Some musings

SATURDAY 6th MAY – 7.30 AM Things that will surely happen today. Not necessarily in order of importance: Huge crowds have been gathering over night with thousands of people now lining the streets of Taunton all hoping for a glimpse of TKC as he arrives at the CACG this morning. The 28 year old who…

‘Mortui vivos docent’(The dead teach the living) You never forget your first. His was the last bed on the left, at the very end of the ward. As a medical student, he had been allocated to me at the start of my first clinical attachment and it was up to me to get to know…

This week a really good thing happened to me and, as with most really good things in life, it had something to do with cricket. It came at me out of the blue and, though it will have gone unnoticed by most and been considered of little significance by the few who were aware of…

So with his transformation complete, Stumpy has this week exploded back onto the stage of world cricket having spent the winter months pumping iron and pounding the treadmill. The much loved, but oftentimes, bungling figure of fun has reinvented himself for the 2023 season and now manifests himself as a finely tuned athlete with a…

In recent weeks I have, on more than one occasion, made something of a fool of myself. Perhaps you’ve noticed! I hope so, because that was at least partly my intention when I donned a pink wig and went public with my ludicrous attempt at singing. By that, and other nonsensical endeavours, I wanted to…

Happy Easter! It was Good Friday, but now, as surely as day follows night, sunshine follows rain, and the rhubarb plant in my back garden will eventually provide the principle ingredient for a fruit crumble, it’s Easter Sunday. A day to both remember and celebrate the most significant event in history, a source of hope…

Why do bad things happen to good people? If someone in history ever knew the answer to this age old question, then surely it must have been Barabbas. Barabbas was a murdering insurrectionist [Mark 15:7], one who, along with others, was in prison and under sentence of death on the day that, despite his innocence,…

Not all the broken hearted can cry. Over the years I’ve been a GP, there have been a number of patients who have come to me because, despite their sadness, they feel unable to cry. On such occasions I have tried, and largely succeeded, in resisting the urge to recommend that they watch ‘Lassie Come…

Why are so many folkOn too long waiting listsAnd why don’t ambulances come?Why are there not enoughNurses now working,And why do the doctors look glum?Could it be down to those who, though in power,Simply do not have a clue? We must retain theNHS ConnectionThe doctors and nurses and you. Today the NHSStruggles to cope withAll…

Unhappy that you can’t get an appointment at your GP surgery as quickly as you’d like? If so, you’re not alone – because GPs aren’t happy about it either. Why then do we find ourselves in this sorry position? Part of the reason is because, as has being recently reported in the press 1200 GP…