@sawboman
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PM, I totally agree, the medicos claim the service is short of money but refuse to have anything to do with filtering out health tourists; the attitude is a bit different in other locations! As for the abusive sods, leave them to cure themselves.
Car parking at hospitals can be a problem many locations. Our eldest daughter was born in Japan at just over 30 weeks and getting into the regional children’s’ hospital was along some roads that were far longer but no wider than our drive here in the UK. Then one had to wait for a space to fall vacant. That was several months of challenges. Suctioning, feeding and changing a baby in an incubator is a black art – only afterwards did I realise that the Japanese way was to leave all that stuff to the medical staff., who had stood referentially aside while I was busily dealing with the ‘three part baby’. The incubator cover had unfortunate optical ‘issues’ with anything inside.
While I speak for myself I am sure I will be echoed by others when I say, very glad it all went smoothly.
Yes Dave, once registry cleaners were a hot idea. I tried one. The cleaner certainly worked, my office suite did not! I vowed never again.
Bob, I agree, mind you I also wonder what is the price of snake oil these days? I feel like a sales drive once I can find a few carpet-bagging sales people.
I have not driven round Cardiff for a while, but I know what you mean about the city. We sometimes go to Addenbrooks, getting there is fine but and it is a big but, moving round the place is a huge challenge. I am sure it is where the Olympic marathon trainees do their work outs. My wife has several issues, a lung problem, Allergic Pulmonary Aspergillosis, an autoimmune disorder which she knows is a one way ticket, it finished off her mother, leg and knee problems which I do not think she really wants to accept as being an issue and the results of her anaphylaxis episode during a November hospital examination. Her walking makes the average loris like like a speed demon, we might well get passed by stone carvings. That is not the main problem, it is the pain which is a real challenge, so I know what you mean. Modern hospitals may be paragons of something but the walks are something else. My wife has not entered the realms of sorting disabled parking, she has reached the stage of wanting to stay in the house rather than go out, at all. I feel that disability support is the next stage for her and that it is near, but as the unpaid carer for our daughter, that is her main thrust for most of her time.
Sorry, that was far more depressing than I intended.
I trust it will go well tomorrow, sometimes, the advanced fears are far worse than the event.
All I can say is good luck PM for tomorrow, I hope the traffic is less of an issue and that all goes well.
Our local health ‘mob’ have a number of sites in their group, some are hospitals and some were grotty run down offices in grotty run down buildings, possibly some still are. One of them has happily been torn down now – hooray. The central records had to be plundered for the records of patients for each day’s appointments. It cost the NHS a fortune in Taxi fares as the records never got sent out on time so missed the official post run and patient had to wait for the taxi to explain their condition.
Another site is a couple of towns away on the wrong side of a motorway roundabout that’s famous for hold-ups. The roads on to and off of the roundabout are pretty good at collecting accidents with deer and stupid bits of road works, oh and stupid drivers. The ‘about half an hour trips’ can easily and unpredictably take an hour and a half or more. After one two hour trip I swore I would never go there again, but my wife was next up for an MRI and the route was clear as a bell. A trip to urology could rival medieval torture if the traffic had it in for you. Many of my appointments have been chose and book, I will wait longer to get a more accessible location if I have the chance.
Bob, I share the thoughts of others, hang in there and keep trucking. We all hope the news will continue to be better. It is a shame you cannot get frequent flyer points from medical services when they send you all over the place. Do you know anything about Beverly? How easy it is to get there, parking arrangements, etc.
Whatever I was to bet on the thing would fail. If it was a horse the RSPCA would be after me as it shed legs or other important parts before it was half way through the race. I have learned to be wise now. I am still waiting for my premium bond account to do something. I have only had it for about 51 years!
That is a downer that is for sure, hospitals do not appear able to realise that transport issues do form a major issue in many people’s lives. At least you knew in advance… I had a couple of injections which were highly unpleasant then drove home. The next one was not done on the spot I was given an appointment for a few days hence and told I could not drive for 24 hours after the job was done. I asked what had changed I drove home the last times – they went a funny colour and suggested that I would have done so without insurance… oops. They did not even want me to walk home, it is only a twenty minute walk. With my eye operations my wife drove me to and from home, it was the first time she had driven her car that year.
I trust it will go well, arthritis is a real bummer though there are other options which can be even worse.
John, if you are satisfied that you have done all that you need to do to keep your affairs straight forward then you can and should remain at peace. Some have not been so diligent and leave others to pick up the pieces. That said we wish to retain your company for a long time to come and I am sure that your family member
(s) would also wish that. I sought only to remind everyone that things do sometimes not run as smoothly as we would wish.Alan that was a useful food for thought. There can be subtle traps for the unwary and the link does provide details of free schemes that frankly are aimed at such as John’s situation. The main issues are having the right to claim any property, the right to carry out the funeral of the decease’s choice – and paying for the funeral. That can be a big one in almost all cases. If there is any value to the estate that might conceivably be used for such expenses it can be difficult if the funds get locked up and someone else has to find the cash.
A long time ago I briefly worked in a bank I saw several really unpleasant messes over deaths and and the deceased’s affairs. It can, and sometimes did result in the deceased being left in limbo for a very long time. The ‘nearest and dearest’ were deeply embarrassed and upset.
On the other hand one was almost the script for a ‘B’ comedy movie as hangers on tried to destroy the value of the estate. In that case the bank had to step in and bring the farce to a close. It could claim to be acting in the interest of avoiding risks to the bank’s position as the then banking rules allowed.
Wasbit, that was not me who wrote ‘Issues may arise with bases that aren’t supposed to exist, but exist…’ that was Drezha.
I personally doubt that there are many bases which are unknown, however, whether anyone should wear a traceable device within a military base is another question. Some of us used to be barred from entering work sites sites or areas with a whole range of apparatus in the past, cameras, any transmitting devices etc..
If anyone really wanted to create a hidden anything, it is best to hide them in open sight. That was done in WWII, shuttered ice cream parlours, bungalows that were not bungalows at all and so on. Just use some imagination and make it plausible but ideally quite boring.
Like many bases the bunkers were decommissioned many years ago, but sometimes you just might want some sites to be recognised for what they are thought to be.
ED I am with you on that, as a side issue I am very much aligned with your view. Gambling is only ever a mugs game. It is not just best avoided, but more a case always avoid.
However, returning to the original question I remember a so called computerisation expert writing in the mid sixties expressing despair about being asked to computerise different situations. He wrote;
“What’s needed is a system; forget using a computer until you have a system to follow”.
It does not matter if you use monthly cash in baked bean tins, or credit cards on which you set personal limits, or cheques or whatever. Records can be kept on any medium you like but do help you to understand what money gets spent on. Receipts are a great cheap way to keep records. They confirm how much and on what money was spent.
Many years ago I ran the mess catering for an overseas company mess. We each paid the bills so I had a keen interest. The bills showed that bulky imported things cost something like 75% of our bills. I more than halved the monthly bills and ensured we had the option of three decent cooked meals a day. Many grumbled it must cost a fortune; until the first mess bill came out, after the bills there was silence. OK we might sometimes run out of corn flakes before the end of the month, but we never ran out three meals per day.
I have done probate a couple of times, in both cases there was a will and in both cases there was effectively no real property valuation to worry about. On the first death all property rights passed to the surviving spouse so while there was a half property value it was not a huge issue so not in any way contested by HMRC. By the second death the property had been sold so it was a cash and minimal property only deal and yes, a valuation was obtained from only one sources and in view of the smallish value, again there was no HMRC discussion involved. As other have said Probate is a straight forward if increasingly expensive process and can, I understand now be set up on line. I used the semi automated papers that did not really work as there were errors in the calculations so it all went as hard copy. HMRC and the probate process were very happy not to have valuable property involved.
Warning, a Power of Attorney can be hugely valuable if you suffer health impairments that do not kill you. I had to deal with the court of abuse* as one person did not have a valid POA, they were back then a nightmare of limited competence and frankly very limited interest. Their own ‘inspector’ or were they called visitor told us to do enough to keep them off your back, then ignore them so that sort of sets the tone. They are another expense of numbers of hundreds of pounds plus an insurance bond at more money. A small estate might get relief or get flattened.
A solicitor can add thousands perhaps many tens of thousands or pounds to both probate and Court of Abuse* cases. They are rarely needed.
*They call themselves court of protection, what an oxymoron.
There don’t appear to be many stores participating, none near me or Bristol, but it is an interesting marketing idea.
Steve and Ed, I agree that using a birthdate as a ‘secret answer’ to anything is stupid, perhaps insane. My original account was opened long before the internet and its issues came stomping along so the genuine the DOB was used. At the time one of the senior, (but going no further bank staff), bemoaned the passing of the quill pen it was that long ago!
We have avoided internet banking, partially because of the security issues and partially because we value paper records. I also harboured the concern that using two different DOB, the real DOB in the old location and a new ‘secure’ DOB elsewhere would likely cause a problem sooner or later. Certainly the original DOB is still used within their systems which do interface with such as HMRC, the Pension Fund, NI number and on a other forms and accounts. Any cross check could likely throw up ID worms with fangs and is something I would want to avoid. As an token for confirming the correct person’s account it is OK, as a ‘secret’ it is crap. I have used other secret answers, – that I have generally then forgotten. Who has a favourite colour for heavens sake, even mother’s name and the like are pretty insecure security tokens.
I have avoided ‘not so social networking’ mainly because I have no real use for it ,so why become involved? My wife has an account which she looks at once a week or so. Her sister phones up and demands to know why she has not responded to some post or another. It drives my wife potty.
Yes, there are issues surrounding all data. Were thin people correctly thin (question what does correctly mean?) or suffering from undisclosed or undiagnosed conditions affecting their metabolism/life expectancy. Are those who are slightly larger simple in general in the happier middle ground between extremes? What is the ideal body mass? It is said to be different for different racial groups, are the steps even correct for all sub types within the large numerical groups? Is there even hard data from which to draw conclusions?
Very little (nothing?) exists in isolation from anything else except an unobtainable perfect vacuum. The brain and the body in general need the right sort of cholesterol and perhaps justifiably intrusive studies are required to match different genetic and endocrine types to their correct life needs in terms of e.g. nutrition.
Sadly, no one currently has good enough data to decide the issue one way or another probably because too much research is funded by ‘interest groups’. Every ‘today’s fad’ becomes
yesterday’s chip wrapper, (sorry newspapers cannot be reused that way) call it recycling material. An fuller understanding of fundamental body processes is a vital first step.Steve, on that we can agree. It is a murky world full of little of visible substance; I’m afraid I doubt that the true picture will ever emerge.
Whether the flight path was a great choice, is a question, for which no one has provided an answer. I have seen strong arguments around that issue.
Any studies of humans over a period of decades can only be very broad strokes. They will largely depend on how well–crafted are the data collection and any survey forms.
I might have missed one aspect of what you were saying, the studies of retirement mortality and health data does tend to avoid the use of self completed data. The subjects are dead or gaga anyway, so it has to come from notionally more reliable sources such as, e.g. pension funds and death certificates. I briefly worked in a bank and the subjective data one collected was ‘interesting’. I remember on old chap who had been a solicitor, in effect set up his own pension fund which he watched like a hawk. He was razor sharp, still performed a couple of part time jobs and hobbies well into his mid eighties. Two maiden sisters 20~30 years his junior could no longer fill their own cheques. The easy conclusion was one was protected by mental activity and the others were destroyed by idleness – but I prefer real evidence?
I have do that with throw away email addresses, fake birthdays and so on. When it is something vital I stick to the rules, but with optional stuff I slide into ‘why bother mode‘ and reject the process. I feel it is simpler to ignore the option of signing up if the rewards are not worth the effort of maintaining an alias. I guess one method would be to use a dead relative as the basis for a made up ID. That would be easier to remember and you can then keep a copy of the spoofed details. Of course it would not stand up to cross checking if the system operator wanted to be that diligent.
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