Wednesday, 14 December 2011
Cold weather clothes and the pharmacy
On the BBC website this morning, 14th December 2011, there is an article from Manuela Sargosa which is purportedly considering the differences between approaches to dressing for cold weather between our two countries. Her perception is that the Italians prepare themselves more effectively for the cold weather than we Brits do.
However, the paragraphs that caught my eye related to the differences in pharmacies between the two countries.
"But nowhere is the contrast between British and Italian attitudes to health more evident than in each country's respective pharmacies.
In Britain, these are supermarket-style shops for personal and healthcare products. Cough medicine is stacked alongside hair dye. Vitamin supplements are two aisles up from make-up.
In Italy, pharmacies are old-style apothecaries. A little bell tinkles as you walk through the door. It smells of antiseptic. Products are stacked neatly on wooden shelves, sometimes behind glass. The pharmacist is someone consulted in hushed tones.
Manuela Saragosa
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16141184"
At this time of year as we rush out to buy Christmas cards depicting typical Victorian scenes of snowy gaslit winter streets, I was fascinated at this apparent hankering for the old way of doing things. Anyone who was captivated by 'The Victorian Pharmacy' will surely recognise that things have thankfully moved on a little over the last 100 years.
Personally I like being able to select a wide range of effective products from my local community pharmacy. I appreciate that all of the staff working in the practice have been trained to a high standard and am reassured that my local pharmacist keeps herself up to date by regular engagement with CPPE learning materials. I am pleased that I can talk with my pharmacist without feeling reverential and that there is a consulting room on hand if I were to want to talk about something with a little more privacy.
The comments lower down the BBC page show that other people can recognise the difference between our two countries as well. One respondent has commented that he went to buy some ibuprofen whilst on holiday in Italy. It cost him close to £7, compared with the 40p he pays back home. It seems like we'll have to keep working a bit harder to show that there is more to value in a pharmacy than the price tag.
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
Two weeks to Honk!
Well the times are finally agreed!
The show is on the 26th November 2011, with performances at 1.30pm and 6.30pm
There's a family and friends ticket available at just £25 for four people, so that makes it a real bargain.
Daniel is really excited and all the children are doing a great job at learning songs, lines and their acting. It's going to be a fun show.
The other exciting part is that it's the very first performance in the new Belper Theatre Hall. Fully tiered seating and apparently more comfortable seats. How good is that!
Please come and support them.
The show is on the 26th November 2011, with performances at 1.30pm and 6.30pm
There's a family and friends ticket available at just £25 for four people, so that makes it a real bargain.
Daniel is really excited and all the children are doing a great job at learning songs, lines and their acting. It's going to be a fun show.
The other exciting part is that it's the very first performance in the new Belper Theatre Hall. Fully tiered seating and apparently more comfortable seats. How good is that!
Please come and support them.
Saturday, 10 September 2011
3rd September - another cracking episode
Well firstly let me say sorry that it's a week since I watched this episode and it's taken me until now to blog about it. Ok, got that out of the way.
So, wow, how much fun was that?
For me this was an excellent episode (cracking as I said above) and it was one that was deliciously back to the scary and creepy Dr Who days - to the point where at least one of my friends planned on not letting the children watch it just based on the trailer from the week before!
It had so many of those little fears in it, all made real - being sucked into the black bin bags, the lift out of control and something in the cupboard that was scary!
Shrinking everyone down to the doll's house was great (did you guess that was where they were?) and the dolls who turned you into one of them were really creepy.
And of course, as a father, I was over the moon that it was the dad's love for his little boy that brought them all through in the end.
Wonderful episode, thoroughly enjoyed it. And so good to see that Amy appears to be over not having her baby now...
Presumably that's because she knew that she grew up with her all along?
So, wow, how much fun was that?
For me this was an excellent episode (cracking as I said above) and it was one that was deliciously back to the scary and creepy Dr Who days - to the point where at least one of my friends planned on not letting the children watch it just based on the trailer from the week before!
It had so many of those little fears in it, all made real - being sucked into the black bin bags, the lift out of control and something in the cupboard that was scary!
Shrinking everyone down to the doll's house was great (did you guess that was where they were?) and the dolls who turned you into one of them were really creepy.
And of course, as a father, I was over the moon that it was the dad's love for his little boy that brought them all through in the end.
Wonderful episode, thoroughly enjoyed it. And so good to see that Amy appears to be over not having her baby now...
Presumably that's because she knew that she grew up with her all along?
Thursday, 1 September 2011
Saturday 27th August
Wow what a great return for the new series, even if it was one that had Sue and Daniel repeatedly asking me what was going on - and me telling them to be quiet as I was busy trying to keep up with it all myself!
It was great to see a new stage in the development of River Song and see the pivotal moment that turns her from being the trained assassin of the doctor to becoming the love of his life. But the big question for me is how she could wear a lipstick that would kill the doctor, had no known antidote, and not be affected by it herself. Surely if something has no known antidote, then you can't actually wear it yourself as a lipstick, especially when that's the device that has been chosen as the route of administration. Is it me?
So anyone who can come up with some answers for how that happens, I'm really looking forward to hearing it. Even the ideas that I had about her always wearing some film over her lips (lovely lips of course) so that she could put the drug there doesn't quite work since she'd be forced to lick her lips at some point. Hmm. Please share your thoughts!
My current understanding then is that Melody, having been raised by the one eyed lady and had a few regenerations - at least one of which was in the alleyway that we saw right at the start of the series? - decides to go and live near Rory and Amy to have some of the childhood that she should have had and to be near her parents. But this is really a ploy to find out more about the doctor and because she knows that one day the doctor will come back to Amy and she can strike. As we saw.
The Hitler stuff and the clever little constantly changing justice machine offers yet another approach by which the Dr may be saved (perhaps he gets hold of that one and that is what gets shot - gives another reason for why the fire was needed).
So for me it was a fun episode, even if it was just a little disjointed without a good narrative flow throughout. Still it fills a gap in the underlying story. Looking forward to next week now!
It was great to see a new stage in the development of River Song and see the pivotal moment that turns her from being the trained assassin of the doctor to becoming the love of his life. But the big question for me is how she could wear a lipstick that would kill the doctor, had no known antidote, and not be affected by it herself. Surely if something has no known antidote, then you can't actually wear it yourself as a lipstick, especially when that's the device that has been chosen as the route of administration. Is it me?
So anyone who can come up with some answers for how that happens, I'm really looking forward to hearing it. Even the ideas that I had about her always wearing some film over her lips (lovely lips of course) so that she could put the drug there doesn't quite work since she'd be forced to lick her lips at some point. Hmm. Please share your thoughts!
My current understanding then is that Melody, having been raised by the one eyed lady and had a few regenerations - at least one of which was in the alleyway that we saw right at the start of the series? - decides to go and live near Rory and Amy to have some of the childhood that she should have had and to be near her parents. But this is really a ploy to find out more about the doctor and because she knows that one day the doctor will come back to Amy and she can strike. As we saw.
The Hitler stuff and the clever little constantly changing justice machine offers yet another approach by which the Dr may be saved (perhaps he gets hold of that one and that is what gets shot - gives another reason for why the fire was needed).
So for me it was a fun episode, even if it was just a little disjointed without a good narrative flow throughout. Still it fills a gap in the underlying story. Looking forward to next week now!
Wednesday, 24 August 2011
A new use for an onion!
Despite my ongoing need for evidence when making recommendations relating to health, I do have a fairly healthy interest in research as well (posh way for saying trying things out!). So when the painters who are currently doing our woodwork at home told us to put half chopped onions in the rooms they were painting to reduce the smell of the fumes, we thought we'd give it a go.
And wow - it actually seems to work!
They did Dan's room first and wouldn't start until we'd stuck our chopped onion in there. When I got home from work I thought that they had used some sort of low odour paint as there was next to no smell in the room at all.
However, not liking to waste money, I didn't put onions down when they were doing the next two rooms and boy did we find out that it wasn't low odour paint at all!
So we now have a house full of chopped onion halves which are merrily reducing the smell of paint fumes in the house. Incredible.
It's only a little trial (n=1) but it has made a huge difference for us! I'd recommend it.
And wow - it actually seems to work!
They did Dan's room first and wouldn't start until we'd stuck our chopped onion in there. When I got home from work I thought that they had used some sort of low odour paint as there was next to no smell in the room at all.
However, not liking to waste money, I didn't put onions down when they were doing the next two rooms and boy did we find out that it wasn't low odour paint at all!
So we now have a house full of chopped onion halves which are merrily reducing the smell of paint fumes in the house. Incredible.
It's only a little trial (n=1) but it has made a huge difference for us! I'd recommend it.
Wednesday, 20 July 2011
High wages should come with a dose of responsibility!
I thought that this time around I'd take the opportunity to use my blog to have a little rant!
This last weekend should have been fantastic. Sue and I went off to Copenhagen to see the city and also to see Take That in concert. The purchase of the tickets was a bit of a saga in itself (learning for me there on how to try to avoid fraudulent ticket scam websites) but by Friday afternoon everything was sorted and in place:
Car parking for three days at the airport
Flights from Birmingham to Copenhagen with SAS
Hotel accommodation at Crowne Plaza Copenhagen
and most importantly two tickets to see Take That in concert.
We had a wonderful day on the Saturday exploring the city; the coloured houses in Nyhavn, wandering up the harbour to see the Little Mermaid, even having a look at the shops along the high street (just like a UK high street but more branches of H&M and higher prices all round). And then in the evening off we set to Parken stadium to see the concert.
For those of you who aren't aware, Robbie Williams had a tummy upset after eating lobster the night before. And that meant that the concert was cancelled, just ten minutes before the gates were due to open. So, like 40 000 fans, we were left without purpose or show in Copenhagen. Fair enough perhaps, but the thing that gets me is that there are no plans at all to put on another concert to make it up to those who came along.
We tried relating this to our usual jobs. Can you imagine the patient who goes along for an operation at a hospital say and is told that the surgeon is off ill that day, so terribly sorry but what can you do. No plans to reschedule the operation. Or a student turning up for a lecture and being told that the lecturer is off that day, so terribly sorry go listen to the lecture online instead. It wouldn't happen. Yet neither lecturers nor surgeons get paid nearly as much as the members of Take That.
Almost any other walk of life requires those who work there to find ways to get their job done when they return to work after being ill - or an employer who works hard to make sure that the job can be covered. Not so for those who are millionaires and just sing and dance for a living. And I think that is really wrong.
I am reminded of an episode of 'Mock the week!' in which one of the comedians commented on the habit of stars at concerts turning the microphone to the audience and getting them to sing the songs. In all honesty I think that would have worked a treat in Copenhagen for the Robbie Williams section. We could still have shared in the talent of the Pet Shop Boys and Take That!
And as for the statement that says that the tour was all about the reunion, well that doesn't bother me at all. It's quite clear that once the tour is over the band are going their different ways again, so why not do the one show without him.
My final thought on this one relates to the differences between an England concert audience and that which we saw in Denmark. Here in England the concert goers are predominantly from the UK. There are some who have made the effort to fly over here to see the band, but mainly it's a homegrown audience. In Copenhagen the audience was made up of people who had almost all travelled a long way to get there. As well as those of us from the UK, there were people from Sweden, Norway, Finland, Germany, Holland and further afield. It was a truly international audience. And that's a group of people who can't easily get back again - even if the band has the decency to do the right thing and reschedule the concert.
There's a Facebook group which has been set up to try and persuade the band to think again - sort of like an online petition. You can find it and your support here:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/192044790850635?id=193429797378801
So overall I am impressed with Denmark and with the manners and attitude of the people who were badly let down by Take That and the Pet Shop Boys. But I'm not impressed with those people who take high wages and don't accept the responsibility that comes with it.
Sue is breaking up her Take That and RW CDs. I haven't got any to break up, but I would if I had!
Rant over!
This last weekend should have been fantastic. Sue and I went off to Copenhagen to see the city and also to see Take That in concert. The purchase of the tickets was a bit of a saga in itself (learning for me there on how to try to avoid fraudulent ticket scam websites) but by Friday afternoon everything was sorted and in place:
Car parking for three days at the airport
Flights from Birmingham to Copenhagen with SAS
Hotel accommodation at Crowne Plaza Copenhagen
and most importantly two tickets to see Take That in concert.
We had a wonderful day on the Saturday exploring the city; the coloured houses in Nyhavn, wandering up the harbour to see the Little Mermaid, even having a look at the shops along the high street (just like a UK high street but more branches of H&M and higher prices all round). And then in the evening off we set to Parken stadium to see the concert.
For those of you who aren't aware, Robbie Williams had a tummy upset after eating lobster the night before. And that meant that the concert was cancelled, just ten minutes before the gates were due to open. So, like 40 000 fans, we were left without purpose or show in Copenhagen. Fair enough perhaps, but the thing that gets me is that there are no plans at all to put on another concert to make it up to those who came along.
We tried relating this to our usual jobs. Can you imagine the patient who goes along for an operation at a hospital say and is told that the surgeon is off ill that day, so terribly sorry but what can you do. No plans to reschedule the operation. Or a student turning up for a lecture and being told that the lecturer is off that day, so terribly sorry go listen to the lecture online instead. It wouldn't happen. Yet neither lecturers nor surgeons get paid nearly as much as the members of Take That.
Almost any other walk of life requires those who work there to find ways to get their job done when they return to work after being ill - or an employer who works hard to make sure that the job can be covered. Not so for those who are millionaires and just sing and dance for a living. And I think that is really wrong.
I am reminded of an episode of 'Mock the week!' in which one of the comedians commented on the habit of stars at concerts turning the microphone to the audience and getting them to sing the songs. In all honesty I think that would have worked a treat in Copenhagen for the Robbie Williams section. We could still have shared in the talent of the Pet Shop Boys and Take That!
And as for the statement that says that the tour was all about the reunion, well that doesn't bother me at all. It's quite clear that once the tour is over the band are going their different ways again, so why not do the one show without him.
My final thought on this one relates to the differences between an England concert audience and that which we saw in Denmark. Here in England the concert goers are predominantly from the UK. There are some who have made the effort to fly over here to see the band, but mainly it's a homegrown audience. In Copenhagen the audience was made up of people who had almost all travelled a long way to get there. As well as those of us from the UK, there were people from Sweden, Norway, Finland, Germany, Holland and further afield. It was a truly international audience. And that's a group of people who can't easily get back again - even if the band has the decency to do the right thing and reschedule the concert.
There's a Facebook group which has been set up to try and persuade the band to think again - sort of like an online petition. You can find it and your support here:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/192044790850635?id=193429797378801
So overall I am impressed with Denmark and with the manners and attitude of the people who were badly let down by Take That and the Pet Shop Boys. But I'm not impressed with those people who take high wages and don't accept the responsibility that comes with it.
Sue is breaking up her Take That and RW CDs. I haven't got any to break up, but I would if I had!
Rant over!
Wednesday, 13 July 2011
Dan's Ugly!
Ok, so that may seem like a strange thing to be blogging about - especially when the son in question is undeniably perfect in every way (at least in my eyes - apart from when he doesn't keep his bedroom tidy etc). But the fact is there - Dan has managed to get the part of Ugly in Honk. It's a retelling of the Ugly Duckling, with a whole range of different songs and characters in it. And I am really excited and pleased that my little boy is going to be starring in the lead role.
I know that this means lots of practice at his songs, to the point where we almost sick of hearing them, but if the performance of Joseph last year is anything to go by, then I also know that this will be cracking show and that I'll be sitting there with tears in my eyes when he does his solo.
And if any of the rest of you are any good at diary planning, then come along to see the show - Honk! by Belper Junior Musical Theatre at the end of November. I'll find the dates and times for you when I'm back home! Promise.
I know that this means lots of practice at his songs, to the point where we almost sick of hearing them, but if the performance of Joseph last year is anything to go by, then I also know that this will be cracking show and that I'll be sitting there with tears in my eyes when he does his solo.
And if any of the rest of you are any good at diary planning, then come along to see the show - Honk! by Belper Junior Musical Theatre at the end of November. I'll find the dates and times for you when I'm back home! Promise.
Thursday, 16 June 2011
A night out at the theatre
It's been a crazy three days for me with meetings in Manchester and London, but Sue and I took a bit of time out last night and went to see the Producers at Derby Theatre. It was a production by one of the many talented local amateur groups in Derby (in this case DOC) and it was absolutely fantastic!
Anyone who knows me is already well aware that my knowledge of musicals is surprisingly lacking, so there'll be no amazement at all that I had never heard of the Producers and knew nothing about it at all. When my work colleague Joe commented that the highkicking stormtrooper sequence was great fun, I thought that he was pulling my leg. But no, there they were goose stepping with gay abandon.
If you know nothing about the show and want to see it, my first recommendation would be to get along to Derby Theatre quickly and enjoy their high octane romp. If you can't manage that, I found this DVD version on Amazon
I've watched films by Mel Brooks and always found them funny, but hadn't realised that this talent extended to the stage like this. Almost all of the songs feel like you know them when they start. And the delivery from the guys in DOC was brilliant. With the most risque cliches imaginable and plenty of humour that you feel slightly naughty for enjoying quite as much as you do, the show was fun from start to end.
Anyone who knows me is already well aware that my knowledge of musicals is surprisingly lacking, so there'll be no amazement at all that I had never heard of the Producers and knew nothing about it at all. When my work colleague Joe commented that the highkicking stormtrooper sequence was great fun, I thought that he was pulling my leg. But no, there they were goose stepping with gay abandon.
If you know nothing about the show and want to see it, my first recommendation would be to get along to Derby Theatre quickly and enjoy their high octane romp. If you can't manage that, I found this DVD version on Amazon
I've watched films by Mel Brooks and always found them funny, but hadn't realised that this talent extended to the stage like this. Almost all of the songs feel like you know them when they start. And the delivery from the guys in DOC was brilliant. With the most risque cliches imaginable and plenty of humour that you feel slightly naughty for enjoying quite as much as you do, the show was fun from start to end.
For us it was a really welcome break from a crazy couple of weeks at work. Go on, give it a go!
Sunday, 5 June 2011
Dr Who June 4th - Episode 7
What is the world coming to? You have one week away on holiday, come back to 384 emails at work and then discover that after just 7 episodes the current series of Dr Who is over and we have to wait until the Autumn to find out more.
Was it a great episode? No I didn't think it was really. It had what appears to be the current series climax aproach of bringing back a range of aliens that we've seen and this time around they were all working with the Dr to fight the humans. We also had the warrior human from the Gamma Forest who had met the Dr; I'm guessing that must be in the Dr's future as I don't remember the gamma forest - should I? She was nice, but died.
And the great unveiling at the end where we discover that River Song is in fact Melody Pond, daughter of Amy and Rory (the obviously fully functioning robot) with a bit of time matrix thrown in for good measure. And so much better looking than either of her parents (which means that there is hope for Dan yet!).
So the Dr has zipped off somewhere again to find where baby Melody is and he's left everyone else behind on a space ship that's a long way away from anywhere with a bunch of dead headless monks, but that's ok because River can take them home again.
I commented after last week's episode that I needed to watch it again to work out what had gone on. This week I think that I need to watch the whole series so far again to work out what has gone on. And the sad thing is that I don't know if I am really interested enough to bother with it.
Has the gloss gone from Dr Who?
All these unanswered questions this time around?
Is the Dr dead, or was that a flesh version?
Who was inside the alien spacesuit?
Where is the gamma forest?
And why have they decided that the Dr is a warrior not a healer?
Beats me.
Was it a great episode? No I didn't think it was really. It had what appears to be the current series climax aproach of bringing back a range of aliens that we've seen and this time around they were all working with the Dr to fight the humans. We also had the warrior human from the Gamma Forest who had met the Dr; I'm guessing that must be in the Dr's future as I don't remember the gamma forest - should I? She was nice, but died.
And the great unveiling at the end where we discover that River Song is in fact Melody Pond, daughter of Amy and Rory (the obviously fully functioning robot) with a bit of time matrix thrown in for good measure. And so much better looking than either of her parents (which means that there is hope for Dan yet!).
So the Dr has zipped off somewhere again to find where baby Melody is and he's left everyone else behind on a space ship that's a long way away from anywhere with a bunch of dead headless monks, but that's ok because River can take them home again.
I commented after last week's episode that I needed to watch it again to work out what had gone on. This week I think that I need to watch the whole series so far again to work out what has gone on. And the sad thing is that I don't know if I am really interested enough to bother with it.
Has the gloss gone from Dr Who?
All these unanswered questions this time around?
Is the Dr dead, or was that a flesh version?
Who was inside the alien spacesuit?
Where is the gamma forest?
And why have they decided that the Dr is a warrior not a healer?
Beats me.
May 28th episode 6
It's amazing really how much I missed being able to access the internet last week after we had watched Dr Who. Sue says it's a sign of how sad I am in wanting to be able to sit and play on the computer rather than talk to her - but since my elder brother and his wife appear to communicate mainly through facebook, I'm not going to worry too much!
Just in case you hadn't twigged we had a great week away for half term in Horning and, although there was zero mobile connectivity, there was a TV so we did get to watch the episode (although I do feel that I need to watch it again to work out some of the subtleties).
I liked the flesh as aliens go and thought it was good to see the developing relationships and approaches of the different gangers and originals. I thought that the pile of dying flesh to persuade Rory was a good touch, although I was disappointed at how easily he was persuaded against the Doctor - maybe there's some sort of conflict there?
The final scene in the Tardis as the Dr revealed that Amy wasn't Amy but was in fact an Amy ganger who was still linked with Amy (at least I think that was what they said) was great fun. Let's go rescue her...
(I really do need to watch this episode again!)
Just in case you hadn't twigged we had a great week away for half term in Horning and, although there was zero mobile connectivity, there was a TV so we did get to watch the episode (although I do feel that I need to watch it again to work out some of the subtleties).
I liked the flesh as aliens go and thought it was good to see the developing relationships and approaches of the different gangers and originals. I thought that the pile of dying flesh to persuade Rory was a good touch, although I was disappointed at how easily he was persuaded against the Doctor - maybe there's some sort of conflict there?
The final scene in the Tardis as the Dr revealed that Amy wasn't Amy but was in fact an Amy ganger who was still linked with Amy (at least I think that was what they said) was great fun. Let's go rescue her...
(I really do need to watch this episode again!)
Saturday, 21 May 2011
21st May - how much fun was that!!?
Well I know that I am going to have to watch tonight's episode again and not just because I spent too long hiding behind the sofa! Our little lad is away with school for the weekend which means that we nearly didn't watch it ourselves until he was home. But thankfully we did and it was great and I'm already looking forward to watching it again when Dan gets home.
It was also really exciting to get comments on my blog before I'd even written my own thoughts and I am so impressed at the thought that the flesh Dr may be the one that gets shot in the desert, though I also think that may prove to be too easy - I think my prediction is doppel doc digging out the Tardis whilst melting into the acid or something similarly noble and tear jerking!
It certainly seems that the underlying theme of this series is what is life - with the tardis joining us last week and the plastic memory foam stuff rising up from the bath tonight.
It was a good one wasn't it. Once again the standard Dr stuff of an isolated location, fixed number of characters and a villain who may (and just may) prove to be less evil than it first appears.
And I think Rory is a robot - so is this series all about telling us that he may have been a robot, but he's also alive? And why wasn't he more familiar with the medieval stuff, presumably he lived through it all waiting for Amy?
Whatever, it was fun and it was great seeing Amy being jealous of him for a change! Looking forward to watching it again with Dan tomorrow evening and then next week's episode. Hooray!
It was also really exciting to get comments on my blog before I'd even written my own thoughts and I am so impressed at the thought that the flesh Dr may be the one that gets shot in the desert, though I also think that may prove to be too easy - I think my prediction is doppel doc digging out the Tardis whilst melting into the acid or something similarly noble and tear jerking!
It certainly seems that the underlying theme of this series is what is life - with the tardis joining us last week and the plastic memory foam stuff rising up from the bath tonight.
It was a good one wasn't it. Once again the standard Dr stuff of an isolated location, fixed number of characters and a villain who may (and just may) prove to be less evil than it first appears.
And I think Rory is a robot - so is this series all about telling us that he may have been a robot, but he's also alive? And why wasn't he more familiar with the medieval stuff, presumably he lived through it all waiting for Amy?
Whatever, it was fun and it was great seeing Amy being jealous of him for a change! Looking forward to watching it again with Dan tomorrow evening and then next week's episode. Hooray!
Thursday, 19 May 2011
This week's alien
Does anyone remember what the alien is supposed to be this week for Dr Who?
To me it's always a bit of a disappointment that they show trailers of the following week's episode at the end of the one that you've just watched. I reckon that Riversong would call them spoilers!
It's like a kind of visual indigestion.
You haven't had time to really put that show into place mentally and they are already trying to fill your mind with what's heading your way the week after. And I don't think that's fair or right.
I suppose that on the positive side, it gives you a week to start to put your own thoughts together as to what may be about to happen the following week, to share those moments of excited dread (mixed with hope) on how the Dr is going to pull the rabbit out of the hat and rescue everyone again. When you watch it the following week, you can then marvel at the ingenuity of the writer if they've done a good job. In that sense the spoiler is a cliff hanger well in advance!
But on the downside, it takes some of the thrill out of the episode that you've just seen. You can't sit back and enjoy it properly, because your head is full of the knowledge that something new and indescribably wicked is heading towards them.
And whilst I've been jotting these notes down, I think I've remembered the alien for the weekend - wasn't it some sort of melted plastic faced Edvard Munch screaming thing? How exciting, I can hardly wait to see how the Dr gets out of that one....
To me it's always a bit of a disappointment that they show trailers of the following week's episode at the end of the one that you've just watched. I reckon that Riversong would call them spoilers!
It's like a kind of visual indigestion.
You haven't had time to really put that show into place mentally and they are already trying to fill your mind with what's heading your way the week after. And I don't think that's fair or right.
I suppose that on the positive side, it gives you a week to start to put your own thoughts together as to what may be about to happen the following week, to share those moments of excited dread (mixed with hope) on how the Dr is going to pull the rabbit out of the hat and rescue everyone again. When you watch it the following week, you can then marvel at the ingenuity of the writer if they've done a good job. In that sense the spoiler is a cliff hanger well in advance!
But on the downside, it takes some of the thrill out of the episode that you've just seen. You can't sit back and enjoy it properly, because your head is full of the knowledge that something new and indescribably wicked is heading towards them.
And whilst I've been jotting these notes down, I think I've remembered the alien for the weekend - wasn't it some sort of melted plastic faced Edvard Munch screaming thing? How exciting, I can hardly wait to see how the Dr gets out of that one....
Sunday, 15 May 2011
May 14th - one to enjoy
Wow!
For me last night's Dr Who was the first one of this series to hit all the right Dr Who buttons. What a fantastic idea to see the Tardis take shape and come to life, to start to get an idea of the relationship between the Tardis and Dr Who. And I really loved the thought of the Tardis having chosen the Dr right from the start to give her the chance to explore the universe.
There were wonderful reminders of the essential loneliness of both the Dr and the Tardis too - each of them now the last of their kind, with the Dr seeing the bodies of timelords past in Auntie and Uncle and the Tardis seeing a graveyard of her kind, where the Dr saw opportunities.
This time around the hints for the future (the only water in the forest is the river?) was a nice touch to keep the undercurrent moving throughout each episode. I guess it was also nice to see that Amy really does love Rory (but isn't he a robot?) and the bunk bed touch was fun too.
It showed Matt Smith off as a great Dr (come here you scrumptious beauty) and had a suitably wicked and never seen alien - always the best sort!
Great stuff and well done indeed.
(But I guess I should also say that neither Sue nor Daniel were that impressed!)
For me last night's Dr Who was the first one of this series to hit all the right Dr Who buttons. What a fantastic idea to see the Tardis take shape and come to life, to start to get an idea of the relationship between the Tardis and Dr Who. And I really loved the thought of the Tardis having chosen the Dr right from the start to give her the chance to explore the universe.
There were wonderful reminders of the essential loneliness of both the Dr and the Tardis too - each of them now the last of their kind, with the Dr seeing the bodies of timelords past in Auntie and Uncle and the Tardis seeing a graveyard of her kind, where the Dr saw opportunities.
This time around the hints for the future (the only water in the forest is the river?) was a nice touch to keep the undercurrent moving throughout each episode. I guess it was also nice to see that Amy really does love Rory (but isn't he a robot?) and the bunk bed touch was fun too.
It showed Matt Smith off as a great Dr (come here you scrumptious beauty) and had a suitably wicked and never seen alien - always the best sort!
Great stuff and well done indeed.
(But I guess I should also say that neither Sue nor Daniel were that impressed!)
Monday, 9 May 2011
Dr Who - May 7th
If you start your thoughts by saying 'I really want to like this series of Dr Who' then do you think that kind of suggests that something isn't working as well as it should?
This Saturday was more like the sort of Dr Who that we're used to and it was definitely the best episode of the three that we've had in this series so that's a real plus for us.
But Dan failed to be scared by the monster (his personal point of view was that there's nothing very scary about someone singing, thereby proving he hasn't listened to his Mum when she's got James Blunt on in the car), although he did admit that he didn't like her very much when she went red and looked angry.
I thought that there loads of great touches: walking the plank, Amy in costume with sword at the ready, their arrival on the boat and Matt Smith's surprise when Captain Hugh worked out how to drive the tardis (because all ships are the same really).
But I'm pretty sure that we lost a pirate at some point (the one who had to stay with them in the room?) and the Captain Hugh didn't seem hugely bloodthirsty. So overall, I'm just not sure.
It was a fun episode and that will have to do for me, for now!
This Saturday was more like the sort of Dr Who that we're used to and it was definitely the best episode of the three that we've had in this series so that's a real plus for us.
But Dan failed to be scared by the monster (his personal point of view was that there's nothing very scary about someone singing, thereby proving he hasn't listened to his Mum when she's got James Blunt on in the car), although he did admit that he didn't like her very much when she went red and looked angry.
I thought that there loads of great touches: walking the plank, Amy in costume with sword at the ready, their arrival on the boat and Matt Smith's surprise when Captain Hugh worked out how to drive the tardis (because all ships are the same really).
But I'm pretty sure that we lost a pirate at some point (the one who had to stay with them in the room?) and the Captain Hugh didn't seem hugely bloodthirsty. So overall, I'm just not sure.
It was a fun episode and that will have to do for me, for now!
Saturday, 7 May 2011
Just a quick thought before tonight's episode of Dr Who
Sue pointed out this morning at breakfast that maybe trying to attract the US viewing market (based on the fact that they are suddenly filming it there) with one of the more confusing storylines yet is possibly not the best of ideas!
Friday, 6 May 2011
An old article I wrote
NursePrescribing, 2003, Vol 1 No 3
COMMENT
Freebies, favours and the seven deadly sins: keeping on the straight and narrow
In the editorial of the British Medical Journal, dated 31 May 2003, the writer commented on the avarice and excess that characterize the nature of our professional relationships with the pharmaceutical industry. As avarice is one of the seven deadly sins, this article considers how applicable the others may be to our relationship with the industry.
This article looks at guilt, the nature of greed and the ways in which we, as professionals, can work to make sure that we stay on the straight and narrow. In recognizing that sin is temptation and that we can overcome temptation, we can then consider a way in which we can live alongside our tempters with our eyes and attention fixed firmly to enhancing patient care.
It is, of course, interesting to note that this journal, as with so many others, has only been brought to you today because the pharmaceutical industry is prepared to support its production. We can all say that we do not rely on the pharmaceutical industry, but is that true?
Traditionally the seven deadly sins are listed as:
- Avarice (greed)
- Gluttony
- Envy
- Lust
- Wrath (anger)
- Pride
- Sloth.
Back in the 13th century, Aligheri Dante categorized these into three broad areas which, in turn, gave you an idea of just how badly you were sinning. With huge apologies to the literary creativity of Dante in his Divine Comedy, I will adopt and adapt his categorization.
Excessive self-interest
Avarice
Simply put, this is wanting to make sure that you get your fair share, or maybe just a little bit more to be on the safe side.
You know the feeling when the medical sales representative has been around and you just pop up to reception to see if he left any pens. Maybe you didn’t get one last time and you just want to make sure. Or those times when you went to conference and started going around the exhibitors to see which stand was giving away a plastic carrier bag, so that you had somewhere to put the pens and mouse pads. ‘Oh, and that mug and a couple of journals.’ ‘See the one over there that has some of those little fluffy bugs, and where did you get those mini chocolates from?’ ‘Who did you say was giving away cakes from Betty’s?’ ‘What, someone has got an umbrella?’ ‘Wonder what you have to do for one of those.’
We’ve all been there. I went to a conference earlier in the year and saw a stand with a toy monkey on it. We were just redecorating my son’s bedroom and I thought that would be a lovely little gift for me to take home so that he knew that I had been thinking of him. I greeted the lady on the stand and asked whether I could have a monkey.
‘Are you a prescriber?’ she asked. ‘No, I’m not,’ I replied. ‘Sorry, we are only giving the monkeys away to
people who prescribe or who regularly request supplies of our product.’
She gave the same response to the very nice lady from the National Prescribing Centre. So I went and grabbed a handful of chocolates from another stand.
Gluttony
This is the refusal to accept the natural limits of pleasure and so preserve the natural balance. It can be hard to tell the difference between greed and gluttony. Let’s put it this way. Greed is wanting to get something for free from every drug company representative who walks through the door. Gluttony is wanting to send them out with their pockets empty.
Have you ever seen the people who go up to a stand with their carrier bag and pick up a handful of pens, rather than just the one? That’s gluttony.
Again, think of it from a personal point of view.
How many pens do you really need? What do you do with the surplus? Who is exposed to the adverts as a result?
Other than the proposed solution of buying your own pens (how much do they cost now?), I was fascinated recently to meet with a colleague who had taken an unusual step in redistributing the wealth. She would sand off the logo or other adverts and take pens on holiday with her to Africa and India
Lust
How many people have turned straight to this one, dying to know whether I was going to talk about that regional manager who wore the latest designer shades and turned up in a flash car. Or, in the interests of sexual equality, that rather nice brunette from GlobalCorp.
Well, I see lust as the self-destructive drive for pleasure out of proportion to its worth. Another example from my own sins. I was at a conference in Harrogate a few years ago and one of the companies had a competition going. If you could correctly guess what different smells were, then you could win a bottle of champagne.
Let’s just look at this one . First of all, they attracted my greed by doing champagne rather than wine; then they got my gluttony by letting me enter more than once – actually twice a day for all 3 days of the conference. I wanted that wine and would cheerfully, and willingly, stay in the queue at the stand even after the educational sessions had started, so that I could have my go. It meant that I didn’t learn what I had hoped. And on the final day, the chap on the stand, who by this point recognized me, said ‘If you want a bottle of champagne that much, why don’t you just go and buy one?’
Okay, so that made me very cross with the representative (see anger below) but it also made me stop and realize what I had been doing. It wasn’t just the champagne, it was the thought of winning. Well out of proportion with its worth. Lust.
Have you ever missed out on something important to satisfy a personal urge?
Then Dante suggests that we have:
Perverted self-interest
Pride
Pride is in comparing ourselves to others. ‘It should come to me, it’s only right.’ ‘I have worked hard at getting to where I am and have put long hours in.’ ‘I am good at my job and the companies are just recognizing my worth.’
Do you recognize yourself in any of these?
Maybe you’ve implemented a changeover to a more cost-effective product. The new company has recognized the work that you did. We all deserve a bit of recognition and support for the work that we have done, don’t we? However, this is the foot in the door. All medical sales representatives are trained to be your best friend. Our friends recognize our worth, provide support for our self-esteem. But why is the representative your friend?
Envy
Envy is resenting what others receive.
Do you get taken out for nice meals by your sales team? What about your GP colleagues? When you can prescribe, do you think that the food on offer will improve? And we’ve all heard of the doctors going off on conference in Barbados
Much like the impact of pride in our decision-making processes, feeling real jealousy of what others get generates a strong belief that we should get it too. In turn, this weakens our resistance to doing what is right when deciding whether to accept an offer or not. We are not necessarily doing anything wrong, are we?
I remember a wonderful evening out with work colleagues at a very nice restaurant in a leafy suburb, chilled wine, taxi home, excellent food. Bit of a sales pitch half-way through the evening, but not obtrusive. It was only fair that I recommended their product later that week to say thanks. It didn’t affect patient care badly.
Strange that I would not usually have gone out with those particular colleagues for a meal. But why should they get treated and not me?
Anger
Anger is an impatience with the faults of others.
Anger comes in two ways and is quite a sneaky little visitor: _ We have the anger with a company that does not treat us with the respect that we deserve – don’t they know who we are? Just wait until we can prescribe as well (see pride above). In the example I gave under ‘lust’, my immediate reaction to the impudence of the representative was to delist all the over-the-counter products which that company made. That would show them – ha!
I suppose I didn’t really consider what the patients who chose their product for personal efficacy would
do as a result.
The other side of anger is that which comes with our justification of accepting gifts from the industry. How dare people suggest that you would prescribe or supply simply based on a gift! That’s outrageous. Indeed, a nursing colleague of mine was fortunate enough to be awarded a weekend for two in Paris, after the volume of diabetes monitoring strips she supplied to her patients rocketed to the highest in the primary care trust. How much trouble was I in when I suggested that it was perhaps not appropriate to accept it? After all, we only ever consider patient care and the holiday did not figure into it at all.
Finally, Dante suggests that we have:
Insufficient care
Sloth
Sloth – drifting completely into the sleep of complacency.
It is easy to rely on the information that we receive from our industry colleagues. It is easy to take on trust that we have been supplied with the complete package of evidence. Looking further into a product, and the claims made about it, takes time. It takes effort. No-one can blame us for not always having the time. But what about never making the time?
In England
The temptation factory
The presence of the pharmaceutical industry is a fact of life. No argument there. Without the industry, we would not have the extensive research into, and development of, new life-saving drugs and therapies. However, research has shown that prescribers are more likely to change their prescribing habits based on the influence of a medical sales representative than they are on the advice of the prescribing advisers, despite the latter being impartial and evidence-based.
Proposing a personal resistance framework
Managing to do what is right for the patient, away from the influence of the industry, requires us to do the following:
_ Be aware of what we need our therapy to achieve
_ Engage with the patient in the selection of therapy
_ Monitor outcomes and take appropriate action
_ Monitor our own practice
_ Reflect on the decisions that we make
_ Remember that our capacity for self-delusion is nearly limitless.
So, ask yourself this; when next you are tempted by the pens and mouse pads: Would I spare 25 pence to buy a new pen? If the answer is no, because you don’t need one that much, then leave them with the receptionists.
‘Know Thyself’
Remember sin starts with the sinner, not the temptation. It clouds the conscience and corrupts our judgement of good and evil. To be able to resist, we must be able to undertake thorough reflection and accept our limitations as part of who we are.
Song selection
It's incredible when you think how many songs there are out there that it should prove to be so difficult to find a song that you want to sing that's arranged in the format that you want to audition.
Take our autumn concert this year for example. I wanted to audition with three of the other guys with "Daydream Believer". You wouldn't have thought it would be that hard to find an arrangement of the song, including harmony, for four men would you. Wasn't it originally recorded by four guys called the Monkees?
As is so often the case these days, I started my search using the internet - trying Google to begin with (to be honest I can hardly remember any other search engines any more!). This brought up, unsurprisingly, musicroom.com and sheetmusicdirect.com. But despite my best efforts hunting through their extensive portfolios I couldn't find a tenor/bass arrangement anywhere.
So I decided I'd try the old fashioned route of talking to a member of staff and called them up. I spoke with a relatively friendly guy who had a brief look through the portfolio (I'm guessing that he had a more effective search tool than me) and then told me that they didn't have anything. Why?
Continuing on my theme, I then did a search of all arrangements for TTBB and it seems that unless you want to sing 'There ain't nothing like a dame' or a slightly wider range of religious choral pieces then you haven't really got much choice. And since we're a musical theatre group, I didn't think that the church songs would be right.
It can't be that men don't like to sing, or that they aren't appreciated - you only have to look at the enduring success of groups like Take that, Boyzone and Westlife to see that guys like singing ballads and people like listening to them doing so. So why make it so hard to find something to sing?
And in case you're wondering how I could possibly even begin to claim that 'Daydream believer' is a musical theatre piece, I'm sure that it must still be included in 'Shrek the Musical'? Feel free to tell me if I'm wrong!
Take our autumn concert this year for example. I wanted to audition with three of the other guys with "Daydream Believer". You wouldn't have thought it would be that hard to find an arrangement of the song, including harmony, for four men would you. Wasn't it originally recorded by four guys called the Monkees?
As is so often the case these days, I started my search using the internet - trying Google to begin with (to be honest I can hardly remember any other search engines any more!). This brought up, unsurprisingly, musicroom.com and sheetmusicdirect.com. But despite my best efforts hunting through their extensive portfolios I couldn't find a tenor/bass arrangement anywhere.
So I decided I'd try the old fashioned route of talking to a member of staff and called them up. I spoke with a relatively friendly guy who had a brief look through the portfolio (I'm guessing that he had a more effective search tool than me) and then told me that they didn't have anything. Why?
Continuing on my theme, I then did a search of all arrangements for TTBB and it seems that unless you want to sing 'There ain't nothing like a dame' or a slightly wider range of religious choral pieces then you haven't really got much choice. And since we're a musical theatre group, I didn't think that the church songs would be right.
It can't be that men don't like to sing, or that they aren't appreciated - you only have to look at the enduring success of groups like Take that, Boyzone and Westlife to see that guys like singing ballads and people like listening to them doing so. So why make it so hard to find something to sing?
And in case you're wondering how I could possibly even begin to claim that 'Daydream believer' is a musical theatre piece, I'm sure that it must still be included in 'Shrek the Musical'? Feel free to tell me if I'm wrong!
Thursday, 5 May 2011
Dr Who May 2011
Hmm,
I am really not sure at all about this series so far!
I like Matt Smith. He’s not the same kind of Dr as David Tennant was, but I am ok with that I think (though I do miss his approach!). But I am wondering whether this time around they have decided to go too clever with the story and the overall approach that they’ve taken. We’ve had a two parter for the first episode, which was kind of silly and unnecessary to my point of view. We had a bizarre (and forgettable in so many senses) alien which wasn’t really that scary and it took 90 minutes for the Dr to send out a short video that showed it asking us to kill it. For me it didn’t work.
You could then add in to that what I anticipate will be the ongoing mystery of the astronaut who appears to have become the Dr’s daughter (guess work there) and is busy regenerating in a dark alleyway somewhere in America (why not Wales?) and on that note, since Dr Who has been filmed in Wales for the last few episodes, how and why did his daughter end up in America rather than Cardiff? Time will tell and will no doubt prove to be the solution to the conundrum!
What do I think about a series that starts off with the Dr being killed (as said above by his own daughter potentially). It’s supposedly largely a children’s programme, but my son Daniel already has no idea what’s going on (actually my wife doesn’t either) and the suggestions that I’ve come up with all seem a little far fetched to me.
The questions that we’ve seen that need to be addressed?
Amy is both pregnant and not (suggesting two consecutive realities at the same time – a paradox that the Dr will need to sort out, also meaning why he isn’t dead when he is!) and appears to be the parent of the child that was in the space suit and is now free to leave it. A bit daft really – it stretches the mind to think of the Dr and Amy making babies whilst Rory is wandering off elsewhere in the Tardis. And is he still a strange robot thing anyway?
In fact I think that the only ray of sunshine in the series so far is Riversong. But that’s because I think that she’s gorgeous!
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