Seeing and hearing ...

16 December

Strange phone call just now; Jan took it and it turned out to be a text message from a courier company saying they were due to make a delivery here this afternoon. We’ve not had such a phone call before so it did throw us off a wee bit. As it is we were not planning to go out until this evening anyway, so nowt lost there. What we are concerned about is the possibility of a scam being played. There are so many of them about these days that we all should be on our guard against them.

Sometime ago I listed Jan’s old Sony A330 DSLR plus a tele-zoom lens on Ebay and didn’t sell. I’m loath to let it go for nothing so I’m, going to try it again later with a lower start price and see how we go on. It’s sat there boxed and wrapped, ready to go and although it’s not actually getting in the way, why leave it sitting there doing nothing when someone can get some use out of it.

The plan on a shopping trip was due to be carried out last night, however, we had a call from Kile’s mum saying he was ill again and could she pick him up and take him home. By the time she got here she was feeling pretty drained because of the traffic build up. We will be going out tonight though, no matter what! And if that delivery hasn’t been made, tough luck, they can come back another day.

Jan spoke to me today and I could hear a word of what she said. The problem is in my left year which is so swollen right now that I have very little if any hearing in it. So there I was standing by the kettle when I thought of something and went in to speak to Jan and found here on the phone trying to get me an appointment with a doctor. All pre-bookable slots are taken up to and including the New Year period. Now we have to get up at 8am and try to get one then for that day, and do so every day until we do get one.

I shall be pushing for this to be properly sorted this time. In the early 1970s I had a fungal infection in there and ever since then I have had problems with it. Some years it’s fine and no problems other years it’s kicking up three or four times. And it’s only that one ear, not both, at least that is good. I do occasionally have bouts of giddiness which catch me out. That can be caused by ear infections, so now I’m wondering if that is part of it too.

I don’t fancy any more trip to the Hussy, but if I need to, I shall do so. As it is, I haven’t received anything about an appointment for the memory test they called me about. That is really more important to me, than a dodgy ear, so I wish they would get their fingers out and get it sorted.

Of course the NHS is short of money, again, with £2billion deficit forecast for this year. Yet the Whitehall muppets want it to cut £22billion before 2020. The Nation Audit Office says that it is not at all clear that NHS can make such savings when it’s already over spending now. Here in Dorktown we see clear evidence of that when trying to make GP appointments in a decent time frame. Three years ago we could get one pretty much when we need one, now the wait can be days, and for a named doctor, months. Multiply this across the whole UK and we see a serious problem.

As much as I dislike the colour of our current government, not all the blame can be placed there. This issue has been an ongoing one since the NHS was first founded. There is a lot of waste within the system. Patients not turn up for appointments cost money and cause delays to others who needed that lost one. Patients over ordering on repeat prescription causes a huge waste, something I know from first hand when we started sorting the house after Dave died. Mam was supposed to use a puffer thing a number of times each day. From the number of unopened bags from the pharmacy it was clear it wasn’t happening. We also found loads of her pill all over the carpet, pills she should have been taking.

The cost of drugs is another big issue that needs tackling anyway. Of course pharmaceutical companies spend billions on bringing new drugs on to the market, and of course it’s right for them to expect a return on that investment. But are they still over charging I wonder? What are the day to day production costs in making an antibiotic for example? Or insulin perhaps? What would be a fair mark-up for that?

Each of these things causes waste but in my view, the biggest issue right now is that current lot do not like the idea of something for nothing. Of course we all do pay for it within our tax payments but it’s the idea of an actual payment on the day they would like to see. In fact, I am sure that if they thought they could get away with it, they would introduce and charge for all GP and outpatient appointments. A lot of people already pay for dentist and optician appointments.

All in all, we have a broken welfare system that needs fixing. Are the current muppets, of any colour the right ones to do the fix? That is the question we will all need to think about in 2020.

Today’s photo … 

Pretty Polly.

Today’s funny …

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson went on a camping trip. After a good meal and a bottle of wine, they laid down for the night, and went to sleep. Some hours later, Holmes awoke and nudged his faithful friend. "Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see." Watson replied, "I see millions and millions of stars." "What does that tell you?" Watson pondered for a minute. "Astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies, and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo. Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three. Theologically, I can see that God is all powerful and that we are small and insignificant. Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. What does it tell you?" Holmes was silent for a minute, then spoke. "It tells me that someone has stolen our tent."