Four days on, four days off. It's like shift work, but with chocolate eggs.

Anyhoo, I've now completed my first full day in the new job, and in a shock of gargantuan proportions, I actually like it. But ask me again in a week's time and I'll probably have handed in my notice. I'm fickle like that.

Despite being officially based at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, I'm actually working in this building until May...


I took that photo myself. I'm taller than I look.

Anyway, that's the pharmacy store at the Brighton General, which was supposed to be relocating to the RSCH in January, but hasn't. Apparently the new robot they've installed is behaving more like a grabbing machine in an amusement arcade, and they're not ready for us yet.

So for the time being I'm working next to the race course (that's going to be a distraction), at the top of a big hill. Which renders my tsunami training largely irrelevant. Needless to say they know talent when they see it, and have basically given me my own department from day one. My job involves answering the door next to the illegally parked red car in the photo (that wouldn't happen on my watch), taking delivery of the drugs from any pushers who turn up, unpacking them, checking them, sorting them, signing them off, filing the paperwork and logging it all onto the computer. After which I get to play with the little lift system to transport them all upstairs, where someone else puts them on the shelf.

It's actually a lot more fun than it sounds. I've always loved opening parcels. And if the doorbell doesn't go, I'm allowed to surf the internet. Not that I did, obviously. I actually spent my time productively by becoming the first person ever to fully explore the NHS intranet and read the weekly staff e-mail from the Chief Executive. Both were enjoyable (I admire anyone who includes a photo of themself in their weekly e-mail), but the intranet proved particularly profitable because I discovered that as an NHS employee, I'm entitled to a free copy of Microsoft Office 2007, which is worth over three hundred quid.

In addition to that, I've met a number of very nice people, one of whom used to be a tree surgeon, and worked with this man. I dread to think how long Monday's health & safety lecture would have been if we worked with chainsaws.

Anyhoo, my levels of job satisfaction are currently high, and my supervisor has such confidence in me that he's decided to go on holiday next week. Which is a bit of a problem as I'll have forgotten how to do everything by Tuesday.