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Lavenders_Blue

**Thread of little facts & things**....3

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Those are beautiful photos :grin:

Oh I do love sparrows but for some reason they don't come down my end of the road anymore.

I love how they chatter.

I did have a male in the garden the other day, but he literally sat on a twig for a couple of seconds and then flew away and hasn't come back.

We used to have them when we first moved here but they now mostly live at the top of the road. 

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I took loads of photos but this duck having a cooling shower is my favourite. In all the years I've lived here I've never been to Holland Park. It's so crazy. Parts of it feel like a woodland walk and you can't hear all the traffic and chaos at all. Then in another part which is like an Italian formal garden next to a large stage, so we were sitting there in this Italian garden in the sun, watching bees in the lavender listening to La Boheme being rehe*****d. It was sublime. 

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Holland Park just along from Nottinghill Gate. It's one of those places you see on the tube map but ignore. It's about 2 minutes from Holland Park tube station and we were very surprised by it. We expected the usual London park, like Hyde Park or Regents Park but it's not that at all. It kind of filled a gap in our London if you know what I mean. OH knew the area well as a copper but he was stunned by the park. We're on a quest to visit lots of less known places in London and it's quite fun. 

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Isn't it amazing how your children can really surprise you when you think you know them inside out!? YS (10) was in his school play - Troy Story - this afternoon playing Hector. He was chased round the audience, seated in the hall, by Achilles and 'died' horribly (and hysterically) on stage. He is usually such a quiet and unassuming child but his dialogue was loud and clear and he hammed it up beautifully even getting his own round of applause. OH and I were so proud! 

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Hahahahahahaha!!  Brilliant!

Love the photos.  Last year at Aysgarth we watched ducks white water rafting down the little waterfalls!  This year too many little ones so not so much surfing!  I would say you found a little oasis amidst the mayhem.  Glad Lewis spelt the censored bit out for me otherwise I'd never have known!:lol:

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Yesterday I had my last ever final exam which I guess means I'm now officially in Final year! :D

We 'only' have State exams left which are ~30min oral exams with a panel of 5 or 6 examiners. I have one next Friday on Food Hygiene *yawn* and then from September we start rotation blocks, spending 6 weeks in each clinic with a State exam at the end of each block. Unluckily for me (W surname :roll:) I have the hardest block last so while everyone else will be enjoying summer, I'll be stuck inside studying!

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Well done, Lewis!  Do you have plans for when you’re finished?  My lovely vet who was an independent, retired recently.  He told me that he’d tried very hard not to sell to a chain, but in the end had to.  He also said he’d had real difficulty recruiting vets in the last few years.  And impossible to find vets willing to be like him, on call when on duty 24 hours a day.  We will really miss him.  

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I'm planning on going back to the UK, not too fussed where but preferably within a couple hours of Birmingham so I'm close to family. I see a lot of practice at a busy charity hospital and I'd love to work there.

There's a huge recruitment and retention crisis at the moment because of high pressure, long working hours and relatively low pay. Corporates are taking over which is a good because they have huge buying power meaning better equipped practices, salaries tend to be standardised and the graduate programmes are great with lots of support; but it does mean that I'll probably never become a Partner in a practice so I'll never be my own boss or benefit from profits like some older vets have.

It is impossible to find vets like him. I know young vets who are on call over the weekend, called out all night and then expected to work normal days the following week so it's not surprising really.

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James Herriot would have a fit!

We have a very good practice near us with several surgeries (one specialises in larger animals). Prices vary though; at one of these surgeries I paid £9.95 to have a hamster PTS and, with the next very poorly one couldn't get an appointment so went to a different, independant vets locally who charged £21.00 and they were only dwarf Russians :(

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Soapdragon, you must tell me the name of your independent vet.  I can see advantages and disadvantages of both.  And it will depend on the individual vet too.   I know that the impact for us in losing our independent is that prices have risen by about a third.  We’ve never insured our animals as we’ve preferred to simply set money aside.  But now I’m wondering if we should. Especially as the practice has been bought by one of the large insurers. 

Lewis, we are only an hour and a half from Birmingham......I used to commute there daily so do look at South Oxfordshire.  ( north Oxfordshire is even closer of course.)  We need a vet who understands chickens! 

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I used to do the opposite, commute from Birmingham to Banbury for work :lol:

Corporates own over 50% of practices now and you often wouldn't know if/when they're taken over as the name and staff remain the same. Exotics jobs are difficult to find, particularly only avian (as most also see reptiles, small furries etc) but I'm spending a few weeks at an avian hospital this summer which should be interesting :D 

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Patricia they are Larkmead with surgeries in Cholsey (where I usually go) Didcot, Sutton Courtney and Benson. They were very sweet the last time that I had a hammy PTS and asked if I'd like to exit via the staff door so as to not have to face the main waiting room as I was in floods!

Mods - hope that's OK to post this/ Sorry, if not!

Lewis, sorry I forgot to post that you are an inspiration! All power to you chap, you have worked so hard to achieve your goal - I do like following your blog and finding out what you have been up to! Keep posting!!!!!

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Thanks guys :D

I'm glad you enjoy the blog, it started as proof of work experience to attach to my vet school application but I get loads of emails from prospective students who also seem to find it interesting.

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Yayyy another year done-ish. Congratulations.:dance:

Swings and roundabouts with the private firms.  Some have really unpleasant people, others have great bedside manners (I changed to the latter) but still expensive, although my vets are pretty good with regard to prices - pleasantly surprised after the other nightmare place.  The chains sometimes don't have that settled continuity that the Herriot peeps had as they knew their clients.  Same for hooman doc practices - there isn't that connection now.  But yes, all mod cons and equipment is definitely a plus!

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I went to Woburn Safari Park yesterday and it was very pleasant. I thought the lionesses looked like me in the heat and I was very happy with the giraffe picture. I saw the elephant spraying sand onto it's back and took loads of shots to try and capture it. Just at the crucial moment the camera jumped so the elephant doesn't have legs. The rhino just looked incredible and can you see the hand of the tiny feeding monkey? 

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