The world of work

Some time ago Sarah decided she'd really like to have a career as a physiotherapist

Then once someone told her how difficult it was to find a job in that profession she sort of moved her ideas sideways and considered chiropractics for a while

However probably last autumn she had a long chat with one of the other rugby mums who is a senior nursing manager and as a result she realised that physiotherapy is what she really wants to do - the variety of career options is far wider

So the university visits we've done so far have all been for physiotherapy courses

The competition for a place on any physio course in the UK is extremely high and one of the plus factors on any students application is a spell of work experience within a physiotherapy environment. Such spells are as rare to obtain access to as hens teeth

However with some application and persistance Sarah managed to get a two day placement for yesterday and today at our local hospital

It has given her a first hand insight into the varied working environment of a physiotherapist - from orthopaedics and joint replacements to stroke rehabilitation, and geriatrics to respiratory management

Whilst she already realised it, one of the people she shadowed yesterday told her it's amazing how many girls come on work experience thinking a physio's whole job is to run on the pitch to tend to the limbs of burly rugby players

The situations that she's witnessed over these two days haven't put her off one bit - not even the old chap having incontinence pants put on so he could be helped out of bed to go for a spin in a wheel chair - she wasn't actually at the action end but she did say the smell took a bit of getting used to

She's finished the two days absolutely buzzing - another tick in the box for her application

Just another year's hard work at college and she'll hopefully be successful in her endeavour to train to do a job that she says she can see herself doing for her entire working life.

I guess there can't be that many 17yr olds so sure about their view of their own future.

As for the world of work, her younger brother Nick has had a rude awakening to just how much effort you have to put in to earn a few pounds

At 13 and three quarters he's really not old enough for a part-time Saturday job yet

However he has had his name on the list for a paper-round for a good while

Although there's not yet an opening for a permanent round, this week he's had the chance to cover for someone else's round while they're on holiday

This means delivering almost 200 copies of the local free newspaper to some of our neighbouring streets along with any leaflets the newspaper company is also paid to distribute

The delivery of the papers wasn't a problem - he's young and strong

However, for my less than practical son, the origami involved in sorting and collating all the leaflets was a somewhat more onerous and time consuming task - thank goodness for my conservatory floor!

He'll probably yield about £8 or £9 for this work depending on how many leaflets there were - he reckons it's slave labour

I reminded him that his sister at 14 and a half was working as a swim assistant at the local pool in the water helping teach the primary school aged children to swim for less than £4 per hour, and that there are people much younger than him in this world who work for far less and don't get the chance to get a good education

If he wants to earn money - that's what the situation is

Mind you he did look like he'd spent a while at the coal face once he'd accidentally smeared all that newsprint onto his face before he set off on his deliveries!

His little sister was bored this afternoon - so a mistakenly bought roll of shortcrust pastry (I only usually buy pre-made puff pastry) was turned into a tray of jam tarts and a treacle tart.

That kept her attention for the princely spell of about 20 minutes!

I've been busy too

As I shall have no access to my sewing machine for a couple of weeks soon I've dug out the batik baskets quilt and added the final borders

A basket full of bias strips ready to turn into bias tubing

Then I spent yesterday evening and this morning tacking on the vines ready to take away with me for a little hand stitching to keep me occupied in quiet moments

I'm half way round with the tacking - only another two sides of the quilt to prepare.................