Early Risers.

[trisonic]

G’night, Jock!

 

 

 

Best, Pete.

[travelintrev]

Morning all, tis ump day again,  and I've succesfully got to Schiphol.....not a bad flight and had double seat to my self.  Fair few economy comfortseats empty on the plane -  but as the crew wanted cash for upgrading every one stayed were they were! 

 

Now got 2:30 hours till my next flight - then the vagaries of Bristol buses as I'm  expected to join the ex at daughters for grandbaby sitting! 

 

More later ( with luck)

 

Try and make the best of what hump day throws at you, 

 

Trev.

[Barry O]

Forgot her indoors is up early for pre-teaching swimming so a quick visit. Hope everyone has a good Wednesday.

 

Been raining overnight here. Off to do some point motor fitting!

 

Baz

[NGT6 1315]

Morning all. Cloudy ATM and rain on the forecast. Yuck. Head and neck aching, too. Where's me bed?

 

Happy Hump Day, everyone...

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

It is somewhat grey and gloomy this morning, but dry at the moment.

 

It is Thomas' eleventh birthday today (how time flies) so we got him up early to unpack his Birthday present and then he went off to school.  He is going back to his Mum after school this evening - in an about turn of his usual routine.  His little brother has a rather nasty case of hand, foot and mouth (not to be confused with foot and mouth!), and so to try and prevent Thomas from catching it, we decided to keep them apart for the first half of the week.

 

It looks like it is going to be quite a busy day in the office today.

 

Have a good day everyone...

[roundhouse]

Morning all. Not visited ERs for 36 hours or so. Congratulations or sympathy where due.

What will be the master bedroom is now decorated but only following a mega-domestic incident, the likes of which haven't been seen since I accidentally deleted the Eastenders omnibus from the Sky box...

My wife popped into Homebase on the way back from Cromer and picked out two colours, a lighter shade for the main walls and an accent colour for the chimney breast/fireplace wall. I thought they were a little "bright" but hey... not my job to reason why etc...

Two coats later including all the "fiddly cutting-in" bits and the drama played out along these lines...

Me: "What do you think?"

"I don't like it"

Me: "You must like it - you chose the colours!"

"You weren't there to help me choose... I don't like it"

Me: "So it's my fault?"

"Well it's not my fault"

Me: "Can't you live with it?"

"No - it's horrible"

Me: "Well, I'm not painting it again!"

"You'll have to - I don't like it"

At that point I went off and had a bit of a sulk. It finally took two coats of white to paint out the colour and then another two coats of a more "neutral" shade. There are now so many coats of paint on the walls, there was little point getting the room replastered...

Just get a tin of magnolia!!!!

[Killybegs]

Morning all, tis ump day again,  and I've succesfully got to Schiphol.....not a bad flight and had double seat to my self.  Fair few economy comfortseats empty on the plane -  but as the crew wanted cash for upgrading every one stayed were they were! 

 

Now got 2:30 hours till my next flight - then the vagaries of Bristol buses as I'm  expected to join the ex at daughters for grandbaby sitting! 

 

More later ( with luck)

 

Try and make the best of what hump day throws at you, 

 

Trev.

 

I hope you're not suggesting there's something amiss with Bristol's buses! Give my best regards to my home town.

 

John

[Killybegs]

I support the NHS in principal but do find it odd I take the dog to the vet diagnosis within an hour operation booked to be done within a week. I just feel that the NHS must have an awful lot of bureaucracy to take so long to do anything. To get that sort of treatment from the NHS you need to be an emergency and they wonder why people try 999 for minor problems.

Don

 But you had to pay when you took your dog to the vet!

 

Make the most of the NHS, We have to pay to visit the doctor (50 euros per visit). 

 

John

[jamie92208]

Morning all from north of Ikea.   Nice clear and cool morning, I love this time of the year.   Daughter has just departed for a scan to do with Chrones, SWMBO is driving so I've just got the cats for company.   I've got some exhibition correspondence to do then two of us are going to clear a friends model railway collection.  He died of Leukemia earlier this year.  We're going to collect up all his stock and then sort it at the clubrooms ready for the second hand stall.  Not the nicest of jobs but our club has a very good record for helping members families in this situtation and making sure that the families get good value.    The layout will have to be sorted later.  it was called Crianlarich and did appear at Wakefield a couple of years ago.    Then this afternoon hopefully i get the wiring on the turntable of Green Ayre sorted out before heading off to a boinfire.  

 

SWMBO made some toffee yesterday so i just hope that my fillings survive.  

 

All the best to everyone with your various appointments/ granchildren  sitting etc.

 

Jamie

[DDolfelin]

 But you had to pay when you took your dog to the vet!

 

Make the most of the NHS, We have to pay to visit the doctor (50 euros per visit). 

 

John

 

Believe me - we have paid! Through the nose over the years.

[45156]

and then the Metformin gave me the runs... Nice.

It's got a habit of doing that when you least expect it to - go for months on end with no problem, then a nasty incident.  I was once given a drug which could cause constipation and was told that as I was on Metformin, I shouldn't need a laxative.....

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Wet and windy out. Doggy had a mad run/bounce round the garden while I put the rubbish out. Parcels will be arriving today, a signal box and some baking trays.

I don't think the weather will improve so I think I will sort out my winter walking stuff.

I don't see why I need to be cold or damp while Robbie has fun in the park.

Pete, we have magnolia paint on all walls after the unfortunate green incident at our first house.

Tony

[Killybegs]

Believe me - we have paid! Through the nose over the years.

 Maybe, but the Irish health Service costs more to run per head of population than the NHS and that's paid for largely by personal taxation, we even had an extra tax  introduced a couple of years ago to prop up the health service. And we still have to pay and the service is awful. The latest proposal is to introduce compulsory private health insurance. The figures being banded about are more than we are paying for PHI at the moment! How will people on lower incomes manage? Presumably they will have a means tested Health Card and be exempt. It looks like this legislation is likely to be dropped. Thank goodness, otherwise we would be paying more and have none of the advantages of PHI! Rant over!

 

It's a glorious morning here in between the showers (and I managed to miss them today).

 

Back to the subject of dogs. Ruby, the matriarch was the result of an illicit coupling between a very high class pedigree golden retriever and the sheep dog from the farm across the road. She, in the course of time, got together with a neighbours yellow labrador (we approved of this relationship) and produced 7 black labs and 1 yellow one. We kept the runt of the litter, that's Tigger. Bridie is a retired guide dog (black lab). I only ever had one pedigree dog and he came from a rescue centre. Unfortunately he was hopeless case and eventually had to be put down.

 

Now, all together, ahhh ........

 

 

Jock, hope all goes well today.

 

John

[Tony_S]

It's got a habit of doing that when you least expect it to - go for months on end with no problem, then a nasty incident.  I was once given a drug which could cause constipation and was told that as I was on Metformin, I shouldn't need a laxative.....

Aditi mentioned this problem to her GP and was prescribed a controlled release version of Metformin. This definitely helped her.

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Dryish but fresh start, 5^oC at 5.00AM. Should stay dry with variable cloud and some sunshine.

Still feeling rough but couldn't take any Scottish medicine before bed last night as I was driving early so had to make do with paracetamol.

I've also got a bit of a lump and a graze on my head where I cracked it rather hard in the loft on Monday.

We also had an idiot in the next road letting off fireworks for ages last night. They were so bl##dy loud that I suspect they weren't the normal over the counter ones.

Today I may do something model railway related play with some model trains.

Have a good one,

Bob.

[45156]

 But you had to pay when you took your dog to the vet!

 

Make the most of the NHS, We have to pay to visit the doctor (50 euros per visit). 

 

John

Wow - I just Googled some info on healthcare in Ireland, and was quite surprised by the level of charges applied for GP and A&E visits - makes me grateful that we have an NHS, even with its faults.

 

Morning All

 

Not had a good morning so far, as I think I'm pushing myself a bit too hard, even though this was not, by most standards, major surgery (certainly not when compared to what Jock and some others have undergone).  I'm still getting quite a lot of discomfort, so I've decided to have a quiet day in with as few domestic tasks as possible.  I was planning to go to my class this afternoon, but I think I'll give it a miss, as the college is a fair walk from the bus station - and the return journey on the mobile zoo school bus might be best avoided. 

 

I'll pop back later but meantime, the usual blanket greetings, commiserations, compliments, etc,  I'm fully caught up, now

 

Regards to All

Stewart

Edited November 5, 2014 by 45156

[Tony_S]

We are very fortunate that Robbie is not bothered by fireworks but it has been considerably quieter so far this year. Perhaps tonight will be noisier?

Tony

Edited November 5, 2014 by Tony_S

[Shedman5]

Morning, dry sunny but chilly this morning.

 

Lazy day today, spent 1 hour 23 mins in the dentists chair yesterday, teeth now very shiny and clean with two small fillings seen to.

 

Lucky so far with fireworks, expect tonight and fri/sat to be noisy.

 

Enjoy your day

[sixoh8sixoh]

Afternoon all

Following Mike's post, it's a braw day here, sun, blue skies; the follies on Calton Hill looked wonderful this morning from Princes Street.

Not long until the German market later this month - already see that the Daily Express is promising an Arctic winter starting soon and lasting for weeks, doubtless followed by soaring house prices.

Mal

Yep, that's the wooded view I look out onto!

 

Spotted references to my ancestral home earlier as I was skimming yesterday's posts. I spent a lot of time in Durham cathedral as a youngster, and try to head back on occasion when I'm visiting the folks.  The LEGO Cathedral is going to be quite superb when it's finished.

 

Dry and bright in Edinburgh.  Meeting with our Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing this afternoon, might be my last meeting with him, depending on whether he keeps the job in the (likely) reshuffle when Ms Sturgeon becomes First Minister in a fortnight.

[iL Dottore]

 But you had to pay when you took your dog to the vet!

 

Make the most of the NHS, We have to pay to visit the doctor (50 euros per visit). 

 

John

 

Wow - I just Googled some info on healthcare in Ireland, and was quite surprised by the level of charges applied for GP and A&E visits - makes me grateful that we have an NHS, even with its faults......

 

I'll pop back later but meantime, the usual blanket greetings, commiserations, compliments, etc,  I'm fully caught up, now

 

Regards to All

Stewart

I like how the Swiss system works, everyone has to have health insurance (and there is help for the very few that are too poor to pay for the basic insurance), every doctor's visit (including A&E and GP) is billed, as is other health care. Now here comes the clever part, each individual can agree with their choice of insurance company on a deductible per year. This is the amount of money, per year, that has to come out of your own pocket before the insurance takes over. The size of the deductible then impacts on the insurance premium (larger deductible, smaller premium). Obviously if you are young and healthy a logical choice would be a large deductible and a smaller premium; the rationale being that the cost of the rare visit to the doctor can come out of one's own pocket, but in the event of something catastrophic happening (car accident??) you have the medical care you need without being financially ruined. The Swiss system is far from perfect, but it does mean that the GP isn't swamped by "time wasters" which in turn means that when you need treatment, you get it when you need it.

 

Quite frankly, if GPs and A&Es were allowed to levy a small fine (say 10 quid) on anyone that turns up without a valid medical reason (as determined by the doctor after examination), then perhaps the system will be less abused. Who knows

 

 ....Back to the subject of dogs. Ruby, the matriarch was the result of an illicit coupling between a very high class pedigree golden retriever and the sheep dog from the farm across the road. She, in the course of time, got together with a neighbours yellow labrador (we approved of this relationship) and produced 7 black labs and 1 yellow one. We kept the runt of the litter, that's Tigger. Bridie is a retired guide dog (black lab). I only ever had one pedigree dog and he came from a rescue centre. Unfortunately he was hopeless case and eventually had to be put down.

 

Now, all together, ahhh ........

 

pups.jpg

 

Jock, hope all goes well today.

 

John

What a lovely mum. I find it sad that Lucy had had at least one litter and only one survived (that we know of, but the pup is long since adopted). She'll be getting spayed in a few weeks, once she's settled in.

I do wish that all dogs put up for adoption were spayed or neutered, either before adoption or as a condition of adoption (unless medically contraindicated). I realise that the majority of adopted dogs are adopted with no intentions of breeding, but accidents do happen. Better safe than sorry.

Mind you, it's not a cheap procedure if done by a vet (as opposed to being done by an animal charity that does such ops), Schotty had his nadgers whipped off for the princely sum of CHF500 (about £325), plus CHF47 for his nifty body stocking. I'm dreading Lucy's vet bill...

 

Oh well happy and healthy dogs are well worth the money they cost (and who really needs another 5 Hornby Castles?)

 

Have a good hump day

 

edited to correct an omission

Edited November 5, 2014 by iL Dottore

[PhilJ W]

It is a very wet night here. Robbie only went out for a couple of minutes but was soaked. I did try to get at him with a towel before he shook himself all over me. I failed. He shakes himself, walks round on the doormat to dry his paws and then adopts the "biscuit please" pose.

Tony

Well at least you don't have to get wet to find out that its raining.

 

Bloody Bill Clinton called again tonight. As I was home alone I told him to come over and we’ll discuss it. Suggested he bring some chicks, beer and cigars...........

 

Let’s see if he (and the full entourage of C’s B’s and C’s) turn up.

 

Best, Pete.

Did he bring Monica Lewinsky? bit of a blow if not.

[bbishop]

Did he bring Monica Lewinsky? bit of a blow if not.

Where's the "groan" button, when you need it.

Bill

[PhilJ W]

Perhaps a 'fine' for those who don't turn up for GP's appointments will make a difference. The problem with the NHS at the moment is the politicians, the present lot are privatising it by stealth but the Labour government didn't do much better, they tried throwing money at it that mostly went in to the bureaucracy or the PPL disaster. I haven't heard many complaints about the Scottish NHS so maybe they are getting it right. 

[trisonic]

Wow - I just Googled some info on healthcare in Ireland, and was quite surprised by the level of charges applied for GP and A&E visits - makes me grateful that we have an NHS, even with its faults.

Regards to All

Stewart

Therein may be the root of the problem. Visiting the GP seems to be “free” - but it isn’t.

 

The costs of the GP are so remote from the normal experience of the patient in the UK  that he truly believes it to be “free” - and takes advantage of this “fact”.

 

We’ve discussed this before Stewart, there is no such thing as a free lunch and certainly not with free GP’s. The idea that the GP is cheap is possibly part of the reason that so many British Doctors are turning up over here.

 

Best, Pete.

 

PS Sorry I’ve just read Flavio’s comments on the same subject in which he infers the same thing.

Edited November 5, 2014 by trisonic

[Smiffy2]

It's got a habit of doing that when you least expect it to - go for months on end with no problem, then a nasty incident.  I was once given a drug which could cause constipation and was told that as I was on Metformin, I shouldn't need a laxative.....

I was given a couple of month's supply of a different 'make' and had no problems. Then back onto the previous manufacturer and...