Rain, Rain, Go Away...

It has now been raining for many weeks in the Byron Shire.

As in, it seems like it has been raining FOREVER…

It’s a funny thing to live here…

It takes 3 or 4 months for people to start complaining about too much sun…

Yet after even 3 or 4 DAYS, it is enough for people to start complaining about the rain.

“When is it going to stop raining?”

“No wonder it is called the Northern Rivers, it never stops raining…”

The amount of rain does make distinct problems around my house.

The grass is sodden.

I can’t mow because the mower will tear the grass to shreds with its wheels…

And the whole thing gets covered in mud.

This leads to longer grass and it takes even longer for the ground to dry out.

Water is pooling in lots of places.

What is most interesting is that after all of this rain… it is very clear where my property can and cannot handle the amount of water we are experiencing.

We did not consider drainage very much when we were building and so did not put a slight slope on our house pad.

The land is pretty much straight clay and so even though we live on a hill because the house is on a flat surface, the water pools on the house pad.

It actually needs multiple drainage systems inserted into the ground to move the water.

And so, what I have learned from this is that limitations of a system show up under extreme conditions.

It is not apparent that the flat house pad of clay has any difficulties at all for the vast majority of the time.

But with the extended rain, we have had lately…

The problems are clearly evident.

This is the same as with the GP Fellowship exams.

That under normal conditions, doctors are fine with their skills.

But add in the extreme conditions of the high stakes exams…

Then — weaknesses become exposed.

What was thought to be known well becomes jumbled and confusing?

What was thought to be understood becomes difficult to decipher?

Know that exam conditions are not a regular day to day conditions and weaknesses will be exposed.

If you need to build a strong foundation of knowledge, skills, and reasoning that can withstand the pressure of the FRACGP exams, then head over to https://www.graduatemedicine.com/gpea for more information.

And, fingers crossed sunny skies return to the Shire soon