Early Risers.

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Rather damp,outside but not raining. I have deposited the recycling bags and containers by the roadside.

Since retiring I could offer consultancy on eating and sleeping but not much else.

Tony

[jamie92208]

Jamie

 

Many of my former colleagues have done just that, but for me the whole point of retirement is to give up work, so when I retire, that's it, there's no way I'm going back! I'm looking forward to staying at home and doing the stuff I won't to do, not what I have to do.

 

I like that ambition Brian.   I managed to get out just before my 50th birthday and sometime this month will get halfway towards my initial target of drawing my pension for longer than I paid it.

 

Jamie

[Robert]

One of my Twitter followers posted the following link.  Knowing there are some amateur astronomers on here, I thought it might come in useful for showing how light polluted your area is.

 

https://www.lightpollutionmap.info

[TheQ]

One of my Twitter followers posted the following link.  Knowing there are some amateur astronomers on here, I thought it might come in useful for showing how light polluted your area is.

 

https://www.lightpollutionmap.info

Nice and dark, with just a little light blue a mile or two away and at least 10 miles to some orange

[Oldddudders]

Morning all

 

We made an early start as Sherry was required to be checked-in @ 7.30, so tea in bed at 5 seemed sensible. Arrived at the car-park @ 7.11, and followed the labyrinthine route - using two separate lifts and miles of corridor - to the rendezvous. All well and good, and Sherry was led off by the nurse. She had been told by the surgeon that her op would be at midday - but he's already seen her, she is gowned, and is first on his list. Thankyou all for your warm thoughts.

 

Back to the car park, and I put my ticket into the paystation reader, which instead of charging me the expected 90p for being over the 20 mins free allowance, wanted £2 and then told me I could stay until 9.31! How bloomin' useful! The barrier rose so that's what matters. Further visits until Sherry is discharged will be by bus.

[grandadbob]

Sending positive vibes to Sherry from the Land of Sutt!

[AndyB]

Morning all,

 

A very poor night's sleep as thoughts turned to the number of things that will need doing when re disposing of the estate. 

So, from past experience these things need doing when you are feeling desperately carp and autopilot kicks in I'm taking a practical step.

Rather than having to re-learn as I go, I'm going to start a project file. This may sound somewhat clinical, but having a flow chart and contact numbers etc for everything from the funeral director and registrar, to the estate agents seems sensible.

 

A big push today on Prince2 as I'd like to be looking at new opportunities to use my qualifications properly.

 

Have a nice day everyone and thoughts especially to Sherry and Ian.   

[PeterBB]

Morning all

 

We made an early start as Sherry was required to be checked-in @ 7.30, so tea in bed at 5 seemed sensible. Arrived at the car-park @ 7.11, and followed the labyrinthine route - using two separate lifts and miles of corridor - to the rendezvous. All well and good, and Sherry was led off by the nurse. She had been told by the surgeon that her op would be at midday - but he's already seen her, she is gowned, and is first on his list. Thankyou all for your warm thoughts.

 

Back to the car park, and I put my ticket into the paystation reader, which instead of charging me the expected 90p for being over the 20 mins free allowance, wanted £2 and then told me I could stay until 9.31! How bloomin' useful! The barrier rose so that's what matters. Further visits until Sherry is discharged will be by bus.

 

Hope it goes well for your both.  Hospital car parking ... 

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. What Jamie said about collecting your pension for longer than you paid in set me calculating re. my own pension, later this year I will have been collecting my pension for a third of the time I spent paying in. I will have been retired nine years at the end of March. Wine lovers should look away now, I watched the program on Sicily on BBC2 last night and part of the program was about the local wines and had the presenter treading grapes. He was showing how it wasn't as easy as it looks, you had to get a rhythm to make the job easier so to avoid breaking their rhythm to go to the loo the treaders added a wee extra to the wine . The good news is the treading of grapes to make wine has been banned since the 1990's. The Corvettes disappearing down the sinkhole happened three years ago, almost to the day (12th of this month), fortunately all eight cars were recovered even if damaged.

[Oldddudders]

 Hospital car parking ...

 

It's odd, isn't it, that the one bit of the hospital that requires no understanding of medical matters or hygiene, and which can therefore be safely left to others, is still bobbins?

[PeterBB]

I like that ambition Brian.   I managed to get out just before my 50th birthday and sometime this month will get halfway towards my initial target of drawing my pension for longer than I paid it.

 

Jamie

Well guys, last night I was welcomed by so many members of the local club to 'the club' as at last I have retired from paid employment.  On a previous 'retirement' I had thought of going 'sole trader' but instead work for a charity proved very enjoyable and very rewarding so I leave with many happy memories and also know that there are people alive who would not have been so.  Volunteering for the same organisation will continue for the time being and perhaps I will even get around to doing that which is 'forbidden' on this blog.  Best wishes to all.

[PhilJ W]

Nearly forgot, best wishes Sherry (and Ian). As for hospital parking, I have to go for a blood test. Normally I would walk as I live quite near to the hospital, but thats not an option at the moment. I could use the car but if the blood clinic is busy it could be a couple of hours wait and parking fees lare high. Public transport would involve two buses and a three mile journey to cover less than one mile. I'm trying to find out if I can have my blood test at Orsett minor injuries clinic and ask them to look at my foot problem while I'm there.

[Tony_S]

Nearly forgot, best wishes Sherry (and Ian). As for hospital parking, I have to go for a blood test. Normally I would walk as I live quite near to the hospital, but thats not an option at the moment. I could use the car but if the blood clinic is busy it could be a couple of hours wait and parking fees lare high. Public transport would involve two buses and a three mile journey to cover less than one mile. I'm trying to find out if I can have my blood test at Orsett minor injuries clinic and ask them to look at my foot problem while I'm there.

Check online Google Basildon blood tests. They are bookable only and it does appear that the Orsett clinic is also available. We were at the minor injuries unit recently and the car park wasn't free, it may have been the same price as the Basildon multi storey park.

I have to go up to Whitechapel for some of my tests so have a train ride too. The ones for Southend can be done at local clinics.

[Oldddudders]

Well guys, last night I was welcomed by so many members of the local club to 'the club' as at last I have retired from paid employment.  On a previous 'retirement' I had thought of going 'sole trader' but instead work for a charity proved very enjoyable and very rewarding so I leave with many happy memories and also know that there are people alive who would not have been so.  Volunteering for the same organisation will continue for the time being and perhaps I will even get around to doing that which is 'forbidden' on this blog.  Best wishes to all.

You are very welcome to the retirees club, Peter, although I think you may be a little older than many of us. The traditional outlook once one has settled in is to be astonished that you ever found time to go to work!

 

I'm sure I am one of many on ERs who hold you in high regard because you and Andy P represented our community at Jock's funeral, and endured ghastly journeys in so doing. That is worth quite a few ER brownie points, and so you deserve a particularly fulfilling retirement!

[AndyB]

Just a thought on hospitals.

Has anyone else spotted a hospital where there are no hand gel dispensers? 

I visited one recently where this was the case. Is this common?

My understanding was that as an alcohol-based product they are effective against germs, so not a case of the germs being immune to contact with alcohol, thereby invalidating the use of gels.

[Oldddudders]

Just a thought on hospitals.

Has anyone else spotted a hospital where there are no hand gel dispensers? 

I visited one recently where this was the case. Is this common?

My understanding was that as an alcohol-based product they are effective against germs, so not a case of the germs being immune to contact with alcohol, thereby invalidating the use of gels.

No idea, but we do seem to live in an era of conflicting scientific views, so maybe gel is another useful product now being re-examined.

[Tony_S]

Just a thought on hospitals.

Has anyone else spotted a hospital where there are no hand gel dispensers? 

I visited one recently where this was the case. Is this common?

My understanding was that as an alcohol-based product they are effective against germs, so not a case of the germs being immune to contact with alcohol, thereby invalidating the use of gels.

In some parts of the country the hand gel dispensers were removed as patients were drinking the contents. The gels work well if your hands are clean.

[AndyB]

No idea, but we do seem to live in an era of conflicting scientific views, so maybe gel is another useful product now being re-examined.

As Tony mentions, they are effective when your hands are already clean. I imagine that the alcohol interacts with the bacteria's lipid cell wall and... zap.

I once visited a hospital in Manila* and some of the Drs took me out to lunch. I was the only one to wash my hands before sitting down to eat. 

And I was the only one that ended up with a fever! Mind you, they were used to the local germs and I was just passing through**. 

 

* beige suits me. 

** actually, it was the other way round....no, you don't want to know....     

 

In some parts of the country the hand gel dispensers were removed as patients were drinking the contents. The gels work well if your hands are clean.

Tony, I'm going to keep a list and figure out which are the most desperate drinkers around the UK!  

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

Have a good day Sherry and I trust all will go well.  I'm off to see the consultant again on Monday at the hospital which has free parking, no doubt they make their money in other ways;  the letter from him talks about 'management' of my hernia so by the sound of that I somehow doubt I'll be going the expensive surgical route until the NHS has saved up enough to pay the hospital bill (and the consultant's etc).

 

Interesting about pensions - I'm going to be halfway, in terms of years drawing out compared with years paying in, on my BR pension later this year, I've got a way further to go on the State pension however on my third pension I'm now on my 4th year of drawing out and I only paid in over 5 years (but much less in equated full time years as I was on a call-off contract basis) so that one presumably has me well in 'profit'.

 

Loved the light pollution map and it has some interesting things in our neck of the woods in respect of light sources in, seemingly, the middle of nowhere so it's nice to know the security lighting is working at the local young offenders' establishment and our friendly neighbourhood H bomb factory.

 

Have a good day one and all

[BoD]

  Hospital car parking ... 

 

My son recently had need to visit a walk in centre,  being ill but not sufficiently so to waste A&E's time.  Since his last visit, some time ago, a parking charge system had been installed at the walk in centre.  Not being aware of this he had no change for parking and the receptionist advised him that the nearest place to get change was the shops which were some distance away.  He drove there to get some change, this turned out to be a mistake.  On his return the parking machine told him he had been in the car park for under 20 minutes (or whatever the free 'drop off' parking allocation is) and no fee was due.  He was unable to pay, left and thought nothing more of it. Another mistake. The parking fine duly arrived.

 

At the moment he is going through some difficulties and decided just to pay up before the specified date to avoid a possibly greater fine later. 

 

I can grudgingly accept the idea of paying for parking at hospitals for visiting but to charge for somewhere like a walk in centre which, by its very nature, is being used by ill people often with other more serious priorities is just plain wrong. 

 

Never mind, it all adds to the GDP and allows people* to claim a growing economy.

 

 

 

* Other terms are available. I used this to avoid politics.

[Gwiwer]

Morning all.  White Rabbits for those who indulge in such things.

 

Today's supermarket run was enlivened by cockwomble (female, if it matters) driver of a medium-sized Subaru attempting to park.  Nice orderly rows of parked cars and clear white lines leaving adequately generous space to manoeuvre were apparently of little assistance.  Aforesaid cockwomble drove diagonally through the car park across the various parking lanes until she could go straight in that direction no more.  She came to a stand athwart the marked bay and realised her error when her driver's door was so close to the adjacent car that it could not be opened.  She reversed, turned and attempted what appeared to be a three-point face-another-way move.  After around seven forward-and-reverse moves she abandoned hope of turning around and tried to enter the next bay.  Again at an angle and astride the lines.  And again unable to exit her car.  The pantomime was repeated twice more until she came to a stop at about 45 degrees to all the marked lines, gave up all hope and reason and stepped out of the car to go shopping.  Her "angle-parking" across the bays and the marked lane had blocked two other cars in completely but that mattered not a jot as she walked away.

 

After that episode the ritual navigation around the senile citizens poking and prodding all the discounted bread to see if it was still fresh was somewhat less than interesting.

 

Neighbours called in during the morning for a de-stressing cuppa while their shifters packed the container.  They're happy with the way it's going.  Based on their experience I am going to bring forward our packing date by a week in order to have a decent chance to clean an empty house.  That will mean camping out in a near-empty place for a few nights as the budget won't run to a local hotel and frankly I don't need one.  I can work dawn to dusk and even well into the night if there are no distractions.  

 

Off to bed now.  It's been a lovely warm day here concluding with a stroll around the block discussing the various things we will and won't miss about here.  Need a flying start in the morning and a good night's sleep.  Back soon.

[The Lurker]

Pensions - by my reckoning my father is most of the way to getting to the 50/50 level. He "paid into"* the BP pension scheme for 28 years and has been retired for around 25 years now.

 

* I say "paid into". My understanding is that it was a non-contributory final salary scheme, one year's service giving rise to a pension of 1/60th of final salary, fully indexed linked.

 

 

I still have many years to go before I consider retirement. All the schemes I have been a member of have been "money purchase" schemes. My plan of paying off the mortgage and then piling into my pension pot was foiled when they changed the rules on pension contributions. Certainly I won't be able to retire at 54 like he did!

[PeterBB]

Yes, A number of friends have been surprised to be fined £70 at a hospital near us which also a machine out of action for some time.  I know someone who entered the number of the wrong car at exit.  He paid the correct fee at the time for the parking he had done but received a fine of £70 for a car which has never been in the car park for staying over time!

[Donw]

I like that ambition Brian.   I managed to get out just before my 50th birthday and sometime this month will get halfway towards my initial target of drawing my pension for longer than I paid it.

 

Jamie

 

I have already reached that milestone having drawn a pension for more than half the period I was working full time paying in to pensions.

Don

[jamie92208]

I have already reached that milestone having drawn a pension for more than half the period I was working full time paying in to pensions.

Don

Well done Don.   I've just done some calculations and I will achieve my halfway goal on the 28th of this month.  I suspect that a modest tipple of malt may be partaken.

 

Ian, hope to hear some news soon.

 

On the subject of parking, it is always worth writing a letter and then going down the appeal route.  I've had a good rate of success with letters both ones for me and ones that I've drafted for friends.

 

Jamie