I really should not make predictions, or indeed assume anything about what the future holds. My previous post started with a partial lament, that I might have done my last surgery, but the failure in my thinking was with the idea that the civil service might be in any kind of hurry to get me reinstated. I spoke to Dean (ex and hopefully future line manager at APHA) on Wednesday. The papers that were completed and sent off the week before, rather than being something final, were indeed only the preface to a possible eight week check of my suitability – a DBS check, if you like. Dean’s own line manager had indicated they hoped to have me back on board by the beginning of September, but it seems Dean’s “management of my expectations” (he suggested mid-October) is looking more likely.

I have suggested to them that I could locum for APHA in Dumfries in the meantime. After all, bluetongue and BSE are keeping them all busy, but I haven’t heard anything back about that, so rather reluctantly, I engaged with trying to find something else to do. After all, the mortgage isn’t going to pay itself. I was really hoping for another PDSA stint, and it was looking likely midweek. There was talk of possible positions in both Leeds and Bradford, either of which would have suited, due to the proximity to mum and dad and various relatives. I also talked to the senior vet in Margate. I quite fancied a trip to the seaside, though it would have introduced a major complication to my plan to attend Kyle and Candice’s ceilidh in Scotland in the last weekend in September. Margate to Scotland for a weekend would be quite a stretch.

Anyway, yesterday morning, while out on a Wildlife Farm Walk, I was called by one of the agents I’m in touch with. She offered me a two week stint in a private practice in Wolverhampton. She’d spoken to them about me and she, and they, seemed to think I would be a good fit. So in an unexpected turnaround, tomorrow I am off to the Midlands. One thing about my life at the moment – it’s never boring!

I have made the most of my week at home. It’s been a week of sunshine with torrential rain showers. Blackbird lane has been invaded by swallows, which swoop and twirl overhead, catching the autumn insects, while butterflies flit around the flowers and blackberries ripen in the hedgerows.

I found yesterday’s wildlife walk on Facebook. It was actually an educational walk on Torr Organic Dairy Farm. It was arranged by Scottish Agricultural College and was about organic farming and diversification, so I signed up, not knowing what to expect, but hoping for a pleasant walk. In the event, it was even better than I’d hoped for. There were a number of organic farmers there and I learned a lot from discussion about treatment of animals and preserving welfare in the absence of antibiotic use. APHA and DEFRA also have interests in sustainability and one health, as it pertains to the environment, so it turned into a truly useful day. On top of that, there were cute calves. There are few animals that I find more appealing than dairy calves, bedded on lots of clean straw, with their gentleness and inquisitive faces. Who could possibly resist?

Anyway, I think that’s enough for today. Next week, I should be writing this from an AirBnB in Wolverhampton. Another new place to explore.

I’ll leave you with a couple of photographs from yesterday’s farm walk. In the meantime, thanks for reading and I hope you have a good week.