Early Risers.

[Tony_S]

If you are registered to EMIS you can download a smartphone app to request prescriptions, make appointments etc. Called Patient Access.

Not all practices use EMIS. Ours uses one of the other products, that has an app too but I generally use web access.

I think there may be 4 different systems in use. One of the GP relatives has developed software used for reporting breast cancer results. It needed different versions for each system.

Edited March 2, 2018 by Tony_S

[BoD]

Oops, I appear to have missed a birthday.

Many happy returns Ian.

[Ian Abel]

Morning, POETS (probably) and my start of another circuit of the great hot orb in the sky... thanks for all the well wishes No suitable pressie yet, but probably will be "get something you'd like - will translate into payment for the Hornby Lord Nelson later in the year.

 

Delayed getting to ERs today, up rather early but Long Island client needed some "changes ro financials" (what's NEW) and in a bit of a panic as they only have until noon their time, before they all get recruited into the office move and also lose their network access - hence the likely POE. 

 

Family over tonight for a birthday dinner, fondue on the menu apparently, and plenty of vino    let's face it, "I" don't have to go anywhere later...

 

Expecting to get some weekend "birthday" time to model/play trains, but seems I'm already scheduled to attend various "optional" functions such as a niece in a play etc., so not sure how THAT constitutes me getting birthday time?

 

-7 and cloudy here, expected to have a high of 4 with some sun later.

 

Let's all POE and enjoy the weekend - tally ho.

[The Stationmaster]

It's snowing (again) and has been for a bit over 2 hours although it's mostly fine stuff so isn't very deep and it is probably slightly safer than the drizzle it replaced as that was freezing on landing.   According to the Good Doctor the snow is worse in our road than in any of the others she walked along but that's hardly new as it took 'them' 2 months to get round to any snow clearance in this road in the 1963 winter so we expect not a lot for our Council Tax.  

completely cancelled

Fortunately for the lad trains are operating between Newbury and Reading but the line is shut west of Newbury so most Bedwyn trains are completely cancelled; the local service between Didcot/Reading and Paddington, plus our branch, is currently working normally with most trains on time but it looks as if all long distance services from Paddington have been cancelled.

 

Perhaps I should dig out my archive copy of a BR WR poster published towards the end of the 1962/63 winter weather which has a couple of pictures and the words 'We Didn't Stop' ?

[New Haven Neil]

HB Ian - do you get a day off from putting the bins out?

[Tony_S]

HB Ian - do you get a day off from putting the bins out?

Bin News.

Our bin bags were not collected on Wednesday. The council asked us to leave them out and they would try and collect them yesterday or today while making normal Thursday and Friday collections. Ours went this morning. Some parts of Benfleet are still not accessible for the purpose of rubbish removal.

It is snowing again. This is I believe the snow courtesy of Storm Emma. If it is, it is a little earlier than forecast.

Tony

[AndyB]

Call from aged mum today.

 

"I spent the night on the sofa with the gas fire on as the boiler stopped working."

Dropped everything at work and went round, did a re-set and it worked ok, however, there was a puddle where the condensate was dripping out of the boiler. Placed bucket underneath.

This worked for about 5 hours and cut out again. 

 

Tried to phone BG as mum is elderly/vulnerable and has a maintenance contract with them. In theory they should attend within 4 hours. 

Not a chance of getting through on their helpline and their online crashes due to the volume of calls. 

 

Being of a certain generation that saw off A dolf, mum is philosophical about this. 

[Tony_S]

Call from aged mum today.

 

"I spent the night on the sofa with the gas fire on as the boiler stopped working."

Dropped everything at work and went round, did a re-set and it worked ok, however, there was a puddle where the condensate was dripping out of the boiler. Placed bucket underneath.

This worked for about 5 hours and cut out again. 

 

Tried to phone BG as mum is elderly/vulnerable and has a maintenance contract with them. In theory they should attend within 4 hours. 

Not a chance of getting through on their helpline and their online crashes due to the volume of calls. 

 

Being of a certain generation that saw off A dolf, mum is philosophical about this.

 

There should be a pipe (Ours is about an inch in diameter) that vents to a drain. If it is outside it is almost certainly iced up. Pour hot water over it to melt it( tje ice not the pipe). My neighbour has just done his and wrapped bubble wrap round the pipe. A couple of other ERs have had the same problem and Rick mentioned it earlier. Of course if it isn't a condensing boiler that won't be the solution.

[Tony_S]

http://www.gasboilerforums.com/frozencondensate.html

 

Hope this helps.

[Coombe Barton]

This is I believe the snow courtesy of Storm Emma. If it is, it is a little earlier than forecast.

 

 

Snowing here, too. It's wetter - and I also blame Emma.

[JohnDMJ]

Morning form a very cold Surrey. Not much if any fresh snow overnight in our road but very blustery. Decided to still take today off as leave as need to go to the doctors (8 miles away) to get a repeat prescription. Unfortunately they insist that I turn up and fill in a repeat prescription request despite advising that it may be difficult to get there. Then I have to wait 72 hours before collecting the prescription. They used to do this over the phone. I must find a more local practice soon.

 

Thanks for reminding me I need to order a repeat of what has been described as a controlled drug. I too have emis and its Android app; here in Darkest West Sussex, requests are posted through the app, their status monitored (i.e. have they been approved) before they are emailed to my local pharmacy from where I collect them, usually next working day (if that means anything any more?)

[Tony_S]

I just mentioned to Aditi about the freezing condensate problem. I said I thought ours would be ok as the smaller condensate pipe is connected to a larger diameter pipe for most of its journey to the soilstack. However she thought I should go and do something. So I did.

Spot the insulation (it is blue).

[JohnDMJ]

Have been watching the progress of our current deliverer of snow on raintoday.co.uk (other sites are available). Seemed pretty accurate! Looks like Southern failways can return to what passes for normality in this neck of the woods over the weekend as nothing more seems to be heading towards us across the Channel for the (immediate) future.

 

I have a strange diet; words may be included!

[Gwiwer]

Evening all. POETS Day currently stands for Push Off Everyone, Twickenham’s Snowbound. Just walked up to the green for a few bits from mini-Tesco and found the main roads clear but wet (and at risk of icing over later) but side roads including ours virtually impassable. Fine snow is still falling. SWMBO arrived safely home around 5pm which is some two hours earlier than normal. She just managed to catch a train at Richmond as the doors were closing. Perusal of the NR app suggested there were no more coming for at least two hours.

 

I remember school dinners and the 2/6 which you were provided with by your mum on a Monday morning and which you then handed to either the teacher or the dinner monitor (schools differed) in return for your meal tickets. Some schools took you on trust and didn’t use tickets. Then one year the price doubled to 5/- a week but neithet quantity nor quality improved. The food was eaten more out of need than any hint of enjoyment.

 

Liver and onions was always a low point of what wasn’t exactly a quality menu. One day there was an accident in the servery resulting in most of the liver and all the gravy reaching the floor. As there was little alternative if children were to be fed it was retrieved and served . Curry was another dreaded event. Somehow minced beef had taken on a gritty texture and swam in a greenish sauce. The rice was overcooked to the point of cremation. Custard was fun. Most days it could be held upside down without leaving the bowl. Usually what ever was served with it would also be retained in its glutinous morass.

 

Off to create better in the kitchen tonight. Chicken and asparagus pie with jacket potatoes. Have a good evening all

[Tony_S]

Snowing here, too. It's wetter - and I also blame Emma.

My sister in Law Emma is such a nice person I find it difficult to believe any Emma could be so nasty!

[Purley Oaks]

Evening all, and hi to Pete, and Happy Birthday, Ian!

 

 

I see that we haven't heard from Mal for a few days - hope all is well there, as he is in the middle of the bad weather zone.

Thanks for your concern, Stewart, but nothing to worry about.

 

 

We've had a lot of weather here these last couple of days, no Edinburgh bus service yesterday apart from the 100 Airlink to the airport - where fewer planes were landing anyway.

 

Managed to get out for a short walk today. Funny how the two local pubs, the bookies, coffee shops and newsagents are all open but not the bank. The bank is due to shut for good next Tuesday, anyway. So where once we had three banks within three miles, all three will have shut over the last year, meaning the nearest will be two miles away.

 

Things starting to return to normal here; there were buses today, for a start, and the main roads are returning to black with slushy sides. Pavemets still not gritted, though. Twas ever thus. Still a lot of disruption across the country, though.

 

Sil caught on the A31 last night but eventually arrived home safely after 7 or 8 hours, Glad Sherry did, too.

 

Just heard from my mum's care company; can she manage on her own at all? Er, not to get up and get to bed. I sympathise with the care company's problem, but I can't get to my mum just now to help out.

 

Hopefully things will improve over the weekend.

 

Stay warm

 

Mal

[Andrew P]

Evening all. POETS Day currently stands for Push Off Everyone, Twickenham’s Snowbound. Just walked up to the green for a few bits from mini-Tesco and found the main roads clear but wet (and at risk of icing over later) but side roads including ours virtually impassable. Fine snow is still falling. SWMBO arrived safely home around 5pm which is some two hours earlier than normal. She just managed to catch a train at Richmond as the doors were closing. Perusal of the NR app suggested there were no more coming for at least two hours.

 

I remember school dinners and the 2/6 which you were provided with by your mum on a Monday morning and which you then handed to either the teacher or the dinner monitor (schools differed) in return for your meal tickets. Some schools took you on trust and didn’t use tickets. Then one year the price doubled to 5/- a week but neithet quantity nor quality improved. The food was eaten more out of need than any hint of enjoyment.

 

Liver and onions was always a low point of what wasn’t exactly a quality menu. One day there was an accident in the servery resulting in most of the liver and all the gravy reaching the floor. As there was little alternative if children were to be fed it was retrieved and served . Curry was another dreaded event. Somehow minced beef had taken on a gritty texture and swam in a greenish sauce. The rice was overcooked to the point of cremation. Custard was fun. Most days it could be held upside down without leaving the bowl. Usually what ever was served with it would also be retained in its glutinous morass.

 

Off to create better in the kitchen tonight. Chicken and asparagus pie with jacket potatoes. Have a good evening all

I remember finding a piece of Rusty Barbed wire in my Mash Potato.

Edited March 2, 2018 by Andrew P

[Horsetan]

’60’s school “dinners” were bloody good for One Shilling (5p). Their custard was the best................

One lump or two?

[BoD]

Snowing here, too. It's wetter - and I also blame Emma.

  

My sister in Law Emma is such a nice person I find it difficult to believe any Emma could be so nasty!

Beauty and the Beast (from the East)

[Tony_S]

My mother did nearly all of the cooking. She didn't enjoy it, I think she liked shopping for it and finding bargains. Egg and chips was her "signature dish". Dad used to cook when we went on holiday and could produce quite splendid meals on the primus stove and Camping Gaz cooker. Mum tended to burn things, the most famous being a burned jelly.

So school meals were quite good. I remember even the ones at infant school in Somerset. They were delivered in big Thermos type containers so tended to be variations on stew as they came from somewhere near Bristol or so we were led to believe.

I did nearly all the cooking until Aditi retired. She claims to enjoy cooking so does most of it now.

Edited March 2, 2018 by Tony_S

[Tony_S]

I remember finding a piece of Rusty Barbed wire in my Mash Potato.

Iron supplement.

[laurenceb]

Too this day I will not eat liver & onions (uck!!!)

[Barry O]

Hey up!

We are not venturing back to the UK for a while. Youngest Herbert is back in the UK but not sure where.

C u later

Baz

[roundhouse]

Hey up!

We are not venturing back to the UK for a while. Youngest Herbert is back in the UK but not sure where.

C u later

Baz

Good decision

[Gwiwer]

I remember finding a piece of Rusty Barbed wire in my Mash Potato.

 The raw lumps of potato in the ice-cream scoops of mash were legendary. I believe some were later the subject of strategic arms limitations treaties.

 

 

Too this day I will not eat liver & onions (uck!!!)

Likewise. I list the three things I will not eat as offal, seafood and mouldy food. Haggis excepted as I enjoy a good one despite it being widely regarded as bloody offal.