Tuesday, 30 March 2010

Did The Thyroid Doctor Contact Me?

Did she heckaslike!  It's almost two weeks now since the doctor said 'she would sort it out herself' did she really mean by 'sorting it out' that she would just ignore it and hope it would go away? WRONG!!!  I don't 'go away' you see and after Easter, I will be back on the phone to her erstwhile secretary to ask what the blue blazes (polite version) is going on, and do I really have to take this higher?  I really don't want to have to do that as I don't think this doctor, out of all of them, needs a complaint making against her but if she persist in this non communication then I'm afraid she will.

It's highly likely that's she's been so busy she's forgotten, which is abysmal in it's own right but when you also consider this is the NHS are you really surpised?  I'd be surprised if you are.

Further updates as they happen ...

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A Very Small Thunderstorm?

Last night, about eight o'clock it started raining heavily, very heavily.  In fact we thought it was never going to stop.  It was so heavy we thought it was hailstones, but no, just rain, lots of it; oh, and wind too.  Then, for no apparent reason there is a huge bang ourtside the house accompanied by a very bright flash. This was at eye level, not absorbing the clouds, menacingly moving across the sky like a maurauding army as thunder and lightning usually does, it was most odd.  The thunder sounded like a mortar bomb it was that loud, a huge, cracking, ear splitting bang.  Yes it could have been a firework or a car backfiring, or even (Heaven forbid) a gun going off but, and here's the thing, there was no after effect like you'd get with a gun (no spent cartridge), firework (no casing or residue), and no car outside.

We concluded it was a single, solitary burst of lightning and thunder.  A thunder & lightning hybrid child having a singular tantrum because it's older siblings wouldn't come out and play.  In fact, it's just as odd as the thunderstorm we had in the snow in January here.  I have never seen a thunderstorm happen in the middle of a snowstorm but it happened, I think that January's thunder and lightning had given up waiting for the snow to turn into rain that it decided 'to hell with it' and just jumped right in there.

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The Husband is at it again ...

... No, not that!  This time he's been trying to mend our kitchen sink tap which drips and drips and then becomes a major stream.  All because the people who had this house before us were into 'Destroy It Yourself' in a major way.  What they did to the plumbing system under the sink mystifies even the most knowledgeable plumber, so it doesn't bode well for hubs - but, he tries, and you gotta love him for that. 

This time he announces at 10pm on Saturday evening last that 'it'll only take me an hour' to fix it!  If you've ever read any of my other blogs on the hubs' DIY (yes that does mean Destoy It Yourself) then you'll probably know what's coming.  For those who haven't read them here's what did happen: It took way more than an hour (which I said it would before he started, not to sound superior or anything like that, just going on past experiences), the air turned purple (we are way past blue at this point) as the tap refused to mend.  Hubs well and truly blows his stack, all angry eyes and hard looking face and then announces: 'And I've lost my favourite screwdriver.'  At which point I just lost it and burst out laughing, telling hubs he can't really be angry when he comes out with lines like that, and it made him laugh too.  Thing is it upsets doggie as he doesn't really know the difference between angry and just talking loudly so he thinks there's a storm a-brewin and he was wrong, all he hears is the tone of voice changing and fears the worst. 

It's so hard not to be angry back when hubs starts, but with little gems like the screwdriver going AWOL (and whom hubs has christened Matilda) it takes all the steam out of the argument.  Hubs had a brainwave in bed (apparently it does happen) that he would change the washers over in the hot and cold taps, and it would suffice till we get the plumber in to mend the damned thing once for all this week when hubs is threatening to have a holiday!  He did change the washers, went out and bought a new screwdriver - a big one!  He then announces that it is fixed, not with arms outstretched and head back sort of announcement you understand, just passing a comment.  We decided between us that we'd get a new tap altogether and we did, but it's not cheap this tap replacement lark - oh no, the one we have is a mixer tap and we've now moved away from having the conventional screw tap on each side in favour of taps which move up and down - far simpler (allegedly) as the cold tap is the side that's causing all the problems.  So we get the new one which as I said isn't cheap, it cost £114 + vat, and then there's the plumbers fee to consider.  All in all, we think a second mortgage might be in order but first, I feel I have to have a lie down in a darkened room ...

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And talking of Yogurts ...

Why are ALL the major brands these days (including my all time favourite brand -Ski) adding probiotic and/or the grossly sounding 'lactic cultures' to their yogurts? Is it REALLY necessary? Why - because everone else is doing it?

Whereas Ski for example, used to be a great flavour yogurt it now has this abominal stuff added to it with the result that I don't eat it anymore.  Whatever happened to having good old plain and simple yogurt without lactic cultures in them?  I detest these yogurts now, so I certainly won't be buying them anymore, I'll stick to the stores' 'own brand' until that too falls under the sinister cloak of 'probiotic.'  Just because every major chain have to add this stuff to their products doesn't mean they couldn't give the customer a choice.  I do not like being dictated to, especially by  yogurt makers over whether I have probiotic and/or lactic cultures in my foods.  It would be far easier to give the customer a choice and let THEM decide instead of doing it for them.

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Tuesday, 23 March 2010

Revolting Perle De Lait Yogurt/Dairy Dessert

If you've ever seen the advertisements on UK telly for Perle De Lait, you'll understand why I'm laughing at the thought of it.  They feature a woman eating what she describes as a horrible, bitter and sour tasting yogurt - complete with facial grimaces and scowls to match; then we see her eating a Perle De Lait and she is all smiles and telling us how 'lovely' this new yogurt is ... except it isn't, it is more like the first one she tried, bitter, sour and absolutely horrible.  It makes me laugh just thinking about it but honestly, imho, the only really nice thing I can say about Perle De Lait is the name, that and the packaging 'cos the adverts and the stuff itself are abysmal.

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I've now joined The Double Chin Club

And I'm not happy about it either; if it's possible for me to look any worse than usual this is it.

My late dad had one but no-on else in the family did so guess what? yep, muggins here is the one that kops for it.  I have a choice, live with it or go find a liposuction bod at £2000 a pop and get it sucked out, nice eh?  Makes me look real old and I'm not - that's the point.

Tried dieting, massage, excercises but nothing works.  It just sits there mocking me because it knows it can and there's not a damn thing I can do about it ... well not yet anyway.

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Monday, 22 March 2010

Thyroid Doctor Not Responding

So now it's nearly three weeks since I was unceremoniously 'discharged' by my thyroid doc.  After I get her letter explaining things, I sent an email in reply, telling her I was not happy being discharged as I've still not had the promised scan.  I am not being discharged until I've had one, I need to know what's going on inside.  I'm not convinced by her just looking at my neck or her comments that 'your thyroid has shrunk nicely' - it may well have done but are the nodules still there? if not, why am I still feeling all the things I had there BEFORE I had the Radioactive Iodine?  I want to go back and see her and that's what I said.  This was on 8th March but I was then informed by the secretary that the doctor was on holiday again and would be back on 15th March.  I waited a few days after this to give her time to get back in and when nothing had happened by Thursday 18th March I called again.  This time the secretary told me the doctor had my email and was 'dealing with it herself' and guess what, it's now Monday 22nd march and still nothing.  Bet she forgets.  But I've told the secretary that I'll call again in another two weeks if I don't hear anything and failing that, I'll have to get my GP to send me back to her and start the useless messing about in the merry go round system.  Apparently now, the hospital I go to has introduced a triage system of appointments - ever heard such rubbish?  It goes on though.  Now, you get an appopintment but in sinsister overtones further down the letter it says that the appointment date is merely a pending appointment which means it has to be passed by a triage assessment and if they think you are 'seriously ill' enough to see a doctor then you'll see one, otherwise you are, I hate this saying, 'released back to the care of your own GP.'  Now, considering the GP is the one referring you to the hospital, what's the point?  The point is, they mess around with your health, they pass the buck, by the time you've fought through the system you could be dead (which, secretly I think that's what they want - one more name ticked off the list then).  Imagine how much luck I'm going to have getting back in to see my thyropid doc as I've been 'discharged.'  Why do these idiots in the administration think this is a good way of saving money, it probably is to them, but they alwyas foregt they are there to serve the patients, not the other way round.  All this nonsense comes at the expense of the patients well-being.  The last thing I need right now is to go fight this lot to get to see my thyroid doc again, despite her assertions to the contraty that it's easy to come back - oh yeah? - you try it.

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Sorry BBC but it's still a huge Boo with added Hiss here and there

How can you have the nerve to show, wait for it, Special Highlights from the Paralymic Games? Parading your 'commentary' before us claiming 54 medals have been contested over the last 9 days.  yeah, WE KNOW.  One question: BBC where were you???

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Sunday, 21 March 2010

No More Dancing on Adverts, sorry, Ice, for me

What is it with the present run of Dancing on Ice?  Is it necessary to have one skating couple's performance, their scores and judges comments immediately followed by an advert break? - hey, anything to drag out this spectacle for a whole hour.

They should rename this show: Dancing on Adverts and/or Pantomime Audience Screaming as that's all we get, as well as the rather daft studio manager encouraging the even dafter  (and therefore gullible) audience to boo the judges if they say something the audience don't like and to cheer and scream madly when the judges say something the  audience agrees with.  No doubt these moronic studio mangers must be no older than 10 years old as all this screaming and booing, especially when poor Jason Gardiner is trying to comment is so rude. 

I'm tearing up my DOI Loyalty Card because of it now, and will watch something else from now on; it's too much hassle.  The audience have no manners and neither do the childish studio managers who obviously think it makes for great viewing - NEWSFLASH MORONS - IT DOESN'T.

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The present Husband, Mr Malaprop!

Hubs just came out with a corker.  I'm channel surfing to see what's on tonight (BBC wall to wall sport) other channels not much but I came across a channel with a film called: Caramel.  Hubs pipes up: 'isn't that an opera?'

'No dear' I reply slowly, 'that would be Carmen' - SIGH!

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Not voting Tory? then expect Labour to be re-elected!

Not that I have much truck with the Tories under Cameron (their last, greatest leader was Mrs Thatcher imho - can just see her putting up with uncontrolled immigration and bending over backwards for the EU - NOT) but if those misguided, sniffy idiots amongst us who smugly claim 'No vote from me Dave, I'm voting Independence' because they take umbrage at one yes one, teeny tiny argument in the manifesto think they'll get an independent party elected they are sadly mistaken but then they are literally too stupid to realise that.  In reality, much as we'd love to have UKIP elected and therefore get us OUT of the EU, we are stuck with Dave and his Tory party.  If we don't vote in our millions for the Tories then we can expect another five years of Labour and that will include five MORE years of uncontrolled immigration, jobs and factories closing, British workers passed over in favour of foreign nationals, illegal immigrants living in YOUR back gardens, ineffective policing, council snoopers being given the green light to come into YOUR home when THEY like to 're-evaluate your council tax' - seems under labour, we have NO rights to privacy at all, we are sleepwalking into a Stasi state but hey, those idiots amongst us will blindly carry on voting for anyone but Tory and then will be bleating that 'they can't understand how Labour got in again' - well here's why I'm spelling it out for you, vote independence and see what you land us with.  I cannot believe we are such a nation of idiots.

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Why has the 'Cadbury's' Creme Egg taste gone from great to horrible?

You really can't answer that?  Well, it's because of cheaper products creeping in to the mix - literally.  Don't know what they've done to them but the Creme Egg is a complete no-no for me now and I used to love them.  The last few I've had taste diabolical, like there is something 'off' in the mix.  They do not taste like they used to; they were delicious.  Coincidence that Kraft have just taken them over?  No, not really, us Cadbury eaters were warning furiously that this would happen and sadly the Creme Egg is just the first casualty, wait till they shift everything to Poland and then see how bad and uneatable the whole 'Cadbury' range becomes, sadly the Creme Egg debacle has just started the rot ...

You were warned not to mess with the formula Kraft!

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Saturday, 20 March 2010

VGA Card 'Buzzing'

Working on the computer is now getting to be a problem.  The VGA Card inside the box is buzzing so loud it gives me a headache.  Apparently the fan and it's ball bearings are failing and we have to have a new one!  Oh Joy!  Firstly it was thought that it was the main fan failing so hubs goes out (in a nark) to get one, throwing his toys out of his pram left, right and centre.  Every little thing that goes wrong he HAS to make a crisis out of it, it gets wearing on the nerves y'know.  It's got so bad now that I've only got one nerve left - AND HE KEEPS GETTING ON IT!!!!!!  Turns out, after all the gnashing of teeth and the tantrums that it wasn't the main fan but the VGA card (and fan) so that just made things worse.   This racket is so bad it sounds like there is a wasp or six hundred thousand in there!!!

One day I'll live a quiet, peaceful, untroubled life - but it's not here yet.

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Trespass in not a criminal offence ... in Peterborough, Cambs, UK

Pity the poor people of Peterborough in Cambridgeshire, UK. 

In one of our Saturday papers it is reported that illegal immigrants have descended on a part of the county and moved in ... to resident's garden sheds and gardens! They have all pitched up in one area with their filthy mattresses, toilet material (polite version), drug paraphernalia, syringes etc - all within areas of quiet, peaceful, respectful domesticity. The response from the local council and police is pathetically unsurprising. The council say they can't do anything to help the residents but they will be down en masse to make sure the illegal immigrants have everything they need! Excuse me?? What about the rights of the householder? Why should they carry on paying their council tax when you blatantly will not help them? The police there are apparently no better; as trespass (which is what the illegal immigrants are doing) is no longer a criminal offence they can’t shift them. Again, what are the residents of Peterborough paying their taxes for? One poor chap has an illegal immigrant living in his coal shed! You could not make it up could you, only in this festering sore of a country would this happen and no-one in authority seems to have the will, the courage, or the backbone to do their duty. Regrettably, if the householder moves the II's on by using 'reasonable force' you can guarantee who would be prosecuted, yep the householder. So, do I understand this correctly - anyone from anywhere in the world can come and invade your garden, your shed (and probably very soon your house, turfing you out in the process - watch and see) because if these illegal immigrants and anyone else who fancies the look of your house can now move into or onto your land and not be prosecuted? Really, well how about getting a caravan and moving onto someone's drive? It will happen - because the people who are responsible for doling out law and order and civil justice in this country let it happen. Bet though, that if these illegal immigrants pitched up at Westminster or in say Mr Brown’s constituency and lived in their sheds and gardens the police would soon shift them then. So the question remains: When is trespass a criminal offence? Answer: when it happens to the present incumbent government and/or any of their representatives. Question: When is trespass not a criminal offence? Answer: When it happens to the ordinary law abiding, tax paying, indigenous population, who just ‘have to lump it.’  Apparently the only way the residents can get rid of these gangs is to take legal action themselves, great to see democracy in action isn’t it?

A very sad but not surprising indictment of life in Britain under 'New' Labour. You see, while this problem blights the hardworking people of this country, it is totally ignored by the government. The region's MP has even been trying to get something done and is just as appalled as I am at the state of things in the part of Peterborough that is affected.

Of course, all these problems are a direct result of that failed immigration policy of new labour. In other countries in the EU they don’t have this problem, because their governments stand firm to uphold their country’s nationally and will not allow it to be eroded by hordes from every given country on the planet, but Britain, well see, that’s a whole other story, our government does not want Britain to exist as it was. They blame the EU for all these rules and regulations which we can’t, for some reason, ignore. Most other countries in the EU don’t behave like a whipped pup when the EU demands something, but Britain does. So, it’s about time Mr Brown that we left the EU. Switzerland does very nicely out being a non-member, betcha they don’t have illegal immigrants taking over their back gardens and sheds, no, because their police wouldn’t stand for that. And while we’re on the subject, the reason illegal immigrants flock here is for the benefits (which they have no right to because they, unlike the indigenous British people, have never paid a penny in contributions so they should not get a penny) but say this in public (ahem) and wait for the inevitable cries of racist to come screaming out of the wood work. Those who scream racist are morons (whose lack of decency and common sense has deserted them) so now that we have the name calling out of the way, can we deal with the reality of the situation? We must take all of the indigenous British people who are unemployed, sick and/or disabled so we can give that money to any illegal immigrant who wants it. Shouldn’t the term illegal immigrant give these morons a clue? Illegal means they should NOT be here, so send them back where they came from and if there are no papers on them, simply pick a country and send them back there. You can bet they’ll soon remember where they came from if you say you’re sending them back to a place that is worse than here, but believe me that list is getting smaller all the time. Australia and Canada are not over-run with illegal immigrants because they are tough on them, not spineless like the British Authorities, and it doesn’t matter how many times you write to your MP, the Prime Minister or how many petitions you sign and send, the government will not listen, so although over 90% of the population of this country want illegal immigration stopped and the country put back to how it was before this New Labour lot wrecked everything, it’s only that 10% who matter, those who actively support this crowd. Those of us who remember back to the times before our country was wrecked by New Labour pine for the loss of our once beautiful country, we pine because it will take generations to go back to before the blight of New Labour set in and it will take a tough, harsh government to do it. Unfortunately we do not have the statesmen that we once had, the old guard who would take the decisions necessary. No, all we have now are politicians who don’t look like they’re old enough to be out on their own. Those who have never worked in industry or held any sort of life outside of Westminster; they are a waste of time, and sadly that is what our future governments will be made up of, so don’t go holding out for a change in this country for a long, long time, if ever. If you have the money emigrate, I would if I had the chance.

There is allegedly a general election coming up (but Brown is delaying the naming of the date, probably to wrong foot the opposition, great to see democracy in action eh?) and whereas in the past the British people would get rid of this, the worst government we have ever, ever had bar none, this time round they have become so spineless now that they'll happily vote Brown in again for 5 more years of the same. They won't vote Tory because they don't like them, I have to agree that Mr Cameron is style over substance and had the party faithful elected David Davis instead of Cameron they would be elected by a landslide; what a shame.

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Friday, 19 March 2010

Boo to the BBC & their Licence Fee and Hurrah for British Eurosport

Following on from my last blog, it appears that British Eurosport are now covering a tiny bit of the Paralympic Winter Games, 20:45 till 22:00ish most nights.  That is a live feed with catch ups here and there throughout the programme.  It's NOT ideal by a long way but at least it's a little glimpse of an otherwise ignored sport by the BBC, they should be ashamed as I said in my last blog, but where there's no shame there's generally no feeling either! 

They should remember, but they don't seem to have long memories (or memories at all for that matter) that while we still have to stump up for this ridiculous TV licence (telly tax) they impose upon us (and which should be scrapped and the BBC made to fight their way onto the airwaves like every other station has to, but that's my opinion) disabled people are among those who pay what amounts to a fine to watch the telly, cos if you don't pay you can end up with a criminal record - how stupid is that?  Liccences are provided for practical things like being a motorist or a fisherman/woman amongst other things,  it should NOT be for watching sodding TV.  The BBC has become way too big now with it's bloated and self indulgent programming tv channels and radio.  We also have to subscribe to satellite TV to watch the independent channels AS WELL AS all of the BBC channels; so we pay twice! Great to see democracy in action, wouldn't you agree?  Whoever gave this telly tax the green light years ago was sadly misguided as they created a very greedy and unsustainable monster.  There is NO respite from this tax to watch telly; none at all.  Their very dark and rather sinister 'adverts' warn the populace that 'we know where you live.'  then they cut to a TV Detector van which roams the streets of britain checking that people have bought their licences and if they haven't well, then it's knock knock on the front door time (if this was a movie you'd laugh yourself silly at that but it's deadly serious).  I despair of this country of ours sometimes, really I do.

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Monday, 15 March 2010

Paralympic Winter Games 2010 started yesterday - WHY NO TV COVERAGE?

Is it because disabled athletes don't count as far as TV Companies are concerned?  Isn't this pure discrimination?  Even the politically correct-to within-an-inch-of-it's-life BBC are not bothering to cover it.  I am absolutely disgusted at the lack of coverage.  Disabled athletes win more medals for their country on average than their able bodied counterparts.  The TV Companies should be ashamed, but then, they probably don't even know the meaning of the word.

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Scouse Passports and farewell to Peter Graves - Star of Mission: Impossible

Watched a telly programme here last night called: 'Come Dine With Me' - now for all UK residents we know what this is but for the benefit of anyone reading this from overseas (I know, I should be so lucky ... there's a song in there somewhere but that would take this entry into a whiole new direction).  The programme consists of 4 (or 5 people depending on which version they're doing) who have never met each other before cooking each other dinner on 4 (or 5) consecutive nights, and marking each other accordingly out of 10 for their efforts.  The winner of the £1000 cash prize is the person who gets the highest score.  The programme goes all around the UK and for each set of 4 (or 5) people will concentrate on one area of the country.  The latest programme kicked off last night with the usual 'Celebrity' version which saw fellow scousers Comedian Tom O' Connor, Actress Clare Sweeney, and non-scousers Kim Woodburn and Actor Darren Day.  Their £1000 cash prize is donated to the winner's charity.  This is, I think, the fourth or fifth version of the 'Celebrity' compettion and it was by far the funniest, absolutely hilarious.  Tom O' Connor won, and at the end of his night he produced 'Scouse Passports' which he gave as gifts to the rest of the diners.  In it are phrases which aim to get you speaking like a scouser.  One of the phrases is: 'De Do Dat Do Don't De?' and if you say it fast enough you'll sound a bit like a scouser (a quick translation of the line is: 'They Do That Though, Don't They?')

I'm online right now looking for some of these as being a scouser myself and wanting to have this little gem (I had no idea they were available) as being an ex-pat scouser I am so far away from Liverpool down here that I can't even get the wonderful radio stations of Radio City and/or BBC Radio Merseyside.  I can listen to the BBC station online of course, but not the independent Radio City, which is great and has been going since I was a kid.

Farewell to the wonderful Peter Graves.
Woke up to some very sad news this morning, turning on the news to be told that Peter Graves (Jim Phelps) of Mission: Impossible has died at the age of 83.  According to reports he collapsed and died of a heart attack as he was approaching his front door with his family.  I am saddened at his passing but also feeling for his family who were with him after they had all been out for a family brunch.  Family attempts at CPR (can you imagine how distressing that was for them, it is unimagniable and I am very very sorry for the loss) were unsuccessful; they must all be so distraught.  I will keep them in my thoughts and prayers; a very very sad loss.

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Tuesday, 2 March 2010

Andre Rieu anyone?

Should have writtent this a while ago but being 'clinically hypothyroid' just haven't had the energy. 

First came across Andre Rieu at the Royal Variety Show last year when he and his orchestra (the Johann Stuass orchestra) played for the Queen and it was wonderful.  Not only was he greeted with gasps of amazement as the curtain drew back but with appreciative applause the minute he began playing, it was wonderful.  In amongst all the wailing wannabees of the pop world and the acrobatic endeavours of the gymnastic acts and the hilarious routines of the comics came this little piece of TV nirvana.  A full orchestra with ladies in period dresses and men in suits from the same era, all guided by this amazing man, this violinist with shoulder length hair and a gleam in his eye.  In England, we, like the seemingly backward lot that we are sometimes, have never heard of Andre Rieu, or to give him his full title: Andre Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra, the Waltz King of Europe.  This man is in his 60's and tours constantly!  (he has a fleet of tour buses and 2 planes; well you try ferrying a full orchestra, their instruments, costumes and make up etc without all that) and his concerts sell out faster than anyone else's.  After listening to him I too am a fan, and I'm not really surprised that his tickets sell out within minutes of going on sale.  He brings a lightness and humour to the music, it is not stiff and staid and all stiff upper lip nonsense.  No, it's fun, it's really uplifting and it's happy.  Andre says he likes to make people smile and be as happy as he is.  Not only do this wonderful ensemble play classical music, waltzes etc, they play modern tunes, show tunes and tunes from the movies, it is a joy to listen to.  I have a few of his CD's and DVD's and I'm hoping to get more as money allows but if you need to be uplifted, or just want to listen to some real music played with love and attention to detail then you really should listen to Andre Rieu, go and watch a DVD or try and get a ticket to a show.  People are encouraged to dance at the concerts and it's such a wonderful sight to see as there is no age barrier everyone is welcome and all are encouraged to dance.  Not this moronic stuff the kids do these days, this is proper dancing where people dance 'in hold' unless Andre is playing Zorba the Greek and then it's every man and woman for themselves!

I'm so glad I was watching the Royal Variety last year or I would have missed this amazing act, where people were walting in the aisles and I can honestly say I have never seen that at the Royal Variety Show! in all the years it been going, so had I missed that I would have been like the rest of us, and remained ignorant of this amazing man and his orchestra.  Incidentally a BBC text programmer for the Ceefax pages proudly exlaimed that 'An unkown Dutch composer was No 1 in the album charts with his new CD Forever Vienna.'  A few hours later I was happy to see it had been changed to Andre Rieu is No 1 in the album charts etc; even at the BBC he had not been heard of by this particular programmer but thankfully someone else had heard of him and corrected the mistake.

If you'd like to know more about Andre Rieu (his name is pronounced Ondrey Reeyou, visit his site at http://www.andrerieu.com/ and enjoy (I know you will).

© silversapphire 2010
All rights reserved. No part of the publications, or of this website may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any means without the express prior written permission of the Author

RIP Kristian Digby

Such a complete shock today to hear of the very sudden death of Presenter/Director Kristian Digby.  He was only 32 and a very likeable young man.  I never knew him and never met him but he always came across as a warm, funny and genuine guy.  He will always for me anyway, be associated with 'To Buy Or Not To Buy' with the equally talented and funny Dominic Littlewood. 

I had only recently been watching Kristian on 'Living In The Sun' and thinking what a nice change it was to have him on the programme instead of the female presenter they used to have; her voice sounded like nails down a blackboard, so it was great to have a fun take on the show.  My condolences go out to his family, friends and colleagues.  What an utter shock, what a sad, sad loss.

© silversapphire 2010
All rights reserved. No part of the publications, or of this website may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any means without the express prior written permission of the Author

The Continuing Saga of The Underactive Thyroid

And we have yet another chapter in the life of my underactive thyroid:  Mrs Hypothyoidism aka Mrs Myxoedema. 

Now I'm told my results are TSH 3.8 (still high) and the T4 up at 23 (should be no higher than 19, 11 or 26 depending on whose scale you use! the scale they use here is 19).  Confusing? yes isn't it?  What a palaver. 

Went to the hospital today expecting to have an ultrasound of the neck as this is what the doctor had told me I was getting, but she looked blankly back  at me when I said I was having that done.  I go trolling off to the ultrasound department to check and they also have the blank look lurgy thing going on.  So come home and ring in to be told that if the doctor had thought it necessary she would have done it in the consult as she has one of these little ultrasound things in the consulting room.  If I hadn't been told about it, I wouldn't have expected to have had it, what a complete nonsense eh?  Now I'm discharged!  How can I be discharged when they haven't even checked to see if the nodules are gone, what about follow ups???  I have no choice but to wait for the 'after consult letter' to come out and see what it says, in the meantime they would like me to stay on 100mcg but my heart is racing away so they will agree to drop it to 75mcg.  Problem here is as my thyroxine maker doesn't supply a tablet in this dosage, they do 25, 50 or 100 only.  So I'll have to end up having one 50mcg tablet and one 25mcg tablet for the next 8 weeks when I'm to have another blood test (which I will have done at the hospital next time as the practice nurse at my GP's surgery has bruised my veins badly this time and the arm is very sore almost a week later) this will show where I am with the hormones.  If it wasn't for the racing heartbeat 100mcg is where they would like me to be but other people I speak to in the health service agree 100mcg is quite a high dose.  My consultant tells me that some women like to stay on a high dose as it gives them more energy.  Good for them I say because they probably don't know about the damage that too much T4 does to the body, things like bone density reducing (not good for me if it happens because of my spine issues) heart damage and a raft of other things I won't bore you with.  If the 75mcg does work I'd be happy but I have my doubts as my last results of TSH at 51 and T4 at 15 when I was taking 50mcg compared with TSH at 3.8 and T4 at 23 on 100mcg is worrying.  3.8 is still high and has been linked with cholesterol problems which I really don't need because there is a history of heart problems and stroke in my family so it's something that should be alerting the medics here but isn't.

I really thought I had found a decent service in the hospital with this thyroid doctor but it seems they are just like every other department.  I asked about having the T3 levels checked at the next bloodtest because not everyone can convert the T4 into T3 which is the important hormone.  I was told I can have it done but it's not usually done as, wait for it, yes that's right - IT COSTS TOO MUCH.  Sad that we have to put a price on health eh?  perhaps if our NHS became just that, the NATIONAL Health Service and stopped trying to treat the whole world for free we would get better results, that and if the government stopped messing about with it!  We are not the IHS (that's International Health Service) but doctors won't be immigration officials and who can blame them.

© silversapphire 2010
All rights reserved. No part of the publications, or of this website may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any means without the express prior written permission of the Author

O Canada

O Canada!  How glorious to see the beauty of the west coast in all it's wintry spelndour for the Winter Olympic Games 2010 in Vancouver, BC.  Amazing scenery and amazing people.  Vancouver(ians) embracing the world as if they were members of their long lost extended family, cheering wildly as races were run and concluded with the cheers being just that bit louder for the home team.  Well done to the Canadian Mens Ice Hockey Team for their narrow win over the US in the ice hockey final.  As men's ice hockey is something of a religion out there I can well imagine the huge sense of disappointment if they had lost.  See, being British, we KNOW what disappointment is like - believe me!   Here, we are praising our one, yes that's right our ONE gold medal which is all we have won in 30 years and we are PRAISING that?  I think it's a disgrace that we are so far behind the rest of the world, winter sports wise, that this is the best we can hope for.  Ah well, lets look forward to our next gold medal in the winter olympics of 2040 in whatever host nation there is left on Earth then.  Back to the ice hockey for the briefest of minutes, it is a shame that anyone has to lose but personally I prefer silver to gold, whether that would apply to a medal I will, thankfully, never know as being slightly 'over the hill' now I am way too old for all that throwing myself off a mountain on a pair of flimsy looking sticks to land, not on my butt, but on my feet.  Although I think I would probably end of up on the former.

Digressing slightly, came across something on one of the sports channels here which was showing coverage of the Winter X Games from Aspen, Colorado.  Know what I saw? go on guess? no go on - you'll never get it ... snowmobile aerobatics!!!  Had to look twice as guys were throwing these huge behemoth machines off of ramps and completing very difficult acrobatics off the back of them, looping the loop and all.  Mad, totally bonkers, but hey each to their own.  Looked really good though, has to be said, just glad I'm not doing it .. or know someone who is as I'd be watching from behnid the sofa through closed fingers.

Anyways, if I had the money I would be offski to the beauty of British Columbia.  My mother's brother and her sister emigrated to Canada before I was born, and they were trying to encourage my mother to go as well but there was some problem over the £10 passage fee, and so she stayed in Britain, which used to be called Great Britain until 1997 and the 'New Labour' lot took over and reduced it to what it is today; a ramshackle, stumbling, morose and broken excuse for a country.  So, imagine if you want to emigrate now; you are not wanted unless you can provide an essential service.  Dare to be sick or disabled and you can stay in your own country and fester away there thank you very much - we don't want you!!!  I was therefore, a bit miffed at the rousing anthems sung at the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics by good old 'Mickey Bubbles' (that's Michael Buble's affectionate name by the way, apparently his fans call him that), singing away he was about how Britain colonised Canada in the stirring 'Maple Leaf Forever' but try and go over now without huge sums of money to invest in a Canadian business, or in other words, buy your way in, you can forget about coming here.  So so different to the way 'immigration' is handled in the UK.  If only my mother had gone, I would either not be born (depending on whether she had married my dad and he had gone too), or I would be Canadian. 

I long for wide open spaces, the colder the better.  I yearn to be in a place of inspiration.  Looking out into the mountains draped lovingly by the clouds to keep them warm on the colder days.  Where frost is sprinkled finely on the ground, making that pleasing crunching sound underfoot and the incredibly beautiful snow, shedloads of it as far as the eye can see, glistening brightly under the pale yellow gold of the sun in the daytime, and glowing softly, almost lazily, under the night skies with the ethereal milky white of the winter moon shining her magnificence across the frozen land; bliss, utter bliss.  So I keep playing the lottery in hopes of fulfilling my dreams, but it's a very long shot, a very very long shot indeed.

And finally a note about the early tragedy that befell the games before they had even started.  I'm talking about the very sad loss of the young luger from Georgia, Nodar Kumartashvilli in that awful training accident which claimed his life on the eve of the games.  Such is the dedication and spirit of every man and woman there that the games continued as the young man probably would have wanted.  Fitting tributes were paid as they should have been but it was a sad time and we must not forget that.  A life lost at such a young age is tragic and as this young man died doing what he loved at least there is a tiny modicom of comfort (if that is the right word to use here), but I know that there is no wish dearer than that of wanting the loved one home again.  Our hearts and prayers go out to the family of this young man, his family, friends and colleagues.

© silversapphire 2010
All rights reserved. No part of the publications, or of this website may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any means without the express prior written permission of the Author