Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Gas Man From Belfast
F is a friend since A-level time.
One of those friends you 've got because you were bundled into the same boeing747 from Subang International Airport,right after SPM, to then be flown to Heathrow and scattered all over the public schools in UK.
There you were taught more or less how to wear black tights which laddered after a week, with stupid pencil/A-line/pleated grey skirts. Also mastering the art of tightening your anal sphincter after morning fry-ups with loads of baked beans. Not gentle, baked beans. Phhwwwwoooarrrhh!
(Unless you want to anaesthetise the whole of Chemistry class or cause spontaneous combustions, then the skill is vital to acquire).
So you hooked up with your first love and people like F were more like a backdrop.
Recently F and I had been in touch more frequently. Partly because there's a lot to catch up after 10 years and the other is probably because he is also doing exactly the same FRCA exam as I am and we are both pissing ourselves with the whole she'bang. His exam is in 6 days time. I feel for him.
He is a gas man from Belfast and there was so many gas stories to tell. Firstly, we both established that orthopaedic surgeons are spazzers.
"What do you call a bunch of orthopaedic surgeons looking at a chest x-ray?"
"Entah, Go on tell me ", there's no point trying here I thought, because I am never good at it.
"Double blind study", his laughter was contagious.
We laughed and he rambled on about his hospital and the nurses and the portering system.
Second thing we thought needed slagging was no matter how early you 'order' the customer, it always takes about an hour for the patient to get down to theatre. He complained on and then it was my turn to complain on the same topic and then the next and the next , like a ping pong game I thought.
Just as I was going to comment about his funny accent (even H-Besut who could never say ikan properly now has a Scarborough accent)..
Another joke.
"A woman came to a doctor looking ghastly and ill"he paused.
Kahhkahkahkahkahkah, couldn't stop myself.
"Oiii..I haven't even started." He took a deep drag of the cigarette and laughed. I can tell. I know these things.
Doctor: So you are not feeling any better since the last time you saw me?
Woman: No doc, but I am puzzled, I have been doing exactly as what you told me.
Doctor: It's very easy to do and you should feel better.
Woman: I know doc but it's just not working.
Doctor: So I said 4 meals a day and a gentle exercise every other day , did you do that?
Woman: Doc, I thought you said 4 males a day!!
I bursted out laughing. He went hehehehehhe, pleased that he is still the funny guy with glasses and curly hair I once knew.
We talked about people we know and places we have travelled. Memories of those two carefree years came flooding back. Ahhh.. could even still remember the particular smell of that dry autumn breeze kissing my cheeks.
Sat on a Reagent's park bench with some girlfriends (who are now either suffering from backache- due to the accentuated lumbar lordosis as one becomes more pregnant, or suffering from sore nipples-due to many reasons), watching the boys playing footie. (that is when we really really had to stop from the 5 pm round the park run, not that we purposely went there.)
"Eh M is gay kah, why he never kawen, dulu very gatal with S?" I was curious
"Oiii nak mati you go ask him sendiri laaa", he blew out some smoke.
After a few what-happen-to-him/hers, it panned out that we both suffer from syndrome T. We didn't think we were going to be the selected ones but fate has funny ways of doing funny twists. Having agreed to that we found ourselves in a pregnant silent.
"Smoking kills, amaran dari kementerian kesihatan", I gibed half seriously. Phewh, I don't like silencing topics.
"Ohmagawd, mana you tahu? Oii you spy me is it? cepat cakap!!!!" he sounded genuinely surprised that I figured he is now a smoker.
So he told me the reasons and excuses. He took up smoking after a relationship disaster and his excuse for continuing is because she was no longer around. That's what I deduced.
We touched on the subject of relationships and I felt rather awkward. I got up and started walking sideways and kicking the skirting of the wall gently, with the handphone still clamped to my ear. Unexpectedly, visitor from South Africa arrived for lunch and I had to cut the conversation short. Just as well.
He made me promise to keep in touch and three other things. So I did because life is a bitch sometimes.
He is now a smoker and a non-believer in marriages, and I am still wondering what had that 10 years done to me.
One of those friends you 've got because you were bundled into the same boeing747 from Subang International Airport,right after SPM, to then be flown to Heathrow and scattered all over the public schools in UK.
There you were taught more or less how to wear black tights which laddered after a week, with stupid pencil/A-line/pleated grey skirts. Also mastering the art of tightening your anal sphincter after morning fry-ups with loads of baked beans. Not gentle, baked beans. Phhwwwwoooarrrhh!
(Unless you want to anaesthetise the whole of Chemistry class or cause spontaneous combustions, then the skill is vital to acquire).
So you hooked up with your first love and people like F were more like a backdrop.
Recently F and I had been in touch more frequently. Partly because there's a lot to catch up after 10 years and the other is probably because he is also doing exactly the same FRCA exam as I am and we are both pissing ourselves with the whole she'bang. His exam is in 6 days time. I feel for him.
He is a gas man from Belfast and there was so many gas stories to tell. Firstly, we both established that orthopaedic surgeons are spazzers.
"What do you call a bunch of orthopaedic surgeons looking at a chest x-ray?"
"Entah, Go on tell me ", there's no point trying here I thought, because I am never good at it.
"Double blind study", his laughter was contagious.
We laughed and he rambled on about his hospital and the nurses and the portering system.
Second thing we thought needed slagging was no matter how early you 'order' the customer, it always takes about an hour for the patient to get down to theatre. He complained on and then it was my turn to complain on the same topic and then the next and the next , like a ping pong game I thought.
Just as I was going to comment about his funny accent (even H-Besut who could never say ikan properly now has a Scarborough accent)..
Another joke.
"A woman came to a doctor looking ghastly and ill"he paused.
Kahhkahkahkahkahkah, couldn't stop myself.
"Oiii..I haven't even started." He took a deep drag of the cigarette and laughed. I can tell. I know these things.
Doctor: So you are not feeling any better since the last time you saw me?
Woman: No doc, but I am puzzled, I have been doing exactly as what you told me.
Doctor: It's very easy to do and you should feel better.
Woman: I know doc but it's just not working.
Doctor: So I said 4 meals a day and a gentle exercise every other day , did you do that?
Woman: Doc, I thought you said 4 males a day!!
I bursted out laughing. He went hehehehehhe, pleased that he is still the funny guy with glasses and curly hair I once knew.
We talked about people we know and places we have travelled. Memories of those two carefree years came flooding back. Ahhh.. could even still remember the particular smell of that dry autumn breeze kissing my cheeks.
Sat on a Reagent's park bench with some girlfriends (who are now either suffering from backache- due to the accentuated lumbar lordosis as one becomes more pregnant, or suffering from sore nipples-due to many reasons), watching the boys playing footie. (that is when we really really had to stop from the 5 pm round the park run, not that we purposely went there.)
"Eh M is gay kah, why he never kawen, dulu very gatal with S?" I was curious
"Oiii nak mati you go ask him sendiri laaa", he blew out some smoke.
After a few what-happen-to-him/hers, it panned out that we both suffer from syndrome T. We didn't think we were going to be the selected ones but fate has funny ways of doing funny twists. Having agreed to that we found ourselves in a pregnant silent.
"Smoking kills, amaran dari kementerian kesihatan", I gibed half seriously. Phewh, I don't like silencing topics.
"Ohmagawd, mana you tahu? Oii you spy me is it? cepat cakap!!!!" he sounded genuinely surprised that I figured he is now a smoker.
So he told me the reasons and excuses. He took up smoking after a relationship disaster and his excuse for continuing is because she was no longer around. That's what I deduced.
We touched on the subject of relationships and I felt rather awkward. I got up and started walking sideways and kicking the skirting of the wall gently, with the handphone still clamped to my ear. Unexpectedly, visitor from South Africa arrived for lunch and I had to cut the conversation short. Just as well.
He made me promise to keep in touch and three other things. So I did because life is a bitch sometimes.
He is now a smoker and a non-believer in marriages, and I am still wondering what had that 10 years done to me.
