One of the main differences of working on the car, as opposed to an ambulance is that you are always on your own. This isn't normally a problem, but sometimes you do feel just a tiny bit vulnerable.

A case in point would be last night, I was called to a 17 year old who was 8 weeks pregnant, and had taken a tumble down some stairs. This wouldn't normally be a problem job, there is a fairly small chance of there being any actual damage.

The problem was, as I turned up there were around 20 youths hanging around the house, all dressed in the de rigeur baseball hat and hoodie. The house was down a little side turning, so there were no houses overlooking me. It was around 1am, and several of the nearby streetlights weren't working.

To be fair to them, they were no trouble - they had all turned up after being summoned via mobile phone but it did put me a bit on my guard. To get to the patient I had to walk through a miasma of cannabis smoke - I should count myself lucky that we don't have random drug tests, because I'd probably be positive just due to passive smoking.

The TV series Spaced, and then Shaun of the Dead had, as a running theme, the idea that groups of teenagers can be a bit scary, something that until tonight I've never had a problem with.

Other jobs of the night included two separate epileptic fitters, a heavy combative patient who'd had a stroke, a diabetic with an ear infection and a barndoor appendicitis. None of these jobs were particularly stressful (with the exception of getting the stroke patient out from lying behind their bed and downstairs, with them fighting all the way).