Tony_S

We have been reading about Columbia recently. My brothers friend is travelling to Venezuela to visit her family after living for many years in the UK. Even though she will be entering the country on a British passport the Venezuelan authorities will not allow exit permission to fly to anyone born in Venezuela without a Venezuelan passport even though they are almost impossible to obtain due to shortage of passport making materials. Hence interest in neighbouring countries with bus connections. Though I wouldn’t be as vulnerable as a hippo in Columbia, I looked at the vaccine requirements for cruises that visit that area and there are a few recommended live vaccines I can’t have. I am quite happy to watch wildlife documentaries about Central and South America and limit my travel to less hazardous (disease) places.

@PupCam vaccine news! As I entered the jabbing suite, I vaguely waved by empty box of immunosuppressive medication and the pharmacist thanked me and proceeded to the allergy questions. I also told her despite my other medication I didn’t bleed after vaccine jabs. She said I had had rather a lot. As she seemed nice I asked about Aditi, age 70,various health conditions and living in the same house as a vulnerable person. Scheduled for the Autumn booster it would seem. I think Aditi is going to investigate the private option at Boots but at the moment it seems to be no local availability (unless you count Cambridge as local) but I expect that will change.

I think for my overall health I am better off avoiding people than cake. Tony

Many years ago my mother said her older brother would like me to some research on their ancestors. The surname wasn’t one of the more common ones so I hoped it wasn’t going to be too hard. Uncle was hoping I would be able to show the family origin wasn’t French as many people assumed (not sure why). I traced their paternal line back to someone who was a wheelwright in Weoley Castle but who appeared to be Welsh. I passed on this information and Mum said her brother wanted me to stop as he was no longer interested!

For,years we had our neighbours 3 daughters playing in their garden. The younger one has a spectacularly loud “outdoor” voice. They have all gone past playing outside age now but we thought it was quite nice hearing children play. If they were on their giant trampoline and we were in the garden they would talk to us as they bounced. The next door but one neighbours clearly didn’t like hearing children at play and I think were looking for support to “complain”. I think Aditi’s enthusiastic support of the “lovely children” soon stopped us being considered as co-complainers.

When my lung problem was being investigated (during Covid lockdown) I had to watch videos on “effective huffing”. Perhaps Ben could do a YouTube series.

Although we are both type 2 diabetic we can cope with small portions of cake fitting in with our overall diet. They are appreciated and enjoyed. However we seem to get the “you shouldn’t be eating that “ lectures from people who can’t possibly imagine we have the ability to manage our diet.

Cakes have other powers too, We didn’t attend the official birthday fish and chip lunch for MiL on Saturday. She commented that she was disappointed that there wasn’t a birthday cake. We went to see her the following day. She is still talking about the lovely cake that Aditi made and took over. Mil usually forgets things but that cake made an impression. Leaving some for the overnight carers wasn’t a bad move either. MiL has put some in her freezer for her granddaughters as they missed out on birthday cake too. Our nieces are well brought up children and know the importance of a birthday cake! Tony

I think we are getting closer to needing to employ people to do things like decorating or at least bigger spaces like the lounge or hallway/stairs/landing. Just looking at the lounge dining room ceiling makes me contemplate employing a decorator. It doesn’t need doing at the moment but the thought of it is daunting. Fortunately our over the road neighbour would recommend someone, he only recommends people,he would have work in his house. As he is something of a perfectionist we are happy to follow his recommendations.

I had a proof of need one once before. That was actually done at my normal pharmacy. The pharmacist said he didn’t need to see it, he had been prescribing my medication for over 30 years. Today’s one is at another nearby pharmacy. I will report back what happens later. My process was log on to NHS app. Answer question confirming I have impaired immune system, go to appointment booking. Tony

Morning all. It is overcast here, not raining though. I have to present myself at 11am at a nearby pharmacy for my Spring Covid booster. As mine is health related I rather than age I have to take along proof that I qualify even after being invited to book an appointment by the NHS. After that I may spend some time in the garage. Tomorrow I will have to move some stuff about to give easy access to our solar power inverter and batteries. The company that installed it contacted us to carry out an annual check to make sure all is well and check any updates have been installed. This is a no charge after sales service. It wasn’t that long ago we had a new extra battery installed and everything seems fine but this checks everything. I will do the tidying tomorrow as the technician is coming on Thursday. Not sure what time yet. Tony

The audiologist today asked if I had worked in a very noisy industry,as my hearing response looked as if I had. I said I hadn’t so just bad luck then. I had been unwell with measles when I was at junior school but the hearing loss was only apparent later in life, I had no upper frequency loss until I was about 60.

So definately a North v South divide!

I do jobs involving reaching or stretching for things and really hurt the next day. I think next time I will do,some stretching warm up exercises first. I never do.

When we did the history of Britain at school I was always concerned about what happened to the Beaker People. Fortunately I found out a few years ago while wandering through a museum in Dublin.

I am sorry to have to report that there is effectively no new audiology service locally. The referral waiting time for initial new tests is considerable. In some other NHS areas it is much better but the hearing aids available on the NHS are somewhat dated. Some people,need these aids in order to work,or communicate effectively. My problem was hearing broadcast sound or the beginning of any sentence Aditi said to me. It turned out my hearing was particularly deficient in the female speech frequency range. With no chance of getting a NHS appointment I went to a private provider.

When I got there the audiologist said I’m Nick, Jen doesn’t work Mondays. I said it was ok, it was my hearing that was faulty not my eyes. Then he announced the soundproof box was faulty but was able to use the apparatus they have for home visits.

I managed to get myself ready and set off early for my 3pm in Leigh on Sea for my hearing test. The sound proof box was faulty but they have portable units for home visits. Anyway the test went well and pretty well confirmed by own belief/observations of the state of my hearing over the last year. It was however not just a case of boosting the default amplification but tweaking certain frequency bands. I got a cup of tea and a biscuit too! Tony

I don’t think general or special relativity errors will need to be taken into account this afternoon as my appointment to have my hearing test is just along the A13 in Leigh and I knows where I am going. Hopefully sitting in a box being observed won’t make me into Schrödingers cat and I will be alive on exit as it doesn’t involve any random radioactive events. I hope the test results confirm my own feelings as I turn the default volume up by 1 notch when I insert the hearing aids. The test will look at more than just overall volume and loss,at higher frequencies can be adjusted.

Mine was an email on the 15th April. it said I was being offered the vaccine as NHS records show I may have a weakened immune system. I then just went to the NHS app on my iPad (could have used phone but iPad was nearer ) logged in and found the option to book a Covid jab. It suggested I took along either a letter explaining what my condition was or a box of the medication.

I don’t suffer from hay fever, unless one day of slightly itchy eyes counts. Except for the day we went to RHS Hyde Hall one lovely summer day. They have an area (Sky Meadow) planted out showing grassland plants from across the world. We walked near the American Prairie area and I had exactly the symptoms that people with hay fever suffer from. So,perhaps a holiday on the prairies is not for me.

I thought the clock frequency was reduced to make it tick at the same frequency as a stationary clock on earth but that software correction was applied for things like non circular orbits but as I mentioned I only recall what I have read in popular science stuff, I never studied orbital mechanics, just tiny stuff. All those scientists and engineers make something that corrects for special and general relativity and drivers still turn left into railway lines or onto beaches.

I wondered how they corrected for relativistic effects. It seems that they adjust the clock oscillator frequency in the satellite so it gives the “correct time” as one on earth. The orbiting atomic clock experiment was suggested in the 1950s in order to test for relativistic effects. So,when GPS satellites were launched they knew they would need a correction. My physics background didn’t include big stuff like planets and satellites. Chemical physics was more concerned with tiny physics.

Ours was fine for about 20 years and then it died branch by branch. We haven’t replaced it.

One thing that interested me was that GPS systems have to correct for relativistic effects as the clocks in orbit run faster than stationary ones on the surface.