Latest Moan From You and Me 2023

That's because there are no police nowadays. Sure you might see the odd police car or van every once in a while, but I've come to the conclusion that they're just actors to maintain the pretence of a police force.

I witnessed a burglary actually in progress. Saw the burglar in the act of breaking into a building on our street late at night. I phoned 999 immediately, told them I could actually see it happening and straight after the call I was going to confront the burglar. I got told not to, that units are en route. No coppers turned up.

Meanwhile we've got youths in balaclavas on stolen motorbikes riding freely around the streets, and my friend who has a learning disability had to run for his life after being started on for no reason other than that he's a bit vulnerable, and no sign of Mr or Mrs Plod. I make it sound like this is a rough area, but from what I can gather from the media, this is the new normal.

 

I went online just now to make a GP appointment. Next Tuesday 21st. That's a relatively long wait. When we first came here, we toddled into the next village, sat in Doc's waiting room for anything from 10 to 30 minutes and bingo!.
It's strange though, these long waiting times in UK. What happened to the health centres with 5 or 6 GPs practising together? The reason we're given over here for the shortage of docs is that the 'youngsters' don't want to practise in the countryside but stay in the cities. I wouldn't have thought the same reason applies in UK?

 

Recruitment in general is difficult in rural areas. The ambitious youths go to the cities. But as far as GPs are concerned it's just an excuse I think, because where I live we have a hospital with several GP surgeries in town, and we're only ten miles from the nearest major town, so the rural excuse doesn't work here, yet we still have no credible GP service.

 

The place I go there are 5 doctors, it's a fairly small building but modern in that its less than 20 yrs old.
The population around here has at least doubled in 20 yrs, maybe even 3 times, I dont know what the actual figure is but there are houses from village to village now with hardly a gap of green in between.
Just watched a programme and they, the people who are much cleverer than me, are saying we are not building anywhere near enough houses, we need to build to bring the price down, absolute *anker*.

We need less houses, less people, (they said in the same programme net migration is now running at 250,000 a year), more doctors, dentists, hospitals.

We seem to train our own in those jobs and then they all migrate somewhere else.

I can never work out why we are not condemned for poaching the best from the third world as that is where most of the NHS seems to come from.

 

He was probably sitting at the other table that was in use.

 

I was having that problem, I found that neither the docs or the chemist had a clue what the other one was doing, my local chemist has prescriptions scattered all over the place, you can see them out the back rummaging through piles of them in about 5 different places.

So I went to Lloyds direct, others are available, downloaded the app and told my GPs what I was doing, they do all the hassle for you and I sit in my chair and do the ordering.

Oh I have to get up to pick them up from the porch when the postman delivers them.

 

Didn't hear anything in the budget about car tax rising by 10%, maybe I missed that bit.

Oh and just heard Mick Lynch the railways bloke say his members have been exposed to a 22% increase in prices.
Do they shop in different places to the rest of us?

 

Spent an hour and a half in a building society, trying to open a currant account. Some of the questions I was asked - "Why do you want the account ?"
It doesn't matter why I want it, just open it.

"What will you be spending your money on ?"
That's my own business ...

"What will you be spending it on next year ?"
I DON'T KNOW ! I'm not psychic. I'll wait until next year comes and see what happens.

"What sort of things do you buy ?"
Mind your own business !

In the end I did have the account but I feel wound up about it so I don't think I'll bother with it, they can shove it ...

 

Good grief, I'm glad I live here, our GP medical centres are much better than that.

 

Probably shop at Fortnum & Mason Pete.

 

Does not affect me with being on a lease contract, however it would of only gone up to £175 from £165. It could of been worse, he could of ended the 5p cut in fuel duty and then increased it even more, but he has extended the 5p cut until March 2024.

 

As annoying as it is, it's not entirely their fault. It's the regulator who puts so much pressure on them to prevent fraud and such.

Unless it's a building society you've been with for a long time, then opening a second or subsequent account is usually straightforward.