Aneta, my always helpful Polish colleague (and another person who wanted to kidnap my dog…..), who I already had worked together with in Sweden, got in touch – if I was interested working in a practice just 5 minutes (by bike !) away from my house in Camberley?….
The practice in question was Phoenix Vets, the former clinic of Ian Simpson – undoubtedly a local veterinary legend – which is still run by a very dedicated team of veterinary nurses and vets. I absolutely jumped at the opportunity…..
This practice is just a mile away from the place where I started my life as a UK vet back in 1993 (!….).
With the exception of living just above the practice at that time and – now especially after all my recent traveling to clinics far away – I was looking forward to living so close to my next place of work. Additionally this was now very familiar territory for me, with a clientele that had at times seen or heard of me in the past, with local colleagues I knew and with referral options around me, which I had worked together with for many years.
It didn’t take me very long to settle in my new working environment and one of the first cases I was presented with, was a guinea pig with a bladder stone
which thankfully managed very well through its anesthesia (which is always a challenge).
Something I also noticed – probably as a result of several months of COVID related lockdowns and travel restrictions – was an increase in the number of puppies of all sizes
that got registered. It just shows that a life without dogs is no real life……
With Christmas approaching fast, cases of “Seasonal” food poisonings increased as well
– but nothing that couldn’t be handled by the experienced nursing team at the clinic.
With admissions and often examinations continuing to be conducted outside
this became progressively challenging to the immune system.
Luckily a fair amount of running and mountain biking on the local army land
and the regular use of our sauna (at home, not at the clinic….) had prepared me well for this and in fact the whole team remained in pretty good health throughout my stay.
May be the Children’s Surprise Eggs
that were handed out by the management every Thursday were secretly laced with monoclonal antibodies ?……
Other delights that could still be enjoyed – despite the restrictions – was the obligate Boerewors
every Saturday morning straight from the BBQ at our local South African butcher and the occasional visit to Carlo and his sons in Chertsey
to stock up on vital Mediterranean culinary delights.
But as nice as it was for a while, I was getting restless again and a next chapter was about to start……
The Blue Vet Diary 