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• Oddball Sports of Ye Merry England

  Saturday, Jan 1, 2011 3:14AM / Standard Entry

  It's been a while I know, it's been a bit hectic with the shop, I'm pretty well established now and looking into more avenues.

  I was watching a show on odd British Sports, I'm not sure how many of you had 'School's Sport's Day', but in Britain it was big. If you didn't win the egg and spoon race, you could be assurd that your parents were going to make you practice three hours a day balancing an egg on a spoon whilst attempting the sack race. Who could of known that in adult life there was worse to come.

  

  Cheese- Rolling ~ A game for the seriously deranged, a large double gloucester cheese is rolled down a steep hill and than the competitors are sent after it, at 70mph the cheese has been known to injure spectators.

  

  BOG Snorkelling ~Rules are pretty simple, snorkle through a bog from one end to the other and back again using only flippers to propel you, they now have one with bikes and a triathlon

  

  Shin Kicking ~From the Cotswolds comes the art of Shin Kicking, oh yes totally true, this sport dates back to the 17th century and involves you stuffing your trousers with straw and getting kicked to the ground in a tackle

   

   traditional Egg an Spoon Race

  

  
  Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOyQBSMeIhM
  

  
  It may not show up this is the video of the cheese-rolling http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOyQBSMeIhM

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• NHS (National Health Service)

  Thursday, Jan 28, 2010 8:03PM / Standard Entry

  After Flagday raised some important questions about a National Health Service, I thought I'd take her advice and do a blog. I realise that in America right now it is a major topic and yet it has been hard to find out what living with an NHS system is actually like. I'll do my best to answer the questions Flagday asked because I'm sure a lot of US Residents are wondering. If you have anymore please feel free to ask

  (This is a long blog so if NHS does not concern you, I advise against reading it and for those who are interested take it a bit by bit to read)

  What is the effect of your healthcare system on someone like yourself?

  I'm middle class and so the national health system is a godsend, without it the poorer and middle class society in Britain would not be able to afford a lot of the treatment. We still pay for Dentistry and Opticians but if you are on benefits or low income, these too are subsidised and partly payed for, as is Medical Prescriptions(otherwise Prescription medicine costs around £6.50 per prescription for non- benefit and those under the age of 60)  . For me who is Self-employed a dentist check-up costs £16. Besides these three everything else is free, this includes mental health departments.

  Taking a typical UK resident  (I will use the pronoun you)  Like what does one pay as a monthly premium?

  We pay for our NHS mostly through National Insurance Contributions(NI), which is 11% for those earning  above £110 -£840 per week. For earnings above £840 you will pay more, and for less than £110 you'll pay little if any. Self-Employed people like me pay £2.40 a week. Although NI is not just for NHS, it is a contribution that goes into NHS funds.

  You CAN  still have private healthcare if you wish, with people such as BUPA, but NHS is free to everyone no matter what your income.

   Do you have a choice of doctors? 

  You can have your choice of doctors as long as they are in your vicinity, like for me I could not have a doctor based in London as my home is out of the area(actually by about 250 miles away).

  We have  a GP, which is the doctor for general checkups and such, than there is the Consultant who you would be referred to if you have a specialist need and finally the Surgeon who helps you through the operation and aftermath, all these are generally from the area you live in but occasionally you can be sent to other zones depending on where your nearest specialist place is for things such as Heart surgery.

  Are there long waits for regular visits - for specialists - for emergencies?

  Regular visits to the GP are immediate as and when you need them the appointments are made, the system varies. My GP for example won't allow you to pre-book appointments for another day, but others do still allow this.

  Specialists are as a rule under the NHS only referred to you if the GP things it is required, again the length of time to visit a specialist can vary depending on where you live and what the case is. Some will take months, others you will be referred to within days.

  Emergency cases are dealt with as quickly as Private cases once the outcome is decided. And for A&E (ER) visits it depends on what you arrive there with. A cut thumb and you could be waiting there for 9 hours at the out-patients department, but a medical emergency such as a heart attack and you go straight to A&E.

  One important rule is that if you call an ambulance they MUST come out and if you want to go to hospital even if they feel there is nothing wrong, YOU MUST be taken to hospital whether they think it should or should not be so.

  Do people hate your system?

  We get frustrated at the system but do we hate it? No I don't think so, and I think it is proven by the lack of numbers who sign up to private healthcare. The NHS is the  second biggest employer in the world and it saves millions of lives that would not be saved otherwise, our health insurance never stops so treatment is constant no matter what our paypacket. A hospital is always close by and if not we will have an ambulance, even air ambulance to make sure you are taken as quickly as possible. That's not to say it's perfect, for instance an expectant mother has to go to Ormskirk instead of Southport here as we no longer have the facilities or Childrens A&E. Each hospital specialises in something, BUT you can go to the hospital with these cases and emergency ones rarely get transferred to another hospital.

  Can one get a job which provides better health insurance beyond what the state offers?

  We receive every treatment the same no matter the job. Private patients have advantage such as private rooms or quicker times for non emergency cases, but overall both Private and NHS patients get the same treatment as far as medical emergencies are concerned. Jobs can come with Private healthcare but it all depends on the employer.

  Do doctors have to pay a kings ransom for an education in the UK or does the state turn out subsidized doctors?

  Medical students are all given grants to attend university and accomodation and unlike other professions they don't have to pay back the loans.

  Overall I'm happy with the NHS, yes there is much that needs fixing, even as the second biggest employer they are still very much understaffed. Matrons who were gotten rid of years ago,need bringing back to the hospital wards to ensure high standards of cleaning and care are kept check of. And a better system is needed for drug supply, any new ones on the market, if too expensive can often take time to reach the general population.

  But I know that without the NHS my father would have died 20 years before he did, and as for me I'd more then likely be lying in a gutter with a wooden leg, they've done a pretty good job in keeping me healthy and I haven't paid a penny.(well except for the NI).

   

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• Wikipedia

  Tuesday, Jan 26, 2010 8:12PM / Standard Entry

  

   Britain plans to drop history lessons from primary school curriculum and replace it with learning how to use wikipedia.I actually read the following quote from Daily Mirror colomnist Brian Reade

  "As Someone who's experienced wikipedia's gross inaccuracies, I look forward to being told Winston Churchill was a heavyweight boxer from Skegness who,when he retired, sought out people who hadn't paid for their deckchairs and fought them on the beaches"

  I found it amusing especially the twist on the old speech. Personally I haven't  experienced any mistakes on Wikipedia, but saying that, how do I know I haven't, I mostly check Wikipedia to discover stuff that I know nothing of and I do notice a lot of 'this page may need correcting' headers.

  Has anyone here encountered errors on wikipedia? and what do you think about the plans to reform education in this way?

  ------------------------------------------------------

  I came across some old Boris Vallejo artwork, he was one of my favourite as a teen, some of them are too erotic so I've not blogged them as not to offend, but these are a few I remember.

  

  

  

  

  ___________________________________________________

  And a classic one for all those who have ever heard of Maggie Thatcher's iron lady regime of the Conservatives;here is the album cover from Iron Maiden's 'Women in Uniform'

  

   

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• If there be a lightbulb in my head...someone switch it on!

  Thursday, Dec 10, 2009 8:55PM / Standard Entry

  I used to think that I could not possibly get anymore dumber than I already am, and than something crops up that just throws that theory right out the window. Let us take this equation for example (with my maths skills I'm really quite pleased I can finally use that word somehow).

   

  

  +

  

  +

  

  (whoa this photo is so touched up it's untrue, and I was A LOT thinner, I now have ate the former self as shown here as my scales do concur)

  =

  I was giving the flat a good winter clean a couple of weeks back and dusting the swords as you do, when I decided to leave a  dagger(FANGS OF BAELIN AS SHOWN) placed on the carpet while I (barefooted) lifted a heavy box down from the cupboard (I can see what you guys are already one step ahead...don't beat me to the punchline here), the next thing I do is stumble with the box and step on something, I ignore it and continue, thanking the skies that I at least remained upright but then I realise my foot is wet and I look down to see lots of red stuff, I'm actually looking around the room for paint at this point before I notice the dagger, a hole in the carpet and a matching one on the foot my first reaction is

  'Oh oh the Carpet, it's new down the landlord will kill me' and than my second one is,

   'hang on there is blood, I must be in pain', at which point the pain does it's duty and kicks in, finally my third reaction is

  'Ok I have to get down the stairs to where the stitches are but how do I go about getting down there with this blood not stopping'...Aha my saviour ....Purple Crepe paper' so that gets stuck on the foot which does sod all and I decide to go down the stairs on my rear with the foot in the air with paper decoration stuck to it.

  I got the stitches in, hobbled for a week, but i'm good to go dancing again, should I ever feel the urge to make a prat of myself doing the agadoo doo dance.

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• Demotivators

  Monday, Nov 9, 2009 5:55PM / Standard Entry

  I'm all for Motivation I think it keeps us all going but the last few years I have purchased the Despair Calendars because they make me laugh, have interesting facts in the dates and nice pictures. It's all about demotivation...in a fun way, here is some of my faves:

   

  

  AMBITION
  The journey of a thousand miles sometimes ends very, very badly    

  ARROGANCE The best leaders inspire by example. When that's not an option, brute intimidation works pretty well, too.       CHANGE When the winds of change blow hard enough, the most trivial of things can become deadly projectiles.     CLUELESSNESS There are no stupid questions, but there are a LOT of inquisitive idiots.   COMPROMISE Let's agree to respect each others views, no matter how wrong yours may be.   CUSTOMER DISSERVICE Because we're not satisfied until you're not satisfied.   DELUSIONS There is no greater joy than soaring high on the wings of your dreams, except maybe the joy of watching a dreamer who has nowhere to land but in the ocean of reality.   DESTINY You were meant for me. Perhaps as a punishment.   GOALS It's best to avoid standing directly between a competitive jerk and his goals.   PRIORITIES Hundreds of years from now, it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove... But the world may be different because I did something so bafflingly crazy that my ruins become a tourist attraction.   Here's a link to the website:- http://www.despair.com/viewall.html

   

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