Thumper Club Forum
Club House => Chatter => Topic started by: guest7 on March 04, 2008, 08:32:03 PM
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Today I tootled along to the University Hospital of Wales for a little chat about a cyst that I have had for years alongside my left eye. I never noticed it, but a chance remark from someone a few years ago brought my attention to it as a 'defect' and also I find it really irritating when I rub my eyes (either through tiredness or through never wearing work goggles).
From April 1st there will be no car parking fees at Welsh hospitals, but for today I had to negotiate numerous expensive carparks before finding a free spot hidden behind a Portacabin.
I turned up expecting an examination and chat and to the NHS's credit I waited only three minutes before being called. I was given a quick eye test (pleased to find my vision is still good) and then I was whisked off to another room.
To my horror I found that I was about to have the bloody thing removed there and then. So with an injection just next to my eye, a snip, a drain and a singe from a trick little cauteriser, I was done. They applied a massive eye patch, told me to keep it on for four hours and not to attempt to drive with the patch on.
Obviously I then left the hospital and got on the outfit and rode the mile or so home. And yes, I looked like a right t*** ;)
So, once again, I have had a pleasant and easy experience of the NHS in one of Europe's biggest (and busiest) teaching hospitals. How come I never have any hassle with the NHS and yet the Daily Mail can't stop finding fault with it?
Sometimes I'm very proud to be British. Every time I pass Aneurin Bevan's portrait* in the hospital I say "good work Nye".
GC
* Aneurin Bevan, usually known as Nye Bevan (November 15, 1897 – July 6, 1960) was a Welsh Labour politician and a socialist. He was a key figure on the left of the party in the mid-twentieth century and was the Minister of Health responsible for the formation of the National Health Service.
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The best explanation is in the form of a question; why are you reading that toxic little rag in the first place?
On a slightly different note it is with considerable dissapointment that I note the dumming down of this list. I am sure that would have been a time when you would not have thought it necessary to explain a reference to Nye Bevan. Tut tut tut....
Steffan
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LOL
I know, I know.
I actually considered whether to post the footnote or not and thought it more polite to add it than assume that everyone would know his name (although not knowing the name of the man tasked with creating one of the great social benefits of all time is a bit unlikely).
What swung it was the thought that some of our overseas contributors might not know him.
I fully understand why some people read the DM, but I have to say that it's not to my tastes: I find it contains too little real news and has biased analysis. Having said that, my paper, the beloved Grauniad, may be fantastic in its coverage of world and domestic news and it may pride itself on its world class photography, but sometimes it's a little too smug, middle class and Londoncentric (which is amazing given its origins as the Manchester Guardian).
I'd recommend that everyone buy the Saturday Guardian for Charlie Brooker's column alone. You may have seen his Screenwipe TV show, reviewing and commenting on television shows, but his column in the Saturday TV guide is way more offensive and amusing. I remember he once described a Big Brother competitor as being "like a crack addicted rent boy stuck in prison who has just been told his drugs haven't arrived. Not subtle, but very funny.
GC
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And yes, I looked like a right t***
No change there then ;D
And I read only our local rag (I seem to remember one of the headlines reading 'chip pan fire in Hellesdon'.... love it!) and of course good old Private Eye, which is nowhere near as good as it was when Ingrams was editor and willie rushton and peter cook were alive, but still a good read.
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a cyst that I have had for years alongside my left eye. I never noticed it, but a chance remark from someone a few years ago brought my attention to it as a 'defect' and also I find it really irritating when I rub my eyes (either through tiredness or through never wearing work goggles).
Wot ! You had your head removed !!!!??? ;D
I'll get me coat......AGAIN !!!!
On a serious note...hope all is well !
Jethro
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That was his head Jethro? Are you sure? Graham which unsightly lump did you have removed? Please post photos so we'll all recognise you in the future. ;D
Steffan
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Aye GC,
Congratulations on the removal of the protruberence, I hope all heals well.
As for the 'rag'. No! Mostly a load of vacuous c**p about egomaniacs in conerbations futher than 5 miles away!
Once a week the 'Press & Journal' frae Aberdeen for its farming, fishing, forestry, oil and business articles, a weeks worth o' telly news, some regional news and humurous picture page!
Any others are the ones going to landfill with the bar code removed, which are excellent for lighting the various stoves about the place or mopping up oil/fluids under bikes or on benches.
No 002, not sun tan lotion/ body oil on the,,,,,,,,,,,, :-X
Keep boppin, Bill.
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Hmm, free parking. Come to Sutton and PAY PAY PAY when you go to hospital. Makes Heathrow parking look cheap.
Maybe I will pop over to Wales for all my NHS stuff now.
Moans aside, glad to hear it went well!
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Yes GC, glad all is okay. As for the Mail, I can't let a day go by without reading this wonderful newspaper. Richard Littlejohn rules ok! Don't get me started about the "Midlothian" Question (sorry Bill, Smudge) and keep the Proms (proper) British........so there! I'm coming over all Elgar now (mind you he hated jingo-ism, tsk)
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Glad you're OK GC.
Can't fathom this newspaper business. Why pay the price of Mars bar for some soft porn, two day old news, sports results you already heard off the radio, an overpaid Londoners opinion on it and a bingo card? The ones that cost the price of a decent book in the charity shops don't even have the soft porn! Now if you want pointless, pop into your local airport hotel and try the "International" Herald Tribune. Headline- Ammunition tax to rise in Arkansas (or "New Hampshire reaction to Cat stuck in tree"), pages 2-7 US presidential election, page 8 what happened in the rest of the world where there were any Americans, pages 9-14 American Football, 15-17 baseball, 18-23 basket ball, 24 Soccer, 25-32 What happened to the Dow Jones. I know why they dump them in airports!
I'm sticking to the electronic media, faster and cheaper.
Andy
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World service on the radio and once you're used to that start listening to other countries world news programmes... :o voa is a stunning window on why so many Americans see themselves as they do, and Radio China International is very interesting as you get to hear what the Chinese government are sayong about what they are doing as an addition to what the western media are saying what they are doing... and most countries do news bulletins in English too so you don't need to learn a new language!
Mind you, many governments are trying to get us all to go to digital radio so they can censor/charge at will.... after all, the quality of reception is *not* any better, sometimes worse, so my cynical mind immediately starts to wonder why it is being sold so hard to us....
Go pick up a cheap shortwave radio while you can, cheaper than a couple of weeks of newspapers and waaaay more informative and entertaining! You can even use it to practice your foreign languages for the next silly rally you go on ;) ;D
(The Scotsman or the Thunderer if I'm forced to buy print...)
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i went to the opticians and told him i had trouble seeing things far away.
he took me outside and asked "can you see the sun?".
i said yes, to which he replied "well how much further do you want to see?"
bullet350
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I'd recommend that everyone buy the Saturday Guardian
GC
Nah!!! No T1ts in it ;D
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Nah!!! No T1ts in it ;D
Oh yes there is... I'm sure they mention politicians and celebrities on several pages ;)
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World service on the radio and once you're used to that start listening to other countries world news programmes... :o voa is a stunning window on why so many Americans see themselves as they do,
(The Scotsman or the Thunderer if I'm forced to buy print...)
Got the Radio. I was in North Africa when the current unpleasantness in Iraq was kicking off. BBC reception was non existent (unforgivable less than 500 miles from Gib IMHO) while VOA was spouting useless info at full volume. I eventually found a Dutch station broadcasting from Southern Spain. The equivalent to listening to local commercial radio here, but the main news broadcasts were in English. Inflicting Dutch 80's pop on unsuspecting locals I'm less sure was a good idea :)
When DAB came out I was sure it was problem solved, you've be able to get Radio 4 or the World service anywhere. Seems you need a satelite telly for that unless anyone knows a better way? Anyone tried a free view reciever on a lap top outside the UK?
Andy
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My dab radio will get R4, world service etc... certainly in this country!
At the end of the day it's still a radio signal, ok they happen to be sending a digital signal so for a given power it has the potential to use a smaller bandwith and go further (some of the modes are even as efficient as CW! ::) ;) ) but the range is still limited by the same rules as any other radio wave.
Don't know if world service broadcasts from Gib or not, I could certainly reliably listen to world service in the former yugoslavia but which frequency would vary throughout the day.
You may also have found yourself in a "skip" or "dead" zone where you are too far away from the station to hear it on ground wave (direct) but too close to hear the sky-wave signal (the one bouncing off the ionosphere before returning to earth).
We are currently at a poor period for listening to distant stations but conditions appear to have passed the worst and are slowly improving (google "sunspot cycle" or pm me for more!) however you should still be able to hear some very interesting stations.
Generally 20meter-ish (14Mhz) is ok through the day and as it gets dark you need to be looking around 40 metres (7Mhz) or even 80 metres (3.5Mhz) certainly last week Radio China International was booming through along with a number of Eastern European and North African stations in the 7.100 to 7.200 range.
If there is a specific station you are after it's always worth going to their site (or even writing to them with old fashioned pen and paper :o lol) and getting a list of their frequencies, you can then try them all 'till you find one that works where you are. Also the simple expedient of taping a length of wire to the end of the telescopic antenna and throwing it out of the window or running it round the room can make all the difference to reception :)
"Tuned" antennas work best but just getting wire in the air always helps, and any wire will do.. mains flex, speaker wire, bell wire, fence wire.. doesn't matter as long as it's available and it conducts ;)
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I need help with computer terminology!
Can someone explain to me the term
"thread hijack", or "hijacked thread", Ive heard it recently and cannot seem to find examples that can enlighten me on this.
thanks
BTW GC have you tried auditioning for the Pirates of Penzance?
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:P it's called "conversation" ;)
See the "Euroroutes" thread for another example ;D
Anyway, hope the vision is back to bi-ocular again GC, we've been, ahem, covering for you on here 'till your eyesight recovered ;) ;D
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Ever seen the film 'How to get ahead in advertising' ?
Occassionally when I lived in Cardiff about 15 years ago I had to visit said hospital for work. Always very impressive - but then they should be , most well funded teaching hospital in the country and all that.
and what really happens at the BBC http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/01/10/bbc_ces_outrage/ (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/01/10/bbc_ces_outrage/)
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Siddle, you dawg! ;)
GC
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Love the NHS - mind I did sleep with it for years... Just looking on the WHO site on what different countries spend on health compared to their life expectancy and healthy life etc shows what good value it is - not compared to Cuba, true, but about half the price of the US - that we hear so much about.
Paper - Indy and MCN - dunno why either - at least MCN is full of t1t5 - mainly Kevin Ash.
Love local Welsh rags - like the local news on TV - Earthquake in China, 1,000,000 dead, we speak to a Swansea man who once ate a Chinese meal.
R
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Oh - Radio Moscow was great during the Falklands conflict...
R
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Love the NHS
R
Not me! I live with it. I cannot think of another organisation that came out of the Thatcherite reforms by keeping: the can't do won't do bureaucrat, can't sack - silted up with recycled jobworthy mediocrities, paid for life ethos and seamlessly combined it with all the bullshit flannel, managers coming out of your eyeballs, perpetual re-organisations, reports coming out of every orifice, you get in the private sector. Well done NHS you got the worst of both worlds..
Steffan (wanders off muttering, waving his rolled up copy of the Telegraph at passing kids and dogs)
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Can't say I've ever viewed the NHS as great value or very efficient, but there you go that's probably one for another day ;).
As Smudge pointed out DAB is still only radio. I will eventually pick up one that's small enough to carry but has a proper antenna. I think DAB currently has the same disadvantages as short/longwave, but the way things are moving you've probably more chance of finding a suitable station on DAB. I find the tuning interesting. With LW/SW you might spend an hour tuning the thing to get faint station that would become impossible to hear just after "..and now the news in English...SHHHhhhhh", but with DAB you'll just get the autotune zipping up and down the scale and getting nothing at all :P
Andy
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NHS??? NHS??? oh yeah, I remember it being featured in the old OLD Doctor Movies, and Carry ons... yep a grand old system
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NHS - Shit organisation full of some really great individuals in my experience.
Andy, you just need the right antenna ;) but until then any radio with an external antenna will do, just make it larger (ooh-err matron :o)
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If only mate, if only it was a case of carry on matron.....