| Author |
 Topic  |
|
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
|
|
 Posted -
11/01/2009
:
06:04
|
New Year, new topic. If you want to see the old one do a forum search for same title but 2008.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk
|
|
| Replies |
| Author |
|
|
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
|
|
Posted - 27/04/2009 : 09:44
Everyone seems to be getting quite exercised about the Swine Flu. The BBC World Service had an email from an anonymous Mexican doctor who said that 24 people a day were dying in his hospital and these deaths are not being reported because they have been instructed not to put Swine Flu on the death certificate. Hugh Pennington was on R4 and said that we have 13million doses of the anti-virus in stock but it is not a vaccine, it is only effective if someone actually has the virus. He said that the evidence at the moment is that in the US it is a mild attack and the main thing to do is make sure that if you do get it, stay away from other people, ring your surgery and ask for advice.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk  |
Mrs Tiz
New Member
43 Posts
|
|
Posted - 27/04/2009 : 11:00
If you feel strongly about the recent treatment of the Gurhkas, you could visit the following website and support their campaign.
www.gurkhajustice.org.uk
|
HerbSG
|
Posted - 27/04/2009 : 13:03
Swine flu has the US deeply concerned and cases now being reported across Canada (from 6 to 30) all the Canadians had been to Mexico recently, all cases are reported to be mild. Canada has 50 million doses of "vaccine" on hand.
HERB
|
frankwilk
|
Posted - 27/04/2009 : 13:25
See Godron is in Afghanistan visiting the troops, does he run away every time he has a problem !!!!!
Frank Wilkinson Once Navy Always Navy |
mporter
|
Posted - 27/04/2009 : 14:43
How do you know if you have swine flu????? i am still not well and i still blame the flipping recycled air on the long haul flights from Endland back to here.
Margaret Porter
|
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
|
|
Posted - 27/04/2009 : 18:22
Contact the doctor.....
It has been an exciting day… My attention was grabbed late this morning by the fact that the heating boiler next door was making strange noises. Half an hour later hot water was pouring out of the wall and into my workshop. I had to take the threshold out from the door to let the water get away. The occupant of the house wasn’t in and we think he has gone to a funeral and is off to Greece for a few weeks. He will get a shock when he comes back because water has been running into his house as well. I rang the water board to get the water turned off and Sod’s Law came into operation. They couldn’t find a stop cock. An emergency gang was sent out from Bradford and they dug down to the service pipe, cut it with pressure on it and fitted a new stop cock and chamber. The whole episode lasted 5 hours during which time water was pouring out of the lintel over the door into the workshop. However, considering what had to be done the water board were wonderful, nobody could have hoped for a better service. As soon as the water was turned off the flow through the wall stopped. I have cut the wet carpets out and turned the heating on in the workshop with the window partially open to help get rid of the water. Luckily I confined the flood to the end of the workshop and no serious damage has been done but it just goes to show, you are at the mercy of the quality of workmanship in your neighbour’s house! His boiler installation was obviously defective because it shouldn’t have fired with a fault in the system and should certainly not have discharged water into the wall. I hope for a quieter and drier day tomorrow!
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
|
|
Posted - 28/04/2009 : 06:12
A couple of pics of the flood. Drying out now but I shan't be happy until I know the problem has been fixed.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
|
|
Posted - 28/04/2009 : 06:52
PS. Something I learned yesterday may be of interest to Barlickers. I noticed during the course of yesterday morning that the nains water pressure was considerably higher than normal. Duringh my conversation with the water board engineer I asked him what had happened to the mains pressure and he was sirprised I had noticed. Of course he didn't know that it was part of my life for years to notice things like that. He told me that barlick is being supplied by pumps at Wysickk (I didn't even know there were any there) and the pressure is 6.5bar. This is very high and equates to 95psi in old money. This is very high and in the lower parts of the town could be even higher. If you have any funny problems with noisy taps or leaks at glands on taps this is the cause. Later this morning I'll put a pressure gauge on my mains supply and see just what the standing pressure is. (Yes, I'm as obsessive with things like this as Pluggy is with his manitoring of Electricity!)
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Tizer
|
Posted - 28/04/2009 : 11:06
We used to have very high mains pressure and had to get the water company to turn it down because of the noise and the greater potential for leaks.
Stanley, the UK has 33 million doses of Tamiflu (not 13 million). A lot of information is available at this BBC Q&A page:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8017585.stm
and this NHS site:
http://www.nhs.uk/news/2009/04April/Pages/Swineflulatest.aspx
|
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
|
|
Posted - 29/04/2009 : 07:02
Sorry about the mistake with the number.... Must have misheard the report. The possibility of a pandemic seems to have grabbed the government#s attention even though there is no evidence it is a serious infection in Western countries. Still, overkill is better than no action at all.
Water pressure and flooding.... The owner of the property turned up yesterday and I have persuaded him to get British Gas in to sort his boiler. He thought he needed a plumber, I told him he was wrong and needed a registered gas fitter who knew his job.... As for the mains pressure, I know it's bad news but I may have been right again. A service pipe has blown further down the street and water is running away down the street quite merrily. I reported the leak and flagged up the rise in pressure. I suggested he should approach his managers and suggest that they have over-egged the pudding a bit. If you live in Barlick, keep a close eye on your property for leaks, it looks as though the increase in presuure is finding the weak points in the system. I have a new copper service pipe fitted about 15 years ago so I hope I might be all right.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
|
|
Posted - 29/04/2009 : 08:52
Sorry if this is something you already know but if you remember I have been trying to get Barclaycard to close my account because they have a minimum interest charge of £1 no matter how low your balance. When I first rang I was told this had to be done in writing. I did so and received no reply so I rang the customer line again this morning and once they realised that I was serious I was put through to another department dealing with terrible people like me. Now here is the bit which might interest you if you have a Barclycard and a perfect record.
I have had a Barclaycard for 31 years and I have a perfect record. On that basis I was offered a £20 goodwill payment and a reduced rate of 10.9% per annum. This is their standard practice if they are dealing with an account closure. So, if you have a Barclaycard and a good record the message is clear, do what I did, get an ex-gratia payment and a reduced rate. Go to it, it works.
Now then, did I take the bait? Of course not. They will still charge an uncomptetive interest rate of £1 on low balances. They have given me a closing balance (£2.79) I shall pay that today and cut the card up. They will send me two letters, one to confirm that the account is paid up and closed, and get this, another offering me the lower rate and the ex-gratia payment. The second will get torn up, the first will go into the file.
During the course of the conversation I pointed out to them that my HSBC card only charges the actual amount of interest owing rounded to 1p. and the same interest rate. If I was to be really astute I would ring them and ask for a rate to match Barclaycard but I shan't bother because the balance is so low it isn't worth the hassle. (I might change my mind about this....) So apart from Barclaycard, try ringing your provider and asking them for a better rate, they are obviously fighting for custom. I think you will probably get it.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Tizer
|
Posted - 29/04/2009 : 09:50
Almost everything seems to work on this system now of "charge `em too much unless they squeal". So you have to squeal to get a good deal. It's analogous to the "notice and take down" system that I've mentioned before which is used by the likes of Google and many other internet companies - do what you like until someone objects and does something to stop it - even it what you like includes breaking laws or regulations. So the moral is "notice and squeal" - loudly!
|
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
|
|
Posted - 29/04/2009 : 10:24
I tried HSBC but no joy......
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
belle
|
Posted - 29/04/2009 : 11:28
What struck me yesterday..as I morphed in to grumpy old women whilst trying to compare insurance quotes, is that you can't get information..or even give information..to anyone these days wihtout having to fill in endless personal details first..why, if I am just trying to find out which company gives cheaper insurance to women drivers.. do I need to give out my name, address,postcode, email, blood type, finger prints and hair samples before I can even ask a question!!! (i exaggerated about the last two!) This is a rhetorical question, because I know why..but what I don't know is why we put up with it and how we can stop it. It even extends to being sick..my husband rang the emergency docs no because one of our kids needed a repeat prescription for an asthma inhaler and it was a bank holiday, they weren't ill enough for us to take up accident and emergency's valuable time, but they might be if we didn't get an inhaler...could he make his request known....no! name, address, telephone number, post code..."good job no ones turning blue!" muttered D as he complied.
Life is what you make it |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
|
|
Posted - 29/04/2009 : 17:44
I know the feeling after three days spent on the phone contacting 'service providers' (more like service rationers!) The Barclaycard woman actually started to ask for details about my HSBC card when she realised I was adamant but of course I stamped firmly on that one. Nothing to do with them. I got away with it because I had them in a corner and they knew it. In all other cases they have you boxed in and you have to follow their rules. It is wrong in many cases and over complicated. By the way, and I am ashamed to make this confession, I had never noticed that Barclaycard had converted me to a gold card AND WERE CHARGING ME £5 A MONTH FOR THE PRIVILEGE!!!!. Needless to say, this DD has been stopped! No fool like an old fool!
I found out the reason why next door's boiler flooded me. The fool who installed it left the connection to the main (used to top up the system if necessary ) open because the mains pressure was lower than the 3bar setting on the relief valve. So when the water board raised the mains pressure the system was over 3bar and started to discharge through the relief valve. Because the boiler wasn't on the economy setting it fired up to maintain temperature and coninued to try to get temperature back up for 6 hours while water poured out through the valve. Because the drain to the relief was defective it poured that water into the wall. I have orderedmy new floor coverings but will not lay them until the installation is fixed.
Cheered to hear the government was defeated on the Ghurka vote. As it was an 'opposition day' it isn't binding on them but the moral pressure should now be overwhelming.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
SPEAKER'S CORNER 2012
