An old friend.......

I carried on with Foot Patrol for a few days.  The time dragged, and I hated the constant feeling of wasting my time.

One morning, as I dodged my way past lots of busy looking people on my way to the control room, a familiar voice shouted out:

"MATT!  What are you doing here?"

The voice in question belonged to one of our local vets at home.  Nigel (not his real name) and I went back a bit.  In fact, I'd put a couple of horses down for clients of his.  He'd sold his practice quite recently, and had volunteered to work at Exeter as a 'TVI' (Temporary Veterinary Inspector) on FMD.

"To be honest, I'm not sure what the hell I'm doing Nige.  They've got me doing this bloody Foot Patrol nonsense, which I think is an absolute waste of time.  What are you up to?"

"I'm on Patrol," (not foot patrol, but surveillance patrol, which was checking stock) " or I would be if I had an assistant....."

"Is that an offer?"

"Why not!  I reckon we would make a good team!"

We marched into the control room, and Nigel announced to the staff that he would be working with me from now on and asked for his list for the day.

"You can't have Matt" one said.  "He's needed for foot patrol."

"Sod foot patrol" I said.  I will be far more use to Nigel, so you can find another mug to wander around annoying farmers.

That was it, we were off.

On the way out, Nigel asked if I had 'wets and whites'.  As I didn't, we stopped off at the stores and I was issued with a waterproof suit, some white coveralls, gloves and disinfectant.

"What vehicle have you got?" Nigel asked.

"A blue ministry van, it's over there..."

"Good, you can drive then."

'Patrol' involved going to various farms in the surveillance areas and checking the stock for clinical signs of Foot and Mouth disease.  We also had to licence livestock movements, and supervise any movements off 'Form D' premises.

At least I was doing something vaguely useful, and I enjoyed the company of my vet.