Category: Daily

  • Pool time

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    Sam
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    After a very long morning meeting, we’re finally getting some well deserved pool time. Nobody works on friday afternoon in The Gambia. Well, except us. And probably taxi drivers. But at least we’re working beside the pool in shorts and t-shirt. Taxis held together by rust and dust. African Atlantic. Pool side. Don’t forget to…

  • Contrasts

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    Sam
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    It has surely been a day of contrasts today. After spending the morning at the Medical School and the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital we visited the MRC’s base in The Gambia. The RVTH is very poorly funded (for example the pathology labs have only H+E staining only, and manual histological processing – imagine how this…

  • Dragged Away

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    Sam
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    We had a brief break from work this afternoon & managed to get to the pool between meetings. Its hot & humid. Think white man from the Welsh climate stuck inside a West African hospital & think sweaty. Then imagine a pool, with bar, shady brollies, and a cool breeze. Then the sun came out!…

  • Banjul

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    Sam
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    I’m off to Banjul tonight for a week. I’ll be switching my mobile phone off to avoid the roaming charges (because I can guarantee that my Mum will ring me and it’ll cost me £10 to remind her that I’m in Africa) but should still be able to Skype Out and remain in contact while…

  • iPhone in the UK

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    Sam
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    The iPhone will be available in the UK from November 9th, at £269 for the 8GB handset and £35/month for the talk plan and unlimited data tariff from O2. It’s using outdated technology by European mobile phone standards, as it uses slow EDGE rather than fast 3G for data, and doesn’t do MMS photo messaging.…

  • Vaccines

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    Sam
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    I’m visiting Banjul, in The Gambia at the end of this month to aid the development of the link between the medical school there and the school here in Swansea. I’ll have my elearning and IT hat on for most of the week, with some anatomy teaching and much meeting and greeting of Gambian colleagues…

  • Baby no.2’s first photo

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    Sam
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    Here’s the first photo of Baby No. 2. I expect there will be several thousand more (photos, not babies) after he or she is born in January. Jack really enjoyed the ultrasound scan, with lots of things he could easily recognise at 20 weeks. He’s really looking forward to having a little brother or sister,…

  • Sea fishing

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    Sam
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    Looks like the remains of a torture scene, doesn’t it? I had a bit of an accident with a hook. I got a treble from a large plug embedded deep in my finger, up to the bend, and the barb had grabbed the flesh rather tightly. It came out of my finger eventually after much…

  • Caddyshack

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    Sam
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    Favourite article of this week: Bill Murray was stopped in the early hours of the morning by police and tested for drink driving by police in Stockholm. He’d nicked a golf cart after watching the Scandinavian Masters golf tournament to drive back to his hotel. Given that the top speed of a golf cart really…

  • Photos, photos, everywhere

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    Sam
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    I’ve got photos all over the web. They’re on my website, on Jack’s website, on Flickr, and on Facebook. I’ve held back against Flickr and Facebook for a long time because of my desire to keep things simple and in one place, but Flickr is just so simple and cool for sharing with a limited…