An update

It has been a long time since I entered a post here. Just to update everyone, here is a simple synopsis of things that have happened in my life:
1. I rushed home to make peace with my dying mother in the third week of August.
2. I completed my first month in the new home
3. I went back to Mumbai on my planned fortnight-long holiday from the 17th of September to the 20th. In between, my mum passed away to meet her Maker.
4. Upon returning, within a week, I took my study break to visit the United States of America on my first ever visit. The purpose was to participate in the World Congress of Gastroenterology - where I was to mount, display and answer questions on my scientific poster at the Orange County Convention Center, West Concourse, in Florida, USA. I stayed in a budget hotel for 5 nights and used some of the free days to roam around and visit some of the major city-wide attractions, including Universal Studios and Seaworld.
5. Life has gone back to a relaxation mode and I have resumed my work in the hospital.

And that's pretty much it, insofar as a synopsis goes.  

Ten plus days in my new abode - and now, I am connected!

The connection I chose is the one from sky.com. I purchased the internet broadband, the TV and the landline all from them. They were to come to my place on the 23rd to install the internet, but I was compelled to cancel that date as I went urgently to India on the previous morning. I had to re-schedule it - and the earliest reschedule date they gave me was the 6th of September. In between, they sent an engineer to install the TV set-top box - on the 29th of August. Hence, by that evening, Sky TV channels started beaming into my house. I was, after a long gap of over 22 months, finally able to view Indian channels on Sky. Thus, I was now able to choose between over 20 Indian channels, many of them in HD, such as Sony, Sony Sab, Sony Max, Times Now,  Aaj Tak, News 18, Star, Rishtey, etc. etc. Within the last 10 days, I have weaned off British TV and am engrossed in watching Indian TV. 

The internet guys came on the appointed date - i.e. on the 6th. By 4:00 p.m., I got connected by wireless to the worldwide web! I am now able to keep both my mobile phone and my laptop connected simultaneously. This had hitherto been impossible to do when I was staying in the hospital quarters since they allowed only 1 device to be connected at one time. The speed of the connection is excellent as well, since I am now able to download at speeds of over 1.5mbps.

Internet connectivity also allows me to view "box sets" - entire series of shows, by downloading them to the set-top box and then viewing them at my own leisure. My set-top box can download three programs at a time for later viewing. And this is an amazing feature indeed if you cannot decide which shows to save for later and which to skip.

That's it for now. Do keep reading, sharing and commenting on my blog entries. Thank you.

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 update

I have been quite irregular of late - in updating this blog. My apologies to the regular readers. If you are stumbling upon this blog for the first time, welcome. I am an Indian-origin Paediatrician who writes about his life in the U.K. here. My name is Taher. It has been over 18 months since I moved to Blackpool. This is a coastal vacation town on the Irish Sea coast and geographically belongs to North-West England, and to Cumbria, and even more specifically, to Lancashire. 

I am working as a junior doctor in the NHS-run Blackpool Victoria Hospital. I am gradually learning a lot of practical skills and am able to navigate the system almost 100% now. 

Last week, a few positive things happened. I inserted a peripheral long line into a newborn baby for the first time - and it was quite easy. I was supervised by the consultant who is in charge of neonatal services at our hospital, and who is also MY educational supervisor. The baby was the second of twins and was born, like his sibling, 9 weeks earlier than term. I had observed this procedure 2-3 times but had never done it myself. Hence, doing it accurately and correctly the first time was extremely satisfying. To understand what this procedure is all about, see THIS YT video. 

On Saturday and Sunday, I went to Whiston Hospital to do locum duties. They had arranged for my accommodation within the Neonatal unit by allocating to me one of the rooms reserved for relatives of babies who are admitted to the unit. Hence, it was a breeze to work. The Paediatric department of the hospital has two wards - one each on the third and the fourth floors. This can mean a bit of running around between two floors. Their A & E is located on the bottom floor, and one keeps getting called there to see new patients who have been referred to them through the G,P, or the community walk-in centre. While Saturday was a relatively quiet day, I had several calls from the A&E on Sunday. I did, however, find the time to go for lunch in the hospital's top floor restaurant on both the days. They had a lamb rogan josh with rice on Saturday. It was very good. On Sunday, I had their lamb hot pot with pastry. This was so-so, but wholesome, to say the least. 

On both the days, I had dinner from my own supplies that I had brought with me from Blackpool. This was mostly a collection of samosas and lamb pattice with chappatis. In addition to the meals, I had a lot of tea and some coffee - machines with free tea and coffee are installed in every clinical area. Overall, it was a good experience. 

That's it for now. See you around. Do follow me if you wish by adding your email ID to the Follower's list. And, if you feel like it - do comment in the space below this post to tell me what you thought about this post. 

And hey, do view that video ... Thanks. 

Living it up_ Birthday # 57 ... been there, done that.

Yet another milestone crossed. Older by a year, younger by a hair's breadth. Life lived one more year. One more month. One more week. One more day. And now, I am officially 57. It doesn't seem like it, though. If asked how old I am, I would say I like to think I am 16 - give or take 41.

The day yesterday began like a damp squib. I reached my ward at half past eight (as usual), attended the handover, and went to the post-natal ward to do my duty for the next eight-odd hours. In between, I was called to attend two or three deliveries. In the afternoon, I went for lunch and a teaching session in the teaching room below our ward. Lunch was sponsored by Abbott Nutrition, while the teaching was done by Alison Simmonett, one of the consultants who works in our department. Her case presentation and discussion were instructive and stimulated the desire to learn more. Food was a combination of a sandwich/baguette, fruit, fruit juice and some cupcakes. I reached for a Caesar Chicken roll, and it was quite nice.

In the afternoon, work at the post-natal ward continued until four p.m. Then I returned to the paediatric ward to await the evening handover. And at about half past four, I finished for the day. I invited a few of my colleagues to join me for dinner as it was my birthday, but no one was really receptive as they had other commitments. Story of my life, I thought. Everyone loves me for my humility, my knowledge and my affability, but no one forgets that I am at an age they are not comfortable to have an enjoyable evening with.


So, off I went to Costa. Sipping a special Caramel Cortado (that they have only introduced a few days ago), I felt content in some ways and missed merry-making with my family or close friends - which I would have done had I been in Mumbai.

I usually have an extra-hot coffee with a bit more milk than usual, and the baristas know that so well that they serve me my Cortado just the way I like it. This time, the difference was in the caramel granules they put at the bottom of the cup, a shot of caramel that they dissolved in the coffee, and the gentle sprinkle of even more caramel granules that they added over the top. I was digging into the new combination with pleasure. It was an hour or so before I wounded up my stay in Costa. By then, I had spoken to my daughters, my wife, a few other friends, and also played my cell phone games and so on. It was time to return to my rooms. My plan was to go out for dinner later in the evening. It would be a dinner all by myself, but I would make it count.

But destiny had other plans for me. I got into a conversation with Luckey. She told me she was going to go out for drinks with some English friends of hers, but then offered to have me go with them.  नेकी और पूछ पूछ ? I agreed immediately. And thus, I went to Ma Kelly's North at Talbot Street for a night out with Luckey and her friends.

The friends were her school friend Roberto (Robs) and his friend Lidya. Both of them stay around London and were vacationing with Robs' parents who stay in Blackpool. I arrived first, and went past the intimidating bouncer, who allowed me in and even opened the door for me. Inside, a live stage show was on with a guitar-playing male singer belting out oldies such as "The Summer of 69". Luckey and her friends joined me after almost 20 minutes of waiting. After the introductions, we went straight to the bar, where I ordered a Jack Daniels with soda and ice.

I had no clue there would be no dinner. I ended up having 2 packs of roasted peanuts as I whiled the evening away with a drink or two, a lot of dancing and some great friendship parleys with Luckey's friends as well as a few new ones - one of whom was a mum of one of the kids who our department treats at the hospital.

After the partying, I went to drop Luckey, and then returned home in a cab. It had started off badly, but when the day ended, I was aglow with happiness. I did have fun, and I did make some new acquaintances.

Pigeons, pigeons everywhere

On this, the 4th Sunday of January 2017, Blackpool held the 40th Annual Homing Pigeon show at the Winter Gardens, and I was fortunate to be one of the interested spectators.

So, what is this show about? Well, there is a community of people who rear pigeons with the object of entering them into one of the following two pigeon sports: Show pigeons or Racing pigeons. The activities are organised under the aegis of the Royal Racing Pigeon society. Pigeons are raced from April to September, but they are groomed for the Pigeon shows that culminate in the Annual show that is held in January each year. This year, it was the turn of Blackpool to hold the show.

Winter Gardens was absolutely buzzing with people when I reached there around 11:00 a.m. The main awards ceremony was almost getting finished in the huge ballroom, but the ongoing trade exhibition was completely interesting. I had purchased a ticket for the show, and at the end of it, I felt that the ­­£6 ticket had been well worth it. 

First, the trade exhibition: there were literally hundreds of stalls selling pigeons, pigeon feed, pigeon homes, racks, and what have you. There were specialised pigeon pharmacies, and also a vaccination stall to sell paramyxovirus vaccine for pigeons. 

One of the big companies that are in the business

A stall selling pigeons

Trade exhibition with customers

Detailed pedigree of a pigeon

More details of the dad and mum

Still more details of grandparents of the pigeon

Now, a bit about the actual show. The show pigeons are put into different classes, with Class 1 being the most expensive ones, and then it goes down right to Class 38. These pigeons were all displayed in 38 long rows inside the huge ballroom. There was a stage at the far end where prizes were declared for the best pigeons from among those entered for the competition. 

Here are some pictures of the activities in the ballroom.

The ballroom from the first-floor balcony

Another view

The stage, now empty

Another view of the stage

A show pigeon from a top class

A prize winner

Another view of the prize-winning pigeon

Finally, I would like to name a duo that are partners in this hobby for a long time. They are Alex Wallace and Tanny Ferguson. Alex has been doing this show since the show since its inception, viz since 40 years. Here is a picture of this amazing duo.

After the exhibition, I went to the adjoining bar where, over a light drink, I had fun listening to a pair of singer-musicians belting out some music. It was a well-spent morning indeed. 

Blackpool Air Show, 7th August 2016

On this Sunday, I had no locum shifts anywhere, and so, took this opportunity to be a spectator at the Promenade for the Annual Air Show. I arrived at the Promenade near the Tower at about noon and whiled away the time doing stuff. I even paid £ 4.00 to enter a small model fighter plane to experience a virtual flight in a fighter. The crowds were slowly collecting. The air-show was slated to begin at about half-past one in the afternoon. I travelled by tram to the southern ends of the promenade, where I had snacks and a drink at the McDonalds that is located here. I had just boarded a return tram when the first aircraft arrived for the show.

Here are some photos from the 4-hour long show that kept us asking for more.

Before starting

At the promenade, early hours

The legendary Typhoon aircraft

Red Arrows work in pairs

The full audience by afternoon

The raging sea

The Gyro-copter

Mobile shops

Carnival atmosphere

Charities also market their stuff: this is for carer volunteers

Over 5000 views, and some news on what is happening here in the UK

At the time of writing, I have actually had over 5500 views on my four and a half-month-old blog. This is extremely heart-warming and I thank all my readers sincerely. I am aware that many of you are, in fact, following my writing since a long time - and some of you are likely to remain one of my regular readers, come what may. To all the new readers here, a big WELCOME. 

I have been struggling with the new kind of work in the UK. Having worked in Mumbai as a Paediatric consultant for over 2 decades, I left my practice to work as a Paediatrician in Saudi Arabia from November 2011 until September 2015. During those four years, I garnered a lot of support and encouragement from many of my friends and acquaintances as I set about gathering a new qualification: the Membership of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. I succeeded in my endeavour and was able to get my MRCPCH certificate during the first quarter of 2015.

One thing led to another. Eventually, exactly 4 years after I had left India to go to Saudi Arabia - viz. on the 16th of November 2015, I began a new chapter in my professional life by arriving in the U.K. to be part of the Paediatric team at the Blackpool Victoria Hospital in Blackpool.

It has now been over 4 1/2 months since I arrived here. A lot of water has flowed under the bridge. I have had my dark moments and my highs. What has kept me going is my continued enthusiasm to balance my work with enjoying life. Initially, I used to take my work lightly. Soon enough, I began to be censured by the higher-ups, who felt, and I would agree they were right, that I would need to be seen as much more serious about my responsibilities if I were to make anything out of my present job. I did exactly that, and today, I am happy to say, that I have travelled much more of the distance than where I was in mid-February 2016. Luckily, I even made time to go to India and met my family and relatives in what turned out to be my best 10 days of the last six months.

During December and January, I had already begun to travel short distances to see England. A visit to the Peak District and a walk down the Monsal Trail was a highlight of that time. In February and March, I continued my internal travels, visiting Manchester, and then, Liverpool city. Towards the latter half of March, I began to go on serious birding and photography trips, initially by myself, and later, in the company of an English birding and photography enthusiast, Mr Martin Lever. We went together to Stanley Park, and even the Rossall point to the north of where I live. The previous few weeks saw me make solo trips to the Lake District (Lake Windermere area) and to the RSPB Leighton Local Nature Reserve.  I saw many different birds,a few animals and a whole lot of naturally beautiful spots of the landscape.

In summary, it has been a mixed journey, but always with some positive outcomes. I am grateful for having got the opportunity to work in the NHS. I have not only learned so much, I have also made so many new friends, earned a modicum of respect from my colleagues, and had so much fun on weekends. 

What do you think?

To view my photos, visit me on Facebook, go to the "Photos" link and explore my albums; alternatively, browse this blog. Thank you.

A round-up of the past several days

I have been working hard the last week, and hence, have been unable to supply you, dear readers, with any fresh installments. That doesn't mean that I do not have anything to share ... in fact, a lot has been happening! 

At work, I am getting a little more comfortable with the things I do. 

At home, I am busy studying for the upcoming mandatory training course that I will be going for the coming new week. This is at Manchester, and I must clear this course with a certificate. It is called the Advanced Paediatric Life Support (APLS) course.  

On the fitness front, I am progressing really well. So far, I have lost 4.8 kg since I came here to the UK in about 2 months. I have been training at the local gym, but several other factors have also contributed. I walk a lot - in fact, in the last 15 days, I have walked 120.5 km! I know this as I am using a Fitbit wrist-worn device to measure my footsteps. In addition, I am paying attention to my diet, and I am on a new anti-diabetic medicine that actually helps to not just control my diabetes, but also to lose weight. 

Have I been enjoying myself or not? Well, if you think I am not, you are mistaken. On the last Tuesday, the 19th of this month, some of my co-residents and one of the advanced neonatal nurse practitioners and I went to a posh restaurant in town known as Frank & Benny's. We had a marvellous, but expensive dinner. After this, we went to see a movie - The Revenant - starring Leonardo di Caprio - at a multiplex theatre just opposite the restaurant. The theatre is called the Odeon, and it has six screens. It was a lovely experience, and I can certainly say that every minute of the evening was fun. 

In other news, I also got myself a 32" flat-screen TV through Amazon. The hostel room that I live in already has a feed through an external antenna, and the accommodations-in-charge, Ms. Karen McKenna arranged for getting my TV all set-up to receive the signals of all the free channels that can be seen on the TV. I am really discovering a lot of the Kingdom through these shows - but I really love the itv channel for its variety of shows, and the BBC 2 channel for its news coverage of UK events. 

Am I cooking? My friends will remember how I used to make a lot of dishes when I was in Saudi Arabia. Alas, the lack of time, and the ready availability of food in the hospital restaurant as well as the various shops inside it have made me somewhat lazy. I now get ready-to-eat food many times. Especially enjoyable are the pre-cooked ready meals available at the Marks and Spencer's Food shop (M & S), They have foods from several countries of the world, including the many Asian countries, European ones, etc. This has led me to actually discover world cuisine, but the only grouse is that this is pre-packed food, not fresh. Even so, it is quite tasty. 

My own cooking has been simple, though I have made my own breakfast - poha, upma, omelette, boiled eggs, sandwiches, etc. For the main meals, I usually make dal, but I have made vegetables, fish, chicken and lamb as well. The thing is, British food is slowly growing on me, and I am beginning to enjoy its flavours. This means that I now add a little less chilli in my Indian food! 

The end of the month will see a change in the people I work with. Some will get transferred to other hospitals as they have completed their six-month rota in our hospital. Dr. Elisabeta Ene (Letty for short), Dr. Ahsan Ul Haq and Dr. Selma are all slated to leave, as are some of the house officers. It will be a big loss for me, as they have all been not just colleagues, but have also helped me out in adjusting to the British Healthcare system (the NHS). I am really going to miss them. 

And this ends my entry today. Do let me know how you found it. Thank you. 

A week gone by, I: A visit to Blackpool zoo

Eventually, blogs have a way of going slow once a routine sets in. Even so, there are highlights in anyone's life that can brighten up not just the blogger themselves, but also the reader, who is their well-wisher and a "participant" in their life by virtue of being an avid follower. Hence, dear reader, fret not. I haven't found the time to write, but there have been events in my life that I wish to report here ... and so, here we go. 

On the last Saturday (the 19th), I went out in the morning to visit the local zoo. I took with me my old faithful - my Canon DSLR camera. The morning was chilly, but not overly so. There was a mild drizzle. I reached the zoo at about half-past nine, and had to wait for about 30 minutes before the zoo opened. I used the time to go through their leaflets, and to get myself a penny memento (for which you need to put a pound coin in a machine and press a particular handle to get an imprint of a zoo animal on to a penny coin template). 

The zoo is a good one, but it was almost empty as this is an off-season period for Blackpool. There is a big section where they have made plaster statues of dinosaurs. Their dinosaur walk is quite interesting. Statues are distributed on land masses as well as on to water bodies to depict the dinosaurs in their natural milieu. An audio recording of grunts and growls continues to charm the visitor from background speakers. A few non-dino animals such as a huge crocodile replica also hold the centre-stage, while the trip ends with a few large mammals such as the mammoth.

The big zoo begins a little ahead. Along the way, you encounter free-roaming peacocks and peahens. Then you are past the walking corridor and upon the various zoo sections. As there were no crowds of visitors, I was able to walk in peace, watch the animals in relative quiet, and meet with the zoo workers without any pressure. The zoo has a fair number of mammals, but I can't say the same for birds, of which there are not more than 30 species. Tropical birds are, of course, not there in the zoo at all, but even sea-birds (pelagic birds) are few and far between. I did see a lot of waders, especially the red ibis, the duck species, the greater flamingos and some others. However, there were few birds from among other water birds, and very less of the raptors. 

The best enclosures were those of the gorilla, the orang-utan, the giraffe, the Magellanic penguins, the sea-lions, the Bactrian camel, the reindeer, the reptile den, the Amazonia display and the small monkeys and related animal cages. In particular, I was enchanted by the common squirrel monkeys, which were a bit too friendly, the lemurs, the capybara rats, the wallabys, the mamosets and a few others that I cannot recall.

I had my lunch of rice and kheema in the cafe. It was pretty tasty. 

About photography: my camera screen misted over with fog after about an hour of taking good snaps. I continued to click photos in the "Auto" mode, and the result was all right, I guess, but, because the screen was not displaying anything, I was unable to see what I was clicking except through the viewer window. I decided to take photos with my phone camera as well, and the overall result was a collection of about a hundred odd photos, some of which look good, some, average, and some, spoiled, because I could not control their quality or adjust the various settings.

The sea-lion show: There was a twenty-minute show with three sea-lions. The trainers obviously spend thousands of man-hours training the sea-lions in various ways, and this is something one can tell just be watching the show. These cute animals needed little prompting other than a kind word and a promise of dried fish goodies thrown at their mouths to perform an amazing repertoire of activities that would put our parenting skills to shame! I shot a long video of the show, but I think it got erased before it could be saved. 

And now, the photos. I have chosen just a dozen here. However, I have posted some on my social media, and you might want to see them there by visiting me on FB.

Apatosaurus

Tyrannosaurus Rex

Tanystropheus

The penny memento I made from their memento machine

The red titi monkeys

The gorilla family

One of the female orang utans

The Magellanic penguins

Emperor tamarins

Common squirrel monkey

\Giraffe

Red Ibis

That's all for now ... Thanks for reading.  More on the past week in my next post. 

P.S. All the photos are untouched, except for cropping.

Sharing some photos of my first week in Blackpool

This post is all about telling a photo-story and I am going to place all the good photos of Blackpool, its hospital, its Town center, its beach and sea-side piers, and whatever else I have had the pleasure of visiting, observing and recording on my cell-phone camera, which, by the way, is one of the better mobile cameras available (I have a One Plus Two cell phone).

Evening time view of the Emergency department of Blackpool Victoria Hosp

Newly purchased public buses of Blackpool Transport with free WiFi inside

Meadows around Blackpool

Spanish cultural centre in Preston

Wish they had such a column in all Indian newspapers!

Nurses' station in Paediatric OPD

Games and TV station in OPD

Activity centre in the Paeds OPD - find gold coins!

Another activity centre in the OPD

Sensory stimulation centre in the OPD

Long ground floor corridor in the BVH

Caring for one's pets - an example

No colours are disallowed on the hair

Blackpool Tower building

Selfie for posterity

Trams on the promenade

Commercial area at the Blackpool Town centre

An example of a pre-packaged meal: many cuisines are available to try