So Muralitharan has taken 800 test wickets, isn't it about time they stop testing him and let him play a real match?

Evening all.  Just to continue my countdown, eight days to go!



Got back from a day at work (could have been worse) to find my kids jumping up and down and full of energy.  Today, my daughter had a play date.  Two girls came round to play with her.  While here, their mother looked at my son, and his winning smile and commented "Poor girlfriend" after seeing it!

Anyway, time for that joke...


The good news: My cat went though an entire cycle of the washing machine and managed to survive unharmed.

The bad news: I lost a £10 bet on it.

My cooking is amazing. Even the smoke alarm cheers me on!

Evening all.  

Nine days to go!

Right, I have read my last post and realise just how I have not stated how grateful I am for the presents I got from my work.  Not only that, but Lorna at my work gave me a few more on Tuesday.  I got home with balloons that she had used on a bag full of presents for me!  It was really touching that many at my work do appreciate the effort I have put in and value it.  The partners at my work sort of appreciate my workrate, but they will really do so when I leave!  Yes, it does involve a pay cut to leave, but at least I will be working closer to home, and hopefully, in a much better working environment.

Anyway, back to the family.  Today we went to Walton.  That of course being Walton-on-the-Naze.  My wife has been there before, as have the kids, going there on a trip with my daughters pre-school.  And I have driven through there in the past.  But it has a great beach, as I found out today.  My daughter and son loved it.  My son was a bit wary about the sea, my daughter on the other hand, it was hard to keep her out of it.  Note to self, next time, take swimming trunks, as the shorts I wore there were soaked at the end of the trip!
Once again, I was put to making a sandcastle, which they loved jumping on and trying to destroy!

Anyway, all in all, a great day.

Most popular iPhone App of the month: Public Telephone Box Locator.

First of all, ten days to go!

I had a leaving do on Friday. It was a bit strange as I do not leave for another ten days. But the partners were all there, something that will not be the case in the next ten days as due to the summer holidays, they will be taking it in turns to be away. And it was nice. I am going to miss a lot of people there. Anyway, I am knackered. I hope someone likes and reads this joke!

I was chatting-up this young nurse when I asked, "Well, how do you like your eggs in the morning?"

"Unfertilised," she giggled.

Then she handed me the results of my sperm count.  

Lies and half truths about the NHS by the right in the USA

First of all, 15 days to go.

Second, the kids are well.  Driving my wife mad, but well.  Yesterday, she was tired, and they, sensing weakness, were full of energy.  So she took them to Go Bananas.  Which they loved.  Wednesday is normally my paper work day, but I had to go in and help out due to illness at work (others, not mine).  Which meant that I could not do the things with the kids that I would normally do to tire them out, such as take them for a walk to buy the Morning Star (while they get M&M's).  

Anyway, time to talk about why I am making this post.  As some of you know, I am active on Yahoo Answers.  I started to post there as I saw some outright lies, as well as half truths being told by members and supporters of the BNP.  Well one of the other things I noted, was the debate on healthcare in the USA.  I saw some terrible things being said about healthcare in the UK, and of course, working in the NHS, I could not let such things go without being challenged.

Well, now, there are a few posters who are regurgitating the same facts.  And to be fair, some are right, but loads are blatant distortions.  So this post is dedicated to pointing out the truth with these statements.




Question a doctor and lose your child - This article in the Times is one on child protection.  In the vast majority of cases, parents know better than doctors when it comes to their children.  I am a parent after all and we in the health professions respect that.  But there are cases there parents do not know.  And in cases, where a child is at risk of harm or abuse, then we as healthcare workers have to act in the best interests of the child.  The many cases where such actions help children is not reported in the news, but the very few stories where healthcare workers get it wrong, or where it makes good headlines do.

'Doctors told me it was against the rules to save my premature baby' - this article (in a paper known to have supported Hitler in the past) refers to a baby born at a gestation of 21 weeks and five days.  The youngest child to have survived was born at 21 weeks and six days, that being a very rare occurence.  Yes, there are guidelines by the UK that state that resuscitation should not be carried out on babies born before 22 weeks but the thing that makes it even more interesting, is that these posts made by Americans make no mention that in the USA, babies born before 23 weeks are considered non-viable!  

Daughter claims father wrongly placed on controversial NHS end of life scheme - This refers to a claim, not a fact and the Liverpool Care Pathway which it refers to is not controversial really.  Yes, like with all things, there are people who disagree with it, but then there are those who think that the earth is flat.  Is it controversial to say it is round, or that the sun is a ball of hydrogen within which nuclear fusion is taking place?  Some would say such statements are completely wrong!

NHS is paying millions to gag whistleblowers - I am not going to claim that some authorities do the best they can to hide things, but the NHS as a whole encourages people to speak up in order to help patient care.  Those from abroad forget that, or never bothered to listen when told otherwise.  Or never knew about it and did not find out more.


Patients forced to live in agony after NHS refuses to pay for painkilling injections - an interesting headline.  But if you look at the article, "A spokesman for NICE said its guidance did not recommend that injections were stopped for all patients, but only for those who had been in pain for less than a year, where the cause was not known."  Something that our American cousins seem to miss when they quote this on Yahoo! Answers.

People in the UK face longer waits for non-emergency surgery and struggle to see GPs out-of-hours compared with other western countries, a survey says -  again an interesting article, because in the comparisons, the US fails big time.  But the BBC link while it reports some of the findings in the Commonwealth Fund article, does not mention those that US posters fail to realise!  These of course refer to medical error rates and those who skip healthcare due to costs.  Click on the link above if you want more on that story!

Anyway, time for that joke...
In Norfolk, they are thinking of decreasing the VAT to 11%.







At least then they can work it out on their fingers.

A fascinating post

Today my son did his first wee in the toilet.

And I have 18 days to go!

A weekend with the family for a change

Today has been lovely. And yesterday was relaxing as well. And there are only nineteen days to go till I leave my job!

In case you are not in the UK, we have had a heatwave these past few days. And in order to let the kids make the most of this, we put out the paddling pools yesterday. One is fairly small and we stick a slide onto the side of it, which does make it unstable, but so far, they have yet to get it to fall over. So they climb up the ladder and slide down into the pool making a huge splash when they hit the water. We used it like this last week when we had friends round. And like last week, the other much bigger pool was used. Though not as full as it was last Sunday! During this time, which has been the first weekend (when we were not on holiday) in ages that I have not been working at least one day, my wife and I relaxed while doing a few things. She did a bit of gardening while I had to transfer all my contacts from my old mobile to my new one.

Come the end of the day, the kids were shattered, but we all relaxed. And then today we went to Mersea. Yesterday the kids had a pool, today the sea and loads of sand. I did refuse to make any castles but did take them on several trips to the water to fill up buckets for use on the beach where we sat and either watched them or the sea.

Anyway, they are in bed now. For those who are reading this from abroad, take care and I hope you like these posts.

Bristol Stool Chart

There is a chart that lists the types of poo you can do.

Just thought that I would post it for you all.



My wife just called me to say I don't spend enough time at home with the kids.

I said, "We've got kids?"