Not well

To be honest I hadn’t felt well since arriving back from Thailand on 4 November. I had a bit of what I thought was a sore throat that transformed into a dull ache on the left side of my face over the weekend of 7/8 November. On the Monday I woke up with a touch of hot & cold sweats – which cleared about ten o’ clock – but my stomach felt dicey all week.

Weekend of 15/16 November I still felt shattered – and Monday had another hot & cold sweat – and was generally not feeling at all hungry – though my cook’s “chicken remains curry” wasn’t something I fancied in the first place.

Thursday I felt shattered all day – went to bed early – and on Friday – for the first time in over two weeks – didn’t feel like death warmed up in the morning.

Being ill in foreign countries isn’t something to be recommended – but is a hazard of the ex-pat life and varies from country to country.

When we were on site in China – about 80 miles from the Hong Kong border – the policy was that if anyone fell ill – or was bitten by one of the six varieties of venomous snake that lurked on site – you would be sent via emergency ambulance to Hong Kong. Some folk were worried that the medical centre didn’t have the anti snake bite serums – but as explained to us by the Aussie Medic this was because there was no way (unless you caught the snake) you could be sure it was the right one – nor if the snake had decided to waste it’s venom on you. Apparently (so he said) since humans are not the snake’s normal prey biting them is a way of scaring them off.

With correct first aid treatment were one to have been bitten then by the time the ambulance reached the border they’d have worked out what had bitten you should it have injected venom from how you were reacting in good time for the hospital you were headed for to prepare.


When in Thailand I did spend a night in the Bangkok Pattaya International Hospital after a sudden collapse. It seems I had some sort of bronchial infection – though they did no end of tests on me to see if I’d had any sort of heart attack or stroke (thankfully I hadn’t). I was well looked after – if you are going to be ill then provided you (or your company’s medical insurance) can afford it then that’s the place to do it.

Back in the seventies my grandfather went into hospital in the UK for an operation – though he didn’t know it apparently his chances were 50:50. He recovered quite well – so well in fact that the doctors asked him if he knew why. “I came in here to get better “he replied.

He related to me how shortly after he’d had the operation the bloke he was sharing the room with offered him a bottle of beer he’d sneaked in. Despite the other man’s offer – and being told he was a miserable sod – my grandfather refused – “the doctors have told me not to – you do what you like”.

And next morning – as grandfather succinctly put it – “they carried that bugger out feet first”.

Twenty Five Years

Friday marked the twenty fifth anniversary of me joining the company.

Back then our main mode of written communication with suppliers was the telex – our bid evaluations were done in pencil before being photocopied, our purchase orders were typed on NCR sets and our material control was done via a clunky mainframe computer. Requests for inspection and shipping were hand written on the appropriate company forms.

Our quotation requests were heaps of documents sent out to suppliers – bids came back in sealed envelopes – woe betide anyone not using the Sealed Bid labels to identify them.

I was fortunate enough to be set to work as an expeditor with two blokes who had each put in more than thirty years service with the company – and who were excellent teachers.

These days of course everything is system generated.

Is it any better? I dare say that today there’s less handwriting to be done.

But on the other hand you could come into work and get something done rather than wade through the twenty or more e-mails that have come in.

Rain

Drivers

We’ve got a new driver since on the day I went on vacation the previous driver was either fired by the Rental Company or left of his own accord. According to the rental company he did something improper in the office – according to him he wasn’t getting paid so he walked out. Helpfully he still turned up at our office on the Friday night to introduce me to Venkat, show him where I lived, and even travelled to the airport to help see me off on my vacation.

Who to believe is therefore anyone’s guess but Venkat has also complained that he’s not getting paid on time!

Rain

Arriving back late on Tuesday from Thailand Venkat told me it had been raining for the past two days in India. Though it was fine that evening it started again on Wednesday and doesn’t seem to have stopped since. Roads are flooded and the traffic is even more chaotic. There are occasional blackouts and the TV doesn’t always pick up a signal.

About the only compensation is that it’s a little bit cooler in my flat and I’ve even managed to spend time with the air conditioner switched off!

Foreigners Regional Registration Office (Part 3)

Friday also saw yet another trip to the Foreigners Regional Registration Office. This was to change the address on my residency permit. In the rain and traffic it took forty minutes to get there. The queues of people sat on chairs waiting were small and it only took twenty five minutes to get all the stamps and amendments to the certificates necessary.

So my credentials are now bang up to date and fully compliant with the company’s compliance procedures!