Happy New Year

Like Mark I should make a resolution to update my blog more often - but as research shows the vast majority of new year resolutions are broken, I won't make any at all.

I'll do my best to do an update at least once a week, but that will taper off during my paramedic course whenever that is in the coming year.

I'm gearing up for working tonight - Barry has got the night off and is going up to see the new year in on the Embankment, so I'm working with a trainee tonight.

To all the EMD's working tonight - in whatever service you work in - be nice to the crews. A thank you every so often on the radio doesn't go amiss. That also applies to the crews working tonight.

Everyone stay safe, and have a happy, and hopefully peaceful (unlikely in our job) New Year.

See you in 2008

Merry Christmas

I'd just like to wish all my readers a very Merry Christmas. Spare a thought for those from all the emergency services working to keep everyone safe.

I'm working the big day itself, and nights New Years Eve - it's just the way my rota's fallen.

Stay safe, and don't eat too much turkey & mince pies!

FREDA

You may remember that I had a bit of a whinge about FRED. Well now, we have FREDA. Beaker has posted in more detail about her.

In short, Freda is pretty much the same as FRED except it's for ambulances, has a larger mileage range, and works in a more complicated way. This could be the reason why when it was first switched on, it had crashed the entire system inside 30 seconds.


Well Freda's now been "sorted" and has been switched on.

The word "sorted" is being used very loosely - a crew got sent to Notting Hill from just outside Putney station, and the other night, Barry & I ended up seeing Canary Wharf, and after begging control to "hide" us from her, we managed to get most of the way back to our own area via the Limehouse Link (it's always mentioned on radio travel bulletins, but I didn't know where it was until the early hours of Saturday morning) and Tower Bridge. To add to the pandemonium, Freda was tagging every job, including jobs in the street, as a high risk address - it tells you to contact EOC immediately - so of course, crews did.

I really felt sorry for the team on our desk in control. Freda was clearly causing havoc. They were trying to overrule her, cancelling crews that were being sent stupid distances, but Freda just insisted sending the job straight back down. It seemed from our perspective that the Humans were fighting the Computer for control of the service.

I really hope they switch her off on New Year's Eve - I'm working nights, and have visions of ending up in Hendon!

Update

I haven't posted for ages, I know. Sorry about that, but I've had my head in the books studying for my Paramedic Pre-entry Assessments.

I passed.

I just have to wait for a date for my Paramedic course. However, I did come away from the day with a ton of books, as we have to self teach the first module, with the exam on the very first day of the course.

I've had some e-mails asking about Tom - he's fine and back at work. The police haven't caught the little buggers that did it, and he has to pay an absolute fortune to have a tooth implant fitted, but he is in good spirits.

I should now be able to post regularly again - until I get on my paramedic course. Then I'll probably be spending every waking moment with my head in the books again.