4AM. the darkest hour , one that statistics claim to be the bewitchin' hur or the greatest time for transitition between here and there. dungbeetle

Yep - if only because loads of people get stabbed after the nightclubs close...

But I think that it might be why normally sensible (one hopes) people get scared over little things at that time in the morning. Something in the body tells you that you are in a weakened state, and so you panic.

I'm on North East, so it's not my fault!!

Well you could help us by hassling those sitting outside '917' to hurry along and green up. I know their staffing is poor now half of them have jumped ship for Essex, but we have found ourselves dragged up there a lot recently.

Or just shout across to EC that we should be left to sleep...

Love the pic...

You jinxed yourself in that last sentence mate.

I took a gander: the Camera lens must be made of reinforced Brightons best, or even from sand dredged from Sout'end pier, me ol china, you do shock them back into life, no need to apply 500 jules per sec[joult], all ye need is a mediterraean beer strainer, and even Resusie annie would ' be in a dead faint. So sorry glad ye Mum Loves ye and big Bros. nout else counts, dungbeetle I'll scurry along now before your tootsie decides to give the world a flattened dollop of dna.

Now tell me something. Were you putting on that 'face' or were you really that tired? Methinks the former due to the fact that (a) your job must require you all to have an inbuilt mechanism to deal with the trauma that your are inevitably exposed to so frequently and (b) the ability to maintain a sense of humour at most times - enough to care anyway. I'm sure it's a complete coincidence but I saw two separate ambulance crews within ten minutes today all having an absolute laugh. The first ambulance I saw overtook another at quite high speed and obviously thought it was hilarious. The others looked a bit bemused as they were in a white ambulance. The over-takers were in a dayglo yellow/green thing. I guess there was a bit of ambulance paramedic pecking order going down at that particular point. And then the second one was clearly an emergency - siren noise etc heading rather sharpish in the direction of my local (Solzhenitsyn-style) hospital both laughing their heads off in the front. Glorious.

Photo is a genuine webcam shot that I took following a nightshift. I think I went beyond 'dead' tired, and edged more towards 'decomposing tired'.

But you are right, at work you tend to manage the crap that you are sent to (along with the very occasional bit of trauma that you end up at) and a sense of humour is the best way around it. Heaven knows, if I didn't have a sense of humour about stuff I might very well have broken by now.

12/09/06 - still reading archives - getting closer to current posts!!!

Here's an idea for limiting wasted shouts:

1) Control asks caller for mobile phone number.
2) Control asks if it's a camera phone.
3) If 2) = Yes - text your photo to caller.
4) Ask caller if ambulance (which will be crewed by you) is still needed.
5) If answer = "Yes" - the patient MUST be in fear of his/her life and ambulance can be sent.