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The cost of interpreters is a huge factor both inside and outside the NHS. As I said, my sister doesn't speak Spanish and, after her initial visit to the hospital, she had to book the services of an interpreter for subsequent attendances. This service was not free. She had to cover the cost herself and we should adopt the same strategy.

Been a good day today despite still having a runny nose and a bit of a cough (last antibiotic tonight, they have eased it a bit). Met up with a friend from my “yoof” who I havent seen for 40 years or so, just kept in touch with Christmas and birthday cards. Was worried we wouldn’t recognise each other and perhaps had drifted too far apart but as I walked up to the meeting place I recognised her and we had the biggest hug. We haven’t stopped talking for over 4 hours (taking in coffee shop, drink in pub and then meal in pub). It was like we had never been apart and really rolled back the years.

On a couple of Nottingham related Facebook sites there has been mention of Bertie Mee , the former Arsenal manager , who was born Bulwell in 1918 . It's not clear what road he was born on but two years later in 1920 , the family were living at 63 Repton Road , Bulwell. Prior to management he was a footballer playing for Derby County and Mansfield . After an injury he later trained as a physio before taking up the caretaker-managers job at Arsenal taking over from Billie Wright . More here on his wiki , ( though they call him "Bertram" but can't see any evidence tha

Quite agree, SG. If you fail to turn up for a booked appointment, a penalty charge should be imposed. After all, many people these days book medical appointments with the GP online and it takes only a moment to cancel it, thus freeing that slot for someone else. Just boils down to thoughtlessness.

Nurse I actually said 'remove his spectacles'!

It's a pity that the doctors are not allowed to tell a patient the truth about self inflicted illnesses. If they had the time to discuss issues with a patient and the support support to give honest advice there would be a massif reduction in prescribed medication. Patients are often their own worst enemy.

I agree with this and maybe people would turn up for appointments, if not charge then for the consultant/doctors time that was wasted. Same thing at doctors surgeries as well.

One of my wife's friends works at QMC booking appointments. One aspect of this also entails continual booking of interpreters for many different languages, at £200+ per visit, for the many foreign patients who can't speak English. This is a significant cost which gets hidden. What's even worse is many of the patients then don't bother to turn up but the interpreter still gets paid!

My sister lives in Spain. Recently, she broke her arm and shoulder. She can't speak Spanish and no one at the hospital spoke English. Result, confusion. In my opinion, if you want to live abroad, the least you can do is learn to speak the lingo.

Just a footnote, antibiotics were for a chest infection that I was left with after having a heavy cold (sounded a bit like Darth Vader), wouldn’t dream of going to doctors for a cold I just dose myself, lasts 7 days if you do, a week if you don’t.

Somewhere on here I posted a photo of Nottingham Boys football team that my Dad played in, early 1930s. Another boy in the team was Bertie Mee’s cousin, I recall he had really sticking-out ears

I can't believe that UK medics are still prescribing antibiotics to treat colds (and 'flu). It's been well known for many years that both colds and 'flu are caused by viruses and that antibiotics are totally ineffective against them.

At the doctors in Doncaster they would put up a notice to say how many people had missed appointments in the previous month. The figure was astounding, usually well over a hundred. I can understand that some people can forget, writing down in a diary could prevent this, but it was very frustrating when you had to wait 1 to 2 weeks to see a doctor. If you find you are unable to attend it is only common courtesy to cancel the appointment surely and let someone who needs it have it.

That is an absolute necessity in my view. Not only to have some respect for your host country but, as is made apparent by Jill, to be able to live day-to-day and, should it be necessary, in an emergency. When I began living here I had a modicum of ability to speak French, having worked in France on and off for a number of years beforehand and, during which time the company I was working for gave basic French lessons as part of their work package. It is amazing, however, how quickly you can speak colloquial French (or, I expect, any other language) when you have to and I

Here’s the photo of Nottingham Boys side, Bertie Mee’s cousin, his name was also Mee (another Bulwell lad) standing top right and my Dad bottom left.

Nice piece David............often wondered if a girl i was at school with Coleena Mee,, was related,,, i went to Henry Whipple and Padstow schools on Bestwood estate which was classed as Bulwell back then.

Well, there's a blessing!

There's more to it than not being effective, there is the ever-increasing danger of antibiotic resistance in normally susceptible organisms following indiscriminate prescribing for normally trivial illnesses.

It might cure your cough! I remember the nurse saying ‘I’m supposed to be wiping the surgeon’s brow, not yours!

Yes, once perfection has been achieved where can you go from there? There are two little Mayfield’s though. - not so little now!

Carni, my thoughts and prayers are with you and your sister. You know of the awful events which we have had to endure over the last four years and of the awful outcome in both instances, and I really hope that the treatment for your sister is truly beneficial. We have gone through problems with the NHS over that time, and I have been critical of the mistakes that they have made, and sometimes think that those mistakes brought about the horror visited upon us, but when you are desperate for help what alternative is there. Thank you for your pm, there is absolutely no distress caused, your

It won't take off because it's upside down.

When I tried that with my barber, he lent me his fishing tackle.

Planning an early night tonight; I'm having a lie-in tomorrow and I want to be fresh for it.

Sorry, Ian, I've not seen that film. I'm not very filmic(?) as, going right back to my childhood, the cinema would give me blinding headaches which put me off going. This was all something to do with the frequency of the flickering of the film conflicting with my brain - in a similar way to flashing lights affecting epileptics - although I must emphasise I am not epileptic, just adversely affected by certain frequencies. A small point is that I'm not affected by TV or films on TV as the 'flicker rate' is very much different from the cinema. I realise that cinemas tend not to use the

Dated 1931..at the old firehouse on South Sherwood St.Firehose drill behind The Guildhall.

Yes, those are doors directly facing the chip shop. Kicked many a football up against the shutters, that's before those swing doors were added, the scabby bit of partition wasn't there either. We used to muck about in there until we got chased out. Down behind those buses out the other end on the left were the scrap bays. We used to furtle out the wheel bearing races, crack them open and use the ball bearings for marbles.

Thank you Compo. One of the problems that we have en counted when taking photos through the window, is reflection of what ever we have on the coffee table, which is just inside the window, in the middle. At the moment we have a white Orchid plant, but Chris took the photo from the right hand side, so we got away with it. Most of our bird feeders and bird bath are just a few feet from the house, so our pictures will always be through glass. Will give the manual focus a try.

That puerile, vacuous, inane, unfunny, callow, infantile Michael McIntyre (and tautology!)

Quite true TBI, I think it was Abraham Lincoln who said "Don't believe everything you see and hear on the telly" Rog

I think Poohbear is well up on Watmough's if my memory is right.