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.

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

So, I had always been keen to travel to Seahouses to take the trip from there by boat to the Farne Islands to watch seabirds. I knew I had three off-days from the 1st to the 3rd of July, and I tried to book a hotel almost a fortnight ago. Unfortunately, most of the hotels in Seahouses were full, too costly, or had no single rooms. Hence, on Thursday last, I gave up on the idea of going on this trip.

By the time it changed from Thursday to Friday, though, my mind was screaming to me to listen to its inner voice. I booked my railway trips, sorted out my funds and was ready to travel the same afternoon.

I set off around mid-morning. My trip would take me from Blackpool to York and then from York to Berwick (pronounced berrick) upon Tweed. From this place, I would need to go by bus to a place called Beadnell that is about 3 miles from the Seahouses pier where the boats would ferry me to Farne Islands. The journey that commenced from my home at noon culminated in my checking into the hotel at half past seven. That means a good, solid travel time of 7.5 hours! (This would be repeated in reverse on my return trip, hehe.)

I went with the flow, as it were. The initial trip from Blackpool North railway station to York railway station was through Northern Railways. The train was quite empty when it started, then filled up and emptied off and on at Preston, Bradford Interchange, and so on. This train has no pantry car, no trolley service, nowhere to go and have drinking water nor any drinking water bottles (as I have seen elsewhere in the UK) and no plug points to charge one's mobile phones or laptops. The only interesting thing that happens is when the train reaches the Interchange. From here on, the train direction reverses! Which means that instead of facing forward, which I was, earlier, the last leg of my journey saw me facing the rear view as the train was now going backwards as it sped towards York.

Arriving near York station

Inside York station where I changed trains

I had some coffee and a lunch here at York

At York station, I had a much-needed break where I stopped at a small tuck shop to eat a lamb curry with bread. This shop is called ----- From York, I boarded a Virgin East Coast train with all the modern trappings that Virgin trains have. As I had booked the ticket over the net, I also got a code to use the onboard internet for free. I am sure the Virgin trains to London do not have free internet, so this was a pleasant surprise. I did have an issue where the charger points in the entire compartment where I was booked a seat were non-functional, so I requested and was granted leave to shift to another compartment and find myself an empty, unreserved seat and use that one for the rest of the journey. This made things a lot more bearable. The journey takes more than 1.5 hours, so it was a bit long, but the views of the northeastern countryside were really remarkable. We did pass a few important towns such as Darlington and Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Berwick arrived at around 5:00 p.m. As it swung into view, I took photos of the bridges that span across the Tweed River here. 

A beautiful bridge upon the Tweed river

Darlington on the way to Berwick upon Tweed

Berwick upon Tweed

Berwick station

Outside the railway station, where I got onto a bus to Beadnell

From Berwick upon Tweed, it is an hour-long bus ride to Beadnell, where I had booked a hotel room for two nights. The bus that takes you there is an Arriva bus and the # is X-18. It runs three or four times a day, ending at Alnwick, and it goes via Seahouses and beyond it to Beadnell, a small beachside town where I had booked a hotel room in the Hotel Beadnell Towers. I reached there at half-past seven. The owners are a couple. The guy, someone named Michael, was around when I reached. He instructed his reception staff to guide me. I was allotted a single bedroom on the first floor. I went up, showered, and then returned to the restaurant below to have my dinner, a delicious chicken curry with naan bread and rice. I confess I was unable to finish the huge dinner plate that was served!

There was free wi-fi here, and I returned to my room sometime around 10 p.m., contemplating on my exciting adventure to unfold the next day. Little did I guess what misadventure it was going to be - but more in my next post. 

United Kingdom - a country under a cloud

For the last several months, all we have been hearing is bad news - bad news of the worst kind. First, there were the Manchester attacks, then the London Bridge attack, then the Grenfell Building fire, and now, an attack on London on innocent Muslims by a white man who muttered that he wanted to kill all Muslims.

Whatever is happening? I think there are rumours working overtime. Before the elections, I heard an Englishman say that the attack just before the elections at London Bridge was orchestrated by the sitting PM herself to garner more votes in the name of shock. After the elections, someone else said that the attacks were orchestrated by Jeremy Corbyn's Labour party. This confusion makes me realise that both contentions are wrong and that all these attacks are as proclaimed - either terrorist attacks or a grossly unfortunate accident (the building fire) or simply bad racism (the attack outside the mosque). 

I am certain more bad times are to follow. Economically, the UK is going through a bad patch as well. Brexit negotiations have begun today and the UK will have to give in on many issues, thanks to the lack of a clear parliamentary majority by Theresa May's Conservative (Tory) party.

Nothing much to add here. A reflection on the troublesome days is much in order.

Working Registrar shifts this weekend

Yes, that happened this weekend. I had originally a 2-day off, but I had booked a locum shift in Bolton NHS hospital in Neonates. I received a request to work as a registrar within my own trust as they had no one to cover the shifts. I agreed and worked these two days with Dr. Mohammed Ahmed as my consultant. I think it went well. 

The result of my accepting these two shifts will, of course, be good for my wallet, as I will get paid for them. For my work-life balance, though, these two shifts were poorly placed. In fact, I have been doing continuous duties from the 10th of this month. In the week from last Monday to this Sunday, I did nearly 80 hours of work! That is at least 11 hours per day! I feel fatigued. 

However, professionally speaking, the two duties I did will count towards improving my confidence of working as a middle-grade doctor, so I have no regrets. All credit to my head of the department for allowing me this as it is only thanks to him and his other colleagues that I was allowed to work in the capacity of a registrar. 

The best thing about working as a middle grade, though, was the fact that I was working with my own colleagues who were filling in as SHOs while I worked as a middle grade. Their inputs were precious and very useful in making my job look much easier than it probably is. It also helped that the nursing staff was very supportive. There were a few quibbles with my writing down the doses that they thought were "unconventional", but Dr. Ahmed was supportive and helped clear such hurdles.

All in all - a very good pair of days indeed. 

Thank you for reading!

#LondonAttacks

Once again, extremism has raised its ugly head and wiped away 7 lives, destroyed the hopes and aspirations of all those connected to them - and injured almost 50 others, at least a dozen of them critically. 

Three men, travelling in a large vehicle, first rammed this into a crowd of innocent pedestrians atop the London Bridge, then took the vehicle into a market area and, parking it, got off the vehicle and began to run around, randomly knifing people going about their usual lives. Within 8 minutes of the police receiving news of the attack, they were killed in an intense round of police fire. They were found to be wearing what seemed to be jackets rigged with explosives. However, the tin cans attached to their jackets proved to be fake ones. 

As I write this, the police investigation is ongoing. Patients are admitted to five hospitals in the vicinity, among them the King's College and the Guys and Thomas' Hospitals. Nearly a dozen of the injured victims are critical, while the rest are recuperating. 

Among those dead is a Canadian citizen, a New Zealander and two Frenchmen. 

A quick thought: this is the third attack by terrorists in three months in the U.K. The last attack was just 12 days ago in the Manchester Arena. What is happening? 

I was talking to a British lady today while walking in Stanley Park. We agreed that Britain was reaping the effects of what it was sowing all over the world, blindly following the United States of America. The picture of Theresa May being led by the hand by President Trump symbolises this more than anything else. 

May and Trump (click this link)

If only the U.K. government stops meddling in the affairs of the various countries it is engaged with, Islamic extremism will stop attacking it - at least this is my opinion. It has become almost impossible for terrorists to attack the U.S.A. That is why, they are now targetting the softer option - the United Kingdom. This is a war, and the U.K. should start protecting itself rather than try to "restore" peace, democracy etc. in other countries. 

The lady I was talking to is an ex-journalist who was shooting birds with her Canon camera. We both felt that the people of U.K. are becoming increasingly frustrated with the way things are going. Racism is making a comeback, she said. While she was putting this down to politics, I felt that people were basically relinquishing common sense and attacking anyone not their own without understanding that without immigrants, the U.K. would be finished as a world power. 

Back to the attacks: there will be a general election in the next four days' time. The Tories may well continue to be in power, and May will then have the power to negotiate hard with the European countries to retain its value in a post-Brexit world the way she wants to. Or, as a dark horse, the Labour Party may win and Jeremy Corbyn will be swept into power as the new Prime Minister.

Only time will tell - within a week, we will know the outcome.

The election comes at a time when the people will still be reflecting on the London Attacks. May the souls of those who died rest in Peace. Amen.