What I Saw In Manchester!

Last night I ended my first week of calls. Dental officers in most states (I’m a little hazy about how it’s being done in Selangor and KL because I heard they have active calls) are on-call passively which means we can lepak at home while waiting for a phone call from the accident and emergency unit. Most cases that we tend to would be traumatic injuries from road traffic accidents but other less scary stuff would be to come to the rescue of patients who are still bleeding after an extraction earlier on in the day, a facial swelling and etc.

To get us accustomed to the dos and don’ts of being on-call, we tag-call with a senior who will show us the ropes. I am very lucky because both my seniors were very patient and even let me have a go at doing some simple lacerated wounds. But I get tensed up easily and when we’re on-call, we’re expected to be doing these procedures at the bed side which means no comfy dental chair to work on and good posture just flies out the window. Just last night I was suturing a laceration wound and because the lighting was bad, the bed was so low I had to bend almost 90 degrees to finish up my work and each time I tried to stand up, it was almost impossible. You know like when you’ve done one too many sit-ups you just can’t do another one? Yeah imagine it in the reverse. I found it so hard to straighten back-up. There was a puddle of my sweat on the floor next to the patient’s bed. I’ll need those sweatbands for my next round of calls. Even in the clinics I can sweat a river during particularly difficult extractions. 🙁

My first trip to the red zone was quite an eye opener. We were supposed to tend to some wounds on a trauma patient’s chin area but we had to stand aside as the medical team was trying to resuscitate her. That was particularly scary especially seeing how it is done. 🙁 My senior said that would take awhile so we went home first. And for the whole evening my senior did not call me….which means that the patient didn’t make it. 🙁

I’m babbling so much because what I am trying to say is that I have been busy hence the neglect here. 😛

SO ANYWAY. I was in Manchester back in July for Mervyn’s graduation! 🙂 And I think this is the first time photos from my Olympus E-PL2 are posted here.

Just trying to be artsy-fartsy with this round of photos.

Even though it was summer, the weather was still too cold for me!

A starbucks cafe, like it’s not a big deal there.

Palace Hotel was just opposite our hotel!

Oxford Road was also just behind our hotel!

The road that we were staying on was Oxford Road which was just a straight road down to Mervyn’s uni.

In Manchester, everywhere is within walking distance.

A rustic old street sign on a brick wall. <3

Why not!! :((

Dad’s best impression of an old monkey.

Chinese visiting Chinatown.

Mervyn showed us the particularly dodgy establishments around the area. Somehow, Chinatown everywhere is associated with dodginess.

it looks as if this poor pigeon got shot. :((

We arrived very early on Sunday morning and were just in time to see the remnants of Saturday night’s mayhem. We went before the riots took place so this is just a normal weekend in the UK.

The shopping heaven that is Market Street!

Mother and Son oohing and aahing.

Overlooking some pub area.

That shop on the lower left right hand corner is Jigsaw which was the company that Kate Middleton used to work at!

The wheel of Manchester!

This looks like a mini Picadilly Circus right here!

Balloons bobbing along a river near Manchester’s gay district.

It’s like a party road!

With pretty pink doors. <3

Gay Sparkle!! 😀 The sparkle fonts are made from super glittery cardboards which totally had me staring at it for a good 10 minutes or so, with my mouth wide open in wonder.

Don’t know what it means..

More of the streets along Manchester.

There are random space invaders all over the city. Mervyn mentioned to me that it is done by a group of artists where they try to incorporate space invaders at the strangest of places. Here a link to see where else that one can find them space invaders.

Under an overhead bridge.

Some random graffiti..

That’s part of Mervyn’s uni and that’s dad crossing the road. Why did the father cross the road?

Another view of the old campus.

Cute surfaces at Costa Coffee!

Archie’s!! 😀 I didn’t get a good picture of the snack bar but it’s basically trying to be like Pop Tate’s Choc’lit Shoppe in Archie Comics and this is their delivery car.

Manchester at dusk.

The tram tracks at night – so beautifully illuminated.

I love walking around manchester at night because it’s just so damn cold! Something I don’t get to do often and always want to do more of whenever I’m in a cold country.

Mervyn brought us to a pub on our first night there.

Having a pint like the locals. 😛

A fruit stall down the road from our hotel.

Old architecture + bluest of skies = <3

this looks like an old theatre! It’s a building near my brother’s apartment.

Mervyn walking home.

Potholes, just like back home!

Love sticking my camera into the grass and going trigger happy. 🙂

This is when I switched to my telelens! 😀

Mum and the superbokeh at the back.

Oh puffy dandelions, how I miss thee!

And lavenders! I can’t get enough of it!!

That’s Mervyn’s common kitchen which he share with his other flatmates.

Found this on the window of a laundromat that we wanted to go to. Thank god we came too late. 😀

Ya I know I’m one lousy tourist – this is obviously a historical monument but I don’t even know its name. 😀

Artsy shot of the historical monument.

Dad and his trademark eye roll.

There was a pub next to the historical monument that serves Monday lunch at 505 off! I think all four of us ate like £20 in total. For such a filling meal too!

I don’t know la hah I’m not that good at describing my meals. But I do have moments when I want to grow up to be a food blogger.

Mashy tomato on something green and something yellow. Cheese maybe? Who knows. It tasted goood!

Thin crusts pizza are ALWAYS THE BOMB.

Everywhere you go in England you’ll definitely have chips. 🙂

A rustic pub somewhere in town.

Balls around town.

My fit brother! 😀

Dad’s my dad. 🙂

Mervyn introduced an Indian restaurant to us called Zouk, which is off Oxford Road.

Cute decors!

basically it’s a little middle eastern mixed with indian cuisine. So here is something grilled.

And you have the sour salad!

Grainy rice!

Curry something 😀

Curry something else?

Another curry dish!

Piccadilly Gardens!

I love it how the streets are always bursting with colours and personalities doing all sorts of things!

For one of the dinners, Mervyn had a pint of pie. Sounds nauseating right? So much pie!

Dad and I had pork ribs!

Man eating pork.

MUm had…I think a fish dish.

The fish dish.

Aku tengah konpius nih!

Oh so good…….

Saw a sticker on the side of a bus stop.

More of the sights we took in during one of our long evening walks in the cold. 🙂

Trainers are on because I’m still wary of the cold weather.

A river that my brother walks along almost every other day. 🙂

So romantic right?

A bridge across the river.

Their judgemental stares..:P It was meant to hurry us along.

My brother holds his gaze.

Look what I found! 😀

This is Mervyn on his graduation day.

Been quite  awhile since I last camwhored. Still got it I see. 😛

My brother, the law graduate, who still has to slave for 1 year and 9 months before he is a full fledged lawyer!

Mervyn and some of his coursemates. 🙂

Awww… mum doing something she always does.

Thought I’d help out by capturing Mervyn’s final moments with his friends.

The hall where the commencement ceremony took place.

Paparazzis with so much love in their hearts.

Hahahahha! I love this shot of my brother. 🙂 He looks utterly ecstatic.

One of our few family photos. Thanks William!

And of all people that I bumped into in the UK.. Li-Lynn!! My kindergarten classmate!! 😀

Love love love this shot of the mortarboards in the air. 🙂

I do think my skills are improving..hehe. 😀

One of our nicest family photos.

Mervyn and more of his buddies.

Mum insisted on getting him a graduation bear.

Love this shot of dad and mum!

To all my fellow dentists, you know what i mean. 😉 “Ambil coupland.”

Mervyn says goodbye to his beloved uni.

And I happily camwhore away.

I feel this photo would make a good poster for the play “How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying”.

For his graduation celebratory dinner, we had it at a fancy restaurant called San Carlo!

Apparently plenty of celebrities have been there before. 🙂

So fancy.

But super cramped too.

Me amidst the clutter of glasses and plates.

Another beautiful walk back to our hotel in the cold summer night.

This bar is called Taps I think! Very amusing because the alcohol is literally served from the tap!

No idea what St. George’s House is but I know it looks quite nice. 😀

Another pub behind our hotel.

The next morning, we were lucky enough to spot the Red Bull entourage!

Over at Picadilly Gardens, a flock of pigeons wait for the next jet of water from the fountain for their bath time.

Always in awe of these street performers!

Saw this on a wall in a music store.

So big!!

This is one old building. I was taking this photo from a Subway sandwich shop. How times have changed eh?

On our last day, we went to Lake District! It is apparently the largest lake in the UK and it rains all the time there.

Why did the swan cross the road?

The swan is so cute!

*gulp*

No  I didn’t eat the swan.. I had something else. 🙂 Fish and chips!

Dad and Mevyn enjoying their meals too.

Awww..he wants some! He really likes chips.

A seagull floats aimlessly.

Saw his friend kot.

We rented a boat which we could drive out on our own to the middle of nowhere.

Mervyn and I making the “Mmmm sweet lemonade” face. Can anyone guess where that face is from?

Mum at the wheels.

Spotted a fellow sailor in the distance. We waved.

Found a wall with a heart spray painted on! <3

My FB profile pic which has received so damn many likes! 😀

Mervyn has a go with the heart on the wall.

Heart balloon!

I like this one. 🙂

I think this looks like something right out of a movie.

Some pretty pipes along the sides of a house.

So old fashioned! Would be even cooler if they had milk bottles!

Not quite the believer.

Pretty chalk written menu!

Chocolates!

So cute right?!

I had to climb this little hill to get to the blue flowers.

The blue flowers!!

It’s like they reach right up to the heavens!

Me and the blue blue flowers.

My favourite shade of blue. 🙂

More of the boats bobbing along Lake District.

A judgmental crow.

And I end this long overdue post with a pretty duck.