Old and new

Yesterday, my husband and I had the gift of a trip up the Shard. This was really special as this area is important for us. I trained at Guy's Hospital Medical School (now part of the big GKT-Guy's, King's and Thomas's-Medical School) which is just yards from the Shard and spent a large part of the first year of our marriage working at Guy's Hospital.

My first job was as a medical house officer and I started work three weeks after my wedding. These are now called Foundation Year 1 posts but then were colloquially known as house dogs. Just to give you an idea of the status of my first job! My husband's secretary earned more than I did and didn't work a 1 in 4 rota. Now, these rotas don't exist anymore but twenty five years ago, junior doctors worked on rotas which no one else really understood: a 1 in 4 really wasn't bad. Many doctors worked  1in 3. One of my senior house officer posts was a 1 in 3.

Anyway, just to explain, a 1 in 4 means being on call every fourth day and weekend. This meant going to work at 0900, working through the day and then through the night. If things were quiet then it was possible to get some sleep but there was no guarantee. The next day was worked as usual and the young doctor went home when the work was finished. I wasn't very fast and hadn't learned that skipping lunch made me slower so often my finishing time as 8 or 9pm. 1 in 4 rotas being so much better than 1in 3 were almost always internal cover rotas which meant that the juniors had to work extra nights and weekends to cover their colleagues' annual leave.

 The middle window, on the top floor, was my first on call room. It seemed symbolic to come back almost 25 years later.

 Looking up, there is the Shard. Of course, it wasn't around 25 years ago.

This is the Medical School which is now just called the Hodgkin Building and part of a big medical school. Over the door, the words Medical School are still carved.

The Shard was fantastic. The lifts were fast and the views fabulous. We worked out the streets and landmarks. We found our church and identified the green spaces.
Spot the Tower of London.

The winding Thames

The beginning of sunset. There is artefact at the top of the picture: the Shard has circular glass and it is difficult to avoid all reflection.

Looking up further

The sun going down

 Almost set

Night on the Thames

In memory of walks along the Thames before we were married. The actual Thames walkway hasn't altered much until past the Belfast and then the buildings are all new.

A special evening and a mixture of old and new.

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