The first “thing” greeting me, when walking into my new (temporary) place of work, was a horse……..to be precise, a pretty large red one, made of paper mache. It was the centre piece of the communal area of the hospital, where I had my introductory meeting with Jessica, one of the senior vets, who is …
Author Archives: The Blue Vet
Falun or the start of the Swedish chapter
“Why not work in Sweden ? You don’t even need to speak the language, as most of our clients and all of our staff are speaking English !” I noticed this advert in the Vet Record last summer just after my return from Canada and it appealed to me right away: not only had I …
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Grounded
I assume it was just a matter of time that this had to happen….. Chasing my trusted Bavarian carriage through the length and breadth of Central Europe, there was finally an error message I just couldn’t ignore: the left rear tire was losing pressure and a visit at a garage in Wilhelmshaven on the German …
Learning from the best…
Christmas had come early for me this year when I decided to treat myself to a cross country skiing altitude training camp with Peter Schlickenrieder, an Olympic champion and the current coach of the German national team. Most of my friends know that this is probably my favourite form of exercise and that the lack …
Solitude
While writing these lines, I am the only guest in a very spartan hotel, which had seen better days, on a windswept mountain pass at nearly 2000 m above sea level in the Italian Alps. The radiator in my small room was struggling to produce an ambient temperature last night, so that I had to …
More friends….and their cats
Once recovered from the unwanted advances of the creatures of the underworld, I stocked up with some highlights of the local cuisine (smoked sausages, alpine meadow honey and bread from the region) and it was time again to hit the road with the help of my trusted Bavarian carriage. A fair amount of German “Autobahn” …
Krampus
Driving another 500 km further East for being snarled at and for getting a beating, sounds not very appealing, but my next stop was not only throughly enjoyable, but in fact I would highly recommend it to anyone !…….. Passing Munich and Salzburg, my journey took me to the North of the Dachstein Glacier, to …
Friends
Once I had crossed the Channel, the road took me through Northern France, past Verdun and Metz down to the Northern Vosges mountain range and then across the Rhine valley to Freiburg and the Black Forest. Over the next few weeks I will rely on the hospitality of my friends (old and new) to both …
On the Road again…..
The living room is littered with stuff in a seemingly random pattern and the Christmas decoration is complete and utterly spoiled…… Returning from Abdingdon following an extra – thankfully quiet – nightshift, I have 24 hours to pack all the gear, clothes, books, IT equipment, skis and instruments I am likely to use during the …
Abingdon
How does it feel when you have been the boss in your own clinic for over 20 years, having made your own decisions, having taken on most of the risks and responsibilities of running a business and being used to do this “your way” and then you find yourself once again as the “ordinary” member …
The Blue Vet Diary 