[Richard]

Men are not immune and from memory I believe their death rate is higher than that for women, though that could be because they ignore the issue for longer.

[Richard]

As I read it the objective was instant deflation rather than anything with s delayed action. Hollow needles half an inch or so in diameter should ensure a rapid loss of air pressure. Sadly there are some reverse engineered soles who may well not recognise the issue, they often appear on TV programmes.

[Richard]

I can understand your experience. Back in the 1960s Asians had been kicked out of parts of Africa and came here. They were skilled business people and one ended up in my then office. To be fair he was very honest about most of his business affairs. he joined the Civil Service because he could more easily get a mortgage. He bought cheap properties, installed a ‘landlady’, rented rooms out on a ‘bed and breakfast’ basis but only generally to Irish labourers and the like because others would not take them. He admitted that how many shared a room or what else went on was the ‘lady lady’s’ affair as long as she paid him. Within a year or two he had a portfolio and less and less interest in the work.

My daughter worked for a while in a centre in the NHS, it was stuffed full of elderly cantankerous women many of whom were later encouraged to move on though not before my daughter went to another site in Cambridge to gain a promotion – and release from their ways. Errors had been a way of life there, a mistaken telephone message resulted in 40 people chasing their tails wondering why a patient was not already dead, my daughter read the hard copy report and realised that the phone message was clearly crap and slowly the panic happily not the patient died down as the error had suggested they would. (I should add that the error was so daft that it was like someone claiming a Morris Minor was clocked at 1500 mph.)

[Richard]

I have just had a period of no internet but before I did anything too wild I had a look at the router to see what angle it had on matters. Interestingly it was very responsive, faster than perhaps usual and reported that it had no WAN IP address and nothing was moving. I thought about a hard reset but before I could act all was back to normal.

I agree that Ed probably hit the nail on the head when he suggested something screwed with the DHCP this can effectively mess up access in some cases for all PCs and devices and in others just for some. It can be important to ensure that when you switch on after a ‘recovery break’ that not only enough recovery time was allowed before restarting but that a thought out order is followed Phased restarts might be wise to allow each device to stabilise it’s own working before it receives demands from other devices. This was the case with one long discarded router which became marginal for the demands it faced as the number of connected devices increased.

[Richard]

Clearly another case of ‘pie in the Sky’. If they shunt you off to a more closed area like messaging you are kept away from more public shaming them.

[Richard]

There was one aspect of my civil service life that I did applaud. The instructions and instruction manuals that were in use back in the 1960s were very good and clearly designed by people with a good understanding of what was needed for the then processes. While many processes were very painstaking and beset with apparently extra detail, logging they steps they were there for a reason and the resulting documentation was often very useful. Especially when an MP asked a question about something, when the documentation was worth its weight in gold. The other aspect of the rigid documentation approach was that very unskilled clerical staff could perform many of the tasks without step by step oversight while still creating clear audit trails.

The road traffic engineering screw-ups I mentioned earlier were created 15 years or so back, it might be a little more as it was before I retired and the pressure on staff costs was lower. So it might well have been in the 1990s. I remember as I used the road to get to work and every morning the carnage created was very apparent. It was probably a time of changeover none the less. The old guard who were on the cusp of retiring were probably used to a kinder less frenetic pace of life and traffic and the new younger element were incoming and knew that some changes were needed. The ‘national speed limit’ had been quite recently been reduced to 40 mph but the carnage had continued. Happily since that time the problems have reduced, ‘regression to the mean’ perhaps came into play? The last bad one was a very unwise character with two passengers rushing to the airport. A blindingly heavy rain storm swept in and while doing 60 in the 40 zone on bald rear tyres, (not simply illegal tread but bald) on his BMW he lost the rear end. It rear swung out, clipped the curb throwing the car sideways across the road into the path of a small Ford trapping and badly injuring its driver and halving the width of the BMW, one passenger was dead and the other had severe brain injuries. It all happened within feet of a neighbour walking to the bus stop, he considered that was his lucky day. Happily that was the last of the really bad RTAs in the area. Many of which were, (and the current crop of less serious incidents are still) are down to moments of pure silliness. Like the motor cyclist who overtook a line of traffic on a double white, came up behind a car that was turning right and managed to slide his bike under the side of the vehicle. Dented car sill, dented and scratched bike and wounded pride were the extent of the damages.

[Richard]

I was sorry (and still am) to read of your troubles and of the long term recovery programme that you face. Like everyone else I can only wish you good luck and understand how, as a lynch pin of the family you will feel that you are casting them asunder. Your wife’s hip operation problems are clearly a real issue for you and it is a huge disappointment that her progress has been slow, painful and not really progress at all. I am sure that after all you have given to ‘your tribe’ they will do their very utmost to give you and their ‘family matriarch’ the support that you both will need.

@Johnbarry, I was starting to think that because many of us are ‘senior members’ that was a factor in our encounters with the big C. Then yesterday I saw several women at the breast clinic one of whom I judged to be a somewhat younger than the average age of the others who were passing through. I assumed she was another patient – until she shocked me as she stood up to go with another woman who had come into the waiting room holding her progress note. The incomer was barely in her mid twenties.

[Richard]

Steve, calling home is exactly what I want hands free to do. I do not want all sorts of silly rather than calling the house phone number, texting is not much use as neither my wife or daughter has their mobile always to hand. They are either on charge or in handbags so a message might go unnoticed for hours. I have tried changing the ‘name’ associated with the number to see if things improve so I no longer get offered connections to various office buildings in London. It was all so easy with a Nokia one word and either success or a clear failure so try again, but that had no maps or navigation functions, so it is swings and roundabouts I guess. Using the driving aids and a few other odds and sods while waiting about at the hospital really used up the battery, it was down to 20% this morning, normally if it goes as low as 70% remaining I think that is a low point.

[Richard]

Glad that is progressing, those things can be a right royal pain to clear up if they get a good grip on you.

[Richard]

Ed, for all I know you may very well be right. Like the loon who decided to put in islands about every 100 yards along one road – to help the pedestrians cross. The snag was that they would cross from a small but existing pavement to a pedestrian hostile grassy bank. The local repair shops did a holiday funding trade until the islands were removed a few weeks later. The damned things were unlit and at night were lethal.

They put in ‘speed cameras’, (also known as taxmen in drag). The problem was that yes there were 13 deaths in a short period, but on the other side of a bend in the road… I could go on but we all know the point.

I was a civil servant for a year or two back in the 1960s, but then it was all change again. Still I did retain one perk for a while, while nominally not an overtime grade I worked so many excess hours in one period that I exceeded all of the thresholds for payments and once the problems eased had abundant time off in lieu.

Later on with a different lot I built up a store of untaken overseas leave built up due to staff and skill shortages. I was able to sell that to the pension fund, thank goodness as the outfit was then run into the ground before I reached retirement age so some of my shortfall was made good.

 

[Richard]

Sorry Bob, I missed it until now, yes the rain has been a pain but hopefully it did not come to too much with you. We all hope that the journey home will be more upbeat after better news, than the trip there which would be filled with downbeat anticipation. I hope the silly behaviour of other drivers did not affect you.

[Richard]

Thank you Ed, the word at the end was go home and forget about today. At least the biopsies were all focused on the exact problem area by a squad who gave the impression it was not the first, or last such case. One pace forward, my wife started treatment for a related condition to lupus, two weeks back, so she can manage to walk and climb stairs without so much pain, and one back via today’s ‘event’.

I see a less urgent skin person next month…

[Richard]

I do not  even have a microphone in the PC though I did find one useful when my hands were operated on and not useful for anything much. That said, training a voice set up to do all the things that I do on a PC and not those that MS lists as Cortana’s forte’s would drive me nuts. The Windows 10 search is pretty poor most of the time anyway. I have just spotted the big flaw, Cortana, which I have barred from almost everything, needs an MS account (or other details, e.g. mobile or skype.)

When listing the tree filling structure why oh why will it insist on returning you to some upper level when traversing the tree?

Why do I still really want to call it Cortina?

(The one thing I really miss is fully functional hands-free calling on a mobile. The Google version is more miss than hit most of the time, though I have successfully created a few dictated e-mails.)

[Richard]

ED, we can easily agree on that, but what about the effect of that patronage system? Anyone who signs up for any post in something run on that basis knows there is no future in a plumb location without patronage so why bother at all. Yet those far from plumb places are where the greatest need for a presence and skilled diplomacy exist. Where can any one train for such roles in those critical places and where are the rewards for success? Big branches of anything are rarely great place to get good nitty-gritty training it can all too often mean you simply use a rubber stamp. If the big place is dedicated to supporting a prima-donna with money not relevant skills there will be no worthwhile development beyond managing social diaries.

[Richard]

Bob, I agree with much of what you wrote, the level of what I will chose to call civic awareness is lamentable. On Friday I went into a nearby town for the first time in more years than I care to remember, I have passed a bit of its decaying edge on the way from the hospital to the bus station but had avoided the god awfulness that is the main drag.

Are we looking at this the wrong way? I thought that the spikes were intended for use in sensitive areas by the civic authorities as an alternative to more intrusive posts or barriers rather than to protect private access rights. Placed at the edge of pedestrian areas to slow up random attacks by the deranged they could have a limited purpose to restrict the effectiveness of an attack by slowing and restricting an attacker’s control of their weapon. Some tyre rippers are used at the ‘wrong way’ entrances, (exits) from car parks. They breakup rather than stop trucks movements and would trip up walkers so are not suitable for protecting pedestrian areas. However their use does appear to make the tyre damage angle moot.

[Richard]

Ed P wrote:

While Trump has made a lot of stupid mistakes, but clearing out the deadwood in US State Dept was probably one of his better moves, however repairing their system will take years.

He might, or might not have removed the dead wood, the issue is with what has he replaced it, I venture to suggest they are not even organically wood and very possibly recycled plastic substitutes.

It all went south at an increasing rate after Suez an Anglo-French venture, when the yanks yanked support in an attempt to break our relationships – they broke more than that and we can now see the result. I venture to suggest that it takes a long time, possibly measured in several working lifetimes to build an understanding of such an area. Even then, you can only create an understanding if there are some minds open enough to start the process of learning. You rightly spoke of their commercial interests, they drive almost everything but remember it must also be larded by a not so subtle layer of patronage. ‘You gave my campaign millions and you ran a supermarket, you are just the person for XXXXXX’ style patronage. I can mean the most diplomatically important areas do not get the skill set they really need.

[Richard]

Bob, I agree with your analysis. I could add more, it was all a long time ago but I had direct work and family experience of the Aden/Yemen mess. My wife was a child evacuated out of the crumbling remains.

Do not miss the cold war it is being replayed all day every day, it is just that we are no longer very good at the war games any more.

[Richard]

Ed P wrote:

Richard only as you poke me when I cannot be bothered to respond.

And I felt the first poke as your stick, strange that.

[Richard]

Steve I guess you are referring to the dodgy situation of Crimea when the Russia puppet in the Ukraine changed his mind about dealing with the EU, the people revolted and Putin erupted with an illegal annexation. The sad history of that area is riven by peoples with long memories including those of the Tartars who were force-ably ejected back in Stalin’s time. There is a long history of issues in that area without needing any one external to stir the pot – by the way Putin was an external meddler…

As for the mess of the Middle East. I went there in 1972 to a location that was Sunni ruled but with a large Shia population and an uneasy state of balance between the two. Previously the UK had a good understanding of the area but over a period of time the diplomatic capability was run down, less understanding existed and the US tried to grow a capability, they are still trying to grow one and apparently failing dismally. At the time the Sha of Iran was in charge of Iran and Iran was essentially forward looking and progressing. I went there in 1975 it was a stressful place at the time. You felt you were always being watched by thousands of eyes, but it was a reasonably progressive one might well say thriving place, though with some of the worst driving standards I have ever seen. Three accidents on the road out side during the course of a meal was normal, five either indicated slow food service or a bad day on the roads. Then the retrogressive religious mob took over and the whole semi stable balance of the beehive was lost. Largely Shia Iran wanted to control the Gulf, which they referred to as the Persian not Arabian Gulf. They worked quite hard to send their revolution westward toward Saudi. That they were thwarted at the time is a matter of history. Recently they moved into the Yeman and stirred up a mess there to distract Saudi from Iran’s moves into more northern areas. Iran was a participant of a punch up with Iraq. Then Sadam Hussain went on the rampage invading Kuwait, trashing the place and trying to wreak its future. He was repulsed in the first Gulf war, but sadly not replaced as there was no planning done for the outcome of the war. By that time I had left the location so took less notice of its affairs and no longer had any hands on contacts.

You can claim that such as the Balfour declaration of 1926 was pivotal or the the overthrow of the Turkish rule of the Saudi peninsula or any of a range of other issues was the cause. The reality was that such as Dick Chainy came a long time after most dies were cast. He was possibly responding to forces that were not really understood due to the dearth of diplomatic support in the area. As for the position of Syria, Putin wanted a Mediterranean all weather port and Assad gave him one, a point that was in all reality not fully accounted for in the miscalculation of the ‘diplomats’ in the area. The belief that a few stone throwing zealots could win against the combined forces of two people butchers was a classic error. A smoking ruin where Syria once stood is a testament to the combined failures of everyone’s miscalculations. However do remember that the disagreements between the tribes and religious forces of the areas will, forever simmer. It has happened everywhere across the area. being played out in the remains of Libya and many others. They have generally been kept in relative balance by playing them to a stalemate with a strong person in charge, whenever that lid cracks mayhem will result without the need for anything external. So yes the Middle East with its corrupted Satan worshipping minorities will be a cause of trouble for a long time. The daft idea of letting the ill will of those Satan worshipping minorities be exported to Europe was in hindsight a really dumb move. They have failed in their original breading grounds and now their contagion has spread, all because it was ‘cheaper’ not to have a diplomatic service that could not find a light switch let alone change a light bulb to illuminate their developing mess.

I would still not ever set foot in or near Russia, nor would I wish to trade or deal with them. I did have some dealings with them pre-Putin and a more perfidious, lawless bunch it would be hard to find. I refused to suggest doing any business there. The wanted it on the basis that we would invest and they could keep the money and goods with full (Russian) legal backing. Others were slightly more sanguine but the whole idea fell apart due to other issues – and a dose of reality.

[Richard]

Very easily, one off donations/gifts/whatever four years ago are not mortgaging your country’s future to an ongoing dependency that could be and has been cut off in the past Is there any equivalence, except that similar gifts have been made to all parties. My comments related to the considerably less open, i.e. clandestine ‘gifts’ that have been handed out to those with a malign agenda. Are you happy with them?

[Author]

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