On Tuesday 9th October, 2012 I had just completed an appointment with the consultant dealing with my Prostate Cancer. I left the hospital clutching the details of my next appointment.
Having elected for “Active Surveillance” the next appointment, to review PSA blood test results, was scheduled for four months time. i.e. 11:10 on Monday 18th February, 2013
A while later, seems like a couple of weeks, I was notified that the appointment had been cancelled and that I would be advised of a new appointment in due course. Time passed, Christmas came and went and no new appointment. Knowing that I had to arrange for a PSA blood test a couple of weeks ahead of the consult and not having a specific appointment I took a punt and arranged for the blood test to be carried out on Friday 1st February.
Well time flies by when you are enjoying yourself and here we are, half way through January and I still had not heard anything regarding a new appointment.
So I contacted the Urology Department at the QA where they explained that the original appointment had been cancelled due to government and/or NHS rules and I had been placed on the Outpatients Waiting List. However, very helpfully she said she would arrange a new appointment for me.
“I have an appointment for you in February” she said.
“Monday 18th” she said.
“That’s amazing” I replied “My previous appointment was on that day”
“What time ?” I asked.
“11:10” she replied
“Bizarre” I responded. “That’s when my original appointment was scheduled”
“Oh I can’t give you that time” she jumps in. “The diary is showing a conflict with your original appointment even though it has been cancelled.” “I’ll have to give you another time. How’s 11:20 ?”
Obviously I accepted the new time and she said she would mail me confirmation.
So in summary, the new rules meant that my appointment had been shifted by 10 minutes, had cost me a telephone call and cost the NHS/QA three appointment letters.
WHY ?
I can only imagine that they are applying the same petty bureaucratic rules that stop me from being able to book an appointment, to see my GP, greater than a month ahead of time.
The UKs media are, this morning, falling over themselves to report on, well, nothing really. Who can make the UKs weather the big story of day.
Last night they were warning us about the snow and the big freeze that is going to engulf the country. The ITV News and Weather were advising us that “much of the country” was going to be impacted.
This morning that has translated into “about a third of the country”
Last night we were being warned that even if we didn’t get any snow we could expect to get the severe icy conditions with temperatures as low as -6 degC dropping to -15 degC by the end of the week.
This morning we have +2 degC and no snow
On the TV we have had reporters dramatically describing to us how Stansted Airport is operating as normal, how the roads are clear and traffic is flowing unimpeded by the weather.
To a degree I can understand why they are doing it. After all the last big freeze caught many of us with our pants down. In some case the authorities let us down but predominantly we let ourselves down.
Britain does have four seasons every year, pretty much without fail. So it follows that we will have Winter at some time. We should not be surprised when the winter brings with it snow and ice.
Only in Britain are such conditions or even the lack of them deemed suitable for such a media frenzy.
At around 09:30, on a very drizzly Saturday morning, I was waiting on Copnor Road, Portsmouth. Waiting to turn into the car park associated with the Tesco petrol station. In actual fact I was waiting for two under dressed lads to walk across the entrance. Having parked up and entered the store, grabbed two cartons of milk I headed to the cash desk. The two lads had obviously turned about and they now cut off my approach to the cash desk.
Both lads were clasping bottles of water and were looking decidedly the worse for wear and somewhat bedraggled, having no jackets or coats. The conversation went something like this…..
Lad: (With embarrassed laugh) …”Where are we ?” Me: “Wow, you must have had a great night.” Lad: “Seriously, where are we ?” Me: “You’re in Copnor” Cashier: (Speaking slowly and clearly enunciating as if for a foreign visitor) “This….is…..Copnor…. Road” as he gestured outside. Lad: “We are from Portsmouth, we know that Copnor is near North End” Me: “(Thinking that North End is their destination and indicating the nearby cross-roads) “If you turn right at the lights that road will take you to North End” Lad: “We don’t want to go there” Me: “So where are you trying to get to ?” Lad: “We live in Southsea”
The cashier and I gave directions and the two lads set off, once again, on their journey home.
Some questions spring to mind.
Why did we pass up a golden opportunity to prank these guys ?
After all they had no idea where they were. We could have sent them north, out of the city. If we had they could still be walking.
How can you live in Portsmouth yet not know where you are ?
Portsmouth is an island of only 15 square miles. Approximately 4 miles in length (North to South) by around 3 miles wide.
Luckily I don’t get many unsolicited messages on my mobile. To be honest I can only think of two occasions in the last 5 to 7 years.
A few days ago I received the following text …..
Hi, your PPi claim still owes you £1702.43 from when it was mis-sold to you, it’s in your name waiting to be sent out to you. To get it sent out today reply PPi
The number from which it appears to have been sent is +447780642096
As I hadn’t submitted a claim I immediately smelled a rat.
This didn’t come across as a fishing exercise i.e. The message didn’t say “I could be owed …”. The figure they quoted was specific so they had sown the seeds of doubt in my mind. If it had been a bit more neutral I would have written it off as text spam. After studying it a bit more I decided that if this was truly aimed at me it would have been a bit more formal. Something along the lines of “Dear Mr…..” or “Dear Robert …”.
OK so I decided to ignore this, treat it with the contempt it so obviously deserved.
My real concern about this type of message was raised last night while I was down at my daughters. I just happened to mention this text and without batting an eyelid she trumped my text with three of her own. She had received them over a fairly short period and they all came from different numbers.
Two of hers quoted the same sum of money owed but adding hers to mine we are “owed” something in the region of £7k – £8k.
Whoohoo !!! We are in the money. NOT !!!
I have tried calling the number but I just get the “number has not been recognised” message.
Surely this blanket unsolicited messaging has to be illegal. The actual message is a lie so this has to be defined as some sort of mis-representation.
I can see that some people, older folks perhaps, may be suckered into following up on this type of message.
Has anyone else out there received similar messages ?
Has anyone ever followed up and text back to them ?
Spent a gloriously relaxed Saturday afternoon, with my wife and friends, at this pub. The Fishermans Rest has to be one of the best pubs in the area. Good food, friendly staff and a really nice atmosphere.
We spent four hours here, during which we caught up on family, mutual friends and jointly expressing our outrage at issues in the news while attempting to put the world to rights.
During this time we managed to take a breath or two and eat a wholesome meal
I had the “Trio of Fishcakes” while my wife and our friends all had the “Baked Stilton Stuffed Mushrooms” starter. Two of our party then sampled the steaks, the third had the Chicken Pasanda while I was boring and once again had the “Mixed Grill”. All agreed the food was delicious.
Eventually we had to take our leave and head home, parting ways in the car park and debating who would be the first to be taking a nap when we got home.
If you are ever in the area I wholeheartedly recommend this pub for a visit. Combine this with a visit to Titchfield Abbey for a little bit of history.
Although reasons for this closure cannot necessarily be laid at the door of HBC, they are not helping the situation
David Guest, deputy leader of Havant Borough Council and ward member for St Faith’s, said: ‘Hopefully we have not lost it and they are able to relocate.
‘A lot of people enjoyed that shop and I’m very sorry to see it go.’
He said that independent shops were an important part of Havant.
So important that the HBC is intent on dragging shoppers away from the town centre by allowing huge developments across the other side of Park Road in the Solent Road area.
‘It’s nice for people to have a choice,’ he said.
‘As long as people use these independent shops, they will survive.
How many people have stopped using the independent stores in Havant centre since the Tesco store opened ? From personal experience I know that I don’t tend to go to smaller stores if I am doing my weekly shop in a supermarket. We are all so busy that it is more convenient to “one stop shop”.
‘There’s no guarantee they will stay around.
‘We just want to encourage more people to open small shops.’
If you want more people to open small shops then you shouldn’t allow the big stores to open up so close to the town centres.
HBC, haven’t you learnt anything ?
And you are doing the same thing to Waterlooville by allowing the new Sainsbury store to open up outside of the town centre. There is no incentive to anyone to open small shops in either of these town centres.
I feel sorry for John Wills and his family. It will be difficult for him to relocate and keep his current customers,to start afresh and build a customer base under the current economic climate and with the lack of true support from HBC. I wish him the best of luck for the future.
Last Wednesday Raymond Elsmore, 82, suffered fatal injuries when he was hit by a car near the junction of Tempest Avenue and Cornelius Drive at about 3.05pm. Raymond was a well loved lollipop man, well known to the local community.
Mr Elsmore was on duty at the time and wearing his reflective uniform. The driver of the car, a 21-year-old female, was uninjured and was arrested at the scene on suspicion of causing death by careless driving.
I don’t know what the conditions were like when Raymond lost his life, nor do I know which direction the car that took his life was traveling. But it is possible that the low height of the sun could have been a contributing factor.
On Sunday afternoon, around 3 o’clock, I was traveling along Tempest Avenue coming from the Tesco’s store, heading towards the spot where all the flowers are laid. The sun was very low in the sky and directly in front of me i.e. appearing right in the middle of the road and I really couldn’t see the road ahead clearly. What I could just make out was a police car stopped in the road with its lights flashing. On the grass there was a policeman apparently taking photo’s of the police car. I started to indicate to pull round the police car and only at the last moment did I see that there was a police woman, in full reflective jacket, stood in the road with her hand up requesting me to stop. My point is that, even though I wasn’t traveling very fast, without the police cars lights I would not have been alerted to the possibility of someone being in the road.
Quite rightly there is a rising call for the council to make this road safer. They obviously saw the need for a lollipop man perhaps with Mr Elsmore’s tagic death they will seriously consider adding some traffic calming measures. This road is a rat run at all times of the day but becomes more so during the evening and morning commuter times.
Mr Elsmore’s death is a tragedy and my thoughts are with his family and friends.
There are mindless thugs out there who don’t think twice before attacking the elderly, the frail and the disabled
It makes me ashamed to think that there are such cowardly people walking the streets of this country, makes me ashamed to be English.
The News has recently reported this attack on a partially sighted man from Fareham.
Richard Twose, who is partially blind, was walking Bates near his home on Redlands Lane, Fareham, when he heard the dog yelp out in pain.
The 35-year-old told The News: ‘I’d been in the house all day so I felt guilty that I hadn’t walked Bates.
‘I decided to take him out for walk. That’s when I heard him yelp in pain.
‘I turned around and a split second later I was pushed into the fence and kicked in the stomach.’
There is no way that Richards attackers didn’t know that their victim was blind and the fact that they attacked his guide dog first says a lot about their mentality.
Someone out their knows who these cretins are. Do the right thing and hand them over to the police
Still on the subject of cowardly attacks, recently a man riding his mobility scooter was attacked …..
Thugs tried to rob a man riding a mobility scooter. The gang struck in Waterlooville, with one of the attackers brandishing a knife at the 61-year-old victim. But the disabled man punched the youth in the face before riding away to make his escape. The incident happened just before 4pm on Wednesday, November 21 at the junction of Mill Road and Novello Gardens.
Police said anyone with any information is asked to contact Det Con Smithers at Waterlooville Police Station on 101 or call the charity Crimestoppers line on 0800 555 111 where information can be left anonymously.
I would never advocate vigilantism but a part of me hopes that the attackers of these two victims are identified, and that they get their just deserts. I say this because my fear is that the punishment that they will receive at the hands of the courts will never match the hurt and trauma meted out to their victims.
On Saturday 16th September, 2011 our local Tesco Express was burnt out. Along with the Tesco store we also lost our pharmacy and a Chinese take-away.
The News reported Thursday 29 March, 2012 that ….
Officials at Brookton 2000 Ltd, which owns the site, said they were working up a planning application for the rebuild of Tesco and the pharmacy.
Daniel Kaye, director of Brookton 2000 Ltd, based in Chandler’s Ford, said: ‘We have a team of professionals appointed and we are working on submitting an application. Then it is in the hands of the local authority.
‘Once we get planning permission, we can look to appoint contractors.
‘Unfortunately these things take longer than members of the general public think.’
Mr Kaye said the shops would be back open in 18 months’ time at the very latest. But he said he hoped the rebuild would be sooner.
On April 8th of this year I posted about how long it was taking for any work to begin to replace the afore-mentioned business premises.
Fort Lavender
Fifteen months have gone by since the fire and nothing seems to have happened on the site.
15 months on – Our Local Shops – Lavender Road, Waterlooville
The photo above shows that the roof has gone from the pharmacy and supermarket areas. The blue tarp covers some part of the chinese take-away roof where the fire brigade broke through, presumably to ensure that the fire wasn’t still burning out of sight.
The approval of the application, on 21st August, comes with some conditions.
1) The development hereby permitted shall be begun before the expiration of 3 years from the date on which this planning permission was granted.Reason: To comply with Section 51 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004.
So we could be waiting some time before the rebuild gets started. It would have been better from a residents perspective if the council had enforced a more stringent timetable.
3) No development hereby permitted shall be commenced until a detailed soft landscaping scheme for all open parts of the site not proposed to be hard-surfaced has been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority. Such scheme shall specify the proposed finished ground levels in relation to the existing levels, the distribution and species of ground cover to be planted, the positions, species and planting sizes of the trees and shrubs to be planted and/or retained, and timing provisions for completion of the implementation of all such landscaping works.
The implementation of all such approved landscaping shall be completed in full accordance with such approved timing provisions. Any tree or shrub planted or retained as part of such approved landscaping scheme which dies or is otherwise removed within the first 5 years shall be replaced with another of the same species and size in the same position during the first available planting season.
Reason: To ensure the appearance of the development is satisfactory and having due regard to policies CS11, CS16 and DM8 of the Havant Borough Core Strategy 2011 which form part of the Local Development Framework and National Planning Policy Framework, March 2012.
It’s good to see that work cannot commence until the really important issues have been thrashed out. I would have thought it was more important to get a major part of the local infrastructure reinstated i.e. rebuild and reopen the stores, rather than argue over the type of shrubs to be planted.
4) The buildings shall not be occupied until space for the loading, unloading and parking of vehicles has been provided within the site, surfaced and marked out in accordance with the approved details. Such areas shall thereafter be permanently retained and used solely for those purposes.
Reason: In the interests of highway safety and having due regard to policy DM13 of the Havant Borough Core Strategy 2011 which forms part of the Local Development Framework and National Planning Policy Framework, March 2012.
This condition has me confused. The original goods entrance and specifically the area immediately in front of it appears, according to the proposed ground floor plan, to be allocated as disabled parking. If this is for the “sole” use of the disabled, where will goods vehicles load and unload ?
According to the plans there will be a new construction and entrance at the northern end of the building, immediately adjacent to Lavender Road. If that is intended to be used as the main goods entrance into the building, implying that the goods vehicles are to be parked in Lavender Road, we will have a road safety disaster on our hands. The parking of articulated lorries in this area of the road has already caused several near misses to my knowledge.
I would have preferred to have seen some provision for goods vehicle access or at the very minimum a restriction placed on the supermarket operator to only use small to medium-sized vans for the delivery of stock. It isn’t only Tesco vehicles in the past that have caused problems as I have seen articulated lorries delivering milk and bread to this site.
So, when are we going to get our local shops back ?
The pharmacy has been trying to maintain its presence by operating out of a converted industrial container. Word from the container has it that they will be returning to a proper shop around Easter 2013.
Mr Daniel Kay, that’s 20 months. not “18 months at the latest” ….. nor is it “sooner”
Some of the folks who used to work at the burnt out Tesco Express have been redeployed to Tesco’s Grassmere Way Store. Or maybe that’s Tempest Road. Not sure since Tesco can’t seem to make up their own mind according to their own web site. As we locals know Tempest Road is actually Tempest Avenue. But I digress.
Having spoken to some of the Lavender Road expats it seems that they have not heard anything about Tesco resuming operations.
Is this because Tescos will not be coming back ? If not, then who will be operating from the rebuilt store and when ?
By the way, going back to the Tesco website, they don’t seem to have noticed that their store is no longer open. They still show the Lavender Road store as being open seven days a week.
Our house is a much quieter place since Pippa the Shih Tzu was picked up this morning. She has gone back home to be with her Mum who had been in hospital following an altercation with a paper boys bicycle.
Pippa
We think Pippa new something was afoot. Something in the way that she was following me around, being more of a shadow than usual. However, when she was collected she ran out the door and was gone without a single look back.
How is that for gratitude after we took you in ?
We will miss her company and her funny little ways but she is where she should be. Her Mum has missed her and they will be good company for each other.
WrAnTz 