More Blood, More Sweat and Another Cup of Tea (original 2009; edition 2010)

I can't say that this was the most brilliant writing I've read or that the narrative was so beautiful it brought a tear to my eye. But I can say this was a good read. The author has this wonderful direct way of writing that makes you feel as if you were a friend listening to the every day details that really bring understanding of what it is like to walk in their shoes. And he has a tremendous sense of humor. This is what made me gravitate towards blogging all those years ago. Quite a find on Amazon for free! I wouldn't mind paying for this one at all ( )

An interesting look at a London area EMT and the daily grind that these heroes suffer through, from the weekend drunk calls to the heartbreaking cases of elderly people who need family more than an EMT. The calls from women in labor who simply want a ride to the hospital opened my eyes! The sad cases filled them with tears. This is his second book, the first being Blood Sweat & Tea which I've yet to read. They are based on his blog which is sure to be fun! Reynolds' stories go from humor to pathos in the same long shift.

The variety of cases the EMTs deal with and the regulations which at times seem crazy, make this a quick and thoroughly interesting read. ( )

There are some jobs that we will know a great deal about: notably the ones we have done ourselves. There are others about which will have very little idea. What does a Structured Credit Derivatives Analyst do, for example? Whatever it is, it is currently advertised as paying twenty-five to thirty pounds an hour!

A job that I could easily daydream about is being a wine buyer for a company like Marks and Spencer or Sainsbury. A job that would whisk me away to the famous wine growing regions of the world: the plane setting down in Sydney or Johannesburg. Of course I feel sure there’s more to it than that, though apart from the skills and experience required, I bet there’s just got to be a lot of paperwork and meetings!
Two books that I have just finished reading, and which I offer for your consideration are: ‘Blood Sweat and Tea’, and ‘More Blood, More Sweat and another Cup of Tea,’ both by Tom Reynolds.

Tom is an Ambulance Technician working for the London Ambulance Service. These are not books for would be ambulance workers, they are certainly not in any way technical. They simply tell a story, and give a snap shot into what it is like to work on the LAS or any other Ambulance Service. These books began life as a BLOG. A blog, for those not familiar with the word is a contraction of the term "web log", and is a type of website maintained by someone who gives a commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as photographs or videos.

Before moving to the London Ambulance Service Tom began working for the NHS when he was twenty-three and specialised as an A&E nurse. He changed his career when he discovered that he wanted to 'torture the patients in A&E'. In his words, this is 'not healthy'. Frequently quoted in the national press he has kept his critically-acclaimed blog since 2003.

These two titles will give some surprising insights, some understanding of what you probably haven’t thought about, and give you a good, light hearted, sometimes humorous read: one that will inform you, and perhaps give you food for thought. I read these two titles in reverse order, and having finished I decided I preferred the first read. This may be because, in truth, eventually it became more of the same, and because I do this kind of thing for a living.

I recommend them because it could be about Halifax tonight, or any night of the week, and it could be about myself, or anyone of my friends and work colleagues (hopefully, not about you), and it should give some insight into what we get up to when you are tucked up in bed dreaming of being a wine buyer and drinking Rioja in the Spanish sun.
Enjoy!

This book contains lots of short stories and musings from the author's life as an EMT in London. I found some of the stories to be funny, some sad, some touching, and some to be anger-inducing. It was also interesting to get an insider look at the day to day workings of an ambulance crew. Knowing about the government hoops that they have to jump through and the people that they have to deal with makes me appreciate them a lot more. ( )

A collection of blogs by a London ambulance driver. They're funny, tragic and maddening. And Oh the horror of government run healthcare ( )