Nothing Is Impossible!
It’s just that some things are more difficult than others.
One of my favourite quotes was made by Barnes Wallace in an interview by Chris Brasher for the obituary television program, that would follow the innovative engineer’s death.
There is no greater thrill in life than showing something is impossible and then proving how it can be done!
I’ve lived my life by this mantra even before I saw the program.
My current problem is how to get to Doncaster on Boxing Day to see Ipswich play.
There are no trains or buses, as it is Christmas.
I have posted on forums, written to newspapers, the television and radio and not one sensible reply. I’ve even offered a free ticket to the person, who drives me up to Doncaster.
I have even thought about hiring a helicopter. Light aircraft are not on, as Doncaster built on their grass field by the racecourse and the old Doncaster ground.
But then no-one says no to this London mongrel with a strong connection to Suffolk. According to my late father, I was at least conceived in the county. The last time was when I was told it would be impossible to visit all 92 League clubs in alphabetical order by public transport. I did that, but perhaps not as easily or fast, as I would have liked. I’m a stubborn bugger!
So I’ll be hitching all the way up. I can get a bus to the bottom of the A1 at Apex Corner and that’s where I’ll start. I’ve got a banner ready saying.
TRACTOR TO DONCASTER PLEASE!!
Only one person ever said no to me and that was the devil after my stroke. She took one look at me and thought I’d be too much trouble. So she let me stay here!
In a way, it was a compliment.
You Don’t Say No to Suffolk
I don’t drink much spirit, but I do like the odd glass of whisky. So I was pleased that the new Adnams whisky is now available.
I first read about the availability of the whisky in this article in The Times. The article tells how it is illegal for spirit and beer to be made on the same site, due to a law dating from the 1700s.
What Adnams did is outlined in this paragraph from the article.
Although the law had never been repealed, Mr Adnams tested its validity by submitting an application to HM Revenue & Customs. “We got a reply in only three months saying yes,” he said.
No-one in his right mind, ever says no to an obviously sensible suggestion from supposedly sleepy Suffolk.
I’m looking forward to getting a bottle!
It may be a novelty to most of the world, but when I started drinking Adnams bitter, they only had thirteen pubs and supplied a few clubs in the local area.
The Scots will not be quaking in their boots yet, but then Watneys thought they could crush this then tiny brewery from Southwold, by buying many of East Anglian’s breweries, including all in Norfolk. Red doors are still associated with bad beer and service all over East Anglia.
Is The NHS A Religion?
David Prior set the cat among the pigeons with his article in the Daily Telegraph, which was entitled, NHS on brink of crisis because it became ‘too powerful’ to criticise. It’s all reported here on the BBC, with this being the opening shot.
The NHS “became too powerful to criticise” despite many patients receiving a “wholly unsatisfactory” service, the health regulator has said.
David Prior told the Daily Telegraph that even the most senior staff were afraid of speaking out.
The Care Quality Commission chairman said the NHS should not be treated as a “national religion” beyond criticism.
You have two camps and I meet both amongst my friends.
One group trust it totally for everything and the others pay for expensive health insurance and except for their GP don’t go near the organisation.
I’m in another category. I don’t have health insurance, but if say I needed surgery immediately, I’d probably pay for itself myself. I would also make sure, I went to the best quack I could find.
I would not have any quick solutions, except that the first thing we must do is to decouple the NHS from national politics. Some NHS Trusts are big enough to be companies, that would be in the FTSE300. So politicians and the great and good, should have nothing to do with them!
Because we let politicians meddle we get some of the disasters we’ve had in the past few years.
I would do a few things to make it better for everybody.
My GP and his team are in my opinion pretty good and up-to-date and work out of well-equipped modern premises. I would make absolutely sure that all GPs were up to scratch and some of the dreadful ones that I know exist should be given marching orders.
Perhaps making it easier to change GPs would help. It’s quite easy here in London, but if you have only one terrible rural practice and don’t drive, what do you do.
We also need a universal health database, that all doctors, hospitals and patients can access.
But we as patients have responsibilities.
If we are overweight, smoke and drink heavily can we rightly affect a First Class service? Suppose you had an expensive car and constantly put dents in it because of bad driving, would you expect your insurance company to pay for the repairs? Probably not! So why should your body be treated any different?
And then there’s the insistence of many, that they want the best treatment from their local hospital and if they need a difficult procedure, they refuse to travel to the next area, to get the best specialist.
Try and close an A & E unit and see what happens. Some years ago, there was a big fuss when the unit at Newmarket was closed. But what happens now? The paramedics get patients to either Addenbrookes or the West Suffolk and you never hear of any complaints now!
Patients if asked, would probably say they needed an Air Ambulance at their local hospital, but we seem to work well with a limited number.
We need better systems that work for all! Not Rolls Royce systems working at a low level, which may well be what some countries have!
The NHS has responsibilities too!
It should have a complaints system that works, so that problems such as we’ve seen in the last year or so are spotted earlier. We have the successful CHIRP system for flying and shipping, So where is the NHS version?
As NHS Trusts are in fact large public companies, with just one shareholder, they should be run as such, responsibly, ethically and to proper financial rules and standards. And just as companies like Blockbuster, Peacocks and Jessops went bust, they should be allowed to fail.
And when they do fail, we get the unedifying spectacle of those who’d criticised say the bad care from their local hospital, fighting to keep it open. They should have started kicking earlier, so that the problems were solved years before.
I used to live near Chase Farm Hospital and my younger sister was actually born there. In the 1950s it was a dreadful hospital and everybody who could, went to London, as the other hospitals in the area weren’t much better. When I read reports of the hospital now, it doesn’t seemed to have improved much. But still the locals fight to keep it open, rather than improve the care in the area.
Should not in London the hospitals in a particular borough be controlled by the local council? London has a wonderful transport system and one of the reasons is that transport is the direct responsibility of the Mayor and they either get it right or voted out.
I can’t think of a reason, why each local authority, shouldn’t control, at least the major hospital in its area. Quality and performance would of course be monitored centrally.
It’s All A Bit Of A Doddle!
Many of those of my generation remember British Rail’s Red Star Parcels service with affection.
If you wanted to get a parcel from say Ipswich to London, you’d go to their office at Ipswich station, deliver the parcel and pay your fee, and it would be on the next train to London. The consignee would then go to Liverpool Street and collect the parcel later.
It worked well and was probably quicker than anything today, except for a courier taking a hig speed form of transport.
I remember in one instance, our McClaren baby buggy broke in about 1972. They told us to send it by Red Star to Derby, which we did. They repaired it and sent it back by another train the same afternoon.
Does anybody offer such customer service today?
Red Star is now long gone, but I was interested to see that Network Rail is introducing a parcel sending and receiving service called Doddle.
I doubt it would help me, as there isn’t a main line station close to my house. Unless it grows to use large Overground or Underground stations like Dalston Junction. After all, they could use the Ticket Office, when it closes.
But it would be an ideal service for those that pass through such a station on their way to or from work.
Will we see the like of Red Star again? I doubt it will come back everywhere, but on fully-crewed trains, it might return, as how else would you be able to get something really important from say Liverpool to London in under three hours.
Whoever thoght of the name; Doddle, deserves at least an OBE. But I suspect the man backing the scheme; Lloyd Dorfman, who might have thought of the name wouldn’t accept it, as he already has a CBE.
More On Feeling Better
I posted after the Home Run From Bilbao, that I was feeling better.
Last night, I went to Pizza Express for a pizza and the Aspall cider tasted good, whereas one a few months ago, tasted rather horrible.
I trimmed my beard this morning too, and that now feels to have a lot more body and substance.
But perhaps the biggest change is that over the last few months, I’ve found that I was rather unsteady some times when I got up from a hard chair. I haven’t had an incident of that nature since Biarritz.
Hot Air Over London’s Airports
Sir Howard Davies and his Airports Commission has reported about what it feels are ideas to expand London’s airports.
What he is proposing ignores a few facts.
I don’t think that any extra runway at Heathrow is possible, as the people who live in West London, would not vote for any MP, who supports it and therefore in their view make their lives worse. This of course ignores the fact that most people in the area, moved there after Heathrow was opened and they have had plenty of time to move away.In fact, they’re probably some of the most opinionated and selfish Nimbys in the country.
The major airlines, such as British Airways and Virgin want Heathrow to be expanded as this is much more convenient and probably more profitable for them. After all, say if Gatwick were to be expanded, then they would have to have two operations in different places.
Everything, I’ve read about the report, makes little mention of technology that will become available in the next few years.
Aircraft will certainly get more efficient and hopefully quieter, which should ease disturbance.
But some of the bugger changes will occur in how the aircraft are controlled, so they will be able to fly paths, that are much more precise and therefore become less noticeable to those on the ground. Such things as stacks of aircraft over London waiting to land at Heathrow will disappear.
The Commission does state that patterns of air travel will change because of low cost airlines and more point-to-point flying.
And this brings me to the last fact that he ignored.
Generally, it’s passengers who choose which flights they use. And the methods they choose are sometimes bizarre to say the least.
I choose my flights very much on the departure time of the flight and the availability of gluten-free food at the terminal.
Others may only fly with an airline on their favourite loyalty program.
So one factor that will change our behaviour and ease pressure on busy airports, is convenient alternatives. We already get that. Scots who want to fly to say the States, often travel to Manchester Airport, as the flights are cheaper, than at Glasgow or Edinburgh. This loads the trains from Glasgow to Manchester Airport so much, that extra trains are being purchased for the route. Other Scots, who may need to fly to say London to get an onward flight, often take a quick hop to Schipol instead. The big airlines at Heathrow, want this stopped and hence they are in favour of an expansion there.
So one thing that will take the pressure of the airports in London is better facilities and more flights at other airports. We probably need to open up regional airports more to foreign carriers, but then the big boys like their monopolies.
I can never understand why there isn’t a regular service from Stansted to the New York area. Airlines have tried but all seem to fail. Is the marketing of the big airlines and Heathrow to blame?
Crossrail and Thameslink will be game changers in how passengers choose to use the London airports. Millions of people will now be better connected to either one or both of the airports, so if the flights are available at the convenient one, they’ll use them.
Personally, I used to hate Gatwick, as this post from 2011 indicates. But after a change of ownership and better train links from East London, I quite like the place. Gatwick will get better, as the South Terminal gets rebuilt and restaurants are improved. Stansted is now rather a dump and you would only fly from there for cheap flights or unusual destinations.
So even the most stubborn of individuals can be made to change their minds!
Of the options the Airports Commission lays out, only two are viable.
An airport in the Thames Estuary will never be built, as it is just too costly and new technology and the other airports in the South East will expand enough to take the increase of demand.
A new runway at Heathrow will never be built, as the Nimbys and politics will stop that happening.
So we are left with a new runway at Gatwick. I may not agree with how it is built, but the big factor is that the locals are not as opposed to the idea as they are at Heathrow.
But the idea I like is the extending of the northern runway at Heathrow. It was an innovative idea thought up by a pilot and put forward by Arup, who are not noted for bad ideas.
Although it would require a lot of thought over how it would be operated, It has the great advantage that it could probably be built with not too much disruption to either operations at the airport or the traffic on the M25. You could start by building a tunnel parallel to and west of the western section of the M25, which would be opened before you actually started work on the airport. Remember that with Crossrail and other tunnels, we’re the world’s best tunnel builders.
I’ve looked at a detailed map of the area and if the problems of air traffic and organisation of the aircraft can be solved, I think that much of the noise intrusion could probably be contained within the current airport boundary.
But I have this sneaking suspicion that no new runways will be built or extended and in twenty years time or so, we’ll wonder what all the fuss was about.
Passengers will just choose their airports with more care and airports will be competing with us with better and better facilities and more point-to-point flights.
Mugged In My Own Shower Room
Ever since I moved into this house, I’ve moaned about the bathrooms. The en-suite shower room of my bedroom has got a lot of my anger, as every other time I clean my teeth, I bump my head on the cabinet above the basin.
Last night, as I went to bed, the awful cabinet bit back. I’d needed a new toilet roll and as one does, I keep them in the bathroom cabinet. But the catch is not the most reliable of devices and as I rose from the toilet, the door caught me on the head.
It only managed to extract a very small spot of blood.
My head has a very thick skull, but this morning, I do have a wound and a small amount of pain there.
It could have been a lot worse.
It’s another piece of bad workmanship and/or design to blame on Jerry.
I wonder if RIBA have a worst building prize.
Bonkers Management
Not my phrase, but that of Rachel Burden on BBC Radio 5 to describe the style of management at Cardiff City, under the ownership of Vincent Tan.
I do wonder how some of these people made their money, as in my view you can’t make money without having some skill or sense. I wonder if you read his entry on Wikipedia, you’ll come to the same conclusions as I have.
I Think My Bilbao Trip Did Me Good
Yesterday, I had lunch with an old friend, S. She thought that I might have got the old twinkle back in my eye.
But there have been various changes I’ve noticed since my return.
The major one is that my body seems to have gone much closer to like it was, before I had the stroke three and a half years ago. My fitness trainer came round on Monday and she got me to do stretches that I have found impossible in the last few years. I could actually put my left arm up my back and my right arm over my left shoulder and touch hands. Which is something, I probably haven’t done since 2009. In this area, I’ve also noticed that I can fold my arms in front of my chest. And both ways to boot!
I walked today to the Regent’s Canal and my feet behaved themselves with only a touch of the pain doctors say is arthritis, that has been with me since the 1960s and at times has been bad in the last ten years.
I also had two glasses of wine with S. And both of them tasted like wine. For the last few years, a lot of wine could have been anything, as it was tasteless. The only thing, that seemed to have taste, was the Waitrose lemonade, that I use virtually as a mouthwash.
I certainly tasted the chilli-enriched shepherd’s pie tonight.
Even my nose doesn’t seem to running so much and certainly the dull pain in my lower jaw and teeth has lessened. My nose hasn’t bled either!
My brain seems to be on top form, and I’m fairly certain, that the mean time, it takes me to solve the Super Fiendish sudokus in The Times has decreased. My short term memory seems better too!
I can now wear my watch on my left hand and even doing up shirt buttons is easier. I suspect the latter might be a clue, as men do up shirt buttons with just their right hand, and mine wasn’t affected by the stroke. But I have found buttons difficult for the last three years.
Also, since I arrived in Biarritz, I have found taking my INR a lot easier and much less messy. Could it be that my skin has absorbed a lot of water and now it is much more normal. It certainly feels a lot less dry. The only thing I put on my hands are water, soap and gloves. Moisturisers are for wimps. And on the subject of my hands, I can now cut all my nails myself a lot more easily!
Can all of this be down to the mild, sunny, humid weather I encountered on my trip to and from Bilbao? I had in fact, first noticed the return of the arm crossing ability, when I was lying in bed in the hotel in Bordeaux.
To try to recreate that lovely atmosphere, I’ve had my humidifier on full since I returned and a hire company is delivering a bigger one tomorrow!
I intend to prolong this good feeling.
The Anonymous Widower 