Paediatric Department Christmas party

The various stake-holders of the department of Paediatrics (mostly the Paediatric Ward) had pre-organised a Christmas party and I was fortunate to be a part of it. The venue was the Park House Hotel on the northern promenade of Blackpool, a road mostly dotted with hotels. From the ward, all of the nurses were there, and from among the staff, we were just the three of us - Dr. Nigel Laycock, one of the consultants, Dr. Letty Ene, my co-registrar, and myself. 

I arrived there by bus, having to walk about a km before reaching the hotel. It was an extremely windy evening with intermittent rain and, at a few points, the walk through the extreme wind was so difficult I almost turned back! However, once I had reached the warm interiors of the hotel, and had been escorted to the Pavillion, a sort of basement restaurant, my mood improved considerably as I found both the doctors and a clutch of nurses already present, and all (except Dr. Nigel - who was presentable, but not formal) dressed formally and looking great. Dr. Nigel brought me a drink, and as we sat there, I thought to myself - hey, the party is on!

After some time, we were all taken to our tables. Three 8-seater tables were booked for us out of the nine that were set up. The waiters then began to serve us as we sat there, admiring the arrangements and I getting to know the others. 

Dr. Nigel and Dr. Letty

The first course_ a prawns starter

Christmas mood

The room filled up gradually, and we were then served a vegetable soup as the second course, a turkey breast roast with sides as the main course, a chocolate with cream cake as the dessert and a cup of tea to round off the meal. In the mean-time, a DJ took over the music arrangements, and presently, yielded the stage to a young singer who began to entertain us with his voice and the digital paraphernalia at his disposal. He used clever combinations of synthetic music, karaoke and his own vocals to create a beautiful medley of songs from the present and from the past. As guests began to dance to his songs on a well-designed illuminated floor, I watched Dr. Nigel groove with the nurses in a state of gay abandon, and decided to also step up and dance a bit. 

The main course of turkey and sides (potato, brussels sprouts and cranberry sauce)

The chocolate cake, which none of us could really finish as the portion was too large

The central decor at the round table ... each table had different arrangements

The ceiling over the dance area 

For the rest of the evening, we danced, we sat and enjoyed, had conversations with each other, and had fun. Dr. Nigel and I left together in a cab, and he dropped me off at the hospital before proceeding to his own place. All in all, a very enjoyable evening was had by me. 

Here is a video of the dance floor happenings that I shot with my mobile camera.

I also tried a selfie video ... which isn't so good, but here it is. 

And that's about it. 

How the job goes on

Since I last wrote in this blog, I have had a somewhat busy schedule. Sunday was easy-peasy. There was no work to be done. I relaxed, visited the town centre, even did a bit of gymming in the morning and mostly slept. I haven't cooked much since the past several days, as I have yet to finish some of my previously cooked food.

Monday and Tuesday were hectic, as I had to attend the full-day Trust induction program. This meant attending several sessions in the close confines of a meeting room with about 30 other new employees working either in the hospital itself or in one of the outdoor clinics in the community. The only thing that kept these sessions interesting was the chance to make new friends, which I did. I also used the induction days to gain insight into the way the NHS works. A few sessions were actually entertaining, such as the theory session on "Moving and Handling" things and people while working in the hospital, and the session on "Fire Safety" which enabled us to understand how to behave if you see a fire incident in the hospital or any of the Trust properties. 

On Monday evening, I went to the gym and attended a free training session conducted by Jamie Evill, one of the personal trainers who work in Helio Fitness. I thoroughly enjoyed the session and am considering hiring his services for getting back into shape. 

On Tuesday evening, I visited the home of one of the registrars I am working with - the very pretty Romanian Letty Ene. She had invited all the co-workers to her place for a party. Expecting a bohemian atmosphere, I was quite surprised to meet a bunch of sober young people who sipped on fruit juice and partook of some delicious ethnic baked stuff such as spinach pouches and cheese tacos made by Letty herself. Letty stays at Lytham St. Anne's, a suburb that is over 16 km away from the hospital, and I was fortunate to get a ride with my colleague Ms. Evelyn Chia on the way to the party, and another colleague Ms. Jessica on the way back. The others who attended included a Pakistani girl Fatima Hayat, a Ghanaian girl Akua, Englishmen Joe and Michael and a Canadian girl Sherin. Some of the invitees brought their own food as well to share with the others. I felt awkward initially because a) I had not taken anything to the party b) I was the newest resident joining the hospital and they don't know me as well and c) I am almost or, in some cases, over twice their age, However, we all gelled well with each other. After dinner, we all sat to view some videos on You Tube beamed on the smart TV (Panasonic - maybe Viera) that Letty has. Each of the invitee was asked to share a video from their own choice and culture. In the event, I shared the song "Ek Do Teen ..." from Tezaab, and it was enjoyed by the attendees to some extent. After this round of watching videos, we all sat down to a group board game called "Articulate" where players form teams and each one draws a card from a pile, and then articulates a word using ideas from among the words listed on that card. A spinning arrow provides the "articulator" with the word he/she has to articulate. The other team members must guess what the word is. A timer shaped like a sand-clock runs while the articulator tries and gets as many word guesses as possible until the sand has run out. We had great fun with this game. I returned home with Jess and Sherin around half past ten.

On Wednesday, I resumed work in the department, filling e-discharges. These are online statements that you need to fill for each patient that was kept in any part of the Paediatric department. The statements become part of the patient's record and can be accessed by any healthcare worker with the NHS who looks after the patient any time in the future. Earlier, in the morning, I went for a long walk-cum-run of just over 5 km; in the evening, I visited the gym and did a little workout, with intermittent cardio on the cross trainer and some upper-limb free exercises. 

All in all, I spent a busy three days, as I had mentioned earlier in this entry. Do leave your comments and be part of the interaction on this blog. Thank you, dear reader.