Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita

I find out from several sources that when a student in the UK does their electives during the last years of their formal education, they do it in far away places like Fiji, Australia and Penang and go into hospital and do clinical work like 2 days a week, spending the rest of the week sightseeing, or sun tanning on the beach. So they really weren't prepared for someone like me who wakes up at 6:30 in the morning so I can be there by 8 o'clock for morning rounds, am present at all the teaching events, and make it to O.R. and stay until the cases end at 4:30. By the way, there is no such thing as "pre-rounding" and since the health system is nationalized, work starts at 8 and ends at 4:30 on the dot. Everyone in the same vocation gets paid the same and hence, are only required to do the required amount of jobs and since work above and beyond is not really recognized, healthcare being socialist in nature, no one really goes above and beyond. Welcome to the NHS, where healthcare is accessible to all, including non-citizens from far away places like Lagos and Tunisia.

Hence, it was interesting for me to find out that proof of health insurance was required of me before the start of this elective. How does that make sense when people from Lagos bring their infant sons for open heart surgery due to a congenital defect and don't have to pay a cent, and I, a foreign student, am mandated to carry health insurance in case I fall ill with the flu?

Open heart surgery....flu. Go figure.

Like I said, welcome to the NHS. I hesitate to think that the US is heading in this direction since we are already providing healthcare for a million or so foreign immigrants by the mere fact that they are in the US where they (and to be fair, as well as citizens who carry no health insurance, like Mitch and myself) overtax the E.R. and use it as a primary care provider.

In that light, I think to myself: why the heck am I working that hard anyway when they aren't expecting me to? Afterall, I'm a mere student, with no responsibilities whatsoever.
So slowly, day by day, I leave a little early. I started out leaving at 3 instead of 4:30.
Then, one day, I took half the day off.
Then the other day, I just took the entire day off and visited Portobello market where it is reputed to be like NY's Tribeca.

This is the famous picture of the bridge in London when one thinks of the London Bridge except that this is the Tower Bridge and London Bridge (of the "London Bridge is falling down" fame) is on the other side, some several meters away.

This is at the bottom of Tower Bridge where, in the days past, they used to fish up dead bodies.


This is the famous Tower of London, where ghosts like Anne Bolyn still linger. I thought it was particularly lovely set against the dark gloomy sky, all lit up from within. Gives it a spooky sort of feel.

This is Her Majesty's mounted guards. I was about to stuff a feather up the horse's nose just to see what will happen.

Although you can't really see it, this is Downing Street. Hello Mr Blair, friend of the U.S.!

More adventures to come. Stay tuned as I play hookey.