Doctor's Free Time: Mind draws a ____

I've been sat staring at the screen for the last 15minutes thinking of something to blog about and my mind is completely blank. How sad. It's just been one of those typical mundane weeks where nothing much has really happened. Patients come and go, most are well and don't need my help - it has been a boring week to say the least. What follows now is some random chatter about nothing, so if you're reading then you've probably had a boring week as well.

Actually to start things off, I did have an interesting patient present last week in my surgery. A young Irish lady came complaining of multiple mouth sores/ulcers. Nothing interesting about that you may say, but then as part of my general health screening I asked about her job (as stress can be a cause for mouth ulcers) and she revealed that she was a fire-eater! I don't know how many fire-eaters you have met but she was my first one. As part of her act, she had to hold large quantities of liquid paraffin in her mouth and then spit it out on a naked flame to get a fire-eating effect. She works in the entertainment industry (unsurprisingly) and was part of an event group which organised shows and displays for corporate businesses. Her group appeared on Dragon's Den last year and were signed up by James Caan.

As I had a bit of time to spare before my next patient, I asked her about her experiences of James Caan. You may know that Caan was actually born as Nazim Khan to muslim parents in Pakistan. He changed his name when he saw the actor James Caan in The Godfather because he liked the spelling of 'Caan', plus, no doubt, he wanted a name that wouldn't sound like a muslim! Anyway, the patient described him as a bit of sleaze, always slightly drunk and hitting on the ladies at various parties. She then went on to say that during Ramadan whilst she was fasting, he was happily eating and drinking.

Pause for a moment and read that last sentence again. She was fasting? Immediately I interrupted her (going against all GP principles) to double check what she had just said. Indeed she was muslim, and had converted (re-verted) several years ago whilst living in Egypt. She was married to a son of a sheikh and converted after reading the Quran looking for answers about life. She spoke fluent Arabic andhad previously worn hijab but was currently reflecting on her experiences before hoping to resume the hijab once again. Rather enlightening to say the least. A fire-eating Irish muslim - surely one of a kind!

Anyway, back to the boring stuff. Liverpool's title challenge has lasted longer than most years this season and this weekend sees them face the might of Manchester United at Old Trafford. They need a win to have any chance of challenging for the title. Already 7 points behind, to fall 10 points behind with defeat would spell the end of their challenge this year and would mean that Man Utd would match the record 18 titles that Liverpool have won in their history. I started supporting Liverpool properly in 1994 and at that point Man Utd had won only 8 titles. Fast-forward 15 years and whilst Liverpool haven't budged from 18, Man Utd are about to catch up unless something can be done starting from this weekend.

It's ridiculous the amount of criticism Liverpool get on an almost daily basis for not being good enough to maintain a challenge. Everyone ignores the simple fact that Man Utd simply have far more resources because they have been able to spend a lot more money than Liverpool. At a quick glance, Man Utd have at least 5 players worth over £20 million, (not including Ronaldo) whilst Liverpool have only one (Torres). With that in mind, it's impressive that Liverpool were able to maintain a strong challenge for as long as they did this year.

Moving on briefly to mention 24. The show continues its resurgence with Day 7 this year. It has been a true return to form and I've forgotten about the drab that was Day 6 back in 2007. The last few episodes have been especially good. If you've never watched it, I truly urge you to go out and buy Day 1 NOW! I'm not going to talk about it any further until the season finishes as I don't want to spoil anything until it has completed.

I should conclude now, as I'm sure if you've persevered and read on to this point, you'll be grateful for the finish as well. I leave you with a YouTube clip of Michael McIntyre Live at The Apollo just to cheer you up after that boring read.