Silence is golden unless it is when I can not speak!

Interesting is how I would describe today. ManFlu yesterday and today I have no voice. I was hoping to bike with the kids, but that involves being able to shout warnings when on the road, or in the park, and whispers are hard enough for me! I feel better than before, but am still unwell. My wife has been great, but she has now fallen ill with my plague myself, though at the moment, not as bad as I have been affected.  Anyway, back to watch Game of Thrones, a shame that the last book will not be released soon.

My resolution for 2016 is to launch a brand of ice cream called Revenge. It will be both sweet and a dish best served cold.

Well, today I have Man Flu, which started yesterday.  Despite this, I was still able to work today, and yesterday, though today I am feeling more unwell compared to yesterday.  Which is just as well considering that we had guests around last night.  I had to go to sleep early but the party continued.  Which makes me glad as otherwise I would have felt very guilty.  The children, who had been allowed to stay up till midnight were very glad that not only they got to stay up late at night, but also that I went to sleep before them!  I am looking forwards to spending time with them tomorrow, though I am hoping that they will be able to spend time with a father who is in better health.  On Wednesday, when I was looking after the children, we went for a bike ride and they loved it, as did I.  The only issue with it was that they are of different levels when it comes to the ability to ride a bike, and one bike makes it easier to travel much faster than the other.  I need to get fitter, and they may be able to help me in this ambition.  Anyway, it is time for bed once more.

Sri Lankan man arrested 'for smuggling gold in rectum' Is he The Man with the Golden Bum?

It has been a while since I made a proper post about the family.  Yes, I made a post at Christmas, but it was not that long.

To be fair, it was a very tiring day, so much so, that I have only just recovered from it properly.  We now have David round, a great friend from the past who we have not seen in the flesh for a while.  Now we just have to meet up with Tony, Who we spoke to on FaceTime.  What has been great as well, apart from the company is the beer!

Today we have been to GreyFriars in Colchester and had a great time having afternoon tea there.  As before, this was a great meal and one that met our expectations.  And as you can see from the pictures, the kids got to make cupcakes, which they loved!  We had been thinking about having this for a while an were not disappointed.  It may be a while before we go back, but it will be worth any wait.

But one of the great things that I have enjoyed in the last few days has been riding my bike with the kids.  I need to get fit, or my odds of having a heart attack at a young age like my father will be not good (I think he had a heart issue when he was young, but I can not be sure).  Don't get me wrong, I am aware that this is only to reduce my odds, but getting fit is important and the best bit is spending time with the kids.  Each time they learn a bit more when riding a bike, I feel even prouder of them, just like with everything they do.  But this is different as I do not get to teach them much, and worse, they do not let me teach them at other times.  I guess I have to remember to cherish every moment I have with them as they will, with time, need me less.  My worry is that one day, when they are older, that I will not get to spend as much time with them as I have as they will want to do other things and will be used to not spending time with me.

We just need now to get a bicycle for my wife.  She is keen on the idea, but we do not know much about bikes and have a steep learning curve to deal with.  I also need to learn how to ride better so that I can think about being able to ride to work.

When it comes to chess, these are the competitions that I have not won sadly...
Episode I
New generation tournament
Gorlank 2nd Tourney - Fast Knockout
-15
Dragon Warriors 6
Top of the Pops 8
28th Chess.com Quick Knockouts (1201-1400)
Quick Knockout #10

Merry Christmas 2015

Good evening all.  I am knackered, which is nothing compared to what my wife must be feeling.  The kids had a great day, and presents from Father Christmas included a huge television.  My wife was happy as it has Netflixs, I am happy, as are the children as it is much bigger compared to before.  My mother has been staying over the last few days providing much needed baby sitting cover and has now left after my two brothers came to visit.  All in all, the end of a great day.  And over this long weekend, I will probably not need to go into work, which is a big difference to the previous years!

The less evidence there is that homeopathy works, the more effective it is.

It has been an interesting November for the health service in England.  This post is to deal with the Junior Doctors strike that has just been averted, the deficit and also nursing issues all of which are important.  If you get bored and do not want to read this, just scroll down to the pictures.

Jeremy Hunt has managed to convince Junior Doctors that they need to go on strike over the NHS contract in England that they are convinced is not safe for patients and not fair for doctors.  This is both with the issue of the removal of protection to stop doctors working too hard and payments for antisocial hours being cut (in addition to a redefinition of what antisocial hours are).  In addition to this, he had refused the offer of arbitration on these issues (though he did finally agree to this, as well as suspending his threat of imposition of the contract).

In addition to this, hospitals in England are running up huge deficits.  Part of this is due to the reduction in payments that they get for seeing patients, and part is due to the huge pressures that austerity is causing.  When councils have to cut social services, patients suffer, and if those patients are in hospital, they can not be discharged to an environment that is felt to be too unsafe (before anyone takes offence at this, the only place where someone is not at risk is in the afterlife).  Some have argued that this just shows how inefficient the NHS is, but they forget one big thing.  Circle, a private company had the contract to run Hinchingrooke hospital, and gave it back.  Although may may site the CQC reviews, other point out that it just was not profitable due to the huge pressures in A&E.

Now the government have stated that they want this to change, and in order to do this, more care is to be provided in the community, but a big problem in providing this is that GP surgeries are understaffed.  Loads have vacancies for partners to join them, much more than was the case in 2010.  Although the government has stated that they are going to change this, no sign of this has been noted.  More doctors are leaving salaried jobs in general practice as many are leaving partnership, basically as they are able to earn more money for less work elsewhere.

This issue with a shortage of doctors is not just seen in General Practice, but also in hospital specialities such as psychiatry and also in Emergency Medicine, the speciality that is thought to be the most affected by changes in the NHS contract in England.

And the NHS is not just facing a shortage of doctors.  Many hospitals do not have the nurses available that they need to provide a good standard of care.  So the government, in their wisdom, are to remove the bursaries that nursing students get.  The argument is that the courses are in huge demand and lots of people are turned down.  However this does not look at the issue that people are leaving nursing.  And why should they stay?  They have had pay rises frozen before and loads have left to become agency nurses rather than work harder for less pay in the NHS.   Worse, restrictions on pay both those that have been in place in the past for nurses within the NHS, but also the planned ones for agency staff run the risk of reducing the numbers from abroad that we need to fill the vacancies that are present.

Jeremy Hunt himself, in addition to telling everyone that Everything is Awesome, has endeared himself to NHS staff by taking his children to A&E as his GP was closed rather than contacting the out of hours service and lately, stating that mortality (i.e. death) rates are greater on weekends.  It is not.  (While you are more likely to die if admitted on a weekend, the day you are most likely to die on is a Wednesday.)

So, NHS staff have been leaving before 2010, but more have left since then, and while the Conservatives have said that they are going to give the NHS more money, they have stated that they have done so before, and yet the cuts, sorry, efficiency savings, continue...

I've just taken up speed reading. Last night I did war and peace in 20 seconds. I know it's only 3 words but it's a start!

Not much to say today, other than my children make me very proud.  It is not that just that they are amazing, but it is that they will try (unless tired) even when deep down, they are terrified.  But like all, or rather most parents (not my father for example) my kids make me glow with pride all the time as I am biased towards them.

In other news, I am getting excited over Star Wars and on Sky, there are two shows that the children and I are watching.  Star Wars Rebels and Lego Star Wars, Droid Tales.  I have been told by them that I am not allowed to watch it at midnight, but I am going to do my best to get them to let me.  I will try guilt as when a child, I was taken to watch the original film, then Return of the Jedi, missing out Empire Strikes Back, something as a child was devastating.  If I keep mentioning that...

And last of all, I have promised to start cycling.  I am hoping to do it before New Years as it was one of my aims.  But I have now bought a new bicycle pump which means that I have one less excuse!

Christianity: One woman's lie about having an affair that got seriously out of hand

 I have been very mean to the family in the last few days.  On Friday, due to various reasons, I got into a temper.  It meant that at work, I was not really in the mood to talk to anyone over the argument that happened at home.  The thing was that it was over a silly thing, but once I got into my mood, I just got worse and worse.  And while I may have possibly been justified in getting annoyed in the first place, there was not reason for me to stay annoyed and take it out on everyone, let alone leave the house in a foul mood that stayed until I returned.  Fortunately, my family are far nicer than I am and let me off.

And today, I swore a bit after hearing the Arsenal score.  I do my best not to know the score before watching Match of the Day, but I found out.  And to make matters worse, again, I was a moron and snapped at my amazing wife.  I owe her lots as she has been wonderful to me (as always) today.  Watching the game, it was great to see Arsenal score first, but injuries were not kind to us today (again) and the two goals to follow were painful to watch.  Still, I have stated that I did not think that we can maintain the challenge with the injuries that we have had.

The picture was taken today when I was in London on a course.  It was a bit cloudy on the way there, well it was raining and appeared that it was to be a miserable day but the course was great, one of those teaching was truly excellent and I learned a lot which I hope to put to good use.  Once out, so was the sun, not for as long as I would have liked, but as you can see, I felt is was a truly beautiful day.  The only downside was that I did not get to go to Borough Market for lunch, though the meal provided at Glaziers Hall, where the course was held was great.


And once again, good night.