A tiny reminder.. Life IS beautiful..

Every now and again, things happen to me that restore my optimism... things that remind me that life is, after all, beautiful.. Very few can rival this one..

Thursday was my last day at work before my long-awaited Holiday.. As I was going to be away for two weeks, I decided to get in much earlier than I normally do, in order to try and make some impact on the mountain of paperwork that I simply must finish before I go away.. (Oooh, how I hate paperwork!!..).. I knew I had a full day ahead, and once the rat race starts, any chance of tackling that pile would simply evaporate..

As I drove in towards the Department, I could not help but notice something very odd... What on Earth is that car doing, parked right in the middle of the Ambulance Bay.. doors open, and a screen around it!!???..

As I opened my car door, I heard some muffled screams.. coming from that car!.. I ran to the car to find a young woman, in the final stages of labour!!... I noticed that her husband, along with two Nurses from the Department, were running back to the car with a trolley, to carry the mother into the Department.. However, to my horror, I realised that the baby had other plans.. It was not going to wait!.. Thankfully, the Nurses brought with them some sterile gloves and blankets, along with a pack of some basic instruments... and before I know it, I was in action, helping the young mother deliver her first child, on the backseat of her car!..

I don't know how long the whole thing took, but it felt like eternity!.. "OK.. Push, sweetheart.. you're doing fine..".. The baby is out.. the cold air sends it screaming!.. So far, so good.. Cord clamped and cut, baby (a healthy, bouncy little boy) wrapped in warm towel, handed to Nurse, who rushes him into the warmth of the Resuscitair and the awaiting Paediatricians... Mother crying with emotion, I am trying to control mine!.. Despite the freezing morning air, I was sweating buckets!.. My clothes, by now, were soaked through.. The relief of knowing that the baby was well, and hear him cry, was simply indescribable..

I am delighted to report that both Mother and Baby are doing fine... As for me, I am still recovering!...

But what about that mountain of paperwork??... Well.. After all that excitement, do you really think I was going to be bothered??... I mean, I was not even supposed to be there!.. I only went in at 07:15 to do some paperwork, and I get the unbelievable good fortune to be part of something so amazing!.. And people still ask me why I love this job so much!!...

In the end, I stayed till after 9pm to finish all the administrative rubbish.. and you know what?.. I really did not mind.. Even by the time I eventually got home after 10, I was still buzzing from my experience over 14 hours earlier...

I really should sign off.. I have a flight to catch in a few hours...

Photograph by Jennifer Loomis

Eid Mubarak, Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year...

I started writing, thinking that this will be a brief post.. just to wish you all Eid Mubarak, a Merry Christmas, and a Happy and Prosperous New Year...

I know it is still a few days away, but you see, I am going to be away from Christmas Day, all the way through to after the New Year.. (You may recall the dilemma I was in, trying to decide where to go for the Holidays (A Christmas get-away.. the forbidden destination).. Well.. it is going to be Rome!..) Anyway.. I digress...

I was suddenly struck by the irony of it all.. In the year when violence in the name of religion has reached astronomical levels, the most important religious festivals for two of the World's great religions fall within the same week... This will not happen again until 2039.. not for another 33 years that Eid Al-Adha and Christmas will be this close..

Wouldn't it be great if humanity, somehow, managed to utilise this coming year to shed its increasing tendency for self-destruction, and be able to embrace peace for everyone?..

Wouldn't it be great if, this time next year, we were to celebrate the end of all violence across the globe??..

Wouldn't be great if, this time next year, we were able to declare our Earth a Planet free from tyranny and injustice??.. A Planet were all Nations live in harmony and mutual respect??.. A Planet free from all nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction??...

Pipe-dreams, I know.. but hey, what's life without dreams?!.. and what better time to have great dreams than at the run-up to Christmas and Eid Al-Adha?...

Well, I will put my proposals for saving the Planet on hold until I come back from Rome.. I shall report on this trip when I come back..

Take care, all of you.. and don't get up to any mischief while I am away!...


Picture by SB: Winter Scene

What's in a name?...

I have not been in the business of 'blogging' for long.. Less than a year, in fact..
It all started when my eldest daughter sent me a link to a blog she had come across, The Damascene Blog, and said that I might like its contents.. and she was right!..
Very quickly, I found myself exploring blogs that I thought might be interesting, and found myself getting involved in some heated discussions.. You see, I have some pretty strong views on certain issues, and I wanted to express them.. (I, for example, get very cross when people in Syria assume that expats like me left the Country because we have no love for it.. that our loyalty is, somehow, questionable.. that the decision to leave was easy, and driven by greed.. Some assume that because we live abroad, we are out of touch with what is happening withing the Country, and that we cannot serve it as well as those who are within it.. That really makes me cross... but I digress!..)
Aaanyway... I started making comments as 'anonymous', but did not want to be associated with comments from other 'anonymous' commentators, and started looking for a pseudonym.. and 'The Syrian Brit' was born, and the Blog followed later... I thought the name emphasizes the fact that I am, first and foremost, Syrian, and underlines how important that is to my psyche.. At the same time, it reflects my current position as a British citizen, living in this Country, contributing to it, and enjoying the rewards and benefits.. Nevertheless, I was not (and I still am not) entirely comfortable with it.. it is too impersonal.. too formal.. and, in these respects, nothing like me!..
I thought of several other options.. I could have called myself 'AJ' (my initials).. or 'Mr. J', as some colleagues call me at work.. but I thought that was too pretentious..
Because my first name sounds almost exactly like a particularly typical Irish name, some of my colleagues call me 'The Honorary Irishman'.. They assure me it is because of my name, and not any other attribute that the Irish are, allegedly, reputed for!!..
Some people at work call me 'Speedy Gonzales'.. because of the way I whiz around the Department when it is busy.. Others call me 'DisasterMaster'... because, often, as soon as I walk into a previously quiet Department, hell breaks loose, and seriously ill and badly injured patients come flooding in!!.. In fact, 'DisasterMaster' has become my 'official' middle name!..
I quite like these nicknames.. I think they are endearing, witty, and spontaneous... However, none of them really reflects who I actually am.. so I decided against using any of them as my cyberspace alter ego, and I was stuck with 'The Syrian Brit'.. and with time, I got used to that nickname.. until Naji picked up on it in a comment on Rime's Mosaics.. and now Rime also seems to suggest I should change it...

But as someone with a limited imagination, I am genuinely struggling to come up with a suitable alternative..
So, I now put it to all interested visitors of this blog.. Can you come up with a more personal, but still representative, nickname to replace 'The Syrian Brit'?.. or would you rather I keep it?..
Printable polite suggestions only, please!.. This is a 'family show', after all!..
(Those who want to be more personal or abusive, can e-mail me on the e-mail address that is listed on my Blogger profile...)