So this Easter we had Allan and Bel up to stay with us and boy did we sup some of that there alcoholic beverage thingy:40 bottles of beer12 bottles of wine1 bottle of poo12 cans of ciderOh My liver pate anyone? This actually beats the record set by those well known alcofrolics The Folks in that there Ireland.We took a gentle stroll into York to enjoy the rather windy sites, as well as scoffing a hog roast sandwich each (ooo yummy), then the plan was to try a local Indian restaurant (Lorna’s favourite I think not), but it was a really nice meal in pleasant settings with excellent company.Sunday was spent watching the 3 inches of snow settle and Allan & Bel waiting behind a bush to pelt Craig (who with his spider sense realised this and didn’t come back until they got too cold), then learning the ground rules for Texas Holdem (big Blinds and all that stuff). Finishing off the evening with a nice 2.5Kg leg of lamb between 4 ravenous meat eaters.All told a really pleasant weekend with 2/3 of the Barty Crew and really nice to see them again, so come back soon.
Back to the grindhouse
We plan to celebrate this evening (and commiserate) since Craig managed to bag a really good job today. Starting on April 1st (yes it is a real job and not an April Fool’s joke, or we hope not anyway!) its back to stuff he knows lots about – taking the mickey out of everyone around, practical jokes, being argumentative – oops I meant to say software development. So, now all the practical aspects kick in – we need another car again for instance. Then there is the sharing out of the chores – and I thought I’d managed to avoid them!
But is the dream over, our escaping the rat race and seeing distant shores?? Well, not so much over as on hold until we rebuild the coffers a little. We’ve still lots of dreams and plenty of plans in place and we will make each one happen – of course a large windfall at this stage would assist with the plans (ps any rich distant rellies out there wanting an orphan to claim?). We did try to claim Craig was the original inspiration for Tin Tin or of course Jimmy Somervilles love child (and if you know who we are talking about it would take some leap of the imagination for that one) but unfortunately he lost his hair before we could get the claim to court – so lost out there!
But, back to the grind then, at least until October when we do the Folk Tour. And as to me – well, one month as Head of IT and I’m quite proud to share with you all that I have managed to lose the entire original support team – yup every one of them has resigned (hoo harr, I’m NASTY). So fun and games all around me at the moment.
Spike, the flabby lay-around is now on an enforced diet which might have been as easy to offer him a gastric band or something, lots of faff weighing out bits of food only to watch the cat devour it in seconds and wail for more.
And this week we mourn the last of the Pear Dare, supped earlier on by yours truly – delish!
So, to the weekend, a fab meal planned by sexy chef Craig, champagne to celebrate his new job offer and plenty of laying around doing nothing. Enjoy the weekend everyone. Next week for us workers its a shorter one!!
Doesn’t Time Fly
What a hectic last few months it’s as if Christmas was years ago (me so sad I love Christmas time).
Lorna (aka BossLady) has been working her little socks off whilst I get to play “howsebeetch”, you know general stuff; cleaning, cooking, ironing (all this and no man boobs either).
We were recently hit by a nasty flu bug (my first in 4 years), but now we are back up to full speed and enjoying the weather in cold, wet Yorkshire (oh Tyddyn we miss you so). Poor little Spikey has put on so much weight with not exercising and the vet reckons he has a dodgy ticker (amazing that she gleemed this info after listening to his heart beat fast whilst ramming a thermometer up his jacksy, think my heart would race a little too!!).
So what else is happening in “chez allan”, well Lorna is busy booking and arranging The Folks guided tour (we even added some little fun pictures to their page on the site) and we will add the best bits of video from the tour.
Me, well besides my chores, I have been chatting to a few companies about using my wealth of knowledge (shhh, stop laughing now) on Projects, so who knows we may even have to share the chores soon (Lorna even had to ask me where we kept the pots and pans the other day, shows how much time she spends in the kitchen).
At the end of this month the Barty’s, well 2/3 of them anyway (no little H) will be paying us a visit and I’m hoping to get the BBQ out for a bit of ritual animal burning.
Anyhoo, let us know what is happening with all you guys.
At least Dick Turpin Wore a Mask
Yes siree, dentists and the NHS approach really does blow!
So whilst we were in Wales, we managed to secure an NHS dentist, not fantastic but a quick check around your gob to make sure it was all ok (p.s people in Wales also get FREE prescriptions, paid for by the UK Tax Payer). Due to work we moved back to the North of England and then the fun begins, this government doesn’t want people to have bad teeth and wants them to look after themselves, right, no wrong.
We spent the best part of 2 months hunting high and low for an NHS dentist, with no luck what so ever, apparently you need to register on a website and then wait for a dentist to call you, if one feels like getting in touch and has any space. So the annual check-up came around and begrudgingly we paid for a private check-up, oh my god. It would appear that I have a gold mine situated behind my teeth, either that or the Bank of England. It costs £70 minimum for a checkup, thats £3.50 for each minute that some bloke waffles at you about the state of the NHS, blah, blah, blah. Then you need to have some woman show you how to brush your teeth at a cost of £38, thats £1.90 per minute. Then if you need a filling the prices start at around £50 per filling heading up to a dizzy £70 or £80.
You even get a lecture from the friendly dentist on how Switzerland has banned amalgum fillings now, sorry pal we aint in Switzerland. On top of all that one of the first things that is discussed is you taking out a “dental plan”, now you know it makes sense, “ah you fit in to Category B, so that’s £18 to cover you just in case you need some work doing”. I’m sure that it does make sense, it’s just the fact that in this country we should have to start taking out any kind of health plan, either provide an NHS service or don’t it shouldn’t be a mix and match.
It’s just daylight robbery, I mean “at least Dick Turpin Wore a mask”, come on there is no way to justify such costs.
Eventually we got a call, 7 months after registering with the NHS website thingy, to be told that we could join a dental practice, one that only sees patients on a Wednesday (bloody part-timers). So appointments made, off I pop. Now cast your mind back (is that even possible, hold on head I’m just gonna through my mind back to the good ole days) to dentists of yonder year, well that’s where I ended up. The dentist chair was like out of the 1970’s, a hospital metal frame with a little cloth on it and a foot pump to lift or lower the chair. The gentle laying backwards motion can only be described as being shunted from behind in your car, whilst the rinse and spit sink looked as though it had seen many pigs slaughtered in the local butcher shop. Hanging from the ceiling was the world’s oldest xray machine (the ones that look like a 1950’s B-movie laser cannon, painted in a battleship grey) alongside a 1 million candle light fitting. As for the scale and polish, having to insist that the dentist wash the scaling device after it has been dropped on the floor is never a good sign.
After all this £15.90 for a checkup and xrays, so why cost so much on private then? And now NHS are introducing a wonderful new rule, bear in mind it takes you months or sometimes even years to get a dentist, well they are going for “2 strikes and you’re out”, if you cancel an appointment with less than 24 hours notice then that counts as a strike, have two of those bad boys and you are kicked off their books, go figure. Apparently according to the hand crayoned poster on the wall “last month 25 patients did not attend their appointments, costing the dentist 9 hours worth of lost time” and costing the NHS millions, mmmm I think not, try getting rid of the over priced middle managers and save a fortune more like. Now you do the math:
9 hours is 540 minutes
540 minutes divided by 25 patients equals 21.6 mins per patient
Not one to quibble (yeh right), but my appointment was delayed by 15 minutes (even though I had arrived 10 minutes early) and I was with the dentist for less than 10 minutes, so who got my other 11.6 minutes.
So back to the original point, the government want people to be slim, healthy and with good teeth, yet, you can’t get a dentist for love nor money and when you do, you can’t miss any appointments or you get booted off the list and have to go private. So I ask you what good is the NHS anyway?