Unsurprisingly not many people responded to my call for Guest Blogging Week! Managed to get a few people to agree to type a blog later on in the week so in the meantime you'll have to make do with me! So much for getting a rest. For those who have agreed to blog this week, instead of giving you my password, it's probably better if you email me your blog and I'll then publish it.
As a friend pointed out, the main problem is that it's only a few family and friends who read this blog and therefore I shouldn't expect much from it. However, I'm quite keen to develop this blog further and in order to do that, it probably needs a consistent theme or themes which I can type about. Probably more topical than personal. As interesting as the personal blogs are, (!) the topical blogs on a wide variety of issues provide more information and perhaps could be publicised more. That way I could develop a wider readership and then take it from there. Having others type on my blog from time to time would fit into that, broadening the range of topics covered by the blog. So, no more personal stuff and to be fair, it's been awhile since I typed anything personal anyway. The themes I hope to focus on are medical, current affairs, political and religious, but inevitably I'll still have the odd rant about the football or cricket.
Speaking of cricket, what a predictably poor conclusion to the first Ashes Test. For the first four days, England's performance was worse then what you would expect from Bangladesh! With the next Test a mere 4 days away there's little time to make improvements, so I guess we can only expect more of the same. Disappointing but not surprising.
My drive to work requires me to take the A413 from Aylesbury to Buckingham. It's a good country road with plenty of straights and bends, making the drive really enjoyable. I should further qualify the statement by stating that it's enjoyable as long as there isn't an idiot in front driving along at 40mph when the speed limit is 60mph leaving a long queue behind them. Having so many bends makes it difficult to overtake, but that doesn't stop people from trying. Therefore because of these idiots, people are spending most of the time driving on the wrong side of the road as they try to overtake.
Throughout the 18mile stretch of road there are signs peppered on either side stating the number of casualties in the past few years between certain sections of the road. I'm certain that many of them could be avoided if people stuck to the speed limit instead of driving well below it. I often wonder what type of person purposely sticks to driving below the speed limit? How sad must that person be? They obviously have nothing better to do then sit in their cars and hence drive slowly to cherish every moment. If the most exciting thing they do is to drive their slow car as slow as possible then I think it's self-explanatory how sad their lives must be. If they are scared to drive too fast, then they should stop over on occasions to let the traffic behind them pass, but they never do. I excuse tractor and lorry drivers, as they have no choice but to go slow and often do stopover to let the queuing traffic pass.
A longtime ago when I had to study the Highway Code for my theory test, I came across a road sign which I've never seen on the road. Similar to the speed limit sign, it had the speed but in the blue filled circle which means the minimum speed of the road was the number on the sign, i.e. you had to drive at that speed at least. They should put up these signs all over the A413; at least therefore attempting to highlight to people that they can drive faster on the road.
Driving is becoming more and more irritating thanks to the government. Ridiculous speed limits, ridiculous bus lanes, ridiculous taxes, the list goes on. The amount of money they receive from us purely from driving (i.e. road tax, insurance, petrol tax, speed cameras, congestion charge etc) is in the hundred of millions and yet public transport is still a disgrace, the congestion charge zone is due to increase next year and road tax continues to rise. I paid £190 for my road tax this year and where is that money going?
The Independent Transport Commission released a report this morning highlighting the need to charge drivers for using certain roads to help fund further road building. How on earth can the government justify adding yet another tax - that too to use roads which are mostly in poor condition - in order to improve and build more roads? It is an outrage. The government is making millions from us and is now considering charging a further tax to drive on certain roads. I can't describe how absolutely appalled I am.
We are constantly badgered about using public transport as much as possible, but for the majority it is simply impractical, a car is the only solution. It takes me 50mins to travel 40miles from home to work in my car. If I was to use public transport it would take over 2 hours to take three separate trains and then the bus. Until public transport becomes a usable commodity, there is no reason I would use it. The Sunday Times recently did a test comparing public transport to cars. Two journalists were given a budget of £400 to buy a car and travel to a Cornwall beach and back and then to sell the car to see if it could be done cheaper than public transport. The train ticket would've cost £80 and yet they both managed to purchase a car, get to Cornwall and back and then sold the cars at a loss of less than £80. It's a pretty extreme comparison but at the same time quite damning to know that the car option was cheaper!
We need to know what happens to the money that the government receives from us purely from taxes related to motoring. I've searched on Google and haven't been able to find a breakdown of the taxes and where the money is spent. There can be no justification for charging yet more money to improve the roads. The congestion charge was meant to ease the chaotic driving conditions of central London where the average driving speed during traffic hours was and still is 3mph. Top Gear did a piece on traffic in central London: Jeremy Clarkson raced the new Fiat Panda along the London Marathon route in peak rush hour against a marathon runner and the runner won, enough said!
It is so infuriating (thesaurus getting used today!) to constantly hear about new plans, initiatives, taxes all with the intention of hitting the motorist. I love driving and yet it is such a tiresome activity in this country. Even for those who are anti-motorists, public transport simply doesn't provide a better alternative for a vast number of people and they have no option but to use the car. If the government does go ahead and try to introduce charges then we have to do all that we can to make sure it doesn't happen. In the meantime, I'll attempt to enjoy what I can as I continue on my drives on the A413, stuck behind a Micra at 40mph!
Take care all,
Thoughts just flow, when do they have to make sense?
Monday, November 27, 2006
Friday, November 24, 2006
Fresh ideas please
Anyone surprised by England's abject start to the Ashes series Down Under? Thought not, it was inevitable and chances of things getting better appear slim. England invented a wide range of sports including football, cricket, tennis, and golf and introduced them to the whole world during the time of the vast British Empire and now they are regularly beaten by everyone. Like I've said in the past, my one hope is that England win the World Cup just once in my lifetime!
The news on my way to work this morning was about the death of the Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko. Now normally I would not have paid much attention to the story, but by keeping this blog I listen out more and more to the daily news, waiting to see what story has potential to type about. As you can tell, I've typed about some pretty random news stories and hopefully made them sound interesting.
Now the Russian spy has been claiming all along that he was poisoned by his colleagues in the Russian government because of his criticism of President Putin. Unsurprisingly Russia denies any involvement. It's the typical conspiracy. One that has occurred throughout history. Covert assassinations by governments who can then deny all knowledge. It happened earlier this week in Lebanon, with the murder of Pierre Gemayel, a Christian anti-Syrian Lebanese minister. Everyone knows Syria is involved, but it denies all knowledge and nothing can be done about it.
I think we've all watched enough television shows such as 24, Prison Break, Spooks or Sleeper Cell to realise that this kind of activity is rife. The shows may over exaggerate/glamourise the conspiracies, but I'm sure they're not that far off the actual truth. We'll probably never know whether Russia or Syria were directly involved in the killings and because there'll never be any proof; the governments will get away with it.
Watching the shows mentioned above is always a lot of fun because they take things to the extreme. In real life I'm guessing it's not as exciting or as dangerous but the basic principles remains the same. If someone needs taking care of, there are plenty of agencies setup to deal with the situation covertly and discreetly without ever being able to trace the perpetrator. 24 is easily the best show on television and returns for its 6th series in January, so I will definitely be typing about that in the New Year.
You maybe able to tell that the quality of my blogs have been going downhill over the past couple of weeks. I think my inspiration is fading. Therefore I think I'm going to take a break from typing the blogs. That way I'll have some time to think of some new topics, have some more interesting stories from work and feel re-invigorated to type the blog. However that does not mean the end of the blog in the meantime. Instead I invite the readers (basically my family and friends) to maintain the blog for the next few days. Each day I would like someone to post a blog on anything that takes their fancy. I'll give you the password to access the account and then you can post your blog for the day. If you'd like to post more than one blog then by all means do so, but each blog has to be at least 1000 words, which will allow you to explore your chosen topic properly.
So, next week will be the Guest Blogging Week. I'm hoping you will all be interested to type something and if not I'm going to nag everyone, and I mean everyone, to type something on the blog over the next few days and I'm looking forward to reading what other people have to type. So who would like to type the blog on Monday? Let me know soon.
Take care all,
Thoughts just flow, when do they have to make sense?
The news on my way to work this morning was about the death of the Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko. Now normally I would not have paid much attention to the story, but by keeping this blog I listen out more and more to the daily news, waiting to see what story has potential to type about. As you can tell, I've typed about some pretty random news stories and hopefully made them sound interesting.
Now the Russian spy has been claiming all along that he was poisoned by his colleagues in the Russian government because of his criticism of President Putin. Unsurprisingly Russia denies any involvement. It's the typical conspiracy. One that has occurred throughout history. Covert assassinations by governments who can then deny all knowledge. It happened earlier this week in Lebanon, with the murder of Pierre Gemayel, a Christian anti-Syrian Lebanese minister. Everyone knows Syria is involved, but it denies all knowledge and nothing can be done about it.
I think we've all watched enough television shows such as 24, Prison Break, Spooks or Sleeper Cell to realise that this kind of activity is rife. The shows may over exaggerate/glamourise the conspiracies, but I'm sure they're not that far off the actual truth. We'll probably never know whether Russia or Syria were directly involved in the killings and because there'll never be any proof; the governments will get away with it.
Watching the shows mentioned above is always a lot of fun because they take things to the extreme. In real life I'm guessing it's not as exciting or as dangerous but the basic principles remains the same. If someone needs taking care of, there are plenty of agencies setup to deal with the situation covertly and discreetly without ever being able to trace the perpetrator. 24 is easily the best show on television and returns for its 6th series in January, so I will definitely be typing about that in the New Year.
You maybe able to tell that the quality of my blogs have been going downhill over the past couple of weeks. I think my inspiration is fading. Therefore I think I'm going to take a break from typing the blogs. That way I'll have some time to think of some new topics, have some more interesting stories from work and feel re-invigorated to type the blog. However that does not mean the end of the blog in the meantime. Instead I invite the readers (basically my family and friends) to maintain the blog for the next few days. Each day I would like someone to post a blog on anything that takes their fancy. I'll give you the password to access the account and then you can post your blog for the day. If you'd like to post more than one blog then by all means do so, but each blog has to be at least 1000 words, which will allow you to explore your chosen topic properly.
So, next week will be the Guest Blogging Week. I'm hoping you will all be interested to type something and if not I'm going to nag everyone, and I mean everyone, to type something on the blog over the next few days and I'm looking forward to reading what other people have to type. So who would like to type the blog on Monday? Let me know soon.
Take care all,
Thoughts just flow, when do they have to make sense?
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
News coverage: a comparison
Apologies to my avid fans for not posting a blog yesterday. For the first time since I started this blog over two months ago I was unable to post a blog on a day I was at work for one simple reason - I was too busy! Can you believe it? For the first time in two months I was actually busy! And I have the cheek to complain about my job! My morning surgery actually finished at 12.45pm, then after a home visit I had lunch which finished at 1.30pm and straight onto my mid-term assessment from 2-4pm before my afternoon surgery which ended at 6pm, so as you can see, absolutely no time for the blog!
The mid-term assessment was quite funny actually. Prior to the actual assessment, my trainer had handed out forms to all the staff members of the practice asking for an evaluation of me. All the doctors and nurses gave me good evaluations, but the administrative staff all had one complaint, I didn't make the effort to speak to them. My trainer then went through all the administrative staff, their names and roles and I couldn't identify anyone, I knew a few names and a few faces but was unable to put them together - quite embarrassing!
The end of yet another surgery and that irate man from Monday has not returned, I can presume that his pain is getting better; I wonder if that will change his attitude in the future? Doubt it! One thing I've discovered is despite whatever I might say to my patients nothing changes their attitudes. I could spend hours calming them down or explaining the situation and whilst they may understand at the time, the moment something goes wrong I'm faced with the same problems, they don't seem to learn from past experiences.
I think, partly, this maybe down to their expectations of the NHS. It's easy to get an appointment with the GP, some may have to wait longer than others, but invariably, everyone can and will get seen. Therefore it's easy to behave in the same way, why change your actions if you can carry on doing the same things as before? Why follow advice from doctors when you know that should anything go wrong, you can always go back to your GP for more help? We are here to help regardless of what actions the patient takes. If they choose to improve their health then they can still see their GP's when things go wrong, and if they choose to ignore their health they can still see their GP.
There is no incentive. What if a 50 a day smoker was told that unless he tried to cut down on his smoking to prevent his lungs from giving up, he would not be seen by a doctor, would he then try harder to cut down? It's frustrating to see the same patients repeatedly simply because they refuse to help themselves. They have no reason to and therefore continue down the same path, leaving it to the NHS to pick up the pieces.
What's even more potentially worrying was a news report this morning about making cigarettes and alcohol available online from European countries at much cheaper prices. Thankfully, it has just been revealed that the EU has blocked low-duty alcohol online, which at least means the situation can't get even worse.
I actually had a rather ambitious plan for my blog today and have been conducting some research on the area for the past hour, but I don't know if it's going to work. For some time there has been quite extensive news coverage of Darfur, Sudan and the crises that have been developing in the area. I'm ashamed to say I know next to nothing about the conflict and so I thought I'd try an experiment. I looked at two British news websites and two American news websites and compare the coverage of the conflict. This way I get to find out about the crisis in Sudan and also compare the quality and nature of the coverage between the two countries. The websites I have used are the BBC News and Sky News websites for Britain and CNN and FOX news for America.
Starting with the BBC, they have a section dedicated to the Sudanese crisis which explores a range of issues about the conflict. To start with the best link is the Q&A site which concisely explains the situation in the nation. Infact the Q&A site neatly summarises the entire situation from the beginning in 1956 to the present day. The rest of the section describes views from various aspects of the conflict. All in all the news is well presented and seems to be balanced for both sides of the conflict.
Moving on to the Sky News website and although they do not have a dedicated section, a simple search for Darfur reveals over 30 links for news about the conflict. Most of the news seems to be about specific reports about the region with no discussion or viewpoints from leading experts which was evident on the BBC site. It appears very clinical, providing the news without opinion which at the end of the day is what news is all about, they should provide the information fairly allowing us to draw our own conclusions and opinions and the Sky News website seems to be good for that. However, sometimes reading the views of experts can help form our opinions, it's better to learn from people who are more knowledgeable about the situation than us and I can't seem to find any expert opinion on the website.
FOX news is the sister station to Sky News, both owned by Rupert Murdoch. The same search on the FOX news website reveals essentially the same results with a similar style of reporting. The CNN website is easily the worst, not one I would turn to if I needed some news. It's poorly presented and a search for Darfur shows loads of ad links before the actual news links lower down on the page. The actual coverage is again very similar to FOX and Sky News, as if they all work off the same template.
With this very crude method of research I have conducted this morning, it seems as if the BBC news website is the best place for good news reporting and also views from leading experts on the situation. Many of my links in my blogs have been from the BBC news website and I continue to use that as my main source of information on current affairs. The coverage seems to be fair on the other websites as well; it's just not as user-friendly as the BBC.
But what about the actual conflict itself. I now have a better understanding of the crises. For decades the Muslims in the north have fought for power against Christians in the south and it is still waiting to be resolved. In the meantime thousands of innocent people continue to lose their lives as the conflicts continue. Peace is hard to achieve because neither side can agree on anything and as usual the US is trying to establish peace with its own hidden agenda. As I type all this, it's all done with a feeling of 'been there, heard it all before' and there is nothing surprising about it all.
I have become so indifferent to these conflicts that it doesn't surprise me anymore. I have to force myself to think about what the conflict means. Actual people are dying, poverty is spreading and the whole situation is very serious and yet I'm left with a feeling of apathy. I should be ashamed of myself, but I'm not. Why is this? I have become so used to these news that my feelings have become deadened towards it. It just yet another crisis in a world of crises and I know I'm not the only one who feels like that! What can we do? I find myself going over the same thing again, previously it was about Iraq this time it's about Sudan, what can we do? I'm struggling to find an answer.
In the meantime I'll continue trying to at least change my attitude, be more aware of these conflicts so that I can talk to others about it, be better informed about it, I think at the very least it is my duty to be aware of what is going on around the world. Recognising the situation can perhaps lead to doing a little bit to help the situation. We'll have to wait and see.
Take care all,
Thoughts just flow, when do they have to make sense?
The mid-term assessment was quite funny actually. Prior to the actual assessment, my trainer had handed out forms to all the staff members of the practice asking for an evaluation of me. All the doctors and nurses gave me good evaluations, but the administrative staff all had one complaint, I didn't make the effort to speak to them. My trainer then went through all the administrative staff, their names and roles and I couldn't identify anyone, I knew a few names and a few faces but was unable to put them together - quite embarrassing!
The end of yet another surgery and that irate man from Monday has not returned, I can presume that his pain is getting better; I wonder if that will change his attitude in the future? Doubt it! One thing I've discovered is despite whatever I might say to my patients nothing changes their attitudes. I could spend hours calming them down or explaining the situation and whilst they may understand at the time, the moment something goes wrong I'm faced with the same problems, they don't seem to learn from past experiences.
I think, partly, this maybe down to their expectations of the NHS. It's easy to get an appointment with the GP, some may have to wait longer than others, but invariably, everyone can and will get seen. Therefore it's easy to behave in the same way, why change your actions if you can carry on doing the same things as before? Why follow advice from doctors when you know that should anything go wrong, you can always go back to your GP for more help? We are here to help regardless of what actions the patient takes. If they choose to improve their health then they can still see their GP's when things go wrong, and if they choose to ignore their health they can still see their GP.
There is no incentive. What if a 50 a day smoker was told that unless he tried to cut down on his smoking to prevent his lungs from giving up, he would not be seen by a doctor, would he then try harder to cut down? It's frustrating to see the same patients repeatedly simply because they refuse to help themselves. They have no reason to and therefore continue down the same path, leaving it to the NHS to pick up the pieces.
What's even more potentially worrying was a news report this morning about making cigarettes and alcohol available online from European countries at much cheaper prices. Thankfully, it has just been revealed that the EU has blocked low-duty alcohol online, which at least means the situation can't get even worse.
I actually had a rather ambitious plan for my blog today and have been conducting some research on the area for the past hour, but I don't know if it's going to work. For some time there has been quite extensive news coverage of Darfur, Sudan and the crises that have been developing in the area. I'm ashamed to say I know next to nothing about the conflict and so I thought I'd try an experiment. I looked at two British news websites and two American news websites and compare the coverage of the conflict. This way I get to find out about the crisis in Sudan and also compare the quality and nature of the coverage between the two countries. The websites I have used are the BBC News and Sky News websites for Britain and CNN and FOX news for America.
Starting with the BBC, they have a section dedicated to the Sudanese crisis which explores a range of issues about the conflict. To start with the best link is the Q&A site which concisely explains the situation in the nation. Infact the Q&A site neatly summarises the entire situation from the beginning in 1956 to the present day. The rest of the section describes views from various aspects of the conflict. All in all the news is well presented and seems to be balanced for both sides of the conflict.
Moving on to the Sky News website and although they do not have a dedicated section, a simple search for Darfur reveals over 30 links for news about the conflict. Most of the news seems to be about specific reports about the region with no discussion or viewpoints from leading experts which was evident on the BBC site. It appears very clinical, providing the news without opinion which at the end of the day is what news is all about, they should provide the information fairly allowing us to draw our own conclusions and opinions and the Sky News website seems to be good for that. However, sometimes reading the views of experts can help form our opinions, it's better to learn from people who are more knowledgeable about the situation than us and I can't seem to find any expert opinion on the website.
FOX news is the sister station to Sky News, both owned by Rupert Murdoch. The same search on the FOX news website reveals essentially the same results with a similar style of reporting. The CNN website is easily the worst, not one I would turn to if I needed some news. It's poorly presented and a search for Darfur shows loads of ad links before the actual news links lower down on the page. The actual coverage is again very similar to FOX and Sky News, as if they all work off the same template.
With this very crude method of research I have conducted this morning, it seems as if the BBC news website is the best place for good news reporting and also views from leading experts on the situation. Many of my links in my blogs have been from the BBC news website and I continue to use that as my main source of information on current affairs. The coverage seems to be fair on the other websites as well; it's just not as user-friendly as the BBC.
But what about the actual conflict itself. I now have a better understanding of the crises. For decades the Muslims in the north have fought for power against Christians in the south and it is still waiting to be resolved. In the meantime thousands of innocent people continue to lose their lives as the conflicts continue. Peace is hard to achieve because neither side can agree on anything and as usual the US is trying to establish peace with its own hidden agenda. As I type all this, it's all done with a feeling of 'been there, heard it all before' and there is nothing surprising about it all.
I have become so indifferent to these conflicts that it doesn't surprise me anymore. I have to force myself to think about what the conflict means. Actual people are dying, poverty is spreading and the whole situation is very serious and yet I'm left with a feeling of apathy. I should be ashamed of myself, but I'm not. Why is this? I have become so used to these news that my feelings have become deadened towards it. It just yet another crisis in a world of crises and I know I'm not the only one who feels like that! What can we do? I find myself going over the same thing again, previously it was about Iraq this time it's about Sudan, what can we do? I'm struggling to find an answer.
In the meantime I'll continue trying to at least change my attitude, be more aware of these conflicts so that I can talk to others about it, be better informed about it, I think at the very least it is my duty to be aware of what is going on around the world. Recognising the situation can perhaps lead to doing a little bit to help the situation. We'll have to wait and see.
Take care all,
Thoughts just flow, when do they have to make sense?
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
The job's not all bad
An anonymous reader left a very surprising comment to yesterday's blog, "seems as though you have an interesting life and lots to discuss." If you only knew me, you'd know my life is not interesting which is why I keep this blog. As it turns out I do have lots to discuss mainly because I'm constantly trying to think of topics to type about in this blog, and thanks for the comments, much appreciated.
I had a real irate patient yesterday who made my surgery run past 6pm. He came complaining of a severe earache convinced that he had an ear infection. The pain was similar to the pain with past ear infections and he was demanding antibiotics for the infection. No need for me to ask him what he thought was wrong or what he wanted from me, and when I examined his ears there were normal, at a push I could've convinced myself there was slight inflammation in his painful left ear but no way severe enough to indicate an infection.
I then asked him about what painkillers he was taking for the severe pain. He wasn't taking any, "I don't like taking tablets," so he had severe pain, but felt no need to take anything for it. I don't think I need to explain how irritating that was. As far as I could see there was nothing wrong with his ears, but what I did discover was a swollen lymph node behind his left ear which was extremely tender to touch, probably the source of the pain.
Over the next 20mins or so I explained to him why it wasn't an ear infection and what the node was and why it was causing so much pain. The solution wasn't antibiotics as he kept persisting for, but regular painkillers and to monitor the progress of the node. If it got bigger it would need further investigation, if the painkillers worked it would get smaller and disappear altogether. Even though he agreed to my recommendations, I could tell he wasn't happy and made sure there was a 'safety-net' in place.
A 'safety-net' is how doctors, especially GPs, cover themselves for any potential mistakes or worsening situations of a patient. It generally involves reassuring the patient to come back if their symptoms don't improve or if they get worse or if they have any other concerns at a later stage. In this case I told the patient to come back today or tomorrow if his pain didn't improve with the painkillers and I could then look at him again. As a general rule for most cases the safety-net tends to be 7-10days, but in this case I felt it more prudent to shorten the time so that hopefully he would feel more reassured. He hasn't come back this morning and I don't have an afternoon surgery, so I'll wait to see if he returns tomorrow.
In a few of my blogs I've complained a lot about my job. At one time of another I've mention how I find it irritating, mundane, boring etc etc. I think it's about time I talk about some of the better aspects of the job. Despite what I've typed in the past, there are a few features about my job that I actually enjoy. One is the general respect I get from the public and my own family. Being a GP, or at least becoming a GP means one thing: I am 'Jack of all trades, master of none' therefore I know a little bit about everything. I often get asked about a variety of health problems, some serious, some minor and I'm able to give some advice about it one way or another and I enjoy that ability. If I was a specialist in a particular field of medicine, I wouldn't have a clue about anything else. As a GP I'm not as well respected in the medical profession as I would be if I was a specialist, but then I'm not working for the medical profession, I'm working for the public and there opinion carries more weight.
I once read an interesting theory about the difference of generalists and specialists. As time goes by specialists become more and more specialised in a particular field, they know more and more about one subject which then breakdown further into smaller subjects. Generalists on the other hand keep expanding their range of knowledge to encompass more about more subjects. If you continue down that path, the specialist knows more and more about less and less, whilst he generalist knows less and less about more and more. I like this theory and fall on the side of the generalist, better to have a wide range rather than a narrow one.
Another interesting feature of being a GP is the challenge of extracting information from patients. Rather like a detective, people often come with hidden agendas and different ideas to what they present and I have to pick up on their interactions with me and try to develop a quick rapport with them in order to get to the root of the problem. When I qualify and work in a practice it'll be easier because I will know the patients for a longer period, but right now, I'm still meeting new patients on a daily basis.
Unlike working in a hospital where the patient comes with acute problems that require immediate attention, in a GP surgery the patient has more time and comes with a range of problems, some not even related to medicine and it's often a challenge to find out the problem. I've complained about having to do that in the past, but that is mainly targeted towards people who don't help themselves because of sheer laziness, for others though, certain circumstances mean that they are unable to help themselves and therefore it is very satisfying to draw out their concerns and then attempt to help them.
There have been a few patients who have come with specific symptoms and requests for treatment who with further questioning a wider range of problems have been explored and at the end of the consultation they are often grateful for talking about their problems and felt much better for it. In the 'touchy, feely' world of GPs I guess this is what it is all about and the fact that I've appreciated the experience would suggest that not all things are bad with my job.
I guess the solution is simply, focus more on the positives and less on the negatives. At the moment it's easier said than done, because the boredom and irritation levels of the job can become overwhelming. Having the opportunity to type about this all helps a great deal, although it may bore most of the readers, it provides some perspective for me and hopefully I can begin to complain less about this job and even begin to enjoy it! Who knows!
At the end of the day maybe my expectations are too high. Who actually enjoys their job? I'm guessing those people are in the minority. For the rest, it's all about earning a living to maintain a standard of life and that is exactly what I am achieving with this job. It is the best job on offer with my degree in medicine. It affords me decent pay, good hours and a positive personal life, so maybe that all I need from the job. What about you, do you enjoy your job? If so, why? Please leave some comments.
Take care all,
Thoughts just flow, when do they have to make sense?
I had a real irate patient yesterday who made my surgery run past 6pm. He came complaining of a severe earache convinced that he had an ear infection. The pain was similar to the pain with past ear infections and he was demanding antibiotics for the infection. No need for me to ask him what he thought was wrong or what he wanted from me, and when I examined his ears there were normal, at a push I could've convinced myself there was slight inflammation in his painful left ear but no way severe enough to indicate an infection.
I then asked him about what painkillers he was taking for the severe pain. He wasn't taking any, "I don't like taking tablets," so he had severe pain, but felt no need to take anything for it. I don't think I need to explain how irritating that was. As far as I could see there was nothing wrong with his ears, but what I did discover was a swollen lymph node behind his left ear which was extremely tender to touch, probably the source of the pain.
Over the next 20mins or so I explained to him why it wasn't an ear infection and what the node was and why it was causing so much pain. The solution wasn't antibiotics as he kept persisting for, but regular painkillers and to monitor the progress of the node. If it got bigger it would need further investigation, if the painkillers worked it would get smaller and disappear altogether. Even though he agreed to my recommendations, I could tell he wasn't happy and made sure there was a 'safety-net' in place.
A 'safety-net' is how doctors, especially GPs, cover themselves for any potential mistakes or worsening situations of a patient. It generally involves reassuring the patient to come back if their symptoms don't improve or if they get worse or if they have any other concerns at a later stage. In this case I told the patient to come back today or tomorrow if his pain didn't improve with the painkillers and I could then look at him again. As a general rule for most cases the safety-net tends to be 7-10days, but in this case I felt it more prudent to shorten the time so that hopefully he would feel more reassured. He hasn't come back this morning and I don't have an afternoon surgery, so I'll wait to see if he returns tomorrow.
In a few of my blogs I've complained a lot about my job. At one time of another I've mention how I find it irritating, mundane, boring etc etc. I think it's about time I talk about some of the better aspects of the job. Despite what I've typed in the past, there are a few features about my job that I actually enjoy. One is the general respect I get from the public and my own family. Being a GP, or at least becoming a GP means one thing: I am 'Jack of all trades, master of none' therefore I know a little bit about everything. I often get asked about a variety of health problems, some serious, some minor and I'm able to give some advice about it one way or another and I enjoy that ability. If I was a specialist in a particular field of medicine, I wouldn't have a clue about anything else. As a GP I'm not as well respected in the medical profession as I would be if I was a specialist, but then I'm not working for the medical profession, I'm working for the public and there opinion carries more weight.
I once read an interesting theory about the difference of generalists and specialists. As time goes by specialists become more and more specialised in a particular field, they know more and more about one subject which then breakdown further into smaller subjects. Generalists on the other hand keep expanding their range of knowledge to encompass more about more subjects. If you continue down that path, the specialist knows more and more about less and less, whilst he generalist knows less and less about more and more. I like this theory and fall on the side of the generalist, better to have a wide range rather than a narrow one.
Another interesting feature of being a GP is the challenge of extracting information from patients. Rather like a detective, people often come with hidden agendas and different ideas to what they present and I have to pick up on their interactions with me and try to develop a quick rapport with them in order to get to the root of the problem. When I qualify and work in a practice it'll be easier because I will know the patients for a longer period, but right now, I'm still meeting new patients on a daily basis.
Unlike working in a hospital where the patient comes with acute problems that require immediate attention, in a GP surgery the patient has more time and comes with a range of problems, some not even related to medicine and it's often a challenge to find out the problem. I've complained about having to do that in the past, but that is mainly targeted towards people who don't help themselves because of sheer laziness, for others though, certain circumstances mean that they are unable to help themselves and therefore it is very satisfying to draw out their concerns and then attempt to help them.
There have been a few patients who have come with specific symptoms and requests for treatment who with further questioning a wider range of problems have been explored and at the end of the consultation they are often grateful for talking about their problems and felt much better for it. In the 'touchy, feely' world of GPs I guess this is what it is all about and the fact that I've appreciated the experience would suggest that not all things are bad with my job.
I guess the solution is simply, focus more on the positives and less on the negatives. At the moment it's easier said than done, because the boredom and irritation levels of the job can become overwhelming. Having the opportunity to type about this all helps a great deal, although it may bore most of the readers, it provides some perspective for me and hopefully I can begin to complain less about this job and even begin to enjoy it! Who knows!
At the end of the day maybe my expectations are too high. Who actually enjoys their job? I'm guessing those people are in the minority. For the rest, it's all about earning a living to maintain a standard of life and that is exactly what I am achieving with this job. It is the best job on offer with my degree in medicine. It affords me decent pay, good hours and a positive personal life, so maybe that all I need from the job. What about you, do you enjoy your job? If so, why? Please leave some comments.
Take care all,
Thoughts just flow, when do they have to make sense?
Monday, November 20, 2006
Morning with a muslim family
Another weekend goes by as the end of 2006 draws nearer and nearer. I don't know about you, but this year has gone by really fast, it seems like only yesterday I was doing night-shifts in mid-January and here I am, nearly in December, relaxing between surgeries, typing a blog! A lot has changed during the year.
My wife visited the Indian Embassy last Friday to get a visa for our holiday to India in mid-December. Talk about an exercise in futility! You have to arrive between the hours of 8.30am and midday to collect a ticket and then return at 2pm to get inside the embassy. My wife arrived early hoping to avoid a queue, but by 1.30pm the queue was huge and she had to wait outside in the cold for ages. Eventually, after getting inside she was issued a further ticket and made to wait over 2 hours to submit the documents for the visa.
She wasn't granted the visa. She had to see the Public Relations Officer (PRO) because under occupation she had written graduate. When they asked her what job she did, she said she didn't because she had recently qualified and was looking for a job. Because of this they wanted proof of employment from me. It wasn't sufficient that it said I'm a doctor on my marriage certificate; they needed a letter from my employers. By the time she left it was 5pm, she had spent the entire day at the Embassy and didn't even get the visa!
The PRO was completely up himself, what an idiot! If I was unemployed, would that mean we wouldn't be allowed to visit India? Why the hell do they need proof of employment from me? Now my wife has to go back and queue yet again in the morning to get the ticket for the afternoon. She's been told that she won't need to queue again in the afternoon, but even after showing the proof of employment, it'll take 1-2 weeks for the visa to come through! It is so frustrating!
Switching to a much nicer topic, it was my wife's birthday over the weekend. Her family and mine got together and went out for dinner to celebrate. I ordered a cake from Patisserie Valerie in Kensington and had to collect it on Saturday afternoon. It was a chocolate, strawberry & banana gateau and was absolutely delicious. I somehow managed to finish the video of our trip to Pakistan despite Pinnacle continuing to crash but then got delayed in converting the film to DVD and was unable to show it. Such a waste of effort. Ironically, I managed to burn it to DVD five minutes after everyone had left at 1am!
At last I have a topic to discuss, no surprises it centers on Islam and Muslims. In fact today's topic is inspired from this morning's drive to work. 5Live breakfast was broadcasting from Altrincham, Cheshire. Nicky Campbell had taken up residence in a Muslim household to "experience what life is like for British Muslims." The idea came about following a debate on the show a few weeks ago with someone named Anjem Choudary, an Islamic extremist who basically condemned all Muslims living in the West for not upholding Shariah law. Dr Khalid Anis invited the BBC to spend some time with his family to view what moderate Islam is all about, something that has received very little coverage by the media who are only too keen to focus on the radical/extreme Muslims who do not represent the majority. So to coincide with Islamic Awareness Week, this morning's show came live from the Anis household.
A quick side issue, I've always hated the term moderate Muslim. What does a moderate Muslim mean? For me, it's either Muslim or non-Muslim, none of this 'moderate' business. There is a need to define the extremist and radical Muslims who take certain views outside the rules of Islam, but to call the rest of the Muslims as 'moderate' is a put down in my view. Am I a moderate Muslim? To some I am, but to others certain things I might do maybe termed as extreme. For example, take the debate regarding the hijab; soon it'll no longer be the moderate Muslim woman who wears hijab but the extremist. Using the term 'moderate' allows the definition to be changed as and when it suits the media and hence influence the general public, and I don't like it at all! It is not moderation to follow the religion of Islam, but it can be extreme to take it too far and perform acts which are condemned in Islam.
Anyway, for the hour that I listened during my drive to work I heard the Anis family discuss various issues presented by the Nicky Campbell. I don't really like Campbell. He goes on about trying to be impartial with all his questions and how he doesn't have an opinion, but you can tell by the tone in his voice what he really feels. He asked about the hijab and why Muslims wear it. He said with such indignation about how it's purely to prevent the lustful gaze of men and therefore surely should be seen as an insult to men. Dr. Anis' wife explained the reasons why Islam prescribes women to wear hijab and also clarified that there is no requirement to wear the nikab, but is something that is done by certain women for their own personal reasons. She explained the need for women AND men to dress and act modestly, and how the hijab is an indication of respect for women in Islam.
She also condemned Jack Straw for starting the debate about the nikab, because she felt, and rightly so, that it wasn't for a politician to comment, especially when it seemed as if it was only done with a hidden agenda. Similar to what I have stated in my blog last month, there was no coverage of any attempts made by Mr. Straw to discuss the issue; just a statement about how women shouldn't wear it and that was extremely inappropriate behaviour.
Campbell then went on to ask about homosexuality and why Islam condemns it so vociferously. Dr. Anis clearly explained that it is viewed as a wrong act and something that must be avoided at all costs. Campbell rather insultingly then claimed that God created homosexuals and that one the reasons homosexuals use is that it is in their genes. Dr. Anis denied the claim and explained that it is the result of nurture not nature and it can be changed. He then went on to argue that paedophiles or murderers could use the same excuse, so why condemn them and not homosexuals? Campbell completely avoided the issue by feigning offence to the attempt to bracket homosexuals with paedophiles and murderers.
Homosexuality is totally forbidden in Islam, but Dr. Anis also explained that they should not be treated differently as a result. Something I find difficult to do, but try nonetheless. Those Muslims who act differently to homosexuals should not be commended for their behaviour and it is the wrong thing to do. Only God can judge them. I've read reports which suggest their could be a genetic association with homosexuality, but there are also genes associated with anger, hate, violent behaviour, depression etc, and these qualities can be helped by nurturing, so why can't homosexuality? It's a weak excuse to use.
The last point discussed, before I reached work, was why Muslims pray 5 times a day, surely it's too much to ask? Why can't Muslims be more fluid like Christians and pray as and when they feel like. I was disappointed with the response to this question. Dr. Anis merely argued it's down to each individual and something that is required of all Muslims. There was no further elaboration. I've explained in a previous blog the blessing of prayer and the opportunities it provides and needless to say it is the command of God and something many Muslims follow and something we should be proud about.
On a humorous side note, Campbell also invited the local Imam to have a chat. Prior to that he had mentioned Dr. Anis’ DVD collection and how whether the Imam would approve with films like Harry Potter and Spiderman in his collection. The Imam then stated that he owned the Harry Potter collection himself. Although quite amusing, it was disturbing to hear Campbell feel the need to highlight such issues, as if it's not normal for muslims to enjoy films or other activities for that matter.
All in all I thought it was a useful exercise conducted by 5Live. I didn't like some of the questioning, especially the tone of the questions, because it was obvious what Campbell's agenda was, but overall I felt the Anis family gave a good account for themselves and hopefully the listening public's views of Islam might have changed for the better, although it's would need a lot more coverage of similar topics to reinforce such a change!
Take care all,
Thoughts just flow, when do they have to make sense?
My wife visited the Indian Embassy last Friday to get a visa for our holiday to India in mid-December. Talk about an exercise in futility! You have to arrive between the hours of 8.30am and midday to collect a ticket and then return at 2pm to get inside the embassy. My wife arrived early hoping to avoid a queue, but by 1.30pm the queue was huge and she had to wait outside in the cold for ages. Eventually, after getting inside she was issued a further ticket and made to wait over 2 hours to submit the documents for the visa.
She wasn't granted the visa. She had to see the Public Relations Officer (PRO) because under occupation she had written graduate. When they asked her what job she did, she said she didn't because she had recently qualified and was looking for a job. Because of this they wanted proof of employment from me. It wasn't sufficient that it said I'm a doctor on my marriage certificate; they needed a letter from my employers. By the time she left it was 5pm, she had spent the entire day at the Embassy and didn't even get the visa!
The PRO was completely up himself, what an idiot! If I was unemployed, would that mean we wouldn't be allowed to visit India? Why the hell do they need proof of employment from me? Now my wife has to go back and queue yet again in the morning to get the ticket for the afternoon. She's been told that she won't need to queue again in the afternoon, but even after showing the proof of employment, it'll take 1-2 weeks for the visa to come through! It is so frustrating!
Switching to a much nicer topic, it was my wife's birthday over the weekend. Her family and mine got together and went out for dinner to celebrate. I ordered a cake from Patisserie Valerie in Kensington and had to collect it on Saturday afternoon. It was a chocolate, strawberry & banana gateau and was absolutely delicious. I somehow managed to finish the video of our trip to Pakistan despite Pinnacle continuing to crash but then got delayed in converting the film to DVD and was unable to show it. Such a waste of effort. Ironically, I managed to burn it to DVD five minutes after everyone had left at 1am!
At last I have a topic to discuss, no surprises it centers on Islam and Muslims. In fact today's topic is inspired from this morning's drive to work. 5Live breakfast was broadcasting from Altrincham, Cheshire. Nicky Campbell had taken up residence in a Muslim household to "experience what life is like for British Muslims." The idea came about following a debate on the show a few weeks ago with someone named Anjem Choudary, an Islamic extremist who basically condemned all Muslims living in the West for not upholding Shariah law. Dr Khalid Anis invited the BBC to spend some time with his family to view what moderate Islam is all about, something that has received very little coverage by the media who are only too keen to focus on the radical/extreme Muslims who do not represent the majority. So to coincide with Islamic Awareness Week, this morning's show came live from the Anis household.
A quick side issue, I've always hated the term moderate Muslim. What does a moderate Muslim mean? For me, it's either Muslim or non-Muslim, none of this 'moderate' business. There is a need to define the extremist and radical Muslims who take certain views outside the rules of Islam, but to call the rest of the Muslims as 'moderate' is a put down in my view. Am I a moderate Muslim? To some I am, but to others certain things I might do maybe termed as extreme. For example, take the debate regarding the hijab; soon it'll no longer be the moderate Muslim woman who wears hijab but the extremist. Using the term 'moderate' allows the definition to be changed as and when it suits the media and hence influence the general public, and I don't like it at all! It is not moderation to follow the religion of Islam, but it can be extreme to take it too far and perform acts which are condemned in Islam.
Anyway, for the hour that I listened during my drive to work I heard the Anis family discuss various issues presented by the Nicky Campbell. I don't really like Campbell. He goes on about trying to be impartial with all his questions and how he doesn't have an opinion, but you can tell by the tone in his voice what he really feels. He asked about the hijab and why Muslims wear it. He said with such indignation about how it's purely to prevent the lustful gaze of men and therefore surely should be seen as an insult to men. Dr. Anis' wife explained the reasons why Islam prescribes women to wear hijab and also clarified that there is no requirement to wear the nikab, but is something that is done by certain women for their own personal reasons. She explained the need for women AND men to dress and act modestly, and how the hijab is an indication of respect for women in Islam.
She also condemned Jack Straw for starting the debate about the nikab, because she felt, and rightly so, that it wasn't for a politician to comment, especially when it seemed as if it was only done with a hidden agenda. Similar to what I have stated in my blog last month, there was no coverage of any attempts made by Mr. Straw to discuss the issue; just a statement about how women shouldn't wear it and that was extremely inappropriate behaviour.
Campbell then went on to ask about homosexuality and why Islam condemns it so vociferously. Dr. Anis clearly explained that it is viewed as a wrong act and something that must be avoided at all costs. Campbell rather insultingly then claimed that God created homosexuals and that one the reasons homosexuals use is that it is in their genes. Dr. Anis denied the claim and explained that it is the result of nurture not nature and it can be changed. He then went on to argue that paedophiles or murderers could use the same excuse, so why condemn them and not homosexuals? Campbell completely avoided the issue by feigning offence to the attempt to bracket homosexuals with paedophiles and murderers.
Homosexuality is totally forbidden in Islam, but Dr. Anis also explained that they should not be treated differently as a result. Something I find difficult to do, but try nonetheless. Those Muslims who act differently to homosexuals should not be commended for their behaviour and it is the wrong thing to do. Only God can judge them. I've read reports which suggest their could be a genetic association with homosexuality, but there are also genes associated with anger, hate, violent behaviour, depression etc, and these qualities can be helped by nurturing, so why can't homosexuality? It's a weak excuse to use.
The last point discussed, before I reached work, was why Muslims pray 5 times a day, surely it's too much to ask? Why can't Muslims be more fluid like Christians and pray as and when they feel like. I was disappointed with the response to this question. Dr. Anis merely argued it's down to each individual and something that is required of all Muslims. There was no further elaboration. I've explained in a previous blog the blessing of prayer and the opportunities it provides and needless to say it is the command of God and something many Muslims follow and something we should be proud about.
On a humorous side note, Campbell also invited the local Imam to have a chat. Prior to that he had mentioned Dr. Anis’ DVD collection and how whether the Imam would approve with films like Harry Potter and Spiderman in his collection. The Imam then stated that he owned the Harry Potter collection himself. Although quite amusing, it was disturbing to hear Campbell feel the need to highlight such issues, as if it's not normal for muslims to enjoy films or other activities for that matter.
All in all I thought it was a useful exercise conducted by 5Live. I didn't like some of the questioning, especially the tone of the questions, because it was obvious what Campbell's agenda was, but overall I felt the Anis family gave a good account for themselves and hopefully the listening public's views of Islam might have changed for the better, although it's would need a lot more coverage of similar topics to reinforce such a change!
Take care all,
Thoughts just flow, when do they have to make sense?
Friday, November 17, 2006
Tiredness is killing II
It's been a weird week blogging wise. Actually, if I think about it, I've followed the main objective of these blogs i.e. random thoughts. Blogs this week have been very random, not following a set topic, which is how I started in the first place. I guess a combination of random thoughts and set topics of discussion works well and I'll continue down that road. Speaking of starts, tomorrow is the two month anniversary of the blog - I've surprised myself with how long it's lasted.
Looking back at the last 2 months, it's been an enjoyable task typing this blog every weekday. I've surprised myself with how much I've been able to type every day, with a word average easily over 1200 daily, and the range of topics I've covered in that time. I hope you'll agree that I have typed pretty much about anything and everything! The one disappointment has been the response. I incorrectly had the impression that all you had to do was start a blog and the readers would come. I haven't really advertised it and in fact my uni friends are still searching for it as I type, so I guess I should've expected that. Fortunately a few family & friends do read the blog but I guess not everyone has the time to sit down and leave comments. Not everyone has 4hrs spare on most afternoons! But the hit counter now shows over 700, with only 500 being myself, so that means at least 200 hits fro other people!
Like all Fridays, I'm feeling absolutely shattered. I'm currently working on producing a DVD of our Pakistan trip using video editing software called Pinnacle Studio 10. It's an amazing piece of software which basically lets you do anything with pictures and videos. However, it uses up tons of CPU and PC memory which makes it extremely unstable. It keeps crashing every 5mins which has made the process extremely tiresome. Thankfully it recovers what was being done after it crashes, but it's painstakingly slow. I've easily spent over 10hours on it so far, only managing 24mins of actual film.
It needs a lot of patience. My wife & I managed to create a film for my Dad's 50th birthday last year which turned out very well, but it took over 4 months to prepare and at the penultimate stage my computer crashed and deleted the whole thing, but we somehow managed to recover it. For it to work you need enormous amounts of computing power, and even then it's not guaranteed to work, which is a shame since it's really easy to use. After finishing work today I hope to finish the remainder of the holiday by tomorrow, but I'm not hopeful.
I'm really feeling the effects of a lack of sleep this week, so my mind is slowly but surely going numb, creating a lot of difficulty in typing this blog. I still haven't read the document on "How to sleep less and have more energy," I've just been too tired! With that in mind, I'm sure you'll excuse me for ending the blog now. Finished my surgery and after a home visit it's time to go home and collapse into bed!
Take care all, and have a good weekend,
Thoughts just flow, when do they have to make sense?
Looking back at the last 2 months, it's been an enjoyable task typing this blog every weekday. I've surprised myself with how much I've been able to type every day, with a word average easily over 1200 daily, and the range of topics I've covered in that time. I hope you'll agree that I have typed pretty much about anything and everything! The one disappointment has been the response. I incorrectly had the impression that all you had to do was start a blog and the readers would come. I haven't really advertised it and in fact my uni friends are still searching for it as I type, so I guess I should've expected that. Fortunately a few family & friends do read the blog but I guess not everyone has the time to sit down and leave comments. Not everyone has 4hrs spare on most afternoons! But the hit counter now shows over 700, with only 500 being myself, so that means at least 200 hits fro other people!
Like all Fridays, I'm feeling absolutely shattered. I'm currently working on producing a DVD of our Pakistan trip using video editing software called Pinnacle Studio 10. It's an amazing piece of software which basically lets you do anything with pictures and videos. However, it uses up tons of CPU and PC memory which makes it extremely unstable. It keeps crashing every 5mins which has made the process extremely tiresome. Thankfully it recovers what was being done after it crashes, but it's painstakingly slow. I've easily spent over 10hours on it so far, only managing 24mins of actual film.
It needs a lot of patience. My wife & I managed to create a film for my Dad's 50th birthday last year which turned out very well, but it took over 4 months to prepare and at the penultimate stage my computer crashed and deleted the whole thing, but we somehow managed to recover it. For it to work you need enormous amounts of computing power, and even then it's not guaranteed to work, which is a shame since it's really easy to use. After finishing work today I hope to finish the remainder of the holiday by tomorrow, but I'm not hopeful.
I'm really feeling the effects of a lack of sleep this week, so my mind is slowly but surely going numb, creating a lot of difficulty in typing this blog. I still haven't read the document on "How to sleep less and have more energy," I've just been too tired! With that in mind, I'm sure you'll excuse me for ending the blog now. Finished my surgery and after a home visit it's time to go home and collapse into bed!
Take care all, and have a good weekend,
Thoughts just flow, when do they have to make sense?
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Inadvertant movie mode
Speaking to my wife and MTL yesterday, they both concluded that yesterday's blog was one of the more interesting ones; apparently my blogs are better when I don't have a set plan to follow. However, even for my topical blogs, I start with a random rant so I guess the response varies from topic to topic. Some are appreciated more than others.
Surgery this morning has yet again been uneventful. I used to feel certain kudos attached to being a doctor, but as time goes by it is being stripped away. People always associate doctors with making difficult decisions, working under pressure and saving lives. When I was working in hospital I experienced a bit of that, sometimes what I did actually made a difference to a patient’s quality of life. I helped improve severe infections or treat and prevent heart attacks. Nowadays the most difficult decision seems to be what to type about in my blog. Being a GP has taken away all the kudos.
I don't know why I'm complaining so much. After all, I could have stayed in hospital and felt more important but instead I choose to go down this path. Throughout medical school I was adamant that I wouldn't become a GP. Remember, I didn't want to be a dentist because I couldn't stand the thought of looking down people's mouths for the rest of my life, similarly I didn't want to be a GP because the idea of treating cold after cold, sore throat after sore throat was not appealing.
I've already highlighted in a previous blog the reasons for going into general practice, but I still can't help feeling a sense of failure in becoming a GP. It wasn't what I envisaged when I was at medical school. I enjoy the hours and the family/social life that the job affords me, but the more often than not after most of my surgeries I'm left feeling fed-up. Hopefully when I qualify as a GP I'll be able to branch out and develop some special interests, something that will let me feel as if I'm making a difference. One possibility would be to have day shifts in A&E, really get my hands dirty with some acute medicine, but until then, I guess I have to make do.
Sorry to keep going on about it, it just seems to be the overwhelming feeling I experience on a daily basis. It's not helped by the fact that I have such a long gap between surgery's with nothing but this blog to do. Being stuck in the middle of nowhere, 40miles from home means my options are severely limited. There is a cinema nearby, but I can't quite bring myself to go alone, something I've only done once and it was a sad experience. However I am tempted by the chance to watch Casino Royale this afternoon - alone or not alone, at least it'll be something to do!
Speaking of films, I saw The Prestige last night. An extremely intriguing film. Very well shot and all the actors performed well. The twist in the end was quite simple, but masterfully presented. It's been awhile since I saw a good film, infact a while since I saw any film in the cinema at all. A far cry from my uni days, when I averaged over 40 films a year, reaching my nadir in 2001 when I managed 53 films in one year, more than one a week! This year I think I've only managed 12 films; it's what a married and working life does to you!
Continuing with the movie theme for now, there are quite a few films in the pipeline which sound interesting. On top of the new James Bond, there's also a blast from the past in the form of Rocky Balboa. Rocky I-III were brilliant films, and along with the first Rambo, they have been Stallone's only decent films. However, Rocky IV and V were simply awful and killed the franchise. Although the thought of Rocky VI seems purely a money-making exercise, I'll be interested to see it nonetheless.
May 2007 is going to be a huge month for Hollywood. It sees the release of three sequels whose predecessors have absolutely minted the box office. First is the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, I really have trouble understanding why POTC has been so successful. I did enjoy the films, but I don't see why they have been such a huge success at the box office. What has been so special about them? Also released will be Spiderman 3, the first Spiderman broke all records for the highest opening weekend ever and Spiderman 2 wasn't far behind, the films themselves were really good, and I'm really looking forward to the 3rd installment. Lastly, also released in May is Shrek the Third. The Shrek series has proved immensely popular, the second film taking in over $900 million at the box office. It's my wife's favourite film and the third installment should hopefully be very funny. So all in all, May looks like a good month for everyone, there's something in all the three films for everyone to enjoy.
No movie discussion would be complete without mention of Bollywood, something which the major film magazines in the UK, namely Empire and Total Film, seem to repeatedly ignore. Only the BBC movie website has a section dedicated for Bollywood. That's extremely poor when you consider that many Bollywood films routinely make it into the top ten at the UK box office.
One star stands out from Bollywood, no surprises to know that he is Shah Rukh Khan. Unlike Hollywood, the success of Bollywood movies usually centres on the cast, not necessarily the story. Pretty much every single Shah Rukh Khan starrer since 1998 (when Bollywood started taking off in the UK) has made it into the top ten. You can argue that the films have been successful because of other stars as well, films such as Veer Zaara, which made it as high as no. 4 at the box office in November 2004, and Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam, (possibly one of the worst Bollywood films ever, although released in 2002, some of the scenes were shot in 1996) - upto no.7 at the box office - have succeeded because of the multi star cast. However, even Swades (a film purely based on Shah Rukh Khan) made it into top ten UK box office in December 2004, which just goes to show the power of the man.
It therefore comes as a surprise that his latest film, Don, has failed to enter the top ten. It only made it to number 11. Even Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna made it into the top ten, despite being a 192min bore. So has the light finally dimmed for Shah Rukh Khan? Have people become savvy and decided to watch films for their stories rather than their actors? I haven't seen Don, so I can't comment on how good it is, but I reckon it'll take more than one film before we can cast doubt on the power of Shah Rukh Khan.
At the end of the day, why would he care? He's made his millions so why would he care if his films flop? Infact, why would any successful actor care? Hollywood actors make millions upon millions of dollars for each film. Bruce Willis made $30million for The Sixth Sense, Tom Cruise $40million for M:I 2 and Tom Hanks over $50million for Forrest Gump. Whooping amounts of cash, so any subsequent box office failure would probably not even register on their radar!
How did this turn into a movie blog? A random rant if there ever was one if you ask me! I only wanted to mention the film I saw last night and look where it led me. Well, hopefully some of the thousands of readers of this site are movie fans and will find today's blog interesting! Then again, who am I kidding?
Take care all,
Thoughts just flow, when do they have to make sense?
Surgery this morning has yet again been uneventful. I used to feel certain kudos attached to being a doctor, but as time goes by it is being stripped away. People always associate doctors with making difficult decisions, working under pressure and saving lives. When I was working in hospital I experienced a bit of that, sometimes what I did actually made a difference to a patient’s quality of life. I helped improve severe infections or treat and prevent heart attacks. Nowadays the most difficult decision seems to be what to type about in my blog. Being a GP has taken away all the kudos.
I don't know why I'm complaining so much. After all, I could have stayed in hospital and felt more important but instead I choose to go down this path. Throughout medical school I was adamant that I wouldn't become a GP. Remember, I didn't want to be a dentist because I couldn't stand the thought of looking down people's mouths for the rest of my life, similarly I didn't want to be a GP because the idea of treating cold after cold, sore throat after sore throat was not appealing.
I've already highlighted in a previous blog the reasons for going into general practice, but I still can't help feeling a sense of failure in becoming a GP. It wasn't what I envisaged when I was at medical school. I enjoy the hours and the family/social life that the job affords me, but the more often than not after most of my surgeries I'm left feeling fed-up. Hopefully when I qualify as a GP I'll be able to branch out and develop some special interests, something that will let me feel as if I'm making a difference. One possibility would be to have day shifts in A&E, really get my hands dirty with some acute medicine, but until then, I guess I have to make do.
Sorry to keep going on about it, it just seems to be the overwhelming feeling I experience on a daily basis. It's not helped by the fact that I have such a long gap between surgery's with nothing but this blog to do. Being stuck in the middle of nowhere, 40miles from home means my options are severely limited. There is a cinema nearby, but I can't quite bring myself to go alone, something I've only done once and it was a sad experience. However I am tempted by the chance to watch Casino Royale this afternoon - alone or not alone, at least it'll be something to do!
Speaking of films, I saw The Prestige last night. An extremely intriguing film. Very well shot and all the actors performed well. The twist in the end was quite simple, but masterfully presented. It's been awhile since I saw a good film, infact a while since I saw any film in the cinema at all. A far cry from my uni days, when I averaged over 40 films a year, reaching my nadir in 2001 when I managed 53 films in one year, more than one a week! This year I think I've only managed 12 films; it's what a married and working life does to you!
Continuing with the movie theme for now, there are quite a few films in the pipeline which sound interesting. On top of the new James Bond, there's also a blast from the past in the form of Rocky Balboa. Rocky I-III were brilliant films, and along with the first Rambo, they have been Stallone's only decent films. However, Rocky IV and V were simply awful and killed the franchise. Although the thought of Rocky VI seems purely a money-making exercise, I'll be interested to see it nonetheless.
May 2007 is going to be a huge month for Hollywood. It sees the release of three sequels whose predecessors have absolutely minted the box office. First is the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, I really have trouble understanding why POTC has been so successful. I did enjoy the films, but I don't see why they have been such a huge success at the box office. What has been so special about them? Also released will be Spiderman 3, the first Spiderman broke all records for the highest opening weekend ever and Spiderman 2 wasn't far behind, the films themselves were really good, and I'm really looking forward to the 3rd installment. Lastly, also released in May is Shrek the Third. The Shrek series has proved immensely popular, the second film taking in over $900 million at the box office. It's my wife's favourite film and the third installment should hopefully be very funny. So all in all, May looks like a good month for everyone, there's something in all the three films for everyone to enjoy.
No movie discussion would be complete without mention of Bollywood, something which the major film magazines in the UK, namely Empire and Total Film, seem to repeatedly ignore. Only the BBC movie website has a section dedicated for Bollywood. That's extremely poor when you consider that many Bollywood films routinely make it into the top ten at the UK box office.
One star stands out from Bollywood, no surprises to know that he is Shah Rukh Khan. Unlike Hollywood, the success of Bollywood movies usually centres on the cast, not necessarily the story. Pretty much every single Shah Rukh Khan starrer since 1998 (when Bollywood started taking off in the UK) has made it into the top ten. You can argue that the films have been successful because of other stars as well, films such as Veer Zaara, which made it as high as no. 4 at the box office in November 2004, and Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam, (possibly one of the worst Bollywood films ever, although released in 2002, some of the scenes were shot in 1996) - upto no.7 at the box office - have succeeded because of the multi star cast. However, even Swades (a film purely based on Shah Rukh Khan) made it into top ten UK box office in December 2004, which just goes to show the power of the man.
It therefore comes as a surprise that his latest film, Don, has failed to enter the top ten. It only made it to number 11. Even Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna made it into the top ten, despite being a 192min bore. So has the light finally dimmed for Shah Rukh Khan? Have people become savvy and decided to watch films for their stories rather than their actors? I haven't seen Don, so I can't comment on how good it is, but I reckon it'll take more than one film before we can cast doubt on the power of Shah Rukh Khan.
At the end of the day, why would he care? He's made his millions so why would he care if his films flop? Infact, why would any successful actor care? Hollywood actors make millions upon millions of dollars for each film. Bruce Willis made $30million for The Sixth Sense, Tom Cruise $40million for M:I 2 and Tom Hanks over $50million for Forrest Gump. Whooping amounts of cash, so any subsequent box office failure would probably not even register on their radar!
How did this turn into a movie blog? A random rant if there ever was one if you ask me! I only wanted to mention the film I saw last night and look where it led me. Well, hopefully some of the thousands of readers of this site are movie fans and will find today's blog interesting! Then again, who am I kidding?
Take care all,
Thoughts just flow, when do they have to make sense?
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
The Blog Effect? II
Had a straightforward surgery this morning. All males, between the ages of 25-50 and with good, clean-cut problems. No faffing around, no time-wasting, just talked about the problem and I dealt with them directly. During my training, my trainer continues to speak about expectations of the patient and hidden agendas. Today there was none of that which is a relief. Sometimes having a hidden agenda can be interesting, but on other occasions I'd much rather prefer the straightforward patient - much easier on the brain especially since I'm so tired (as usual).
Speaking of hidden agendas, part of my training focuses on certain questions to ask each and every patient. The two questions I've been told to ask are "what do you think is the problem?" and "what were you hoping I could do for you?" This, apparently, is the easiest way to get to the bottom of the problem and discover whether there is anything the patient is not saying and provides the doctor (i.e. me) with a better understand of their expectations from the appointment.
Bearing this in mind, Jughead told me about an appointment with her GP recently. He was a GP Registrar, so similar to my position. Jughead had an earache, similar to ones she had had in the past due to wax build up. When she saw the GP she gave the history and how she'd like the doctor to check her ears for wax. Instead of doing the obvious, the doctor then started asking her "so what do you think the problem is?", "when you made this appointment, what were you hoping for?" When I heard this, I couldn't stop laughing! It seems I'm not the only one taught about hidden agendas, but surely a bit of logic needs to be applied and he should've realised that not every consultation requires those questions. Jughead was extremely perplexed and in the end he didn't even examine her ears, but simply prescribed some eardrops. By the end of the consultation the doctor knew what Jughead's expectations from the appointment were, but he didn't actually check to see the exact problem in the ears! What if it wasn't a wax problem?
I agree that these questions are extremely useful for a lot of patients because sometimes I don't have a clue why they made the appointment and other times the problems seem complicated and need these questions just to establish a certain expectation level. However, there are times when the problem is very simple and obvious and these questions are a waste of time, or in Jughead's case get in the way of a proper consultation! So the next time you visit your GP surgery and the new doctor starts asking these questions, stop him/her if it's inappropriate and be more direct. I told Jughead she should've just stopped the doctor and been direct with him.
Moving on and because I can't think of a particular topic to type about today, (similar to when I typed The Blog Effect?) instead I'll type about a few news reports I heard on my way to work this morning. The first was the report on the launch of the Al-Jazeera English news channel later today. This should make some interesting view; it should provide a better look at the Middle East from an Arab point of view. Unsurprisingly it will be banned in America where all the coverage from CNN, NBC, FOX etc is so bias it's not fit to be called 'news'. I'm expecting the channel to show the view from the Arab world, a view we hear very little about and it should be interesting, especially with people like Sir Robert Frost lined up to present.
Another interesting news story was the compensation for prisoners, detailing how drug addicted prisoners are suing the government for denying them their drugs causing them severe discomfort and pain! So basically, we are paying for their stay in prison and then they are asking for more money to be spent feeding their addiction. Absolutely farcical, (there's a new one for you Miss G2S) What's to stop other prisoners claiming that they're addicted to certain food or activities and demand that they receive compensation for that as well? Sounds like the opening of a can of worms.
Lastly, today’s Thought of the Day on the Today programme on radio 4 was pretty much a rethread of yesterday's blog! The lecturer from Lancaster University (I forget exactly what he lectures on) spoke about Iraq and how dire the situation is and how although recommendations have been made about Iran and Syria's involvement, whether they will be followed remains to be seen. Perhaps he read my blog! Highly unlikely I know, but a nice thought nonetheless.
Also, before I finish, just want to quickly state that I was able to exchange my camera I bought from Jessops yesterday without any hassle, despite there being a dent on the camera which must've been there when I purchased it as I had not dropped the camera. I exchanged it for the Canon Ixus-850IS camera which seems to be much better.
It's been a pretty boring blog today. I guess it was bound to happen. Admittedly some of the other blogs may have been boring, but today is probably the first blog that I've felt bored about whilst typing! Don't expect to receive many comments for today; perhaps instead you could suggest some topics you'd like me to type about?
Take care all,
Thoughts just flow, when do they have to make sense?
Speaking of hidden agendas, part of my training focuses on certain questions to ask each and every patient. The two questions I've been told to ask are "what do you think is the problem?" and "what were you hoping I could do for you?" This, apparently, is the easiest way to get to the bottom of the problem and discover whether there is anything the patient is not saying and provides the doctor (i.e. me) with a better understand of their expectations from the appointment.
Bearing this in mind, Jughead told me about an appointment with her GP recently. He was a GP Registrar, so similar to my position. Jughead had an earache, similar to ones she had had in the past due to wax build up. When she saw the GP she gave the history and how she'd like the doctor to check her ears for wax. Instead of doing the obvious, the doctor then started asking her "so what do you think the problem is?", "when you made this appointment, what were you hoping for?" When I heard this, I couldn't stop laughing! It seems I'm not the only one taught about hidden agendas, but surely a bit of logic needs to be applied and he should've realised that not every consultation requires those questions. Jughead was extremely perplexed and in the end he didn't even examine her ears, but simply prescribed some eardrops. By the end of the consultation the doctor knew what Jughead's expectations from the appointment were, but he didn't actually check to see the exact problem in the ears! What if it wasn't a wax problem?
I agree that these questions are extremely useful for a lot of patients because sometimes I don't have a clue why they made the appointment and other times the problems seem complicated and need these questions just to establish a certain expectation level. However, there are times when the problem is very simple and obvious and these questions are a waste of time, or in Jughead's case get in the way of a proper consultation! So the next time you visit your GP surgery and the new doctor starts asking these questions, stop him/her if it's inappropriate and be more direct. I told Jughead she should've just stopped the doctor and been direct with him.
Moving on and because I can't think of a particular topic to type about today, (similar to when I typed The Blog Effect?) instead I'll type about a few news reports I heard on my way to work this morning. The first was the report on the launch of the Al-Jazeera English news channel later today. This should make some interesting view; it should provide a better look at the Middle East from an Arab point of view. Unsurprisingly it will be banned in America where all the coverage from CNN, NBC, FOX etc is so bias it's not fit to be called 'news'. I'm expecting the channel to show the view from the Arab world, a view we hear very little about and it should be interesting, especially with people like Sir Robert Frost lined up to present.
Another interesting news story was the compensation for prisoners, detailing how drug addicted prisoners are suing the government for denying them their drugs causing them severe discomfort and pain! So basically, we are paying for their stay in prison and then they are asking for more money to be spent feeding their addiction. Absolutely farcical, (there's a new one for you Miss G2S) What's to stop other prisoners claiming that they're addicted to certain food or activities and demand that they receive compensation for that as well? Sounds like the opening of a can of worms.
Lastly, today’s Thought of the Day on the Today programme on radio 4 was pretty much a rethread of yesterday's blog! The lecturer from Lancaster University (I forget exactly what he lectures on) spoke about Iraq and how dire the situation is and how although recommendations have been made about Iran and Syria's involvement, whether they will be followed remains to be seen. Perhaps he read my blog! Highly unlikely I know, but a nice thought nonetheless.
Also, before I finish, just want to quickly state that I was able to exchange my camera I bought from Jessops yesterday without any hassle, despite there being a dent on the camera which must've been there when I purchased it as I had not dropped the camera. I exchanged it for the Canon Ixus-850IS camera which seems to be much better.
It's been a pretty boring blog today. I guess it was bound to happen. Admittedly some of the other blogs may have been boring, but today is probably the first blog that I've felt bored about whilst typing! Don't expect to receive many comments for today; perhaps instead you could suggest some topics you'd like me to type about?
Take care all,
Thoughts just flow, when do they have to make sense?
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Permanent woe continues
It seems these blogs are becoming more and more fruitless. No-one appears to be reading them, or if they are they continue to ignore my requests to leave a comment. I should focus on why I started the blog in the first place - to fill in the long hours of nothingness that I have pretty much every day. Having people read it is just a bonus, so I better stop feeling disappointed by the lack of interest.
Looking back at my blogs, it's been over a month since I last typed about current affairs or politics. For one reason or the other, most of the blogs have been about personal or religious issues and of course my holiday. Perhaps it's time to type about some current affairs.
Since 2003, current affairs wouldn't be current affairs without some news about Iraq. That country has been a central pivotal point in world affairs practically since time began. From ancient times when it possessed one of the ancient wonders of the world, to the Byzantine Empire through to the time of Alexander the Great and then towards British rule before World War II (skipping a few generations in between). It was after WWII when many of the problems began for the country.
Its borders were redefined, although rule was handed over by the British, they appointed a king from another Arab nation to govern the country, made sure they had control of the billions of gallons of oil in the northern territories, thus preventing the creation of a nation for the Kurds as previously promised, and attempted to control the country. This was then overthrown leading eventually to the dictatorship of Saddam Hussain. At no point in time have the people of Iraq been able to govern their own country in a democratic way.
The current invasion of Iraq was meant to change all that. It was meant to get rid of Saddam and create a democratic government that would allow the population to vote and govern themselves. Such high hopes, make the current failings even more galling. Current estimates of civilian deaths seem to range from 100,000 to 655,000; either figure is a shocking statistic. Sure the situation was atrocious under Saddam Hussain, but is the current situation any better?
With casualties continuing to grow, more and more damage to the UK and US armed forces and insurgent groups continuing to cause death and destruction across the country, words fail me when attempting to describe how dire the situation is in the country. The point of the invasion seems to be long forgotten. Apparently Saddam had WMDs which were a threat to world peace and was causing mass casualties in his country. He had to be taken care of - 'regime change' was the catchphrase at one point.
People say it’s far too simplistic to say it's all because of the oil, but is it? There are other dictatorships across the globe, Zimbabwe, N. Korea, even China to some extent, but nothing is ever done about them. All the recent fur ore surround nuclear tests in N. Korea seems to have died down, no action is being enforced. It's in the pipeline, but no nation seems to pushing for it. If it's not oil then what is the reason for all this devastation? There are no WMDs; it has clearly been proved that Saddam was not a threat to world peace. He was a threat to his own country, but not the rest of the world. Sanctions imposed at the end of the first Gulf War had severely crippled him already.
The situation in Iraq continues to get bleaker and bleaker. Current news has been all about the Iraq Study Group (ISG). Before I go on, I think the ISG is quite an amusing name. It reminds me of the revision sessions I used to have at uni. I can just imagine a group of people in a quiet corner in the library studying the situation in Iraq, being told to keep the noise down!
The Iraq Study Group was formed at the request of the US Congress. Led by ex-Secretary of State, James Baker, the group gave suggestions regarding a phased withdrawal from Iraq and discussions with Iran and Syria with regard to attempting to maintain the peace in Iraq - if you can call it that!
No sooner was this idea bought forward, it was dismissed by George Bush. Whilst Iran continues to develop nuclear energy, and Syria interferes with Lebanon, talks would not be held. So basically the main suggestion of the ISG was squashed from the outset. Talk about a pointless exercise. Was it purely done for the sake of showing something is being done? Giving it a fancy name and appointing prominent people gave it some status, but to then dismiss their conclusions seems ridiculous. (Stop laughing Miss G2S!)
The state of affairs in Iraq gets worse day by day. There seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel. Innocent civilians continue to lose their lives for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I can't even imagine how it must feel knowing that just walking outside to get some bread and milk, may spell death from the local suicide bomber. News reports seem to indicate the presences of a suicide bomber at every corner! On top of that, the casualties in the armed forces continue to rise day by day. These are people sent by the government to do their dirty work and losing their lives for what?
It really frustrates me as I'm sure it does for others. All the reports of casualties have become so normal that we've become indifferent towards it. It's not just numbers being reported, but actual people being killed. The sheer arrogance of Tony Blair and George Bush is overwhelming. They are responsible for the death of upto 655,000 people in Iraq and they manage to convince themselves and then try to convince others that it's for world peace! If this is peace, what would war be like?
Yet again, I find myself walking down the same path. What can we do? What can I do? At the moment, apart from me typing about it from time to time, the answer seems to be not much! Nothing changes and I guess I will continue to type about the situation for the foreseeable future. Sometimes I wonder if the state of Iraq will be resolved in my lifetime. I'm not optimistic at all.
Take care all,
Thoughts just flow, when do they have to make sense?
Looking back at my blogs, it's been over a month since I last typed about current affairs or politics. For one reason or the other, most of the blogs have been about personal or religious issues and of course my holiday. Perhaps it's time to type about some current affairs.
Since 2003, current affairs wouldn't be current affairs without some news about Iraq. That country has been a central pivotal point in world affairs practically since time began. From ancient times when it possessed one of the ancient wonders of the world, to the Byzantine Empire through to the time of Alexander the Great and then towards British rule before World War II (skipping a few generations in between). It was after WWII when many of the problems began for the country.
Its borders were redefined, although rule was handed over by the British, they appointed a king from another Arab nation to govern the country, made sure they had control of the billions of gallons of oil in the northern territories, thus preventing the creation of a nation for the Kurds as previously promised, and attempted to control the country. This was then overthrown leading eventually to the dictatorship of Saddam Hussain. At no point in time have the people of Iraq been able to govern their own country in a democratic way.
The current invasion of Iraq was meant to change all that. It was meant to get rid of Saddam and create a democratic government that would allow the population to vote and govern themselves. Such high hopes, make the current failings even more galling. Current estimates of civilian deaths seem to range from 100,000 to 655,000; either figure is a shocking statistic. Sure the situation was atrocious under Saddam Hussain, but is the current situation any better?
With casualties continuing to grow, more and more damage to the UK and US armed forces and insurgent groups continuing to cause death and destruction across the country, words fail me when attempting to describe how dire the situation is in the country. The point of the invasion seems to be long forgotten. Apparently Saddam had WMDs which were a threat to world peace and was causing mass casualties in his country. He had to be taken care of - 'regime change' was the catchphrase at one point.
People say it’s far too simplistic to say it's all because of the oil, but is it? There are other dictatorships across the globe, Zimbabwe, N. Korea, even China to some extent, but nothing is ever done about them. All the recent fur ore surround nuclear tests in N. Korea seems to have died down, no action is being enforced. It's in the pipeline, but no nation seems to pushing for it. If it's not oil then what is the reason for all this devastation? There are no WMDs; it has clearly been proved that Saddam was not a threat to world peace. He was a threat to his own country, but not the rest of the world. Sanctions imposed at the end of the first Gulf War had severely crippled him already.
The situation in Iraq continues to get bleaker and bleaker. Current news has been all about the Iraq Study Group (ISG). Before I go on, I think the ISG is quite an amusing name. It reminds me of the revision sessions I used to have at uni. I can just imagine a group of people in a quiet corner in the library studying the situation in Iraq, being told to keep the noise down!
The Iraq Study Group was formed at the request of the US Congress. Led by ex-Secretary of State, James Baker, the group gave suggestions regarding a phased withdrawal from Iraq and discussions with Iran and Syria with regard to attempting to maintain the peace in Iraq - if you can call it that!
No sooner was this idea bought forward, it was dismissed by George Bush. Whilst Iran continues to develop nuclear energy, and Syria interferes with Lebanon, talks would not be held. So basically the main suggestion of the ISG was squashed from the outset. Talk about a pointless exercise. Was it purely done for the sake of showing something is being done? Giving it a fancy name and appointing prominent people gave it some status, but to then dismiss their conclusions seems ridiculous. (Stop laughing Miss G2S!)
The state of affairs in Iraq gets worse day by day. There seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel. Innocent civilians continue to lose their lives for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I can't even imagine how it must feel knowing that just walking outside to get some bread and milk, may spell death from the local suicide bomber. News reports seem to indicate the presences of a suicide bomber at every corner! On top of that, the casualties in the armed forces continue to rise day by day. These are people sent by the government to do their dirty work and losing their lives for what?
It really frustrates me as I'm sure it does for others. All the reports of casualties have become so normal that we've become indifferent towards it. It's not just numbers being reported, but actual people being killed. The sheer arrogance of Tony Blair and George Bush is overwhelming. They are responsible for the death of upto 655,000 people in Iraq and they manage to convince themselves and then try to convince others that it's for world peace! If this is peace, what would war be like?
Yet again, I find myself walking down the same path. What can we do? What can I do? At the moment, apart from me typing about it from time to time, the answer seems to be not much! Nothing changes and I guess I will continue to type about the situation for the foreseeable future. Sometimes I wonder if the state of Iraq will be resolved in my lifetime. I'm not optimistic at all.
Take care all,
Thoughts just flow, when do they have to make sense?
Monday, November 13, 2006
Refresh yourself II
Yet another shambolic display by Liverpool yesterday. Thankfully I turned down the opportunity to see the game at the Emirates Stadium. The seat was amongst the Arsenal supporters and it would not have been a happy place! I have to stop being so bothered. Way back in September after defeat by Chelsea I spoke about giving up on the Premiership and yet my support has remained strong. What is the point now? 14 points behind Man Utd, there isn't a chance in hell of recovering that kind of deficit. Perhaps I should try supporting Chelsea again!
I did attend my friends wedding on Saturday. In fact it was the first of my uni mates to get married after myself, more than two years ago! Finally, I can meet up with someone who is also hitched. Since getting married I've only been able to meet up with my friend’s maybe 2-3 times a year, and there are some friends I haven't seen for over a year. Hopefully when they get married we can meet up more.
I also purchased a new digital camera from Jessops on Saturday. The Panasonic DMC-FX07 for only £187.26. The reason I'm typing about this is because Jessops were actually selling it for £269.99. They price matched the camera with the cheapest price I could find online and then cut a further 10% off the price. I thought I'd mention it so if you want/need to get a camera go to Jessops, I thought the deal was very impressive. Having said all that, I’m disappointed with the quality of the photos when the optical zoom is used, so may now try to exchange it for another camera, hopefully they'll let me do that as well!
Moving on to today's topic and now that Ramadan has finished a familiar pattern has returned. I spoke in the past about the need to refresh yourself and how in Islam there is constant recycling process which allows one to increase their faith and get closer to God, but what about the gaps in-between? Often what happens is that many people - and I include myself and others I know - become very religious in the months of Ramadan and Muharrum and sometimes Zilhajj, but then fall back into their usual ways afterwards. In the 'Refresh Yourself' blog I spoke of how although Islam blesses us with these opportunities, it is also important to make sure we continue to develop our faith outside of these months.
During Ramadan this year, I attended lectures by Hassanain Rajabali for two weeks, had Quran sessions on four occasions with the family, where we translated and explained certain surahs, and also performed the main requirements of the month, namely to fast, pray and abstain from forbidden acts during the month. Others I know also engaged in religious acts and increased thier knowledge and hopefully we all increased our faith that little bit more. So how have things gone since Ramadan finished?
To be honest, in a word, abysmal! It's coming up to three weeks since Eid and apart from my daily prayers (which I perform regardless) I haven't done anything to continue the development of my faith. People close to me have also gone down the same path. Our faith is apparently on pause! One week has been spent in Pakistan, but for the rest of the time, I've been guilty of sheer laziness.
It's the same old story, during Ramadan/Muharrum I feel refreshed, my faith increases and I'm determined to continue after the month finishes but it just remains a set of noble intentions. As predictable as the day is short, these changes simply don't happen. I settle back into the old routine. By typing about it, I'm hoping I maybe able to re-inspire myself and others to carry on what we started in Ramadan.
A good starting point is the Quran. The wealth of knowledge in there is immense and Ayatollahs and Professors of Islam are continuing to learn new information from it. During Ramadan as a family, we would all study certain surahs and then provide a translation and explanation of the surah to the rest of the family. I thought it worked really well, we all learned as a group and everyone was involved. I have to restart that again. It doesn’t help that Jughead and Scottish Dentist have moved to Scotland as they were active participants in the process, but I've heard certain other friends are moving nearby (not from my friend, but from others, he seems too busy to stay in touch anymore - thinly-veiled criticism or what!) so maybe I can involve them.
Besides that I need to re-start my morning prayers on time. At the moment it's easy because the time for morning prayers is after I wake up for work, but when that changes after winter, I have to start getting up. I managed to do so whilst I was a student for 2 consecutive years but ever since I started work I've been extremely poor at doing so.
Prayer is THE most important aspect of Islam. It is a daily opportunity to refresh yourself. If you take say 5 mins per prayer per day, it will only take up 25mins a day. I've never understood why people have such a difficult time praying regularly on a daily basis. Even if you don't understand the prayer, just the act of prayer is a good deed itself, obviously it's better to understand what is said, but that can be developed afterwards. It should be treated as a habit, something that just has to be done. Once the habit is developed it can be nurtured into more by understanding the prayer and gaining more from it.
For those people who don't pray, there can be no excuse; no-one can come up with any excuse. At the risk of sounding preachy and holier than thou, (sorry MTL), there cannot be any reason not to pray. We all have to pray, it's as simple as that. It's not a difficult act; it's a beneficial and merciful act, we are fortunate to have such a system. We are able to pray to God 3 times a day and ask him for help, why is it so difficult for some people? I may sound too simplistic, but when it comes to prayers, it is very simple so there is a need to be simplistic. We all HAVE to pray, end of story!
Hopefully by typing this blog, I can find the necessary inspiration to continue my faith building. The Holy Prophet has asked us to constantly seek knowledge and the Quran is an amazing source for that. Besides the Quran, there are numerous books which explore Islam in great detail which can also help develop knowledge and faith. All it requires are small adjustments here and there. I'm not trying to advocate a system whereby we all become reclusive overtly religious people who just indulge in prayer all day long! It just needs small changes. 25 mins for prayer is not asking for much. An hour a week reading the Quran is not difficult. It's all about motivation and I'm hoping this blog will provide the necessary motivation for me and maybe others.
It's about setting small targets. For me, inshallah, I will set aside one hour per week to read a surah of the Quran, translate it and understand it. On top of that I hope to restart the family Quran sessions and then take it from there. For those who don't pray on a regular basis, perhaps try setting a target - don't miss a prayer for one week, then two weeks etc and see how you get on. Inshallah God will help us to achieve these targets, after all, we are trying to get closer to him and he states "When My servants ask thee concerning Me, I am indeed close (to them) I listen to the prayer of every suppliant when he calleth on Me..." (Surah 2, Verse 186).
I know this blog has ended up sounds a bit preachy, but I guess with what I ended up typing about it was unavoidable. Please leave your comments on how to improve ourselves outside the holy months and how to strive to increase our faith. Hopefully this blog will be useful to me and I can continue to improve and not just continue down the same old path of self-indulgence and no substance!
Take care all,
Thoughts just flow, when do they have to make sense?
I did attend my friends wedding on Saturday. In fact it was the first of my uni mates to get married after myself, more than two years ago! Finally, I can meet up with someone who is also hitched. Since getting married I've only been able to meet up with my friend’s maybe 2-3 times a year, and there are some friends I haven't seen for over a year. Hopefully when they get married we can meet up more.
I also purchased a new digital camera from Jessops on Saturday. The Panasonic DMC-FX07 for only £187.26. The reason I'm typing about this is because Jessops were actually selling it for £269.99. They price matched the camera with the cheapest price I could find online and then cut a further 10% off the price. I thought I'd mention it so if you want/need to get a camera go to Jessops, I thought the deal was very impressive. Having said all that, I’m disappointed with the quality of the photos when the optical zoom is used, so may now try to exchange it for another camera, hopefully they'll let me do that as well!
Moving on to today's topic and now that Ramadan has finished a familiar pattern has returned. I spoke in the past about the need to refresh yourself and how in Islam there is constant recycling process which allows one to increase their faith and get closer to God, but what about the gaps in-between? Often what happens is that many people - and I include myself and others I know - become very religious in the months of Ramadan and Muharrum and sometimes Zilhajj, but then fall back into their usual ways afterwards. In the 'Refresh Yourself' blog I spoke of how although Islam blesses us with these opportunities, it is also important to make sure we continue to develop our faith outside of these months.
During Ramadan this year, I attended lectures by Hassanain Rajabali for two weeks, had Quran sessions on four occasions with the family, where we translated and explained certain surahs, and also performed the main requirements of the month, namely to fast, pray and abstain from forbidden acts during the month. Others I know also engaged in religious acts and increased thier knowledge and hopefully we all increased our faith that little bit more. So how have things gone since Ramadan finished?
To be honest, in a word, abysmal! It's coming up to three weeks since Eid and apart from my daily prayers (which I perform regardless) I haven't done anything to continue the development of my faith. People close to me have also gone down the same path. Our faith is apparently on pause! One week has been spent in Pakistan, but for the rest of the time, I've been guilty of sheer laziness.
It's the same old story, during Ramadan/Muharrum I feel refreshed, my faith increases and I'm determined to continue after the month finishes but it just remains a set of noble intentions. As predictable as the day is short, these changes simply don't happen. I settle back into the old routine. By typing about it, I'm hoping I maybe able to re-inspire myself and others to carry on what we started in Ramadan.
A good starting point is the Quran. The wealth of knowledge in there is immense and Ayatollahs and Professors of Islam are continuing to learn new information from it. During Ramadan as a family, we would all study certain surahs and then provide a translation and explanation of the surah to the rest of the family. I thought it worked really well, we all learned as a group and everyone was involved. I have to restart that again. It doesn’t help that Jughead and Scottish Dentist have moved to Scotland as they were active participants in the process, but I've heard certain other friends are moving nearby (not from my friend, but from others, he seems too busy to stay in touch anymore - thinly-veiled criticism or what!) so maybe I can involve them.
Besides that I need to re-start my morning prayers on time. At the moment it's easy because the time for morning prayers is after I wake up for work, but when that changes after winter, I have to start getting up. I managed to do so whilst I was a student for 2 consecutive years but ever since I started work I've been extremely poor at doing so.
Prayer is THE most important aspect of Islam. It is a daily opportunity to refresh yourself. If you take say 5 mins per prayer per day, it will only take up 25mins a day. I've never understood why people have such a difficult time praying regularly on a daily basis. Even if you don't understand the prayer, just the act of prayer is a good deed itself, obviously it's better to understand what is said, but that can be developed afterwards. It should be treated as a habit, something that just has to be done. Once the habit is developed it can be nurtured into more by understanding the prayer and gaining more from it.
For those people who don't pray, there can be no excuse; no-one can come up with any excuse. At the risk of sounding preachy and holier than thou, (sorry MTL), there cannot be any reason not to pray. We all have to pray, it's as simple as that. It's not a difficult act; it's a beneficial and merciful act, we are fortunate to have such a system. We are able to pray to God 3 times a day and ask him for help, why is it so difficult for some people? I may sound too simplistic, but when it comes to prayers, it is very simple so there is a need to be simplistic. We all HAVE to pray, end of story!
Hopefully by typing this blog, I can find the necessary inspiration to continue my faith building. The Holy Prophet has asked us to constantly seek knowledge and the Quran is an amazing source for that. Besides the Quran, there are numerous books which explore Islam in great detail which can also help develop knowledge and faith. All it requires are small adjustments here and there. I'm not trying to advocate a system whereby we all become reclusive overtly religious people who just indulge in prayer all day long! It just needs small changes. 25 mins for prayer is not asking for much. An hour a week reading the Quran is not difficult. It's all about motivation and I'm hoping this blog will provide the necessary motivation for me and maybe others.
It's about setting small targets. For me, inshallah, I will set aside one hour per week to read a surah of the Quran, translate it and understand it. On top of that I hope to restart the family Quran sessions and then take it from there. For those who don't pray on a regular basis, perhaps try setting a target - don't miss a prayer for one week, then two weeks etc and see how you get on. Inshallah God will help us to achieve these targets, after all, we are trying to get closer to him and he states "When My servants ask thee concerning Me, I am indeed close (to them) I listen to the prayer of every suppliant when he calleth on Me..." (Surah 2, Verse 186).
I know this blog has ended up sounds a bit preachy, but I guess with what I ended up typing about it was unavoidable. Please leave your comments on how to improve ourselves outside the holy months and how to strive to increase our faith. Hopefully this blog will be useful to me and I can continue to improve and not just continue down the same old path of self-indulgence and no substance!
Take care all,
Thoughts just flow, when do they have to make sense?
Friday, November 10, 2006
More motivation please
I think I can safely say the jet-lag has finally worn off, although getting back into the work routine means the tiredness has returned again, the weekend has come at the perfect time. Big game yet again this weekend and it seems I'm going back on my word! I'd like to not be such an avid follower of Liverpool, but I just can't help it - my wife is most displeased!
Carrying on from yesterday and one of the things about being a GP that irritates the most (and I've touched on this before) is the sheer volume of people who come with minor problems that they could treat at home if they had some common sense. Yesterday afternoon's surgery consisted of 8 patients, 7 of whom would not need to be there had they just tried taking some painkillers. I know I'm repeating stuff I've already typed about, but it's really frustrating, hence the repetition.
Why won't people take painkillers? When asked, majority state that they don't like taking tablets. So what on earth did they expect I would say? I'm a doctor; of course I'm going to prescribe some medicine. Then when I suggest they need to try some painkillers first they all agree. Why couldn't they do that in the first place? It really bugs me.
A classic case yesterday was a 20yr old guy who made an appointment because he had pain in his neck after sleeping in an awkward position the night before. He didn't want to take any painkillers and it wasn't getting any better. He was able to move his neck fully but had an aching pain when he looked left. My first option was always going to be painkillers and yet he had to make an appointment to see a doctor to be told that. Like I said, I've ranted about this all before, but I'm just in the mood to go over it again. It's becoming such a pain to continually prescribe painkillers. Where has the common sense gone?
On my drive to work I was listening to yet more reports of muslim extremism and terrorists and the struggle we are facing etc etc. Apparently MI5 are having to deal with more and more terror plots and the negative image of Islam continues in full-force. The veil issue has also cropped up again, this time with regard to rules for lawyers wearing the veil in court and every time I look at the BBC News website there always seems to be some report creating negative feelings and attitudes towards muslims and Islam. It is only a matter of time before the veil will be banned in public places, inevitably leading the way to the headscarf as well!
These continuous negative media reports are just so depressing. Similar to my feeling about work, there are so many times when I want to do something about it. I often drive to work or home thinking about what to do. I often have moments of motivation about wanting to make a difference (so clichéd). But what can I change? How can I change these situations?
There are two parts of motivation. One is for me, mainly focusing on how I can improve myself. This part of the motivation tends to be to improve my knowledge and faith in my religion, to improve as a person and cut down on my negative aspects. All are achievable and it is an ongoing process with ups and downs, hopefully reaching a flat line at a good level at some point. The second part is how I can improve the world, so to speak! Grandiose sounding I know, but often I reflect on how to change the opinions that exist towards muslims and how to change hospital conditions for doctors to make it more appealing. But in reality what can I actually do?
I guess looking at the bigger picture it's all insignificant in comparison to our personal lives. Understandably people (me included) are more interested in their social and family lives. People who can make a difference often have busy personal lives and don't have the time or inclination to try and make a difference. Perhaps I and others will have to wait until the later part of our lives when we have more time, but then the worry is by then it may be too late. It may get to a point were living in Britain will become untenable for muslims and that's why something needs to be done.
In the real world what can I do to make a difference? I am constantly thinking, waiting for a moment of inspiration. In the meantime I guess I'll continue to hear all the negative press about Islam and continue to feel disillusioned about my job! What options do I have? If you have any suggestions then please feel free to leave your comments. Reading this blog and it is a pure random ramble; I don't even know if much of it makes sense! Please excuse me, but it is Friday after all!
Take care all, and have a good weekend.
Thoughts just flow, when do they have to make sense?
Carrying on from yesterday and one of the things about being a GP that irritates the most (and I've touched on this before) is the sheer volume of people who come with minor problems that they could treat at home if they had some common sense. Yesterday afternoon's surgery consisted of 8 patients, 7 of whom would not need to be there had they just tried taking some painkillers. I know I'm repeating stuff I've already typed about, but it's really frustrating, hence the repetition.
Why won't people take painkillers? When asked, majority state that they don't like taking tablets. So what on earth did they expect I would say? I'm a doctor; of course I'm going to prescribe some medicine. Then when I suggest they need to try some painkillers first they all agree. Why couldn't they do that in the first place? It really bugs me.
A classic case yesterday was a 20yr old guy who made an appointment because he had pain in his neck after sleeping in an awkward position the night before. He didn't want to take any painkillers and it wasn't getting any better. He was able to move his neck fully but had an aching pain when he looked left. My first option was always going to be painkillers and yet he had to make an appointment to see a doctor to be told that. Like I said, I've ranted about this all before, but I'm just in the mood to go over it again. It's becoming such a pain to continually prescribe painkillers. Where has the common sense gone?
On my drive to work I was listening to yet more reports of muslim extremism and terrorists and the struggle we are facing etc etc. Apparently MI5 are having to deal with more and more terror plots and the negative image of Islam continues in full-force. The veil issue has also cropped up again, this time with regard to rules for lawyers wearing the veil in court and every time I look at the BBC News website there always seems to be some report creating negative feelings and attitudes towards muslims and Islam. It is only a matter of time before the veil will be banned in public places, inevitably leading the way to the headscarf as well!
These continuous negative media reports are just so depressing. Similar to my feeling about work, there are so many times when I want to do something about it. I often drive to work or home thinking about what to do. I often have moments of motivation about wanting to make a difference (so clichéd). But what can I change? How can I change these situations?
There are two parts of motivation. One is for me, mainly focusing on how I can improve myself. This part of the motivation tends to be to improve my knowledge and faith in my religion, to improve as a person and cut down on my negative aspects. All are achievable and it is an ongoing process with ups and downs, hopefully reaching a flat line at a good level at some point. The second part is how I can improve the world, so to speak! Grandiose sounding I know, but often I reflect on how to change the opinions that exist towards muslims and how to change hospital conditions for doctors to make it more appealing. But in reality what can I actually do?
I guess looking at the bigger picture it's all insignificant in comparison to our personal lives. Understandably people (me included) are more interested in their social and family lives. People who can make a difference often have busy personal lives and don't have the time or inclination to try and make a difference. Perhaps I and others will have to wait until the later part of our lives when we have more time, but then the worry is by then it may be too late. It may get to a point were living in Britain will become untenable for muslims and that's why something needs to be done.
In the real world what can I do to make a difference? I am constantly thinking, waiting for a moment of inspiration. In the meantime I guess I'll continue to hear all the negative press about Islam and continue to feel disillusioned about my job! What options do I have? If you have any suggestions then please feel free to leave your comments. Reading this blog and it is a pure random ramble; I don't even know if much of it makes sense! Please excuse me, but it is Friday after all!
Take care all, and have a good weekend.
Thoughts just flow, when do they have to make sense?
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Why am I a doctor?
This jet-lag situation is getting a tad ridiculous now. Yet again I was wide awake, this time at 4am, although I was initially disturbed by my wife, I couldn't get back to sleep for quite some time. Where is Sully? The day I told him about the blog he stayed up quite late reading all the previous entries and has been leaving comments on my blogs ever since. Over night he became my no.1 fan! However, since my return, there has been no sign of him.
Whilst I was out in Pakistan I managed to watch two Liverpool matches. I saw the two Saturday 3pm kick-off games live on TV. These are games which can't be seen live on TV in the UK, yet I was able to watch them abroad. I've discovered that it's possible to watch these games on the internet by taping into foreign broadcasts online, for more details on how to do this, feel free to leave a request on my comments page.
Often when I return from holiday, the first few days back at work are really miserable and this time has been no exception. The grind of a normal days work is really hard to get back into. It's at times like these were I really dislike my job. Why am I a doctor? I’ve been struggling to come up with an answer for quite some time, pretty much ever since I qualified.
Looking back, the reason I choose medicine was because it seemed like the only career to do with the A' Levels I had done, namely Chemistry, Maths & Physics. The reason I did those A' Levels was because science seemed to be the only subject I was good at. Other than dentistry there wasn't much else, I could have specialised in any of the 3 subjects but that was not appealing and I couldn't stand the thought of staring down peoples mouths for the rest of my life so medicine seemed to be the only choice! I now know people who have qualified as dentists round the same time as me and now work in private practices, drive fast cars and earn a huge salary. Suddenly, staring down peoples mouths all day doesn't seem so bad. A friend often jokes about how it's odd I have an aversion to people’s mouth when being a doctor means I have to go to far more disgusting places which is arguably much worse, but at the time I just couldn't see myself do it.
Sully is also a doctor who qualified a year before me. We often joke that the only reason I did medicine was because he did and there maybe some truth to that, but now we both regret not choosing dentistry. At the time it seemed like the course to do for people who couldn't get into medicine and to some extent it still is, albeit with a better career afterwards. How naive we were! If I had the choice again I would definitely have done dentistry.
Medical school was an absolute doss. It's actually quite an easy degree; being 5 years long means you have plenty of time. I constantly skipped lectures and my friends and I had the nickname as the 'Backbone of Doss,' we were the key dossers and others joined in at various times. We even intended to write the 'Dosser's Guide to Medicine' but decided that it would get in the way of our dossing, therefore, it would be a hypocritical book! Ironically having missed so many lectures, come revision for our final exams in the 5th year, we all paid over £300 for revision lectures, but so did everyone else.
The only time I didn't doss was when it came to actually working in hospitals as past of our clinical attachments, that's were I gained all my practical knowledge and clinical skills. The theory was all revised nearer the exam time, but the rest of the time was a big chill! My wife recently qualified in Pharmacology & Physiology at UCL and her degree was far tougher than mine, with lab work, coursework and dissertations.
Before you all get concerned about the quality of healthcare I provide, please be reassured that since I qualified I've taken my work seriously and feel that I am a competent doctor. I try not to take any risks and always turn to my seniors for advice whenever I need to. These two qualities have ensured that I remain a good doctor and mistakes have been very rare. Any mistakes I may have made, I have learned from and never repeated again. Thankfully I have never made any mistake which has resulted in a patient deteriorating or even dying.
Ever since I've qualified, I really haven't enjoyed working. Working in the NHS has been anything but enjoyable. From the moment I started working in hospital, the big problem has been the hours I've had to endure. Don't get me wrong, my predecessors of years gone by had it much worse and they've always reminded me of that, but the hours are still pretty gruesome. Apart from the usual 9-5 days, one day a week I would be on-call which would mean 9-9pm shift, in addition I worked one in four weekends, i.e. once a month and 2 weeks of nights in 6 months. A&E was even worse; it would be one week of nights a month and 2 weekends per month. A week of nights is horrible, for that one week your life is on hold. Working between the hours of 9pm to 9am is torture; 12hrs per day for 7 consecutive days is absolutely dreadful. After I finish my stint in the GP practice, I have a 6 month post in A&E and I am dreading it.
Take away the hour’s situation and out of all the jobs I've done, A&E has been the best. It's like an extreme GP practice. Sure I would see a lot of mundane stuff, but there would be a lot of cases requiring urgent medical attention. If A&E could be a well-paid 9-5 job then I would take it immediately. 'Well-paid' is the key phrase, because it just doesn't exist.
I haven't had much experience in surgery, but during medical school it was an area I was keen to specialise in. However, becoming a specialist surgeon takes ages of hard work and I just don't have it in me. After completing the house job, it's usually a 3 year rotation in various surgical specialties which means more long hours. Then after taking the MRCS exam (Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons) you can become a Specialist Registrar in any field of interest, although competition is extremely strong. The Registrar rotation can lasts upto 10 years, again more long hours and by the time you can start applying for Consultant posts you're already over 35yrs old. Fifteen years of long hours, weekends and night-shifts, and that's an optimistic estimate. Being Asian probably means it would take even longer.
With that in mind, how on earth can you have any sort of family life? Reluctantly GP seemed the best way to go. It requires only 3 years of training and after qualifying at the age of 27/28 there are no weekends, no on-calls and no night shifts and the pay is extremely decent. However, the work is so mundane. 90% of my time is seeing people with minor ailments, the majority of whom require the same advice repeated over and over again. It's really really boring.
Only my time in A&E was semi-enjoyable. The work was interesting but it was tempered by the long working hours. Other than that all my jobs so far have been a chore. It's too late to think about a change in career. I have to at least complete my training to become a GP, that way if I do consider a change I can at least fall back on being a GP. If I do consider a change, what can I do? My options are extremely limited. People mention how large corporate companies are often looking to recruit doctors, or perhaps I can look into the business side of the NHS, being a doctor should mean I have a better understanding of how a hospital runs, I just need a business degree of some sort! How long does a MBA take?
In the meantime, I guess I've just got to continue with what I have. Looking at the positives, I have a good salary, have a good home life with my wife and family and drive a decent car. I also need to buy a house but prices in the area I live are astronomical, and it'll also mean having to give up my car. I suppose one of the reasons I blog is because of how boring my job is; at least typing on here is interesting. I think that's what I need to focus on, being a GP, means I'll have a good quality of life outside of work which means I can concentrate on other things which should make the job bearable. I sure hope so.
Take care all,
Thoughts just flow, when do they have to make sense?
Whilst I was out in Pakistan I managed to watch two Liverpool matches. I saw the two Saturday 3pm kick-off games live on TV. These are games which can't be seen live on TV in the UK, yet I was able to watch them abroad. I've discovered that it's possible to watch these games on the internet by taping into foreign broadcasts online, for more details on how to do this, feel free to leave a request on my comments page.
Often when I return from holiday, the first few days back at work are really miserable and this time has been no exception. The grind of a normal days work is really hard to get back into. It's at times like these were I really dislike my job. Why am I a doctor? I’ve been struggling to come up with an answer for quite some time, pretty much ever since I qualified.
Looking back, the reason I choose medicine was because it seemed like the only career to do with the A' Levels I had done, namely Chemistry, Maths & Physics. The reason I did those A' Levels was because science seemed to be the only subject I was good at. Other than dentistry there wasn't much else, I could have specialised in any of the 3 subjects but that was not appealing and I couldn't stand the thought of staring down peoples mouths for the rest of my life so medicine seemed to be the only choice! I now know people who have qualified as dentists round the same time as me and now work in private practices, drive fast cars and earn a huge salary. Suddenly, staring down peoples mouths all day doesn't seem so bad. A friend often jokes about how it's odd I have an aversion to people’s mouth when being a doctor means I have to go to far more disgusting places which is arguably much worse, but at the time I just couldn't see myself do it.
Sully is also a doctor who qualified a year before me. We often joke that the only reason I did medicine was because he did and there maybe some truth to that, but now we both regret not choosing dentistry. At the time it seemed like the course to do for people who couldn't get into medicine and to some extent it still is, albeit with a better career afterwards. How naive we were! If I had the choice again I would definitely have done dentistry.
Medical school was an absolute doss. It's actually quite an easy degree; being 5 years long means you have plenty of time. I constantly skipped lectures and my friends and I had the nickname as the 'Backbone of Doss,' we were the key dossers and others joined in at various times. We even intended to write the 'Dosser's Guide to Medicine' but decided that it would get in the way of our dossing, therefore, it would be a hypocritical book! Ironically having missed so many lectures, come revision for our final exams in the 5th year, we all paid over £300 for revision lectures, but so did everyone else.
The only time I didn't doss was when it came to actually working in hospitals as past of our clinical attachments, that's were I gained all my practical knowledge and clinical skills. The theory was all revised nearer the exam time, but the rest of the time was a big chill! My wife recently qualified in Pharmacology & Physiology at UCL and her degree was far tougher than mine, with lab work, coursework and dissertations.
Before you all get concerned about the quality of healthcare I provide, please be reassured that since I qualified I've taken my work seriously and feel that I am a competent doctor. I try not to take any risks and always turn to my seniors for advice whenever I need to. These two qualities have ensured that I remain a good doctor and mistakes have been very rare. Any mistakes I may have made, I have learned from and never repeated again. Thankfully I have never made any mistake which has resulted in a patient deteriorating or even dying.
Ever since I've qualified, I really haven't enjoyed working. Working in the NHS has been anything but enjoyable. From the moment I started working in hospital, the big problem has been the hours I've had to endure. Don't get me wrong, my predecessors of years gone by had it much worse and they've always reminded me of that, but the hours are still pretty gruesome. Apart from the usual 9-5 days, one day a week I would be on-call which would mean 9-9pm shift, in addition I worked one in four weekends, i.e. once a month and 2 weeks of nights in 6 months. A&E was even worse; it would be one week of nights a month and 2 weekends per month. A week of nights is horrible, for that one week your life is on hold. Working between the hours of 9pm to 9am is torture; 12hrs per day for 7 consecutive days is absolutely dreadful. After I finish my stint in the GP practice, I have a 6 month post in A&E and I am dreading it.
Take away the hour’s situation and out of all the jobs I've done, A&E has been the best. It's like an extreme GP practice. Sure I would see a lot of mundane stuff, but there would be a lot of cases requiring urgent medical attention. If A&E could be a well-paid 9-5 job then I would take it immediately. 'Well-paid' is the key phrase, because it just doesn't exist.
I haven't had much experience in surgery, but during medical school it was an area I was keen to specialise in. However, becoming a specialist surgeon takes ages of hard work and I just don't have it in me. After completing the house job, it's usually a 3 year rotation in various surgical specialties which means more long hours. Then after taking the MRCS exam (Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons) you can become a Specialist Registrar in any field of interest, although competition is extremely strong. The Registrar rotation can lasts upto 10 years, again more long hours and by the time you can start applying for Consultant posts you're already over 35yrs old. Fifteen years of long hours, weekends and night-shifts, and that's an optimistic estimate. Being Asian probably means it would take even longer.
With that in mind, how on earth can you have any sort of family life? Reluctantly GP seemed the best way to go. It requires only 3 years of training and after qualifying at the age of 27/28 there are no weekends, no on-calls and no night shifts and the pay is extremely decent. However, the work is so mundane. 90% of my time is seeing people with minor ailments, the majority of whom require the same advice repeated over and over again. It's really really boring.
Only my time in A&E was semi-enjoyable. The work was interesting but it was tempered by the long working hours. Other than that all my jobs so far have been a chore. It's too late to think about a change in career. I have to at least complete my training to become a GP, that way if I do consider a change I can at least fall back on being a GP. If I do consider a change, what can I do? My options are extremely limited. People mention how large corporate companies are often looking to recruit doctors, or perhaps I can look into the business side of the NHS, being a doctor should mean I have a better understanding of how a hospital runs, I just need a business degree of some sort! How long does a MBA take?
In the meantime, I guess I've just got to continue with what I have. Looking at the positives, I have a good salary, have a good home life with my wife and family and drive a decent car. I also need to buy a house but prices in the area I live are astronomical, and it'll also mean having to give up my car. I suppose one of the reasons I blog is because of how boring my job is; at least typing on here is interesting. I think that's what I need to focus on, being a GP, means I'll have a good quality of life outside of work which means I can concentrate on other things which should make the job bearable. I sure hope so.
Take care all,
Thoughts just flow, when do they have to make sense?
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Part 2
Well the jet-lag has yet to wear off, by 9pm last night I was shattered even though I didn't do much in the evening, and then this morning I was wide awake at 5.30am. I find that a bit odd since 5.30am means 10.30am in Pakistan, and there's no way I would ever be wide awake at 10.30! Hopefully by the time the weekend is here it should be sorted out.
As promised, I've bought some pictures of the trip, so will continue to type about the holiday. Coming back to Karachi briefly, I forgot to mention a restaurant we visited on the night of our arrival. It's called 'Lal Qila', which translates to 'Red Fort' and it was a massive castle type building with a buffet held in the courtyard. It was very impressive with a huge range of food, and I was absolutely stuffed by the end of it. Although most of the food was enjoyable during the trip, I tried to ensure that I didn't get carried away. I'm pleased to say that my weight has not changed after the trip, so now I can start concentrating on trying to lose some! Can't say the same about certain other people on the trip! You know who you are!
Before typing more about Lahore, check out these pictures of typical Karachi traffic: 
The last one is particularly amusing! I saw motorbikes with 4 people on them, other scooters with the mother holding a baby on her lap, but the 4 kids in the boot was the funniest and most bizarre of the lot! The smoke in the second picture is purely from the rickshaw and the pollution levels were extremely high throughout the city, contributing, no doubt, to the global warming dilemma I've discussed here.
I also talked about the visit to the Sindh Assembly yesterday; here are some pictures from there.
The first one is a picture of Lord Mountbatten declaring the independence of Pakistan and handing over power to Jinnah and the second photo is me in the very same chair. The third picture shows Jinnah himself - in a moment of contemplation and the last picture is the Pakistan Resolution.
So finally, back to Lahore. After arriving late Monday night, we woke up late the following Tuesday to see a lizard (see below) on the ceiling, cue pandemonium as we chased the lizard out of the room, it soon disappeared, thankfully not seen again, although I'm sure it was lingering somewhere in the house! The first day was spent relaxing at home as we had gotten up too late to do anything. It was counter-productive because it allowed my wife to make plans for the next day: namely, shopping!
Come Wednesday and my wife disappeared with her mum to do some shopping. She left at 12pm and returned at 9pm, that is some serious shopping! Thankfully she didn't spend too much and my bank balance is still intact. Meanwhile, I visited the Indo-Pak border, called the Wagha border. Thanks to my sister-in-law taking ages to get ready - why was makeup required to visit the border? - we missed the sunset ceremony by 5minutes! Luckily we managed to get to the border to take some pictures and India was merely 10m away. So close and yet so far. Funnily enough I have an Indian visa so I could have walked across, but because of my single entry Pakistan visa I would not have been allowed back in - I would be stuck in Punjab.
That evening we had to attend a Mehendi function. A common theme throughout the trip was because of the number of girls, everything was delayed because they all took ages to get ready! Credit to my wife's cousins who all got ready quickly, but as for my wife and her sister's, they all took ages! The processes they all went through, it's amazing that they have any real skin left.
The function started at 10pm and dinner was served at 11pm. What about work the next day? No-one seemed to care. Thursday saw a brief attempt at sight-seeing. We visited Minar-e-Pakistan - a bit like the Eiffel Tower, and also a famous masjid whose name I now forget, but hopefully someone will remind me in the comments section.
That evening we attended the wedding of the mehendi from the night before. Nothing changed, the girls took ages to get ready and dinner was served at 11pm. On Friday I visited my father-in-law's fathers grave. He passed away in 1973 and was buried in what was a new graveyard at the time. Over the following years the whole area has become extremely congested. My father-in-law showed me some pictures of the actual burial and the graveyard is now completely unrecognisable.
On the way back, we stopped at McDonald's, where I enjoyed a chicken Big Mac. To my astonishment I saw this Mercedes outside (see below). It had an UK number plate; it had been imported from the UK! According to my wife's uncle, the Pakistan government charges between 200-300% import tax to cars, so what was a £40,000 car, probably cost the owner upto £180,000 to import. Crazy! Incidentally, that same evening I saw another Mercedes E-Class and a BMW 7-series with UK number plates. Infact, the BMW number plate was LA54 DHA, where LA stood for Lahore and DHA for the Defence Housing Authority! Clearly some very rich people in Lahore.
Our last evening in Lahore and my wife's uncle took us out to a restaurant called Salt 'n' Peppa. It wasn't a buffet but the food was extremely good. Afterwards, outside the restaurant, I was confronted by a 'kusra' (a transvestite) asking for money - I just turned and ran; it was a real scary sight!
The following morning we had a brunch at my wife's aunts house and then grabbed the afternoon flight to Karachi. Upon landing we went to some shops in order for me to do some shopping. I bought a few shalwar kameez, I can now dress like a proper Pakistani when I return home! We then went to a restaurant at the seaside. It was an amazing buffet, with all types of food including sheep brain! Believe me, it actually tasted quite nice, a bit like egg yolk. They also served my favourite dessert, gulab jamun. In the past I've been known to down quite a few, my record stands at 11, and that was only because they ran out. This time, I was extremely sensible and only had 3. I'm very impressed with myself! On the way back I spotted something shocking, a Nissan 350Z! My car! That must have cost at least £200,000, the import tax must be at least 500% for that!!
The following morning meant the end of our holiday. My wife's sister also flew home with us, my wife's parents and other sister stayed behind for a further week. As I mentioned yesterday the return flight was quite tortuous. Overall, I had a really good time, much to my surprise. I went with a lot of negative views about the place and my experiences have changed all that.
My wife has a huge family and everyone was extremely warm, welcoming and friendly towards me. There was no animosity because I'm Indian, although I wasn't really expecting it. They all seemed to enjoy my mickey-taking of Pakistani's! I didn't encounter any negative feelings towards Shia's at anytime. When we were out shopping, or at restaurants, people knew we were Shia's but there was never any tension.
I used to tell my wife before I got married that I would visit Pakistan once as a duty to her and then never again. However, after this visit I definitely plan to return inshallah. I'm quite shocked to see myself type that. Of all the reactions I could have hoped for, this was not one of them, but I had a really enjoyable time. Part of that was thanks to my wife's family who came with us which made it much easier. I also got to interact more with my sister-in-laws which was also fun and I'll be typing a blog about them in due course now that I know them better. I think having my wife's family made it easier to interact with my wife's extended family; they all helped me out throughout the trip. At the end of the day, I want to return to Pakistan because I had such a good time with my wife's family, but I don't know whether I would recommend it to anyone to visit at random. At the moment, I don't know much about the country in terms of sight-seeing etc so I can't really say. I'll correct that the next time I visit!
I think that pretty much concludes my blog about the holiday. Hope it wasn't too boring to read. From tomorrow it's back to the usual blogs about random thoughts.
Take care all,
Thoughts just flow, when do they have to make sense?
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Guess who's back?
Welcome back to you all! I returned safe and sound from Pakistan yesterday evening. Escaped the clutches of the Taleban successfully and had a really enjoyable holiday. Still jet-lagged, although it seems to be working in my favour at the moment because it is coming up to 2pm in Pakistan right now so I'm relatively awake for this time of day, whereas yesterday evening at around 8pm I was feeling shattered.
I flew on Gulf Air, returning via Muscat. The return flight was a meaty seven and a half hours long and I felt every minute of it! On the way out the flight was overnight so I slept through most of it, this time I was wide awake, sandwiched between my wife and sister-in-law, towards the back of the plane, who both fell asleep. The turbulence was pretty bad at times and those of a nervous disposition would have found it quite scary, images of the LOST plane crash kept going through my head, but I managed! The in-flight entertainment consisted of 3 movies on repeat, Talladega Nights, You, Me & Dupree and John Tucker Must Die, if you've seen them then unlucky, if you haven't, don't (although You, Me & Dupree isn't too bad)!
Enough about all that, let's type about the actual holiday. Unfortunately I forgot to bring the pictures I took so will post them tomorrow for part 2 of the holiday. As mentioned earlier I stayed in Karachi and Lahore and met my wife's very extensive extended family, and that was just on her father's side, who is one of six siblings which means loads of cousins, all of similar ages.
I was in Karachi from the 27th to the 30th of October, flying out in the evening for Lahore. As it was the first time my wife was visiting after marriage, a function was held for us on Saturday. Over 200 people turned up to watch us sit on stage and smile! Or at least, that's what it felt like! The function actually started at 11pm. Before that, my wife disappeared at 8pm to a beauty parlor to get ready, she got back fully decked out at 10pm, and I had yet to get ready! My getting ready simply involved having a shower and getting changed into a suit, taking all of 15mins! We then had the luxury of enjoying a photo shoot and being asked to pose in a variety of positions, some extremely bizarre and then went to the rooftop, where the function was being held, to be put on display!
It was quite unnerving sitting on a stage in front of people I'd never before seen in my life. It only lasted about 15mins before dinner started. Being past 11pm, I'm sure everyone was hungry. The food was really good, although I didn't get to eat much as I was being introduced to everyone who attended. It began to settle down towards 1am, which was when the music party started! This continued until morning prayers at around 4am! The songs were mainly qawalli's and my wife and I sat in the front throughout the party.
After eventually waking up sometime in the afternoon, the day was spent lounging at home before going to Nando's for dinner. That's right, Nando's, Portuguese restaurant, in Karachi. The layout and presentation was exactly the same, the food was pretty similar, but the sauces were quite different. Apart from that it felt like I was in any Nando's restaurant in the UK.
On the last day in Karachi I visited the Sindh Assembly. Sindh is the province in which Karachi lies. My wife's aunt's husband runs the Sindh Assembly and invited us to visit the main hall. This was the very hall where the British handed independence and power to the nation of Pakistan in 1947. I sat in the very chair that Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, sat in at the hand over of power. There were various pictures of Jinnah throughout the hall and surrounding area which I will post tomorrow. I'm not very knowledgeable about the politics of Pakistan and the history of its creation. I do know that it was created as a muslim nation, i.e. based on religious grounds, but failed miserably when it was split up further into Pakistan and Bangladesh. My friend has a vast amount of knowledge on the history, so if you're reading then please post a comment about the politics of the nation, time permitting of course!
Overall, I found the people of Pakistan to be very friendly which was surprising. When I went shopping with family, a lot of people knew we were Shia's and there was never any problem. One of my wife's cousins explained that the people are very friendly; it's the government and extremists that cause all the problems. Now, where have I heard that before? On a day to day basis Shia-Sunni conflicts are extremely rare and in the general community’s people interact well with one another and I saw nothing which disagreed with that opinion.
We arrived in Lahore late Monday night and the difference in the two places was noticeable immediately. Whilst Karachi was busy, dirty, heavily polluted and crazy traffic, Lahore seemed much cleaner, and quieter, although it was 1am so it was bound to be quiet. The journey from the airport showed a very clean city and it seemed as if I had arrived in Dubai or Abu Dhabi. We stayed at my father-in-law's elder brother’s house, who lived in the posh area of Lahore called Defence. Each city in Pakistan has an area called Defence which happens to house all the big and lavish houses.
The house we stayed in was really nice, quiet large and well maintained. My wife's uncle has 4 daughters, so basically including my wife's sisters I was surrounded by girls. Heaven for MTL, but a bit unnerving for me! Fortunately it was no problem; they all interacted well and made an effort with me. I introduced Sudoku to them all which kept them entertained and by the time I left they were completing puzzles faster than me!
In Lahore I had the chance to do some shopping and it was fake city! I was very impressed with the quality on offer, although it was fake designer wear, for many items it was almost impossible to tell the difference. I bought some Versace and Moschino jeans for £10 and you would be hard pushed to identify what is fake about it. In the past, when I've visited India, I've laughed at the quality of the fake clothes, but this was extremely impressive. What was funny was the fact that it's extremely difficult to find the originals even if you wanted to do so.
Apologies, but I am going to end rather abruptly and finish now. I took a lot of pictures in Lahore and want to post them with the rest of the details of my holiday tomorrow. It seems a waste to type more about the holiday and then display the pictures at a later date, better to do it all together, and besides, I have to finish off anyway because I need some food!
So until tomorrow, take care all,
Thoughts just flow, when do they have to make sense?
I flew on Gulf Air, returning via Muscat. The return flight was a meaty seven and a half hours long and I felt every minute of it! On the way out the flight was overnight so I slept through most of it, this time I was wide awake, sandwiched between my wife and sister-in-law, towards the back of the plane, who both fell asleep. The turbulence was pretty bad at times and those of a nervous disposition would have found it quite scary, images of the LOST plane crash kept going through my head, but I managed! The in-flight entertainment consisted of 3 movies on repeat, Talladega Nights, You, Me & Dupree and John Tucker Must Die, if you've seen them then unlucky, if you haven't, don't (although You, Me & Dupree isn't too bad)!
Enough about all that, let's type about the actual holiday. Unfortunately I forgot to bring the pictures I took so will post them tomorrow for part 2 of the holiday. As mentioned earlier I stayed in Karachi and Lahore and met my wife's very extensive extended family, and that was just on her father's side, who is one of six siblings which means loads of cousins, all of similar ages.
I was in Karachi from the 27th to the 30th of October, flying out in the evening for Lahore. As it was the first time my wife was visiting after marriage, a function was held for us on Saturday. Over 200 people turned up to watch us sit on stage and smile! Or at least, that's what it felt like! The function actually started at 11pm. Before that, my wife disappeared at 8pm to a beauty parlor to get ready, she got back fully decked out at 10pm, and I had yet to get ready! My getting ready simply involved having a shower and getting changed into a suit, taking all of 15mins! We then had the luxury of enjoying a photo shoot and being asked to pose in a variety of positions, some extremely bizarre and then went to the rooftop, where the function was being held, to be put on display!
It was quite unnerving sitting on a stage in front of people I'd never before seen in my life. It only lasted about 15mins before dinner started. Being past 11pm, I'm sure everyone was hungry. The food was really good, although I didn't get to eat much as I was being introduced to everyone who attended. It began to settle down towards 1am, which was when the music party started! This continued until morning prayers at around 4am! The songs were mainly qawalli's and my wife and I sat in the front throughout the party.
After eventually waking up sometime in the afternoon, the day was spent lounging at home before going to Nando's for dinner. That's right, Nando's, Portuguese restaurant, in Karachi. The layout and presentation was exactly the same, the food was pretty similar, but the sauces were quite different. Apart from that it felt like I was in any Nando's restaurant in the UK.
On the last day in Karachi I visited the Sindh Assembly. Sindh is the province in which Karachi lies. My wife's aunt's husband runs the Sindh Assembly and invited us to visit the main hall. This was the very hall where the British handed independence and power to the nation of Pakistan in 1947. I sat in the very chair that Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, sat in at the hand over of power. There were various pictures of Jinnah throughout the hall and surrounding area which I will post tomorrow. I'm not very knowledgeable about the politics of Pakistan and the history of its creation. I do know that it was created as a muslim nation, i.e. based on religious grounds, but failed miserably when it was split up further into Pakistan and Bangladesh. My friend has a vast amount of knowledge on the history, so if you're reading then please post a comment about the politics of the nation, time permitting of course!
Overall, I found the people of Pakistan to be very friendly which was surprising. When I went shopping with family, a lot of people knew we were Shia's and there was never any problem. One of my wife's cousins explained that the people are very friendly; it's the government and extremists that cause all the problems. Now, where have I heard that before? On a day to day basis Shia-Sunni conflicts are extremely rare and in the general community’s people interact well with one another and I saw nothing which disagreed with that opinion.
We arrived in Lahore late Monday night and the difference in the two places was noticeable immediately. Whilst Karachi was busy, dirty, heavily polluted and crazy traffic, Lahore seemed much cleaner, and quieter, although it was 1am so it was bound to be quiet. The journey from the airport showed a very clean city and it seemed as if I had arrived in Dubai or Abu Dhabi. We stayed at my father-in-law's elder brother’s house, who lived in the posh area of Lahore called Defence. Each city in Pakistan has an area called Defence which happens to house all the big and lavish houses.
The house we stayed in was really nice, quiet large and well maintained. My wife's uncle has 4 daughters, so basically including my wife's sisters I was surrounded by girls. Heaven for MTL, but a bit unnerving for me! Fortunately it was no problem; they all interacted well and made an effort with me. I introduced Sudoku to them all which kept them entertained and by the time I left they were completing puzzles faster than me!
In Lahore I had the chance to do some shopping and it was fake city! I was very impressed with the quality on offer, although it was fake designer wear, for many items it was almost impossible to tell the difference. I bought some Versace and Moschino jeans for £10 and you would be hard pushed to identify what is fake about it. In the past, when I've visited India, I've laughed at the quality of the fake clothes, but this was extremely impressive. What was funny was the fact that it's extremely difficult to find the originals even if you wanted to do so.
Apologies, but I am going to end rather abruptly and finish now. I took a lot of pictures in Lahore and want to post them with the rest of the details of my holiday tomorrow. It seems a waste to type more about the holiday and then display the pictures at a later date, better to do it all together, and besides, I have to finish off anyway because I need some food!
So until tomorrow, take care all,
Thoughts just flow, when do they have to make sense?
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Greetings from Pakistan
Assalam alaikum from Pakistan. Anyone miss me? I’m sitting in my uncle-in-law’s (i.e. my father-in-law’s brother) house in Lahore. I’m connected to the internet via a cable modem, ahh those were the days and needless to say it’s running extremely slowly! With that in mind, I can’t take up too much time typing online.
So far the holiday has been very good and relaxing. Spent the weekend in Karachi and then flew to Lahore on Monday night. Karachi was very hot, averaging 32 degrees with a lot of pollution and humidity. Took some funny pictures in the traffic jams which I will post when I get back. One of my wife’s relatives works in the government Assembly, so had a chance to visit the main hall where the independence of Pakistan was declared by Lord Mountbatten in 1947, sat on the very chair it took place on. Other than that the rest of the time was spent meeting family and discovering how huge my wife’s family actually is, and that’s just her father’s side!
Lahore is a complete contrast. Arrived in the night, but straightaway the difference was noticeable. It is a lot cleaner than Karachi and it felt as if we were in Dubai or Abu Dhabi. My uncle-in-law lives in the Defense Housing Authority and has a huge house which was recently built. All cities in Pakistan have an area called Defense which is the well-developed, modern part of the city and Lahore’s is no exception.
Haven’t really had a chance to visit much in Lahore, but hope to do so during the remainder of my stay, Hope to visit the Indo-Pak border as well, I already have a 5yr multiple entry visa for India so I could cross the border into India, but then I would not be allowed back into Pakistan because I only have a single entry visa. Quite amusing I think!
I better end things now; the connection is beginning to struggle! Already had to reconnect a couple of times during the blog. I should’ve cut and paste from Word and then connected. I will inshallah return next Monday and hope to type more about my holiday with pictures and more details when I return.
Until then, take care all,
Thoughts just flow, when do they have to make sense?
So far the holiday has been very good and relaxing. Spent the weekend in Karachi and then flew to Lahore on Monday night. Karachi was very hot, averaging 32 degrees with a lot of pollution and humidity. Took some funny pictures in the traffic jams which I will post when I get back. One of my wife’s relatives works in the government Assembly, so had a chance to visit the main hall where the independence of Pakistan was declared by Lord Mountbatten in 1947, sat on the very chair it took place on. Other than that the rest of the time was spent meeting family and discovering how huge my wife’s family actually is, and that’s just her father’s side!
Lahore is a complete contrast. Arrived in the night, but straightaway the difference was noticeable. It is a lot cleaner than Karachi and it felt as if we were in Dubai or Abu Dhabi. My uncle-in-law lives in the Defense Housing Authority and has a huge house which was recently built. All cities in Pakistan have an area called Defense which is the well-developed, modern part of the city and Lahore’s is no exception.
Haven’t really had a chance to visit much in Lahore, but hope to do so during the remainder of my stay, Hope to visit the Indo-Pak border as well, I already have a 5yr multiple entry visa for India so I could cross the border into India, but then I would not be allowed back into Pakistan because I only have a single entry visa. Quite amusing I think!
I better end things now; the connection is beginning to struggle! Already had to reconnect a couple of times during the blog. I should’ve cut and paste from Word and then connected. I will inshallah return next Monday and hope to type more about my holiday with pictures and more details when I return.
Until then, take care all,
Thoughts just flow, when do they have to make sense?
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