The Badgers Nadgers…!!!

I have been very fortunate in being recently asked to field test a pair of the latest Magnum boots. The ‘Ion-Mask’. I have included the links to the Magnum website for you to read up on all the scientific niff naff as it explains the technology better than I ever could.

The main difference with these boots is that they are ‘blood proof’ and ‘water proof’  are breathable and extremely light weight and also chemical resistant.

So there I am getting ready for the old night shift and its persisting down outside (persisting down heavily). My trusty old Magnum Protectors are stood in the corner of the kitchen watching forlornly as I slip on my new Ion-Mask Magnums. If the name alone is anything to go by then these are going to be good…I hope!

Straight away I notice the difference in weight. My old ‘mags‘ are comfortable and feel like an old friend…these new boots feel like slippers that have been bought for me by a very rich old auntie with the promise of a generous gift in her will. They are unbelievably comfortable.

Lacing them up they almost feel like a second skin and I notice the support around the ankles is still as good as my old mags. What I like is the Achilles cut away at the back of each boot. This makes it much easier to crouch or kneel down without feeling the boot tightening against the Achilles or lower calf muscle.

I ‘squeak, squeak’ across the kitchen floor and pick up my keys and important kit for the night shift…packup, water, packup, more packup…and an extra bag of crisps. (I’m cutting down!) Driving to my station I have to remind myself that I’ve not put on a pair of slippers and that I’m wearing the new ‘daisy roots.’

The real test comes halfway through the shift when we are called to a park to reports of a man trying to kill himself. Arriving on scene we make out the outline of a Police van with a couple of officers talking to someone. My crew mate parks up near to the Police van and I step out straight into a bloody great puddle! With the deftness and agility of a startled gazelle I leap out of the puddle and back in the same puddle…only a little deeper!

My immediate thoughts are ‘Oh crap! I’m going to get my new boots mucky!’ and with a renewed spring in my step I gallivant across the puddle like some form of giant mud skipper skittering across the beach! My crew mate just watches from the cab as I act out a poorly rehearsed scene from ‘Dancin’ in the Rain!’  Only instead of looking like Gene Kelly I look more like Lorraine Kelly. (My gran told me about Gene Kelly just in case you think I’m knocking on a bit!).

Looking down at my boots in the dim yellow glare of the neon park lights I am amazed to find that they are bone dry and look exactly the same as they did when they were taken out of the box. If only my trousers were made with ‘Ion-Mask’ technology as they wetly flap around my boots as I approach our ‘patient’. He is depressed and talks of suicide and wants help…so we take him to hospital in the vain hope that he will see someone there from mental health services.

After several more jobs leaping out of the cab (looking before I leap this time) and finding ‘patients’ in bushes, in the street, in their homes and one asleep in a skip I find that my feet still feel comfortable and dry. Getting home I am knackered and struggle to unlace my new boots…my gross motor skills are not good by the end of a night shift!

My honest opinion of these new ‘Ion-Mask’ boots…? 

• Extremely comfortable
• Waterproof
• Good ankle support
• Excellent tread/grip
• Light weight
• Easy clean
• No need to break them in

My only gripe…?

• Would have liked a couple of quick lace hooks in place of normal eyelets to make it easier to put on/take off.

Would I buy a pair…?

• Definitely…100%

Magnum Ion-Mask website

Tiny Terrors…!!!

 

Another example of kids running amok. On first glance you would think it would be easy to speak to the 6 year olds…but they would have the full force of the law, social services and the press claiming brutal treatment by the paramedics or that their human rights had been breached!

This happened in Manchester…a little girl was injured and the paramedic RRV response car was attacked…and then the back up ambulance crew were threatened with being shot by a gang of little shits!

This is the news report…

Nothing will happen to these kids…nothing will be done to help the parents to keep their feral offspring out of trouble…just another incident to add to the others that happen everyday in this country. And these kids will grow up to be even more anti-social and kick out at everything. It’s these kids who will one day very soon stamp on the head of an innocent person and claim it is their right to do what they want!!!

It’s not going to be long before this happens…!!!

Rememberance Day……….

Spare a thought our lads and lassies out in Afghanistan or other places of conflict around the world. And say a small prayer for those who have been taken from us.

Busy is not the word…!!!

I’ve been involved in a project for the past couple of months hence the sparsity of posts. This project involves responding to 999 calls from people who seem to be one cell up from an amoeba. My service is jumping on us to get there faster, treat more effectively and therefore clear sooner at scene or hospital and to treat (as in listen patiently as some plank rabbits on rather than actually ‘treating’ a real deserving patient!).

We need to educate the public on when they should call for an ambulance. Only a few years ago it would have been common to anecdotally relate only a few inappropriate calls ie ‘need the curtains drawing’, ‘cant find the remote control’ ‘I’m lonely’ ‘cant get the top off a childproof container’ etc. But now we seem to be getting so many stupid calls that undoubtably affect our target chasing of ORCON that we are getting penalised financially (for missing the ORCON time)  and the general public dont get the full story.

Education should involve self-treatment for minor ailments/injuries and information on what is and what is not a 999 priority. You do not dial 999 because you ‘cant sleep’ or ‘I thought I would get an ambulance to hospital then I can go shopping after my checkup with the A/E being in the city centre’. A lot of people out there need to have a word with themselves!

And the number of calls we get for ‘Swine Flu’ that turns out to be nothing more than a sniffle….and I mean a sniffle….is staggering! The Ambulance Service is changing culturally and becoming more academically focused and gaining more skills and recognition and starting to have its own voice within the NHS….but nothing is being done to tell the general public (and GPs) when and when not to call for an ambulance!