Category: Local (To Me !!!)

Queen Alexandra Hospital parking charges increase comes under fire


Carillion are making money hand over fist with the contract that they negotiated with the QA authorities. I was told that the money they collect doesn’t even go into the hospital coffers, is just a contributor to Carillions £212m profits for 2011.

If that is true then it is obscene.

We, the great British taxpayer, who fund the NHS in general and the QA in particular. Most people don’t visit a hospital out of choice. It is usually because we have a health problem or to visit a friend or relative who has a health problem. Yet when we do have to visit a hospital we are fleeced.

Only this week I was talking with a neighbour, whose wife had been in the QA for six weeks pneumonia. He was paying over £8 pounds a day in parking charges.

That is criminal.

My wife works at the QA and she cannot afford to park on site as the parking charges exceed her pay which is why I take her to and from work each day. Yes she can use the staff Park and Ride but the car park on the hill is not very nice, especially during the winter when the paths and steps are icy.

Queen Alexandra Hospital parking charges increase comes under fire – Local Health – The News.

Care fears as Waterlooville day warden services are taken away


Over the last couple of years the media has been full of stories that indicate just how little the people of this country seem to care about the elderly and infirm. And for those that do care there is the feeling that the authorities cannot be trusted.

Here is an article that seems to promote that view, that once folk take the decision to move into care homes, they have no guarantee that the expected support services will continue. Even if they have signed contracts. This seems to be the experience of Paul Bayliss-Marten

Under the terms of his tenancy – and that of those in the other 69 flats in The Lodge, Lavender Road, Waterlooville – a warden was available from 9am to 9pm.

But that has been suddenly taken away by housing association Guinness Care and Support leaving Mr Bayliss-Marten, 61, with an alarm cord to pull if he gets into trouble.

Guinness announced last month that from April the daytime warden would be replaced by a mobile team during the day which responds when the alarm cord is pulled.

Question:

What happens when the “mobile team” is off-site ?

How will a resident have to wait for the “mobile team” compared to waiting for an on-site warden ?

The casual observer has to ask who is looking after the rights of these folk. Well one organisation, Age Concern (now part of Age UK) had this to say

Chris Perry, director of Age Concern Hampshire, said such changes are on the increase.

He added: ‘Many people take tenancies out on the understanding there is going to be a resident warden.

‘I can understand their concerns but equally from the point of view of the housing association I can understand they can’t have someone on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.’

Well that’s a nice balanced view but it doesn’t address the underlying problem that these folks have a tenancy agreement which provides for a Warden to be available from 9am to 9pm.

The housing association have changed the service that they are providing. Did they discuss things before hand or have they just ridden rough shod over the rights and wishes of the residents.
Care fears as Waterlooville day warden services are taken away – Local Health – The News.

Happy Birthday Roger – Supertramper


Roger Hodgson celebrates his 62nd birthday today. Founder member of Supertramp, one of the best “progressive” rock bands to come out of the UK, he was born in Portsmouth in 1950.

Hodgson composed and sang on most of their hits including Dreamer, The Logical Song and Breakfast in America.

Happy Birthday Roger

Supertramp musician born in city.

View From The Conservatory


This Chinook crossed the skies yesterday. As you can see the sky was a dull grey at the time. 24 hours later and the sun is shining, the sky is blue and look what I can see today.
This is Masher, showing his metal to the nettle….. he used to live in our kitchen but we caught him scratching at the inside of our stainless steel saucepans. Apart from the appearance we were a bit concerned about the shards of metal turning up with our bangers ‘n’ mash. So he was relegated to the garden.

Ever one for surrounding himself with the bright young things of the world he is surrounded by spring flora. So a few variety of Primula ……

……  and Magnolia ….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All being watched over by Chime the friendly cat ….

Still Stuffed


Had a brilliant evening last night. Good food, good wine and good company. Thank you Rav and Wendy for a lovely meal. Rav your Chicken curry was, as usual, fabulous. Wendy that beautifully light crumble was the perfect finisher to the meal.

I’m Still Stuffed !!!

Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

Will We Treat Cameron To The Same End


The link below is to an article in which the death is reported, of Admiral Byng. He was executed on this day in 1757.

Byng appears to have been executed to cover up the Admiralty’s incompetence in providing him with an inadequate fleet to relieve Minorca

I draw a parallel here with our current circumstances surrounding the Falkland Islands. Argentina is again stirring up over their claim to the Falklands. Should they, once again, decide to attack the islands we will be in no position to protect the islanders.

We have no active carriers, and no Harriers even if we did have. The RAF cannot provide support to that area of the world it is just too far, well beyond the range of any military aircraft. The Army and Marines would be terribly exposed without air cover.

So I ask …. Would the fate, that befell Admiral Byng, fall upon David Cameron and his government should we fail to relieve the Falkland Islands if Argentina was to attack again ?

‘The fatal volley went off in an instant. Five bullets struck Byng. The sixth passed over his head. He fell forward stone dead.’

Perhaps, if that punishment were an option, Cameron and his government might take a different view of our nations protection.

Execution of admiral was cover-up – Remember When – The News.

Birthdays


Today is being celebrated by our family on two sides of Planet Earth.

Here in the UK it is my Aunty Kathy’s 90th Birthday. We had a celebratory gathering on Sunday but I know Kathy is out with her daughter today. Hope she has a lovely day…..

Happy Birthday Kathy xxx

Also celebrating today, way down under, in the antipodes is Caitlin. Living down in Perth, W.A. Although we cannot be there to help her celebrate we are thinking of her. Here’s hoping she also has a lovely day ….

Happy Birthday Caitlin xxx

Explosion as train hits bike on tracks


Once again we are plagued by morons hell-bent on creating carnage.

In this country, it seems that we are breeding a class of person who doesn’t give a toss about what happens to anyone else. Who doesn’t care if they kill or maim someone by their stupid actions. In fact anything goes and these lowlifes will do anything for kicks it seems, as long as it doesn’t directly affect them.

Before it was the lunatics who throw bricks onto motorways. Now it is the idiots who leave items on railway tracks.

CCTV captured two youths riding across Bedhampton level crossing at 1.34am on Saturday.
Seconds later, out of shot, one of the bikes is pushed back towards the crossing landing on the tracks.

The image below shows the results of their lunacy.

Through sheer luck, no-one was injured and the train was relatively undamaged, but the consequences could have been far worse. Trains travel at high speeds and there is a very real risk when they strike objects on the track that they could be derailed.

Some of the comments attached to the News report shows that some people seem to think that the police aren’t tough enough on the perpetrators. Well I’m sorry but that is tosh. Our police spend an awful amount of time investigating this type of crime only to have the courts show some kind of misguided leniency.

Other comments imply that, just because some of this incident was captured on CCTV, the police should have these morons locked up. Wise up folks. I read somewhere that the councils in Hampshire had some 3000 plus cameras and I’m pretty sure that doesn’t include all those privately operated by the likes of Network Rail and the British Transport Police. Not every camera is being monitored 24/7. Some are just covered by recording equipment during unsocial hours.

I don’t know what the answer is to these idiots. I am sure that there are many psychoanalysts who can write reams on how society has let them down and that it is in fact my fault, or perhaps your fault.

They all know what is right and what is wrong but for whatever reason they make choices. The wrong choices by any of societies measures.

I hope that they are caught. I hope that they are handed over to the police by someone who they know. Someone that has a greater sense of morality than they do.

Then I hope the courts throw the book at them.
Explosion as train hits bike on tracks – Local – The News.