Even on a quiet day (I can say it, I’m not on duty) time spent on station is a rarity. Sent out to cover other stations or to standby points because the ‘computer says’ we are more likely to get a call in that area than in the highly populated town the station is based in. (When exactly we’re supposed to clean the vehicles and the station I’m not sure.) So, how do we entertain ourselves during the driving around and waiting for the next call? Well, there’s only so much reading and people watching we can do. You can guarantee that the radio is no longer working on the vehicle, usually due to a broken or non-existent aerial, and as you can imagine, fixing it isn’t going to be too high on the Trust’s list of priorities! However, the cd player is more often than not working and some of us bring in our cd’s or mp3/media players. It can depend on your crewmate what exactly gets played as we don’t all have the same tastes but you can usually find something you both like and luckily I have a very diverse taste in music, so I’m pretty easy going.
Most people like to listen to some music whilst driving, and even during blue light drives some tunes can help prevent the ‘red mist’ from falling over our eyes. There are some classic tunes out there, some of which are appropriate, some not. This got me thinking recently and resulted in the following:
Blue Light Drive Top Ten
- Danger Zone – Kenny Loggins
- Gimme Some Lovin’ (so glad we made it) – Blues Brothers
- Hold On I’m Comin’ – Sam & Dave
- Artist in the Ambulance -Thrice
- Ride of the Valkyries – Die Walküre
- Jump – Van Halen
- Drive It Like You Stole It – Glitch Mob
- Highway to Hell – AC/DC
- Not Afraid – Eminem
- Run To The Hills – Iron Maiden
For Cardiac Arrests
- I Need A Doctor – Eminem
- I Will Survive – Gloria Gaynor
- Staying Alive – The Bee Gees
- I’m A Survivor – Destiny’s Child
- Things Can Only Get Better – D:Ream
- Bring Me To Life – Evanescence
- I Feel Like Dying – Lil Wayne
- Stay Awake – Example
- Alive – Pearl Jam
- Harder To Breathe – Maroon 5
Trips To The Morgue
- Knocking On Heaven’s Door – Guns & Roses
- Stairway To Heaven – Led Zeppelin
- Another One Bites The Dust – Queen
- Cold As Ice – Foreigner
- Destination Unknown – Alex Gaudino
- Forever Young – Jay Z
- Heaven Must Be Like This – Ohio Players
- Dead And Gone – TI feat Justin Timberlake
- DOA – Fall Out Boy
- Who Wants To Live Forever – Queen
Just A Few Others…
- Bad Day – Daniel Powter
- Everybody Hurts – REM
- Basket Case – Green Day
- Welcome To The Jungle – Van Halen
- Bad Medicine – Bon Jovi
- Blame It On The Alcohol – Jamie Foxx
- Bodybag – Hit The Lights
- Bleeding Love – Leona Lewis
- Heaven Can Wait – Michael Jackson
- Get Out Alive – Three Days Grace
Of course this is just a light-hearted attempt to brighten up what could otherwise be a very miserable day. I hope you enjoyed it, and didn’t take offence, as none is intended. And we don’t really play the above on the way to calls. We have a strange, black sense of humour in the ambulance service, as I’m sure do the police, fire service, nurses and doctors, to name just a few professions. Self preservation? Maybe. Probably. Some of the sights we see and situations we deal with on a day-to-day basis in our line of work mean we have to have some outlet, in order to move onto the next job. Which maybe boring and mundane in comparison, or twice as horrific/sad as the last. Coping mechanisms are different for each individual but if humour never plays a part then surely the cracks will start to show?