Today got off to a slow start. Actually, not quite so slow, although it did get slower. I tried that rubbing your hands together thing I mentioned recently, intended to energise yourself first thing on waking up (or after snoozing the alarm) and I suppose it had some effect: I did get out of bed at a reasonable hour. I ran round the village and popped onto the co-op store for a couple of things. When I got back I decided to phone or GP’s surgery. That’s what slowed things down.
I’ve been meaning to do this for at least a couple of weeks and have got involved in distraction activities and sort of forgetting until too late in the day. Nothing desperate: I need to see a specific member of the surgery’s team to check out something from the end of last year. So I decided that today was the day. Otherwise I would have to leave it until Monday and before I knew it another week would have gone by.
And so when I my call was answered by the mechanical system I pressed the relevant number on the keypad and spent a good twenty minutes listening to the recorded voice apologising for the delay, explaining that they are receiving a high volume of calls, explaining that if they had run out of possible appointment ps I might need to be passed on to another service, that the receptionist might need to ask me some questions and finally that I was number 3 in the list of calls waiting to be answered. All this many times over and interspersed with would-be cheerful (aka annoying) music. Had I been anywhere further down the list than number 3 I might have abandoned the whole idea.
Fortunately I had my sudoku puzzle book to keep me occupied while listening to the repeated and repeated and repeated message. And finally I was through to a human being - if doctors’ receptionists really are human beings and not some strange supernatural manifestation intended to prevent patients making appointments unnecessarily. The outcome is that I now have an appointment for a Thursday early in March (nothing available sooner!!) and need to remember to tell my daughter in good time so that she can collect the small person a little earlier than usual.
Goodness knows how people manage who need to see their GP really urgently!
Consequently, all other activities for the day have had to be put back by at least half an hour. So it goes!
Some time later I discovered I had post - actual post, letter-in-an-envelope sort of stuff - a letter from Granddaughter Number Two who is at the University of York. On the eve of my birthday she had sent an apologetic message saying she had intended to post something to me the previous day but had forgotten. Then she also forgot on the Tuesday morning but had posted it late in the day in the vain hope that it might reach me on Wednesday.
Nothing came until today, ten days or so after posting, a very nice letter adorned with a sticker which read: “Postage due £2.50. Invalid stamp!” Oh dear! I must check if any of the stamps I have l hidden away are still valid. Mind you, nowhere on the label, or anywhere else of the envelope, did it tell me where or how or to whom I was supposed to pay £2.50. So I reckon I’ll just ignore it and hope it goes away.
Further to my comments yesterday on wood-burning stoves and their polluting danger, here’s a link to advice on how to get rid of your stove.
And here’s a link to another aspect of the problem: the difficulty local councils have in making people get rid of them.
I suspect nobody knows exactly who has a wood-burning stove. Around here you sometimes smell woodsmoke but that could well be the smell of kindling burning as people light their smokeless coal fires in their old traditional fireplaces. If the wood is dry it’s quite a pleasant smell. It’s a shame it’s so toxic to the environment. And, of course, there is a sneaky bit of me that thinks a wood-burning stove could be a good idea around here, where there are branches broken off trees from time to time, in the event of power cuts and central heating no longer functioning. Not a realistic solution, I hasten to add,
As regards enforcing regulations about the use of such stoves, maybe councils will have to engage in strong-arm tactics, breaking into people’s homes to check, like the gas board forcing their way in to install prepayment meters! A shocking invasion of people’s homes and yet another example of those who can least afford it ending up paying more - prepayment meters mean you pay more for your gas and electricity even if they allow you to keep track of what you pay on a daily basis.
They were discussing it on Newsnight last night, with some participants suggesting that there are people out there who deliberately refuse (yes, REFUSE!) to pay their bills. Who are these refuseniks?
Meanwhile, Shell, the oil company, has made record profits and today I hear that Greenpeace activists have invaded a Shell oil platform out in the North Sea - a cold activity for early February!
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment