Someone clever once said, you
never stand still, you are either going forwards or backwards. Well that is
certainly the situation this month, as we cross the channel twice in as many
weeks. Firstly, I would like to say congratulations to the National Health
service for their intelligence and care,
but sadly I can’t. Instead, I find myself flabbergasted about the fact that
they only work 5 days per week, and that their food isn’t fit for a hungry pig
to roll in, let alone eat, and that they are so obsessed by health and safety
rather than health CARE that the whole organisation is rotten to its shoelaces.
Isnt it time someone with a little more business nous took over the reins?
Stick Richard Branson in there, he knows how to make things work. Start by
firing everyone and then only re-employing those with a smile and a decorum of
common sense. Yes nursing and hospital work is not nice and I wouldn't do it for
all the noodles in China, so I dont. Those who do find themselves in that
profession, I would sympathise with you, except that it is your chosen
career. If you don’t want to look after sick people with all your heart, then
please do something else instead of hiding behind the smokescreen of
self-preservation and health and safety gone mental. While my Mum has been in
hospital, she developed a blister on her foot, so now they wont allow her to
attempt to walk in case it bursts and they have an ‘incident. How outrageous.
You are nurses, bandage it! Doctors and staff are continually late as they are
no longer allowed to wear wrist-watches at work. What the…? TV costs £10 per
day, so patients cant afford to watch it to break up the boredom of four walls.
Not that they would hear it above the sound of never-answered phones and fellow
patients buzzers being ignored. Flowers not allowed on the ward? Grapes not
allowed. Visitors not allowed to sit with patients while they eat - for hygiene
reasons. The list of ridicule is endless – and it stinks. Ah yes. Didn’t
someone mention that we should bring back good old cottage hospitals? Now that is a great idea. Except we can’t, can
we, because they have all been sold to greedy property developers and bulldozed
to the ground?
Having recently ranted with rage
about the security checks at Bristol airport, I have to report today that
something radical has happened. They now have erected a little stand once you
have passed all your checks to ask if your trip through security was a pleasant
experience, with a selection of buttons to press to endorse the fact. Much
though I wanted to scream at it and press the ‘disgraceful’ button, I have to
admit that on my most recent trip it was a lot less intimidating than usual.
Why is this? What has happened? Is it because they are being monitored that they
feel obliged to be nice to passengers? Or did they read my rant from last year?
Or just maybe, passengers are getting fed up with the place and using different
airports instead. Either way I am annoyed now, as there wasn’t one there when I
wanted to scream at it last year. My prediction is that the machine will break
down within the month so the staff can return to their old ways. Or maybe
someone will break a fingernail while pressing a button so that Health and
Safety can close it down and cordon it off with Danger Keep Out tape like they
have with the kid’s playground at Worcester Royal Infirmary.
Anyway, my writings this month
are rather novel in that they come to you from 20 miles under the sea. No, I
have not joined the submariners service, just that I am sitting on the rather
pleasant and painless train journey that connects the motherland with my chosen
habitat. I have to admit, I am not looking forward to being in UK again, and
instantly ready to complain about the gross overcrowding problems of the south
east, particularly highlighted by the World biggest car-park which calls itself
the M25. Somewhere in the middle of these feelings, I have to confess to a pang
of guilt. Let’s face it, England is my country of birth. 100 years ago and
again 30 years later, brave and patriotic men fought to defend its shores from
invasion, so that they and their children could live out their lives in peace
and harmony. Even this week, that patriotism still remains as the nation awaits
the greatness of our group of eleven heroes, suffering the heat of south
America, diving for their country in the name of football.
So when was it that the slogan of
‘what makes this country great’ got replaced with ‘how the bejeezus did we come
to accept so much crap in our daily lives?’ As Billy Joel once stated, ‘we
didn’t start the fire..’ but does it really take a stint of living outside the
tent to actually see the problems without wearing good old St George’s rose-tinted
specs? Well, here is another verse to add to Billy’s classic song, which
includes a few unacceptable things that we thankfully don’t put up with in
France, and highlights the reason I and many others chose to leave.
Potholes, Microwaves, Ready
meals, Road-rage
Rude staff, Car-flags,
Road-works, Plastic bags
Service-stations, gutter press, track-suits,
Political correctness
Car tax, Celeb TV, ludicrous
Health and Safety!
We didn’t start the fire, but
it’s about time we dialled 999 to put it out!
