"An interesting night out sometimes ends in emergency, but rarely begins there," she says, a little dryly, as she rolls the gloves off her hands and discards them (as well as the sutures) in the medical waste bin. "But I have arrived in time to be invited to the half-dozen year end parties my colleagues are throwing." Some of them involve specific festivals, some don't; it's just that time of year in general and as reserved as she can be, she rarely turns down an invitation.