Puddy Galore

I did it as a part time student as well while keeping a full time job going. I was 39 when I started to study and it took me 6 long years. I worked in the hospitals as a medical secretary and the consultant clinical director of surgery ... in his own words...”didn’t want his medical secretaries going off chasing further education”. So, he allowed me to pursue my studies as long as I could demonstrate I could work my normal hours outside my study and keep a handle on my work responsibilities - I think he thought I wouldn’t cope with it - he was very wrong. It was real hard work at times and I think it really did fry my brain in the end but I did manage a 2:1. It enabled me to move on and upwards getting better paid jobs within the NHS. One of my projects was work around CJD.

Just out of interest (and I’m really not being or trying to be funny or sarcastic in anyway here at all) have you a background in biomedical science? I’m just curious. I did immunology some 22-years ago (gosh where did the intervening years go) as part of a biomedical science/health science degree and I found immunology (and embryology at a later point in the degree course) absolutely fascinating - I had to be surgically removed from my immunology text books . At the point I was studying the subject HIV was still very much the virus to conquer.

Poor little moggie stuck in China no place for any moggies. I’d be hard pressed to get masks on my moggies let alone put them on a lead.

I’d go one step further. Find a charter plane back to whence he/she came and charge that cost along with original repatriation flight charge plus medical costs.

would love to see some snow I really would but all this horrendous wind no thanks, its just dangerous. Give me a December 2010 freezing spell (wistfully I recall it) over these type of wind storms any day.

I concur, wish this storm would do one now, I’m fed up with this wind. Don’t know if another squall line has just past over us but the wind was insane. Getting annoying now.

Wasn’t sure which news headlines momentarily shocked me the most; the potential the novel virus may be closer at hand than I realised or the news about Philip Schofield - still trying to decide which one has surprised me the most

bit close to home for me!! Pictured: Briton on honeymoon cruise diagnosed with coronavirus WWW.TELEGRAPH.CO.UK A British man on his honeymoon is among 41 passengers on a cruise ship in the Japanese port of Yokohama diagnosed overnight with the novel coronavirus, almost trebling the total number of... I think the concern was how many people he had been in contact with prior to him leaving for his honeymoon. Weddings wouldn’t be a great gathering for spreading any virus.

I can see that reasoning, lol. I’m vegetarian myself and don’t do meat aisles in supermarkets.......however, my cats are certainly not vegetarian; I’ve tried them on courgette bake but for some reason they don’t care for it As part of my degree (gosh nearly 20-years ago now) one of my projects was BSE. I think I chose that from a list of options given me because a friends father at the time was under suspicion of possibly being a BSE victim. As it turns out they diagnosed him with lewy body dementia. As part of my research I delved into slaughterhouse reports and any possibility of eating meat again was well and truly quashed.

There is no doubt it is definitely an achievement to get this isolation hospital up and running in such a short space of time - credit where credit is due there. Maybe I’m becoming more cynical as I age but does this type of herculean undertaking (not to mention the cost involved) suggest the problems with this virus are expected to get far worse or are they just thinking ahead before the next novel virus erupts

Absolutely agree, all very untrustworthy.

Good grief! Sorry (again) but surely questions are now being asked around the world in senior health organisations about good animal husbandry practice in China and whether they actually make the grade in that department.

Yes, I think you saw my post a day or so ago when I touched on this. Again no offence but I have a very hard view on this indeed. When you embrace such a barbaric inhuman cruel culture with regard to food and the subsequent food hygiene problem it causes, you can only expect bad things to happen. My sincere sympathies are reserved for any innocent people who have already fallen or will fall victim to the virus as collateral damage. I always try to avoid anything made in China on account of their poor practices on food, human rights and their poor contribution to the environment but as they swamp the international markets with literally everything it is a very hard task. As I said it is about time the rest of the world got tough with China with some hard truths about their practices with a warning of some sort somehow suggesting they clean their act up.

Yes, that will be another element that will affect how the NHS operates on a day to day basis.

As a former NHS staff member, they will be pretty awesome with dealing with it all. However, while they will deal with any emergency situations such as this (quarantine and everything), should there be a widespread outbreak, there will be quite a negative knock on effect to routine hospital work, i.e. as beds are used and if wards need isolating or “locked down” then I am afraid elective/routine stuff will be postponed. A bad normal flu winter or norovirus outbreak can have this effect - I have seen surgeons tearing their hair out when elective cases get cancelled as there are no beds.

As a former NHS staff member, they will be pretty awesome with dealing with it all. However, while they will deal with any emergency situations such as this (quarantine and everything), should there be a widespread outbreak, there will be quite a negative knock on effect to routine hospital work, i.e. as beds are used and if wards need isolating or “locked down” then I am afraid elective/routine stuff will be postponed. A bad normal flu winter or norovirus outbreak can have this effect - I have seen surgeons tearing their hair out when elective cases get cancelled as there are no beds.

I’ve been veggie for 30 years plus.....use different beans and lentils.

Yuk and yuk, I can well believe it. I’ve read comments on the meat markets in China in here, its all very horrific and it would haunt me to the end of my days. The morals of it all belong in the medieval era in my humble view or in a HBO production like Deadwood where years ago they did feed dead humans to the pigs - poor pigs!!! In a modern educated world one would hope all human beings could strive to adopt an acceptable code of behaviour to all things living even if they are animals specifically bred for food, as you say it is just about having respect for all living things.. You are so very correct though it is very difficult terrain to navigate and I confess I avoided biomedical ethics at university like the plague for that very reason ......would have driven me to drink I fear.

No offence intended whatsoever to anyone anywhere but I do wonder if the time is fast approaching where the WHO and indeed the rest of the world needs to sensitively try bringing China to the table to discuss bringing them into line with modern food hygiene levels. As an animal lover I find their practices very unpalatable (no pun intended) to say the least but on a practical world health level, China needs to pay heed to the fact for some reason (at least from what I can remember) these novel viruses often emanate from their country so surely they must be asking a simple question - why us?

1981 Elton John - Song for Guy - remember this being on the radio as we drove to Cheltenham in snow Christopher Cross Arthur's Theme - think because we went to the cinema to see the film - hilarious Bucks Fizz - Land of Make Believe and this .... https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5jhocSCSZzk

This wind is driving me insane. Good job I lifted the hanging baskets down yesterday as there would be nothing left of them by now! It’s broken bits of my roses and dahlias and my runner beans are tied to everything I can think of to tie them to but how they are still standing upright I’ll never know

I'm sure there are more scientific studies out there but suspect whether cold or hot temperatures kill more people is not so straightforward because of how cause of death is recorded. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-44956310 For me the difference is if you are cold you can make efforts to warm yourself up (accepting of course the elderly sometimes can't or don't to this and develop hypothermia) whereas in extremely hot temperatures it is very difficult to get away from intense overbearing temperatures - not everyone has aircon and the elderly and infirm cannot always take showers. It is preference and it would not do for us all to be the same I guess. My moan is - I hate this heat intensely and simply cannot wait for it "to do one". Not only does it affect my own health, I have an 87 year old mum to be concerned about and pets to try and keep cool, so no it doesn't suit everyone to be burnt to a crisp

Well I'm a bit confused now. Do I need to ignore the Netweather automated weather forecast? It has removed or reduced the thunderstorm risk for my area although other weather forecasts have suggested I am in the severe risk - has the risk area changed at all?

My neighbour and I discussed this only yesterday. You are quite right we used to get far more thunderstorms than we currently seem to get. I well remember storms, both as a child and an adult, that used to rumble on through the night and sometimes well into the following morning. I do also remember afternoon storms as I would often feel panicked about getting home from work in time to get the horses in out of the storms when I could see them building up during the afternoon. Does anyone know what, if anything, has changed climate wise for the UK to explain why thunderstorms seem more of a rarity these days other than in the SE of the UK?

Thunder and lightning in Wolves and the sky looks like armageddon ....