Were you looking for me?

No? Ah... well then I apologise for the disappointment.

I am amazed at some of the search terms that bring people to my blog, lol. These are some of the less weird ones :)

This made me smile

I’m sure there will be a million articles regarding the upcoming Royal wedding for a while yet, but these pictures taken by photographer Mario Testino, brought a smile to my face. I think they make a cute couple :)

Will and Kate: the official picture

Will and Kate: the cute picture

Diana and Charles - the comparisons with every aspect of his parent's marriage have already begun.

Lest we forget

“At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month, we shall remember them.”

What is the first image that pops into your mind when you think about Remembrance Day? Perhaps it’s the poppy? The association between these bright red flowers that grew on the fields after World War I, provide such strong imagery for such a sad event.

It’s around about the beginning of November when poppies start making their appearances; TV, offices, hospitals, school, pretty much everywhere. In previous years I’ve spotted large poppies fixed to the front of cars and you can even have poppies on profile pictures/ avatars on Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites. I’ve even seen a few people style their poppies by using glitter glue or sequins and some even use them as a fashion accessory by fixing them to their hat rather than their coat collars. The point is everyone wears one at some point in some shape or form. It’s not necessary but people wear them because they want to wear one. The question is why?

Why do you wear a poppy? Is it because it makes you feel good? Is it because the flowers look good? Or is it because everyone else around you in wearing one and you want to feel part of the crowd?

I believe people should wear one as a personal reminder, to remember the real meaning and not just be a part of a passing trend. I’m pretty sure that a significant number of people who do wear them, have no idea why they have them pinned to their clothing and don’t really know what they represent. They wear them so that others don’t think badly of them for not wearing a poppy as they want to maintain a certain image to the people around them. Some of these people may include certain individuals that are in the media limelight on a regular basis, that probably have a poppy pinned onto them just before they step out in front of the cameras to maintain their images. It is very rare to see someone without a poppy on them and those that have decide to not wear one are said to be setting a bad example. I disagree and in fact I believe they are setting a better example by standing up for what they believe in and not just following the trend – case in point: Jon Snow and his beliefs.

Today is poppy day and like all poppy days before it, I will be wearing mine - to remember. No one has told me that I should wear one, but I wear it because I paid attention in history and I feel for those people who bravely fought and subsequently lost their lives in the war. They fought for their country, a country which I was born in, a country that provided me with a life and opportunities that others can only dream of, a country that gives me the freedom to make my own choices and I am thankful for that. I may not be related to those who passed away, but I do feel a sense of gratitude towards them and I always will carry that with me throughout my life.

Because it all comes down to this... when you strip away the meaning of the poppy, what are you really left with? A bid of red paper and green plastic stuck to your shirt, the design of which is not that great (see following blog post) as they often get lost or damaged and the remnants of which can be found smushed into the pavement. And so you end up buying another to replace the lost/ damaged one to ensure that you’re still part of the trend. Basically it ends up being a waste of money, materials and a pointless exercise so why not just avoid all that hassle and make a donation instead?

As I said before, wearing a poppy is not essential - you don’t need a poppy to remember, you just need to remember the sacrifices. And not just for this one day, we should really remember them regardless of what month it is. Those that have lost loved ones in the war remember them all the time and I’m sure they don’t wear poppies all year round so are they setting a bad example? So I think the question is not, did you wear a poppy today... but if you did, why do you wear yours?

Mr Parkinson

After getting back from my holidays in Pakistan, I had heard rumours that my old high school biology teacher, Mr David Parkinson, had unfortunately passed away. I decided to phone my old high school today to confirm this news and unfortunately the rumours were true :( I have mentioned in previous blog posts how Mr Parkinson was one of my favourite teachers in high school and an inspiration for my career in medicine. He actively encouraged us all to strive for the best possible outcome and be proud of what we achieve.

The year my younger brother was born, my parents decided to switch cities for a better family life and with that I left behind The Brooksbank School (an excellent school!) to start at The Grange Upper School. I distinctly remember having started my first day as the new girl and I could feel everyone’s eyes on me, watching and analysing my every single move. That’s to be expected right? New place, new people. After spending morning registration filling out the timetable in my new planner, I was escorted to my first lesson of the day by a fellow classmate called Munira. Just as I was about to step into the classroom for my first lesson at my new school, Munira stopped and whispered, ‘Try not to be too afraid’. Okay, what now? Was that supposed to make me feel comfortable because it did quite the opposite!

“Class, today we will be having a test!” was the bellowing voice that greeted me as I stepped inside the room. A quick spin on his heels and I was face to face with my new biology teacher. Munira introduced us, I was welcomed into the classroom and a test paper was placed into my hands.

‘But, I haven’t revised’ I stuttered. ‘Just do your best... THAT is all I ask’ came the reply and with that I was shown to my seat. I remember the table layouts very clearly, two boys and two girls to each table and my table had Kassim, Amar and Misba (who I had been informed was the class swot. But what do I care, she seemed friendly enough towards me). My first day went well and the following day I had biology again where we received our test results. As soon as the last person entered the room, the door slammed shut. BANG! Wow! Did that make me jump and I looked around the room only to find that no one was bothered by it.

*Charging around the room* ‘ALL I ask is that you pay a little attention in class. For your future!!! These results *shakes his fistful of test papers*... these results are appalling! Not one of achieved your full potential. Not one of you! Except for THIS young lady!

The frantic pacing around the room had stopped, however I was too busy wallowing in self pity at having given such a crappy paper and had my head hung in shame that I hadn’t noticed Mr Parkinson had stopped by our table. I looked up and remembered that I sit next to Misba (the class swot) and I was genuinely pleased that one of us had done well. However much to everyone’s surprise it wasn’t her!

‘SAIMA has managed to gain a better than any of you AND without any revision or prior knowledge of the syllabus! Well done Saima. You should be proud of yourself!”

Me? I gasped doing my best goldfish impression, which was also beautifully mirrored by Misba, sat next to me. And then a thought entered my head – being singled out and showing up the rest of the class was NOT a good way to make new friends. This was bad news for me socially... except it wasn’t as I apparently became more approachable and a friendlier version of Misba, lol. As for Mr Parkinson, he went on to teach me GCSE Biology and Chemistry, I attended his extra science classes after school and when it came to choosing my A levels subjects, I was clear on which subjects I should choose for a medical career. However I still kept my fingers crossed hoping that I would have Mr Parkinson for my biology classes and it was a relief when I saw his name appear on my new subject timetable.

I will never forget that first glimpse of Mr Parkinson on my first day; a jade green suit, huge glasses and spiky hair that kind of bordered on a mullet type hairstyle. He preferred using the blackboard and whenever he wrote on it, he had this habit of always licking his piece of chalk - odd I know. He always carried a huge rucksack, didn’t drive a car and preferred to walk. He liked his coffee strong and you could always smell it when you entered the science lab. He loved his coffee so much that he had numerous mugs strewn about the room, some would be forgotten and you would often find them a couple weeks later with some sort of mould growing inside the mug - clearly not a nice thing to find!

He was open to the idea of different religions and you would often find him casually slipping in a ‘Bismillah’ here or a ‘MashAllah’ or ‘InshaAllah’ into our conversations with him. He treated us like adults, responsible for our own actions and for him he meant it and it wasn’t just a series of clichés. If Mr Parkinson was angry, well you would definitely know about it. Doors would be slammed, raised voices would be heard down the corridor and he was quite happy to hand out after school detentions and stay behind personally to see them through. He detested lack of punctuality and those that really rubbed him up the wrong way would often be locked in the adjacent prep room until he felt the pupil had learnt their lesson.

I don’t think I ever got into trouble with Mr Parkinson and I can only remember one incident in which I was gently taken to one side and reprimanded for speaking ill of someone behind their back. Wow did that make me feel ashamed! I was ashamed that I left myself down by joining in with the gossip mongers but more ashamed that I had let him down. Just that one minor incident was all it took for me to learn a valuable lesson and how it was nice to be nice to others. Surely that gives some indication of how much I thought of this man and how much his opinion mattered.

He went above and beyond his assigned teaching duties to make sure we got a good education and actually made learning fun, which is no easy task. I remember many fun biology lessons where he specially arranged for us to do dissections, took our A level class on outdoor field trips and was always on hand to provide help and support. Our A level class size was much smaller than the GCSE cohort and we became an even closer knit group. Some of the guys in our A level class felt that he favoured the girls more than the boys and they (Ismail I’m looking at you!) felt that this was unfair, but neither Arooj or I felt that we were ever treated differently from the boys.

As for me, I think being singled out in his class sort of set the tone for our student/ teacher relationship. He took into account our views and advised us on what to do best, he calmed us down when we got all panicky and those of us who got to know him better discovered he had a great sense of humour. All in all Mr Parkinson (or ‘Parky’ as we nicknamed him in private) was a very lovely man and I am glad I had the honour of meeting him. I believe that the day we left high school, that yes, we did leave behind an excellent teacher but personally I feel I had gained a good friend that I could rely on for sound advice. Subsequently after starting university, I did go back to see Mr Parkinson, I found he was always welcoming and eager to find out how I was doing. I will miss our regular catch ups and part of me still can’t believe he has truly gone. Mr Parkinson was such a good man, an excellent teacher and extremely supportive of the ambitions of his students. He will be deeply missed. May he rest in peace.

October stuff

Just a collection of articles that caught my eye over this past couple of months... and partly because I didn't have the time to write a proper post on each one :P

What's in your child's lunchbox?

Apart from the actual issue about healthy eating, what drew my eye to this article was the picture. Who has the time effort to do that for their child everyday in order for them to eat healthily?

Core blimey!

An apple that is half red and half green, naturally. Just a bit odd.

Leeds light night

Apparently it takes place every year. How did I not know about it before?

Torso issues? 

Guys apparently you can now get t-shirts to enhance your torso. Anything to avoid the gym then I guess.

The Russian baby - miracle or hoax?

Passages from the Quran are said to appear on a 9 month baby’s skin, which eventually fade and are replaced with new passages.

Education and women
Apparently educated women can influence and possibly extend their life as well as their partners. Well, who knew marriage had so many benefits? lol

Obama's lecturn
I hope that things falling apart is not a sign of things to come what with mid term elections around the corner. And yes... I am also worried about my new found interest in politics whether it is UK, USA or Pakistan. I should go away and do something trivial to displace these serious political thoughts.

Scotch tape wins a Nobel Prize
Just goes to show that you can still win a Nobel prize just by mucking about in the lab.

Girl power

A 20 year female criminology student has become the youngest ever police chief for one of Mexico's most violent towns. A tough position to be in... especially when you learn that town's previous mayor and numerous police officers have been kidnapped and murdered over the past few years. Eek! Good luck to her as it sounds like she's going to need it!

Old Broadcasting House wins prize

The OBH - some people really hate it, some not so much. The rusty building actually won a prize for being the world's best new tallest building, beating the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai. Go figure :)

The Elephant's trunk
It sounds like the scene from The Elephant's Story, one of Rudyard Kiplin's Just So Stories, the one where the the crocodile pulled and created the elephant's trunk.

A toast to you

I'm always partial to a bit of toast, but then again some people just take it a bit too far. A daughter in law made a mosaic of her mother in law... out of toast. To show her how much she loved her. Okay. I have to say it is bloody good though!

Tony Blair

Aah, Tony Blair. He's never out of the news for too long, eh?

So I suppose the following doesn't how true anymore ;)

Location Lingo

Everyone has a nickname for their hometown and now a group of people with the Ordnance survey have set up database to collect these nicknames. The rule are that it cannot be an official name, it must be used by more than three for a month at least and it cannot be made up for a survey. Anyone with their own suggestions for their hometowns can visit Location Lingo.

September stuff

It's a bug's life
I just link the pictures to be honest.

The other silk road

The migration of creepy crawlies in South Africa's Kruger National Park... but on a much smaller scale in comparison to the wildebeest. And I'm guessing a different pace as well ;)

Slightly strange

Lady Gaga's meat dress
Just when you thought she couldn't get any weirder...

An earthquake in London - really?

As if the floods in Pakistan, the volcano in Indonesia and the other numerous disasters of late weren’t enough, experts are theorising that London is overdue for a major earthquake. I really hope not :(

The picture below shows the currently active Indonesian volcano in background. How scary does the dark sky look and could you imagine living nearby knowing that any moment now it could erupt? Very scary!

Silent protest at it's best 

This has to be the funniest way to protest.

Question: What do you do if your bank won’t lend you any money?
Answer: Simple, just brick up the bank entrance!
The article describes how property developer Cameron Hope, built an 8ft by 4ft wall in front of the entrance to the Barclays bank in Bournemouth.

Scientists have strated talking about a sixth sense

Well, now this is weird. A  study claims that some couples have similar thoughts and are so ‘psyhcologically alinged’ and so in tune that their brains start to work in sync. This happens when they connect on a deeper level – a sixth sense - and without any physical contact. How did they prove this? By using brain scans and analysing their nervous system via their heartbeats.

Clean freak
And people say I have issues with OCD and cleaning ;)

Last picture: Where's wally?

Um, did I miss anything?

No more Windows live spaces?

I left those guys (Windows Live spaces) a long time ago when I moved to Blogger and the only thing I took with me was the blog name Saima’s Space. However the subsequent transition from Blogger to Wordpress seemed to take forever. My cousin emailed me the following link this morning – Windows Live Blogging comes to an end. Yep. Windows Live Spaces is shutting up shop and all members will be encourage to sign up with Wordpress. Hmm, do you think the universe is giving me a shove to get my backside into gear? I’m so sorry I’m such a lazy blogger!!!

Dangerous driving

One thing I noticed whilst abroad was the total disregard drivers had for one another, driving around as if there were no rules. The last time I went to visit my extended family in Pakistan, was the first the first time I had been back since passing my driving test and starting university. I thought it would be fun to hire out a car for the duration of our stay and I could take my mum and my khala out and about rather than waiting for the availability of the drivers in the household. Turns out this idea was silly many accounts; 1) I'm a girl, 2) I'm from abroad (dad was worried about me being kidnapped I think) and 3) Pakistani driving rules are very different from British... which in other words means they do no exist! Besides my last trip was vey short and so there hardly seemed any point in all that extra hassle of hiring cars and so forth.

For this year's trip, well with the first two points I could perhaps persuade my dad, but the last point - boy was that a winning argument! Everyone seems to be so angry all the time and no one has any conception of waiting for their turn. And don't even get me started on car safety!!!

[insert picture of pakistani car]

I'm glad I live in Britain and even though we have our fair share of angry drivers on the roads, I still feel much safer here.

 

A lot my family have BMW’s. Is this a sign? :P And in other related news...

 

Now who’s a show off?

Reinstalling Wordpress

Imran bhaijaan has just reinstalled Wordpress for me, as I had some technical problems previously. Seriously I have no excuses now. I really do have to move over Wordpress and leave Blogger behind. And I mean like properly backdate all my posts, pictured and all. It’s no joke! I mean it is getting a bit ridiculous now as I’ve had this site for about year now. And yes I should be ashamed :P So it’s now or never as I won’t get time next year due to a heavier workload; more hospital rounds, longer patient lists etc.

The main reasons I wanted to leave Blogger were because;

a) You couldn’t have more than one page!

b) The editor screen was hardly the best and once I saw the Wordpress one… well there was no going back ;)

c) You couldn’t alter the themes or upload your own ones. Plus the themes that were available didn’t really appeal to me. Did I mention how picky I am?

Would you believe it that as I am now shifting stuff over to Wordpress, Blogger FINALLY decide to update their services. I mean now you can have up to 10 pages and the editor screen has vastly improved. There is even a theme hemes are still the same though ;)

You can link stuff now! I know how sad that sounds but prior to this upgrade I had to learn the bloody html coding thingy from Mohsin and a couple of other friends!

So yes, Wordpress has been reinstalled again… with err, no security issues or 404 errors etc. Also Imran bhai decided to give me a helping hand…

It’s definitely an eye catching tagline for the blog, not sure how that reflects on my medical career promoting myself like so :P

Also Wordpress’s default theme for 2010; a picture of the woods coupled with Imran bhai’s rather unique tagline. Bhaijaan claims it’s just a happy coincidence. Yea, right…