Just a wee one

Ah nice numerically correct date that, there is something decidedly odd in writing numbers that don't sequence, and yes in my job I do have to hand write the date...not often I grant you, not often enough.

Small blog tonight cos The Man and I are off to the movies shortly.

Going to see Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson in Saving Mr Banks. Saw the trailer a few weeks ago and it looked a good one. I'll tell you about it tomorrow.

Went to a radiation protection course this afternoon. Not what you think. As part of our the expanding scope of practice we will be able to request x-rays directly rather than just filling in the form and getting the doc to sign it, often unseen by the doc. But now it will be official.

There were some interesting statistics bandied abut. Did you know that granite gives of quite a lot of radiation in the form of radon? Here in the UK some homes being sold need to have a radon report, and in places like Canary Wharf where I work the level is high due to all the granite in the buildings.

The amount of radiation you receive for various procedures can be staggering.
OK the stuff is out there in the world, from the sun, the food we eat. Did you know that the potassium in bananas, which is good for you, means that they are also high in radiation. Hang on don't chuck them all out, you would have to eat huge numbers of the fruit and anyway the body would excrete any potassium that you don't take up.

So on that chearie note I will sing off and we are off to the flicks

A bit of a blow...

Forecasters were pretty spot on with their predictions about the weather.

Here’s what the local press are saying

Four people have died after a storm battered southern Britain, leading to 625,000 homes losing power, rush-hour disruption on trains and flight cancellations.

A teenager in Kent and a man in Watford were killed by falling trees.

A man and a woman died in west London after a falling tree caused a suspected gas explosion and house collapse.

Rail companies are now running reduced services but say they hope operations will be back to normal on Tuesday.

BBC forecasters say the storm, which began overnight and saw heavy rain fall across many areas and wind speeds of more than 70mph, moved out of the UK shortly after 12:00 GMT - leaving a "broadly windy day".

The strongest gust of 99mph (159km/h) was recorded at Needles Old Battery, Isle of Wight, at 05:00 GMT.

 The Man and I had a bit of a struggle getting into work.

We went down to the station early expecting there to be a crowd, but the station was virtually empty…no trains running until 0900. So at 0650 we decided the best thing was to go home and then come back. Which we did, only to be told no trains until 1000.

So get on a bus going in the opposite direction, at the direction of the chappie in the station. The bus went past several stations that had pretty long queues of people waiting to get in. The one we got off at had a queue too but down on the platform, A couple f trains went past before The Man and I could get on, and then it was standing room only and crammed to the rafters.

I got off at London Bridge and made my way to work via the Jubilee line which surprisingly was virtually empty.  Arrived at work two and half hours late. Nobody complains because most of us were in the same boat.

And tomorrow, well who knows.

Friday Friday Friday Friday Friday Friday Friday Friday Friday Friday Friday

 Yes that’s right it’s the last day of my working week. 

And not only that, in just eight short weeks it will be Christmas day…lol

I’ve had a good day, ran another flu vaccination clinic, and didn’t get to stick needles in as many peeps as I did on Monday. Only 81 compared to 91 I did on Monday.

I think it is a bit sad when a client says ‘Oh no, I’m not having another one of those. It gave me the flu last time I had one’

That kind of thinking is simply not correct.

The virus in the vaccine is inactivated so all it does is challenge the immune system, and it is our immune systems that make us sick. Yes that’s right our immune system makes us feel unwell.

Viruses survive in a very fine range of temperature and so to kill the invading virus what does our body do? Yes that’s right it gives us a fever.

‘So’, I say to the misinformed clients ‘If you respond to an inactivated virus makes you a bit unwell how do you think you would respond to the real thing?’

End of lecture.

I've been creative...

I don’t know what’s going on with the weather.

This morning at 0630 it was all of 16 degrees. And it’s supposed to be autumn. Bit as someone pointed out t me later in the day it snowed in April.

Today I finally created and sent out the company quarterly survey. No quick task

The questions are pre-set by the company so nothing creative going on there, mores te pity.

A few months ago we ‘went computor’ and this has made a huge difference to how long it takes to get the survey out. This is because I can now ask head office to send me a spread-sheet of all the clients who attended our clinic in the preceding three months

.

Now comes the time consuming part. Copying and pasting the recipients emil addresses, ten at a time, into the ‘bcc’ address bar. That’s when I hit the send button.

Then open up the ‘sent mail’, click the survey invitation letter I just sent and click ‘forward’.

Simple.

Then do it over and over again, each time deleting the ‘fwd’ in the subject bar, and the forwarded by details at the top of the message. Copy and paste another ten addresses   he into the bcc’ address bar and hit the send button.

Took me an hour or so, but I did get out more than 250 survey invitations

Next step will be to analyse the results next week.

So why the ramble about that?

Well it made me think about creating my own survey. 

That’s because as of now I’ve Geriatric OE has had more than 10,000 views.

I thought I'd really like to know what you thought about the blog, and  to that end I created a survey.
But I couldn't get surveymonkey to work.
I'd still like to know what you think...

and wht did you do today...

This morning I ran a flu vaccination clinic at the off site nurses clinic.  

Guess how many vaccinations I gave between 1000 and 1300

Go on guess.

I asked the same question of the receptionist at the main site.

Her answer was 50…what’s your guess?

Well I’ll tell you

Ninety one.

That’s right ninety one.

Ninety one times I spoke the following words…

Have you signed the consent form?

Not allergic to antibiotics or eggs are you?

Left or right handed?

Great, now unbutton your shirt and drop it off your shoulder.

The vaccination cannot give you the flu, the virus has been inactivated.

But it might set off some minor flu like symptoms, a few aches and pains and a fever, of course you will have a sore arm, mine’s a bit achy, had mine this morning.

If you do get those side effects take whatever you’d normally take…ibuprofen…paracetamol.

If you have side effects you’re not happy with, come back and tell me.

So there you have it, over and over and over and over and over…well you get the idea

Had your flu vaccination yet

Urban Retreat – The Story of Mudchute Farm and Park

My grandfather was born on the Isle of dogs and  I want to share this article about a place on Isle of Dogs called Mudshute

I work right near the building with the pointy roof, The cluster of tall building is Canary Wharf

For many people  the Isle of Dogs and Canary Wharf symbolises high tower blocks and high density living, however this is a very recent phenomenon up to the mid 18th century the vast majority of the Island was uninhabited and used as pastures for animals. Even considering the Island was mostly pastures, the creation of Mudchute Farm is however tied into a by-product of the building of the docks.

The large open space where the Mudchute Farm and park now stands was once grazing land. However during the building of the Millwall Docks in 1865 much of this land was used for storing the bricks that were used to build the dock walls and buildings. During construction of the Millwall Docks in 1865–7 the land remained a brickfield,  However  after the docks opened in 1868 the land was once again used  for grazing.

This changed in 1875 when The Dock company developed  an innovative system of dredging its docks designed by the company's engineer, Frederic E. Duckham. This involved the pneumatic transmission of mud, out of the dock into a pipe which ran under East Ferry Road to be deposited on the grazing land creating a mudfield. Over time the mud accumulated to create small hills and bumps, however towards the end of the 19th Century there was concerns when the Mudfield was considered a health hazard and steps were taken to close the pipe which was discontinued in 1910.

Gradually the hardened mudfield became known as the Mudchute and was later used for allotments. At the beginning of the war the land was used for gun placements.

An Ack- Ack gun in the farm to celebrate its role in WW2

After the war various schemes were put forward for the use of the land , however it was not until 1973 that the site was transferred to the GLC to be used for housing. However there then began a campaign by local residents and supporters called the Association of Island Communities who wished the land to be used as public open space , the success of this campaign led to the creation of an urban farm in 1977.

In 1977 the Mudchute Association was formed to preserve and develop the area which they have done by adding to the existing fauna and flora to provide a diverse environment that attracts all forms of wild life. It was somewhat ironic that the mud that had caused dismay to many people was full of nutrients that provided good growing conditions for many plants.

Farm  animals have been introduced over the years to give visitors a variety of experience, there has always been an educational aspect to the Associations work and close ties have been developed with local school

Since its creation Mudchute Farm and Park has developed into one of the largest City Farm in Europe covering 32 acres and is maintained largely by local volunteers. It is also been supported by many firms based at Canary Wharf.

by isleofdogslife