Flood, Haze, H1N1....

Rats! It rained heavily again this morning and I could have sworn that my heart missed a few heartbeats this morning. Visibility during rain was horrendously difficult and it's a real test of your driving skills at times. I remembered being near the main road at Melaka Sentral when a lorry passed my car. It brought a wave of humongously huge splash of water that my entire car windscreen was covered with sand particles, water and materials from the road. The worst part of all was that there were cars on the left and right of the road and visibility was a big blur. Luckily , I had stayed calm, didn't do any sudden evasive jerk-action or else I would have been the cause for a road accident pile-up. Trust me, it was dangerous driving in such weather conditions. Then as I reached Malim Jaya, again, the main drains were filled to the brim but thank God, it didn't overflow. Kinda praying that another flood would not happen. Slowly but surely, it was reassuring to know that everything was fine. It would be another nightmarish affair if the floods were to re-occur.

Just when you thought that it was safe again to catch up on some fresh air, the haze quickly worsened the situation. Again, visibility was about 50m to 100m infront. It was not that bad in the early afternoon but by mid-afternoon, it started to get worst. I guess, I am more disturbed by the haze than the H1N1 virus. Yeah! To make matter worst, I've seen people clamouring for a face mask during the virus outbreak. Hey, even if you put a mask on, it will strike if you're at the wrong place and at the wrong time. Personally, I have sought some views from some medical practitioners who informed me that it is actually not that effective to put on a mask. It is more for the haze than for the H1N1 virus. After all, with the wetting of the mask from our saliva and vapour, we are actually encouraging more bacterial activities at our mask. So, I am not wearing a mask. Look people! There is absolutely nothing we can do about the spread of H1N1 except if we continue to practise personal hygiene. Wherever we may go or whatever we may have touched, we should always keep our hands washed up and cleaned. Make it a simple activity by putting personal hygiene as a priority in these times. In that way, we can keep the spread down but most certainly we can't reduce the spread by using mask!

Yes, it is disturbing enough to see people wearing masks in air-conditioned office and you can't even understand or decipher a word they say and now to see it in eateries and shopping complexes as well. I bet you, the mask makers are smilling all the way to the bank probably doing their best business in the years. Yes, I am absolutely convinced that you can't even breathe right behind the mask and it is really uncomfortable. So, I'll take my chances, breathe the air and do what needs to be done all inthe name of being hygienic. Like I say always, unneccessary panic makes a lot of unneccessary discomfort!

One word of advice though, if you're sick , please don't go to work or go to school or even better don't go anywhere. See a doctor, take your medicine and stay at home! That's a better option.