Hong Kong Trams
Hong Kong trams are unique, being a sort of relic of British Imperial past beloved equally well by tourists, expats and native-born HongKongers. It is nicknamed the Pollution Solution.
New Zealand Get a Draw
As one of the least-fancied teams in the World Cup this was a bit of a surprise. They’ll be a bit of tension down-under, especially as the Aussies weren’t very good a few days ago.
But good luck to them, although to get out the group they’ll need to beat either Italy or Paraguay.
It was good to see Ipswich’s Tommy Smith giving a mature performance at the back.
Adoption
They are talking about the problems of adoption on BBC Radio 5 this morning. I feel I must comment.
C was adopted and for most of her working life, she was a barrister dealing with family matters, like divorce, money, care and adoption.
In her view most of the times, things worked out well provided that you had good professionals involved. What worried her in the last couple of years of her practice and life was the cutbacks imposed on court and social sevices by government, which meant problems got worse rather than better. Surely, it is better to get problems properly sorted earlier, rather than have a child grow up to be a drain on society.
But to end this on a happy note. Several times she was acting in an adoption case, where at the final hearing, the new adoptive mother had got pregnant. So instead of one new child, they had two and were twice as happy. It must have been the relief at it all.
It’s a pity she’s not here now, as being uniquely adopted, a mother to three and a barrister working in the field, she would know exactly what should be done.
She was also involved in a unique case, where a black 18-year-old girl, who had been in long term care with a white family applied for her own adoption by them, when the care system expired. The judge and my wife both said that it made being a lawyer worthwhile.
My Walk-In Digital Shower
Two years ago, I installed a new shower. It has no doors and you just walk in.
The floor is uncluttered and there are no doors to open.
The Aqualisa control couldn’t be simpler. It’s just two buttons and a large knob to set the temperature.
The top button switches it on and off and the bottom one is a high-pressure boost. The system remembers the temperature from when you last used the shower. If it’s two hot or cold, you just turn the knob.
So all I do to take a shower is press the top button, wait perhaps a minute until the temperature is correct, undress and walk in.
It has been a real boon since I’ve had the stroke.
As the shower is effectively double size, you have plenty of space for a helper or perhaps to put a fold down seat on the wall. The onlt thing I might do is put a vertical hand rail on the back wall. At present, if I need support, I use the vertical pipe that feeds water to the shower head.
The Juice Carton Spanner
I have a weak left hand due to a stroke and find opening the plastic cartons for things like Innocent smoothies, a little difficult. But I’m getting better and I had no trouble a few minutes ago. However, there must be many others who do, as perhaps their hands are worse than mine because of arthritis or missing fingers.
But all the caps are the same and it should be possible to create a small plastic ring spanner that mates with the cap perfectly. Companies like Innocent might even give them away free with an advert on them, as they’d only cost a few pence each to make.
There are still so many things that need inventing!
I always remember my father had a wonderful pair of round-jawed pliers, that were always being used to open difficult bottles at home. I’v never seen anything like them since.
Warfarin
I don’t know whether I said, but I’m on warfarin now.
It’s a complicated regime with regular blood tests, the need to be careful with certain foods and alcohol, and avoid getting cut or bruised. But it obviously works, as there wouldn’t be so many people on it.
It strikes me though that it’s a big opportunity for the pharmaceutical industry, in that if you could create a new and much better drug and regime, which was less hassle and avoided the expensive blood tests, you’d laugh all the way to the bank.
If you search the literature, things are stirring, so let’s hope.
The Anonymous Widower 