In love, TICTH my church...I am confined to barracks because of Covid so joined in via zoom. That in itself was a miserable experience, but I am embarrassed to be part of a church who did not think to say a prayer during the service for our Priest in charge whose last service it was. I will say there was a reception after the service, which I wasn't part of ( obviously) so maybe something was said then, but still... nothing during the service. I was mortified. She's been with us for a year, and although it didn't work out as envisioned, she still deserved more than she got.
In love, TICTH my church...I am confined to barracks because of Covid so joined in via zoom. That in itself was a miserable experience, but I am embarrassed to be part of a church who did not think to say a prayer during the service for our Priest in charge whose last service it was.
Thank you, folks. It turned out to be a sign of getting to be an old fart. Praise be to God! Apparently (and why does nobody tell you this stuff!!!) it's entirely expected for your vitreous jelly sac (?) to more or less pull away from the back of the eye entirely at some point (usually in your 50s), and it does no harm except for scaring the shit out of you and causing some floaters, which get broken down over time. Because of previous surgeries, this is the one and only time I can expect it to happen to me. Whooooooofffff.
He did say I was right to get seen, though, given my particular risk factors. And God bless the man for keeing me out of the emergency room and giving up part of his Easter morning to help me.
I suddenly found I had floaters, last summer IIRC, and a quick visit to an ophthalmologist reassured me that this was common in Old Men like me (I'm 71 this year).
I had my vision checked out - 20/20! - and was advised to have an annual eye-test, and to go back to the clinic immediately if the floaters worsened significantly, which they haven't.
Thank you, folks. It turned out to be a sign of getting to be an old fart. Praise be to God! Apparently (and why does nobody tell you this stuff!!!) it's entirely expected for your vitreous jelly sac (?) to more or less pull away from the back of the eye entirely at some point (usually in your 50s), and it does no harm except for scaring the shit out of you and causing some floaters, which get broken down over time.
I have this problem. The floaters tend to enjoy floating in front of the words of hymns on Sunday Mornings for reasons of their own.
I'm in the floater group, too! I've had them since my early twenties. They are just something to ignore now-a-days.
LC, I'm glad you were able to find out your eye problem is age related! About twelve or thirteen years ago, all of a sudden everything I saw with my left eye had a wave in it! My diagnosis was similar to yours.
I had optical neuritis 3 years ago - lots of spots in my right eye caused by nerve swelling, and lots of tests to make sure I haven't got anything more sinister.
When I get to 40 in a few years I will get free eye tests again as my Dad has glaucoma. Apart from my left eye being anything but textbook spherical they thankfully are ok though: had test last week, and paid up for a fancy OTC scan too.
TICTH (again) the vile East Wind, coming at Arkland straight from Mordor...and forecast to last for another couple of weeks...
It spoils the otherwise pleasant sunshine, makes horrid howling noises around the Ark, and causes my ears to feel much too tight.
I entirely agree @Bishops Finger . It is firing squarely at the Fine City as well. Mind you I don't like the constant glaring sunshine or the feeling of desiccation either. They can all go straight to hell. Give me a wet westerly wind right now!!!
2020 Wedding Anniversary trip cancelled due to Covid restrictions.
2021 Our Ruby Wedding plans of both a big party and a Caribbean holiday were scuppered by lockdown. I would not go to that Island even today because of vaccination rates, don't want to pass anything on.
2022 Wedding anniversary plans are cancelled with 2 or three days to spare as we have both tested positive for Covid.
In other hellish news, my son is scheduled to go on a mini-local-choir tour around his university in lieu of the Italy trip COVID scuppered. Except, of course, we can't get the freaking residence hall people to answer their damn emails asking for an extension of time for him to move his crap out of his room. Because sure, he can totally handle that move on the official move-out day, despite being on tour. No problem! He's only ten hours from home...
He's also got an important grade/evaluation thingy that falls during the freaking tour, because nothing can be easy. He was hyperventilating on the phone when I spoke to him.
Hope you both recover quickly @balaam and I'm with you on CTH Covid for scuppering celebrations for the 3rd year in a row.
Today I CTH parcel delivery firms. Just because .
All related to options for changing a delivery time limited to just 4 delivery hour slots in the middle of the standard Monday - Friday and mixed messages about the options if I am not ready and waiting with photo ID to receive my parcel. And lecturing me about what the "greenest options are" along with a clear "our drivers are on a tight schedule please don't disrupt this for your convenience." Both of which I do get, but I also have limited hours at home, and rarely order online for this reason!
Goodness knows if the contents of this parcel and I will ever be united...
Ah. They heard me. Apparently now out for delivery this afternoon... I prefer a change of plan for today to trying to get it redelivered. Photo ID sitting by the door. Ora pro nobis! (Pray for us!)
Ah. They heard me. Apparently now out for delivery this afternoon... I prefer a change of plan for today to trying to get it redelivered. Photo ID sitting by the door. Ora pro nobis! (Pray for us!)
Ora-ing! Indeed, sometimes you need an oracle to know when - or if - they deliver.
[...] "our drivers are on a tight schedule please don't disrupt this for your convenience." [...]
Now this is particularly despicable. Wait! Why are your drivers en route? Oh - as a paid service for people to get parcels. Let us all shout at them: "Your recipients are on a tight schedule, please don't disrupt this for your convenience!"
I've pretty much given up on the last parcel I ordered. I'd arranged for them to leave it at the corner shop, but when I got the message saying it was there to be picked up, the shop people couldn't find it.
I went back the next day, still no luck; they took my number and said they would ring when it arrived.
I went on to Yodel's website and reported it; they e-mailed to say keep tracking it. Then they told me if I didn't pick it up, they'd return it to the seller (which they now say they've done). How am I supposed to pick it up when it isn't there?
I felt bad for the shop staff; they said another customer had got really stroppy with them and accused them of stealing his parcel! I'm pissed off though, because the money left my account as soon as I'd ordered the goods. I suppose I'll have to get back to them again - what a faff.
[...] "our drivers are on a tight schedule please don't disrupt this for your convenience." [...]
Now this is particularly despicable. Wait! Why are your drivers en route? Oh - as a paid service for people to get parcels. Let us all shout at them: "Your recipients are on a tight schedule, please don't disrupt this for your convenience!"
In a minor moment of fairness, the first part was a direct quote and the second part of that sentence was my interpretation of the tone of the website. But, yeah, I do my best to work these things around my tight schedules and my phone, edging closer and closer to giving up completely, inconsiderately didn't read any of the schedules.
Well, knock me down with a feather! The Nice Gentleman from the corner shop phoned this afternoon, and lo and behold, my parcel has been delivered, despite Yodel saying they'd returned it to the retailers.
I have now picked it up, before they change their minds.
The delivery happened within 1 minute of the time slot. And the only drama involved was the fiddliness of fitting the sim card and SD card. Everything else is done, and the new upgraded beastie is up and running to my satisfaction.
And, and... my other parcel delivery, which I was less bothered about so did not mention, need not have gone to the local shop after all and they were stunned I turned up to collect it as they were processing its arrival.
I will take out of Hell, for now, parcel delivery people, for this day they have done Very Good Things.
I will have to pay another visit to the storage unit this week as I can't find most of the clothes I need for Dragonlet 3 as she is 18 months and outgrowing things. In a brief visit (reasons why being a hell thread of their own), I have found all the pyjamas, and one pair of shorts, but nothing else.
The cold I've had since Saturday. Covid test was negative, but I'm still coughing up gunge and my throat has sharp edges inside it. At least the feeling floppy and flu-like has stopped.
So far it's meant I had to spend Sunday collapsed at home instead of wandering round a swamp with Mum Hope it's gone before the weekend, as there's places I want to be!
My recent cold-type Covid took four days before I tested positive.
I was like that too, with a mild cough so I tested on Easter Monday before a massage, then on Tuesday to visit my father's care home, it was after the cough got worse on Thursday late evening that I tested positive on Friday morning. I'm not surprised infection rates are high if lateral flow tests are this inaccurate.
My theory is that the delay in showing up in testing may be due to the changing nature of covid and the impact of vaccination. Vaccinated individuals' bodies react quickly to the infection because of immunisation, showing cold symptoms as the body fights the infection. But the virus also isn't replicating as well as it did before because of our immune status so it takes longer to show up in a lateral flow test - there isn't as much virus around to detect. So people have symptoms for a couple of days before they get a positive test.
So, whilst useful for general screening, I would rely on symptoms first.
Doctors, delays, details, and depression. Struggling mightily with what seems like incompetence and unable to "roll with it" due to sickness and now feeling such frustration.
To be honest, I'd rather collapse at home than wander round a swamp ...
Hope you feel better soon!
It's a nature reserve (SSSI and SAC if you want the national designations). We go out and check the water table levels every other month (the trainees at the local nature trust alternate with us). Mum did go, since there was a working party out there so she wouldn't be alone. There's one point we generally can't read as it's mainly underwater with soft silts around it, this time there was a goose nesting too close to it to even see if it was accessible
Feeling better, although a panic this morning when I couldn't smell anything. Can still taste stuff, and both of us still test negative... Symptoms are now feeling very like the bout of laryngitis I had in 2019.
My beloved mother-in-law in New York State (over 400 miles from here) has a mind as sharp as anyone here, but her 93 year old body is pretty much clapped out after seeing off various illnesses that left her with defective personal plumbing and difficulty walking. She needs 24 hour care to make sure she eats properly and keeps clean, so a home care company provides the service. She has an excellent regular carer who is loved by everyone, but she has to take a break every few months, which has to be covered by the company under their contract. Two weeks ago the temporary carer took off for vague reasons and there was no replacement. Fortunately we were there for Easter, and my angelic wife took on all the nitty gritty that this kind of care involves - I'll spare the details. We called the company every day and rarely got an answer. When we did, it was "We're trying to find someone". The new one showed up nine days later, and fortunately, she is good. In conversation with the new person we heard that after the company had been taken over last year, the fees were increased, the aides' wages were reduced, and some office staff were laid off. The company name was changed to 'Always Compassionate'. Consigning them to Hell seems to be the least that we can do for them. They abandoned a vulnerable person in their care. A poisonous online review may be next.
That is dreadful @Stercus Tauri . A bad on-line review seems the least you can do. In the UK I'd also be contacting the various bodies that regulate care companies, but not sure how that works where you are.
TICTH our doctors' surgery. Wanted a non-urgent appointment, phoned continuously from 8am when the lines opened, got through at 8.25 only to be told that all slots had been taken. I "might" be able to pre-book an appointment for the 13th if I ring tomorrow.
It seems to be both An Abomination Before The Lord, and an offence punishable by being sentenced to durance vile in the Tower of London, to actually visit IRL a GP surgery in England ( and Wales)...
The *call us at 8am tomorrow* thing is a recent phenomenon, I think.
No, one can't go in person to make the appointment, it can only be done by phone.
And you don't get told that you are 27th in line, simply that the line is busy. (I think it only queues up to about 4 people).
The real problem, apart from a general lack of capacity in the system, is the folk who just set their phones to automatic redialling, which means that those of us who have to dial manually don't get much of a look-in.
No, one can't go in person to make the appointment, it can only be done by phone.
And you don't get told that you are 27th in line, simply that the line is busy. (I think it only queues up to about 4 people).
The real problem, apart from a general lack of capacity in the system, is the folk who just set their phones to automatic redialling, which means that those of us who have to dial manually don't get much of a look-in.
Use a mobile. Last number redial is particularly easy on them.
Our GP surgery has the same system. The upside of it is that when you *do* get an appointment it isn't four months away.
Crazy system, as GPs are also the gatekeepers to getting referrals for other help. It is the same here. Some people just claim it is an emergency, to get into the system, though Mr Puzzler recently had an annual ( delayed to 16 month) review involving a phone consultation followed by a face to face appointment with his chosen GP. All very satisfactory.
I have to go for a second blood test tomorrow. I am half expecting it to suggest I have type 2 diabetes as my last one flagged up a warning.
Comments
!!!!!!!!!
He did say I was right to get seen, though, given my particular risk factors. And God bless the man for keeing me out of the emergency room and giving up part of his Easter morning to help me.
I suddenly found I had floaters, last summer IIRC, and a quick visit to an ophthalmologist reassured me that this was common in Old Men like me (I'm 71 this year).
I had my vision checked out - 20/20! - and was advised to have an annual eye-test, and to go back to the clinic immediately if the floaters worsened significantly, which they haven't.
I have this problem. The floaters tend to enjoy floating in front of the words of hymns on Sunday Mornings for reasons of their own.
LC, I'm glad you were able to find out your eye problem is age related! About twelve or thirteen years ago, all of a sudden everything I saw with my left eye had a wave in it! My diagnosis was similar to yours.
Getting older ain't for sissies.
O yes - I'd forgotten that They told me I have the start of cataracts, too.
Deep Joy. Not.
AIUI it might be a year or two before anything (other than a check-up) needs doing.
When I get to 40 in a few years I will get free eye tests again as my Dad has glaucoma. Apart from my left eye being anything but textbook spherical they thankfully are ok though: had test last week, and paid up for a fancy OTC scan too.
It spoils the otherwise pleasant sunshine, makes horrid howling noises around the Ark, and causes my ears to feel much too tight.
I entirely agree @Bishops Finger . It is firing squarely at the Fine City as well. Mind you I don't like the constant glaring sunshine or the feeling of desiccation either. They can all go straight to hell. Give me a wet westerly wind right now!!!
2021 Our Ruby Wedding plans of both a big party and a Caribbean holiday were scuppered by lockdown. I would not go to that Island even today because of vaccination rates, don't want to pass anything on.
2022 Wedding anniversary plans are cancelled with 2 or three days to spare as we have both tested positive for Covid.
So TICTH Fucking Covid.
In other hellish news, my son is scheduled to go on a mini-local-choir tour around his university in lieu of the Italy trip COVID scuppered. Except, of course, we can't get the freaking residence hall people to answer their damn emails asking for an extension of time for him to move his crap out of his room. Because sure, he can totally handle that move on the official move-out day, despite being on tour. No problem! He's only ten hours from home...
He's also got an important grade/evaluation thingy that falls during the freaking tour, because nothing can be easy. He was hyperventilating on the phone when I spoke to him.
Today I CTH parcel delivery firms. Just because .
All related to options for changing a delivery time limited to just 4 delivery hour slots in the middle of the standard Monday - Friday and mixed messages about the options if I am not ready and waiting with photo ID to receive my parcel. And lecturing me about what the "greenest options are" along with a clear "our drivers are on a tight schedule please don't disrupt this for your convenience." Both of which I do get, but I also have limited hours at home, and rarely order online for this reason!
Goodness knows if the contents of this parcel and I will ever be united...
Ora-ing! Indeed, sometimes you need an oracle to know when - or if - they deliver.
Now this is particularly despicable. Wait! Why are your drivers en route? Oh - as a paid service for people to get parcels. Let us all shout at them: "Your recipients are on a tight schedule, please don't disrupt this for your convenience!"
I went back the next day, still no luck; they took my number and said they would ring when it arrived.
I went on to Yodel's website and reported it; they e-mailed to say keep tracking it. Then they told me if I didn't pick it up, they'd return it to the seller (which they now say they've done). How am I supposed to pick it up when it isn't there?
I felt bad for the shop staff; they said another customer had got really stroppy with them and accused them of stealing his parcel! I'm pissed off though, because the money left my account as soon as I'd ordered the goods. I suppose I'll have to get back to them again - what a faff.
In a minor moment of fairness, the first part was a direct quote and the second part of that sentence was my interpretation of the tone of the website. But, yeah, I do my best to work these things around my tight schedules and my phone, edging closer and closer to giving up completely, inconsiderately didn't read any of the schedules.
I have now picked it up, before they change their minds.
The delivery happened within 1 minute of the time slot. And the only drama involved was the fiddliness of fitting the sim card and SD card. Everything else is done, and the new upgraded beastie is up and running to my satisfaction.
And, and... my other parcel delivery, which I was less bothered about so did not mention, need not have gone to the local shop after all and they were stunned I turned up to collect it as they were processing its arrival.
I will take out of Hell, for now, parcel delivery people, for this day they have done Very Good Things.
I will have to pay another visit to the storage unit this week as I can't find most of the clothes I need for Dragonlet 3 as she is 18 months and outgrowing things. In a brief visit (reasons why being a hell thread of their own), I have found all the pyjamas, and one pair of shorts, but nothing else.
So far it's meant I had to spend Sunday collapsed at home instead of wandering round a swamp with Mum
I was like that too, with a mild cough so I tested on Easter Monday before a massage, then on Tuesday to visit my father's care home, it was after the cough got worse on Thursday late evening that I tested positive on Friday morning. I'm not surprised infection rates are high if lateral flow tests are this inaccurate.
So, whilst useful for general screening, I would rely on symptoms first.
Hope you feel better soon!
It's a nature reserve (SSSI and SAC if you want the national designations).
Feeling better, although a panic this morning when I couldn't smell anything. Can still taste stuff, and both of us still test negative... Symptoms are now feeling very like the bout of laryngitis I had in 2019.
Not happy.
Very poor service, clearly invented by people who haven't got a clue. Commiserations.
The *call us at 8am tomorrow* thing is a recent phenomenon, I think.
*You are twenty-seventh in the queue...*
And you don't get told that you are 27th in line, simply that the line is busy. (I think it only queues up to about 4 people).
The real problem, apart from a general lack of capacity in the system, is the folk who just set their phones to automatic redialling, which means that those of us who have to dial manually don't get much of a look-in.
Use a mobile. Last number redial is particularly easy on them.
Our GP surgery has the same system. The upside of it is that when you *do* get an appointment it isn't four months away.
I have to go for a second blood test tomorrow. I am half expecting it to suggest I have type 2 diabetes as my last one flagged up a warning.