By Tom Reynolds, The Friday Project, August 2006

‘One of the most gripping blogs around’ - The Guardian

Have you ever wondered what's going on inside that ambulance you see  creaming 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 ?maternataxi? 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 webside 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 heartwarming 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

Download Links:

Blood, Sweat & Tea (CC) - PDF fomat, 2.5MB

Reviews:

Tom Reynolds, the paramedic on the London Ambulance Service who writes the excellent Random Acts of Reality blog, has a new book out called Blood, Sweat and Tea.

I worked as an EMT on a small-town rescue squad in North Carolina twenty years ago (cough, cough) when I was in college, and it is easily the most rewarding and fulfilling job I've ever done.

Reading Tom's blog has been a trip down memory lane, but also quite entertaining and thought-provoking. I hope he keeps writing his blog, and publishing books, for a long time. -- Barry T. Campbell (New York, NY)

Tom Reynold's "Blood, Sweat and Tea" is a collection of annotated blog posts devoted to the lives and lives of a London ambulance service medic, and I enjoyed it. The book also happens to be a good example of how somebody can blog about work, with space to rant and reflect while maintaining confidentiality. I'd want to buy him a beer, not just for his tips about how to blog and remain employed...

I hope that once I blog about clinical training (which I'll have to in order to keep me sane), I'll manage to walk the tightrope as eloquently as Reynolds has done. -- Semioticghost "Semioticghost" (London, UK)

Random Acts of Reality:

Welcome to Random Acts Of Reality, a Blog based in London, England, written by an E.M.T working for the London Ambulance Service. Also, number one search result for "Womble porn". All names have be changed to protect the guilty. This Blog was previously known as "Why I Hate Humanity" but the antipsychotic medication seems to have kicked in.

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