Babies, Tax, and a Photo Shoot
Categories : General Practice, Personal |
Well today I’ve been too busy to use twitter but it’s been an eventful day so I thought I’d just do a regular blog post now that I’ve finally got a lull.
This morning was pretty flat out with patients – I’ve got one in labour and was called to assist at another emergency delivery but fortunately didn’t really have to do anything.
The weirdest experience was at lunchtime when I was interviewed by a guy from Canberra who’s doing marketing for the outer metro grant (basically a payment aimed at getting doctors to work in outer metro areas – I got mine last year which partially financed our first trip to Africa – the timing was most providential). Basically he’s putting together some advertorials to go in all the major medical magazines in Australia to let people know about the grant. The interview part was fine but the weird thing was having a professional photographer along to do a “shoot” for pictures to accompany the article. He was snapping pics while we talked and then we walked across the road to the park where he got me to pose in front of the lake and on the bridge and then snapped away whilst I was walking. The guy was fine but it all felt a bit artifical and uncomfortable – sure makes me glad I’m not a celebrity having to deal with that all the time.
Finally got my tax bill today which I’ve been expecting for weeks. This is the massive unexpected one that my accountant sprung on me back in May. Well I’ve been expecting it ever since and have come to an arrangement with the bank to deal with it but was worried it may not arrive before we head off on our trip next week. So I most most relieved to see that it had finally come and even more relieved when I saw it was nearly 2 thousand less than I had prepared for – which if nothing else makes it even easier for me to justify buying a guitar when I get to Nashville in 3 weeks time. Still probably leaning towards the Fender VG strat. As it’s been out a while now the reviews have remained positive and I like the idea of having a fully fledged American stratocaster yet with additional versatility. May also consider getting a little battery powered cube amp at the same time so I can actually play the guitar a bit for the rest of our trip. Luggage should not be an issue as we are on the American system which means we can each check 2 items up to 32kg (much better than the Australian system – 1 item 20kg). The other big advantage of this is it means we can pack a fair amount of stuff to take to the orphanage in Uganda and just leave the spare old suitcase there when we travel onwards to Britain.
Anyway more patients have arrived so I’d better get back to it if I want to stay on track.
