bignumber5

annaj Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Oh dear, what have I done, now this is exactly why > I don't post much. Likewise, sorry Keef!

First of all - huguenot, hope you feel better soon. Keef Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Lucky you are in Singapore really, can't imagine > you getting such swift attention here! Sorry Keef, but throw-away remarks about the NHS will be taken quite seriously by those of us who work on it's front line. The NHS starts with the core critical services and works outwards. Having nob-all wrong with you may mean a wait, but critical care such as huguenots surgery are dealt with quickly and efficiently by some of the best trained medical staff in the world. Lightening speed service across the board is not possible without the cash injection that an entirely public sector service will never receive - Singapore, on the other hand, gets about 75% of its healthcare funded by the private sector. (http://www.moh.gov.sg/mohcorp/hcfinancing.aspx?id=104) Like Annaj, I've been working in A&E for a good few years, and I've been verbally abused on (at the very least) a weekly basis, assaulted 3 or 4 times, threatened and generally hollered at from bollocks to sundown. Whilst the assaults and personal threats are the more extreme situations, the general abuse comes from the supposedly more polite "us" aspect of the them-and-us social divide that ED sits on. "I've been waiting for f*ucking ages and you're doing nothing you c*nt, what's your full name, I'm going to complain, I'm going to sue..." etc etc. And I'd like to think that I remain pretty cheerful considering. I worked in New Zealand for a while and over there people would rock up to A&E and have a chat with me about what the trouble was and did I think they were ok to wait to see their doctor at the end of the week, despite the fact that GP appointments cost over there. I was not shouted at or abused in any way durng the 6 months that I was there. So what can we learn from these 2 systems? 1) privately funded healthcare improves the experience for those that can afford it but makes healthcare a purchase rather than a right that even the poorest person can access. Call me a whinging wooley liberal but I seem to remember deciding that the less privilaged socially and economically have just as much right to healthcare and probably greater need. And unfortunately, that means an overworked system must prioritise. 2) responsible service use. Rocking up to A&E because it's your right and government targets about A&E waiting times etc etc and you think you'll probably need an x-ray etc etc rather than waiting to see a GP puts needless pressure on an already stretched service. If you need urgent attention here, you get it. The rest of this is politics.

yep! Threshers over the road too, so unlikely that another offie would thrive. A little suprised that threshers is surviving, to be honest!

spadetownboy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > you could summarize it in 2 words "the crash" > cocaine use does lead to psychological and > physiological withdrawal symptoms. it is also one > of the biggest killers drug wise, as use of > cocaine leads to cardiac arrthymias ie abnormal > heart rhythms which in turn if not treated > develops fairly quickly ie minutes/hours into full > blown cardiac arrest, with prolonged use of the > drug the risk of this occuring increases. Risk of cardiac arrest in prolonged use is secondary to coronary vessel spasm WHILE USING. Related ischaemia can cause a whole number of arrhythmias. This is slightly different to the arrhythmia in withdrawal, which is classically fast but not life threatening, although I doubt it feels any better if you're having it.

Not so much physical, but psychological of physiological origin (odd sentance, I realise). Going to go for a science-type post, hope I haven't misinterpreted what we're looking for here! Neuropsychopharmacology: I'm reading up a lot of this stuff at the moment, so may be inprecise in my detail, but I will try to make sure it's accurate before posting... To be totally technical for a second, the main effects of of cocaine are by stimulating a specific neural pathway that is involved in a pleasure response and it's associated benefits (the mesolimbic dopaminergic reward pathway, if anybody is marking this). A short way of summarising the withdrawl is that over-stimulation (taking cocaine) leads to an element of tolerance, then stopping means under-stimulation, so all effects of stress amplified. This isn't that it's hard to quit or purely psychologically addictive, but that withdrawl gives specific effects of under-stimulated pleasure and relaxation centres in the brain. Additionally, cocaine has agonistic effects on the sympathetic nervous system - causing raised heart rate, constriction of blood vessels, increasing the basal metabolic rate (the "up" and energetic feeling; the likely cause of the association between cocaine and heart disease/stroke and raised temperture that Annaj mentioned). There are some studies regarding withdrawl that suggest that when the cocaine is stopped, the opposite effects will occur such as faints from a drop in blood pressure, inducing an even greater stress response, so rebound palpitations etc. are not inconceivable either. Obviously, it wouldn't be very ethical to do any of these studies on people so rats seem to be the standard method of investigation! If I've gone too technical then pls let me know. Hope this is useful. bignumber5

We went there ages ago and the waiter was so p*ssed/flirting with the girls-night-out at the front that he ignored us for a good while. Food not bad but not great either...

Have recently sold my Yamaha Fazer 600 - returned to full time education this year and, do you know, they make you pay tuition these days!?! ;-) Anyway, temporarily without-bike :( Still, graduation and decent money now only 3.5 years away, then a dream purchase beckons: triumph sprint ST 1050...

DISCLAIMER: the following post was added after a day trying to find a simple, affordable gym that didn't have legionnaires or cockroaches in the SE22 area. It may seem a bit ranty but Fusion is dirty and falling apart, hamlets likewise, JAGS staff are pretty snobby and rude, and ESPH... IbizaBG Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > - sound like ESPH have done everything to the > 'EAST DULWICH FORMULA'.... what's the problem here > people? Well... Generally speaking, "medically-orientated fitness" is a load of absolute b*ll*cks designed to separate hypochondiacs who have overdosed on google-diagnosisTM from their cash. ?30 extra a month for a physio to see you on day one and tell you you've got a slight slouch? Come on, people. Private physio sessions cost about ?30, and after one any decent physio would tell you that there's nothing wrong with you and could you please kindly bugger off. Unless you are a professional standard athlete or in rehab from a genuine, pre-existing injury (not one that they diagnose you with, despite being symptom free your whole life) then in 99% of cases this is a waste of money, simply allowing you to over medicalise a lack of fitness. We're a medical household and have a brother-in-law who is a personal trainer: we can't do his job any more than he can do ours. For an extra ?30 a month, I think the "extra quality of service or products" should be more quality equipment and quality facilities for... well... fitness. Not rubbish gimmics that play on the most fundemental of insecurities. Pool, freeweights and enough room to use them if more than one of you wants to do so at the same time, clean changing rooms, polite staff. I appreciate that my personal fitness requirements may well differ from those of others, but like a shampoo is not better just because it states on the advert that it has scientific elements proven to work by scientists using science, so a gym is not better because it has a medical focus by medics using medicine. And it certainly isn't worth the kind of money that is changing hands down there. (and breathe...) Sorry, but that's how I feel. bignumber5 PS, FURTHER DISCLAIMER: this angry rant does not in any way represent the views of anyone else living with bignumber5, despite my references to the household. annaj may be small but will kick my a*se if she thinks I'm claiming that she agrees with me when I'm up on my soap box!

smith Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > hmmm... let's review the clues: > > too tight to eat out > recently purchased a small flat in ED > hides behind his 'missus' > is jealous of keef's sausage > > I bet someone on this forum knows who lurks > beneath the cloak? Ah-ha - are we out-ing the cloak as punishment? Splendid... I've always thought of out-ing as a serious forum crime, but a fun twist to use it as punishment for other serious crimes. the cloak - if that is, in fact, your real name - a cursory glance at any thread on this site demonstates that keef and the above objectors basically are the forum. Poorly thought out move, I'd say...

spadetownboy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > wht is it being assumed this person suffered from > depression,just because someone decides to take > their life it dosent mean they suffer from > depression or any type of mental illness for that > matter. i do appreciate that sometimes it does go > hand in hand but there are numerous other reasons > why people commit suicide and not just because > they are depressed. Well said - clinically speaking, "depression" is a problem with serotonin reuptake at a presynaptic level, the mood being a direct result of that. It is possible to be extremely sad/low/lonely/isolated or any of the other frames of mind that would induce an individual to feel that suicide is their only option without being depressed. The assumption that low mood and suicidal ideation are only characteristic of clinical depression is a common assumption but a fundementally flawed one. None of this makes it any less sad that that a life has ended, but I don't think it makes the location a "sad place". When I first qualified as a nurse I worked in cancer care - the wards where I was saw about one death per week, but they were places where some people found closure, and others found hope. Hey, if you live in one of the many Victorian conversions of ED then an elderly Victorian probably died in your home, as was the commonplace for advanced disease in that period. Your house is not a sad place because of this. As Mufasa says in the lion king, it's the circle of life!

Crystal Tips Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Great - if the bloke from Jacks is running it we > can rely on it closing early on Saturdays when the > 6th formers work experience has finished, not > being open on Sundays, closed for weekends in > August and of course being open during the week > when most of us have to work for a living. That > being said Jack's is great when its open and if > the new place approximates this it'll beat Dulwich > Park Cafe hands down Harsh but fair - Jacks is great when open but the choice of hours seems odd for a mostly residential area

Brendan Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > So to stay on topic here. Which ED caff was it > again that does black pud? Dulwich Caff next door to palmerston

DaveR Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Spanish black pudding definitely superior - > morcilla cebollada, made with extra onions > > I think the Barcelona tapas bar does piquillo > peppers stuffed with morcilla - lovely now this just goes to show the wonderful diversity of the human race - no way I'd eat that! onions? I think not. Having spent most of my life in south east london, and having never been to Spain or Ireland, I've really only had the stuff you get in the caffs of the British Isles. And yet I started this whole black pud debate! Is that like saying I am a fan of modern oriental cuisine because I like noodlenoodle near victoria?!?

Keef Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Now I'm no vegetarian, but black pudding, come on, > it's blood and fat! But once you get over that, it's one of the best, richest breakfast foods in existence! Anyway, fry up components include a pigs back, a chicken embryo, a common fungus, and whatever combination of brains, bums, hooves and b*ll*cks that they put into sausages - surely a bit academic to quibble over the blood that previously ran thru the beast and the fat that kept it cozy?!? :))

Louisa Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I think the best fry up is the place next to what > used to be the Lord Palmerston Pub (some sort of > gastro dive now). Dulwich Caff - seconded. Decent black pud, not always easy to come by!

-- moved topic --

Not Fair - you know they're weakened from inadequate protein intake ;-)

MM - We got Audrey & Clark from a shelter where they'd been handed in by previous owners who got divorced. They were living in a box a foot or 2 in each direction. During the hours of daylight they are now free to go wherever they want, which doesn't usually involve leaving a one-block-radius, and normally spend most of the days when I'm off sitting on the window ledge of my study. We are a bit possessive about keeping them in at night because the foxes round here are massive and bold as brass and our cats are tiny but think they're invincible - a recipe for their messy death (cats, not foxes...) I am also verging on being a puritan carnivore. I think these 2 lifestyle choices are ok to combine. We do realise that having pets is a fundementally selfish act because it's about how nice it is for the owner to have the pet, but ours don't appear to be too tortured. Anyway, this thread was first a missing report, then a thank you. Sorry it's caused a stir.

I always say no if I don't want a bag and I'm glad others do too. We try to take plastic bags to the recycling bins at sainsbury's and have a couple of reuseable fabric bags, but as a lot of shopping is inpromtu on-the-way-home-from-work shopping, we still end up with a big stash accumulating in the house. Maybe a decent idea would be American style brown paper bags - could be made out of recycled paper, and could be recycled much more easily as Southwark do recycled paper collections but not plastic bag collections. Just a thought.

Just to say thanks to everyone who kept their eyes open for our moggy - just when we'd started to accept the worst, she strolled in through the cat flap looking very pleased with herself and her 3 days of adventuring in ED... but then, of course, she is a fairly recent "incomer" so needs to explore ;-) Again, many thanks (tu) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/ajohnson/9999/audreyandclark.jpg At home with her brother. No more silly cat pics, I promise.

I think I can add to just how ludicrous it has got: I got a ticket on my motorbike in the centre of town when parked in a solo-motorbike-only bay because I had a tyre over the line and in the meter bay next to me - the car in the meter bay got a ticket too, and the reason on my ticket was that I was in a meter bay and hadn't put enough money in the meter... Harsh. What makes it worse is that I didn't have any camera type kit on me to take a pic of it so I just had to stump up the 50 sovs. Sort of compounds the theory that it's about making money rather than promoting safe road use and parking.

Just going to jump a little to the defence of ol' duwich hosp... yes, it did always look like a strong gust of wind might finish it off, but my grandma could only come and see us at xmas when we were little because Dulwich hosp had a renal dialysis unit that would take on extra staff at xmas to cover the extra peolpe with renal failure who came to the metrop to visit family. Apparently there wasn't anything wrong with it on the inside!

Cheers Jim - unfortunately, there are quite a few black cats around this neck of the woods (we've got one more and our neighbours have 2 big black furry cats!) but Audrey is easily spotted by the fact that she is absolutely tiny, almost kitten sized. Thanks for keeping eyes peeled everyone. been a couple of days now so starting to get worrying...

Thanks guys - if you have sheds or anything, please have a look. If she turns up then please call the number on her collar or PM me. Cheers all bignumber5

Has anyone seen out cat, Audrey? She goes out everyday, but normally doesn't go far from home and never misses a meal. We haven't seen her since the morning of 11/7/7 and we're getting worried. She tends to stick to the Crystal Palace Road / Landells Road / Goodrich Road area. She's half Siamese, so very small and slight, but jet black all over with green eyes (picture below). She wears a red collar with her name and our phone number on. She's very curious and playful and sometimes finds her way into other peoples' houses. Please look out for her and ring us if you see her. Thanks bignumber5 http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/ajohnson/9999/PB120129.jpg PS: I know Anna has put this thread up somewhere else but the more people who see it, the better. Hope that isn't breaking EDF rules.