21st Century Dystopia

 'Good Morning Vietnam!' springs to mind along with the late, great and sorely missed Robin Williams.

Adrian Cronauer: It's gonna be hot and wet! 

 Well, there's been hot, hot and even hot as in increasing temperatures for weeks now.

Cue even more silliness courtesy of the media.

Today, an article about customers complaining to the Dairy. What was the complaint?

Milkman has been delivering 'hot milk'.

I'd laugh but I find naught but pity.

People being led 'by the nose' as in Social Media. 

Thinking back to before refrigeration was commonplace. The Larder had a block of marble on which the milk was put along with anything needing to be kept cool. Sitting the bottle in a bowl of cold water also helped. Then there was the time when my Auntie was given a fridge. It was never plugged in as it was thought to be another larder. As the bathroom was a cooler room, in hot weather the milk bottle in a bowl of water sat in the bath.

School holidays long ago - telephones belonged in offices - and people such as the doctor had a phone. 

Mostly, we went everywhere by Shank's Pony. 

The river was just over a mile away. Putting on swimming costumes and ordinary clothes over the top...walking 20-25 mins down to the river. Next, which bank to choose? Crossing the bridge to the deeper, opposite bank. Divesting ourselves of outer clothing, leaving clothes, towels and picnic on the bank. Wonderful, cold water up to our knees. 

Late afternoon, making the return journey, tired and happy walking home.

Children brought up to be self-sufficient and taught to act responsibly. We did not require adult supervision. Trusted to go where we said we were going. A gaggle of children or just 2 or 3.

Today, no-one would dream of being anywhere without a cell-phone. Except those of a certain age...

Children sans responsibility, indulgent parental units setting them to run about inside enclosed garden whist they do nothing of any useful purpose. Offspring day-bit-length screaming, shouting, crying as indulgent 'adults' fail grandly.

Language misuse proliferated by media.

Any hole in a road is declared a 'sink hole'. The latter being  geological terminology reserved mainly for Karst scenery to describe e.g. Gaping Gill near Settle in the Yorkshire Dales. An underground system of limestone caves caused by weathering.

Nothing could be further from the truth than to describe collapsed Victorian sewer systems and burst watermains as 'sink holes'.

Oops

 Sometimes, the buying on-line finger strikes When with the OU it was the registration finger. I purchased a new vacuum cleaner, but found out when it arrived (speedily) and put together, it was too small. A disadvantage of buying online being that images can be deceptive. Thankfully the Company were happy to give permission to return it to them.

Next Oops came when printing out the delivery label. Suddenly, the laptop decided it could not work with the printer and vice-versa.

Reading tech updates from The Register: Enterprise Technology News and Analysis, the problem stemmed from a W10 update. M-soft were going to 'work on it'. fortunately, HP were a lot quicker off the mark. Instructions, and links to download fix were  easily accessible yesterday. Problem solved.

Traditionally, problems happen in 3s. This morning having duly packaged and labelled the box, we went to the local Pick-up Shop. Just in time as whilst the parcel acceptance was underway, the shop owner instructed the assistant not to accept any 'large' parcels. Huge sigh of relief! The package was accepted in the nick-of-time.

Unlike younger folks, neither of use glue ourselves to cell-phones. 

Hence we are not at the beck and call of sundry apps. I have a proper receipt, now in plain sight on the fridge door.

En masse

 Since March 2020 everyone has been singing the praises of a certain national institution. To be fair some survived and others died; some are still suffering.

However, when you dig down to the minutiae as in personal experience, things are not so rosy. 

Surely, it is not beyond the wit and wisdom on organisations in this day and age to Remember the Human. Setting an appointment time for an individual in her 80s, only to repeatedly on arrival tell her that there's a 2-hour waiting time is injurious to her welfare and well-being. 

Sight-impaired, diabetic, cancer patient; has enough to cope with. Why not communicate properly and enable her to remain at home until much nearer the time.

Time for a catch-up

 Daft as it may seem, I'm rusty not with the welcome rain this morning, but with Blogging.

A couple of hours ago, an idea, memory struck me. I went off down memory lane to view a friend's blog. Then, it dawned on me that I have lost touch, not for a few weeks or months, but years.

I'm going to blame it on living thro' Trying Times.

2018 was the last time I saw 'my GP'. Not because of being well, quite the opposite. Then the CQC Care Quality Commission wrote a damning report on that particular Health Service provider.

Ructions ensued which, led to 'our' GP surgery being closed. 2021 that surgery remains closed. 

Then, came the debacle known as 2020 along with world-wide pandemic. Here is not the place to share details of the ensuing brouhaha.

Oct.2019, surgery long-delayed took place.

2021 May 2nd Hilary departed this life. Wonderful lady, grandmother to my Goddaughter

."Grandma was finally reunited with Grandpa. Born a day apart, died 1 year 1 month 1 day apart, but now together forever."