Update

At the start of the year, I had a real dilemma about what I was going to do with myself. I really don’t like the region of the country that I ended up in as a result of the government’s bright idea that was MMC 2007, but I really love working in my new specialty of anaesthesia. My question was whether to stay where I am or to try and leave and once again go through the lottery of MMC 2008.

I decided to stay here for another year with the aim of passing the FRCA primary (post-graduate anaesthetic exams) this year. I was also going to “get a hobby, get a girlfriend and see if I could learn to love this city” so I thought I’d give you an update on how things are going with that.

I have a girlfriend. She’s fantastic, she’s clever, she’s great looking, she’s properly funny and she’s making me very happy. She’s non-medical (she works in fashion) and things are going really well.

In January, I blew the dust off my old guitar and started to play again. I used to be really into making music, I was in a band in my teens. We were called “Alk 14” and we were going to be huge. We were going to be bigger than Oasis! Unfortunately university got in the way and, though we tried, we couldn’t keep the band together when we were living in separate cities. The world never got to hear our great songs like “Ride the Tempest” and “Old-Fashioned Girl.” But now, I’m really enjoying playing with the fret board again – maybe I’ll form another band?

Unfortunately, I still have no love for this city. I do think I need to try and get out more, but to be honest, there’s been little I’ve seen about this place in the last few months that made me want to stay here for the rest of my life.