The X'mas Ball and the Pod Do's.

Started the night at Slug and Lettuce meeting up my Pod group for x'mas dinner and 1st year's initiation. Shahin was at my place so we got ready and walked there together.

On arrival, I just couldn't believe how much attention I got from my group with compliments and all on how I looked different and smashing. Well, I don't wanna brag but it's fact. Hahha. Had tons of photos taken and just enjoyed the night basically.

The 1st year's initiation was good and funny. All the first years were told to remove their shoes and socks whilst they read out the oath. The oath reads as follows:

I (name) swear the allegiance of the foot,
I promise to hold sacred of the corn,
Venerate the Verrucae,
Bow to the bunion,
And pray to the Plantar Fascia.

I will endeavour to uphold the tradition of endemic alcoholism,
even in the face of adversity and clinic.

I will not succumb to Ivanation, and will innoculate myself against all known strains of Birchitus, Bullshitus and Crapetus.

I will not flee from the smell of Piss or Mothballs
And will show great interest in Meteorology and the Great war
I will attempt to understand the works of George Fornby and Vera Lynn
And agree that it isn't like it was in the good old days.

MAY POD HAVE MERCY ON OUR SOLES

ARSEHOLES!

After the oath they had this tradition of drinking game who will last or drink the most. Obviously my group of 2nd year won!!

Then we headed to the Winter Garden's for the Ball.

Music was not as great neither as expected. Didn't spend much time there. So Emily and I decided to make the move quite early just after midnight to the Loft where the rest of my group were still spending the time.

On the way to the loft, as we were walking through the empty and quiet alley of the streets, we bumped into a group of chavs in hoodies. They were in the middle of a junction kicking beer cans amongst themselves. Suddenly Emily was sighing "Oh God... not now...". So we walked passed them and we knew they were following us. So I thought of speeding up a little bit before we shifted ourselves to the better lit area where the restaurants were located. There were all closed and just a few elderly lingering around. These people then said to us "you stay here with us, I know what those guys been up to following you". Called the taxi but the taxi refused to pick us up. Cut story short, we arrived at the Loft safely. That was a scary experience indeed.

Overall, it was great to have spent the time with my pod groups. They're always fun to be with. Nevertheless, it was a good night.

Pharmacology and Burgers?

Well, woke up late today as I had a late night last night. I woke up around 7am yesterday and had a whole day in the hospital doing casting and pathology till 5pm. Had a quick lunch break at Dr Liz's place. She always welcome us to her place for great coffee. Everyone knows me by either weak and milky coffee or milky tea.

I slept at 3.20am yesterday as I was very determined to finish my orthotics prescription form for my portfolio assignment. I'm glad I got it away. What's left is to justify why I laid it out such and contents wise. But I'm quite happy with the results. But not sure if it will get the marks it deserves. I based my work on Langer's orthotics manufacturer and PPS I think. I also showed it to some friends, and they as well commented how good it is.




Today, I was at the library for 3 hours. On the way I stopped by for 2 shots of Tim Horton's best original glaze donuts!! The weather was horrible. Had to go against the wind and rain. As I was walking, it suddenly reminded me my life in halls last year. How I had to go through all those hard long walking and in terrible weather just to go into town to get bank stuff sorted, or just for a quick pints of milk and all. But now, I am so blessed with the proximity to town.

For 3 hours in library, I was struggling and only managed to answer 5 questions in part 1 of the Inflammation Study paper. All those 5 questions were on Analgesics specifically Paracetamol. I didn't expect it's that much to know about paracetamol and how it acts in the body to stop pain and all. For 3 hours my mouth was singing jargons like Cyclo-Oxygenase (COX - 1, 2), Hydroperoxidases, Hepatocellular, Prostanoids, Prostaglandins, Thromboxane, Prostacycline and the mother of all words today was N-Acetylbenzoquinoneimine!!!!!!!! On top of that, had to memorise all the safe administration dosages.

To some point, I am getting more scared on drug administration and prescription. It's so much different being a nurse where you would only need to know how to calculate it for administration. But now, the accountability and liability is even greater. Finding the right choice of medication for the right patient and right problem is definitely a great challenge. Just for instace, Warfarin will be a NO NO to mix with antibiotics. As a consequence one could just die! What if ignorance was to happen? Nauzubillah!!!!!

Anyways, on my way home, stopped by Sainsbury's thinking what should I cook for dinner. I wanted something fulfilling. So I thought of making burger as I already have minced beef I bought from Taqwa the other day in my freezer. Bought Jumbo wholemeal baps and the rest. Got home, prepared it and voila!!! I loved it to the bits!!!

Jumbo Mambo Wholemeal Burger:




Ingredients:

• Minced Beef - washed and drained excess fluids
• Kikkoman Soya Sauce
• Salt and pepper
• Parsley

Method:

1. Mix all ingredients altogether.
2. Make into patties and squeeze excess fluids at the same time
3. Grill in a lightly greased pan on a low heat, and on high heat to brown when it's cooked
4. Serve with ur favourite baps and other side dishes and sauces.

ISS Night - Sabor Latino at Flava

My body is aching right now as I type this entry.

Had a wonderful salsa night at Flava. It was the Official Opening for International Students Society with all the new official members. Megan is the Health and Safety officer which resulted me to come, and of course being an international student myself.

Flava is the official UoB international student's bar. So from now on, events related to international students of UoB will be held at Flava, unless where it's inappropriate of course. The theme last night was Sabor Latino, hence all the Spanish songs and Latin kinda music. I like the music for chilling but not to dance to it. Makes my body aches and I couldn't synchronise to it.

Before we left, I invited Ale and Shahin to come over my "cool" place (as commented by Ale) for dinner. I made simple dinner, sweet and sour chicken and stir fried broccoli with carrots and mushrooms. After dinner, we entertained ourselves with the wonders of youtube.com with all those funny pranks and comedies to laugh at!

We arrived at Flava, and lucky enough I brought the leaflet with me. The security was tight and he was fierce. But I got through easily. Shahin and Ale however were stopped for ID check and clearance whatever and they had to fill in a form or sumthing as they were not on the guestlist. Got my International Student card which entitles me to more discounts... yay!! Soon, Megan came down to approach me and she was obviously drunk. Megan is a quiet girl, but you know when she's on the alcs! ahahaha. Met Therese', Phil, Tristan, Sarah, Susan, Rosey, Cat from the course, and others who were my flatmates last year like Spiros, Maria, and some others (Terry, Manas, Oda, Julia, Pashe). Bumped into my current flatmates as well. It was all fun. I had to on and off dance cos I simply couldn't synchronise, I had to wait when it was more upbeat.

I decided to leave just before 1am. Cos I wanted to escape the crowd when the bar closes where one would have to find their coats and everything as if they were in a crazy sale centre. Police were already almost everywhere. Drunk people were starting to get more violent outside the bar. The town suddenly transformed into a zombied town from a nice calm town with old people.

Shahin had to come home with me as he had forgotten his mp3 player in my room. He came round to check. But again, looking at the situation outside, I was like, just stay over my place and leave early next morning. Not unless he had someone to go with or taking the taxi. This town of mine is getting more and more crazy and violent.

Recently, Eastbourne, specifically the streets of my neighbourhood was ranked the most rough town in Sussex with 56 cases of injury-intended crime reported. Oh well, tawakal saja and take precautions.

I leave u with the pictures from last night. I didn't get to snap loads of pictures. But the others might have the rest which I am still waiting.

Eastbourne, Shopping and Hips Don't Lie!

Well, as the title says, Eastbourne is currently in a busy festive mood. Shops closing at 8pm and more and more decorations have been put up. Sale are not as crazy yet but certainly have started. It's pack everywhere you go.

There's going to be bercemar duli session with His Majesty the Sultan this Sunday at the Intercontinental Hotel, London at 2pm. Insya-Allah I will be attending that event. It's not an easy chance that the royals come down to London and meet students. To top it off, they will be mingling freely with the guests. Unlike the usual Istana open house where one gets to only handshake each of them. Plus, hopefully there will be anugeraha as well.... woo hoo!!

Tomorrow night, it will be the launching of International Students Society of Eastbourne where Flava is the official bar. It will be salsa and latino theme tomorrow. Megan has been ever so annoying to make me come to this event. Apparently, many are coming including the housemates. So, I hope and I bet it's going to be a good night.

Like I was saying, the HM visit. So I needed a suit as I did not want to wear the cara melayu. The only thing is, my suit is in Brunei. It was useless last year and didn't think it's gonna be any use for this year. Besides, it's a lil too loose for me now. it needs alterations. Hence, I was searching around in hope to get one for my size in this limited time. I am a little disadvantaged here when it comes to formal wear sizing. It may take up to 2 weeks for a suit my size to arrive. I've tried M&S, Debenhams, Burton, NEXT, and all the shops you could possibly name in Eastbourne. I was contemplating to go down to London or Brighton as to whether it was worth it. However, Burton has already got my suit for the Ball instead, which perfectly fits me. The guy told me to just wear those, and disagreed him as I don't want to look over the top wearing a evening suit for a lounge get together.

Talked to Therese and Wendy, perhaps with their mother figure could help me with it. True enough as we had 4 hours break today, they took me to town, at Debenham's children section *cough*. In just minutes, I could fit in to a Thomas Nash's design for a 15-16year old. I was happy. Even better, I could get £70 for a 3 piece suit. Too bad, the trousers didn't fit me, thus, had to forget about it. So then, I bought a different jacket sold separately but still Thomas Nash of Debenhams. Plan now, forget the suit, wear a cara melayu and a jacket over. Like I said, I may have the body size of a 15-16 year old, but the HIPS DONT LIE!!! haha

The reason why I needed a jacket, so I could cover my cara melayu, even better if I could wear a suit. Why? Because, my cara melayu now looks like baju pinjam. It looks ever so baggy, with the sleeves covering my hands, and the collar's just too loose. I shed the fats and skin... ahhaha LOL

I took some pictures around Eastbourne town today. It's a 2 mins walk from my current flat. I was just buying things and "threw" them off back home. So far, I got a new beddings which hadn't been changed for almost 2 years. Well, I washed them however (in case you loads were curious) and a new shower curtain. I had been dreading for a new one after months of showering behind that ever filthy plastic curtain. It had slimes and moulds that hardly be taken off. The previous occupant was just so dirty! I even had to soak it in bleach overnight when I first arrived. And of course, I got a new cushion!! hahah

Picture below of my room at night, the cushion, Eastbourne town centre (that's the main entrance to Arndale where a policeman was stabbed with a kitchen knife 2 weeks ago) and notice the pile of books I have on my table. Those are the books I need to stuffed in my head for my exams and essays!! Those are what keeping me occupied.








Below, just a artistic shot of Arndale Centre with Therese somewhere in there on the way to the ATM.

East Sussex countryside.

Therese offered Megan and I a run around in the car at the countryside of Eastbourne. We went to places like Lewes, Glynde, Berwick and some other places. Glynde is a place where I wanna visit next time cos there is a place for paragliding!!!! We also stopped by at Knockhill where there's a place for snowboarding and skiing... well on this artificial slippery hill tho. That place was filthy, so we thought it was not worth the money. It was bery cold as well. But, thanks to Therese for spending some time with us, much appreciated! It took us about 4 hours altogether. The weather was not great either, it was cold and grey. Most places only open starting this spring. So we're thinking of going back to those places once they're back and active. One place is the Opera place, it's a huge place over there.

On the way back, stopped by ASDA and got myself a bag of rice and watermelon!! I was craving for watermelon since forever. It was crunchy, juicy and sweet. I had some in the hospital for lunch as well and shared it with some. Everyone agreed that is was so good.

I got my new toy, casting and Wendy's bday.

I got my new gadget that I have always wanted, well not really, it was just the temptations. Hahaha I got the new Sony Walkman mp3 and video player. It's the new drag and drop version. It's slightly more expensive than the iPods Nano 3rd Gen which is its main rival. But for a quality, it is definitely an excellent one, cos... it's a SONY! ehehe



Yesterday had a good clinic hours. In the morning, we were short of patients. We only had 14 patients, for 30 students. So, we practised on our Musculoskeletal assessment which went quite well and more making sense. On the second session, I finally had a patient for just a quick check n vascular and neurological assessment and his diabetes as he had infection on his surgery site before. In the afternoon, I had casting class. Ready... Camera... Action! Well, not that casting! ahahahha

We had a Session with Mr Byrne on negative casting. It's basically taking a template cast (negative cast) of the feet so proper insoles can be manufactured according to the shape of the feet for an excellent fitting. One can be Commoditive, and the other can be funtional. The difference between those two are, one changes the position and shape of the feet, the other, just help the feet to regain an optimum function without changing the shape or position.

It was a fun class. I must admit it was messy, but fun!! It was more of an art class than a biomechanics class. It's easy to manufacture it, but it's the things behind like the biomechanics side of it. All the physics involved! grr... rusty brains me! I had good comments from the lecturer by the way. They're all excellent. I'm quite happy from the casts that I've made. The finish insoles normally would cost a patient around £70-200 excluding the shoes to be fitted in.





Oh, I was a lil nosy yesterday as I finished my patient early, so I thot i pop into my mates cubicles see if they needed help. And none, so I just chatted away to some patients before they doze off to sleep. One of them commented to a fren who's treating... "That is a very nice young guy.... he seems to be very nice". Elizabeth my fren, she was so envious! ahahahahah LOL

Attended Wendy's birthday party last night. She lives 30mins away from Eastbourne. Therese took me with her in the car. The party was alright. There was a huge Labrador dog in the house. The moment I stepped in, the dog was already chasing me and Wendy knew that I hated dogs. So she convinced me that the dog was under control. Went to the living room, the dog was set loose. Trina, Wendy's daughter, told me just to ignore him and he will ignore me in a bit as well. But this dog was just so friendly. He couldn't stop following me and sniffing me up to the kitchen. Whilst in the kitchen, it simply never stopped sniffing me, and my crotch as well! At first, yites, don't mind you sniffing that but dont eat my sausage! ahahah LOL But this dog sniffed my bum as well, then later he's just gone. So the dog was just part of the guests soon after. I just ignored it, although I was a little uncomfortable. I however, excused myself to everyone to why I dislike dogs although I don't hate them and do not condon the inhumane and insane killings of dogs and animals as general. I justified myself by saying, it was just the way I was brought up where back home, dogs are not trained and they're normally fierce guard dogs. Even the owner could hardly control their own dogs, and some are even afraid of their own dogs. But the night went well. That was me, my first very very close encounter with a Labrador for 7 hours!!

Tickets to the Holly Ball

I just found a date to go with for the Holly Ball at Winter Gardens in Eastbourne on the 7th Decmeber 2007. It will be the same day as the x'mas dinner organised by Martin and Angie on behalf of the Year 2 PodStudents. Some other friends are going as well, hopefully it's a great night and it has been a great yearly event. Shahin is going as well, ahha he's got a date too, and that was great. Otherwise, we might end up having to go to the ball together as 2 bloke partners... err? ahahha LOL. He even said, we could walked together holding hands. But I told him, if we ever gonna do that, I will have to put on dark shades so people might think I'm blind and needed someone to lead me the way! ahha




But I am so looking forward to this as I didn't get to make to the previous graduation ball for the previous cohort due to my silly mistake!

So, I had to upload a passport photo so the entry process would be a swipe. Managed to capture a shot of photo, and with my limited photoshop skills, managed to clear all the stuff behind me. So the result is this.




heheh cute? ahahah LOL

Salmon steak - sayur taugeh udang karing : a fusion?

Had nail pathology class this morning. Class started at 11am. I set my wake up call at 7am, thinking that my class starts at 9am. This is always happening to me!! But today, glad I realised that class starts at 11am which I finally woke up at 9am.

Made myself jacket potato with prawn filling for my lunch pack today. It was great indeed and fulfilling. I also had coleslaw and my great peach yogurt companion. However, I forgot about the coleslaw until the very last minute. I was already filled up by then.




To make it, you will need:

• A good size of baking potato
• Salt and pepper
• Cooked and peeled prawns
• Mayonnaise
• Ketchup
• Squeeze of lemon

Method:

• Poke around the potato with fork
• Bake in the oven until it's soft and cooked for approximately an hour
• Mine however, I dumped it into the microwave for about 10mins and it does the trick, then moved it to the oven to brown it.
• Make filling, by adding salt, pepper, ketchup, mayonnaise, lemon juice into the cooked prawns
• Then cut potato belly, scoop some prawn and serve

In the afternoon, I had clinic. Had a review of my previous patient on the progress of the treatment I offered. I also prescribed her some new ointment to try which she had to bring it to me to apply it for her. She had a Verrucae of what is known as plantar warts. It's a virus caused problem. She had this condition for almost 5 years and is getting worse. This is attributed to her lifestyle as a swimmer and many other things as well. The last time she came, I treated her with silver nitrate application followed by pressure distributing padding. This time round however, instead of the silver nitrate, I gave her the new medication. Hopefully it works this time round. She had gone through other therapies including cryotherapy, laser therapy, and the silver nitrate. But overall she's very keen and happy. She also hoped that it's me to treat her again after christmas.

Got back from the hospital, I thought of stopping by at Sainsbury's to get some salmon fillet. I was craving for ikan goreng. I also bought myself bean sprouts (taugeh) which I thought ofstir frying it with dried shrimps (udang karing), then I went on and got naughty buying myself a GU chocolate vanilla cheese cakes in glass ramekins. They're lovely but too sweet.




The fish and taugeh:

Monday 19112007 - Local Anaesthetics

Today's morning lecture was something I looked forward to. It was indeed a very interesting and the most relevant into practice so far. It was on local Anaesthetics. I need to pass this module to enable me licensed in administering independently prescribed only medicines and local anaesthetics at different sites. This also include the use of adrenaline and adrenaline mixed local anaesthetics. They come in various forms of names and types depending on what the clinician is aiming for. Some may last for 1-2hours, whilst others may last up to 8 hours. Selection will be based on the type of patient, the contra-indications that a patient might or might not have, patient group and their tolerance. Normally local anaesthetics are hypoallergenic but there are cases where patient might developed a major allergic reaction of anaphylactic reactions that requires immediate attention like CPR, or resuscitation.

Anyways, I had to cram tons of information that involved figures and massive whip arse formulae and calculation. For instance 1% Lignocaine has a strength of 3mg/kg with a maximum dosage of 200mg. So before administering, I will need to calculate in terms of patient's weight, the tolerance and the circulation of the patient as well as the nature of the surgery before administering safely. That was fine and all. Went off to the library and did some practise. Fiona was there as well, she had this amazing way to do a "9x" multiplication technique. Amazing!!

Later in the afternoon, we had a 2 hour lecture on reliability and validity in clinical research. God that was the most dreadful research lecture ever!!!! The lecture was divided into three, in quantitative where it was divided into reliability and validity whereas qualitative was done all in one. I managed to stay awake although being a hypocritically paying attention. Frankly, I was just dreaming and dreading all the way through!!!! I was imagining what I'm gonna cook for dinner and all. So, squash and corrainder soup it was!!!!

I just had it minutes ago and I shared some to AD. I had it with baguette roll. It was fine, although not very presentable, but it tasted so good!!!




Squash and Corriander soup:

Ingredients:

• Butternut squash cut into cubes
• Diced onions
• Fresh corriander leaves and stalk
• Butter
• Chicken cube / vegetable stock
• Salt
• Pepper
• Some sugar
• Oyster sauce
• Cream

Method:

• Heat pot and add butter and onions. Sweat the onion until it's transparent
• Add in the vegetables and corrainder and let it mix and caramelised
  
• Add enough water up to your preferred consistency
• Mash or blend once ingredients turned soft
• Add more water if necessary
• Seasoned to taste
• Add a dollop of fresh cream (optional)

Note: Other recommended vegetables also include broccoli, celery, potatoes, leek, celery and cauliflower.

Weekend - Procrastinating end? Not! (cucur udang buyuk)

Well, meant to do loads of things today from laundry to coursework. But, I'm a lazy bugger as usual. Woke up just before midday. Craving for mama's cucur udang, so I thought of having it today for my "open sesame" aka breakfast, lunch, brunch all in one!

Im gonna call it "Cucur Udang Buyuk" Thanks to all those frozen and Adabi instant flour mix!




Ingredients:

• 1 packet of Tepung cucur adabi - ikan bilis

• Peeled baby prawns
• water

Method:

• Mix everything until it makes a nice batter consistence.
• Scoop and deep fry until golden brown
• Serve with your favourite chilli sauce
  

My sexy Ayam Tandoori.

Today, I was a little laid back with work. So I thought of treating myself with a tandoori. This is my first time making tandoori chicken. It took me a snap to get it ready. Impressive? I am impressed with myself indeed! It took about 15mins to get it ready. Let's call it the cheeky chicken tandoori.




Cheeky chicken tandoori.

Ingredients:

• Clean, defrosted skinned chicken legs
• Tandoori mix spices
• Yoghurt (I didn't have plain yoghurt, so I just chucked my peach yoghurt from Danone)

Methods:

• Mix yoghurt with spice mix.
• Add chicken and mix well.
• Pop in microwave for about 6mins or until it's almost cooked.
• Then transfer to a baking tray, add some butter on top.
• Pop in a pre-heated oven, until it's golden brown which will take about 5mins or so as chicken is already cooked.
  

Done, I just finished eating it. I served it with steamed rice and butternutsquash soup.

Foot Ulcer - Happy me.

Today has been one of my happiest time in clinic. I was more in control of what I was doing. Today, I had a patient who came in with ulcer. The moment I flipped through the case note, I was already feeling anxious. U.L.C.E.R..... oh my!

Called the patient, gathered some information on my initial interview, carried out the necessary assessments and cracked on with the work. All those initial bits were not as difficult, it was just looking for any differences since she last came. She last came last week for ulcer treatment dressing. She had a healing ulcer on the dorsal L/2nd Proximal Interphalangeal Joint (tibia side) secondary to shearing from footwear.

The identified problems:

• Age - 77
• Medical and Surgical histories - Breast cancer (mastectomy done), Bone cancer.
• Incompliance to footwear advice - tight, small toebox, only toes covering shoes.

I also took pictures of this patient's feet that I wanted to put up here, but to think about confidentiality, I rather not.

It is actually a simple thing to handle but it actually comes with a big responsibility. I had to prospectively look at the prognosis and making sure I did not cause any further injury or bleeding this will cause further infection.

Afternoon session, had a simple rather quite a challenging patient. It was his second time at the clinic who was deciding to have nail surgery. I think he is still in the booking list. But then he realised, surgery is not the only solution. His ingrown toe-nail is not as bad as anything that I have seen before.

Overall, I am happy with my performance. Got all positive clinical fedback from my clinical tutors. So what could be more satisfying in clinic. =P

Oh btw, today it was freezing cold at -2deg, everyone was scrapping and deicing their cars, the park was beautifully covered with grey frost. I enjoyed my walk to the hospital this morning. although not the cold!

Homeless people placement : Hastings.

I almost forgotten that I had a homeless people clinical placement. But, thanks to my trusted companion phone/organiser to remind me. I was fiddling with it the night before and I saw "Hastings homeless placement at 9.30am". Got myself ready with all the necessary documents and guide plus train timetable.

Woke up early around 7am, got ready and had my breakfast. Packed myself some sandwiches for lunch, a tiny tub of yoghurt and a carton of Tropicana juice. Made my way to the station around 8.15am and arrived at the station a little early for my 8.40am train. Although I had enough time to catch the 8.20am train, but I thought I'm giving myself enough time to arrive at the shelter around 9.30am.

The journey to St. Leonard Warriors Square (SLQ) took approximately 25minutes. It was indeed a terribly cold morning although the sun was shining bright. The environment in SLQ was very far different from many other places I have been in the UK. It was very much more quiet but not in a nice way. Rather, it made me feel much insecure as it was no doubt a rough town. It's filled with addicts, homeless, gangs and ghettos. Any non-English faces were hardly to be found.

Thanks to Google-maps for making my life such easy. I printed my journey out the night before and spotted it on immediately according to the map. It was like having SatNav in hand.

Knocked on the door, I was greeted by Roger, the senior nurse practitioner at the shelter. The shelter is called The Seaview Project of Hastings and is join-runned by St.John's Ambulance. This place provide shelter (altho no lodging provided) for homeless where they can get help on anything that is possibly related to their needs such as counselling, renting advice, medical help including podiatry and sexual health clinic, cheap food, shower and hot meals facilities. Besides, the people there who are mostly volunteers help to accommodate the needs of whoever may need it like attorney, probation and welfare arrangements and such. This place caters for homeless, ex-prisoners, mentally challenged persons and many more. Although the place yet to be specifically defined, it is clearly does more than just a shelter.

On arrival, I was taken for an orientation tour including for health and safety purposes by Jodie (the volunteer podiatrist who supervised me). I was introduced to the caretaker, CEO, the cook and the people there. In the common room, it looked more like a prison and the image was similar to those prison images we get on movies. Like rough women in a group over pool table and such. They look scary I must admit. Professionally, I had to look confident, and besides I was trained for any anticipated emergencies.

Patients normally come either walk-in or by appointment. Cases range from basic care, to far more complicated cases. Normally patients would have histories like drug abuse and addiction, alcoholics, HIV and AIDS positive, Hepatitis, psychiatric problems and history of being sexually or physically abused.

The moment I stepped into that shelter, my thoughts were already running wild. I started to reflect upon things like how it is different from Brunei, let alone having to meet a current addict on Heroin. I was at the common room as I had to leave the treatment room whilst Jodie attended girl who wanted to talk about her current personal problem. Whilst I was out there, I met a couple of people, introduced myself and immediately built up a friendly conversation. Walking around further was when I met this lady. She asked me if I was from the university as I stood out of the crowd with clean white polo shirt and my name tag and a student ID. She stopped me and asked what was I doing there. So I explained that I was a Podiatry student doing an observation study. So she thought she needed attention on her feet.

A brief history:

A lady in her late 30's who is complaining of pain in her feet which she thought to be corns. Generally not feeling well but fully orientated and fully conscious. She has a family history of diabetes and osteoporosis from parents.

Socially: have been homeless for the last 2 years living under one of the bridges in town. Occasionally gets to stay at a friend's house during the weekends where she gains access to hot shower. Hot meals once a day either from the project house or the salvation army centre. Living on heroin for the last 20 years (on and off). Sexually active with one partner who is also a homeless. Has one 5 year old daughter.

On examination: Body looks emaciated with signs of bullimia (as verbalised by client). Both feet look pale and cold but no signs of diminished circulatory function. Medically, no diabetes, early signs of arthritis on 1st ray, osteoporosis and malnourished. B/F nails are long and no signs of anhidrosis or dermatological conditions present, although interdigital may potentially mascerated. Currently have stopped on heroin for 3 months with help of *sumthing I can't remember*. HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis results were negative.

Treatment rendered: basic chiropodial routine, gave her advice on foot care. Supplied her with new pair of socks and shoes.

Whilst I was listening to her interview, it really made me mouth shut and to be so grateful to what and where I am now. It was like a story line from a movie. We are so far very much fortunate to live on such luxury of having proper footwear, clothing and even foods that we normally waste. Searching for used shoes that were suitable for her struck me even further down like how we wasted so much on luxury branded shoes where as there are people out there who haven't got a proper pair to wear in this crazily cold country. I just couldn't imagine how they could tolerate life in such a hardship.

Some might argue about them being addicts, but I have never ever put that in my mind as I don't like being a prejudice for being a Professionally Trained Podiatrist. However, we need to think rationally based on the patient's interview. It is obvious from interviews to determine whether patients are really willing to change and help themselves. There are many amazing stories where addicts who never attended school, lived in hardship of abuse and poverty and end up as a successful millionaire. Truly inspirational.

I finished the session just before 1pm. I headed the train station immediately to catch the next train moving towards London where it stops at Eastbourne. Had my lunch munch in the train and arrived at uni, enough time for my next session. It was indeed a good one!

With that, it also gave me a first hand experience on the demand of my current essay which entitles "The social and psychological influences on an individual's physical health".

Bonfire night at Lewes.

Last night was a great night. I always wanted to see the Bonfire parade at Lewes. It's a famous place for a massive parade and huge burning area in the middle of the town. I didn't get to go last year as I was busy with work. This year however, I was determined to see it live. I asked Megan if she wanted to come along as she went to the last year's parade, and which she commented as a great one. Then, I also asked Shahin if he wanted to go along, and apparently, he had already decided before hand to go by car with two of his other friends. Apparently, the town will be shut after 3pm for cars to enter, and I told him to just get on the train. So I was caught in the middle then. Who should I go with??

So as positive as I was, I trusted Megan, plus it's being in my own group, we took the train and left at 6.47pm. There were me, Megan, Angie, Martin, Therese', Phil, Matt, Tristan, Jane and Cat. Arrived at Lewes after 20mins being in a packed full of people in a train. Tristan even had to sit on the train's table. The slow diesel train was no help at all.



The moment we stepped foot at Lewes, there were already flocks of people moving towards the same direction. We had to walk closely amongst each other as we didn't want to lose anybody. *BOOM* came the first explosion. We were already proximal to the parade site. Too bad, being short, I couldn't go any further and see what's ahead of me. Plus, there were thousands of drunk people around fighting, and what's not. Imagine, if someone were to fall, that's it mate, you're done!

But I must say, logistics that night was incredible. Police officers, ambulances, paramedics were almost everywhere. Martin was kind enough to offer me a lift on his shoulder, but I said no. 15mins later, after tons of booming sounds of explosives, the parade ended. We then had to slowly moved forward against another crowd from ahead. Suddenly, an explosion exploded near Angie and we were very close to her. Gosh, that gave me a bang in the ears. Scary indeed. But that was just the beginning. Apparently, in a bonfire parade, sounds of explosion and fire are what it was all about. Need to be careful, certainly not for the weak hearted. Wonder what it's gonna be like for "gigiran" people back home??

We then headed towards the Bonfire fireworks and finale area. But then, we thought we might do a quick pub crawl within the 30mins. Pubs were all full everywhere, so we ended up to one of the famous pub outside the town. It was also pack, but we got our orders immediately. As I was sipping through my drink outside, someone lit a "bang" just right behind me. Gosh, that killed my ear badly!!! On general observation, the town was like being in a war situation with riots (from parade where people dressed up in a scary manner eg pirates, undertaker), with all the breakages, dumps, bombings, just horrible state!

Later then we arrived at the Bonfire area and to find out, it was going to be delayed another 30mins. So we split into groups and do whatever then come back to that spot in half hour. I was accompanying Therese' to find a toilet at one of the pubs. On our way out, there was another parade that went on. So thought of stopping for a bit and see as we were first in line, besides, we couldn't go any further. Suddenly, Angie and Martin knock on the pub's window. We went in and enjoyed together in the comfort of the pub. What a small town!!!!

Then came the time for bonfire, where all the fire carried by people in the parade will be thrown into a huge pyramid of wood stacks, followed by blastings of explosives that potentially could make you deaf! It was great to see how a tiny fire initially could grow into a huge massive flame in just matter of minutes. The pattern of flame was just amazing, the smoke resembles the pattern of a hurricane. The heat was just incredible. In the cold early winter, I could just strip off!!!! And as a result, my lips are now still dry and my face hurts from the burn. Mind you, we were very very far away, just enough for our eyes to see the fire.

The fireworks nevertheless, were just so magnificent and amazing!!!!

We headed the train station in a crowd just before 11 and to find out the next train leaves at 20past. We waited, and chatted amongst ourselves on how much we have enjoyed it.

In the train, once again, it was pack. But now, worst!!!! People were drunk, loud and hooligans were basically around. Too bad, my coach was indeed filled by lunatics! 10mins of the journey, a fight was initiated basically behind me. Commotion went on for about 5mins. People suddenly came out with words like.. "oh shit, this is not good", "fights in the train... I don't like this". There were also people who then curious and decided to watch it closely. Imagine that pack now! These people were fighting just behind me and my shoulders were basically moved by their bum actions and all. One of the guy seated next to me said.. "shall I raise the alarm now?". His mate then said... "Don't worry, I'm sure they'll stop at Polegate". (Polegate was just 5mins away and is a rough town). True enough, half of the group got off the train.

From Polegate, another fight occurred. This time, the alarm was raised. As a result we had a delay at Berwick for about 10mins until problem was rectified. Too bad, the fight didn't end. We had to continue the journey up until Eastbourne with people fighting in the coach.

At Eastbourne, Matt was kind enough to give me a lift nearer to my home.

On overall, it was a great night indeed. I was so phobia looking at sparks of lights, smoke and fire that night!! That was just funny indeed. I will not hesitate to go again next year, but I am sure, I will be elsewhere doing external placements.

The X'mas Ball and the Pod Do's.

Started the night at Slug and Lettuce meeting up my Pod group for x'mas dinner and 1st year's initiation. Shahin was at my place so we got ready and walked there together.

On arrival, I just couldn't believe how much attention I got from my group with compliments and all on how I looked different and smashing. Well, I don't wanna brag but it's fact. Hahha. Had tons of photos taken and just enjoyed the night basically.

The 1st year's initiation was good and funny. All the first years were told to remove their shoes and socks whilst they read out the oath. The oath reads as follows:

I (name) swear the allegiance of the foot,
I promise to hold sacred of the corn,
Venerate the Verrucae,
Bow to the bunion,
And pray to the Plantar Fascia.

I will endeavour to uphold the tradition of endemic alcoholism,
even in the face of adversity and clinic.

I will not succumb to Ivanation, and will innoculate myself against all known strains of Birchitus, Bullshitus and Crapetus.

I will not flee from the smell of Piss or Mothballs
And will show great interest in Meteorology and the Great war
I will attempt to understand the works of George Fornby and Vera Lynn
And agree that it isn't like it was in the good old days.

MAY POD HAVE MERCY ON OUR SOLES

ARSEHOLES!

After the oath they had this tradition of drinking game who will last or drink the most. Obviously my group of 2nd year won!!

Then we headed to the Winter Garden's for the Ball.

Music was not as great neither as expected. Didn't spend much time there. So Emily and I decided to make the move quite early just after midnight to the Loft where the rest of my group were still spending the time.

On the way to the loft, as we were walking through the empty and quiet alley of the streets, we bumped into a group of chavs in hoodies. They were in the middle of a junction kicking beer cans amongst themselves. Suddenly Emily was sighing "Oh God... not now...". So we walked passed them and we knew they were following us. So I thought of speeding up a little bit before we shifted ourselves to the better lit area where the restaurants were located. There were all closed and just a few elderly lingering around. These people then said to us "you stay here with us, I know what those guys been up to following you". Called the taxi but the taxi refused to pick us up. Cut story short, we arrived at the Loft safely. That was a scary experience indeed.

Overall, it was great to have spent the time with my pod groups. They're always fun to be with. Nevertheless, it was a good night.

Eastbourne - Manchester

Eda came to visit me on the June 14th 2007 all the way from Manchester.

She was here in Eastbourne for about 4 days. She enjoyed it here as it's very far peaceful and clean as compared to Manchester. Whilst she was here we visited Beachy Head more then twice!, Brighton and the Pier of course.



Then, I went up to Manchester on her way back.

Manchester was a fun experience nevertheless. I didnt even get to cook albeit she has a studio flat!! Whaha, we only eat out and foods are ubiquitous!!! It wasn't my first time in Manchester, so it was kinda refreshing looking at places I've been before. We went to the university's museum, glow in the dark bowling, starbucks-ing, loads of eating around at Wagamama, Samsi sushi, Jati, and movies too. The best thing about Manchester is that it's truly a student city. You get discount almost everywhere, not just the typical 10% but you could get more than 20% discount at times in addition to the already cheap stuffs around. Imagine a £6 buffet and you still get a 20% discount as a student! Such a bliss!!!

Aberdeen, St.Andrews and Dundee.

I know that I have not been able to update this rusty blog of mine for ages. But here goes in writings from my rusty yet reliable memories.

Following the previous post, I was saying I was off to Aberdeen. I arrived Aberdeen before dark where it was a suprise visit for my mom. Well motherly instinct was very strong. She somehow knew that I was very near. She called me on my mobile merely 10mins to my arrival at the house. She was like what was I up to and all. That was funny when we all had to whisper and Kolin was trying hard making funny English accents. Minutes later, I hung up and I was at the front door. Mom was still sembahyang.

When she found out, she was all happy with teary eyes. Spent good times with Joshua as always although he looked a little curious as it was months since I last saw him personally. He grew up so fast and he was full of character. The next day was a mother and son bonding time.. plus the little nephew indeed. We headed town, Hazelhead park and many other places, well the usual. Here are some of the pictures taken.



Then, the following weekend, we went to St.Andrew's. It was a great and exciting trip looking at other places of Scotland. We made a quick stop at the secret bunker. It was very cold, but interesting to know such huge communication and secret things actually existed those days. Pix below. On the way home, we stopped by Dundee for dinner at the local pub near the airport.



The night before I left, we had guests who came to say goodbye. These are friends from other parts of the world who came to work in Aberdeen and have been so close to my sister and her husband as well as my mom and I. It was a good dinner and get together indeed.

The very next morning, I had to leave very early for my flight back to Gatwick. It was a wrong plan which I thought I could make the time by taking early morning flight to catch the graduation ball. But I was wrong, the graduation ball was actually on one of the days I was in Aberdeen. But nevermind, it was worth the time spent in Aberdeen anyways.

Aberdeen will always be in memory and hope someday I will visit that lovely and friendly place again. City of Granite, you will remain in my heart... waseh! ahahhaha

Viva's out, Hello Aberdeen!!

Holla people!

Like the title says, the Viva's out and I'm 100% free of the first year hook. Moving on to 2nd year now. The viva was alright. I only had 2 hours of sleep before the exam (if you have read the previous post). It's nothing unusual of me not getting enough sleep when it is exam time. It is also usual when I'm all anxious and worse for some no apparent reason.

The viva, it was nothing from the text I're read before hand. Everyone was so anxious with the exam and amazingly, I wasn't that nervous. Maybe because I was "high" due to my sleep deprivation. Some sort of stoned... in a good way however. So the viva scenario was as follow:-

Margaret who is 82 year old lady living independently on her own since her husband died years ago. She had history of fall. You as part of the fall prevention team came to visit her house and make inspection.

So the above was basically the summary of the text I read. The primary question asked was, what would Margaret feel when you came to her house to inspect?... then more questions followed after that. I was timed carefully up to the seconds!!!! Like I said, I wasn't really all nervous it just I couldn't dig as much information that I could have offered in a proper thinking manner where time is ubiquitous!!!! Damn it! Hence my favour of written exams over this one!

But overall, it went well. The examiner was alright. She's a physiotherapist and the question was basically more to suit a physio's perspective. Oh well.....

Following the previous post, I also mentioned about the landlord for my new flat. I went to the new flat had a look around and talked to the landlord. Yeap, it's confirmed I'm moving in and will get the keys off him sumtime next week or so. The house will be entirely empty where 2 tenants will remain behind. I get to choose my own room yay!! And to add on, the rooms are quite spacious and ensuite (attached bathroom)!!! It's just few steps away to FunktionRooms too.. ahah Eastbourne's famous club! yay.

Ok then, 2 hours from now I will make a move to the train station to catch the train off to Gatwick Airport where I will catch a flight to Aberdeen, Scotland where I'll meet the family.

Oh, need to convey my thanx as well to Wendy for her time and all for helpingme with the flat removal to my new place. Bless her! She's been very very helpful to us. Too bad I won't be able to join her at the ball which she's very very very upset. Anyways, *hugs Wendy*. Gonna miss you..

I'm also could start to feel that I'm gonna miss my current housemates..... they're such nice and lovely people. They're cool... that's the most important.

Getcha next time folks. When I come back... more photos! So stick your nose here and keep posted! bye!

HAVE A GOOD SUMMER!

Insomniac VS Viva!

It's the day of my Psychology and Communication Viva Exam and it's 4.16am now. I have been unable to sleep since the day time. Maybe because I've slept during the afternoon. But again it could also be exacerbated by the exam itself. Not knowing what to expect for teh crucial 10mins later. I am also overwhelmed by the fact I need a confirmation when I can get the keys to the new flat which I will sort out once I get back from Aberdeen. I'm off to Aberdeen tonight at 8pm. Hehee.

Oh well, I guess psychology does somehow make one psycho or psychologically unstable. well hope it's not for me =P.

Anyways, will update more either from Aberdeen or once I got back from Aberdeen. Take care and adios!

Late Night Snack: Spring Rolls

Today's dish: Grilled Chicken with Lemon Butter and Parsley Sauce

Served with Augergines and Mushrooms

Pan-Fried Salmon steak with Lemon served with Tomato Salad

Went to town, got some groceries and I saw those lovely salmon steaks. I bought them and thought gonna make something simple out of it. So voila... panfried salmon steak with lemon and I served it with tomato salad.

Sighness and bliss?

Hello readers!!

Been procrastinating lately, just got nothing to do. Been to town on 2 consecutive days, today and yesterday. It was a lovely day however yesterday when I had to hand in the video for psychology.

Bumped into my mate and she thought I was elsewhere out of Aberdeen and conversation went like this :-

Wendy: hey you.. wot cha doin here?
Me: just handed in the video...
Wendy: thought you were in london or sumthing..
Me: nah.. off to Aberdeen next week after the viva...
Wendy: how will you get to the ball..?
Me: ah! The clever mind of mine got it all arranged. I'm flying back on the early morning flight of the 10th!
Wendy: what you mean clever you idiot! The ball's on the 8th!
Me: No way!! It's on the 10th... and I'm quite positive..
Wendy: The 10th is a Sunday... not unless you wanna do your own ball to yourself! *laugh*
....on and on until we bumped into another group of frens and suddenly news broke out like a spit fire!

But most of them were being sympathetic and ideas were thrown in. Appreciated that but nothing else I could do. My bad really. So I was in denial all day long... and pull my socks up off to STAPLES on a bus ride in a warm sunny weather... trying to see the glass half full... eheh

Went to get my boxes for the removal then got myself brownies and a bottle of peach tea. I was done for the day....

Later in the evening, Dani my housemate threw an English tea with lovely scones and strawberries. Definitely love the butter scones with clotted cream!!!! Thanx!

Today, went out again to cancel my suit. Since the suit was already in, I couldn;t get any refund. There you go... 35quid off the drain out of my wallet! *sigh*

Headed off to bookstores in town, thought I need a book to read.... the following were my choices. Which I end up buying the first one.

This book is a collection of stories from the London Ambulance Service. It's filled with humor, drama, and all the events that took place around the author's experience from being an AE Nurse to a Paramedic. Quite a handful of jargons for non-medical people though. I even had to dig my brains hard!!








If I could remember from what I've read at the store, this book is a story about a woman who was abused and raped since childhood until at one point her child was taken away. She end up living in harship and fighting to find her lost child.... This book was in the tragic stories section.









This one is about a son who was abused mentally, physically and sexually by his father following the death of his mother. He was however, managed to live his life till the end where he end up living in success. Thanx to the advantage of him being sent to school where he was discovered by his teachers that he was abused. Among the evidence gathered were his broken wrists, bruises and scars on several occasions.








It was indeed a tough decision for me!!! All was because they're like almost 40 Pounds if I had bought them. So I end up buying the first one cos it was humorous and a lil light to read. Besides, it's the cheapest amongst all for just 7.99!! ehehe

Was that the end? NOPE! I looked up Amazon UK. 7.99 was just 2.15!!! Was I mad....? "No........"
The price of two books package... was just 16pounds with free delivery!! Hehhee. I put that on my wishlist tho!! can't wait.

Oh btw. Bliss side of the day? My tickets to Manchester have arrived!!! Yay!!!

Oh oh.. I've been fiddling and brushin up my photo editing skills... hehee... It's alright I guess. I'm quite happy with it although it's nothing techy or advance.

Heheh..here an example.... mana tau one day I can write my own book title!! wahahhaa oh oh.. as per requested... this original picture was taken by Miss H.Cathy... aku bagi ia 30% credit lah whahaha LOL

The Day I call myself Free from Year 1.

Hi!!!

Last Friday was my last assessment day. Basically, I am free from Year 1 right after my neurological assessment exam. Although I have 1 viva exam to go.. but that's just a shared module.

So how was assessments?

Exams - I only had 3 practical exams -

• Vascular was excellent!
• Musculoskeletal - That was uber fun!!!
• Neurological - The worst nightmare!!! But I did good...

So basically I am looking forward to move on to year 2 if things went well Insya Allah. I also look froward to other things like moving to new place (altho I am gonna miss this current place of mine), off to Manchester after sometime Eda persuading me to come, and finally booked my tickets, then HOME to Brunei.

Brunei - probably will do my placement in RIPAS - defintely something to look forward too.

Oh well.... I am soo free that I couldn't think what to do. Need to read psychology for the Viva nevertheless.

Yesterday?

Went to Odyssey for Fish and Chips Lunch... plus Pirates of the Carribean 3 movie at Cineworld. All the compliments of Fizah. Thanks! Had a good time indeed.

Next week, it's the year 3 graduation ball. Can't wait to have fun... yay..

The arrival of my new wallet.

My new wallet arrived today. Bought it from Ted Baker, London. It took 3 days to arrive. This is my new wallet since I had the last one for almost 8 years!!!!

As with anything that you had for so long, I tend to miss my old wallet no matter how in a pathetic state it may look like. But hey, that wallet berezeki tu ah. The money from that wallet took me places in many parts of the world, if only that wallet could speak and record my journey. Hehhe.

With the new wallet however, it's nice for a change. It's just a little smaller and a lil flashy ahhaa... cos the previous one I had was a typical black wallet. The other thing is, there's no separating compartment for the money. So, it would be kinda hard to separate foreign currencies and receipts in my case. Anyways, I'm happy for it.

p/s: kutak nya lebih lawa! It had so many layers from the packaging just for a wallet.

Old wallet:


New Wallet:

Sunday... boredom.

Just feeling bored not exactly knowing what to do. Ithought I might just take a look at pictures of foods I've made over the semesters. So I took those foods which I thought stood out most in the folder. So the top four are those in the picture below.



Oh well, meant to do some work but I simply couldn't think and have the urge to force myself forward.

The dates for my clinical exams have been put up on the student board via the internet. Scary? well perhaps some other words could describe better.

So I have to master all the skills especially on manipulation for musculoskeletal assessment, neurological assessments and of course, for vascular assessments. These basically looking at the bones and joint structures, locating their position and knowing their functions, looking at senses and reflexes and looking at the blood circulation and pulses respectively.

What do I need to do those? Of course my brains, my hands, my eyes, and my nose... I guess. But I also need equipment and instruments that are necessary. Which I'm thinking of buying next time. They're bloody expensive.

• The doppler which is more reliable to assess blood circulation. Alternatively I could use electronic stethoscope or normal stethoscope to get Ankle Brachial Pulse Index.
• Tuning fork - to detect vibration sesations
• Neuropen which comes with a neurotip - to assess pressure point whether a patient has protective mechanism on their sole of the feet and differentiate whether it's sharp or blunt and specify where exactly they feel it.
• Patella hammer - to see reflexes in the join as a mean to assess any motor neuron diseases, or any discrepancies in action reaction.

Basically that's it... hehehe

Bye!

The colours of April.

G'day everyone. Let's start with the highlights that took place in April.

1. To start with, I carried my work forward. At this point, work progress was around 10%.
2. Easter holidays began.
3. Cathy arrived in London.
4. Spent 5 days in London.
5. Spent 3 days in Eastbourne, Portsmouth and Brighton.
6. Spent 3 days in Rome, Italy.
7. Spent 3 days in Paris, France.
8. Grand Finale - London.
9. Back to uni and saying hello again to work.
10. Abang's birthday and Mama's birthday.
    
11. Bond/Mel's Birthday at Hyde Park London cum 1st Bruneian outing in the UK.

As of today, I've got few pieces of work out of the way, leaving me around 12, 000 words more to type, a video assessment (almost done), and viva oral to prepare. All and all, will looking forward to Mama's arrival here to the UK and my summer holidays.

London for Easter holidays.

That was my first time going to Heathrow to pick up someone. Cathy's flight was scheduled to arrive at 6.20am. I rushed to the airport in the cold early English spring from East London early at 5.30am. Heathrow was looking no different at all to any other times, it's always pack and full of people. Like a zombie as I was, looking around if RBA flight had landed. The flight was delayed to another 10mins, then 20, then a total of 1 hour. I couldn't hold myself any longer from boredom. Ran to Terminal 3's departure area, walking through obstacles of packed people just to get myself a good cuppa coffee. Thinking starbucks was there to replenish my caramel macchiato deprivation, it was to my disappointment to no avail. It was transformed to that ugly Costa. What choice did I have? Ordered a large cuppa Costa's Mocha. It took me ages to shove that bitter coffee down my throat. But thanks, for keeping my zombied eyes wide opened.

20mins later...

Phone beeped. Cathy knocking for my home address. I know it's necessary to have a contact person and complete details of people in the UK which I presumed Cathy had it inder her belt. That text made me more anxious. Previously, Rafie was detained in Heathrow for 2 hours albeit the comprehensive information he had given to the officers.

At almost 8am, came a stinky awaited friend (cos ia inda mandi)... hahaha. She was looking around for me and I snapped this picture!


She was carrying a full load of mommy's "kiriman" - foods! She was lucky to escape. HHEhehe. Then, she refreshed herself and summoned Rafie and Ms Dessert to meet up at Bayswater.



We were so clueless to what we wanted to do at Bayswater. Then on a crucial moment, a brilliant idea popped up, we headed towards London Eye since the weather was good. There were massive crowds of people at Lon Eye. Had this camel race which I won without knowing!! I won tons of coupons.. ehhe. Had quick snack at McD and we were so obsessed with this winning stickers at McD. We "won" an ipod, but apparently we lost one of the stickers. Rafie and I had to search every single coupon laying on the floor regardless how filthy the floor was. It was a good day outing to start with. Night time, we roam every single aisle of Leicester Square and Soho. Then we ended that night with late Chinese dinner at Bayswater.



The next day, the weather was perfect. It was April 1st. The sun was shining so bright and perfect for a picnic. Had bread breakfast at Waterloo. That was a good fulfilling basket of fresh warm bread. From there we went to St.Jame's park and walked from Trafalgar square up to Buckingham Palace before meeting up with Rafie and Ms D at London Eye. From there we decided to go to Camden Market for a good outing. Camden town was superb. It's so young and so vibrant with loads of stuff to find. From range of varieties of clothings and fashion wear to even drugs!?! That's where I got my cool jazzy hat!!




The following day, we thought of going to Lakeside. It's a huge shopping mall at outer London. It took us about 10mins train ride from Barking tube station to Chaufford Hundred then Lakeside. It's basically a huge superstore with all those typical names you could find in London like Riverisland, GAP, FCUK and such but in bigger scale. We ended up feeding our rumble belly with loads of foods from BBQ, Krispy Kreme and good malay foods too. From there we went to the "nearby" IKEA for a quick look around. Oh well, it was geographically near as the sign was clearly visible. We follow the track, crossing dangerous highways and roundabouts like mad mad people. The 4 of us were running here and there and at many times the cars just went honking their horns! ahah That was fun indeed! The three of them swore they will never ever go back to IKEA in that situation again...

Next day, which we decided to have a picnic since the weather was terrific-ly sunny and warm for the past week. Too bad, it went opposite on the day we wanted to have a picnic at St Jame's park. We ended up having a picnic in the cold cold weather. We even had tremors and shivers just to get a piece of sandwich to our hungry mouths! Then before saying goodbye to both the couple, we had a chill out time at Ms D's crib enjoying bites of K.Kreme.

Just see how ugly the weather was when we had the picnic. We ended up feeding most of the foods to the ducks instead.





WELCOME TO EASTBOURNE

Had a wonderful time in Eastbourne from times at the Pier and of course at the must visit Beachy Head. Magnificent views of Eastbourne from the top of the cliff and walking through the hills of Beachy Head. That took us good whole day of walking.





Portsmouth

Started off walking back to memory lane, places where I stepped foot for my first visit to the UK when Kachu was studying there. We started from Guildhall to Kachu's old halls of residence before walking back to the Spinnaker tower. Had a quick look around, shopping and went up to the Spinnaker tower. Before heading back to the train station, we had a quick stop in town. Following the smell of good aroma of Dinky Donuts, we finally stepped foot at the stall with loads of fresh fried donuts. Bought a bag and finished it in a snap. That was my biggest thing for Portsmouth. It was a craving that I had to endure for 10 years!

Too bad I can't show ny pictures cos my itchy hands managed to delete all the pictures taken. (pix attached were taken on a different occasion)





Rome

Off to Gatwick early midday to catch the 5pm flight to Rome. Arrived Rome safely and we had a personal driver waiting at the airport. Another driver then took us for Rome day tour on the same car. That afternoon, we met Lilac at Trevi fountain. That was my first time meeting Lilac since September where we happened to be on the same flight.

Rome was excellent. Loads of stories to learn and appreciate from the remainings of ancient Roman buildings. The churches and historic places of interests were just amazing to see how sculptures and painting were created into a very perfect minor details. Complemented by Easter, Vatican was just filled by millions of people. Although the weather was quite hot, it was still not as hot as back home. Certainly gonna come back and will spend longer time next time.

Rome, I will certainly miss your inner beauty and historic stories plus the croissants and good coffee. Of course, nothing beats Italian Gelato!




Paris

It's not a trip to Paris if you had not visited Eurodisney and Eiffel Tower. And yes we did. We started off with Notre Dame where we had a good munch of good French Crepes. Watched Eiffel tower from far until sunset. The next day promised us with more joy and excitement, Eurodisney.

Went there minutes before the gate was opened. We had a fast pass ticket where took us inside in just a blitz. Language certainly was a barrier but not a problem at all. Like a Bruneian saying.. "gasak saja tia~~"

Had my first "head upside down" ride on that space mountain ride. It's basically a roller coaster ride that resembles a ride to space. You could actually feel the G-force and as if you were floating in space with the light effects and all. Hard to describe, certainly worth the try. But not for the faint hearted. I almost puke on my way out!!

Bad Paris: I hate the transport system! It took us minutes most of the time to figure if it was the right place and time!





Eastbourne and Brighton

Had a good time spent in Brighton at Churchill Square. Didn't get to explore the inside out of Brighton really. Meant to visit the famous landmarks like The Brighton Dome, The Pavillion etc. Too bad, we were enjoying the sun that so much time was spent at the Pier. Whilst being at the Pier we were just watching people enjoying the day, kids enjoying their mini fun rides whilst I just enjoying the sun and the fresh seafoods!!

Oh by the way, what's unique with the beach at Eastbourne and Brighton (Sussex) is that, they're pebble beaches. heheh






London and Bye to Cathy

That was the time when it was not a good time to be in London! The transport system just went mad. Loads of service closure and signal failure. People were just being silly to add salt to the wound! They dare to pull emergency alarms in several occasions and one of which happened on our train!

To cut story short, Cathy arrived at the airport 30 mins to boarding time!! The check in counter was closed but the RBA rep managed to get the counter open again as our reason(s) were kinda valid. On the way, we had to go through loads of obstacles, casualty, system failure, etc. Imagine the Rat Rate... that was how it was or rather Amazing race for some of you! Oh, that was not the end, another race then had begun. My train back to Eastbourne was really a pain in the arse. It took me 4 hours instead the usual 1.5 hours to Eastbourne from Victoria. Had to take the train to Three bridges, then from there took that awful 2 hour old double decker bus ride to Lewes through a long and winding road, then taking another train to Eastbourne. *sigh*

All and all, it was a good Easter break however.




Bondy's Birthday

Went to London again the following week to meet up some good Bruneian friends for a Hyde Park birthday picnic. I was reluctant to go but the host called me up the night before. I felt obliged then. It turned out to be a good outing. Had a frenly footie match. Gila ganas... macam tangkap ayam! ahahahha those were the saying. Had my body ached all over for few days. Bruised my left eye from Lilac's elbow hitting on my eye bony area. We ended the day with a good plate of Chicken rice at Bayswater!!

Before going home at the train station, we bumped into a lady who was in a state of epileptic shock. The rest of the gang were like.. "go sani..." and I said.. "don't you guys dare to identify me as a nurse!.. I so dont wanna get involved" ahahahaha.... it's all about ethical and legal practices here in the UK. Besides I ain't a registered nurse here plus I ain't practicing. I'm a total "newbie" in a way being student podiatrist now.







Oh on this day as well, there were people outside Harrods demonstrating and shouting "Boycott Harrods". This was carried out by, I presumed Animal rights people expressing their protest against the use of animal furr as fashion clothing which can be found at Harrods.

It was indeed something new whilst enjoying my Banana Muffin and my macchiato from the starbucks across.