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Posted Sep 28, 2001
Just nipped in for a quick lurk. If anyone's watching this space (as if!), I'm still alive, though not functioning well. I've missed mugwumping around at the guide. I can't do as I did any more. In future my messages will be a sentence or two rather than 3 to 6 paragraphs. As you may have noticed, I'm a natural born windbag so that's going to be a struggle for me 
Discuss this Journal entry [21]
Latest reply: Sep 28, 2001
I will return
Posted May 21, 2001
To any friends who might be wondering where I've got to: I hope not to be away too long but I can't sit for long enough to do anything useful at the moment. My back hurts too much to allow me to think straight. Please don't think I'm ignoring you if you've left me a message and I haven't replied. Sorry.
Discuss this Journal entry [10]
Latest reply: May 21, 2001
Political systems
Posted May 12, 2001
Letter to our local paper, Harborough Herald and Post, from a Mr Mitchell:
"Now that an election has been called on June 7th, it may be best if the various political factions were explained in simpler terms, and I suggest the following as an example:
"SOCIALISM: You have two cows, you keep one and give one to your neighbour.
"COMMUNISM: You have two cows, the government takes both and sells you the milk.
"FASCISM: You have two cows, the government takes both and shoots you.
"NEW LABOUR: You have two cows, the government takes both, shoots one to conform with the EU Common Agricultural Policy, milks the other, but is unable to sell you the milk as it does not comply to a Brussels directive that does not allow milk to be sold from cows with udders not having a standard size.
"CAPITALISM: You have two cows, you milk one, sell the milk, sell the other cow and buy a bull."
Well, that's quite straight forward then. I suppose I'll be voting for the Greens 
Discuss this Journal entry [6]
Latest reply: May 12, 2001
The Pain Clinic
Posted May 1, 2001
Just got back from my first appointment at the pain clinic. Got a collapsed disc in my lower back and some gunge from inside the disc is pressing on nerves. It started 3 years and 3 months ago and it's taken all this time to get an appointment to do something about it. They've lent me a TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulator) machine. It's a little black box with a battery in it connected to a couple of pads stuck an inch apart near the site of the burst disc. It has 4 little buttons on it; on/off, increase tingle, decrease tingle, change tingle. Hope it improves things.
The waiting room of the pain clinic (in Northampton General Hospital) is full of things for sale like second hand books and tea cosies. There are competitions to name the teddy bear and all sorts of other things to pay for the clinic. So this is what the National Health Service has come to.
The pain has been really intense and it amazed me that I could go from working between 40 and 60 hours a week to being incapable of working at all (for about 6 months) and the National Health Service made no real effort to help. This is the same NHS I and all the other tax payers imagined would help us if anything like this happened. You'd think they'd want to help to get workers back to work at the very least to pay for the flippin' service. Well, whatever my taxes go to pay for, it doesn't seem as though it's that pain clinic.
Discuss this Journal entry [12]
Latest reply: May 1, 2001
The Pain Clinic
Posted May 1, 2001
Just got back from my first appointment at the pain clinic. Got a collapsed disc in my lower back and some gunge from inside the disc is pressing on nerves. It stated 3 years and 3 months ago and it's taken all this time to get an appointment to do something about it. They've lent me a TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulator) machine. It's a little black box with a battery in it connected to a couple of pads stuck an inch apart near the site of the burst disc. It has 4 little buttons on it; on/off, increase tingle, decrease tingle, change tingle. Hope it improves things.
The waiting room of the pain clinic (in Northampton General Hospital) is full of things for sale like second hand books and tea cosies. There are competitions to name the teddy bear and all sorts of other things to pay for the clinic. So this is what the National Health Service has come to.
The pain has been really intense and it amazed me that I could go from working between 40 and 60 hours a week to being incapable of working at all (for about 6 months) and the National Health Service made no real effort to help. This is the same NHS I and all the other tax payers imagined would help us if anything like this happened. You'd think they'd want to help to get workers back to work at the very least to pay for the flippin' service. Well, whatever my taxes go to pay for, it doesn't seem as though it's that pain clinic.
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: May 1, 2001
Salamander the Mugwump
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