Sorry we didn't make it to your house to carol sing...

Soprano - Becky Mace
Alto - Harriet McKee
Tenor - Alan Mace & Cameron Morgan
Bass - Ben McKee

Happy Christmas!

Hummingbird Joy

I've now finished work until Christmas which means... time for baking!

 

For my birthday this year (well, close to it) I got possibly the present I've had the most joy from ever. My best friend, Monique, sent me the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook. If you want to make someone who loves baking happy - buy them this book. Everything I have made from it has been utterly delicious. Amazing cupcakes, amazing brownie, amazing blondie... I am in love with it.

 

Today I made lemon cupcakes and hazelnut/chocolate cupcakes. They look and smell utterly divine. Baking is one of the true joys- I think one of the best things about it is that you get to make other people happy using it. I got a present and using that present I can make something I can share.

 

No wonder people focus so much on food at Christmas - in some way it embodies the spirit of Christmas or Christ's spirit. The Saviour shared the loaves and fishes to feed the 5,000. He shared his knowledge of God. He shared his life. Sharing is a vital part of following Him and being His disciple.

 

So, in my small way this is how I'm choosing to share some of the wonderful joy of Christ this Christmas. Get baking and get sharing! :)

 

p.s. There's no such thing as a selfless good deed - so make sure you lick the spoon! ;)

Christmas Light

It's 15 days until Christmas Eve and it feels like the countdown is officially on. The thing that puts me into the Christmassy mood more than anything is music. My favourite Christmas song is "O Holy Night".

On Sunday we had a lovely time at the Beasley family's house, singing Christmas songs around the piano with Melanie Cartwright playing. It was pretty heavenly - and if the singing lacked anything in quality that was certainly made up for in enthusiasm. Music creates that feeling of unity and love which is the reason Christmas is so wonderful.

 

On top of that, there are twinkly lights. I love light. I love candles and fairy-lights. I love how they cast shadows and how they warm a room. I love what they can represent. Low lights are so peaceful. Every year I think that I might just leave the fairy lights up all year - but then maybe they wouldn't be so special for Christmas.

 





It's especially nice to see the lights on the nativity. In our front room we have two nativities (on the TV table and on the table next to "Home") which are reminders of the Light of the World, which takes me right back to 'O Holy Night'.

 

Fall on your knees O hear the angels voices.
O night divine O night when Christ was born.



 

 

O Holy Night
The stars are brightly shining
It is the night of our dear Savior's birth
Long lay the world in sin and e'er pining
'Til He appeared and the soul felt its worth
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees O hear the angels voices.
O night divine O night when Christ was born
O night divine, O night, O night divine.

 

Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,
Here came the wise men from Orient land.
The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger;
In all our trials born to be our friend.

He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger,
Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!
Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!

 

Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;
And in His name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy name.

Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever,
His power and glory evermore proclaim.
O night divine, O night, O night divine.

 

Happy Christmas!

Mundane and Incredible

I haven’t blogged for the past month. My last two posts were about fabulous trips – America and Scotland – so it’s no wonder that I can’t easily decide on the topic of another post. However, I love my life and even in the daily drudge incredible things happen.

Ben has found a profession he loves. He is involved in a programme called Teach First where he completes a PGCE in his first year of teaching. Which means he’s been completely thrown in at the deep end and now has the responsibility of the education of twenty-nine children aged between seven and eight years. Scary! It’s totally different to any other job he’s had before – he says he’s more physically tired than he’s ever been, but despite the challenges with the job he says he’s less emotionally numb than he was when working in sales.

For me, it means entertaining stories around the dinner table. It means I feel like we laugh together all the time. Being happy outside the home means he brings that joy into the home.

I’ve had the chance to finally work as a doctor in the area of medicine I want to build my career in. Completing four months in general practice as my first placement of foundation year two was high on my list of priorities and I was lucky to get the chance to do it. I’ve started the application now to one day become a General Practitioner. Work has been pretty fulfilling lately!

We’ve been busy and happy in other ways too – we went to Gillingham a couple of weekends ago to support the cast of Our Story Goes On as they rehearsed and performed. It was a great time spent with family and friends including staying with my lovely Aunt and Uncle. The performance, which looks at the journey of life and teaches the plan that God has for His children, was beautiful and inspiring.

Life is mundane. And it’s awesome.

Junior Doctors: Number Crunching

Like many of my Junior Doctor counterparts, I've been getting very involved in the debate surrounding the Junior Doctor contract changes the Conservative Government are trying to enforce on Junior Doctors. If you haven't been following the discussion it has gone something like this: 

Government: We are changing your contract. You can choose the colour of the paper we print it on. 

British Medical Association (BMA): These proposals are ludicrous. And unsafe. People will die. 

Government: We didn't ask for your opinion. Are you gonna sign or what? 

BMA: Erm... we're not... 

(Meeting ends) 

The problem is that the press are reacting a lot like Newton's cradle in the way they're reporting. The claims vary: the government claims that the changes are not to do with cost and will not endanger the medical profession or patient safety. The BMA claims that the government are misrepresenting the 24/7 nature of the NHS and that the protections to prevent doctors working when tired are being compromised. 

One of the areas that doesn't seem to have been specifically addressed is the claim that there will be no financial impact of the contract. I think as doctors we want everyone to realise that the money is obviously less important than patient safety. Of course that is true. The reason I mention the money now is just to make the following obvious: if you can be dishonest about money, you can be dishonest about anything. 

So here is the maths behind what the contract would mean financially for me personally. Yes, it's taboo to talk about money. But some things are more important than social taboo.

The Hours: 

My timetable for acute medicine this year finds me doing 846.5 hours over 18 weeks. 

               That's an average of 47 hours, which is within the normal contract. 

               It includes 21 nights (21:30-9:00) and 6 weekends. 

Current Contract: 

At the moment my pay over the year is £28076*; 

This is divided over three different jobs = £28076/3 = £9333 per 4 months.

BUT my different jobs require me to work different amounts. For example, at the moment I'm on a General Practice placement which has no anti-social hours (more on anti-social hours later). I work a maximum of 40 hours a week on this job, no nights and no weekends. 

On my acute medicine job, I have significant anti-social hours. I'm compensated for this by banding. Under the current contract, I get 50% extra pay because I work challenging hours. 

For this 4 months that makes my pay: £9333 x 1.5 = £14000 

£14000 pay / 846.5 hours of work  = £16.54/hr 

Proposals from the new contract: 

The new contract is slightly harder to work out. 

Firstly, there's a change in definition of unsociable hours. 

Under the new contract the following are "social" hours: 

7am - 10pm Monday - Saturday

Therefore, my 9:00 - 21:30 shift on Saturday no longer constitutes anti-social hours. 

New Contract, current timetable: 

Having scoured my timetable, I've found that I have 229.5 hours that Jeremy Hunt would consider "anti-social". 

The idea has been that my base pay would be increased by 15% under the new contract: 

£9333 x 1.15 = £10732.95 

10732.95 / 846.5 hours = £12.68

Anti-social hours are, under the new contract, supposed to be paid at a surplus of 50%. 

£12.68 x 1.5 = £19.02 / anti-social hour 

846.5 - 229.5 = 617 'social' hours

617 x £12.68 = £7823.56 

229.5 x £19.02 = £4365.09

Total = £12188.65 

Cost-neutral?: 

(Current contract total for 4 months) £14000 (£16.50/hr) 

(Old contract total for 4 months) - £12188.65 (£14.40/hr) 

                                        Total  £1811.35 

I have two of these 50% banded shifts this year meaning that doubling the above gives me the reduction in my pay for the year: 

£3622.70 

However, aren't the government going to increase my pay even in my 'social' jobs - let's take that into account: £9333 (current) and 10732.95 (new)= £1399.95 

£3622.70 - £1399.95 = £2222.75 

So the government's 'cost neutral' plan will certainly NOT be 'cost neutral' for me. It will cost me around £185.23 / month. However, it will actually give me a different spread of my pay so when I am working least, I will be earning more than I currently earn. It's only my jobs when I'm on the harder shift patterns that I will lose out. 

That's no 15% increase in pay, that's a 5% decrease in pay if the hours stay as they are. The only way the government could pay me a 'cost neutral' amount would be to increase my hours, and the people who would pay for that would be the patients. 

It is distressing to see this all in figures and see the reality that the people who are hardest hit by this will be the people in specialties where they work the most truly anti-social hours. 

If you have any questions/thoughts/opinions on the above leave a comment below.

*Calculations based on an FY2 salary 

Three.

After three years of marriage, Ben and I have finally been to the third nation on the island of Great Britain together! 

A few weeks ago, I would have told you that this was my first ever trip to Scotland. My elder sister, Charly, dispelled this build-up-to-mass-hysteria quite well by telling me that I have, in fact, visited Scotland before aged about two years. My bubble was burst, though she has yet to produce photographic evidence so really it's a matter of trusting her or my own (lack of) memory. So I've chosen to dub this my Second First Trip to Scotland.

On our way up we made it to the Preston Temple. We try and go to the temple every anniversary to take part in sealing ordinances on behalf of our ancestors - we stand proxy so they can have the same marriage covenant that we have. It's our way of paying it forward for the blessing of another year of marriage. It was wonderful to go up there and as my sister and her husband live in Chorley we had a great opportunity to see them (at least for a little bit!).

After that it was a quick drive up the M6/A74 and, after a momentary stop off at Gretna Green, we reached Perth. (Not Australia). We'd had the foresight to order our shopping for the week (and we took our slow cooker - AMAZING!) so we picked that up and then went in search of the flat. Having booked on airbnb for the first time, I had no idea how this was going to go. All I knew was that the instructions for getting the key sounded a lot like the instructions a spy might be given when trying to find the right person at a meeting place. Ben had been practicing "the owls are flying in daylight" and other such likely statements that might provoke someone to hand us a key. Fortunately it turned out to be much more straightforward - who knew people were so trusting? Right time, right place - no code word required. Sorted.

We dropped off our stuff, had something to eat and went to explore Perth.

Perth is Scotland's seventh city and is on the banks of the River Tay. It's small and quaint and full of churches and interesting buildings - an ideal candidate for an evening stroll. After church the following day we ventured a bit further - across the river and up Kinnoul Hill for views like these:

One of the things we enjoyed most about Scotland is that while I was marveling at these things, Ben could be getting equal joy from looking at something like this:

Consequently, I kept singing "Pave the World" (similar to Michael Jackson's "Heal the World") in loving mockery. I think he appreciated the unspoiled beauty that we got to see too... as long as he had internet access.

For the day of our anniversary (three years n.o.!) we went into Edinburgh. As I hadn't been to Edinburgh before Ben took full control over the events and planning of this day. I'm usually the person who wants to know what's happening every minute but I knew Ben had it all under control and it made the day so much fun.

Being my first time in Edinburgh, we had to visit the castle.

 Some of which felt a little like work:

Then, of course, there were all of these tributes to William Wallace. All of Scotland's National heroes are people who were successful in fending off English attacks. I say successful... I guess anyone who has seen the end of Braveheart can here have their own little reflection on what success means. Either way, I see wonderful depictions like this and feel the same way as I feel when I see Jean D'Arc on French national monuments. "Yeah... uh... well... sorry about that!"

Walking down the Royal Mile at this time of year is a 'unique' experience. To be frank, it's full of freaks and weirdos. No doubt, lots of very talented people were contributing to the general hubbub but overall it was just a bit of an eclectic mix - from pompous Edwardians extending an invitation to partake in their revelry ("classy crap, anyone?") to genuinely terrifying deranged zombies shocking people into submission.  

We decided to go and see a comedy stand-up act. The great thing about it was being able to pick the rating of what we saw - I worry about live comedy! The Fringe website was helpful in selecting something child-friendly so I was able to take Ben. Haha!

On the way to that, we stopped by to see The rammed-full-of-american-tourists Elephant House. It's hard to imagine Harry Potter being written there now. Unless the back room was entirely sound-proofed. And the person writing had waited the hours it took to get in the door. Business was certainly booming - we stayed outside!

Our next intention was to climb Arthur's Seat. Having neither the correct footwear or really the inclination to think about it too thoroughly, it wasn't too surprising to either of us when we realised that we had, instead, climbed the foothill in front of it. We now claim that the views are better - who even wants to go to Arthur's actual Seat anyway? We had a genuinely great hour overlooking the city from our slightly-less-elevated view point.

Scotland's weather kept us constantly on our toes. On Tuesday morning we woke up to a reasonably nice day and decided to go out for a short work at The Hermitage. It was so pretty and nice! 

Note that Ben was wearing a t-shirt and was still smiling at this point:

It didn't last!

Fortunately Ben saved the day by taking us on driving tour of the Cairngorms National Park. Which was out-of-this-world beautiful. Again - plenty for him and plenty for me. So while he marveled at roads and ski-resorts and navigated around sheep; I got to see hills, rivers and stone bridges. A happy way to spend a soggy afternoon!

It was deliciously bleak!

The weather the next day did almost exactly the same thing - when we were at Stirling Castle in the morning it was glorious.

At Loch Lomond (after visiting The Hill House - I love Mackintosh!) in the afternoon, it was a different story. We believe there is a loch there somewhere but saw no evidence of it.

We, again, took a driving tour. That became sort of the theme of the week.

Thursday stayed mainly dry for us so we were able to see fish jump at Pitlochry, enjoy another walk near Blair Atholl and then went off to see Bruar Falls and Queen's View.

Our final full day in Scotland was the day that Ben was most excited about. Ben is an avid fan of just about every sport under the sun. He talks knowledgeably about teams and games as well as excitedly being able to talk about just about any place where sporting feats are accomplished all over the world. I was trying to understand just exactly what it was about St Andrews that was so appealing to him but apparently it had something to do with men hitting a little white ball with a stick into a hole a long way away. (shrug!) Again, we both enjoyed the place but probably for different reasons!

St Andrews is a beautiful place! Definitely would plan on going back there at some point.

We decided that we'd enjoyed our car tours so much that we would go the scenic route back to Chorley (where we were meeting up with my sister and brother-in-law before we went home). We took the A68 down through Jedburgh and various other locations. It involved a slight detour as part of the road was closed. However, we did get to stop off at Hadrian's Wall, as planned, which was cool. Visiting the wall the Romans built to keep the Scots out of England and mark the Northern part of their empire was a great way to finish a trip across the Scottish border.

That concludes our tales from our Scottish adventure. It was a lovely, restful week full of conversations and fun. Exactly what the doctor ordered!