In search of the Lions

Despite the David Attenborough-ishness of the title, I'm really not referring to felines but to the more human charitable foundation.
I wasted a good hour in Doma Laukums waiting for this mythical meeting to start, and looking ridiculous in front of the hotel Concierge to boot.
As it turns out, they had changed their meeting time from 3.00pm to 7.00pm
Honestly, you'd think that such an international organisation would have by now understood the importance of updating their information online, wouldn't you?

The whole idea of joining that institution did look very enticing till today. Having just found their Latvian website and browsed through their photographs, I'm not so sure I'd fit into their rather staid clique.
Beautifully coiffed ladies "promenading" in Riga's parks, or cigar smoking men cocooned in their private clubs, just doesn't match my expectation of active leading altruists.

I suppose I should attend at least one meeting and see how it goes, who knows I might not be invited to become a member anyway.

On a completely different note, I nearly lost my patience today after the umpteeth poorly controlled primary arterial hypertensive patient turned up at the polyclinic.
Is it asking too much of Latvian General Practitioners to correctly medicate their patients? They seem to have forgotten that there are a lot more drugs available these days other than your bog-standard 5mg bisoprolol, or is Concord just too easy to remember?
It's really rather simple if 5mg doesn't work, increase the dose or try a different anti-hypertensive group of drugs.
The incompetence of some GPs put the entire clan's reputation at risk, I wish they'd keep it mind. Perhaps, this is due to the fact that so many people join the medical profession for either the money or the status, and so few because they truly wish to be good clinicians.




“There is nothing settled, nothing staid in this universe”
(Virginia Woolf)

A walk on the beach

Twenty nine years ago, a rather young couple got married. They're still living together, pragmatically rather than with absolute-fairy-tale-happiness , which is quite remarkable considering the current situation of the world. So let me raise the proverbial glass in honour of my parents' marital achievement.

Well after a fruitless morning reading up on the basics of the MCCEE and the MCCQE, I have finally understood why various national medical councils offer the option of obtaining their national medical licences to foreign graduates. It's a money making scam!
I don't really know why I'm even contemplating this horrendous task, (since I have absolutely no desire of ever living in Canada) except perhaps just to please dear old Daddy- and mayhap to prove to myself that I didn't just waste five and half years of my life on nothing.

The latter part of the day is by far the best. Katja and I drove all the way to Jurmala for a nice long walk along the Baltic beach. Jurmala is a charming coastal town with quaint little wooden houses and incongruous modern architectural marvels thought up by the Nouveaux-Riches.
It was quite a cloudy-rainy day, but the beach was full of "walkers" enjoying the fresh sea breeze.
There's a certain allure to the Baltic sea in this weather. I don't really know how best to describe it, perhaps one must really experience it rather than read about it. The small waves rhythmically sway back and forth as they rock the small black-headed gulls meditating on the surface of the water. A multitude of shades of grey line the horizon, like many layers of ethereal pearly organza.
Which each step you take on the wet sandy beach filled with patches of drying tangled brown seaweed, you regain a sense of equilibrium.

"The voice of the sea speaks to the soul. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace."
by Kate Chopin.