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Annoying phrases
I made a note of the phrases I heard on the radio today which bugged me. Some claim the NHS is worse since Labour came to power 'because some hospital trusts have been in deficit'. Debt, the word is debt. Perhaps some use the word deficit because this doesn't sound so bad.
Cash is always hard-earned, and families are always hard-working. Victims are always innocent, and tragedies are always appalling.
This afternoon I dismantled the set of shelves in the garage. They must have been at least 45 years old; the woodbeetle in them had long since died. I threw away much of the stuff on them. There were enough slug pellets to kill all the slugs in the parish; three plastic containers of malathion powder, one of which was so old it was coming to pieces; two tins of woodstain with lids that I couldn't remove; wire by the yard; a jam jar of rusty washers; five pairs of brackets for fixing shelves to walls; rolls of netting with different sized mesh; rusty spanners, one of which I think was for a lawn mower that packed up years ago; and a pile of thick yellow dust that might have once been a sponge.
Everything was covered in black dust and the screws were rusty. I managed to unscrew all but one, the last one, which I cut with a hacksaw. There's always one screw which won't unscrew.
Quote for today
For these democracies which are overflowing with phrases about peace are the most bloodthirsty instigators of war.
Adolf Hitler, 1938
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1.11.06 20:34
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Loads of sticks
Went to see The Queen yesterday, the film, not the monarch. It was good even though the plot and the ending were known; there was no sex, no special effects, just old-fashioned good acting and attention to detail, detail which included Prince Charles' bald patch.
I went to the matinee. The theatre was full of old people, and a depressing picture of old age they gave. Slow to move, wrinkled, bent double, breasts round their waists, bad hips, bad knees, swollen feet and ankles, difficulty sitting down and even more difficulty standing up. Why do old people develop into such crocks? I felt young and sprightly in comparison. My theory is that they let themselves degenerate; they don't work hard enough to minimise the effects of aging. One day I might find out.
One old dear wore a large bag round her waist. It looked a bit like a parachute because not only was it large but it had two tags with toggles on the end resembling rip cords.
In the interval some bought drinks and ice creams. The woman in front of me opened a plastic bag of homemade sandwiches and tucked in. Someone after my own heart I thought. I'd fortified myself with a piece of toast and honey and cup of tea before I left home.
I poked the compost heap with a stick to spread the contents more evenly. Never had I seen so many worms; the heap was heaving with them. They thrashed about and I stopped poking in case I injured any. A presenter on Gardeners' World said it was time to insulate wormeries. That is one unnecessary task for me; my father did little for the maintenance of his house but he did insulate his compost bin.
Thought for today
Laws are like spiders' webs: if some poor weak creature come up against them, it is caught; but a bigger one can break through and get away.
Solon (c 630 - c 555BC)
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5.11.06 19:46
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Loads of waffle
The CMO (Chief Medical Officer) has issued a special update, A communication to all doctors in England. He must have spent too much time with politicians because his update is verbose and, in many places, vague. Here are some examples.
'I believe that the recommendations in my report [Good doctors, safer patients] create a strong, effective interface between local healthcare systems for assuring good clinical governance and patient safety, and permit a fair system of regulating the practice of individual doctors. Underpinning this is the creation of generic and specialist standards that are valid, reliable and capable of assessment.'
His recommendations will do nothing unless they are followed. 'Together the measures enable a reduction in the climate of blame, retribution and disciplinary action that usually attends poor medical performance, and the introduction of stronger elements of prevention and earlier recognition of problems, retraining and rehabilitation.'
Can climates be reduced?
'This will help to eliminate situations where poor practice is not recognised and acted upon because of adverse organisational culture, weak local clinical governance, poor employment practice, variable standards for judging performance, doctors who are between jobs or locations, or situations where it is unclear whose responsibility it is to take action.'
'Finally, Good doctors, safer patients ensures a strong interface between complaints about clinical services and complaints about doctors and gives educational and standard-setting bodies a more formal role in medical regulation. Each of these recommendations is part of the complex measures designed to ensure the safer delivery of healthcare in the United Kingdom.'
I hope doctors' communications to patients are clearer than this.
Quote for today
Husbands are like fires. They go out when unattended.
Zsa Zsa Gabor, (1919 - ) Hungarian-born American film star
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6.11.06 20:42
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D day and after
My preparations, to clear the rooms as much as possible (the reason for my absence lately), paid off. The furniture wasn't the problem. It was the boxes of household contents; there were so many of them. Each piece of furniture I could picture and had decided where each should go, but I had reckoned without so many boxes. Apart from food, I shall not buy anything else for a long time. The house is too full.
So far I have discovered no casualties of the move, although I found what I think are the washing machine's transit bolts in a box I opened today. When my house was cleared one of the removal men said he'd insert them. Looks like he didn't.
I let the fridge and the freezer rest overnight and turned them on this morning. Both worked. I should have washed the inside of the fridge yesterday and let it dry; it smells slightly musty. Oh well, a slightly smelly fridge is the least of my problems. Where to put everything is the main problem. On Thursday a house clearance firm is coming to take away unnecessary furniture so at least the garage will be clearer.
Went to the tip early today to dump various things that I shouldn't have bothered, and paid, to have stored; a chest of drawers that was falling to pieces, eight plastic-covered wire containers that were shedding plastic, an enormous cardboard box of bubble-wrap, and bags and bags of plastic bags.
Looking through the drawers of my desk, which the men had a job to assemble yesterday, I came across three screws; they must belong to the desk. I will have to look for holes missing screws, but not today.
Thought for today
But nothing has or will go right now for the West in Iraq. We have needlessly replaced one ailing, flabby dictator with mankind's worst enemy--chaos.
Kevin Toolis, The Times, 11 November 2006
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11.11.06 17:23
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Odd minds
A reporter briefly describing the Remembrance Day service in London today said that it took place at time when troops were still dying for the country. Dying for the government more like.
Went to visit my mother in the care home and took a boxful of old pots and pans for the metal recycling skip in the household waste site en route. My luck was in as the queue was short; it didn't extend to the main road.
My mother was much the same as usual. She said that she was glad she was there because my father sometimes said 'Thank God you are here.'
One of the residents often remarked that she would have liked to have had a baby. My mother thought how sad till one day the woman's daughter turned up. 'She must have been a baby once,' said my mother. 'No, she wasn't,' the woman replied.
Quote for today
I firmly believe that a time is coming when many of the problems we are discussing today are going to solve themselves automatically with quickened reaction, with inherited caution, when an ingrained sense of safety is going to take the place of many of these restrictions and regulations which we now have to impose.
Oliver Stanley, Minister of Transport, in charge of the 1934 Bill
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12.11.06 19:25
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A day of rest
Today I had a rest, a day free from sorting out the contents of the house; I joined the local ramblers on an eight mile walk. Though it rained most of the time, it was mild and still pleasant. Leaves on trees were beautiful shades of yellow, orange and brown. Mushrooms and toadstools had all but disappeared. We started from a RSPB nature reserve. A few crows were the only birds I saw.
Last week the helpful neighbour and I re-routed the cable for an extra socket in the lounge into the cavity wall. That was a job and a half; it took us all week. We had to remove three bricks in the process. Yesterday the neighbour returned to mortar in the bricks while I drilled out an airbrick in the kitchen wall so we could replace it with ordinary bricks. I never expected to be doing that in my retirement. I hadn't used an electric drill before and, fortunately, did less damage than I expected. The only casualty was one drill bit which I bent.
What existed before 'decision-making bodies'? Governing councils perhaps? A reporter on the radio today said: 'Members of Oxford University's highest decision-making body ...'.
Quote for the day
If the use of the horn warning signal by motorists was forbidden ... they would have to go much slower ... and would not be able, by blowing a horn, to order everybody else out of the way. Their speed would be greatly reduced, they would have to pull up oftener and they would be forced to be a little more considerate of other people.
Lord Willoughby de Broke, proposing the banning of horns on cars as the solution to speeding, 1908
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14.11.06 19:19
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Boxes, boxes everywhere
I'm still chest-deep in boxes in two rooms though I can now squeeze between the rows instead of having to climb over the tops. The exercise from shifting furniture and emptying boxes is probably equivalent to that obtainable in a gym without the expense. More furniture should be taken away tomorrow so the garage at least will be clearer.
I dislike clutter as do some firms who have told their employees to remove photos and soft toys from their desks. No doubt some will object claiming this an infringement of their human rights.
This afternoon I went to my scrabble class. Scrabble group is probably a more correct description. I played two games in two hours, a record for me, and scored over 200 for both which was another record for me. I even managed some five letter words instead of my usual two to four letter words, and I intentionally, rather than accidentally, laid some on top of the red boxes.
As I walked to the venue, I noticed six bags of apples by the golf course, and asked an elderly golfer who was crossing the road to the club house if they were for anyone to take. He said that he didn't know but supposed so. On my way back they were still there so, feeling glad that I'd taken my rucksack with me, I filled it with three bags and staggered on home. For tea I had stewed apples and very tasty they were.
Quote for today
Young people by definition have their future before them.
Neil Kinnock, campaign, 1992
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15.11.06 19:47
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