Out of Quarantine - How things have changed

Blimey, that year went quick! No sooner than I mentioned Swine Flu, I sneezed and was carried away by the men in black! It's been quite worrying. Mrs. Daktari woke up in pigtails and even came out in rashers!

I assure you, after many a liberal application of Oinkment and Juantibiotics we are both just fine.



So whats new? A coalition government (which I don't think will last 5 years) and lots of idiotic Sun readers making such comments as "Labours scorched earth policy" and even bigger morons going on about unelected prime ministers (highly amusing because we don't actually vote for a prime minister like the USA vote for a president!) and as for scorched earth, let us not forget Margaret Thatcher!

Other than that, it's the same old, same old isn't it? TDC despite no longer having Sandy Shores or whatever his name is as leader, still have the same stigma attatched to them (i.e. They're all barking mad!) Ramsgate's Town Council have moved house and the Ramsgate Society are in League with the Devil - Oops sorry I mean.... The Ramsgate Society have got TDC behind them (will there be a coup against our beloved Town Council? lol)or will that lovely poster get back up advertising that Hairdressers business - Poor sod. The guys trying to make a living and eveyone wants him to be another unemployment statistic!

Westgate Pavillion has been shut. Do you know, I've never been there. I was born here in Thanet and have lived a significant portion of it here but I've never been to the Westgate Pavillion. I always kind of got the impression it was a little bit how Littlewoods in Ramsgate used to be - i.e. you've got to be over 70 before they'll let you in!

Tracey Eminem put a sign up in Margate saying "I never stopped loving you" - In Neon!
Well Tracey, it seems that the Council stopped loving the place years ago and are now trying to change that tack at the expense of other places in Thanet!

Not only that Cllrs Mark Nottingham and Mr. Simon Moores seem to quite dislike each other with one trying to do the other over in court for something or other (and we voted these people into Local Government? Gee Whizz!!!!) perhaps one of our local film makers could make a movie of it. Maybe along the lines of a FROST/NIXON type thingy. We could have Nottingham Moores. Ooh erm.. maybe not cos that sounds like somewhere you might find someone unsavoury with a murder conviction.

In short a year has past and it's still not looking good is it? Such a shame that no one on any of the councils (or parliament for that matter) can do anything that seems to turn around Thanets fortunes.

So here I am! A year from before and still rather sad at it all really. But it's nice to be back!

Swine Flu Pandemic declared by The WHO!

Not that WHO - although it would have been quite amusing if Roger Daltrey had told us that he hadn't been working on old material and was really one of the world's greatest scientists!

The World Health Organisation has declared a global Flu Pandemic. Needless to say, the newspapers will all be full of scaremongering!

So what does it mean for us? Well not a lot of difference at the moment. A Pandemic just means that it's been prominent is 2 or more Countries.

Should things worsen, well I can assure you that here we are well prepared for it. Procedures are in place should Anti-virals such as "Tamiflu" should need to be given to people. Should this be the case, various Doctor's Surgeries and Pharmacies across the UK will become points of contact for you to recieve whatever treatment is required.

So basically, don't panic and don't believe the hype that will probably be in the Newspapers tomorrow! Should you have reason to believe that you do have Swine Flu, telephone your GP's surgery. Don't go in otherwise (should you have swine flu) you would infect a lot of sick people and it's those people who are most likely to contract the illness!

You can of course phone NHS direct but you may only get Crackling!

And I wouldn't bother with looking for a facemask. They don't work very well anyway and, after about 20 minutes don't really work at all!

Unless the threat gets worse, just carry on as normal.

Mind you, I do believe that the Government has already started to change important things to remind us of the horror that is swine flu. They're even starting to change nursery Rhymes........

This little piggy went to market,
This little piggy stayed at home,
This little piggy had roast beef,
This little piggy had none.
And this little piggy had influenza A virus subtype hemagglutinin protein 1 neuraminidase protein 1.

A joke I know but with our political parties.... anything's possible!

Rozzers about so who's met their "Waterloo"?

Just coming home tonight I see that there are 2 rozzers with a squad car and they have blocked off Plains of Waterloo where it joins Wellington Crescent.

Any ideas? There's obviously something going on! Or has the nanny state found out the true identity of East Cliff Richard???

Prescription Charges - We're quite Lucky Really!

My my that was a Christmas party and a half!

Welcome back to the OGM's Rambles.............................................................

So Tony (BIGNEWS Margate) had a ramble about NHS Prescribing guidelines as reported in the Screws of The World Newspaper.

I can understand where Tony's coming from and on the surface, the whole thing looks pretty damn unfair.

Before I start to ramble about this topic, have a read of something I spoke about last year regarding prescription charges here

Ok, now you've read that, lets go on to the topic of prescribing guidelines. It's been going on for years!!!!!! That's the short answer. The long answer is that if a patient is not exempt of prescription charges the GP will quite often prescribe 2 months (in exceptional cases even 3!) however, guidelines for prescribing 28 days is aimed primarily at those patients who take many different medications (in most cases, the elderly)

There is a good reason for prescribing in 28 for this catagory of patients. It's often the case that their medications can change quite frequently. If the GP were to prescribe say 3 months worth and then after one month, the medication needs to be changed then that consitutes quite a waste of medication which results in more cost to the NHS and of course that means you and me!

Don't get me wrong. I'm not defending the NHS here but I can personally say that on many an occasion, I have witnessed complete wastes of medicines costing hundreds of pounds and it's often due to over prescribing.

On saying that, I'm no lover of the Tax we pay via the prescription charge.

But here's the thing............... What if we had to pay for prescriptions? i.e. the cost of the medicine itself. The vast majority of medications prescribed actually cost a darn site more than £7.10 as a matter of fact, I had to get 2 prescriptions for Mrs Daktari today. I had to pay £14.20 but if I'd had to pay for the actual drugs, I'd be looking at about £50 to £60!!!!

It's not ideal, but until someone has the balls to get this lark sorted as to why Wales don't pay at all etc. I'd rather carry on the way things are at the moment.

It's rather late but Happy Christmas

Well my shift has finished so just a quick note to wish you all a Healthy and Happy Xmas!

Don't forget, if you need Medical Advice, try the pharmacy on duty (usually found in your local rag!) or if it's more serious contact a Doctor.The on call doctors telephone number is 0844 8001234

Seasons greeting to you all from the OGM!

Nothing Changes does it?

Greetings one and all. I trust all of you are well.

I've been away for a while out of the area on secondment and working too many bloody hours but now I'm back! So what did I miss? Anything new? Nope! The Manston airport haters still hate it and anyone who likes it. The Council are still trying to sell off property owned by us (the general public). Rick bless him, still writes novels in the comments section on other peoples blogs, the Maritime museum is up sh*t creek etc etc etc etc.

It's not surprising that our local newspapers aren't even fit enough for our fish and chips. The same old news just seems to get recycled!

So what ramblings for today? Well.........................................

First, it was very sad to hear of the death of Oliver Postgate. His programmes influenced an entire generation including myself. But was he our greatest living Thanetian? Not in my opinion. He was born in Hendon in Middlesex, which, (although my geography isn't brilliant) is no where near the Isle of Thanet. To me, they have to have been born here to be a Thanetian. But of course that's just my opinion. But it was nice to see according to a recent ECR Poll, Brenda Blethyn be crowned with that very same accolade. Which of course is fine as she was born right here in Ramsgate.

Which brings me to my next point...........

Mrs. Daktari had saved me the "front page news" of the Adscene which had the headline "Granville Theatre to Close!" Oh no I thought, not another place gone! But wait, it turns out the headline was incorrect! In a later edition of the said local rag, a very small apology and many corrections were made to the inaccurate story and it turns out that the Granville are just short of funds but not at this moment closing at all!

It's nice to see that when the newspaper gets it wrong, they don't really help the situation by making the corrections somewhere where people will actually see it! I wonder how many people now think it has closed and don't even bother in finding out? Which of course in turn, may well mean less people visiting it!

Bob Geldoff managed to switch on the xmas lights in Margate with anyone throwing spare change at him - or deodorant for that matter!

And apparently we're all now better off with 2.5% taken off V.A.T. which in real terms is a few pence here and there, although the adverts on the telly make it sound like the savings are HUGE!!!!! And people are still on about whether we should join the Euro or not. Most people I know straight away say no. But would your average joe on the street really be that street smart fiscally to know where we'd be worse off or not? But that's a debate for a whole other time.

It's probably safer to wait for the DFS sale where I know I'll definitely make a saving! ;)

On a lighter note, it seems that Jeremy Paxman was in Sandwich yesterday as he was doing something on Pegwell today. Anyone with any more information on that?

Right! Ramble over, I'll be back to my usual self soon once I've had some kip and start working some reasonable hours again!

TTFN

It's True! GOD really does help old people!

Oh alright! Not that GOD but G.O.D. (otherwise known as the not so lesser spotted Gerry O' Wotsit)

I was trying to find somewhere to park near my home up here on the Eastcliff (which is not an easy thing to do considering many employees of shops in the town use it as free parking! Grr!!) when I approached Homefleet House only to see all the cars grind to a halt whilst Gerry helped an old lady across the road. No hype, no photos, just someone helping another person in this world down here on planet thanet!

Whether you agree with his ideals or not doesn't matter. We're all quick to criticise, but good on you Gerry for showing that there are still people who will go out of their way to help others. Believe me, there are a lot of people round here who wouldn't have even bothered helping.

I did contemplate using my camera on my mobile to get a shot but seeing as I was driving, I didn't facy breaking the law! Plus I think we've already seen him loads in the local rags!

Just thought I'd share that with everyone as it made me feel good to look at the brighter side of life! Now I can take the rose tinted specs off!