Madeleine Read Free Page B

how damaging that can be. As things turned out, it took both of us moving to the other side of the world to finally bring us together as a couple.
    I was keen to travel, and I knew if that was going be anything more than a pipe dream I needed to do it sooner rather than later. The further my career progressed, the more committed I was likely to become at work and the more difficult it would be to break away. After completing my ‘house jobs’ (as they were known then – basically a doctor’s first year post-qualification), I’d found myself embarking on a career in obstetrics and gynaecology. While that hadn’t been my intention – I’d planned simply to gain the experience I needed for general practice – I really enjoyed O&G. Looking back, I have to admit that the departmental social scene was great, too, and this might well have added to its appeal. But it was an incredibly busy and competitive area, with many apparently dissatisfied and overworked doctors, mostly women, stuck on middle grades, and I wasn’t completely sure it was for me.
    Early in 1995, during an oncology posting I’d taken up to enhance my O&G training, I started to apply for jobs in Australia via an organized scheme. I also sent one letter on spec to a hospital in New Zealand at the suggestion of a Kiwi colleague. I was expecting a formal response by post in due course, so I was somewhat taken aback when I was called to the phone one day at work and found myself being offered a job by a neo-natal consultant in Auckland. I said yes.
    While I’d been making these applications, at the back of my mind there was always the lurking regret that if I went away, the chances were I’d lose touch with Gerry. We hadn’t talked about our respective plans, and what I didn’t know was that he, too, was seeking to work abroad, in either the US or New Zealand. Later, the unfair, if not entirely serious, story doing the rounds of the Glasgow hospitals grapevine had it that as soon as Gerry found out I was going to Auckland, he decided to chase me across the world and immediately started applying for jobs himself in the Land of the Long White Cloud. Flattering though this version of events may be from my point of view, the truth was that he was already waiting to hear back from several hospitals in both New Zealand and America. What I would like to think, however, is that the news that I would be in Auckland made the decision between the two countries a bit easier for him!
    I was the first to leave, in July 1995, and I arrived in New Zealand not knowing a soul. On my first day in my new job a friend of a friend with whom I’d been put in touch rang me to see how I’d got on and asked casually, ‘Want to come for a run tonight?’ in the way that at home we’d say, ‘Fancy a beer after work?’ Although I was sporty, running was not part of my repertoire – that was Gerry’s province. But as this guy was the only person I knew in Auckland, I agreed.
    That evening I found myself squelching and puffing across a muddy field. Every step involved trying to yank your foot out of the clinging mire. My new Kiwi mate pointed to a hill up ahead. ‘One Tree Hill?’ he suggested. I nodded confidently. All the way up he was making conversation, asking questions to which I barely had the breath to give one-word answers. Honest to God, I thought I was going to die. When, mercifully, we reached the summit he stretched out his arm to show me the view spread out beneath and around us. From this 182-metre volcanic peak, a famous Auckland landmark, you can see the whole city. ‘Look at that!’ he enthused. ‘And look at those amazing clouds!’ All I could think was, sod the clouds – I’m going to be sick.
    But I wasn’t about to be beaten by One Tree Hill. The next evening, I went out to do the run on my own and I did it again and again until I’d conquered it. That’s me. I might not be the most ambitious woman in the world, but what I do have, in abundance,