What are you all up to

Freddy

I think there was clearly a slip up by my surgery in that an instruction wasn't actioned which caused a four week delay. In fairness to MK Hospital they acted PDQ once they had the instruction. I had a hip replacement in 2010 and once the decision was made it was done within 3 months. Margaret has been told she needs a hip replacement and she is currently in quite a lot of pain. She has been sent to a private medical company by her surgery, initially we thought to have a steroid injection in her hip but when she got to the appointment she was told it was pointless and it wouldn't help and it was then she was told she needed a replacement. Interestingly this company have their own hospital in MK and she could be treated there and it might only take 5/6 weeks. But, there is always a but, as she has had bypass surgery they might not be willing to undertake the operation because they have no emergency facilities and if she has to have it done at MK Hospital it could be as long as a year. Margaret is also waiting for her second Carpal Tunnel operation which we thought would be just after Easter but that hasn't materialised as yet. I think the trouble with MK is that a large proportion of the population moved here in the late seventies/early eighties and its a bit like a reverse baby boom, we are all in our seventies and eighties now so probably putting a disproportionate strain on the Orthopedic teams!!! I hope people don't have to wait too long for their ops

David

Lovely morning visiting Harlech and the castle. Another reminiscent trip. Took some photos before the rains came from the tower looking up into the mountains, shopping now calls and a restful afternoon with feet up searching for wildlife spotting venues. Hoping the weather improves!

Micky, If you head down to Llanbedr, just south of Harlech and go up the Afon Artro valley it can be rewarding for seeing Grey Wagtails and Dippers in the river and Pied Flycatchers and Wood Warblers among other warblers in the woods.

If you want a decent estuary then head to Penmaenpool as there's a disused railway line which is a walkway now. The RSPB has a hide, or used to, overlooking the estuary. Again, there should be warblers in the adjacent trees.

Now there is a very special memory, Wherenext. Caught my first brownie on the Artro under the guidance of my father on a Peter Ross. Like most fish I went on to catch in my life it was lovingly returned to fight another day. Some years later on the same river, as a teenager, I caught my first sea trout, again with my father. We fished from late afternoon to almost totally darkness. This time the fish we caught became supper and beautiful they were too, cooked over a camp fire of collected drift wood. 

Yes, we aim to visit again in the next few days. 

Now back home and catching up with chores washing and as it was dry today have made a start on the mowing and strimming as grass about 1 foot tall but taller in some areas OH did some with ride on and I did some with small petrol mower and strimmer what we have done looks a lot better but a lot more to do so will wait for another dry day as storms forecast for a few more days and now raining.

Car needs a clean but again weather needs to improve.

A lot of Swallows around here today lovely to hear them calling.

After a pleasant showdown Strathbogie and The Howe of Alford we arrived at the C&CC's director find it nearly empty! Even after some units coming in off the road there are only 8  occupied ones on site!! At least it is nice and quiet, which suits us just fine. It has been another lovely sunny warm day, and sat outside in the early evening I, with help from my Merlin Bird app, heard the calls of at least 16 different bird species, and although none out of the ordinary, it did  include a rather vocal Tawny Owl.

We visited the Imperial War Museum today, as planned. Made the mistake of going by bus. It’s not that far away from site, but getting there took well over two hours. Outside the museum are two 15” guns that were used on the Dreadnought class destroyers, WW1 era. They are absolutely enormous! Entry to the museum is free, although you are encouraged to make a donation. Inside, the exhibits are quite impressive, among others, I was quite taken with the cutaway Merlin engine, incredible engineering. There are lots of personal accounts and actual footage of various battles and events. Lots of poignant stuff too. If one wanted to take it all in, it would be easy to spend the best part of a whole day there, it’s really well presented. I can thoroughly recommend a visit, just take the train (underground)!

My day isn’t going to plan. Had planned a day working in the garden but needed to phone the Dr surgery, this is only the second time in 14 years I’ve wanted a visit. This is the surgery that 20 years ago I and many others were on first name terms with our 3 brilliant GPS, you phoned in the morning and nearly always got appointment that day. Admittedly many more housing estates built here now, but also more GPS in surgery, we don’t know any of them.  So, the receptionist was on the phone for 20 minutes asking me questions. Did I want the emergency team to call back as no Drs, me ‘no it can wait til Monday if I can get an appointment then’ apparently no appointments until June! As we are away then and it can’t wait that long I agreed to the emergency call back.  Surprisingly a Dr called back, 35 minutes of questions and answers. ‘You need a blood test but we don’t have any appointments until middle of June’! So now I’m off to the hospital for a blood test! She has put me on tablets, which I have to get today. And I’m booked in with a registrar for an emergency appointment at the end of May. All this time and hassle and I’m sure she’s wrong, if only someone had looked at the problem I think it could have been diagnosed straight away. Covid started all this remote stuff but it’s time wasting and wrong. The time with the receptionist and then the Dr a face to face appointment would have saved so much of their time, and possibly another appointment. Sorry rant over, off to drive, try to park at the hospital, instead of just walking to the GP surgery.

Oh, we sympathise with your rant DEBSC!  My OH had an eye infection before we went away to Macau.  After completing the complicated on line triage form he was told GP’s don’t deal with eyes anymore so he had to contact the specialist regional eye centre in Whitby (about 40 miles from us).  They requested a photograph of his eye and they forwarded to someone in Manchester who phoned him next day about the eye problem.  They did a diagnosis on the basis of one photograph and advised swabs and drops to purchase from the chemist for a total of £20, for a condition that he didn’t have.  These items did nothing to improve the infection!  He then went to see his optician who mentioned some antibiotic drops but advised you may not be able to get them over the counter.  After a bit of hassle and a couple of white lies the chemist reluctantly handed over some antibiotic eye drops for £5 which cleared up the problem within 2 days.  I do understand the problems with too many antibiotics but sometimes they are needed and it would have saved so much time if he could have just seen a Doctor!  

Went to Poole yesterday and got a new wheel speed sensor fitted.  Went to see brother he seems to be settling in quite nicely.  
This morning I went to Pullborough Brooks to listen to nightingales and wasn’t disappointed