Last day of idleness

This morning I was woken up at 9.30am by the housekeeper knocking on my door. She hadn't seen me since Monday when I had told her that I was having the runs and needed more loo roll and was understandably concerned about my well-being. Was I alright (which I interpreted as meaning, are you still alive?) and when I replied in the affirmative, asked if I would like a cup of tea, to which I politely declined. When she had gone away, I noticed that she had slipped a note under my door which read: 'Hope you're OK, haven't seen you since Monday.' How sweet! Btw, this is for the benefit of those of you who have to live in crappy hospital accommodation - the accommodation that I stay in has ensuite bathroom facilities, its own TV and a cleaner who leaves fresh towels, sheets and vacuums the room. Boy am I pampered. And no, the housekeeper does not read me bedtime stories. That would be seriously creepy.

What a luxury to have 2 weekdays off when I work according to a rota that has in the past year allocated me to work Christmas Day, New Year and Easter! Chinese New Year too, although I suppose that doesn't really count as a public holiday in this country. My friend in Newcastle, Hui Ping had been trying to get me to go away with her for a long weekend as May 26th would be a bank holiday. My response to that was that I had had no idea such a holiday existed as I do not unfortunately, work in a bank.

So you can probably tell by now that perhaps my recent bout of diarrhoea and vomiting was indeed a blessing in disguise as I have had the time to :

1) do one load of laundry
2) upload 4 photo albums onto Facebook
3) reply to my little sister's extremely long recent email
4) max out my Vodafone minutes
5) start this blog
6) get reacquainted with the features of MSN messenger

The list just goes on. And Shawn, that does not mean that I must have been super bored or that I am boring.

In any case, yesterday I was doodling on my notepad when I received a phonecall from a friend asking if I would like to go out for dinner in Glasgow. What a treat on a weekday! Usually I just cook for myself or subject myself to the whims of the canteen chefs.

There's a new Malaysian restaurant in Glasgow, just opened within the last month I believe. It's named Rumours Kopitiam. I do not have any pictures, unfortunately. It's right smack in the city centre. I went a la carte with two others. We tried the spicy fried soft shell crab, claypot tofu with some seafood and meat, belacan-fried kangkung and stir-fried coffee chicken. The crab was probably the best I think, but the rest were fairly predictable and the coffee chicken was too sweet for me. The portions were also small for the price. The remaining two in our party ordered individual noodle dishes, kind of mamak style. Looking at what they had, I came away with the conclusion that the individual noodle/rice dishes there were probably ok, but I have had better a la carte elsewhere.

We then went to watch a movie. I watched Ironman, which had been recommended to me by Sue Yin. It was action-packed and I was not disappointed! I didn't realise the lead actor was Robert Downey Jr until the closing credits though. I've liked him in all the movies I've ever seen him in, which is why I'm still kicking myself that I didn't recognise him. This is probably why people successfully manage to disguise themselves by having long hair and a beard I suppose. I still remember how I managed to watch Andy Lau act as an obese lovelorn twain in a HK movie for 2 hours without realising it was him until he'd shed all his weight at the end.

Tomorrow I return to work...sigh:(

The perils of working in a Scottish hospital

Bear in mind dear readers, that the list below is not exhaustive:

1. Diarrhoea
2. Vomiting
3. Diarrhoea and vomiting
4. Needlestick injury
5. Cheese scone addiction

I have had for some time now, number 5. Some people cannot even imagine cheese scones (see pic below) being a valid food item. I can assure you they are very much so. Spread some butter on one, and it melts in your mouth. I, on the other hand, do not understand the popularity of fruit scones.

Well, I have to admit I succumbed to number 3 yesterday. One of the wards in my hospital had been closed for diarrhoea and vomiting. Now before you start shaking your heads, I did wash my hands after visiting that ward!! Unfortunately, the bug must have been incredibly robust for I began experiencing abdominal pangs on Sunday and on Monday could not move from my bed for all the peristaltic movements that were going on in my gut. My friend texted me later on to inform me that another ward had to be closed down that day. Needless to say, I could not go into work. But the upside of this was that I got today and tomorrow off!! Occupational health decrees that I cannae go into work for 48 hours after my last symptom has passed.

A new era

Welcome to the birth of my first ever blog! A realisation dawned on me recently that this would be a great way to keep friends and family alike up to date with the chronicles of my life. I get great enjoyment from reading my friends' blogs and learning what shenanigans they have been up to that way. So why not return the favour?
Why the title Meifongpolitan? It took ages to come up with this name. There was the dilemma of whether it would be too narcissistic to have my own name incorporated into it or would something random like 'Miod Malina' or 'Strawberry Cheesecake' or 'Cheese Scone' be better. You might be able to tell by now that I'm slightly obsessed with food. In any case, here it is - politan means to do with a city and if you think about this blog being a virtual city that I'm creating filled with pieces of me, there you have it . Doesn't really make sense, does it? Not to me, anyway, but take it as you like!