Rant of the Day v2.

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Fox3WheresMyBanana
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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#6841 Post by Fox3WheresMyBanana » Wed Jan 18, 2023 1:34 am

I see maxi-skirts are in for a night on the Toon this year ;)))

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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#6842 Post by OFSO » Wed Jan 18, 2023 7:20 am

Girls similarly dressed in Teddington at just above zero temperatures. Bikini tops, bare midriffs. Me on night walk, padded anorak, scarf, hat.

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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#6843 Post by 4mastacker » Wed Jan 18, 2023 11:42 am

Fox3WheresMyBanana wrote:
Wed Jan 18, 2023 1:34 am
I see maxi-skirts are in for a night on the Toon this year ;)))

The lassie on the right is obviously a foreigner to the Toon - she's wearing a coat! :D
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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#6844 Post by Fox3WheresMyBanana » Wed Jan 18, 2023 12:17 pm

Ah, I wondered what that thing she had on top was...never seen one before.

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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#6845 Post by 1DC » Wed Jan 18, 2023 1:18 pm

To get a blood test at the local hospital you have to make an appointment on the phone. This morning I spent an hour and five minutes moving from 12th to 2nd in line to book an appointment, after spending 35 minutes in position number 2 a computerised message announced that due to circumstances beyond their control my call would not be answered please call again. click..
B....rds. The only consolation is that I know it takes about an hour to get through so in the ensuing period while waiting I had done a couple of jobs and had my breakfast.

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Evolution of American spoken English

#6846 Post by Karearea » Wed Jan 18, 2023 8:43 pm

Puzzled why some Americans these days seem unable to pronounce the letter 't', using a glottal stop instead, e.g. "metal" becomes "me'al".
Is it the influence of English films/tv?

Also the letter "d" can disappear, to be replaced by "t", e.g. "hadn't" becomes "hatn't"
- that's been going on for several decades though.

The reverse seems to happen in NZ where thanks to certain people frequently on tv, "city" becomes "ciddy", "poverty" becomes "poviddy" 8-|
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Re: Evolution of American spoken English

#6847 Post by TheGreenAnger » Wed Jan 18, 2023 9:29 pm

Karearea wrote:
Wed Jan 18, 2023 8:43 pm
Puzzled why some Americans these days seem unable to pronounce the letter 't', using a glottal stop instead, e.g. "metal" becomes "me'al".
Is it the influence of English films/tv?
Essex chavs and gangsters! =))
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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#6848 Post by Hydromet » Wed Jan 18, 2023 9:46 pm

1DC wrote:
Wed Jan 18, 2023 1:18 pm
To get a blood test at the local hospital you have to make an appointment on the phone. This morning I spent an hour and five minutes moving from 12th to 2nd in line to book an appointment, after spending 35 minutes in position number 2 a computerised message announced that due to circumstances beyond their control my call would not be answered please call again. click..
B....rds. The only consolation is that I know it takes about an hour to get through so in the ensuing period while waiting I had done a couple of jobs and had my breakfast.
I find that crazy! For a blood test here, I roll up to my GP's surgery on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday, or to a pathology collection centre, no appointment necessary. The phlebotomist probably would have handled 12 patients in the hour, and as blood tests are bulk billed, it wouldn't have cost me a cent.

EAO1 will probably be able to comment further.

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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#6849 Post by Fox3WheresMyBanana » Wed Jan 18, 2023 10:00 pm

Here in Canada, the problem is getting the test approved, for which one needs to see a Nurse-Practitioner (seeing a GP is basically impossible).
The N-Ps locally have zero remaining clinics this month, as they were all canceled a week ago - no staff. You are allowed to book at any clinic.
When they do run, you need to register online in the first 12 seconds , at 6am, to get a N-P appointment. There's no rush to complete the form.
Once approved, the blood test appointment phone is answered immediately and an appointment is set within the week. The actual blood appointment takes place exactly on time and you are done in 8 minutes.
So, great once you have seen the N-P....if you can see the N-P.
Or, you could turn up at Casualty. People bleeding to death are usually seen within 12 hours*, but you will be infected with Covid for free whilst you wait, so you've got that going for you.
Of course, if the serious victims die before they are seen, then you move up the queue!

*I wish I was joking.

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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#6850 Post by PHXPhlyer » Wed Jan 18, 2023 10:17 pm

Fox3WheresMyBanana wrote:
Wed Jan 18, 2023 10:00 pm
Here in Canada, the problem is getting the test approved, for which one needs to see a Nurse-Practitioner (seeing a GP is basically impossible).
The N-Ps locally have zero remaining clinics this month, as they were all canceled a week ago - no staff. You are allowed to book at any clinic.
When they do run, you need to register online in the first 12 seconds , at 6am, to get a N-P appointment. There's no rush to complete the form.
Once approved, the blood test appointment phone is answered immediately and an appointment is set within the week. The actual blood appointment takes place exactly on time and you are done in 8 minutes.
So, great once you have seen the N-P....if you can see the N-P.
Or, you could turn up at Casualty. People bleeding to death are usually seen within 12 hours*, but you will be infected with Covid for free whilst you wait, so you've got that going for you.
Of course, if the serious victims die before they are seen, then you move up the queue!

*I wish I was joking.
That was said in an article about the backlog of patients waiting in ERs (A&Es) that a certain number of patients were going to die regardless of whether they were seen or not, so the backlog wasn't really as bad as it looked. #-o

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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#6851 Post by 1DC » Thu Jan 19, 2023 11:54 am

Prior to lock down we just used to turn up at the hospital and be seen within thirty minutes. At lockdown they introduced the appointment system. They liked it so much they made it permanant and you could book up to six months ahead. After a while they reduced that to six weeks. if you are on regular blood checks you get your hospital appointments up to a year in advance with the proviso to book a blood test five days before the appointment.In my case I rang again in the afternoon for a blood test the phone was answered straight away and I got an appointment, the receptionist advised to never ring in the morning because the department is always overwhelmed until about 1100! It is always wise to book an appointment before 0930 otherwise you will never find a parking space. Nothing about the NHS is simple..

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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#6852 Post by Smeagol » Thu Jan 19, 2023 6:11 pm

Mrs S has to have frequent blood tests (INR) as she takes warfarin. This used to be carried out at the local hospital haematology department, walk in, take a numbered ticket, wait your turn, get blood taken, walk out. If you could avoid busy times it was often done in a few minutes. However, in the last couple of years the local GP surgery took responsibility for taking the blood which meant phoning the surgery (delay No.1), make an appointment with a phlebotomist (often fully booked) then once blood taken and sent to the hospital for testing. Took longer involved more people, probably cost more and was less convenient to the patient. This has now been refined by the GP surgery as they have purchased their own testing machine which should be quicker, easier and more efficient for all concerned, but unfortunately is not! The operators initially did not seem to know how to use the machine (it is simple, we have a similar machine at home bought for holidays and when we are away from home), and now the dosing has to be authorised by a doctor, who in my opinion does not seem to have sufficient knowledge of the INR test or individual patients (at least in my wife's case) particular dosing needs. I speak with some knowledge as I have been monitoring my wife' INR test results and dosing for almost 50 years and can alter warfarin dose to achieve required result quite accurately. Much more so than the doctor in question! What was once a straightforward, working system, has been changed to a shambolic clusterf***.
A classic case of, 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it', something which the NHS does not seem to understand.
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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#6853 Post by PHXPhlyer » Mon Jan 23, 2023 2:59 am

Sensor function of microwave/hood has gone Tango Uniform. :-o
Error message says "Steam Sensor Needs Servicing". :-?
Fortunately, the timer function still works. #:-S
Would not have been repaired if it were dead as service call fee, milage, parts and labor would have cost far more than a replacement. ~X(

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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#6854 Post by OFSO » Mon Jan 23, 2023 7:18 am

I still haven't fixed the hood fan motor. Difficult to get to.

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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#6855 Post by 4mastacker » Mon Jan 23, 2023 10:35 pm

Bladdy Blitish Glass!!! X(

Rearranged my day as we were booked for an "engineer's" visit this afternoon to sort out a leaking radiator.

90 minutes after the booked time, I received a phone call to say he wouldn't becoming - no reason offered - and would need to re-book. Lassie - with a heavy sub-continent accent - on t'other end of phone offered the first available on 1st February then promptly cancelled that as the slot wasn't available. Had difficulty in understanding what she was saying but after a few minutes "searching" she offered another slot for the following day. After confirming I would take that one she hung up, no 'goodbye', no apologies for screwing up my day and the inconvenience caused. Wonder if she has a second job with Microsoft Technical Department.
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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#6856 Post by Pontius Navigator » Tue Jan 24, 2023 5:04 pm

4ma, Thursday we decided the heatong in one bedroom was off. Did some fault finding and decided TFD. Called the plumber who came late afternoon and pointed out a pump of some description was u/s. It even showed the right fault lights but that had meant nothing to us.
Invoice sent Thursday night and accepted. Part ordered Friday and said he would be here late morning today. Now all done and dusted.
I guess you may be too far out for him.

3 years ago we had a Corgi contract. Heating failed before Christmas. One engineer had to go to Sweden and they could not find another. Took 4 weeks.

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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#6857 Post by OFSO » Wed Jan 25, 2023 8:16 am

Our house was still stinking of sewage. I just climbed up the rear of the cellar. El Crocadillo, Ralf the German sewer man could not be bothered to replace pipe cover before he left on Sunday having charged €125 for fifteen minutes work. Bastard. I've put it back, took two minutes....last time he comes here.

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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#6858 Post by OFSO » Fri Jan 27, 2023 4:20 pm

Trying to book a TGV from Perpignan up to Paris next month, I note socialism (or the consequences of SNCF paying out huge benefits to their workers) has bitten hard. Used to be seven or eight daily direct trains up to Paris. Now there are five of which only two are direct, the others have one or two changes en-route: standing on a drafty platform in Norbonne or Narbonne plus Montpelier for an hour isn't funny. And prices have more than doubled. The Transavia flights cost half the TGV train tickets. That's what you get with a state-run train system employing 1.5 workers per 1 retiree and allowing employees and their families unlimited free travel, early retirement, etc.

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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#6859 Post by OFSO » Mon Jan 30, 2023 1:02 pm

World going mad. French SNCF has trains to/from Paris at hysterically inconvenient times. Spanish RENFE shows no trains to Paris at all. Trainline shows convenient trains from nearby Figueras, eliminating 90km drive to Perpignan and 90kms drive back and parking fee and dented car.
Trainline refused my bank cards. Said use PayPay. Even though I don't have an account, I clicked PayPal. Surprise! I do. Paid train. Clicked on hotel. Free breakfast and room upgrade. Wow.

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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#6860 Post by TheGreenAnger » Mon Jan 30, 2023 1:49 pm

OFSO wrote:
Fri Jan 27, 2023 4:20 pm
Trying to book a TGV from Perpignan up to Paris next month, I note socialism (or the consequences of SNCF paying out huge benefits to their workers) has bitten hard. Used to be seven or eight daily direct trains up to Paris. Now there are five of which only two are direct, the others have one or two changes en-route: standing on a drafty platform in Norbonne or Narbonne plus Montpelier for an hour isn't funny. And prices have more than doubled. The Transavia flights cost half the TGV train tickets. That's what you get with a state-run train system employing 1.5 workers per 1 retiree and allowing employees and their families unlimited free travel, early retirement, etc.
You should try the privatised rail system here to find out what real pain and expense is all about!
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