Day Shifts Again

 I haven’t done day shifts for ages
Up before 6 am, 
Five pairs of blurry eyes blinking in the light.
LBC radio on the alarm
Dogs walked,
Avocado on toast with egg
Proper coffee( no time for bucket)
Shower very hot.
Clinique happy on uniform
Put Roger in his crate with an egg to play with, Trendy Carol won’t be long
Storm Otto is outside
Albert is up late for breakfast
Noodles and left overs for lunch, with fruit and Diet Coke
Radio is silenced

I want to go back to bed


64 comments:

  1. Oh no, your inner clock is confused! But you sound cheerful and organized. As a night owl person I think I'd rather be up all night than heading to work at 6 am in a storm. Drive safely.

    PS Hope Trendy C is feeling much better.

    lizzy

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    1. The rituals that are
      Dog walking,
      Showering,
      Cooking,
      Eating ,
      Drinking coffee slowly
      Are mindful
      They set me up for the day

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    2. In his younger days my dad was an Air Force pilot and airline pilot, who had to fly at all hours day and night. He told me once that they were taught to cope w the odd hours by going through their ''morning'' routine and getting ready, no matter the actual time. As you do .

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  2. Safe travels and returns

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  3. That's a good breakfast to stat a long day on. I'm glad little Mr Destructive is crated until he's picked up. Clinique Happy should brighten your mood - and impress your patients!

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    1. Clinique happy is my fragrance , it’s very me ….

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  4. Why is it, those days when you have to be up and about, you could happily stay in bed, and when your time's your own, you're up with the lark? Have a good day. xx

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    1. I know it’s 10.07 pm and I’m fighting the urge to go to bed

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  5. After all doing all those necessaries it's not surprising you want to dive back under the duvet. However, may your day of duty be pleasantly uneventful!

    You know, although I've included avocado (sometimes two!) in every brekkie for years I've just never had it on toast, 'cos the thought of it doesn't really appeal. However, does one first heat up the scooped out 'flesh' before dumping it on the (buttered?) toast? And do you add anything else to it - soy sauce for inst? One needs to know. :-)

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    1. My way of making avocado on toast. Toast the seeded bread, spread with peanut butter. Scoop out avocado pile it on top of the bread. You can mash it if you like. I add a drizzle of toasted sesame seed oil, gives it a nutty flavour. Smidgen of oil in a small pan, break egg into it. I break the yolk then flip it over. Lay it onto the avocado. Sometimes I spread marmite onto the toast also. Sometimes I add grated cheese on top of the whole lot. Add anything else you fancy.

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    2. Anonymous1:13 pm

      Sounds very nice ....mine is similar

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    3. Although I thank you for your thoughts, Meanqueen, your method sounds awfully complicated. Speaking as a cooking-phobe, my most 'advanced' procedure in that respect is to make an omelette, which alone exhausts me - even a doing plain one! Everything else is just warming-up from tins or adding water to packets.

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    4. Traveller4:59 pm

      I would start off simply Raybeard. Lightly buttered toast topped with mashed up avocado with a bit of salt and pepper to taste. Peanut butter, sesame oil, cheese and avocado would be a clash of flavours to my palate

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    5. I like things simple as well. You could ignore the peanut butter, and the sesame seed oil, and just put the avocado on toast with an egg on the top.

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    6. Yes that’s how I have it

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  6. I hated the switch between days and nights but late/early shifts are obscene. Do you do them?

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  7. Have a good day John.

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  8. Oh no, not good. It's not so bad when you get to work and get involved in the day's tasks - but you'll be knackered by the time you get home - and have to do the same the following day. Be kind to yourself - hope you don't have too many shifts in a row.

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  9. I remember those early starts. Getting up at 3 or 4 o clock. Coffee and toast then out the door. Bleary eyed. In my last job I had a short 8 minute commute, thank goodness. Keep on with the studying John, your skills are much needed. It will open new doors for you.

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  10. Bugger! -oh well - shoulders back, head held high - fix a large grin on your face and skip away into your Bluebell - Soon to return x 🌻

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  11. Yorkshire Liz11:28 am

    Ooohh, know that feeling! And you can feel especially hard done to when working a weekend. Especially having done jobs and dog walks so early. Does a bit of "just get on with it" empathy help? (At least not a split shift that basically takes all your day with not enough off duty time in between splits to actually do anything! I spent too many Saturdays doing that myself) Good luck - think of later to yourself.

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  12. Anonymous12:56 pm

    Please don't use cologne to work.

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    1. Anonymous1:13 pm

      Ive never had a complaint

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    2. Anonymous11:08 pm

      It would affect me, but I absolutely hate to say anything because it jars people so to find out their beloved perfume hurts another person, so unless you were going to be around me for a while, and I couldn't move "upwind", I'd probly suffer in silence, but many fragrances seem to go straight into my brain and give me headache, brain fog, anxiety, irritation, and sore sinuses and throat and possibly vomiting (not sure of all my triggers yet and that reaction is delayed). I didn't used to be like this till I got lyme disease, so I do understand how incomprehensible it is, and only close friends and family are told outright if they are wearing something that affects me, which I still hate to do. If you do a small dab I can cope unless you hug me (in which case I will often have to shower and wash my hair and clothes as soon as possible) but some people have a moving fug of fragrance around them and they are people I will flee from. Some I can't invite to my house because it gets on soft furnishings and won't come off. It's a daily nightmare because nearly everything everywhere you go seems to be perfumed these days. Tina in west oz

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    3. An interesting perspective Tina
      If I knew you, and was to meet you, I would be respectful about my cologne use.
      But in general it wouldn’t stop my usage generally

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  13. Once you are in the flow at work, it will feel better. And tonight you can sleep.

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    1. I’m off to bed soon after Dorothy has licked me feet

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  14. Welcome back to the daylight working hours.

    I'm sure your patients and their visitors enjoy your sweet smelling uniform in amongst all the hospital type smells.

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    1. I have never knowingly smelled it. I probably mix with the wrong people for that. The only gay men that I consort with (platonically) are completely unscented - maybe they scrub it all off when they are meeting up with me? Or maybe they are not really gay? Is cologne obligatory for certainty, would you say? All of this is way out of my zone of knowledge.

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  15. A hard transition to make. Have a good day!

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  16. Clinique Happy? What the....? You should try the Supedrug range of aromas for men that include "Smoky Bonfire", "Fresh Tarmac" and "Castrol Engine Oil". Wearing Clinique Happy might give patients and relatives the impression that you are gay or something.

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  17. Barbara Anne2:34 pm

    My sympathy to you as I've been there and done that BUT mine were only 8 hour shifts so it was easier.
    Stay awake for the drive home, please!
    Happy is such a light and lovely fragrance!

    Hugs!

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    1. Driving home is my “ zen” time
      I process the day

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  18. Anonymous2:51 pm

    I am sure you perked up when you got there.

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  19. I hope your day shift work goes well. The steamy hot shower in your luxury bathroom makes for a good start. Add a stop for coffee on the way to work. It's the little perks that help.

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    1. I’m just about to go to bed….I have to hang on as Roger is watching the tv

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  20. You are the best story teller. Long form or short form. Hope the day is going well.

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    1. It was a complicated busy day but it worked

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  21. Traveller5:01 pm

    You have my admiration John. When was it decided that a 12 hour shift was appropriate for the nursing profession?

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    1. Nurses themselves …it means most have four days off a week

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  22. I hated the back to backs. Working second shifts, getting home at 11, and back up again at 5 to return to work. BRUUUUUUUTAL. Even worse were the shifts where your relief didn't show up and you wound up pulling an extra shift.

    Have a good day.

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  23. My shift starts at 0600, I can't face food at o'dark o'clock. Usually have my meal around 0830 when we get our first break.

    I like a grapefruit spritz to wear to work. Unfortunately, the Covid Lockdowns destroyed the company and I'm on my last bottle.

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  24. life is not easy. however you are walking it, each step day by day. Well done you are amazing just for doing that xx

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    1. The bulldog is sucking on my corns , all is well

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    2. Well that is certainly one to add to the book of your quotes.

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    3. One of my best and one which will start the hate mail. (Which just for you I will post) x

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    4. I’ve even kept some conflict comments in just for u

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    5. I am not sure that what you call "hate mail is that at all, I suspect much of it is jealousy mail. And sad mail. Think of it as a nursing service, letting some people expel some bile rather than having it fester within themselves?

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  25. A day's worth description of a couple of hours of up time. No wonder the bed is calling.

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    1. I’m in bed, answering comments in 8.45 pm

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  26. Ouch. Shift shifts do a lot of havoc on the brain and body.

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    1. You answer your lost coffee question
      https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/ground-coffee/illy-caffe-espresso-coffee-250g

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