hello and welcome to the everyday

language podcast here you can listen to

English spoken and natural speed in

order to practice your listening and to

finds out about everyday life in the UK

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thanks for listening Cheers

so today's topic is working at nights

[Music]

I'm just gonna talk about what I used to

do when I was working in the UK as a

mental health nurse

been a nurse since 2007 and before I

came to Japan and whenever I go back to

the UK for a long period of time I

usually do some nursing work one because

I really love it I love being the nurse

and and two because you know I need to

answer money just like anyone else so

well I loved going to work at night and

I still do first thing is usually for a

night shift to you you try and rest

before getting up so while everyone's

out in the daytime you might be in bed

or just trying to relax as much as

possible

first nights usually the hardest because

you have to change your routine to get

into the night routine

when you leave the house and I used to

leave the house around 8 o'clock or 8:30

to start a shift at 9:00 usually outside

there's not too many people about

there's not many cars on the streets and

most people are usually am already at

home you know trying to relax after a

long day at work

so while people are at home they're

getting relaxed I'm just going out to

work

and I like that because yeah there's not

much traffic on the road either so I

used to cycle to work when I was in the

UK and it's nice having the basically

empty streets

where I used to stay there was a big

hill overlooking the town and I was

staying on the top of the hill so it

probably dark outside by then that the

Sun had already gone down so at night he

got the fresh air it's already dark and

I'll get on my bike and at the top of

the hill was quite flat so had quite a

gentle downhill section the gentle

gradient so gradient means the the angle

of the of the slope like whether it was

high or low but this was quite low so

for the first part like a couple of

minutes you just glide along

and then it'll get steeper and we get

quite a lot of steeper so you'd pick up

quite a lot of speed but as I say it was

nighttime so there was not many people

around and then getting down to the

bottom of the hill there was still

another so with 10 20 minutes to cycle

to work

but I did it I used to cycle with my

earphones in listening to music trying

to get myself psyched up like getting to

try to get myself in the right attitude

for work and remember you know so

there'll be some cars on this street but

not many but apart from the cars at one

point in my journeys to work and on my

bike I used to cross the road and if I

worked five times that week I probably

see apart from one or two cars I'd see a

fox are tears a fox quite a lot

you know foxes tend to be quite

secretive they don't like to be around

people so I think that's why they like

to come out at night - so he or he's he

or she used to cross the road in front

of my bike and I'd be okay so he's

looking he or she's looking for some

food

you know I quite like that feeling

because foxes are quite shy create

creatures or they'd like to stay away

from humans but that he was like a

regular he or she was a regular feature

of my journey to work and they kind of

cheered me up to see seen that Fox

for some reason they always looks kind

of comical to me like they shouldn't be

part of this world because have you ever

seen a fox they're quite well the ones

in Brighton they've got big fluffy tails

it was colored very brightly it's even

in the dark he kind of everything else

was so dark colors

but this Fox stood out every time I used

to see it

it's after seeing the Fox there'll be

another couple of hills to climb up and

then cycle down and then I'd be at work

forgetting to work for nine o'clock in

that hospital a lot of people did non

they shift so they'd work for from the

morning from 7:30 and they'd work until

9:30 so if sometimes I'd see the same

people when I when I got to work at

night at 9:00 the people who were

working in the day they'd be getting

ready to go home and I guess they'd be

looking really knackered you know

because I'd spent a long day at work and

a lot of things to deal with but

sometimes in the morning at 7:30 when we

were all tired the same people would be

coming back to work you know so they'd

have a rest they'd had a night in bed

and they kind of got refreshed and

recharged and it would be us that was

looking knackered me and my colleagues

and they

shutting work it was time for a cup of

tea because usually tried to get to work

a few minutes before to get myself

settled in and get my mind ready to

start the shift and then two or three

colleagues would come in you know just

before 9:00 would you maybe a little bit

after

I guess people in the UK basically

they're punctual and they're basically

there on time for things but it's not

that strict and at least in the

hospitals I've worked you know people

are kind of easygoing as long as we get

the job done

but having said that it's not anyways

after getting settles having a cup of

tea having a bit of chitchat with chit

chats talk having a bit of talk with you

know my colleagues in the day from the

day shift we'd get on with work we'd

have a team meeting where the day staff

tell us what's happened in the day so

the day stuff give us a hand over so

they tell us what's happened in the day

with all the patients so then myself and

my colleagues who are the night staff

then we all know what's happened so

after the team meeting after we've kind

of got an idea of what's happened in the

day then there's kind of some routines

to follow we when I go around the

hospital check everyone's okay with our

own eyes we've had a report from the

day's staff but we also it's good for us

to actually some meet and greet the

patients on the in the hospital ward

so we go around another staff we'll

start one of the nurses will start to do

medicine and like medicine that there

and another staff and other staff would

do supper though some snacks

he had ed professor snacks and drinks

but the patients

in this hospital it was like 20 patients

and 3-star fat nights that is a mental

health hospital

so that was my speciality working with

patients with mental health issues

for now though

to say that I really loved working I

still do really love working in mental

health hospitals they're very unique

but it's it's actually a nice

environment if you can put yourself into

that frame of mind a lot of people say

wow I can work in the mental health

hospital be too scary meeting all kinds

of mad crazy people

actually it's it's just about life you

know everyone has a hard time sometimes

and it's just about supporting people to

get better and I really enjoy that that

side of things

yeah so after giving the medicine out

and getting supper and set meeting

greasing people usually people the

patient stay up until 12:00 and like

people are going to bed between 10 11

and 12

so last people up at 12 or hopefully

they're all in bed by 1:00 or 2:00 a.m.

so by that time you know we're feeling

like another cup of tea again so if

everything is quiet in the hospital and

there's no admissions that means there's

no people coming into the hospital to

the need to be in hospital from outside

then we can have a cup of tea and start

to do other jobs

we also arrange our breaks when all the

patients have gone to bed so you know

usually one person goes off on a break

at a time and leaves two other nurses

so after breaks about maybe it's around

four or five and then the patients may

start getting up at five or six five or

six o'clock in the morning

there's funny thing about mental health

a lot of people don't sleep very well so

they may not they you know they may not

be sleeping for seven or eight hours

they mind you be sleeping for well not

at all some people don't sleep at all

and some people would just sleep for a

couple of hours and then get up

maybe cuz their minds too active or you

know especially older people other

people who don't sleep much either and

part of our duty as in the hospital

outline is to check on each patient

every

every hour for patients who are we feel

are doing okay but for patients we are

concerned about we check on them every

15 minutes or every four patients we're

really concerned about maybe because

they're suicidal or something we check

on them where we have someone watching

them all the time

so that's called one-to-one observations

that's when one nurse has to stay with

that person even when they're sleeping

you kind of watch them through the door

or you have yeah you have to have

eyesight contact you have to see them

with your own eyes

there's also another type of observation

which is called arm's length

observations and that's when you're so

concerned about that person's safety you

have to be within touching distance of

that person to stop them doing anything

dangerous if they do something

is also two to one observations where

two of you have to be with that person

either eyes in eye contact or within

arm's length for that person I loved

heard stories about colleagues have

worked in prison have said they've

worked with patients where it has to be

four to one or five to one there's four

people watching one person because that

person is quite dangerous or dangerous

to themselves or dangerous to other

people but where I've worked I've never

had to deal with that and I guess I

would be quite scared if I had to deal

with someone who had to be watched by

four or five other people because people

were worried about them and their safety

though they would punch a staff member

or they try to hurt themselves

anyway

around five or six people started

getting up a few people start getting up

and funny thing about mental health

again people love to smoke so well now

there's a rule change in the UK

hospitals people are not allowed to

smoke in hospital grounds so in the old

days like two years ago and before

people could smoke we'd opened the

garden and people could smoke outside so

usually the hospitals have an outside

space a garden or a smoking area where

patients could smoke but nowadays in the

UK I guess they've got these new

electronic cigarettes so some hospitals

you can smoke the electronic cigarettes

inside at least if you're in your own

room

I'm not sure if that's a good thing or

not I guess there's less chemicals in

the electronic cigarettes than real

cigarettes that you burn with no made

from tobacco but yeah I'm not sure about

that

and then around 7:00 7:30 are depending

on the hospital the day staff come in to

replace the night staff so you know

breakfast starts around 8:00 to 8:30 for

the patients but before that the day

stuff come in and we have to give them a

report like a handover of what happened

in the night time

so yeah actually I'm a nurse so I'm in

the hospital you've got nurses doctors

another name for them is psychiatrists

occupational therapists and social

workers and the cleaners and support

workers and the managers so I'm one of

the nurses so sometimes I have to give

that report to the day staff you know in

the hospital I'm talking about at night

there's two nurses and one support

worker for 20 patients so me or the

other nurse usually gives the report

yeah I can give the report and it's not

a problem but sometimes I find if it's

been a really busy night my mind is

really frazzled and what I mean by

frazzled is ugly I'm tired I don't know

I'm not thinking straight you know I

haven't got a good clarity of thought as

no as when I'm fresh though my thoughts

all kind of mixed up yeah I find it

difficult sometimes especially if we're

really busy and we've been running

around trying to do lots of things

during the night

anyway so we gave the report hopefully

give a report which is understandable

and then it's time for us to go home so

if it's a good night you know say thanks

to my start where I've worked with a

nice one good job see you later see you

know for coming again to work tonight I

see you tonight

and he caught a good buzz like if

nothing's happened like if it all the

patients were safe if he got away with

you know a quiet night it feels good

it's a good sense of achievement

so after that like get on my bike and

it's this bike bike ride home now it's

the opposite I'm going home and it's

rush hour for people going to work in

the morning you know the streets all

busy this time all the traffic's going

in the opposite direction they're all

going into the town and I'm going out

over the town

again let's

Brighton's really hilly so there's some

big hills when you have to climb up and

there's some big downhill sections and

probably because I've worked all night

my head is a bit of a mess and like

because it's been busy and I'm frazzled

sometimes I love the journey downhill

like it's probably dangerous I've got my

earphones on on listening to loud music

there's more cars on the road I'm kind

of flying down the hill on my bike I've

got a bias as well from work like it's

finished

did okay like all the patients were

alright

it's a bit of a buzz on the way home

like a buzz by buzz I mean a good

feeling and then I get in the house try

and have a shower first thing because

possibly the work can be quite sweaty

and you can kind of smell a bit and

unfortunately yeah you know yeah you can

get dirty doing kospi the work because

sometimes you do have to get your hands

dirty doing one thing or another

and then to get myself a wish to have

some breakfast and going to bed I mean

that's a very simplified version I mean

one thing I'd say is that

my phone kind to bed by 10:00 or 11:00

is hard to actually sleep so you've been

awake since maybe eight or seven thirty

seven the evening before

with the daylight I've heard scientists

say it's hard to sleep when there's

sunshine and these you know I've worked

at night for quite a long time and that

is probably the biggest drawback is that

your sleep can get a bit messed up

you know it's hard to sleep in the day

so you have to have a really dark room

you know try not to listen to music or

watch TV before going to bed definitely

try not to look at your mobile phone

because that would just keep you awake

and it's really important to get to

sleep especially if you've got to work

again that night if you get home at

10:00 or get home into bed by 10:00 you

want to sleep as long as possible until

the afternoon or evening before work

okay that's a bit of a summary of

working at night in the hospital and

there is a few more things I could say

about it but I'll probably tell you next

time if that's okay anyway I'd really

love to hear about

any jobs that you've done especially if

he works at night so please if you found

anything interesting or you want to tell

me your own story about working at night

please leave me a comment on everyday

language dotnet my emails on their smart

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yeah and thanks for listening hope this

has been interesting and you have to say

if you've got any questions about the

language I've used or in the aspects of

know anything I've talked about about

working at night please let me know and

please tell me your own stories about

working we're really interested to hear

about them ok thanks very much bye