19th - 21st September 2011

I thought I'd cover the last 3 days in this update. Monday my usual No. 2 assistant for the session, Carolyn, was back at the Centre after a holiday - it was good to see her again. Our session went well, and included the new starter from last week, who had her first 24 ft dive. She did fine. The rest of the usual Members were present and accounted for and the session went off without any problems.

Tuesday my regular partner Josie was away and so I was joined by Blanca, a Spanish lady who has volunteered on reception for a couple of years at the Centre, but has now decided to also train as an Oxygen Operator. I think she will make a good No. 2 operator, she must just relax though and stop worrying about every little thing. :) We had a few problems with the New Starter on this session, who experienced pain in her ears, and so the pressurization ended up slowing to a crawl and we took nearly 20 minutes to reach 24 ft. It does happen sometimes though, and there was no next session following, so it didn't matter that we were running late.

Then to today - I had a session with Jean, good to see her again, and another session with Blanca, who is doing fine. The 2 dives went very well. It was quite busy at the centre, with lots of people coming and going, and the phones ringing frequently. I think there is now a 4 month backlog of people waiting for O2 Treatment now. I must remember to have a word with Nicki because I am sure there must be a way to speed things along... I do have an idea, but we'll see what she thinks... I missed Margaret today, who normally sits with me on the second dive, and we have a nice chat - I will catch up with her in a fortnight.

Time goes so quickly - I could hardly believe it when I got an e-mail on Monday evening about this year's Staff & Volunteers X-Mas Meal... Time to get it book, it turns out, already..! So Mandy and I will be going and look forward to it. It falls on my birthday this year, so it will be my birthday dinner as well as the Centre's Xmas dinner! :))

Best wishes to all, I'll come back and write some more soon -

Rod