It had been a quiet day at the clinic – just a couple of spays and no consults this morning. A recent publication on Anthrax in beast and man, which I had read to while away the time, had been less than stimulating – just a nasty bugger of a disease you would hope never to come across, neither as a vet nor as a human doctor.
Eventually it was noon and the crisp -5 C of the night had been transformed into comfortable + 15 C in the sun, with a blue sky and not the slightest bit of a breeze.
A high pressure system had stabilised itself over Switzerland and the Alps and with that, the finest spring weather you could imagine.
Right behind the clinic, albeit a 4 kilometre steady climb on a gravel road away, lay an Alpine plateau which struck me as the perfect destination for some lunchtime exercise.
The emergency phone left with my Dutch colleague (I had it yesterday), I set out along green fields that had just emerged from months of snow cover. The grass wasn’t showing enough growth to stain any livestock and no spring flowers were yet sprouting.
Not speed, but endurance and a steady pace was required to truly enjoy this part of the run. The higher the path ascended, the better was the view, with the still snow covered mountain tops providing a striking contrast to the fields and forest below and to the azure blue, cloudless sky above.
Once I had reached the shaded parts of the track, I found them still covered with the remains of harsh winter snow and with the ice of once again frozen meltwater. With my feet struggling to find enough purchase, I realised that this would certainly not result in my fastest time for this run, but with a scenery like this, it didn’t really matter.
Reaching the plateau, I nearly stepped on a sizeable frog that had just woken up from hibernation and I noticed that the nearby reservoir was now devoid of any surface ice.
Reaching the way sign that marked the turning point of my run, I allowed myself a pause for a few photos and to enjoy the view of the still snow covered valley ahead of me.
The journey downhill was equally delightful with more stunning views, which I would normally only expect to find at alpine holiday destinations and on cringeworthy postcards from these places. Still hard to belief, that this came along with the job.
After just under an hour I had returned to the clinic, with ample time left to take a shower, have lunch and to take a rest before the afternoon consults were due to start.
Not the worst locum placement one could say…..
The Blue Vet Diary 