Long time, no see, and all that jazz

Gosh, it's been a while. I don't really know where to start. I'll start by saying that I was one of the lucky ones, I have a training post in London, in Emergency Medicine. It's in a busy hospital and isn't one I'd come across before (I studied in London) although I did know of it. They are also encouraging me to sit my MCEM exams which is good as I have said before that my previous workplaces weren't that bothered about my post-grad credentials and thus led me to believe that I wasn't worthwhile when it came to exams etc.

The fiance and I are no longer. He is working in Birmingham at the Defence Medical Centre and in the last few months had become so obsessed with his job, and possible promotion, and trying to get sent back out to active service (something I coudn't understand) that we barely spoke to each other either by text, phone or email, let alone saw each other. We decided that a long distance relationship wasn't going to work out and he seemed more concerned with his career than he did with the idea of marriage so we called it a day. I did all the screaming, crying, sulking malarky and am now feeling quite relieved and free. I quite like being single again, sometimes it's nice to go into a bar and flirt with people and tease them a little, whilst having absolutely no intention of taking it any further. Oh dear, I've just realised that could make me sound like a slutty, bitchy tart, which of course I'm not, I just haven't been single for oh such a long time.

I am refreshed to say that I am slightly more enlightened with being a doctor than I was 3 months ago. I think most doctors can say that now. I know a couple of people who have emigrated to find a job, a few who were unsuccessful in finding a training post, one guy who has had a change of career entirely and has decided to become a teacher and one girl who gave birth to a baby girl earlier this week so doesn't care about her career at present. It's been a rough time for the medical profession and I am alarmed to say that the majority of Joe Public has had absolutely no idea what it is like. I have had comments of "it's healthy competition, you get it in every job" and "it's only bringing medicine in line with the rest of the employment system" thrown at me over the period that MMC was in crisis. Let me say that I know what the rest of the world is like and I know that job-hunting is tough, but I don't think you can assess doctors on their ability to write creative answers to stupid, inanane questions without looking at their qualifications, experience and medical abilities. I just hope the government has learnt from this mistake, although I get the impression that because the NHS hasn't ground to a halt this month they probably think that it was a successful process!

I did however, have a horrible incident in the department yesterday. One I have never experienced before, and hope not to again. It was an anti-semitic attack against me. I have worked in lots of hospitals and no one has cared about my religion. My surname is very stereotypically Jewish and when I went to treat the man yesterday he spat in my face and told me he wasn't going to be treated by a hook-nosed terrorist like myself. Charming. The hospital have barred him from the department on racial discrimination grounds but it scared me. Anti-semitism is becoming amazingly more common of late and that scares me too. The Jewish cemetery near where I live had been vandalised, my aunt's house has had graffiti sprayed on it, I know my cousins have been subjected to abuse on their way to school and the local synagogue is running at a much higher security level than ever before.

In other news, can anyone in the London area please tell me what the backing music to the Transport for London "You're Better Off By Bike" TV advert is? It's driving me mad. All help mucho appreciated, ta!