The big smoke

Yesterday saw me go on a junket to London to visit two hospitals that I'm thinking of applying to for when I graduate.

Thursday morning I rose, went to the bank to discuss some current account matters, and then got on the train. At 11:11am, the train pulled into London Victoria, and I felt relaxed, congratulating myself on having done everything on schedule.

The first hospital I needed to go to was in West Middlesex, so I went to the information desk to find out which tube train to get there:

Me:	"Excuse me. Can you tell me how to get to West Middlesex University Hospital? Which train is best?"
Woman:	"You can't get there from here."
Me:	"What?"
Woman:	"You should have changed at Clapham Junction. You need to go back there, and get another train out to Isleworth."
Me:	"Nnnnnngggghh!"

So, back I went to Clapham Junction (thank God for the British rail system. If that had happened in Ireland, I'd have been fucked), got another train out to Hounslow, and then another train to Isleworth. I arrived half an hour behind schedule.

The chief pharmacist didn't mind, thank God, and another pharmacist showed me around the place. It was a bit of an eye opener. Not much time is spent on the wards during your first year, in fact about 80% of a first year's time is spent in the department itself. This hospital in particular was not exactly within easy reach of London, and a rotation in mental health no longer forms part of the year, so the place won't be my first choice, but the pre-reg tutor and chief pharmacist seemed nice people whom I could work with.

Once I'd left, I headed off to Central Middlesex hospital. I had to get a tube (which was JAMMED with people), change at two stops, and then get a bus. I arrived for my next appointment, a short talk on what it was like to do the pre-reg year there, fifteen minutes late. Luckily they had only just started.

This one was more of a bit of an eye-opener. The surgical pharmacist chatted with us for about forty minutes about all the different rotations we would go through during the year, rotations which did include mental health this time, and we saw all the fancy instruments, which included a dispensing robot. This was one hospital I could definitely see myself working in, with it's proximity to central London, and I asked her about the competition for pre-reg places:

Me:	"Excuse me. Do you get many applicants for the places that are available?"
Her:	"Yes, it's quite competitive. Last year we got about 70 applicants for 3 places. This year, we expect to get 50 applicants."
Me:	"What?"

And this was one of the hospitals that didn't have an asterisk next to it on the online application website, meaning it's one of the less oversubscribed ones! Bloody hell, if I ever manage to get into a hospital, I can see it being in the remotest region of Wales or Scotland, at the rate this is going!

So after all that, I went back to London Victoria, toyed with the idea of going to (you guessed it!) Soho, dismissed it, and went home.

London Victoria is a sight to behold, though. I though Brighton was pretty multi-cultural, but the amount of different races I saw up there takes the biscuit. There was a definite buzz to the place, though, and I could definitely see myself living there in time to come.

All I have to do is get a first class honours degree. I can so see that happening.