iL Dottore

What about a Rolex Oyster Perpetual Datejust in plain stainless steel*! https://www.rolex.com/watches/datejust/m126300-0005 I have worn mine constantly since 1992 - the watch is indestructible! Works out at about 34p/day (the longer you have it, the cheaper the per diem cost). It had a cleaning and service after about 15 years of daily wear. It's now time for its second clean and service. *wedding present from Mrs iD.

If you have to ask, you can't afford it!

Alas, I am still too far away from Godhead, from achieving Earthly Nirvana and my chakras are so unaligned, that such a trifling difference will narily impact on my quest to achieve oneness.... Now, the above may seem depressing - and indeed viewed in certain light, it is. But then I am cheered up no end by contemplating the fact that on the next turn of the wheel, (the eternal cycle of life and rebirth - saṃsāra) as Karma always restores balance to the Universe - both @Dave Hunt and @jamie92208 will be reborn as GWR modellers. And when @Dave Hunt Mk II and @jamie92208 Version 2 proudly exhibit their panniers, then we'll know all is well with creation!

I've read about that too. Now where was it where I read it???? Ahh, Yes.... "Conspiracy Theory Nutters Monthly" Anyone who is properly qualified to pronounce on such matters will be able to tell you that GWR Green (aka Brunswick Green) is one of the colours prescribed by The Buddha for aligning the chakras and achieving inner balance and harmony. Any deleterious effect experienced is purely psychosomatic, Dave, purely psychosomatic.

All very useful info, thanks HH. So, if I’ve go this straight, current Hornby TT offerings are 1:120 (or 2.54mm/ft) but the original Triang TT was 1:101.6 (3mm to 1 foot)? Thus this would mean/could mean that I can plunder an old Triang TT loco for the chassis and upgrade motor & wheel sets and take a Triang TT coach, change out the wheels and with a bit of super-detailing get a decent carriage out of the exercise. Or not? I’m afraid I have to differ with you HH, for me the fun is in the building - which is why I’ll be happily be “upcycling” all the bespoke and dimensionally accurate 4mm buildings that I have scratch built (some of which I’ve featured on RMWeb). I’ve had my fun with them and they can go to a good home. My planned layout will be relatively small - even though the apartment I’m moving to has a greater m2 wohnflache than the current house (mainly because the hobby room* will be shared with Mrs iD 😢). So it’ll be a rural station, probably GWR and will involve tank engines (possibly panniers). I plan to have no more than 4 locos and about 6 to 9 coaches. And I’ll probably “upcycle” the layout when I’m done…. * I’ll be moving away from brass rod, plasticard and the like and go for laser cutting/engraving and 3D printing

Of course expertise and a good bedside manner aren’t mutually exclusive (and I was referring to 40+ years ago). A grumpy bedside manner isn’t necessarily indicative of expertise, or a good bedside manner necessarily indicative of so-so clinical expertise. Doctors, after all, are human (well sort of) with the foibles and strengths of that species…

THE CURSE OF 3MM At Warley last year, I was “seduced” (which I think is the appropriate term in my case) into downsizing from 4mm to 3mm. Starting completely from scratch I’ll be adhering to fine-scale standards and this where “The Curse of 3mm” strikes (to be a tad melodramatic). Track, Turn-Outs/Points are very easily sourced; buildings? I’ve scratch built enough in 4mm and 7mm that 3mm holds no terrors, wagons? readily available from the 3mm society - but coaching stock and locomotives? That’s where I am truly curséd. I really don’t have the expertise to build the motorised chassis for locomotives (although my intention is to have only a couple of tank engines) and finding coaching stock is a bit of a minefield (sides, chassis, bogies, ends, donor vehicles, etc.). Unfortunately, the relatively easily accessible Hornby TT is of no help (I think Hornby missed a trick by going to TT instead of 3mm). Can anyone suggest an idiots guide to building tank engine locomotives (as in <you’ll need x, y, z and then it’s step 1, step 2, etc>). Of course another curse of switching from 4mm to 3mm is getting rid of 4mm rolling stock and buildings (anyone interested in The Brunel Pub or The Georgian Terrace Houses? [amongst other things]).

I am glad to read that Mrs br2975 was seen with speed and efficiency. However, I would like to comment that given a choice between a doctor with a curt and abrupt bedside manner with outstanding clinical skills and expertise and a doctor with a smooth and reassuring bedside manner and so-so clinical skills and expertise, I’d take Dr Grumpy any day. Many decades ago, when I was working in the hospital, I noted that some of the very best clinicians were those with the poorest bedside manners. One neurosurgeon in particular had a hair trigger temper in the operating theatre (things had to be “just so” and he did NOT tolerate any sloppiness in technique) and was brutally blunt with the patients (along the lines of “I’ll remove the tumour but you’ll be permanently impaired”j and yet he was the neurosurgeon of choice for incredibly complex procedures. Thinking about the above, I wonder how much was an act?

This is exactly why the NHS will never improve, no matter how much money you throw at it. Of course more money will help, there’s no health system in the world that couldn’t do with more money, but the problems in the NHS go beyond mere financing. When you have a corporate culture that savagely persecutes whistle blowers, protects top management who preside over the most appalling healthcare scandals and who never apologise or admit to mistakes, then something is truly amiss. It has been said that the NHS is the last of the 1948 nationalised dinosaurs, where Whitehall knows best, the service is run for the benefit of its management not the patients and you have to be jolly thankful for what crumbs they deign to condescend to give you. It’s the fifth largest state employer in the world (after the Indian MoD, the US DoD, the Chinese PLA and China National Petroleum). The NHS spend per person in 2021 was about £4,266, (the average Swiss health insurance premium for 2024 will be about SFr 4320/year [about £3770] - with better and faster access to care and better outcomes). Unfortunately, no-one in UK politics is willing to take off their rose tinted glasses and have a proper grown up conversation about the role, purpose, structure and future of the NHS - something that is long overdue.

Ended up as Bear scat..... (after CC had finished educating her about something called "proper patient care" - with a big stick.... with a nail in the end of it....)

You're not alone in this, Dave (@Dave Hunt)

What the **** are they playing at? My GP has an ultrasound AND an x-ray suite in his office (though he does refer if basic ultrasound and/or x-ray reveal anything needing more sophisticated assessment). OK, so your GP may not have an ultrasound machine, but a basic ultrasound for a DVT (been there, done that, got the low molecular weight heparin and warfarin!) takes about 15 - 20 minutes. Which means - even with office hours - an 8 hour day would see 24 - 32 patients/day scanned. In many places around here hours are 07:00 - 18:00, with mealtime coverage The possibility of a DVT is not a "take a few aspirin and come back later" situation (although aspirin does have anti clotting effects). Perhaps you should print out the attached (https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/16911-deep-vein-thrombosis-dvt) highlight the relevant passages and really get shirty with them. Ask them if they realise that there are internationally recognised "gold standards" for most treatments and what you're experiencing ain't even "cheap plastic standard"...

Now, now, Bear. Justice must follow its inexorable path and reflect the will of the people.....

Judge @polybear's mobile "wall to stand in front of whilst blindfolded and having a quiet ciggie" was considered a major and significant advance in British Jurisprudence.

Probably saves both time AND money....

@polybear was at first very skeptical about being "volunteered" to be a <citizen judge>, until he learned that he could apply the law as he saw fit...

We'd heard....

What puppers needs is a Bear who is used to working at heights... ...who also has his own state-of-the-art, high tech safety equipment...

And until the affluent and influential are subject to the same "anti-drug" policing etc (stop and search, "no-knock" raids, confiscation of anything and everything belonging to anybody in the vicinity of "the criminal" etc.) that seem to always target the poorer classes, you'll continue to have a drug problem. Cocaine is especially pernicious. The drug of choice for many in the entertainment industries* and amongst the wealthy, users are often protected by money and influence. Ironically, coca leaf preparations were first used by Andean civilizations to combat the effects of cold, hunger, and altitude sickness, especially amongst the poor. Now, according to the drugabuse.com (a website for a rehab centre group) Cocaine has a reputation as a “rich man’s drug.” According to the World Drug Report, Cocaine in the US costs between $25 and $200 a gram, with typical prices checking in at about $112 per gram - so definitely a "lifestyle" drug for the rich and louche. But of course, the plod goes after the poor B*****s who get hooked on street bought painkillers and similar "cheap" drugs. * many in the entertainment industry have admitted to burning through thousands of dollars of cocaine during their (ahem) "wild years"

I hope that's a typo/spelling error, Neil. Otherwise we'll a half-dissolved Manxian on our hands... https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=4828249&page=1

We medical types have to know an AWFUL lot about the body and what people can do them (in the above mentioned scenario, dermatological burns from hot wax, skin infections, etc., are not uncommon). Let's put it this way: in matters corporeal not only do most people not have the full users manual, most haven't even read the short, 4 page, "quick start" guide....

I take it you are not a fan of those lovable mop-tops, the fab four, The Beatles.

It depends. There have been studies with heroin addicts that have shown that if a heroin addict gets unadulterated heroin at the right dose on an appropriate schedule of injections they actually function normally, unlike alcoholics. Another finding is that, providing a heroin addict doesn't kill himself/herself by overdosing, taking adulterated heroin or by catching a fatal disease (mostly, but not always, HIV) the heroin addiction eventually burns itself out. Providing addicts with clean needles, unadulterated heroin and a safe place to shoot will definitely save the NHS a lot of money - by not having to treat overdoses and needle acquired disease for starters. And that's what happens when drugs are freely available without an appropriate support structure, Like it or not, the recreational drug Genie ain't gonna go back in its bottle - so the best approach is to be pragmatic and have policies to minimise harm. Either that, or make summary execution mandatory for anyone caught with more than μg of any illicit substance (although that would certainly effectively address the lack of housing issue).

The entire region (genitalia, perineum etc) is fully depilated. Most undergoing a Hollywood are female, but men undergoing the same sort of depilation are not unknown.

Re @PhilJ W's informative post: the first three I fully get, the fourth I kinda get, But the last??? Which sort of female (and these services are aimed at females) has feet so hairy that they need depilation? On second thought, don't answer that. ER may not yet be ready for the answer.....