My great big softie border collie, my own overgrown teddybear ... with teeth!!!

What would the world be like without our beloved dogs in it?  Well, cat owners would be rejoicing for one thing, but that's another matter.  Yes, my own wonderful woofer, my darling collie is now 9.5 years old and he still behaves like a 2 year old.  It's a border collie thing isn't it? they never do grow old, not as long as there's something to herd - like an itinerant husband wandering round the garden watering his sweetcorn (I kid you not) said sweetcorn plants are taking on gargantuan properties as I write; think day of the triffids and you'll get the picture.  I can hear their leaves rustling malevolently in the wind from here.

Anyway, back to my lovely boy, he plays with his toys in the garden, just like dogs do but when we first had him (he's a rescue dog) he didn't know how to play - imagine that?  He's more than made up for it since with his antics, he has this really old plastic blue bone that he idolises (it's a border collie thing apparently) he throws it in the air, waits for it to fall and then pounces on one end so the other end sticks up which he then bites for a bit and then lets it fall, play bows to it while watching closely (the intensity of the stare is enough to frighten it into submission) for any sign of movement, like a sudden break for freedom, and then pounces on it again followed by lots of running up and down the garden, criss-crossing in figures of eight, followed by a perimiter check and lots of play growling and then he stops for a quick slurp of water (if the birds haven't been using his outside dish for a quick dip) before discarding the bone in favour of a squeaky ball that's just popped into view.  He chews on that so hard that you'd think he'd break it but it still comes back for more (this is the last one with a still working squeak it has to be said, he has desqueaked the rest).  This time it's the ball that's thrown up, caught sometimes, but mainly left to rest for a second, no more, between his front paws as he play bows to it and then snatches it up before running away with it squeaking it for all it's worth. He's such a wonderful boy and needless to say I love him to bits, he is a total joy to have in my life I can tell you. 

He'll sort those pesky sweetcorn plants out, no worries, unless they fall over then he'll run like hell.  He's not stupid, he's a border collie! "You look after yourself mum" he'd say, if he could talk, which he can't but oh boy, if he could ...

© silversapphire 2009

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

Alternating Days of Summer followed by Winter followed by Summer etc...

What is it with this country and it's weather?  I hail from the north west of England and for my sins have ended up in the south east of England.  Whereas in my youth we would be subjected to steady, dependable days of winter, spring, summer and autumn all roughly three months in duration, I have now found myself in the most barmy (note that I said barmy, not balmy) of weather systems in one part of the  Garden Of England ... the county of Kent!  (Although, the way it's going down here it should be renamed the Motorway of England ...but, I digress) ... last year we had a normal summer: wall to wall rain with a few nice days of heat thrown in for good measure.  At which point Kent was overwhelmed by the sound of barbecues being dragged out and fired up to accompany the raucous and forever beating throb and thrum of 'live music' from one of our local hostelries.  A few wasps made a half hearted appearance, a small unit of worker bees lazily looked up from the flower they were on, decided it wasn't worth the effort, and then went back to what they were doing. 

This year though, was promised, by every weather person to be a barbecue summer!  Well, to be fair, it has, but this year we have had heat, heat and more heat with a few days of cold weather thrown in which plays havoc with the sinuses I'm sure you'll agree.  Humidity is the killer though, it's so hard to breathe, imagine please, trying to breathe underwater with no diving gear on and you'll see what I mean.  So, to all the heat huggers out there, be grateful you can hug the heat to your heart's content.  I used to be like that, then I got older and so did my innards and they have decided over the last few years they don't like the heat and humidity and it's horrible, no really it is.  Which brings me back to where I came in ... today is Wednesday 9th September 2009, it is officially a gloomy, cold miserable old git of a day here in my part of Kent, a miserly 20 degrees.  Yesterday, it was 28 degrees and boiling hot!  Where is the logic in that, where are my steady, dependable days of seasons (and their resulting temperatures) being in the right order?

Whoever thought it was funny to turn winter on now, at the beginning of September, please turn it off again, we're not ready just yet thanks.

© silversapphire 2009

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

NHS Choose & Book - anyone had any luck?

I thought this Choose and Book thingy would be easy, and it is widely known (at least in the upper echelons of the NHS) that it is meant to save me, the patient, time by letting me choose and book an appointment with relevant consultant at a time and date convenient for me; it's also meant to be easy to use etc etc.

This would all be fine ... if it did work! Each time I've used it it has proved time consuming and obstructive to the point I ask myself:"Why bother? lets just go down the GP and get referred the old way" Simple, you'd think yes? NO! because good old GP uses C&B ... and the whole sorry cycle starts again. I think this is a ruse conjured up by the NHS to lose people in their antiquated and sometimes hopeless systems.

Take, if you will, my latest experience. Beginning August this year I see GP and ask for a referral to a local hospital for a complaint which I won't bore you with but will involve a CT scan. He looks on his screen (yes, he was one of those who was dragged kicking and screaming into the age of technology) and announces there is a C&B scheme at the local hospital and he gives me the details, except at the time of booking there are NO appointments available. So, what, is the point of having C&B which is meant to allow me, the patient, to have an appointment at a time and date which suits me when there are NO appointments available. It has even me stumped, and that is an unusual occurrence I can tell you. What happens next is that the request goes to the hospital as usual, they flag up it's a C&B thing and I get a letter from the hospital saying that there are NO appointments available - and I will be given an appointment in due course via the hospital NOT C&B!

After four weeks of waiting I call the number given on the hospital's letter to be informed that because it's a CT scan 'we don't do those appointments.' - would you be getting annoyed now .. would you??? I know I am. So, taking a very deep and measured breath I explain that it's for a consult first and then a CT scan and they seem to think they can manage that ok ... but there are still NO appointments available - for 13 weeks - I'm looking at 12 November before I can even see a consultant.

Whoever thought up C&B was obviously thinking the scheme would work but did not build in to his equations the dinosaur that is the NHS, it has not saved this patient time and has not let said patient choose and book an appointment at the time and date of my choice because there are NO appointments available ... for 13 weeks .. sigh. It's a nonsense, it really is, perhaps it was set up for a laugh to see how many people it could lead on a merry dance until we either gave up or died.

© silversapphire 2009

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