Settling in

Over the last two days, it finally happened. I moved out of my residence inside the hospital and into a new place, rented at £ 560/month, plus actuals on electricity, internet and water, plus Council taxes, at Victoria Mansions, a very clean, upmarket place just 3 minutes outside the main entrance of the hospital. I made the move with a professional person who moved everything for me in his van. It had taken me over 36 hours to put all my stuff into bags, boxes and plastic bags. Maqsood, or Max as he calls himself, was clearly astounded to see so much luggage from a "bro" as he called me. It was about 50-odd pieces of luggage. In the end, we forgot two boxes which I had kept in the kitchen. Be that as it may, I moved out with most of my goods on Sunday morning. Later, I returned to the room to access the hospital WiFi to do my work over the net and even slept in the old place on Sunday night. On Monday, however, over the day, I settled in. I had purchased some second-hand furniture from the British Heart Foundation Furniture shop at the Town Centre - and they delivered all the pieces today. 

It has been a very tiring day indeed, but this is my first ever entry on the blog from the new place, hence, I am feeling very happy. I will post pictures and videos of the new place soon, so please wait for them a little. I made some sheera today to start my kitchen activities. This is a traditional sweet halwa that is made from semolina. I used a sweetener instead of sugar. After this, I also made some potato and drumstick sabji. However, I decided to order food for dinner. As I write this, my food is likely on its way to me. 

That is all I have to write for now. Tomorrow, I expect my TV line to be installed. Later, in the first week of September, I will get my WiFi and internet. Today, I am using the net over my mobile to surf the net on the laptop (Mobile Hotspot). 

Writing after a long time

It is true that I have been very busy the entire last month. Just last week, I had to rush home to India to help my family look after my mum who took suddenly and critically ill and was admitted to the ICU. She came down with sepsis secondary to infection in a bed-sore. With treatment, during the three or four days that I was there, she managed to pull out of the critical stage and has gradually improved over the last 10-12 days that have elapsed since. 

In other news, I am trying to get a visa to visit the U.S. to present a paper (a poster, actually) in Orlando, Florida, in mid-October. This would be at the World Congress of Gastroenterology. Towards this end, I went for an interview at the US Embassy in London. The interview went off well, I think, and I should be granted a visa to go there. 

Now, I am shifting to new rented premises outside the hospital. It's bye-bye to the rooms I resided in for the last over 20 months. It will be a bitter-sweet parting, as these 1 1/2 years have taught me a lot ... and not just about my work, but also about living alone in a developed country, where one can have anything one wants by ordering it online or buying it in a store. I have hoarded so much stuff that when the van-renter came to pick up my things to transport it to my new premises, he simply gawked and said he had never seen as much luggage with a bro! Well, my luggage was phenomenal in volume - stretching to over 300 kg by his estimate. It consisted of several cardboard boxes and literally dozens upon dozens of plastic bags. As I write this, I have shifted all my luggage to the new premises, but a lot is still to be unpacked and put away in its proper place. 

In the afternoon, I visited the Furniture shop of the British Heart Foundation and bought several used pieces of furniture that will be delivered to my new place tomorrow. These include a dining table, two chairs, a glass display case, a computer table, and several other smaller items. Once they are all set-up, I should be ready to live in my new place.

So, where is it? It is a mere 5 minutes' walk away from the hospital in what is known as Victoria Mansions. Hopefully, I will complete my move within the next 36 hours. HERE is a map showing my new place. It is only 300 meters away from my current location (and the hospital) as the crow flies, but translates to about half a km if you follow the roads.

In quite other news, I went to the Blackpool Livewire 2017 event at the Promenade yesterday. The event organisers had offered free passes to the concert as well as to the after-dinner party for the first two days of the event, viz. on Friday and Saturday. I had requested passes for two people only for the Saturday, and the passes were waiting for me in my inbox when I returned from India. They had upgraded my pass to a VIP pass. This pass enabled me to access the VIP area on the promenade. This was an elevated shamiana facing the large stage where singers and performers came, traipsing in a line, to entertain the crowds. 

Is anything else happening? Yes. I did a few registrar locums now. One was at Whiston last month and the second was just a few nights ago at Oldham. Both of them were in Paediatrics and I guess they went reasonably well. 

At my own trust, I am now a person that is increasingly entrusted with tasks done by middle-grade doctors, and I guess my progression is just about at par with my expectations. I should be looking at better prospects once my current tenure expires in February 2018. Whether it will mean a proper middle-grade job in Blackpool, or whether I will have to look elsewhere, I do not know. We will have to wait and see. 

And that brings me to the end of the post. Do let me know your reactions to this post and comment on what you think. Thank you.

Weekend trip to NE England - Northumberland - Farne, Seahouses and Bamburgh - II

A new day and a new morning. I was agog to reach Seahouses to start my bird-watching adventure. Of course, breakfast was free at the hotel I was lodged at. I quickly got ready and went down to be allotted a table all for myself. Michael's wife (I can't remember her name) was the one coordinating the breakfast service. She did have all the politeness that hosts do, but I do think she is a bit impatient and suffers fools badly, as she made me out to be one. I was simply asking her nicely where I was to be sat, and what was there for breakfast. She sounded a bit terse, but it could be my own perception that was a bit off.

In any case, the breakfast was scrambled egg with salmon, toast with butter and jam, and tea. It was quite filling, actually. I had already brought all my stuff down to the restaurant so that after breakfast, I immediately set off for the nearby bus stand to catch the next bus that would take me to Seahouses. This town is about 10-11 minutes away by bus and the journey is quite picturesque. I happily arrived at the quaint town and walked a short distance to the seafront, where I located the ticketing office of William Shiel's boat trips - the one that I had booked my journeys with. My plan was to do three journeys - but the pelagic tour that I had set my heart on was not available as it only starts operating from late July each year; hence, I was going to do the Inner Farne island tour today and the Staple Island tour the following day. I purchased my Inner Farne ticket and then went around the place to browse the pier where our boats would finally depart from. I walked into the local office of the National Trust - this was a makeshift kind of small kiosk on the pier. I was greeted by one of their volunteers. I was informed that their annual membership would allow me to visit over 600 sites all over the UK absolutely free of cost, and I would also get to park my car free at each of those resorts/places. Now, I do not have a car, and I am unlikely to go country trotting to that extent, but the amount is so low that it makes sense to take an annual membership. Thus, I became a member of the Trust - paying nothing today, but aware that my membership fees would be debited monthly from my current account. I was given a sticker which would make my landing on Inner Farne free (the normal rate for a non-member is £ 9.00).

I was taking a few pictures of the Farne islands from the pier and suddenly, my camera battery ran out of power. I had not been prudent enough to charge it the previous night and I thought I had no spare battery, so I ran helter-skelter to find me a way to either charge my battery with the charger I had with me (it turned out to be the wrong kind of charger) or to buy a new battery (which I could not do, as there was no place in Seahouses to buy it from). Eventually, when I boarded the tour, I could not use my DSLR camera at all. I did not even carry it with me. I just left it with the people who were minding the National Trust kiosk. All the pictures I took were with the mobile phone camera. I present some of them to you.

Male Eider in eclipse

Inner Farne island from the pier

A closer look at the Inner Farne island

Eiders (there were many)

Shore line

Arctic tern, fiercely protects its babies/eggs

Puffins, resting on the green areas

Holes in the ground where puffins nest

Shags - adult and babies

Shags, cormorants, gulls etc

Razorbill

I returned to my room at Beadnell towers by the afternoon, It is quite a cozy place and I enjoyed the evening very much. For dinner, I went down once again to the restaurant. Initially, I just whiled away some time by ordering a coffee and sipping it ever so slowly so that the time kept elapsing. After I had a feeling that I had sat for a long enough time, I ordered some dinner and a non-alcoholic beverage and enjoyed it. 

Presently, I joined the land of the dead as I retired back in my room and went to sleep. The next day, given the right opportunities I would be visiting a couple of new places before I boarded any form of transport that would return me to Blackpool.