Happy Holidays!

Wishing my patients and friends Merry Christmas for those celebrate it, and Happy Holidays for those who don't. I noticed this rather festive banner in front of the Palliative Ward and it hit me that tomorrow will be a holiday. 

When I was working in the UK, Xmas was the time when I was definitely on call since I'll be covering my colleagues who were celebrating. The actual Xmas Day was usually quite but the days leading up to it and the days following were usually among the busiest in the year. Relatives would send their parents and oldies to be admitted while they enjoy the festives period and at times it felt really sad that the system has been manipulated somewhat.

The days after Xmas were usually busy for the right reasons as patients tended to stay at home during the Xmas and came to hospital right after. They tended to be more ill by this time. I used to hate this period. Luckily I will be having the weekend off. Will be traveling tomorrow to Kuala Kangsar for a couple of days, having a look at Puan Anita's house there which was just been built. Will blog from there then. Again, Happy Holidays. 

Early lunch - we are talking 11am here

Should just be thankful that I have time to have lunch. Will be zooming off to Klang in the middle of Day Care later.

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Being organised is a relative term but this is the most organised I have been for weeks!

It's Tuesday. It is the day when I don on my pink shirt and determine not to see any patients but to concentrate on just doing paperwork, research and some reading. Got in early and start going through my in tray and got a lot done. Unfortunately the work just don't want to get away. They are just piling in. Not to mention one of my aunties just arrived asking me for directions to visit my uncle. Well. Work has to wait for a bit.

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Update on Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 1:30PM by Haris Abdul Rahman

My Uncle is now doing very well and will likely be able to leave hospital by the end of the week. Yup! I managed to go through a pile and planning another assault this afternoon patient permitting ....

Empty room

It has been raining every afternoon for the couple of months. Did something stupid today of not bringing along my umbrella. So un- English of me. As a result, had to wait at the shades waiting for the rain to subside. Curiously the picture was what the waiting area by the carpark looked like. Are they placing the tables and chairs there for occasion as such?

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Early Christmas at Pavilion

It is always a pain having to wake up early on a Sunday morning, to have to drive to do ward round. It's not really a complaint as I love what I do. But it is always difficult when the alternative is a lie-in with the wife and the boys. Well, somebody has to do it. So I got to the ward relatively quickly for a weekend round as I know it was going to be an awful morning with my patients scattered all around the hospital. I managed to finish everything and got home just before one. After lunch, the boys were getting bored. They again wanted to go out, and Anita was craving for hot chocolates. So we headed for Pavilion.

Pavilion is fast becoming a hit for festive decor around KL although their Hari Raya effort was rather poor compared to KLCC and Mid Valley this year. But six weeks out, they started early for Xmas. There were Xmas trees 4 floors high with all the trimmings and fake snow. Santa sledge galore and of course the grotto, although it was too early for Santa himself to turn up yet.

First order of business was Godiva. Sip of warm chocolate and of course enough chocolates to send Idlan and Irfan into orbit. They were totally hyper! We then headed for the main foyer where they had space to run around. The central foyer is a large round enclosure with a couple of coffee shops round the side. The middle have a small platform where I am sure the shows will be staged nearer to Xmas. It was surrounded by four tall Xmas tree. Littered around are small stalls selling decors, candies, stocking fillers and the likes. The one that Anita stopped at was a stall of L'Occitane perfumes and toiletries.

Being a Moslem, I personally don't celebrate Xmas as a religious festival. But after living in the UK for years, Xmas has become a part of my calendar. I know it was the time to cover for my colleagues who were celebrating. It was also synonymous with the famous Boxing Day sales! Surprisingly, I noticed a few other fellow Moslems, some of them in Hijab also getting excited and taking pictures with the sledges and grottos. As long as the religious ulama don't go all intifada on us, I think we will be fine.

After half an hour of browsing, I noticed that Irfan was getting tired. He was sleepy from all the chocolate and pampering. Within 5 minutes of getting into the car and driving home, the three of them, Anita included were already fast asleep.

They were all spent by the time they reached home