Here are some more
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Wedding Bells
Well there were no bells, but I have just come back from St Lucia where my one and only baby, Christine got married. I was so proud to give her away. Petrus's parents live in St Lucia so they organised a party for the Saturday after the wedding. Here are some pics for you
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Very sad
Yesterday, as I came through Stratford station, I noticed police stationed at the stairs stopping people from entering one of the platforms. The obvious sprung to mind and this was confirmed by an announcement telling people the west bound central line services were suspended due to a person under the train.
The first thing that struck me was a woman with a young child, arguing with a police officer insisting she had to get onto the platform as she had to get to Holborn. Some people really don't think, then as I walked out of the station. Bearing in mind my last blog. This
5 Rapid response amulance cars, one of them attached to the London Air Ambulance.
1 London Air Ambulance
1 Ordinary Ambulance
2 Fire Engines
4 Police cars
Sadly I read here that the person died but it made me so glad I live in a country where I only need medical insurance through choice.
The first thing that struck me was a woman with a young child, arguing with a police officer insisting she had to get onto the platform as she had to get to Holborn. Some people really don't think, then as I walked out of the station. Bearing in mind my last blog. This
5 Rapid response amulance cars, one of them attached to the London Air Ambulance.
1 London Air Ambulance
1 Ordinary Ambulance
2 Fire Engines
4 Police cars
Sadly I read here that the person died but it made me so glad I live in a country where I only need medical insurance through choice.
Monday, August 17, 2009
People Of America
People of America, please listen to your president and not the words of Daniel Hannan. This is a man who more than likely claims huge amounts of tax payers money and it quite capable of paying for private treatment and wouldn't know how the NHS is run if it jumped up and smacked him in the nose (Preferably with a baseball bat).
Our NHS service is wonderful, sometimes things go wrong, but the most important thing about our NHS is:
1. On entry to A & E I will never be assessed to make sure I have enough medical insurance coverage/Money to pay for treatment
2. If I am unfortunate enough to get a long term illness, I will not be refused treatment halfway through because my medical insurance company decide my needs are too expensive and long term to continue cover.
3. I will never get ripped off by an insurance company with high premiums who then start changing the terms of my policy to suit them and not me.
4. If I have a serious accident/heart attack/illness I know I will get the best medical care immediately without being judged on whether I have or have not.
5. I can see my GP on the same day I want to free of charge.
6. Most consultants who work for the NHS also work privately so apart from paying I would most likely see the same person
7. I also get a choice of hospitals
8. My salary is good, but premiums are so high, unless it was offered as a perk by my employer I could never afford to pay the premiums so would not get treatment.
Barak Obama is an enlightened man, who wants the best for everyone. Give him a chance and ignore over inflated egotistical Tories. The reason our NHS was in such a bad way was Conservative induced. Margaret Thatcher was a snob who forgot her working class background and so is Daniel Hannan. We are all human and no one deserves inferior treatment or refusal because they are unable to pay. And remember just because you pay, it doesn't mean things cannot go wrong or illnesses won't go misdiagnosed, paying never guarantees better service.
Our NHS service is wonderful, sometimes things go wrong, but the most important thing about our NHS is:
1. On entry to A & E I will never be assessed to make sure I have enough medical insurance coverage/Money to pay for treatment
2. If I am unfortunate enough to get a long term illness, I will not be refused treatment halfway through because my medical insurance company decide my needs are too expensive and long term to continue cover.
3. I will never get ripped off by an insurance company with high premiums who then start changing the terms of my policy to suit them and not me.
4. If I have a serious accident/heart attack/illness I know I will get the best medical care immediately without being judged on whether I have or have not.
5. I can see my GP on the same day I want to free of charge.
6. Most consultants who work for the NHS also work privately so apart from paying I would most likely see the same person
7. I also get a choice of hospitals
8. My salary is good, but premiums are so high, unless it was offered as a perk by my employer I could never afford to pay the premiums so would not get treatment.
Barak Obama is an enlightened man, who wants the best for everyone. Give him a chance and ignore over inflated egotistical Tories. The reason our NHS was in such a bad way was Conservative induced. Margaret Thatcher was a snob who forgot her working class background and so is Daniel Hannan. We are all human and no one deserves inferior treatment or refusal because they are unable to pay. And remember just because you pay, it doesn't mean things cannot go wrong or illnesses won't go misdiagnosed, paying never guarantees better service.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Birthday Boy
I can't believe Kai was 6 yesterday! That has just flown by.
As a treat his Mum and Dad took him to the Arsenal stadium which he didn't know about. As it is around the corner from where I work he thought he was coming to see me. Bless, he got really excited when he saw the stadium and then when he found out he was going inside was even more thrilled.
He had his photo taken on his favorite players seat in the dressing room (Theo Walcott). Went into the directors box, took a look at the pitch (But no footie allowed)but what he did in the Arsenal shop was really lovely.
He got quite a lot of birthday money, so he went around the shop chosing things that he wanted. He got a ball, a hat, some sweets, a mug and water bottle and a bowl. Then he picked up a pink beany bear for his sister. Sadly it is an Arsenal bear and I must confess to having a preference for West Ham but he's only young isn't he?
It made me smile that he is starting to grow up to be a gentleman.
As a treat his Mum and Dad took him to the Arsenal stadium which he didn't know about. As it is around the corner from where I work he thought he was coming to see me. Bless, he got really excited when he saw the stadium and then when he found out he was going inside was even more thrilled.
He had his photo taken on his favorite players seat in the dressing room (Theo Walcott). Went into the directors box, took a look at the pitch (But no footie allowed)but what he did in the Arsenal shop was really lovely.
He got quite a lot of birthday money, so he went around the shop chosing things that he wanted. He got a ball, a hat, some sweets, a mug and water bottle and a bowl. Then he picked up a pink beany bear for his sister. Sadly it is an Arsenal bear and I must confess to having a preference for West Ham but he's only young isn't he?
It made me smile that he is starting to grow up to be a gentleman.
Wedding Dress
My Daughter is getting married in St Lucia on October the 8th. At the beginning of the year she chose a wedding dress from Monsoon. They assured us they would have them all year...........
We went out wedding dress buying the other weekend and Monsoon had their sale on, there were a few wedding dresses but not the one she had chosen so we were advised to telephone the customer services to see if they could find us one, which is what I did.
The lady was very nice, read back the product code and description and said there were some units available and that it would be sent to us by post. Last Saturday, it came.
Have you ever bought a wedding dress for your daughter? It was a really exciting momnent for me, until I noticed it was actually an 18 x 18 inch jiffy bag. I wracked my brains trying to think if I had ordered anything else, but I hadn't. When I opened it, it was a wedding dress, wrapped in tissue paper, no hanger, no plastic hanging bag, shoved into the envelope, then horrors of horrors, I took it out and it wasn't the right dress!!! I was upset then angry and tried, without success, to contact the branch of Monsoon that had sent it.
Eventually, my daughter made contact with them and asked me to call them, where I spoke to a lady called Claire. She told me she had a dress in stock and that if I paid for it again she would send it to me and I could take the other one back to any Monsoon and get a refund.
Yesterday that came. In a much bigger jiffy bag along with a really lovely letter. It read:
Dear Mrs Ives
I am sorry for the inconvenience that you have been caused, I have packed the dress as carefully as I can along with it's padded hanger and wedding dress plastic cover.
I have taken the liberty of enclosing more tissue paper so that you can wrap it carefully and lovingly for its journey to St Lucia. I hope you have a great day.
Yours Sincerely
Claire Ralls
Well whoever Claire is, she certainly restored my faith in good customer service and I will be emailing Monsoon and telling them so. People are quick to complain but we never seem to praise much when praise is due do we? So I am going to praise Claire up to her employers and keep my fingers crossed that the dress fits!!!
We went out wedding dress buying the other weekend and Monsoon had their sale on, there were a few wedding dresses but not the one she had chosen so we were advised to telephone the customer services to see if they could find us one, which is what I did.
The lady was very nice, read back the product code and description and said there were some units available and that it would be sent to us by post. Last Saturday, it came.
Have you ever bought a wedding dress for your daughter? It was a really exciting momnent for me, until I noticed it was actually an 18 x 18 inch jiffy bag. I wracked my brains trying to think if I had ordered anything else, but I hadn't. When I opened it, it was a wedding dress, wrapped in tissue paper, no hanger, no plastic hanging bag, shoved into the envelope, then horrors of horrors, I took it out and it wasn't the right dress!!! I was upset then angry and tried, without success, to contact the branch of Monsoon that had sent it.
Eventually, my daughter made contact with them and asked me to call them, where I spoke to a lady called Claire. She told me she had a dress in stock and that if I paid for it again she would send it to me and I could take the other one back to any Monsoon and get a refund.
Yesterday that came. In a much bigger jiffy bag along with a really lovely letter. It read:
Dear Mrs Ives
I am sorry for the inconvenience that you have been caused, I have packed the dress as carefully as I can along with it's padded hanger and wedding dress plastic cover.
I have taken the liberty of enclosing more tissue paper so that you can wrap it carefully and lovingly for its journey to St Lucia. I hope you have a great day.
Yours Sincerely
Claire Ralls
Well whoever Claire is, she certainly restored my faith in good customer service and I will be emailing Monsoon and telling them so. People are quick to complain but we never seem to praise much when praise is due do we? So I am going to praise Claire up to her employers and keep my fingers crossed that the dress fits!!!
Friday, July 31, 2009
Bye Bye
Ahh my manager left today. She took Voluntary redundancy. I am going to miss her so much because she showed me what it was like having a good manager. Back to the old one now, oh what joy. Still I am a different person to the one he managed before and he could be in for a bit of a surprise.
So farewell Pauline, love you lots and I will be coming over to Spain so much you will end up barring me. I hope your retirement is everything that you want it to be. It's been 2 hours and I am missing you already. BIG KISSES XXX
So farewell Pauline, love you lots and I will be coming over to Spain so much you will end up barring me. I hope your retirement is everything that you want it to be. It's been 2 hours and I am missing you already. BIG KISSES XXX
Friday, July 10, 2009
Parking
Resident parking in Newham never ceases to amaze me.
The street I live in, Albert Square, has resident parking. 8am to 6.30pm Monday to Saturday, Ash Road, the street that runs parallel is the same except for the top half which is Monday to Friday 10am to 12pm.
A few residents in Albert Square have had a brush with the refuse lorry and other lorries that go down there, because although the road is not narrow narrow, it is a bit too narrow to accomodate lorries and careless drivers. As a consequence to this some people park with their tyres on the kerb stones.
Over a year ago warnings were placed on the cars informing them that in the future, if they put their wheels on any part of the pavement, they would be ticketed. A few residents phoned the council and explained the problems with the lorries and were told that they would be ok to park on the kerb stone.
Yesterday I went outside to find a penalty notice on my dad's car that had the tyres on the kerbstone. It had been there for over 2 weeks parked in the same place yet on Wednesday they ticketed it and all the other days they didn't, so I phoned Laurence Courtney at the council who, despite his protests that he wasn't, was a jobs worth.
According to the highway code, parking is not allowed on the pavement. Despite neighbours having their tickets cancelled in the past because they were only on the kerbstone until he catagorically told me I could park on the kerb then I couldn't. He demanded to know who had told us that we could park on the kerb so that he could 'personally discipline them', well I couldn't tell him because it wasn't me who phoned. But I am angry, because I suspect, either a new warden went along the road on Wednesday or Mr Courtney is new to the job and should have found out what we had been told and then sent out warnings again. The inconsistencies drive me mad.
The street I live in, Albert Square, has resident parking. 8am to 6.30pm Monday to Saturday, Ash Road, the street that runs parallel is the same except for the top half which is Monday to Friday 10am to 12pm.
A few residents in Albert Square have had a brush with the refuse lorry and other lorries that go down there, because although the road is not narrow narrow, it is a bit too narrow to accomodate lorries and careless drivers. As a consequence to this some people park with their tyres on the kerb stones.
Over a year ago warnings were placed on the cars informing them that in the future, if they put their wheels on any part of the pavement, they would be ticketed. A few residents phoned the council and explained the problems with the lorries and were told that they would be ok to park on the kerb stone.
Yesterday I went outside to find a penalty notice on my dad's car that had the tyres on the kerbstone. It had been there for over 2 weeks parked in the same place yet on Wednesday they ticketed it and all the other days they didn't, so I phoned Laurence Courtney at the council who, despite his protests that he wasn't, was a jobs worth.
According to the highway code, parking is not allowed on the pavement. Despite neighbours having their tickets cancelled in the past because they were only on the kerbstone until he catagorically told me I could park on the kerb then I couldn't. He demanded to know who had told us that we could park on the kerb so that he could 'personally discipline them', well I couldn't tell him because it wasn't me who phoned. But I am angry, because I suspect, either a new warden went along the road on Wednesday or Mr Courtney is new to the job and should have found out what we had been told and then sent out warnings again. The inconsistencies drive me mad.
Monday, July 06, 2009
Divvy Tuesday
I had the day off last Tuesday. I was meeting a friend. It was a boiling hot sunny day and as I was about to set off I saw my friends grandaughter.
My Car has air conditioning so I decided to turn the engine over and run the ac for a while. Usually I check that the car isn't in gear, on this divvy Tuesday, as I was distracted, I didn't! There I was chatting away, I reached into the car, inserted the key, turned the ignition and...................the car zoomed 3 feet forward and went BANG into the car parked in front of it. I felt sick, then a fool. I was parked in my street and the noise was horrendous. With trepidation, I got in the car reversed it back and to my amazement saw that the car I had hit didn't even have one little scratch. I looked at mine and the same. No damage. Phew. I did get my Dad and a friend to double check but luckily for me. No damage to either car.
I went off merrily to meet my friend we sat and had a nice meal. At the end of the meal I needed to 'powder my nose' so skipped off to the toilet. Entered the toilet and thought 'How funny, they have put a water feature in the toilet' It was a stainless steel water feature with water running down it.......but actually I was in the gents and it was the urinal! Luckily for me again, there were no men in attendance.
Tuesday was a definite 'head in the shed' day but it did make me laugh.
My Car has air conditioning so I decided to turn the engine over and run the ac for a while. Usually I check that the car isn't in gear, on this divvy Tuesday, as I was distracted, I didn't! There I was chatting away, I reached into the car, inserted the key, turned the ignition and...................the car zoomed 3 feet forward and went BANG into the car parked in front of it. I felt sick, then a fool. I was parked in my street and the noise was horrendous. With trepidation, I got in the car reversed it back and to my amazement saw that the car I had hit didn't even have one little scratch. I looked at mine and the same. No damage. Phew. I did get my Dad and a friend to double check but luckily for me. No damage to either car.
I went off merrily to meet my friend we sat and had a nice meal. At the end of the meal I needed to 'powder my nose' so skipped off to the toilet. Entered the toilet and thought 'How funny, they have put a water feature in the toilet' It was a stainless steel water feature with water running down it.......but actually I was in the gents and it was the urinal! Luckily for me again, there were no men in attendance.
Tuesday was a definite 'head in the shed' day but it did make me laugh.
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