I've been trying to buy a train ticket online for over an hour now and I'm getting annoyed. It keeps asking me, 'Where do you want to go?' So I click on the icon that says 'Home' and then it makes me start again.

It has been a while since I have posted about the family.  Unfortunately, I have not taken them out for a bike ride in a while, not since the early part of last month.  They are hoping to go for a ride tomorrow, but we shall see.

We have had a birthday and that went well, in addition we have had a teachers evening at the school where I have seen that the kids are probably better with their ability to write interesting stories than I am!  They still like me telling them stories at night time, and I had better treasure that, for I doubt it will last.

It has been a bad month

It has been one of the worst months in my life.  

But I am lucky, I have a great wife and two amazing children.  I work in a job I love and they support me there.  And I have been lucky enough to have a mother who is an inspiration, and although many things can be said about my father, he loved me in his own way and taught me a lot of things, and taught me what not to be.

As this month has reminded me, the most precious things can be taken away from us and my heart truly goes out to those who have experienced such losses.

Scientists have estimated the brain has the capacity to store 4.7 billion books. Just not the one about my missing keys.

Today we went to see my mother who has had her knee operated on.  However, after a late breakfast, I went with my daughter for another ride on our bikes, and considering that I was wearing my Arsenal backpack, it turned out to be a possible nightmare.  The reason for this was the football team that was coming to town for the FA cup match.  Cycling towards the station, there was a huge line of traffic, but when we got near the station, the reason for this was made clear.  I remembered that Colchester were hosting the scum (or Spurs, or Tottenham for those who are not aware of my bias) when I saw loads of fans leaving the station in football tops and scarves.  And remembering that my backpack has the (old) Arsenal crest, I realised what a huge mistake I had made.  Most fans would have been fine, but with my daughter, I did not feel that it would be a good idea to risk it.  Which considering it was raining and was windy at the time was probably a very good idea.

Once warm at home and fed by my amazing wife, we went to London, first a trip to her parents house, and then to see my mother for the kids to see how she has been and more importantly, for her to see them.  One of my brothers has been amazing and has taken time off work to help look after her, and my other brother has taken his turn starting today.  It was good to see him as well, but I do feel guilty that I have not been able to help in the way that they have.  

The trip back was uneventful, though I did not get the chance to spend with a cousin who had come to visit my mother as we were leaving.  The kids were tired though and had relaxed by the time we had got home to watch the voice.  We all still think it is amazing, and it is great to hear the judges offer constructive comments to those that they do not pick, a big difference compared to the X-Factor.  Another good thing was that Arsenal won, though the errors that Laurent Koscielny made concerned me especially with the way he almost gave a penalty away in our defeat against Chelski as well as leaving Per Mertesacker exposed that resulted in an early red card.  A shame that Colchester lost, but few expected otherwise.  But we could only hope for the magic of the cup to strike around lunchtime...

The iPhone 5c Named after the hourly pay rate of its assemblers.

While the title of the post is a very old joke it was sitting in my draft section of posts to make for some time.

Since my last post, my mother has had an operation, a knee operation.  I was worried that the operation would not go ahead due to the issues that hospitals have had with discharging patients.  One of my brothers has kindly taken time off work to spend with my mother and if the operation was cancelled, that would have caused him and her issues.  So just for the record, I am very grateful to the NHS for operating on my mother as well as my brother for taking the time to look after her.  She has a bit of a time there, as she was anaemic after her operation, like what happened the last time she was operated on, but they have fixed that and she is now better.  I am hoping to see her today, something that has not been possible so far as I have been too busy working to see her.  The kids are looking forwards to seeing her, my son may be wearing his Arsenal top (we are playing Chelski later today) which my brothers bought him and my daughter will probably be wearing the heelies my mother bought her.

Before I was working yesterday, I got to take the children out for another bike ride.  My daughter has a mountain bike with gears that she is starting to learn how to use.  My son has a BMX bike though and while he is yet to get good enough to learn how to do various tricks and the like, I am sure he will want to.  Needless to say, while both love the bikes they have, both are envious of the abilities that their siblings bike has.  It is great for me as I have needed to exercise more for years and finally, I am getting to do this, and also I am getting to spend time with the kids.  However, this week I did not split up the kids, party due to the time that I had before I had to work, but also because they both wanted to ride together.  And they both did really well.  My daughter used her gears when the two of them were riding on grass (they wanted to ride down a hill as fast as they could) when she was going up a hill.  And the stamina of my son impressed me, he being able to ride up some hills that he was not able to do so before.  I can not help by glow with pride when I see how amazing that they are.  

So this morning, I have found out that my mother may be coming out of the hospital today.  Which means that I will miss out on watching the Arsenal match, but some things are more important than that!

Last of all, the song is from The Northernettes who were singers on the voice who did not make it.  Like so many on The Voice, they are great.  We all love The Voice and prefer it to the X Factor as it is so positive even to those who are not picked.  The entire family love this song and all we can do is wish these three girls the best, like so many others on The Voice who have entertained us and have such talent.  

According to the most current magazine in my doctor's waiting room, every home will have a television by 1962.

This will have to be a quick post as I need to get to bed.

My drive to get some degree of fitness was better today.  I went cycling with my son which meant that I was able to just pay him attention and spend some time together that he seemed to appreciate.   Being Beaver of the Week, he has a beaver he has to take out and about so we took it for a morning trip out and about. His bike is not as good as his sisters and in addition to that, being younger than her, is not as good with his bike as she is.  Which is why I decided to take them out at different times.  His route was more sedate while when I took his sister out, she pushed me more.  She has a mountain bike that is capable of more off road riding than my bike probably should do.  So today, she took me to Hilly Fields and had fun going down hills, but the problem with going down, is that there is an up to follow!  By the time I got back, I was knackered.

Lunch was late as we had a trip to friends who had been away for Christmas and celebrated it this weekend, and then we watched Arsenal draw at Stoke.  My son who is very proud of his Arsenal kit did not watch the match, while my daughter (who as noted does not have a kit) did.  It was great to meet up with our friends and their kids who get on well with ours as well as a relative that they have staying over for a few weeks.  Hopefully she was not too disturbed by watching us watch football! We were very greatful for the invitation, the company and the food (as well as the Arsenal match) in addition to the party games afterwards.  

Just a quick post

It was an interesting bike ride today.  The kids wanted to ride along the route that we have cycled on before, but I got them to try out a new route.  The only downside was that they got to cycle a bit too fast on some of the downhill bits.  And as noted on a trip to Porto in a time before children, after down must come up.  That bit was interesting.  While I would be able to cycle up the parts the kids could not, it would be unfair to do so.  And after one fall too many, we walked up a few slopes.  The downside was when my son almost cycled into a main road.  

Maybe I will listen to my wife next time and take them on the route that they usually go on.

Anyway, time for some music again as it is time for The Voice.  One singer, Femi Santiago was another of those who I rated but sadly, like so many, did not get to go as far as they could.

The first day of the Junior Doctors strike over a junior contract that is not safe for patients and not fair for doctors.

Sadly, I am in favour of the #NHS #JuniorDoctors #NotSafeNotFair #JuniorContract strike. I have worked under a system where the safeguards to protect working hours that Jeremy Hunt wants to remove didn't exist. Back then, that meant that the hospitals I worked in then ignored the advice on safe hours. I wouldn't want my loved ones to be treated by me during the times that I was so tired I fell asleep taking to a patient or couldn't remember how or why I had treated a patient a certain way come the consultant ward round in the morning.

The thing is that loads of doctors, this being GP's, consultants and junior doctors have already left the UK for more money for less work abroad. Two of my social media friends are there, along with the daughter of Conservative MP Sarah Wollaston, doing just that. The junior doctors do not want to strike, but like nurses and others in the NHS, market forces will drive many away if we do not value them. Being a doctor means not seeing your family as much as others and being in a profession with high rates of divorce, alcoholism and suicide.

These changes, like with the proposed changes to the #StudentNurses #NHSbursary will harm safe staffing in YOUR NHS. Personally if the NHS goes tits up, I will be better off. I have a job and GP's like me are increasingly harder to recruit which means I can always give up my job and work as a locum for less work, less stress and more money. But the changes that are proposed will harm most of you as you have no choice.

So remember today that these Junior Doctors are not striking for more pay, or even less hours but to stop hours being increased and pay being cut for those working the most antisocial hours. And they would rather have been working today to help people instead of being on strike.