Arrivederci India

Well today is our last day in India........ Finally, this experience has come to an end.  I say finally, as though we have been waiting for this day, which really wouldn't be too far from the truth.  Our visa will run out in December but Simone got offered a job as a locum consultant in Leicester- which btw has the largest Diwali celebration outside of India, so after spending the best part of the year here, at least we won't miss the largest festival that India has to offer.

So the last few months have been filled with anticipation. Waiting for the job to be advertised, waiting for the closing date of the job, waiting for the date of the interview, waiting for the interview to be over, waiting to be told whether or not he got the job.......... and then finally half way through August, we found out that the job was his....... and within 4 hours of this news we had booked our flights back to the UK.  I told my boss immediately that we would be leaving in early september and she kindly let me finish work at the end of august, without working the proper notice period.

It was quite strange working my last day.  One of the nurses I worked with in cath lab had tears in her eyes when I said goodbye, and even though the job hasn't been easy for me, I have made some good friends who are nice people and I will miss them.

So after finishing work, we have pretty much done nothing, except relax and pack our bags.  I went around the local area taking some snaps for you to see......

These are the local school kids

Anyone for candy floss??

Potatooooooooooooooooo (yes there is also a guy on the back)

You can't say they're not colourful...

Who needs a bugaboo donkey????

The dogs having a rest...

And the cow having a scratch..

So that's it... our Indian experience is over.  Tomorrow we fly back to start our new life in Leicester.  I have to say that the experience has been worthwhile for both of us, more so for Simone in terms of the job.  He has gained a lot of surgical experience that would have taken 4 years in UK or Europe.  Yes it's been an eye-opener, and yes the cultural difference has been difficult to adjust to, BUT I know we will look back on many of our experiences here and laugh.... and laugh.... and laugh... and laugh.

Incredible India..........  It is certainly true.........  IF YOU'RE A TOURIST.

As a farewell gesture to the country I have finally peeled off the bathroom wall a mosquito, that has been there since I squished it about 2 months in to our journey.

Namaste

Driving Miss Louise Crazy

Well another week has passed by very quickly and so I thought I should post again.... now, what to write about??  The week has consisted of work work and more work, which I don't like to talk about on here for obvious reasons and so the only thing I can talk of is the drive to and from work, which is slowly but surely increasing my baseline blood pressure by 2mmHg per day....

Now for those of you that have never been to India, I will give you some background.  In my 30 years of being on this planet I have travelled to a number of places that would not be classed as "first world' or "western"....... however, I have NEVER encountered the sheer ridiculousness that awaits us on the streets of Bangalore.

So this week Simone has started doing a few more cases which are running later into the evening.  This means that I finish at 4pm, drive home from work and then go back to collect him at an unspecified time, as unfortunately, you can't always put an exact time on how long it takes to save someones life ;)

Now the journey to work is only 3km..... and I dread having to drive it every single time..  WHY?

* There are absolutely NO rules on the roads of India (or at least, none that are followed)
* I have almost killed about 20 people in a week- some by accident and some not
* When an Indian person approaches a junction, they DO NOT STOP and DO NOT even LOOK to see if there is something coming.  As a result of this you have to expect people to just pull out in front of you, and it is S O  A N N O Y I N G..... I am used to it now though, so I drive with the 'expect the unexpected' mentality, however this only came about after a very close encounter with a two wheeler that pulled out approx 4metres in front of me as I was travelling at 40kph
* There are hundreds of people walking in the road.
* Beeping is incessant
* The term 'road' needs to be used very loosely.....  There are bumps and pot holes (and when I say pot holes- you would be better to imagine craters) for the whole journey
* The cows

Ok, so now you have an idea of how it is to drive the the hospital......... Close your eyes...... picture the drive... and then MULTIPLY IT by a thousand, because most of the time I do it.... It is in the dark.  And when I say 'dark' in India, I don't mean like when it is dark in the UK and there are shops lit up and street lights lighting up the path for you..... oh no no no.... I mean it is PITCH BLACK.....And all the other muppets that drive here in India either drive with their FULL BEAMS on which completely blinds you OR without any lights, ensuring that the horrendous journey of people... pot holes... bumps.... beeping... cars pulling out in front of you.... is made a thousand times worse, because now you are also temporarily blinded.

I always start off the journey so positively, and about 400metres in I am ready to put my foot down, and run over all of the fuckers that are getting in my way......  Whilst screaming "you f*cKing idiot get out of the road" "what the f*ck ar you looking at?" "you stupid tw*t"....... oh if only they could understand me..
Mental note to self... Do not want to end up in an Indian prison for homicide.  M U S T    C A L M
D O W N...... yep, it has been well and truly proven, I am definitely a Quinn.

On a lighter note, we now have our documents from the visa office.... hooooooooooorrrrraaaahhhhhh..... So, if I do end up rotting in an Indian prison then I am at least in the country legally :)

When Simone and I first arrived here we were always laughing at the amount of people or 'things' we have seen on a two wheeler.... And so we started compiling a list of 'what have we seen on a two wheeler today'.  Many of you will know as you will have seen in other countries that they put very slamm children on two wheelers in these countries, and it never ceases to amaze me when you see a child who is no older that 12 months holding on to the handle bars of a moped.  I think the most people we have seen on one bike was 5 people... a 3 adults and 2 children.  So what is all this about needing a 'family car'????? Total bloody shite I say, just get a moped.
We have seen some strange things on them including....
          * A hedge trimmer
          * A fridge (yes a fridge)
          * Microwaves (yes, that is plural, and one actually fell off right at our feet)
Oh I could go on and on.......... However, I will leave you with one photograph that we managed to take, which I think pretty much sums it up...........

Well, it really has been a very long time since I posted, and now SO much has happened that I really don't know where to start..... so here goes.

I think it was March or early April that I last posted and  from that time up until the end of april, nothing much happened.  We went to work, came home, ate, went to the gym and slept for the most part.  And then some excitement was lingering as we were expecting the arrival of Jody and Nick, on 29th April, to be precise.  Luckily this was a sunday and so we were able to get up at the ghastly hour of 3.30am, to be able to travel to the airport (by taxi-no way are we driving that far, even in the middle of the night) and pick them up.  I was so very happy to see my old friend and BBF Jody, who by-the-way had turned 30 the day before her arrival.

So, they stayed with us in our house in Bangalore for one week, where we mainly drank beer and played tennis (not together).  The weather had turned slightly shitty prior to their arrival and so for the most part it was cloudy, but it was still hot.  They had a small trip to Mysore for one night and then returned ready for our trip as a foursome to Kerala.

I cannot tell you how happy I was to be going on leave from work, especially as it was due to be a LONG (unpaid) leave of 2 weeks- one week in Kerala and a one week visit back to the UK (hurrah).  I know that I CONSTANTLY drone on about it...and I'm annoying myself... but..... ONE DAY A WEEK OFF IS NOT ENOUGH.   I don't give a stuff who you are, what you say, and what you do.....  I'm telling you that this six days a week mullarky sucks. No questions.

So I had meticulously planned our trip to Kerala to a tee.  We arrived to the airport and then we had a taxi (people mover- for extra comfort) booked to take us on the long drive from the airport to our first stop, which was in the western ghats, on the border between Tamil Nadu and Kerala.  So imagine my complete surprise and shock when we were greeted at the arrivals by none other than my IBF Grace Purcell..... and her better half, Adrian McCarthy............  In 5 short seconds of recognition, the holiday turned from a civilised, understated trip for four into a drunken, noisy and vomitty (Jody) trip for six..... and all was concluded when Grace Purcell pulled out a bottle of tequila and said "let's get this party started".................. bloody Irish.............
I really was SOOOOOOO happy (if a little bit shocked) that they were there and had made such an effort to a) come in the first place (as had Jody and Nick- respect) and b) managed to keep it a secret for the entire time I had been in India AND booked in to the same hotels etc etc.  Simone had managed to check with the taxi firm that the car I had booked could fit 6 people in so all was good......... except we had luggage too...... so the 6 hour journey was not quite as comfortable as had been anticipated but hey ho, I was the happiest person on earth at that moment.

So we arrived at our hotel and headed straight to the bar for a celebratory beer, then went on an elephant trek.........  I can tell you now that elephant trekking is one of those things that 'seemed like a good idea at the time'...... you want the photo, but apart from that 10 minutes on the elephant really is enough..... especially when the guy who is leading the elephant keeps hocking back his saliva and spitting it all over the floor.   Although I have to say I was rather enjoying it, as despite my despise for this habit some Indian people have, Jody's feelings regarding this are SO much stronger than mine, and I really really thought that she was going to vomit all over the poor elephant.  WELCOME TO INDIA JODY (even though she should know better than me, she lived here for a few years way back when).  AND the guy was also holding Jody's camera (and perhaps allowing some stray droplets of his saliva onto it)  so he could take pictures of us, and this really impressed her no end :)))))))))))))
What did not impress me was that the guy was taking thousands of photos of us on the elephant.... elephant with his head down..elephant with his head up.... elephant taking a jack fruit (???) from the tree... and then "wabalababababaalabahabahalalalabababa" (which means- "elephant, curl up your trunk for the photo"- in Malayalam, the only language the elephants understand).....and promptly covering me in elephant snot..... FFS.



Well the night ended with a nearly empty bottle of tequila and some rather heated discussions about the Beatles (ooops sorry The Beatles ;)  ) and so we went to bed gearing up for the next few days.  Jody spent most of them either sat on or face down the loo.  I think they call it Delhi belly or something, but hey, I have the stomach of an ox.  NOTHING will bring me down.



We went from the western ghats to a place on the coast, and spent the next 4 days doing what I enjoy most... chilling on the beach.  We had some lovely food, too many beers (where are all the cocktail bars damn it) and even a romantic candle lit dinner on the beach for six... We also hired mopeds and went cruising round the coast, and I can now say I am officially a seasoned two-wheeler driver.... Now Simone.... Where is your Vespa?

Then came our trip to UK.  The whole shenanigans of the visa was never sorted, I'm sure you remember the posts about our visit to the visa centre in Bangalore.
Well we were told, because our visa was never validated, we had to get an exit permit from the office, in order to be able to leave the country.  So let me get this straight.  Technically we are illegal in India as we have no documents of validation of our visa.... BUT we are also not allowed to leave the country to go to our own, without their say so..... hhhhmmmmm.
So we went there on our trip back from Bangalore airport to our house.  The guy was so very helpful and gave us the exit permit...... we were so thankful as our flight was leaving that night for the UK, and we had not even considered it as a problem.  Our thanks was very short lived....
"Thank you so much this is so great"
"No problem Sir"
"I don't know what we would have done without this"
"you wouldn't have been able to leave"
"Gosh, good job you told us about this"
"Yes sir"
"So we use this to leave and then when we come back what happens?"
"Oh no Sir, you can't come back.... This is exit permit only"
"Sorry?"
"Exit permit only Sir, you need a new visa from UK"
Oh ffs....... here we go again.......................     aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh

So we left India, went to UK and spent longer than expected (not that I'm complaining) because of this ridiculous visa situation that has gone on and on and on and on and on and.......

We went to the visa centre in London.  Almost got in a punch up.  Dealt with some arrogant jobsworth, who actually didn't even know his job, despite Simone trying to explain it to him a few times (!!!).  We then trekked to the high commission in a last ditched attempt to get it sorted, even though the jobsworth told us not to bother cause 'he was speaking on behalf of them'.  Well little did that silly runt know...... because after 20 minutes of standing in the high commission, our visa was changed..... by hand.... yes I mean physical crossing out.... with a biro....... in my passport........ biro...... IN MY PASSPORT..... ON MY VISA........  WT actual F?????????  We could have done it ourselves.  Good to know that the Indian system works, even in UK.  They do say that the embassies and high commissions run in the way of the country, but come on...... this is ridiculous....


This is India :)

Thoughts of a western girl

So now we have had some time to settle in to Indian life and I have to say.... it is not bad at all.  The culture is so far away from anything I've seen before, but it is easy to adapt, so long as you are patient and accepting...... which I definitely am not, however it seems to be working ok so far...  And it is really only when you step outside your 'norm' and experience something else that you can truly see that culture is a strange thing, no matter which culture you come from.

So I've been thinking about a lot of things since we arrived here and I'll explain a couple of them to you now....

One of them is 'age' and how it is defined externally.  I mean in the UK (and perhaps the western world?) there are certain ettiquette that go along with 'getting older'.  For example, it is deemed unacceptable by our western society for a 60 year old lady to wear a short skirt with a tight fitting top... you would be called 'mutton dressed as lamb' I believe.  Usually in our society, as a lady ages she will generally cut her hair shorter and shorter, and she won't wear the same style of clothes as her 25 year old daughter, and will usually wear more conservative jewellery...... This all makes 'age' very external and easy to spot. Another comment regarding clothing is that in the UK, it is easy to spot where somebody is going according to what they are wearing.  For example a girl in a short skirt, tight top and 4 inch stilettos is probably going out clubbing/dancing with her friends (or to work, but hopefully not).  A girl wearing 3/4 length sweat pants, a t-shirt and asics trainers is probably off to the gym, and a lady in a skirt/suit with medium heeled court shoes is probably off to work (in a power job).  In the western world we allow appearance to tell other people:
                       * what we are doing
                       * where we are going
                       * how old we are
                       * how much money we have

Here in India however, this is not the case.  There are 2 types of dress for ladies and that is a sari and the salwar kameez (tunic and trousers with a scarf).  These types of dress are worn by EVERYONE regardless of age, size, income and indeed what they are doing.  For example, ladies often work on building sites here, and they wear the sari to build.  Yesterday I was in the gym with a lady wearing the salwar kameez...  And so it got me thinking.... Is it pure over indulgence in the western world that has led to us having different clothes for every occasion, each of them parading a statement?

With everyone wearing the same style of clothing and everyone having long hair, regardless of age, means that it is virtually impossible to put an age on Indian people.  So 2 ladies walking down the street together may well be mother and daughter, and I thought they were friends.  And 2 ladies may be walking down the street together and one may be going to the gym and another to a job interview, and I thought they were both going out to eat together.  So do we give away too much in the western world just by our appearance?

Personally I think it's great to be able to own lots of clothes for every occasion.... but wouldn't life be so easy if you only had to choose the colour of dress in the morning rather than emptying your entire wardrobe and then wearing the first thing you tried on anyway? (Should I wear jeans, should I wear a skirt, should I wear a dress with tights.........??????)
And wouldn't it be great if you didn't have to think.... maybe I'm too old to wear this now... or maybe my arse got too big to get away with this style now?

I don't know the 'right' answer.... and for sure the weather plays a part in the UK... but I have to say, despite the fact they are all dressed in the same style in India, I have never seen 2 sari's the same.... and the colours are truly mesmerising.... far more so than the jeans, skirt or dress with tights you (and I) considered donning this morning.....

Some of the other things I have been thinking about I will share another time, in another blog... just to keep you reading ;)

So as you know we went to Goa at the weekend... on thursday Simone told me that our landlord (who is one of the Sir's at work) had told him the gas people would be delivering another bottle to us on friday.  Of course we were not going to be here and so Simone told him this information.
That is as much as I heard about it, assuming they were going to deliver it another time.
When we arrived home last night there were 2 new gas bottles in the house.  I asked Simone about it and he said
"yeah yeah, he said they may still deliver it"
"you didn't tell me that"
"yeah yeah I forgot"
Well had I known they were going to be coming round I would have at least made the place presentable.... especially as our washing was hanging directly in their path.... with my knickers on full display, and tampons dotted generally around the place.....  but oh well, I guess I'll never have to see them so who cares... right??????
WRONG...  I bumped in to 'Sir' (our landlord) today......
"Oh hi Lucy.  I wanted to see either you or Simon tell you that I left the gas bottles on friday, one in the kitchen and one in the utility room"
OH LORD.....you left the bottles.................... I wanted the ground to swallow me whole.... HE SAW MY KNICKERS..... hanging everywhere........ aaaaggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh.  So when I saw Simone I could have killed him;
"But my knickers were hanging right there for him to see.... and tampons..."
Of course Simone thinks this whole thing is hilarious..... oh and Simone's pearl of wisdom.. "he won't even know what they are... he will think they are bullets"
One word..........M O R T I F I E D.

Goan times

Ehi there. Long time no see. Where have you been?
I apologize for long period without posts, but life has become a little bit more routine and we felt there was nothing interesting to tell.

Things are doing great. In work children with malformations come out like mushrooms after a storm. So always lots of surgery and lots of patients on the wards.

We have spent a couple od sundays doing not a lot.... relaxing, eating out (and drinking of course) and one sunday we went to a local national park..

We work 6 days a week,  and are entitled to take one day of annual leave a month (in total 12 a year). As the year will end at the end of march we wanted to use those 3 days hardly earned. We decided to go to Goa......why not, its 1.30 hr from Bangalore on a airplane, there are cheap flights and , if we use a sunday  we can make four days in a raw ( c'mon, I know that among you there are professionals in this kind of thing).
And so we decided for the 16-19 of march. Flights booked, hotel booked, oncalls rearranged. Ready to go.

The flight was at 6.15 AM. We woke up at 2.30 (yes 2.30am...... wtf kind of time is that???? That is REM sleep time, not wake up time damn it) in order to catch a prebooked cab at 3. At 4 we arrived at the airport. As we walked in, we checked at what gate our flight was.......mmmm...... surprise surprise, there was no flight at 6.15 to Goa, but there was one at 5.10... ONE HOUR EARLIER than we were told. We double checked with the May I help you lady who confirmed the 5.10 departure time. Nobody told us, nobody wrote to us and nobody changed it on the website.  Phew, lucky we arrived early.


The flight was ok... After 1.30 half hour we realized that the plane was flying in circle over Goa. Some passengers asked why and the answer was that there was a thick fog  and we could not land. 20 min later the Captain announced that we had no more fuel to fly around waiting for the fog to go away and we were heading back to Bangalore. ?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!? we have no fuel to fly around for 30 minutes but enough to make a 1.30 hour journey back to Bangalore........mah.....I ain't no air-pilot, but there is something wrong.  APPARENTLY we were going to re-fuel and go back to Goa.... hmmmm likely story....
So we landed at Bangalore 3.30 hours later.  We took the bus to the terminal and instantly knew there was something fishy going on when we were taken to 'arrivals' and not 'departures'....

"Arrivals??????  Arrival from where..... Bangalore???"  FFS
 "You can collect you luggage at belt number 5"
There you go..... 6-7 hours after we got up we flew to Goa and back.
So there you go, our trip to Goa was like a trip to 'Lapland' as a child..... you fly there and come back without getting off the bloody plane...  The beaches did look nice though from 20,000 feet.. We asked for the refund of the ticket and called the hotel to cancel the holiday and have some refund back, tolerating some cancelation fee.

Brace yourselves....here comes the kicker.... The hotel told us that there was no cancellation policy and our reservation was not refundable.

So: Should we take an overnight train to Goa? bus? or give up?
" Never gonna give you up" and by YOU I mean GOA ( all nostalgic people click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&ob=av2n) we surfed the web and booked an overnight coach leaving bangalore at 20.00 and reaching Goa the following  early morning. CHEAP AS CHIPS BTW..... should have done it in the first bloody place, leaving on the thursday.... oh hindsight is a great thing...

So we went back home, had a snooze and went back to the city to take the bus.

It was a bus with AC, nice and comfy reclinable seats, blankets and television. We had really a nice journey with Bollywood movies out loud and snoring indians....but we got there better that expected (although Louise was shrivelled up like a prune.... Going from drinking100 litres of water /day to nothing for 24hours "incase I need a wee")
The cab was waiting for us and took us to the hotel.
......



Are you still awake??????


If yes continue to read....

White sand, very warm and windy, warm pool, nice food......seafood cooked fresh just after the fishermen came back......paradise ( again for nostalgic click this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlWPUFgrAos, for younger people this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G4isv_Fylg&ob=av3e).

Thank goodness everything went ok with the return flight, although neither of us was entirely happy until we were taken by bus to the 'arrivals' hall...

And FYI we have been on 3 more bus journeys that you could call 'the vomit comet'... and the flight to Goa (which actually was a round trip to Bangalore) had another vomitus passenger, sat right in front of us.... so the question is...
Is the incidence of motion sickness higher in the Sub continent that is India, or is this proof that toast is indeed a far better source of nutrition first thing in the morning than spicy curry?

Lies and arses

So this morning started off with a rush to get ready for work as we overslept (for Simone's schedule, not for mine).... quick shower.... quick hairwash.. get dressed.... out the door... 0655.  I decided it was best to go to work and check my e mails rather than take Simone, come home and go back half an hour later.
5 minutes after arriving I received a message from Simone.  The patient wasn't ready to have their chest closed, so he wanted coffee.  We met in the canteen and had a coffee then left the canteen and went our separate ways.....

So hopefully you've been following the blog, and you are aware of this whole "have you had breakfast?" "what did you have for breakfast" conversation that ensues every single morning....  As I have said previously my lies are becoming more and more elaborate.... some days I have toast, other days fruit, other days cereal and other days eggs... I'm fast running out of 'breakfast' items.  BUT I hate eating breakfast, I NEVER eat breakfast, and neither does Simone, hence the lies.

Well today, it went to a whole new level.  After Simone and I went our separate ways.... I was in the lift and received this message

So now we are having to give each other the heads up on what we have supposedly eaten..... otherwise our lies are going to be discovered.  Lucky Simone had text me, cause I was in cath lab and one of the sisters said
"you had breakfast?"
"yes I have"
"what did you have"
And up pipes Pradeep...."I know what she had, she had bread with jam"
Now if Simone had not told me that he'd seen him, my reaction would have been "no I didn't, I had scrambled eggs"  but thankfully my response was "how on earth do you know?"
People say we will 'discover ourselves' in India..... I can tell you now that I am fast 'discovering' that Simone and I are great liers :)  about bloody breakfast and lunch..  This is what our lives have become.

I missed lunch with Simone today, as we were mid-case in cath lab and he was between cases in theatre, so he went alone.  I told him I wouldn't make it in time as he had only 20 mins.  After our case finished we transferred the patient up to CICU.  As we were heading for the doors, I could see someone white, in doctor scrubs heading towards us... 'must be Simone' I thought... and sure enough it was... He didn't stop and neither did I but in passing I realised he was holding up his scrub trousers.. and he looked harassed...
"They've broken" he said in passing..
The realisation dawned on me a few seconds later.... the drawstring had broken on the trousers........... and with that I could not stop giggling to myself... All I could imagine was his scrub trousers falling down in theatre mid-surgery... and all the lovely scrub nurses (who are fascinated by him because he's white) got a birds-eye view of his white arse......
I'm sure this is not how it happened... but it made me laugh anyway.... I am still to find out the whole story of how exactly this drama unfolded as he is still in work... perhaps with a very red-face..


And finally I'll tell you a conversation that Simone and I had a few days ago...
So the sanitary system here in India is not the best, I have to say.  The toilets are mostly as they are in the UK, but NONE of them have toilet roll..... So whereby in UK I never left the house without my lipstick, in India, I never leave the house without toilet roll.....
At the side of every toilet is what I can only describe as a 'shower head'.... and quite often you go in to a toilet cubicle and the whole floor is completely wet... Now those of you with any sense will probably understand how the Indians wipe their arses....... right?
"There is never any toilet roll in the toilet, it's so annoying"  Simone
"Of course there isn't, they don't use toilet roll" Lou
"Of course they use toilet roll, how else would they wipe their arses?" Simone
"What do you think the shower head at the side of EVERY toilet is for?"  Lou
"THAT'S instead of a toilet brush.... they use water to clean the toilet" Simone
"And why is there no toilet roll?"
"I assumed that they don't poo in public toilets, they wait until they're at home"
So in a country with limited sanitation where dysentery and other diarrhoea inducing diseases are rife, Simone thinks they only poo in the comfort of their own home....
"No No NO they DO NOT use that shower head to clean their bums".....
And so, he wouldn't believe me, we had to resort to google to understand whether the shower head is an alternative to a toilet brush....

Ciao for now.... xxx

Our one day weekend

Well it's the middle of another week here in Bangalore so I thought I'd fill you in with the latest update.

So the weekend just gone was the first weekend that Simone wasn't on-call either saturday or sunday... hurrah.  Of course we were both in work on saturday-that goes without saying, but saturday night and sunday off.... bliss.

On friday Simone told me he was taking me away on saturday after work and so I was to pack a bag that included swimwear.... At this point I knew it was gonna be a great weekend.  So on saturday I went on to work..... hallelujah NO CASES in the cath lab and NO CASES in Simone's theatre..... so we finished work at 10 am... not bad really.

It is so strange as well how you just get used to whatever you have to do.  At first I was SO horrified at the thought of having only one day a week off, but mentally you have to adjust, and now a friday is like any other day midweek.....
Having said this.... I am well aware that in the UK the weekend consists of 2 whole days, so don't be getting any silly ideas that I might work saturdays/more than 3 days a week when we (hopefully) come back to the UK...  Mentally, I could not adjust to that.

Back to the weekend........

So Simone told me we were heading to a 5* spa hotel in central Bangalore for the night.  :)

"Shall we take a cab there"  Asks Simone
"No no we can take the bus" I replied..... after all we take the bus all the time in to Bangalore, and despite Simone's extravagance at the planned weekend, we do actually earn an Indian wage- nothing, so I felt there was no need to take a cab there.......... Oh how I regretted this dearly.........

So we boarded the bus and took a pew.  We were sat on the right hand side of the bus.... I have no idea why, because I ALWAYS sit on the left hand side, but someone must have been looking down on me...

Anyways, about 15 minutes in to our journey (which would take around one hour) the bus conductor was looking behind us, and so was everyone else
'Oh my God there's a snake' was all I could think..... 'why on Earth is everyone looking back there'
Ah ok, we then realised...... a lady had been sick and it was running down the bus (on the left hand side).  But it was just like water, wasn't offensive smelling or anything.
So someone she was with removed their outer shirt and cleaned it up, and the lady moved and sat near to the door, on the floor.
The bus conductors face was a picture, I wish I could describe it to you, but I really can't.
So we carry on and the lady is sat by the door, with her husband.
About 15 minutes later she starts again..... but don't worry, she has a newspaper, and so is vomitting in to that.... next stop... doors open..... out goes the newspaper.... sorted.
At this point her husband isn't looking too great.  5 minutes later.......... REALLY loud retching noises.... her husband AND her are being sick all over the mat by the door.....
'oh God I feel sick'
"Think of something else" says Simone
yeah..... that's easy done.
Well I can tell you now that I will NEVER again in my life eat a chicken korma from Zeera in Mile End.... cause that is EXACTLY what she threw up all over the bus..... illuminous yellow.
"Well that's what you get when you eat shit for breakfast" was the very wise comment that came from Simone.... and it's true.  They think we are strange because we eat toast (btw my lies are becoming more embellished- I now often eat scrambled eggs for breakfast).  THEY are strange for eating spicy shite first thing in the morning.... and then relieving themselves of it on the bloody bus.  FFS.
Well they had had their chance, the bus conductor literally kicked them off the bus.... and we carried on, to our destination, looking at their breakfast....
All I could think of was my friend Karen Cross, who often refers to the late train home as 'the vomit comit'...... well I can tell you Karen Cross, I have ridden on the true vomit comit.... and it's not nice.

So our fabulous weekend got off to a shaky start, but eventually it was a lovely as expected.  We lay out by the pool all day sunday and I really felt like I was a million miles away from my life on a faraway holiday... but I was only up the road.. Oh the joys of living in a hot country :)

Apart from that I have little else to report.

Except, last night we ate pasta.... with tomato juice... and I'll give him his dues... it tasted like passata.......... FINALLY.  Although he did say as he was cooking it
"It's really runny"
"It's tomato juice- of course it's runny" ffs
I told him to add some ketchup to it, make it thicker.  He didn't.
Anyways, it's not authentic, but it'll do for now.....

Oh and one more thing I really really really miss yoga  :(  If there's one thing I could take from London and bring it here, it would be my yoga class.

Namaste

Meat, and the elusive passata strikes again... maybe

Well it has been a while since I posted the blog, so what can I tell you...

We have a washing machine... yipppeeeee... clean clothes.  Simone managed to shame our Landlord in to buying one for us, much to my embarrassment, but hey, if you don't ask (or rather give them a sob story of full-time work and having to live like it's the 1920's) then I suppose you don't get... I'm just not as cheeky as him.

So now we have our car, it is so much easier to move about, and I don't have to face the big walk to work every morning, which is great, because now it is starting to get very warm, even when it's dark, so I dread to think what the height of summer will bring.  And FYI the balaclavas have gone now... this morning I saw people just wrapped in blankets.... progress.

So we have had the car exactly one week now.  We drive it to and from work and that's all.  When we bought it, it was clean, shiny and sparkly.... Just to give you some idea of the pollution and dust here.....

......... anyone wanna donate me a lung for when I get back to UK??????

I thought I was going to have to pay my dad to come here and clean it for us....  then BINGO.... only a few hours ago a lovely gentleman knocked on the door.  He asked Simone if he wanted him to clean our car for us
"YES YES YES PLEASE"  I shouted from the kitchen
"How much?"  Asks Simone
"300 rupees sir"( £4)
hmmmmm that sounds expensive to me.......  I'm thinking...
"I will come every morning at 6, and clean it.  300 Rupees....... for the month"
RESULT.
My Dad will be happy.  He will be    H O R R I F I E D    to see the picture above.. but don't worry Daddy, my car will be cleaner than yours..... hahahahahaha it'll be cleaned EVERY DAY, beat that.

Work is ok.  Simone's boss is a very big, imposing Indian man with a very English name (Colin) and a very good sense of humour.  I think he is not the typical Indian guy and he eats a lot of meat (including beef).  As we have really stayed away from the meat since arriving here, Simone is having withdrawal symptoms and decided to ask his boss where he buys his meat..... FYI I knew NOTHING about this.
So I was on CICU the other day and Dr.Colin comes chasing after me.... baring in mind the Dr/nurse relationship here is ZERO, they barely look at the nurses....
"Louise Louise"
I turned around to be greeted my Dr. Colin
"Hi Sir"  heheheheheh yes even I can be polite to the doctors here.... I feel I have to be...
And with a big smile on his face, he leans in very close.... with all the other nurses looking and probably thinking 'why's he talking to her and not us'.... and says
"I hear you want some meat"  in a very low tone
"Excuse me?" as I nearly choked on my chewing gum
"hehehe I hear you want some meat.... beef.  How much do you want?"
"Erm..... ahh.... uuuummmmmm"
"You like it diced?  It comes diced"
GET ME OUT OF HERE..........
I was trying so hard to keep a straight face, be all respectful and that but SERIOUSLY.... This VERY well respected surgeon in India is asking me if I want meat... and how I like it....
Needless to say, Simone thought this whole escapade was hilarious.  And now whenever I see Sir Dr. Colin all I can think about is beef.
And just so you know... Dr.Colin's PA organised with his driver, and now we have beef... lots of it.. and it's not diced.  And apparently we organise with the driver and he gets us good cuts of meat whenever we want... imported from Australia I think... hurrah protein :))))))

The other day we had to take a trip to one of the big malls to take Simone's macbook to the doctors.  Unfortunately (or not-depending on your viewpoint) the cost of repairing the macbook amounted to such a cost that Simone decided (surprise surprise) that it was more economical to buy a new one; as we had 'happened' to venture in to an apple retailer earlier in our trip and 'discovered' that they are actually a few hundred pounds cheaper to buy them here...... So I now have a very happy Simone with a brand-spanking new macbook pro... BUT he is also going to fix the old one himself (DIY job) so, we will (and actually already do) have more apple products in our house than we have limbs between us.  NOT THAT I'M COMPLAINING.... I love my I phone 4 and macbook air that he bought for me  :)

So yesterday we went in to Bangalore to buy the said computer and we went to a place called UB city..  We walked in and I was in Heaven.  SO many nice shops, restaurants and bars.  We had some beers in a bar, then went for food to a really nice Italian restaurant- and even Simone said the pizza was good, so it can't have been bad.  Definitely going there to celebrate my 30th birthday... With Jody O'Connor :))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))  yippppeeeeeeeeeee I am now actually looking forward to turning 30...... Ok, maybe that is pushing it, but at least we have somewhere fabulous to celebrate it.

Oh and just to keep you updated... Simone's search for the elusive passata continues.  Today he has come home with this......

One question.............

      Would you let this man operate on your child's heart?

Namaste

Am I still in London????

I am on call again..... it s a strange thing that everywhere in the world you go, it could be Italy, UK, US China, Australia or India, you find the same attitude on certain things. As you arrive you are too new to do what they employed you for, but experienced enough to help them to keep the "machine " going.

 I l try to be more clear:

We ve just moved from UK. We are brand new in this place and, as already written, we are the only "white" people in the hospital. This is supposed to be the biggest Paediatric Cardiac centre in the world according to number of cases perfomed per year (2500 -ish, compared to Boston: 1100 ish and GOSH 700 ish) but they haven t got enough people to cope both in theatre and with oncalls. In theatre the senior surgeons perform all type of cases assisted only by scrub nurses. I am new so they would like to see how I am before allowing me to do anything. Fair enough, it happens everywhere, and to be fair, if I were in their shoes I 'd do the same. So it s been 3 weeks so far and yesterday the boss of the unit let em close the first chest. Good, big step. He told me that of course it will take time and that he knows the I have 8 years of experience, but as he has 40 he knows that better than me (.......?!?!). No Problemo.
BUT, exactly as everywhere else,  what about oncalls????? well, on day 3 I had my first oncall!!!!! I haven t got my badge yet that the boss said." yes, you know, Simone" the boss said " there is shortage of people and in this way you can help us. Is that OK?"......" yeah sure...No problemo".
So here I am, on call, because I can do oncall in a new place dealing with nurses who DO NOT speak english and laugh whenver I say anything.
Maily I am attached to the boss, but sometimes I cover other younger surgeons who let me do more things but without telling the boss..........

Luckily I spend 90 % of my time in theatre, it is fresh air for a surgeon. I scrub on average for 14-16 cases a week ( and I have done 2 cases already....but without telling the boss). And during  all this time in theatre, you get in contact with the other theatre "animals": anaesthetist and nurses. As I ve already wrote, anaesthetists are blue and nurses in theatre are light blue. the scrub nurses are not trained nurses but technicians. They haven t got a nursing degree. And, as everywhere, they have a hierarchical structure, with senior nurses and junior ones. They are not very tall and the have the same height. They speak very fast with high pitch voice. They are lovely, always telling me : "is it ok, Sir?" or " can I unscrub, Sir?". if you want to imagine how they speak ....well imagine the Chipmunks!!!!!!! Alvin et Co. That s how I call them...the Chipmunks. When I told Louise she said I was rude. But then she came to theatre with me and she couldn t agree more!!!!!

The language is still a big problem, for us, but also for them because not all of them speak English. The interesting thing is that they come from different parts of India where they speak their own language. Who comes from Mumbai/Bombay speaks Marathi that is different from Kannada ( spoken in Bangalore). They SHOULD speak Hindi, but apparently they don t, so English is the way to go.


As I was telling before, no metter where you are in the world, you will find that there are thing completely different and others that are exactly the same.


Been in theatre is one of the biggest differences I have found (workwise) . Nurses are not trained well (but some of them are unexpectly bery bery good) and when you ask a suture they turn their back to you as if they are looking for the desired one......then the Chipmunks concert begins.......30 sec later ....silence. And you ask: "and the suture?" and they give you a garze. ....ehehehehe it s really comedy!!!!!! 

Going out on Saturday night in a big city as Bangalore makes you feel like you have never left London.
We went at the Hard Rock Cafe....ok ok the idea of globalisation!!!.....anyway if it wasn t for the indian accent of 90 % of the people in there it d have seemed to be in London or NYC or Bangkok. Same music, same amount of people having great time wearing jeans rather than sari.etc etc.




Now I leave because I have nothing else to say

New wheels

We bought a car... hurrah, no more walking 6km a day to work and back :)

We actually had the car delivered yesterday but as Simone was on call it stayed at the hospital and I had a lift home with my driver.....  well actually our Landlords driver but I like to think he's mine too.

I was all tucked up and ready for bed last night when Simone called to say he was outside the house with our new car... I was so happy he had come home to see me..
"Yay I'm so happy you came home to see me"
"Yeah I just got out of theatre and I'm starvin, nowhere is open at this time to get food"
"Ah ok..... I'll get cooking then..."

So I walked to work this morning for the last time... this car could possibly have saved my life.  I have grown tolerate a lot of things since arriving in India.... But the sniffing, hacking back and spitting of the phlegm at 0700am still makes me heave every morning..

I met Simone in the afternoon at work today and I knew I only had a couple of cases left in cath lab, therefore would be finished around 4 ish.  At 3pm, Simone was going to theatre to start a fallot.... Ok at least 4 hours... So he gave me the car key to drive home when I finished.

One problem.... I got in and the petrol gauge was on empty.  Damn.  I had 2 choices:
1)  Drive home anyway and hope for the best and get petrol later when I picked Simone up (but knowing me, would probably run out of petrol in the middle of the road, 2km from home and have to push it....  I think I get stared at enough already)
2)  Go to the petrol station and fill up (which I HATE doing in the UK, let alone in India, on my own.)

I decided to brave it and headed for the petrol station....

So I drive in and realised I had no idea which side the cap was on.  Luckily there are guys who fill up for you, so I wound down the window and asked him which side it was on.  Of course it was on the opposite side to what I thought.  So I moved.

I got out of the car and the gentleman looks at me
"You need to open the cap for me"
"Erm...."
"It's inside"
"Erm..................."
"I show you ma'am"
So he takes me on a tour of my own car to show me how to open the petrol cap. Mortified.

"Petrol or diesel ma'am?"
Oh FFS who knew going to get petrol was such a bloody drama...
"Erm...... PETROL"
"Are you sure Ma'am?" as the WHOLE petrol station full of men is looking at me. M O R T I F I E D.
I couldn't help myself, I burst out laughing, looked at everyone and said "hahahahaha can you tell this is a new car?"
So he sniffs the cap and informs me that it is indeed petrol.
"Are you from America Ma'am?"


I have never been so happy to be asked if I'm from America... At least they might still hold out some hope that British girls know their cars...  

Jody will be so ashamed of me to read this...

The good news is that the car has blacked out windows, so NO-ONE stares at me..
The bad news is that the indicators are on the opposite side to my car in the UK, so I put my windscreen wipers on at least 4 times today.... which probably looks quite ridiculous in India where it hasn't rained in 8 months.... Praise the Lord for blacked-out windows....

Visa's and the elusive passata

Yesterday was Sunday and Simone had been on-call saturday into sunday morning.  He came home and we went for a trip to Manthri Square, another recommendation from friends at work.

We took the bus as usual up to Majestic (the big bus station), spent half an hour, as usual, looking for the next bus to take, then arrived at our destination.  It was a huge mall, apparently the biggest in Asia (but I don't believe that, I'm sure places like Malaysia would have bigger ones... but anyway, who am I to argue with 'local knowledge') and it had lots of nice shops and eateries.  We went to a chinese restaurant and had an all-you-can-eat buffet.  The restaurant reminded me of Hakka San in Tottenham Ct Rd- yes it was very plush.... Happy Lou Lou and happy Simone :)

We then decided to return to the South of BAngalore, closer to where we live, and as usual spent half an hour wandering around looking for the bus to take us back.  It seems that WHENEVER we venture out on the bus, we can NEVER find the bus to take us home.... you would think it would be on the opposite side of the road that you disembarked, but oh no, as we often disembark in the middle of the road and usually they are one-way streets.  Well, eventually we found our way back and headed south.

We went to find an Italian restaurant that Simone had found online, that had good reviews.  Our original plan had been to eat there for dinner, but then the oriental lunch buffet scuppered our plans.  Nevertheless, Simone wanted to go in 'for a drink' to see what it was like.  It was on the top-floor of a 4 storey building, so we took the lift directly up.  It was about 5.30pm.  The lift doors opened.... and we were greeted by Indian people face-down, sleeping on rather comfy looking sofas and one oriental lady smiling at us...
"Erm are you open?"  Simone asks
"No Sir, 7PM"
"ah ok"
And we got back in to the lift.
I have to say.... they didn't look very Italian to me... but who am I to judge?

So today it was back to work.  Simone really couldn't get out of bed this morning and as a result had a cobb-on the whole day.... like it's my fault.... but I think he's hilarious when he's grumpy.

So today we were supposed to go to register at the foreign office with a guy from the hospital.  This had all been arranged by the secretary of Simone's boss (and our Landlord).  So 1030am we were told to be in his office with the 2 sheets of paper they told us to get signed on friday, which we did.  So I had to get mine all done by the nursing superintendent and Simone's by his boss.  I got all paperwork signed and The Secretary  (who btw, has a secretary) organised all of Simone's then the guy rocks up at 1030...
"wadadalaalabababablababalabababbabababbbarararraraababababablaalalalalalhahahalahaa Sir"
"Pardon?"
"wadadalaalabababablababalabababbabababbbarararraraababababablaalalalalalhahahalahaa Sir"
Oh FFS this is not gonna go well.

So we deciphered that I needed a photocopy of the nursing superintendents ID etc and we needed photographs of ourselves and our invitation letter... In other words, loads of paperwork we weren't told to bring.... I eyeballed Simone and could see steam starting to seep from his ears....
Off I went to get the ID stuff, and when I came back the guy had disappeared.
"Where's he gone?' I ask Simone
"I have no idea"
"What about the passport pics?"
"They will have to take us home on the way to the visa office"
"Ok"
We waited.... and waited, and waited.....playing fruit ninja.... waiting...
1150am he arrives back
"So how were you planning on getting there?" The guy asks us, and The Secretary looks at us..
"I thought that was being arranged by you" Simone says
"No Sir, I told you he would take you, not that we would arrange the car"
I'm trying not to laugh..... And I can see Simone, who was previously IMPLODING about this whole debacle, is about to EXPLODE....
So we say we will get the bus, and the guy says "no no it's too late, we are meant to be there by 1pm.  We have to go tomorrow"
"So we have wasted all morning sitting in this office, I've taken a day away from theatre and tomorrow I will have to do the same.... I CAN TELL YOU NOW I NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE BECAUSE I AM ABOUT TO BURST.  Now we will go back to work"

The single funniest moment of this trip so far unravelled before my eyes and I could not contain myself.

So we left the office..... and we didn't go back to work, we went in to Bangalore for lunch.  Waiting for the bus outside the hospital this cute girl came to us begging... not the right moment for Simone, he was bursting with rage....

So we had a lovely lunch in Bangalore then came back home.

The next pic is for those of you who can't believe we live on "Cloud 9"

And the next one is Simone's little project... a project he will never complete, but he has been trying for almost 3 weeks...  Fixing the bin lid (where our household rubbish goes, opposite our house) so that the dog that lives on the complex can't open it and take all the bags out, looking for food, that then end up strewn all across the field opposite the house..

Wait wait wait wait wait...... there is a close contender fot the funniest moment of the trip... literally real time, it just happened...

So yesterday in the supermarket Simone was looking for a passata for his pasta as the cartons we have don't match up to his expectations, so he bought a bottle (like a passata bottle at home).

He is cooking now and opened the bottle, smelt it and went "THIS IS KETCHUP" in a surprised and really annoyed tone...

No Shit Sherlock.

I hope tomorrow he wakes in a better mood :)

Buona notte xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Electricity and dressing myself issues

0620 and the alarm went off, I dragged myself out of bed, with Simone already half way through his first case in theatre.  I had a shower and washed my hair, looked out of the window and saw about 2 metres ahead... It was very very foggy.  'ok' I thought, 'it's probably going to be cold'... so I planned my trip to work wearing jeans, a vest top, t-shirt and my woolly cardigan.  Last thing I wanted today was to be cold.  I switched on the hairdryer and after 5 seconds...... out go the lights and all electricity in the house....'I don't believe it', 'the one friggin day it actually looks cold outside I'm gonna have to go out with wet hair'

Yipppeeee the lights came back on, hairdryer on... 2 seconds later....all electricity goes out.  20 seconds later lights back on, hairdryer on.... 2 seconds later.... all electricity goes out....... and this is how it went, until my hair was almost dry.. FFS

'Ok today is not going to be a good day'

So I arrive at work and am greeted by the manager in cath lab. They are having an audit today after 12pm, and as I don't have a radiation badge, and neither do any of the anaesthesia staff, all paediatric cases are cancelled, except for the first one.  And so by 1030am, first case finished, delivered safely to PITU and I have nothing to do for the rest of the day.  

My two friends who are anaesthetic nurses take me off on a wander around the other hospital on site, as they also have absolutely nothing to do until their day finishes (which is later than mine).  We wandered around and wandered around until lunch time.  The dreaded lunch time. 

"erm I'm going to go up to PITU and see the patient"

"No now it is lunch time, you go later"

"But I don't have anything with me, I'll go to the shop after seeing the patient"

"No you come with us now, we have food"

'yeah and no cutlery' I'm thinking

So off we went and had lunch, which by the way was really nice, not so spicy and really tasty :)  I like free lunches.

Next stop was the nurse educator 'to pass some time' and by this time it was 1330.  I then headed off to see my patient and get a coffee.  I really wanted to go home but I had 2 problems 

1) it was really early and

2) I had Simones wallet and couldn't get hold of him.

So I got changed, hoped no-one I knew spotted me (which is virtually impossible-see previous blogs) and headed to sit in the sun and read my book on the grass.

I had drunk 1litre of water and a coffee in the coffee shop, so after half an hour sitting on the grass I started to feel my bladder 'oh no, I can't go back in the hospital in case anyone sees me in my own clothes when I should be working', so I started to put my book away, ready to go.  Simone would just have to survive with no money.  

A lady who was sat close by then came over and started talking local language to me and the only thing I deciphered (from her gestures) was..... 'lunch'

"aita" I said, which means finished

she continued to gesture and talk local language

I felt so bad that I couldn't communicate with her and she just sat there and I sat there in silence... I felt too rude to get up and leave at this point, even though I had already made my decision to go home.  She said something then went back to her family......

Oh no, no no no, she took some food and started heading back towards me... I stood up and said thank you but didn't take it.  So kind, but SERIOUSLY I have already had lunch. 

Off I went to head home, I really needed a wee.  "Oh no, no, no, no " I had looked down and realised at that moment I had my t-shirt on INSIDE OUT, tags and seams EVERYWHERE.   

I suddenly became very hot and didn't know where to put myself....

M O R T I F I E D..... I can't go back in to the hospital... I left my vest top in my bag so can't change it outdoors...and the cardigan I chose to bring today was massive and woolly, not what you want to wear in 30 degree heat when you're already wearing jeans..... OH. MY. GOD.......  SO desperately needing a wee, carrying a heavy bag (owing to my stupid woolly cardigan) and wearing my t-shirt inside out, I practically ran home. 

For the first time, today, I was desperately hoping that everyone that stared at me was doing so because I'm white.... and not because I can't even dress myself.. at 29 years old..... Surely the locals will think it is a 'western'fashion trend' to have seams and labels on show... SURELY?

I knew today was going to be a bad day.........  

Namaste xxxxx

Republic day, Interviews and a moving platform

Happy Republic Day people....  I could kiss whoever made today Republic Day in India because today, we got a day off work.

This morning my alarm clock was Simone calling me from work, about to finish his on call... at 9am.... ahhhhh bliss, I slept till 9am, happy days.  I waited for Simone to arrive from work, with the mocha on and the breakfast cooking... cause that's how I roll (and how I would roll every day if I didn't have to work ;)).  After he arrived home we got ready and headed out in to town to a place called Lal bagh, which was a recommendation from a friend at work.   It is a huge botanical Garden with a flower show, especially for the celebration of Republic Day.  We took the bus there and found the place.  We entered and the atmosphere was pretty nice, lots of people selling popcorn, fruit, samosas etc and lots and lots of people, hoping to get a peek at the flower show we were all there for.  We came across some stalls selling bags, honey, food items and jewellery, to be honest I was in heaven.  Then we decided to queue for the entry in to the flower show.  There were lots of people hoping to get inside so we joined them.

After a short queue (as it was continuously moving) we got inside, and got pushed, shoved and generally trampled on by people trying to get a closer look.  There were Policemen protecting the displays by poking bats in peoples faces.  We took a quick few photos and tried to get out as fast as we could, with one kind man helping make room for me to dart closer to the exit.  As we exited, I almost got a police bat in my eye.... almost...

Next was a walk around the gardens with every other person stopping us "Please can we have photo?" to which Simone's blank response was "No".  But it was a nice place I have to say, despite the fact I then needed to use the bathroom... 2 rupees for the pleasure of entering in to what I can only describe as a chamber with a hole in the ground... Next time I'm gonna join the 95,000 men I see every day taking a leak in the street.  If you can't beat em.....

So we stopped to take an ice-lolly and just as I was getting my chops around it a lady and gentleman with a big camera (he) and microphone (she) stopped us and asked us to talk to them on camera for an Indian TV station. Seriously you couldn't make this stuff up..... As she interviewed us for around 4 minutes, a crowd was gathering around us ( now I know how Posh and Becks feel) and I was desperately wanting to lick my lolly...... SO if you see an interview with 2 white people in Bangalore on Republic Day, with one of em uncouthly sucking on an ice lolly, that's us..... Bollywood here we come.

I have to say I was quite surprised that there weren't more tourists at Lal bagh, I really thought there might be quite a few white people, but there weren't... there were 2.

Next stop was MG Road, as by this time I really needed an alcoholic beverage.  We walked a liitle bit, took a bus, got taken to God knows where, got off the bus, found another bus and eventually ended up in MG Road.  We found a street with a lot of bars and nice eateries on it and so stopped by for a drink in one.  Simone had set his heart on a burger as I had mentioned the words "Hard Rock Cafe" earlier in the day, and so we ended up in there to eat............ And found EVERY SINGLE WHITE PERSON IN BANGALORE.  No, they're not taking in the culture at the Republic Day Parade, they're drinking pints in the Hard Rock Cafe.... and now, so were we :)

The journey home was the same as every other journey home from MG Road, walking about 6km trying to find a bus that goes in our direction.... but the highlight had to be when we were sat on the bus, minding our own business, and then a 'bus' pulls up next to us.... The WHOLE of the front of it was missing.  It was a platform, with the driver sat in the drivers seat and lots of seats behind it, but with no outer shell on the front corner.....

NOW I've seen it all..

Buona notte xxxxxxxxx

Hair dye and a pic for Peggy

Last week I looked in the mirror and I thought
"Jeeezus Louise, you might be living in India, but there is no need to look like a hippy".....

Two and a half weeks ago, pre-departure, I had tried in vain to get a hair appointment to have my ever sprouting grey hairs covered. GUTTED.  No hair appointments available but to be honest, I was so caught up in everything else I just forgot about it and decided it wasn't the right thing to get stressed about. WRONG.... Two weeks later... I have DISGUSTING wiry grey hair multiplying by the day and I look like one of those 'new-age' women who scrape their dark hair back, but right there, RIGHT THERE in the middle of your natural parting (and nowhere else, just where everyone can see them) are an ever expanding number of curly grey hairs heading for the sky. GROSS.

So, I had no option but to head to the shop and buy a hair dye.  Being a 'home hair dye virgin' I was a little bit concerned about a) what colour to get and b) actually dying it myself and probably ending up with patchy colour.   Enter Simone.
The last thing I wanted was to end up looking like Morticia Addams, but against my better judgement I went with the darker colour that Simone assured me was closest to my colour..  I couldn't actually see the colour in the shop against my hair as it is now too short..

We came home, I disappeared to the bathroom and applied the dye... Oh good God, I had hair dye EVERYWHERE.  Up my arms, all over my face, down the back of my neck and ALL OVER THE BATHROOM..

"Simone"
Silence
"SIMONE"
silence
"S I M O N E"
"What?"
"COME HERE NOW"

So he cleaned me up, and told me I was VERY lucky this was not at my parents house... For those of you who know my Dad..........................  :)  Fake tan is enough to send him in to a frenzy, let alone hair dye.

So; bathroom clean, Lou Lou clean, Simone covered in hair dye.. Time to have a cup of tea.

It said to leave it on 15 minutes, but what with my unruly greys I decided it better to leave it on a bit longer, I'd be well peeved if after all that trouble, the greys were still there....

Voila...  To my surprise, the colour was fine... dark brown hair with 100% grey coverage.  Happy.

Today, Simone is on call again, but this morning we went to work together as he had a 'late start' in theatre.  This means 0730am.  I had to walk home by myself, and to be honest, at 4pm after a long hard day at work ;) I find my patience wearing thin with the amount of people staring at me.  I found myself with inner rage, boiling to the surface and wanting to shout "PISS OOOOOOOOOFFFFFF" like Will from the Inbetweeners when he calls Neil's dad a 'bumder'..... If you haven't seen that episode, please watch it.  Seriously, the amount of men on motorbikes who were doing a 180 to get another look... I'm considering putting an advert in the Bangalore gazzette
"White girl living in Bommasandra, on show 1st feb for 2 hours, after which anyone found gawking will be subject to a tirade of verbal abuse"  I mean fair's fair.

I have also discovered a new fear on this journey home.  SO many cars/trucks drive by with their windows open and men usually hanging out of them.  I have become TERRIFIED that one of them is going to take the opportunity to spit, and it's going to land right in my face.... I'm not saying they would directly mean to spit on me, because I really don't think they would... but there is such a thing as being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The picture is for Peggy :)

Tomorrow we get a day off.... for Republic day, yipppppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee :)

Oh and today I walked past 2 nurses (in green) that I have never met before
"Good morning ma'am"
"Good morning"
"Have you had breakfast?"

FFS

Namaste xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Update on Music II

Here you go
Today in theatre we had:
-Bryan Adams with So Far So Good
-randy travis with "Forever & Ever: The Best of Randy Travis"


Not bad....not bad at all