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quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Have you ever wondered what's going on inside the ambulance you see screaming past with its sirens on and blue lights flashing?
Does it contain a heart attack victim fighting for their life, while trained medical professionals administer emergency treatment? Or have you considered that it might be yet another 'Matern-a-taxi' ordered by a woman who can't be bothered to book a real cab and who then complains she can't smoke on the way to hospital?
Meet Tom Reynolds. Tom is an Emergency Medical Technician who works for the London Ambulance Service in East London. He has kept a diary of his daily working life since 2003, first as a website called 'Random Acts of Reality' and now for the first time as a no-punches-pulled book. His award-winning writing is, by turn, moving, cynical, funny, heart-rending and compassionate.
From the tragic to the hilarious, from the heart-warming to the terrifying, the stories Tom tells give a fascinating - and at times alarming - picture of life in inner-city Britain, and the people who are paid to mop up after it.
I discovered Tom Reynolds's blog Random Acts of Reality 3 months ago after seeing references to it on the blogs of friends and friends of friends and I've been lurking there ever since. This book is a compendium of highlights from that blog - not that there's anything wrong with that in the slightest and I very much hope that it gets more people to go and read it.
The Blurb On The Back is a pretty good summary of what the blog's all about - there are some v. tragic stories (particularly those where children die suddenly), some v. funny stories (the one with the toxic poo did - to my shame - have me rolling on the floor in laughter) and some stories that will make you go WTF?! (particularly the nurses who fail to open access doors to hospital despite being notified and the 'carers' who don't think that caring is in their job description).
With the exception of the 7/7 attacks, none of the entries are dated and I think that would be my only complaint about it as it's difficult to get a timeline from the entries themselves unless you're a long-time reader of the blog itself. Apart from that, it's a v. interesting read and definitely worth a look.
The Verdict:
Amusing, sad and thought-provoking, this is a book that will make you think about what EMT's do.
Have you ever wondered what's going on inside the ambulance you see screaming past with its sirens on and blue lights flashing?
Does it contain a heart attack victim fighting for their life, while trained medical professionals administer emergency treatment? Or have you considered that it might be yet another 'Matern-a-taxi' ordered by a woman who can't be bothered to book a real cab and who then complains she can't smoke on the way to hospital?
Meet Tom Reynolds. Tom is an Emergency Medical Technician who works for the London Ambulance Service in East London. He has kept a diary of his daily working life since 2003, first as a website called 'Random Acts of Reality' and now for the first time as a no-punches-pulled book. His award-winning writing is, by turn, moving, cynical, funny, heart-rending and compassionate.
From the tragic to the hilarious, from the heart-warming to the terrifying, the stories Tom tells give a fascinating - and at times alarming - picture of life in inner-city Britain, and the people who are paid to mop up after it.
I discovered Tom Reynolds's blog Random Acts of Reality 3 months ago after seeing references to it on the blogs of friends and friends of friends and I've been lurking there ever since. This book is a compendium of highlights from that blog - not that there's anything wrong with that in the slightest and I very much hope that it gets more people to go and read it.
The Blurb On The Back is a pretty good summary of what the blog's all about - there are some v. tragic stories (particularly those where children die suddenly), some v. funny stories (the one with the toxic poo did - to my shame - have me rolling on the floor in laughter) and some stories that will make you go WTF?! (particularly the nurses who fail to open access doors to hospital despite being notified and the 'carers' who don't think that caring is in their job description).
With the exception of the 7/7 attacks, none of the entries are dated and I think that would be my only complaint about it as it's difficult to get a timeline from the entries themselves unless you're a long-time reader of the blog itself. Apart from that, it's a v. interesting read and definitely worth a look.
The Verdict:
Amusing, sad and thought-provoking, this is a book that will make you think about what EMT's do.
