A Tiring Drive

I was about to turn back half way in as I felt rather drained. The heavy traffic, being stuck at the Federal Highway on a standstill did not improve matter, but I persevered. There were plenty needed doing this morning. I pressed on, and hopefully, things would go on smoothly today. Really needed to take things easy.

Taken my paracetamol but could've done with a bit of breakfast. Maybe I'd be able to do later before clinic starts.

CNY Looming

Kuala Lumpur's traffic was definitely getting lighter as more city dwellers headed home for the Chinese New Year. The drive into work today had been smooth, but I was lucky that I set off early. I was already in the ward before 8am. So, when I started my clinic just after 9, I was surprised when I looked out of my window. There was a long tailback heading towards Ara Damansara and Subang Airport.

According to one of the patients, there had been an accident on the road heading to the airport. There was a car which managed to jump the central divider, ending up on the opposite lane. A smash ensued and traffic had built up ever since, clogging up the Federal Highway both towards PJ and Shah Alan. The road had yet to clear until about noon.

The drive back was a bit smoother though as most of the traffic were heading on the opposite direction. I'll be on call tomorrow, and I wasn't really sure what to expect on the admission front. I was due for a quiet on call by the way ....

Heavier Traffic

I decided to get in early as to avoid the crowd and true enough, there were plenty of people at the hospital by 8.30 am. I completed my morning rounds and saw the admissions who came in late, and by the time that was done, the crowd had really built up.

At least things were more organised today, at least tragic-wise. RELA staffs were employed to direct the flow of traffic and making sure the pedestrian do not walk into the car lane. Whistles all around and I suspect as the publicity get more universal, more people would come. I shudder at the thought.

So, it was lunchtime. Should I go out as I normally do on Monday mornings? Maybe not. I didn't think it was worth the hassle of having to be caught in heavy traffic later on, having to rush to my afternoon clinic. I suspect some of the patients would get delayed. So, let's brave the hospital lunch.

Crocs for Idlan

We were about to leave Pavilion for the park when the heaven opened again. And it opened big time. Big enough that later that afternoon, SMART tunnel was closed. Luckily we passed through the tunnel half an hour before it was closed. Traffic was still smooth then, and there were no sign of flooding. Yet.

Anyhow, the change of plan as far as the park was concerned cost me money. Idlan had outgrown his last Croc, and wanted a new one. But we had a bit of an issue. The biggest children size was too small, and the smallest Junior size was too big.

We went for the bigger one and it looked like he would have to wear socks to fit in for the next few months. In terms of choice, the Croc shop at Pavilion proved disappointing. There was not much choice in terms of models, and they ran out on some of the sizes. For such a busy outlet, they should make provisions, or at least move to a bigger store. But well, who am I to tell them how to do their business. At least, they had enough staff to cope with the number of customers.

The New Viaduct

Saw this now famous photo from yesterday afternoon on the Interweb. Unfortunately I couldn't tell who I should credit it to. But I was caught behind this. I was halfway up the ramp when I had to stop and turn back. It was pouring down yesterday, and I planned to escape early as Tuesdays were supposed to be my free afternoon.

It was sunny until about 2 pm. And then the it became suddenly dark and heavens opened. And it was torrential! I managed to get things sorted out and was about to leave the hospital at 4, when the road started to become waterlogged.

I made a U-turn to go up the ramp to join NKVE, when I had to stop halfway up. Apparently some poor soul had his car caught in the water, and despite efforts to free him up, the engine stalled.

A few makeshift traffic wardens the helped clear the traffic for us to reverse back onto the main road, and put up signs to stop people from entering the ramp.

For the last week, since it started raining heavily in the afternoon, that stretch of the bridge had been clogged with water. It was due to the rubbish wing strewn onto the road, and blocking the drainage. But it was still funny to see the ramp tubes into a viaduct!

I hope that the MPSJ folks would clear the drain fast as that stretch was one o the main artery road feeding into either the NKVE or Federal Highway. As for me, I better not take that ramp the next time it rained .....