Category Archives: Life

Why the doom & gloom Mr Press?

January 27, 2013   Kevin Woodward   No comments

Last week, in fact last Monday, was Blue Monday, the most depressing day of the year!

I went to bed on Sunday not knowing anything about it, but awoke to the radio station telling me! I wasn’t planning on being depressed, but having listened to the radio for half an hour I got out of bed on a right downer. Nothing to do with the real reasons on why it is called Blue Monday (It is thought the date was picked out by psychologist Cliff Arnall after he came up with a scientific formula based on the length of time until next Christmas, holiday debt and the likelihood of giving up New Year’s resolutions. Mr Arnall first wrote about ‘Blue Monday’ seven years ago – in a press release for Sky Travel, a now defunct British TV travel channel.), just the fact that the radio kept going on about it!

I’d better give credit for where I found the above information!

But, it wasn’t that that I wanted to have little rant over, it was the fact the newspapers were telling us in the week that Britain was on course for an unprecedented triple dip recession. Apparently the economy shrank 0.3% in the last three months of 2012 – well whoopy doo – 0.3% isn’t a big number, in fact if you round it up to a whole number it becomes zero! OK, fine it didn’t grow but it didn’t fall either, if you use whole numbers!
Don’t get me wrong, I know the economy is struggling, I know that it is going to be hard to get back to the prosperous years (whenever they were), I know people are losing their jobs, I know businesses are closing down, in fact we all know that it is tough, but in my opinion what we want from the press is for them to tell us the good news, it will get better, rather than to rub it into our faces that life is tough!
Just as in the example above, without their help I would have had a cheery day last Monday, by telling us we are going to be depressed, well we are, but if they had ignored that and told us we were all going to have a good day, well we might have! Mightn’t we?
Read More

I Think Attitudes Are Changing

November 08, 2012   Elaine Isaac   2 Comments

Yesterday evening I was taking part in a careers evening at a local school and had the opportunity to talk to 14 – 16 year olds about careers in the IT industry. It was very interesting to listen to their comments about what they wanted to do, although half of them didn’t have a clue and picked up literature from every stand to take home and hopefully read.

What intrigued me was that many I spoke to don’t want to go to college full-time, but want to start earning their own money via an apprenticeship. What they said to me is that they don’t want to go to college or university  because of the cost, and some of the parents even mentioned it just wasn’t affordable even with Student Loans etc.

To me attitudes seem to have changed, even from a couple of years ago when I attended the very same event as a parent with my own daughter when apprenticeships were hardly mentioned and college seemed the only way to go. Talking to other businesses that had stands in the same room as I, most of them also said that a lot of the young people were asking about apprenticeships rather than ‘traditional’ forms of education. Saying that, some of the careers, e.g. Veterinary nursing still requires you to go to college and maybe university before you can do this job.

It was certainly an interesting evening for me as it’s the first time I have attended this as an employer rather than as a parent and if I get asked to attend again next year I wonder if attitudes will still be the same?

 

Read More

Oh dear, yesterday I was let down by the NHS!

October 09, 2012   Kevin Woodward   4 Comments

I have had a few months where I have been suffering with a foot problem.

Back in July after about 3 weeks of constant pain I had a doctors appointment and was diagnosed with Plantar Fasciitis, an inflammation of the tendon under the foot. I was given exercises to do, some anti-inflammatories and told it could take a while to be completely healed (pun not intended). After doing some reading around the subject, doing my exercises, taking my medicine, I also bought some new trainers with support & also bought some support for my other shoes and things have progressed well.

However, I now have some discomfort under the ball of my foot, no real pain, but a discomfort nevertheless. It stops me from getting my exercise, I still cannot play racketball, can only do so many hours working outside and/or standing up! So, it was time to re-visit the doctors to see what can be done next!

Wait for it….nothing…. the condition is not bad enough and I am not old enough for the doctor to refer me to see a consultant.

Now, there is more, the doctor recognised that their was a vicious circle being created, in that with me not being able to do exercise that this would lead to more problems with my general health, but they would deal with those when they occurred.

So, that’s it then – chucked on the scrap heap!

Oh, if I did want to see a specialist, I could of course go visit one privately!

Please remind me why I pay taxes!!!

Read More

Getting tough on NHS resources . . . and irresponsible users

August 29, 2012   robertz   No comments

I find it hard to believe that, according to the Department of Health, patients miss one in 10 hospital appointments. If this is true, it is unacceptable.

People are only too quick to criticise politicians for cutting services, but for so many health service users – that’s ordinary people – to waste resources actually being spent is appalling.

While I support the concept of a health service free at the point of delivery, I believe that it is the free nature that makes many people think that it is all right not to turn up just because the appointment becomes inconvenient. It is even more inconvenient for those patients who could have been seen and treated sooner.

Now, I know there are all sorts of reasons why someone might miss an appointment and an emergency on the day is a good one. However, when someone has warning of something that has come up, it is reasonable to make a phone call to re-arrange so that the now vacant slot can be used productively. Some would say that I am absent minded, but I always turn up or re-arrange if I know I can’t make an appointment.

So that’s the responsibility of patients, now for the responsibility of NHS staff.

A relative arranged an appointment for a blood test. They asked if they needed to fast and were told: no. Last week when they turned up they were told they should have fasted and to arrange a new appointment. My family are placid, but my relative was so furious that he turned around and walked out.

Sadly, that’s not the only instance of appointment mix-ups he has experienced and, again, I wonder how much money this wastes across the NHS.

I am not sentimental. I do not mind whether, as long as it is delivered to those who need it, care provision is provided by private or public providers. Over the past 10 years I have been in some impressive new health buildings in the UK, but sadly treatment has been variable – from excellent to appalling. Buildings don’t treat patients, people do. How many more patients could be treated if we did not waste the time of those people working in the NHS?

PS At this time I am six weeks into an eight-week wait for a hospital appointment.

Read More

Proud to be British

July 02, 2012   Elaine Isaac   No comments

On Saturday the family and I attended the National Armed Forces Day event in Plymouth. The main reason was that my two daughters were taking part with the Devon Army Cadets Corps of Drums and this was one display that wasn’t to be missed.

There was so much going on – static displays of aircraft and other vehicles, stalls, displays, music, the Red Arrows and much more. What was wonderful to see was the cadets and members of the different armed forces wandering around with their families looking so proud and magnificent in their uniforms.

It is certainly a day that I won’t forget in a hurry, a definite proud parent moment when I watched my girls and the rest of the band enter the arena and perform their display. Even though I have seen it many times, this is the largest event they have ever done and they did it without fault.  The reaction from the crowd to them and the other events going on and the sense of appreciation for our forces on this day I certainly felt proud to say I’m British and part of this.

Read More

Efficient infliction of infection?

June 27, 2012   robertz   1 Comment

How many times have you sat in a doctor’s waiting room listening to all the coughs and sneezing and wondered whether you’ll leave with more ailments than you arrived with?

An amusing thought, but with superbugs in hospitals, it’s a very serious topic.

My local GP surgery has introduced an automated booking-in system which I think is great. It asks me my month of birth, the day and the first letter of my surname and books me in for my appointment automatically.

Very efficient, but I wonder how hygienic it is as it uses a touch-screen which every user must touch. I’m sure there’s a container of hand cleaner at the surgery entrance (and I always wash my hands before popping down the road to the surgery), but is it still possible to pass on germs and bugs using such a device?

Then I got to thinking about the possibility of a system which sends a QR code or other token to your mobile phone which you could then display to a reader at the surgery to provide contact-free check-in. Or perhaps it could work using Bluetooth? I’m sure there’s an idea there and maybe someone is already using or developing it.

Anyway, that was how I spent my time in the doctor’s waiting room recently and, just to make sure, I did wash my hands thoroughly when I got home.

Read More

Pull the chain!

June 07, 2012   Kevin Woodward   No comments

We currently have our grandchildren staying with us and one of their annoying habits is not to flush the loo after using it.

Cries of have you pulled the chain elicit little response.

Of course, pulling the chain was commonplace when I was a child (I’m starting to sound old now) with cisterns high up on the wall and to flush the toilet you had to pull the chain! Of course children today have probably never seen a chain that needs pulling as we all have low level cisterns and pulling the handle doesn’t quite have the same ring about it!

Do you still use sayings that were once commonplace but are rather out of date now?

Read More

A cat is a hunter!

May 31, 2012   Kevin Woodward   1 Comment

We have a cat!

Hilda is a white cat with a few black splodges, we got her as a rescue and she was a semi-feral kitten, born on a farm where the number of cats had got out of control and lots of kittens needed re-homing!

We had a rat problem and were looking for a pair of outdoor cats – no way would our dogs ever let a cat in the house – and so Hilda & her brother Howard (who remembers the TV show?)  – who sadly got run over by some stupid driver doing wheelies down our country lane, but that’s another story – came to join us. Our sole requirement for providing them with food and water was for them to keep the mice & rat population to a level that was not annoying, especially in our hay store and around the chicken coops!

Hilda does an exceptional job, the workshop where we store food, keep the hay and is also home to 3 of our 5 female pygmy goats is rodent free, she sleeps there, enjoying the goats company and the relative warmth of being snuggled up in the hay! She does have other sleep places, she enjoys the summer house on spring days where the sun warms the place up and she can be seen snuggled up in her basket – the same basket that she gets the occasional visit to the vet in – and other days she has a spot under a tree, or in the vegetable plot in one of the raised beds or indeed under the rose shrub where she looks out over the chickens and their feeder!

Yes, all of her spots are well chosen as being close to potential prey, and not just of the rodent variety, she does get the odd bird as well, especially the little sparrows that make an attempt to eat the chickens food!

Yes, she’s a hunter, she is part of the garden hierarchy, where she is one of those at the top of the chain – she’s not at the top, the fox and the badger rank higher than her, the fox helping itself to the odd chicken, but we have never had a sighting of badgers, which we are sure the smell of llamas keep them at bay. The dogs think they are higher up the chain than she is, but dogs are far more stupid than she and she knows where they go and at what times and very rarely crosses their path!

In fact she often sits up on a shed or tractor looking down at them, while noses to the ground with never a thought of looking up, they know she is around but do not know where – she does though and looks down on them with that superior look that cats do!

She is a hunter though, a lone hunter, but she is not feral now, always having time to roll in front of you looking for that tickle along her belly, always coming out to say hello to our holiday guests, but she is always on the look out for that next catch – she doesn’t hunt for fun, she hunts for food, we do feed her and she gets fed well but when she hunts, she hunts for food, she doesn’t kill and leave her prey, unlike the fox that can wantonly destroy whole flocks of chickens for just one meal, she will eat nearly all of what she kills.

That is her job and one of the benefits of the job is she gets to eat what she catches!

She is also loveable and as much a member of our family as the dogs, the chickens, the goats and the llamas!

Don’t give all cats a hard time, some work hard for a living & Hilda is one of those cats!

Read More

Should shops open for shorter hours?

May 17, 2012   Kevin Woodward   No comments

This past weekend I did something that I rarely do, and that was to amble around a shopping centre looking at things and wondering whether to spend my money on stuff that I might need. I did actually buy something but that’s another story!

What made me think though, was the fact that most of the shops were devoid of customers – yes, it was 9:30 on a Thursday morning, but I am not sure that has anything to do with it – and I wondered whether it was like that most mornings.

The coffee & breakfast shops were fairly busy but the department stores, the chemists, the clothes shops all appeared to have none or very few customers.

So, why open – why don’t these shops open at say 10:30am or even later?

The cost of opening at 9:00am – the utilities, the staff costs etc… must mean that it is economically sensible to stay shut.

When you think about it, most of the working world are … well working … they are not available as customers, most of the parents at home are …well just got back from dropping children off at school … they are not available as customers, most of the non-working student are … in bed … not available as customers, most of the the shopkeepers are … in their own shops … and not available to customers, so why are they open?

At 5:30pm when most of the workers have finished work and are available as customers … guess what … the shops are shut!

So, why don’t the shops open at lunch time and stay open until a bit later – surely they’ll more likely get more customers!

Maybe that is too radical – are you a shopkeeper? Are you afraid to not open, just in case it is busy? Or, am I missing something?

Read More

Salt….does it hide or enhance flavour?

April 29, 2012   Kevin Woodward   4 Comments

Another culinary question?

In our house we don’t have much salt on our food – not sure why – nothing to do with all the health warnings, we just like to eat the food on our plate without it – on my palate the salt tends to hide the flavour of most foods – although there are some foods that must have salt – boiled egg with soldiers – there must be salt on that egg! I like the crispy fat on roast dinners to have a bit of salt – pork crackling in particular.

Of course bacon is cured in brine and is salty and I love that flavour!

I see a lot of the top chefs expounding the virtues of salt by bringing out the flavours – that Jamie Oliver doesn’t just add a pinch he chucks a load in – but for my palate, as I said above the salt tends to hide the underlying flavour and with a lot of salt that is all I can taste!

What do you think – do you add salt – at the point of cooking, or onto the plate, or like me do you leave well alone and enjoy the flavours as they come?

Just interested!

 

Read More
« Older posts
Newer posts »
Powered by WordPress | Designed by: SEO Consultant | Thanks to los angeles seo, seo jobs and denver colorado