5 years.

Including 2 ex-girlfriends... it was a bit awkward, but it made a great photo!

Magic Touch

I got my new piano last week. And bloody hell, it's brilliant.

It's a full size digital, absolutely gorgeous sound, a complete joy to play - feels just like a real piano, only it's portable.

And now I'm in pain.

I've rushed home every day after work to play; I've... 'discovered' lots of sheet music online over the last couple of years and haven't had a chance to try any of it, so since last weekend I've been playing anything on it. Until I get cramp in my fingers.

Classical, Jazz, Rock, you name it; cheesy stuff too... (eg. I've been trying to work out the solos from the Baywatch theme tune - I'm playing dinner music for a friend's wedding in a week and I know he'd hate appreciate it).

But as a result I haven't been very sociable this week.

So despite doing a long, tiring shift yesterday&night, some friends dragged me out against my will to go hiking round Oxfordshire with them today. It'd do me good, they said.

Bollocks to that, I said. But they hauled me out of bed & into the car anyway.

I was tired, grumpy, sore-fingered and not in the mood to trek across stupid fields strewn with stupid sheep and their stupid stinky sheep-shit all over my shoes.

So when we got to the bridge, I did not want to take another step until I'd told my friends how pissed off I was.

But due to a combination of immense frustration and lack of sleep, this is how I expressed myself:

Well that's never happened before...

Reading Festival

Crikey, is it Monday already?

Doesn't time fly when you're having fun?
And finally, I am!

I've got an MMC-Golden Ticket - it has been confirmed that I will not be unemployed in August, but in a training job to ultimately become a Consultant Anaesthetist in a few years time.

Woohoo! Great news. (OK, I'm still waiting to hear whether it's London, Kent, Surrey or Sussex... but it's a start!)


And now I'm actually a bit bored! With no interviews or exams for a while, I've been able to read a few books because I've wanted to (rather than because I'm going to be asked lots of questions about it), all of which are highly recommended:

Quirkology - The curious science of everyday lives, people psychology, helpfulness, being lucky, the world's funniest joke and the results of lots of fascinating experiments.

The Meaning of Tingo - Someone's been through hundreds of dictionaries and uncovered words that we don't quite have in the English language (and in that respect is quite similar to Douglas Adams's The Deeper Meaning of Liff)

The Undercover Economist - A real eye-opener, explains where costs come from, why coffee shops charge so much, etc... but now I can't go shopping without feeling like I'm being conned.

And now I'm reading The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable - explains why unpredictable things are bound to happen all the time.


Also I'm gonna be working at the Reading Festival & Glastonbury (so for goodness sake, don't take an overdose on my shift) and seeing the bands in between.


And last but not least...(drumroll) Adam & I are going to record the next Amateur Transplants album! I'm going to write a load more songs and polish up some unfinished ones. There might even be a gig or two!


So, if you'll excuse me, I need to go & buy a piano. No rest for the wicked...

Mint

(Posting while on call so I'll write a proper one when I have more time.)

I'm playing badminton tomorrow.
I'm looking forward to it. It's a sport that doesn't take much stamina, just agility & tactics.

A friend of mine told me badminton was a "gay" sport.

I asked him why.

"Shuttlecock" he said. "It's just a ball in a skirt"


...

Knock Knock

I just got a wake-up call from God.

(Well, it was some of his witnesses actually.)

Three of them buzzed through the intercom. They said they wanted to talk to me about the Bible.

I wasn't really awake enough to teach them anything so I sent them on their way. They left me a leaflet. How nice.


I don't know much about Jehovah's Witnesses - most people only see them appearing door-to-door in sitcoms. My understanding is that
a) they believe that only a fixed number of people get into heaven &
b) they encourage you to join their church.
That doesn't make good business sense in my view, increasing the competition.
Imagine you'd invested your whole life to being a good Jehovah's Witness, then at the gates of heaven you were refused entry in favour of someone you'd converted that morning...


My other experience of JWs is in clinical exams. They appear a lot in exams. Usually with very severe blood loss. When JWs appear in an exam, they have usually suffered horrible life-threatening violent trauma.

I assume this is because they often have very strong beliefs which prevent them receiving blood transfusions - so we have to know how to manage them ethically appropriately as well as clinically correctly - thus they make good question-fodder in oral exams.

Either that or they're statistically a very very unlucky bunch of people.


Well, my three seemed nice. Tch, maybe I should've asked them in - would've been nice to find out more.

I just didn't think of it in time. Remember, I had just woken up.
And I wasn't wearing anything.

(Could've been awkward for everyone then...)