NHS problems, new chair and ABCs

25/26 March 2013

And another week begins and by the sound of it, it will be another cold one again.  At some point however, I shall need to get out and do some shopping.  I would prefer it if we could get out together but right now we are waiting for a new leather swivel/recliner chair to be delivered so one of us really needs to be here in case it arrives.  Now here's the rub - this morning's News carries a story saying that the store we bought it from on the 18th has closed down.  Management are refuting the story but as we have £400+ tied up there we are getting more than a tad nervous.  I've rang them this morning and had to leave an answer phone message.  Maybe I shall be going down to see them later today.  If I go down in the Golf I might actually be able to drive away with it.  Thing is though, we have paid for delivery and for them to take a huge leather chair away with them.  We'll see ... ... ...

I stopped there to get lunch and watch the news.  After that I went off shopping, calling in at the furniture store on the way.  I was assured that our new chair will arrive next week or the week after; again, we'll see ... ... ...

We're not happy right now!  Jan answered the phone yesterday evening only to find out that mother has been discharged from the Hussy and returned the care home.  Jan went up to see her and said she was not good at all.  I'm going up later today.  I think a letter will be winging its way the Hussy boss later after I have seen her.  And talking of hospitals ...

Did you see the Despatches programme last night?  If not I would encourage you to watch it on catch-up TV.  It was about the long hours that junior doctors are expected to work.  One of the two they followed for a week worked seven straight night shifts totally 107 hours, and average of 15 hours a night.  Sometime this month he is expected to o 12 straight night shifts totalling around 130 hours.  With these sorts of hours I'm surprised that there are fewer Mid Staffs situations all over the UK.  From our own recent experience we know there is a real shortage of staff at the Hussy.  One night while Jan was in recently there was one nurse and three auxiliaries to a ward of nearly 30 patients.  It is just not possible for one nurse to care properly for so many patients, not matter the management might say!  But hay ho ... why should we be surprised by that?  We still have a Tory lead government don't we?     

Two stories in the News this morning; the first is the finding of 50 wire snares on a popular dog walking route here in Weddington.  They were found when one dog walker found a rabbit caught in one of them.  She called on fellow dog walkers to help find more of them while she called the police.  The police arrived along with someone from the RSPCA.  The land is owned by the council but even so, I can't see how they will prevent more traps being set later.  Rabbit stew is popular and there's no stopping people from catching them, even if their methods are not legal!

The second story is that youths in two problem areas of the town, Camp Hill and Kingswood have been signing up to ABCs, or Acceptable Behaviour Contracts.  It's a good idea on paper of course but come on, surely they don't expect them to be complied with?  These youths know full well that if they don't and end up in court they will walk out half hour later laughing at their slapped wrists.       

So now to find a photo ... 

right, this one is of Jan and our daughter when we went over to Antrim to see them.

And a funny ...

A young family are driving along behind a garbage truck when suddenly a 12" dildo falls off it and thuds onto their windscreen.  Embarrassed, and to spare her six year old son's innocence, the mother turns and says; "Don't worry, that was just an insect".
"An insect?" he replies, "I'm surprised it could get off the ground with a cock like that"....

Kile, Virgin and Which?

24 March 2013

The UK is at a standstill yet again.  Seeing some of pictures on News 24 I'm not surprised though.  Those snow drifts are very big.  I had been hoping for a trip to London again today but I'm glad I didn't get up early to do so.  It would be far too cold to be riding around on a scooter taking photos.  Locally, the road outside was clear at 9pm last night but there was a fresh coating on there this morning.  Jan has headed off to church as normal though. 

We were supposed to be having Kile this weekend.  He has not been behaving himself again, this time telling lies to his mum and to one of her friends that if he had told any teacher at school would have got his mum into serious trouble.  When challenged he either shrugs his shoulders or laughs at his mum.  He has these phases fairly often when he seems to go off the rails big time.  We all wish we knew what caused it.  We're hoping he grows out of it.  Whatever, until he does it's him that loses out, not us. 

I have a subscription for Which? magazine and find it an interesting read, well, I would wouldn't I otherwise I wouldn't have the subscription going.  Anyway, the latest issue arrived here on Friday and I decided that I would sign up and join in on their on-line community; that was the idea until I tried it and found out you have to pay an extra £9+ per month for it.  To do both makes it far too expensive for us. 

Today's photo isn't all that good really, just a plain record shot of a Virgin Train ...  

However, it is stopped at platform 4 of Dorktown TV station and for train mad guys n gals and camera totting guys n gals, it becomes interesting.  Why?  Well, simple because Virgin trains no longer routinely stop at Dorktown.  If we want to get to London by train we have to get a local service to Rugby and change there.  So forever reason this one stopped, it was worth a shot.

Funny time ...

There can be some advantages to employing dyslexic staff, as I found out the other day when I sent an email to my secretary telling her to sack my cook.     

Blackberry confusion, CCFC, and deer 'jam'

23 March 2013

We got up this morning to around 5" of snow and at 10.55 it's still coming.  It's very fine snow though and the wind is blowing hard making it come down at a pretty steep angle.  Somewhere locally there will be some large drifts built up.  Whatever, we're not going anywhere today and will stay in where it is warm and comfortable.  One of the neighbours has been going round asking if anyone wanted any shopping done.  That is a nice thought and shows just how these blocks of flats are so friendly and helpful.  Neighbourliness is not dead and buried!

Confusion reigns yet again in Jaronland after I decided to update my three year old Blackberry for a newer model.  Now I have to get used to all the bits n bobs that have been added and to learn how to use them.  One thing I have been disappointed with however, is that I have a few memo files on the old which I can't puzzle out how to transfer to the new one.  We both thought that by keeping the same phone number and using the same SIM card all my files would transfer with it ... oh dear ... ... ...  I'll sort it out eventually.

For some time now there has been a lot of concern about Coventry City FC.  The current owners are SISU, a hedge fund management company.  They owe £1.4 million in unpaid rent to the Ricoh stadium owners.  By the looks of it SISU is trying to pull a fast one to avoid paying up.  I think that by now if I had money invested in SISU I would be looking to get it out.  There certainly seems to be something wrong there.  Whatever it is it's not doing the football club any favours at all.  I'm thinking that there may be a lot of fans thinking that the move from Highfield Road to the Ricoh was mistake.  The club actually owned that ground!

Do you fancy eating road kill animals?  No, neither do I; you don't know how long it has been lying there or if it died as crossed the road and not hit by a vehicle.  However, in Montana there is a new permit system coming in to effect which will allow someone people to recover the dead animals and use them for food.  Only in the States eh?  Well, maybe not if you think about it.  Look at the horse meat incident here in Europe at the moment.  How could anyone in Montana know if the joint of venison they have just bought is from a genuine source or a road kill?  It's not my idea of a nice Sunday roast dinner. 

Today's Telegraphy leads with the ongoin Coventry City story, which seems pretty obvious really.  The In The Courts column list 21 cases; eight of the defendants were found guilty in their absence and five more were in court again for failing to attend the community/unpaid work they had earlier been sentenced to.  That seems to me to show a lack of respect for the Law.  Many reformers say that community work orders are a better option than fine and jail time.  I have to disagree there.  The figures in today's paper shows it to be working and the idea that they don't turn up in court for a case is pretty disrespectful in my view.  No wonder the country is in such a mess!

I saw this couple ... 

as they walked towards me in a different part of the town centre and couldn't believe my eyes.  That is a red and white dressing gown that woman is wearing.  Some people just don't have any pride do they!

Funny time ...

Took my sick dog to the vets today. The vet looked at me and said " Say ahhhhh". I asked "Are you crazy? There's nothing wrong with me". He replied "I know, but your dog just died".         

Snow, a holiday and 'The Riot'

22 March 2013

More snow was forecast but here in Dorktown we have seen very little of it.  We are lucky in that way here abouts and tend to miss the extremes of such weather.  Of course, at 11.20am there's plenty of time for that last sentence to be proved wrong - we'll soon see ... ... ...

Kile is due here after school today.  Jan is picking him up from school and bringing him  straight around here and we are having him for as long as we like.  However, once we've cooked him I'm not sure if he will fit in the fridge and he won't keep for very long at all ;-)))  We are hoping to take to Stratford butterfly place at some time.  That should keep him happy for a while.  If the weather picks up next week we'll try to get him to the seaside for a spot of birding too.

Two days ago we were due to be returning home from a two week holiday to Western Supermare.  Because of all the problems Jan had with her stoma we had to cancel it.  This morning I have phoned them and rearranged it for 29 May.  We were disappointed in having to cancel it but now with that new date we should get some decent weather; Western can be tad cold and windy so a later date is better but if things had gone as we had first been booked for, we would have been happy enough with that.

Another cannabis farm has been busted in Dorktown, as well as an air rifle.  Two men were arrested and then released after being given a caution.  It seems to me to be a waste of resources all round.  In total 15 properties have been raided over the last six weeks as part of Operation X.  The idea of course is to rid the town of drugs.  The only drugs taken off the street were the plants they seized and I can see two men being cautioned achieving that - NOT!!!  All they will have done is to walk out of the cop shop to the nearest pub and have a pint or three while they laughed at the cops wasting their time and effort. 

A lot more about 'The Riot' was in our local free paper yesterday.  It seems that the cops got it all wrong yet again!  Two pubs involved were The Granby and the Willy White.  Both had a line of cops around the entrances and they would let anyone in or out.  Slowly they removed 2 or 3 at a time, arrested them and took them off to the cop shop around the corner.  They were all released on police bail later.  one of the partners at the Granby said that while the men were stuck in the pub they just went behind the bar and helped themselves to the bottled beers in the coolers; the beer pumps had been turned off.  They have received death threats if they handed over the CCTV tapes to the cops.  As it was the cops seized them as soon as the last of the men were removed.  They also did a forensic search of the bar areas.  The pub was able to open again at 10pm but the whole thing has cost them around £10,000.  And all because 22 grown men kick a bag of wind around field ... beggars belief!

So then, a photo ... 

a display of crocuses, about 300 yards from the riot.

And today's funny ...

I love selling stuff on the internet to people who don't know me.
I've already sold the same homing pigeon 24 times on eBay.