Yesterday was Friday and I was thinking how different my life is on the ship compared to back home.

I work in a large veterinary hospital and on Friday I have an operating theatre shift... my morning schedule starts with doing elective sterilisations and then emergency surgeries. We also do a lot of dental procedures as pets are living longer and few people manage to brush their pets teeth daily thus there is inevitable decay so we need to remove those rotten teeth...

On the ship I feel rather de-skilled unless anyone is planning an elective sterilisation as an aid to reducing the world’s population. It is unlikely that anyone would require any gut surgery as the excellent nutrition provided means we do not have to scavenge the bins. As for tooth problems this could be tricky although I have noted the bosun carrying some pliers in his tool bag. Not sure about the anaesthetic equipment on board, we may need to resort to whisky...

At work, the pet owners sign a consent form giving me permission to take care of their pets, and accepting the risks. I joined Bark Europa understanding the risks of this adventure and have placed my life in the hands of the capable crew, as well as accepting personal responsibility for my safety.

The crew continues to amaze me as to how multi skilled and unfrazzled they appear to be, especially as us novices get in their way and trip over the ropes, pull the wrong lines and steer the ship without a driving licence.

Back in my working life, during lunch breaks I like to leave the hospital and go for a nature therapy walk... even though I work near the city centre there are green spots nearby. This helps to restore one’s equilibrium and reset the melatonin levels after being indoors. On the ship we have an overdose of nature therapy - the side effects of this include smiley faces, calm minds and sunburn...

The importance of teamwork is evident on the ship as well as in my workplace - towards the end of a busy shift people collaborate to finish on time for the handover and realise that sometimes the day doesn’t end if there are still urgent matters to attend to.

As the ship rocks side to side and I try to stay upright its hard not to realise that the work-life balance can be hard to achieve when you get caught up in your daily routine of a working world.