So the trip back to Blighty could have been better. MMC did what it was supposed to do and messed with everyone's lives. Thousands got no interview at all. Thousands got three or four interviews. Obviously suitable candidates were skipped over and the system began to look a little shoddy. Then stories from consultants marking papers started to surface - for example, consultants were sent answer papers from people not even applying for their job. Marks that consultants had given to applicants were randomly altered after being submitted, some papers never even got marked in the first place.

 

So eventually, the government decided upon a review, Patsy Hewitt retained her job and several high-brow medical bods resigned. Now it looks like everyone is going to get an interview, so everyone has to choose just one job to interview for. The date that jobs are announced has been moved from April 19th to June 28th. Two months delay means just 33days for every doctor in the country to organise moving house, moving kids to other schools, finding wives / husbands jobs inthe region to which they're moving, but we just get on with it as we always have - being dictated to and towing the line.

 

In other matters, I failed my exam and ended up in hospital needing plastic surgeons to reconstruct my finger after a i caught my ring on a spike on top of a fence i was climbing over! Skiing was awesome, but there could have been more snow and Lou had great fun with a new kitten down in Devon. Ultimately though, I think we had enough of sitting around not working and not having enough money to do the things we'd have liked while at home. We did get up to London to do the tourist thing - its amazing what you ignore when you live somewhere for 10years!

 

So the clocks changed and now its dark by 6pm back here in Sawtell, but its still hot and the beach is just where we left it. As were the surf boards - they've had ample workouts already. Dom comes out later this week with Lee, and we've got a bit of time off while they're around. I expect we'll have to go back to Byron and possibly to the Gold Coast, but wherever we drag them, the boards will come and beers will be drunk after dark. It looks likely that i'll have to come back to the UK early May (for the interview) and i'll probbaly book the same flights that Dom and Lee are taking home on the 7th, then fly back to oz 5days later! It'll almost certainly be the most expensive interview ever! Glad to be home, but we're keeping fingers crossed for jobs in London starting in August...