WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Marilyn]

Worked with an ENT surgeon once.in answer to Cathy's question...any oil will do (baby oil, olive oil or unused cooking oil. For Stanley's benefit I will say that means beef fat out of the chip pan is not suitable! I suspect it was good enough in the 'old days' but generally frowned upon now. Warm the oil slightly by placing a few drops on a teaspoon that has been run under hot water and dried)
Ear candles. What a dangerous product. Don't set fire to your hairsprayed hair!
Cotton buds can actually cause impacted wax.
( my husband has a disgusting habit of putting his car key in his ear and I freak every time he does it). Totally gross. Where did I find this man......?

[Cathy]

The things we get to talk about (share) on here never ceases to amaze me, hehe.

I sometimes smear a touch on vaseline on my outer ear and then later use a cotton bud or a tissue to wipe away any wax, there never appears to be anything there tho.

[Tizer]

I didn't realise ear wax could cause so much excitement and interest. No, I'm not lighting any candles in my ear, but I do regularly put a drop of olive oil B.P. or almond oil B.P in each ear. Like you Cathy, I have a lubrication problem due to ageing but it concerns my ear canal. Through our lifetimes the ear continually secretes protective wax together with an oil which lubricates the passage of the wax from the back to the outer ear; this has a cleansing effect on the ear canal. When we get older some of us stop producing the oil and the wax accumulates - a drop of veg oil now and then helps with alleviating this problem. This usually works for me but sometimes the wax is intransigent and I have to go for syringing. They use a machine that squirts pulses of warm water into the ear, very carefully to avoid damaging the ear drum. It's a bit uncomfortable but doesn't hurt, although the ear feels rather raw for some hours afterwards.

Maz, tell Febby that irritating the inside of the ear is one of the best ways of encouraging ear wax to form. Is his car key also one of those with the remote, radio-frequency function? If so, I wonder what happens if he presses the button whilst it's in his ear?

[hartley353]

Received e/mail saying present proposal for severn barrage has been refused, seems there were many untruths in it.

[Stanley]

I love it when we get onto these esoteric subjects.... My ears are a national treasure, the amount of ear wax that pops out would contribute significantly to our energy needs... Cathy, I think that taking Cod Liver Oil has an effect on lubrication. I remember being on a Radio Lancashire programme with Russell Harty and Victoria Woods and they stopped me when I got onto the similarity between old ladies and steam engines saying that they both needed a lot of attention and lubrication.A very common find when excavating Roman sites in Britain is small grooming kits which include a tiny spoon for extracting ear wax.
I use a lot of Olive oil in my cooking and well remember the days when the only place you could get it was the chemists, it was used almost exclusively for softening ear wax.

[EileenDavid]

I remember as a child there always being a bottle of olive oil on the mantelpiece keeping it warm then if anyone of us got earache (not the verbal kind) olive oil was put in the ear with cotton wool. I suffered it regular until my tonsils and adenoids were removed.Eileen

[Tizer]

Received e/mail saying present proposal for severn barrage has been refused, seems there were many untruths in it.

The proposed Hafren version of the Severn barrage wasn't much liked and local opinion is more in favour of a smaller barrage with less environmental impact. Some media reports imply, wrongly, that there won't be a barrage - there are other proposals such as ones that would place the barrage upstream of Avonmouth and thus not impair shipping.

[Tizer]

I survived the ear syringing although it was a bit like a comedy sketch. The nurse sat me on a chair in the middle of the room and then directed a lamp so she could see into my ear. This was like a giant Anglepoise lamp consisting of a metal pipe descending from the ceiling to an angle joint, then a horizontal pipe, second elbow joint and the lamp. She placed it in position and turned to get the syringe machine...at which the lamp slowly turned away from me. She moved it back, tried again, the lamp swung away again. Then I held the lamp while she tried to set up the syringe but I couldn't aim the lamp correctly. Then she took the lamp, gave me the pan to hold under my ear to collect dislodged wax and we finally managed to get into action with her saying things like "Ooooh, just look at all that!" and "My goodness, what a lot of wax!" She said the problem was that much of the stuff was skin which surprised me because I've never been told before that there was skin in among the wax, but then we do shed our skin continuously so I suppose even the ear must do it too. Anyway, job done and now I can again hear Mrs Tiz when mutters about me!

The nurse confirmed there was now an obligatory 3-week period of using oil to soften the wax before having ears syringed. When I asked her if they would sign off people from work for 3 weeks in cases where they couldn't perform effectively due to deafness she didn't have an answer!

[Marilyn]

Gawd Tiz...our old GP would just get you to sit near the hand basin in his office, load up a 50cc syringe ( no needle...obviously!) with a bit of warm tap water, shove it in your ear 'ole and there would be a squeak and a pop...job done...wax in sink!
He used to do Sigmoidoscopy ( opposite end to your ear 'ole) right there on the bed too.
Need a wart removed? No problem...it was gone.
Need bloods taken...done!
Solar keratosis? ZAP! Dry ice...before you could say 'ouch'.
Want to know if you are pregnant? You knew within two minutes. ( which was a bit of a shock and the room started swimming and I nearly fainted because I thought I would have to wait for results.)
Take a kiddie in with a fever and he would have it stripped down in a tepid bowl of water before you could say Jack Robinson.
We used to say that our old Doctor had a suit with a zip up the back which he hung at the end of his bed, because if you rang him in the middle of the night he would be there in five minutes even though he lived fifteen minutes away.

[Cathy]

Amazing stuff. Let's recap, for ear wax problems we use oils, can be baby oil, olive oil (warmed), vegetable oil (unsused), almond oil, warm water or cod-liver oil. Re the car ignition key (with remote function) - I see Mrs Brown from Mrs Browns Boys, or maybe Benny Hill, zap zap...
And Marilyn's words about her doctor reminded me of my own family doctor I used from age 12 to about 31yrs of age, wonderful doctor. He would often relign my hips for me. I remember once going to him because I thought I had a cold, he looked into my eyes and toldme I was pregnant before he'd even asked me for a urine sample!! A sample confirmed it. Also told me I would need a caesarian section, which was confirmed after an ultrasound and specialist consultation.

Do they make doctors like that any more? I might have found one recently (early days yet) but he is a Yorkshire man and seems to be 'on the ball', I'm tentativley impressed with him. Most doctor's these days (in my experience) just work from the computer or occasionally a text book.

[Tizer]

I remember once going to him because I thought I had a cold, he looked into my eyes and told me I was pregnant before he'd even asked me for a urine sample!! A sample confirmed it.

Are you sure he wasn't the father!!

[hartley353]

A good doctor is a very rare animal these days. They know how to spend the money, but have forgotten how to earn it. As in all things if you wish to be good then you need to practice, most have ignored this part.

[Stanley]

Eileen, I think the small bottle of Olive Oil keeping warm was standard household equipment in those days, we certainly always had one until the 1980s.
When you went in to see Arthur Morrison he always examined your hands, particularly the skin in between the fingers. I once asked him why and he said it was amazing what could be learned from hands. Nowadays they rely much more on science and I suspect these old skills have gradually withered away. Could be something to do with wanting to get evidence that would stand up in a case of negligence if they were taken to court. A condition of their medical insurance?

[Marilyn]

We haven't required a doctor in the night for many, many years, but I believe nowadays they come with a security guard!
That is what I have been told, anyway.
Times have certainly changed...

(and why do they call a doctor's surgery a practice? Not an ounce of reassurance in that word.)

[Nolic]

Stuart Pierce blaming the players for their abject failure in the Under 21 European Championships. What happened to management responsibility where the leader takes responsibility for the actions of his troops? Happened in Rochdale where senior managers tried to blame social workers for the failings in protecting vulnerable young people - it backfired on them as staff brought reams of evidence to the independent inquiry showing the reports sent up the silo expressing concerns and requiring decisions on actions from senior staff. At least the social workers were vindicated in the report..... but again so little publicity about that. So mangers no longer manager and directors don't direct - so why are they paid such huge sums to take on .....no responsibility? Nolic

[Stanley]

Absolutely correct Comrade. Blame always travels downhill in large organisations. As you say, grossly unfair and the managers should be taken to task.

[EileenDavid]

I think they should all be accountable whether they are playing football or social workers. In the case of the social workers it's ok presenting the evidence after the event but why not make nuisances of themselves and make the management take notice. I know if I get a bee in my bonnet and especially if I thought children were at risk I would make damned sure I was heard. In my opinion it's called passing the buck and once it leaves their desk they "ain't bothered" until it ends up in court. What happened to working as a team and if something goes wrong everyone is accountable. Eileen

[Cathy]

Haha, no Tizer my doctor wasn't the father. Mind you the age that I am now I can look back and see that he would have been 'a good catch'.
He was at the delivery, the specialist did the caesarean and my doctor lifted my daughter out and handed her to me, just wonderful. I wonder how many "family" doctors follow thru like that today? ( They were golf mates and I remember while in labour I got a message saying that they would see how I went on my own, and from memory I had to wait while they finished a game.) They did a great job all around anyway.

[Marilyn]

The best present anyone has every handed you, eh Cazza?
My baby boy was too.
No bond on earth could ever be stronger...the love is overwhelming.
Aren't we lucky?
( my doctor whistled " the old grey mare she ain't what she used to be" as he gave me a few dozen stitches!)

[Tardis]

Chris Huhne's brief, Constance Briscoe, charged with two counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice

[Nolic]

Eileen apologies I wan't clear. The "evidence" presented to the inquiry was copies of reports/memo's /emails going back a number of years alerting senior managers to the concerns and asking for more concerted and coordinated action from senior staff and in particular talking to senior police , housing and health officers about their concerns. Nolic

[Stanley]

Be careful. Are you sure she was Huhne's brief? According to my reading her involvement was as a friend of Vicky Price when they consoled each other after both had been abandoned by their husbands, they were near neighbours.
Have a look at this LINK for news about a high court case that was lost by former residents of the Chagos Islands. The reason it grabbed my attention is that it is the latest move in a very sordid story. The islanders were evicted from the island ostensibly because the US needed it for an air base and have been fighting to return ever since. Creating a marine reserve means that if they returned they couldn't fish which is essential to survival on the island. However, it's a far murkier story than that. See James Bamford's 'Body of Secrets. an anatomy of the NSA' p.163/164 for a well documented account of how 'inexplicably' the UK government stepped in and persuaded the Mauritian government to allow the islanders independence. At the same time they made the islanders an offer of £5million to drop their claim to the islands. Then the UK government created a new entity, the Chagos Islands became 'The British Indian Ocean Territory. This was immediately handed over to the US government free on a fifty year lease to 'build a defence installation'. Between 1965 and 1973 the entire population was evicted from the islands. In 1975 the NSA moved in and after tests to assess how good reception was set up a listening station, operation Jibstay. This was the real reason for the takeover of the island, to set up an NSA listening station for gathering intelligence. The British public were told nothing of this, it was always described as 'an airbase'. As far as anyone knows they are still controlling and monitoring the US Sigint satellites in that part of the world.
So, this seemingly insignificant news item about a marine reserve is not what it seems. It is the consolidation of an arrangement between the UK and the US directly linked to intelligence gathering. All this is in the public domain but kept very quiet. In view of the current worries about intelligence gathering I doubt if anyone will be clarifying these matters in public any time in the near future, you have to go and dig for the facts. What strikes me is that it is only the public that is being kept in the dark, no doubt the opposing intelligence organisations (whoever they are) are perfectly aware of what is happening on Diego Garcia. Why can't our respective governments be open about this?

[Tardis]

Indeed, she was Huhne's wife's brief

[Tardis]

Apparently Hope Technology were mentioned in a speech by David Cameron, obviously made an impression on him when he came here.

Report in the Lancashire Telegraph by Hannah Upton, but I can't find it on their site to post a link

[Tardis]

The one that affected me most directly:

I made a complaint to a company about the way that I was treated by one of it's operatives.

I got offered a resolution to that complaint after one of the higher managers investigated, which involved an apology and an assurance that the company is going to take some remedial action with the operative and the operation that they work within.

All this will be sent via a letter from one of the company director's.

Always pays to make the complaint because it helps an organisation to change for the better.