Missing cards, diabetic clinic and voting puzzle

29 September 2013

Yesterday after I had posted my blog I realised that I didn't have my credit card.  I went through my wallet twice more, not there!  Jan checked her purse in case she had picked it up ... nope, not there either.  We were sat in the Anchor when we did that.  It took me ages to think it through and then I thought that I may have left it by my lappy having paid for my Flickr account with it.  Great ... until this morning when for some reason I looked at my wallet again and saw that my NatWest debit card was missing.  The only place I used it yesterday was in Currys.  Jan gave them call and they have sat safely waiting for me to pick it up tomorrow.  Two missing cards in two days - amazing!!!

Well, Slimbridge didn't happen today for us.  My hip was OK when I got up but by 11am it was hurting again, but not as badly as yesterday.  I would have probably been able to get around there OK but would it have hurt even more if I had?  I don't know.  I'm due to have some blood tests done ready for diabetic clinic so I'll have to get in touch with them and find out how to go about it.  As it's been nearly two years since I last had a diabetic check up it needs doing, so the sooner the better.  We are due for a five day break in Blackpool from two weeks tomorrow so I might have to wait until after that though.  That's OK - I'm sure I can manage that bit.

    

An interesting chat on Facebook at the moment concerns Cameron, Clegg and Milliband.  It started as, "Cameron and Clegg were drowning in a river; which one would you save?"  A reply is then given, "Go to pub and get Milliband out to join them."  Not a bad idea that but who would be left to vote for when the 2015 election happens?  I don't see any weighty muppets to lead any of the main parties.  Maybe UKIP might make a breakthrough and change the face of UK politics.

Photos are done and I really like the one here ... 

I'm used to seeing kids with ice cream around the mount so I took the chance to get this shot of an elderly lady enjoying a squidgy cornet. 

And today's funny ...

A man breaks into a house to look for money and guns.
Inside, he finds a couple in bed.
He orders the guy out of the bed and ties him to a chair.
While tying the homeowner's wife to the bed the convict gets on top of her, kisses her neck, then gets up & goes into the bathroom.
While he's in there, the husband whispers over to his wife: 'Listen, this guy is an escaped convict. Look at his clothes!
He's probably spent a lot of time in jail and hasn't seen a woman in years.
I saw how he kissed your neck. If he wants sex, don't resist, don't complain...do what ever he tells you. Satisfy him no matter how much he nauseates you. This guy is obviously very dangerous. If he gets angry, he'll kill us both. Be strong, honey. I love you!'
His wife responds: 'He wasn't kissing my neck. He was whispering in my ear.
He told me that he's gay, thinks you're cute, and asked if we had any Vaseline. I told him it was in the bathroom.
Be strong honey. I love you too.'       

Late post, Cracked nuts and a different candid method

28 September 2013

Sorry for the delay in writing this but we've been busy today, not doing much but still busy.  Even so, this will be a short blog today.  We were going to go to Slimbridge tomorrow but my hip is really painful right now and I need to rest it.  Slimbridge will have to wait a while.

The Telegraph today had its normal list of crims seen in court and for once there more British names in it than foreign ones.  The other regular column is the 'On This Day' list.  Today's starts with a Scottish costume called Eve of Michaelmas.  It seems that in the Highlands it was called Crack Nut Day and nuts were eaten in the churches.  It's strange what we learn or are reminded of perhaps when we read things like this.    

One thing we did do today was go off into town.  I was looking at one of the photo mags the other day and it suggested that instead of doing fairly wide angle candid shots, to move in closer and get portrait shots.  I gave it a go today and it seems to have worked.  I'll get them done tomorrow and post one then.  But for today I offer this one ... 

two flowers in a hanging basket outside the Old Pheasant Inn on the A47 at Glaston.  A nice pub too and the ale was first class.

And a pretty good funny ...

 A male patient is lying in bed in the hospital, wearing an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose. A young student nurse appears and gives him a partial sponge bath. "Nurse,"' he mumbles from behind the mask, "are my testicles black?"
Embarrassed, the young nurse replies, "I don't know, Sir. I'm only here to wash your upper body and feet."
He struggles to ask again, "Nurse, please check for me. Are my testicles black?"
Concerned that he might elevate his blood pressure and heart rate from worrying about his testicles, she overcomes her embarrassment and pulls back the covers. She raises his gown, holds his manhood in one hand and his testicles in the other. She looks very closely and says, "There's nothing wrong with them, Sir. They look fine."
The man slowly pulls off his oxygen mask, smiles at her, and says very slowly "Thank you very much. That was wonderful. Now listen very, very closely:
Are - my - test - results - back?"

Nurses, a day off out and a bumpy ride

27 September 2013

Yesterday I was all over the place.  Right up to the evening I was convinced that yesterday was Friday so kept saying today would Saturday.  It happens at times to most people but not to get the message after so many times of telling was very annoying indeed!  Anyway, we went out to do some birding at Rutland Water.  Arriving there we went into the visitor centre to have a quick look out over the water and saw very few birds.  So we decided that it perhaps wasn't worth while getting the scooters out for a ride around.  As we got back to the car two birders met up beside the car park and we overheard one of them saying there's very little about.  That was enough for us.

From Rutland we headed off to a place I drove past a few years ago, Grimsthorpe Hall.  I've been fancying a trip there to get some shots of it so off we went.  On the way I suggested that we stop off at Stamford for a look around but when we got there most of the town centre streets were cobbled with very narrow pavements; neither any good for scooter riders.  So we left there and forgot about Grimsthorpe.  Another day perhaps ... ... ...

The last few days I've been reading a book called Confessions of a Male Nurse by Michael Alexander.  It was on offer one time at Waterstones one time so for £2.99 I thought it worth trying.  I'm glad I did!  Alexander is a New Zealander who came to live and work in various London hospitals.  I know that he may have a different outlook to nursing than a British nurse might but even so, if only half of the tales he tells in the book are true, then there's a really serious problem in London.  Poor patient care by even poorer nurses; doctors who won't listen to nurses about their concerns; nurses covering their own backs instead of doing the job they are paid to do; low staffing levels ... and so on.  The whole thing comes to head on an afternoon shift where he was the only registered nurse looking after 16 patients.  After a row with the senior nurse on duty he walked out and left the UK soon after.  The book is easy to read even if it does makes uncomfortable reading.  I'm sure we all know there is a real problem within the NHS right now, but even so, how many of knew it might be this bad?  What Alexander would think of it now I just don't know.

I did managed to get 40+ shots while we were out yesterday and they were all 'keepers'.  None of them are really particularly very arty or good shots in themselves and are really just record shots of pub signs and real ale pump signs.

This one is the best of them ... 

St Peter's Parish Church in Tinwell I think it is.

And a funny ...

My wife found out that our dog (a Schnauzer) could hardly hear, so she took it to the veterinarian. The vet found that the problem was hair in the dog's ears. He cleaned both ears, and the dog could then hear fine.

The vet then proceeded to tell Andrea that, if she wanted to keep this from recurring, she should go to the store and get some "Nair" hair remover and rub it in the dog's ears once a month.
Andrea went to the store and bought some "Nair" hair remover. At the register, the pharmacist told her, "If you're going to use this under your arms, don't use deodorant for a few days."
Andrea said, "I'm not using it under my arms."
The pharmacist said, "If you're using it on your legs, don't use body lotion for a couple of days."
Andrea replied, "I'm not using it on my legs either. If you must know, I'm using it on my Schnauzer."
The pharmacist says, "Well, stay off your bicycle for about a week."         

Drugs, landowners and cheap togs

24 September 2013

We are being well served by the cops here in Dorktown.  It seems that they have so much work to do that they had borrow a few officers from West Mercia to help with the operation last Friday.  Over twenty cops, some of them armed officers raided that house in Bracebridge Street and arrest a man and a woman.  That also found 'a quantity of Class B drugs,' thought to be cannabis.  The couple were later released on police bail that same afternoon.  So some officers were borrowed to make up numbers, but did it really need 20+ officers to raid one house?  I'm not so sure!

If I owned a chunk of land and leased it to someone for 25 years surely I then have the right not to renew that lease when the old one ended.  Apparently not according to the Riding for the Disabled group who have taken the council to court to force them to renew their lease.  Am I missing something here?  As long as a landowner isn't breaking any laws or causing a nuisance to others, what he does with that land is down to him; at least that's what I have always thought anyway.  The repercussions on this case could be very wide ranging.  This is another one I shall be keeping an eye on.

I found a vital piece of information this morning while reading the News.  I now know why I sleep so badly and can now look forward to lots of decent sleep.  Oh yes, that information is that in France it is illegal to call a pig Napoleon.  Is it OK to call him crazy frog then?

We have just watched last night's Panorama.  This week it was about the UK high street chains who out-source their clothing to Bangladesh.  The recent collapse of a building containing a clothing factory that killed hundreds of workers was at the centre.  The team visited a lot of other factories where there have been fires where people had died and found evidence of the chains stock.  Edinburgh Woollen Mill and a few others didn't come out very well in it.  They won't accept that their stock was made in the factories investigated.  It wasn't just safety that was looked at; working hours were included too.  In some cases 19 hour shifts are being worked by people earning just £2 a day.  The owners show the buyers one set of books relating to the hours worked but kept the real book well under wraps.  And when I look at the price of some these items in the stores, I start to wonder just how they get away with it!

And so to a photo ... 

a tree blown over in a park in Weston.

And funny time ...

Paddy was driving down the street in a sweat because he had an important meeting and couldn't find a parking place. Looking up to heaven he said, 'Lord take pity on me. If you find me a parking place I will go to Mass every Sunday for the rest of me life and give up me Irish Whiskey!' Miraculously, a parking place appeared. Paddy looked up again and said, 'Never mind, I found one.'