Another photo of Paisley Abbey to lead this entry. It looked so beautiful this morning as I was walking Triar along the riverside. He then led me straight to the Square Café Bistro, clearly reading my Saturday morning intention and thoroughly approving. It was a different lady this morning though, so he almost didn’t get his sausage and I had to order it. Fine by me, though it’s not a habit we are going to get into routinely!

Yesterday was my last day at the PDSA. I suspect there may have been another last – the last time I do surgery. I may be wrong, of course. Who knows what’s round the corner? But when I left Tu Dyreklinikk in Norway in 2016, that wasn’t a thought that crossed my mind. I finished what was possibly my last stint in small animal practice with a very odd case. A dog came in with a very unusual wound or sore on its hind end. I admitted it for sedation, but even once it was cleaned, it still looked strange. It might have been due to urine scalding, exacerbated by the fact the dog was wearing a nappy, but I’d never seen anything like it before and nor had the nurses or the other vets who had a look. It just goes to show that, as a vet, there’s always something you haven’t seen before, even after years and years in the job.

I was very touched to get a gift of a notebook with, “Paws for Thought,” on the front, as well as some hand cream and a small bar of chocolate. These were from Liv, the senior vet, who hoped the notebook would help inspiration strike (her wife is also an author), that the hand cream would sooth my skin after all the scrubbing up I’ve done and that the chocolate would give me a lift when I’m missing them.
There was also a card, with messages from the staff, which were genuinely touching. The nurses I’ve worked most closely with said they enjoyed working with me and Lauryn said, “You’ve taken the stress off the team,” and if that is true, then I’m really happy. They’re a lovely group of people and there is a huge amount of work to do. If I’ve helped to reduce a big neutering backlog, that seems like a worthwhile achievement.

So what next is the question and the answer is, I don’t know. There are other small animal practices needing locums, but I really want to get back to APHA to help with the bluetongue effort. On top of that, there was a BSE case reported recently which was also in my region. I went into the Dumfries office on Thursday and found there were two vets working there from Inverness and one of the new team members from Kilwinning was there too. It’s not like I wouldn’t be useful, if only they could get me back on board.

In the meantime, APHA England told my agent that they were reluctant to take me on as a locum, lest I got too used to it and didn’t want to return to a permanent contract. I’ve offered to locum in Dumfries until my permanent job is confirmed (there’s no good reason to turn me down, but it’s not a done deal until the paperwork is signed) but that’s not happening either. The member of staff to whom I made the offer said, “oh but you’d have to be signed up with one of the companies that supply locums,” at which point, I must confess, I felt very frustrated, because everything is set up and ready to go on my side. I know they must be up to their eyes in report cases, but it’s just crazy that I’m here, with plenty of relevant experience, and raring to go, but nobody will take me on. The agent reapplied to APHA England on Friday as they’ve already been let down by some of the people they took on. Hopefully I should find out in the next week or two.

Anyway, here I am, still in Paisley and wondering what to do now. There’s nothing to keep me here, but nothing pressing to do at home either. Usually there’s somewhere I need to be, but now there isn’t. If I’d loads of money in the bank, I’d probably go away for a couple of nights, but due to some first-time locum fumbling, I’m not going to get paid for the last six week’s work until mid September. The mortgage and other payments are covered, but additional hotel fees, not so much.

When I arrived here in Paisley, it was not long past midsummer and it was light until eleven at night, but the days are getting shorter. The sun is just rising as I take Triar for his six am walk, but it’s dark now by nine thirty, when we go out in the evening. It feels a bit sad that I won’t see autumn here, but I look at the stone pavements and think how slippery they will be on icy winter days. If I was years younger, I think I would be tempted by city life and a permanent job at the PDSA, but the slower pace of Dumfries is calling. Anyway, I will leave you with some photos I took last night. If anything, the darkness enhances the old world feel of some of our haunts.

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a good week.