I had occasioned this week to visit a close friend in hospital and while there I ran into another friend, Sheila who I hadn’t seen for about a year, who is a nurse.
She
was on her way to get a coffee and as I had finished my visit and was on my way
home, she suggested that I joined her so we could catch up.
So,
half an hour and two cups of coffee later and having filled in the blanks of
the previous twelve months we were joined by Karen, another nurse.
As we
sat their chatting over another cup of coffee I was intrigued as to why Karen
kept referring to a third party as “Epping” for example “Epping did this” or
“Epping did that”.
Finally,
my curiosity got the better of me and I asked who Epping was and they both
laughed, Karen almost hysterically, then Sheila explained that “Epping” was
what another nursing colleague called Su Monks.
I
thought for a moment what the reason for calling her Epping might be, aware as
I was that medical staff were famous for putting codes on patient notes such as
NAB which translates to “needs a bath” or PITA “pain in the arse” I tried to
decode Epping, the girls looked at me in amusement as I struggled, I even tried
to find a link between Epping and the girls name but try as I may I could not
translate Epping into anything so I had to ask.
“Alright
I give in, what does Epping mean”?
They
both laughed again and then Sheila said, “We call her Epping because she’s just
past Barking.”
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