Workin' on the chain ga-a-ang

I've now worked five days in a row for the ambulance - pretty good for a part-timer, but it doesn't leave a lot of time for writing.

Saturday, I worked a shift for a guy who asked me three weeks ago to cover because he had other plans. I agreed to be helpful, but it turned out that Saturday was the officer's funeral, and I really wished I wasn't working so I could've stayed home and been upset there instead. Since I was on a regular transfer shift, I missed the whole thing but I can tell you it was extremely eerie to see so many police in one place. I didn't expect folks from MA to come up, but there were busloads from Boston and towns along the way, a motorcycle unit from Cambridge, and I think even some state troopers from MA, in addition to just about every off-duty police or trooper from NH. Every hospital we picked up or dropped off at had the TVs tuned to the funeral and it was a very somber day.

After shift, I headed to the southern station and worked a kids' football detail in the freezing cold. I have to say that after watching these slightly older kids, I have more respect for the coaches of the younger kids because they were actually much better behaved than these kids.

Sunday, I worked the circus detail, so I watched the first show for free and hung out in first aid for the second show. Apparently, I talked with one of the stars of the show in the parking lot, but I didn't know it at the time so I didn't know I should be awed or anything. I have to say that I didn't attend a lot of circuses as a kid, but I do believe that things have changed. When the tigers came out, the ring was completely enclosed in some sort of metal safety netting so that nobody in the audience got mauled. The trapeeze had a giant net under it and they only performed about 4 tricks. The high wire had big crash pads under it and some very silly looking boys with parasols on it. There were hardly any midgets and they didn't even have the midgets and the elephants out at the same time, so we didn't get to work any elephant tramplings. Overall, we barely did anything - one bandaid, some earplugs, and some aspirin was it.

Monday, Tuesday and today are back to working on the transfer truck. Supposedly my EMT-I paperwork was hand-delivered to the state office yesterday, so we'll see whether I actually get licensed any time soon.