It's A New Year, It's A New Year, It's A New Year...

An odd shift.

'Remedial' duty for me and another Reg. Something to do with NYE being busy... Whouldathunkit?

Felt off my game all shift; probably because I was so very tired. It happens. The Department had a fairly steady stream of trauma. I suspect BBP will have a better write up than I.

However...

This sums up NYE in an ED for me:

Half eleven:
Quiet, ish. Not too many waitin', minors or majors. All is calm.

Midnight:
Jolly nurses and doctors patrol the Department, wishing all and sundry a Happy New Year.

Midnight plus one minute:
An hysterical woman is suddenly there, out of nowhere, as if by **whammo** special BeerMonkey magic, wailing and gnashing teeth, having consumed slightly more than her bodyweight in alcohol, hence her presentation.

Midnight plus two minutes:
The Department is now full of people whose only reason for being there appears to be that they can't handle their beer. And most (all) of the local Police.

So: to sum up...

All quiet; Shroom looks left. He looks back, and there is a screaming crying woman in an ethanolic miasma. He rubs his eyes. He opens them and suddenly cannot move for Police. And drunk shouty men.

Instant transformation. Amazing.

I don't wish to generalise, but I am never surprised by how the drunk ladies are mostly tearful, and the fellas punchy.

I think the most satisfying thing I did was help an old geezer, steaming drunk, hold himself up to take a pee. Sometimes, I guess, it's the little things.

Well, I hope you all had a good one, free from blunt head trauma.

PostScript
For those of you who strayed to BBP, I did indeed give myself a papercut; then another identical one, just to prove the first wasn't a fluke. I thought about booking in... But my manners aren't as good as he seems to be implying...