7 September 2010 (Tuesday) - More Skiving

I left home at 8.30am, and reminded myself why (when I’m not on an 11.30am start) I get to work so early. The traffic round Ashford is diabolical in the morning. In my first job at the Royal East Sussex Hospital in Hastings I was spoiled for choice for routes for getting to work; there are so many roads you can use in Hastings. Ashford is different; it’s an example of the total failure of local civic planning. With five railway lines out of the town and a motorway going through the middle, the town is effectively chopped up into segments. And it is very difficult to get from any of these segments to another. Take for example the motorway; there are about six kilometres of motorway dividing the town. There are only three places where it is possible to cross the motorway, and two of these are motorway junctions. Things are busy enough; it only takes the slightest delay at any of these points for the town to grind to a halt. I got from my house to being on the motorway in twenty-five minutes this morning; a journey which would normally take five minutes.

Another good day at work – another day I didn’t actually go in to the place. Yesterday I was assessing students at the University; today I got to assess a student in his workplace. I quite like this part of my job as I get to go and be nosey where other people work. Being the inspector, people call me “sir” (!) and give me coffee and biscuits, and I remind myself that much as I might grumble about my job, it’s really not as black as I (sometimes) paint it, and that everyone else is in the same boat as me (to coin a phrase).

The assessment I had to conduct took a couple of hours. I found myself repeatedly looking out of the window at the torrential rain; I don’t think I’ve ever seen rain like I saw today. As I drove home although the rain had stopped, in places the road was actually one big puddle – the entire width of the road was under water in several places. The rain had been so heavy and so fat that the drains had been unable to cope. But five miles away were clear blue skies and bone-dry roads. Had the rain really been that localised?

I made my way home for a spot of lunch and spent the afternoon making my official report. I could have gone in to work for the last hour, but instead I was cheeky and spent some time on a project of mine. It is my contention that the formal advice that students in my line of work get for the completion of their professional pre-registration portfolios is somewhat vague. So I have taken it onto myself to try to offer some guidance on the subject. To keep myself on the State Register I have to update and maintain my professional knowledge and skills, and so I’m hoping that by producing and keeping this website I’m keeping myself in good standing with those who might otherwise strike me off. Perhaps I should have gone into work for the last hour today. I shall find out tomorrow.

And as the afternoon wore on, the “Rear Admiral” phoned. Did I fancy an evening’s fishing? So we got our tackle out and spent a couple of hours in the evening sunshine drowning maggots. This new lake certainly isn’t what it was a couple of months ago…