Tuesday 12 May 2009

An apple a day...

Well today is National Nurses Day (Flo Nightingales Birthday), now in past years each ward has been delivered a cake. During a quiet period in the afternoon we would all stop for 5 mins for tea and cake. This year some bright spark, for whatever reason, decided instead of cake we would all get a piece of fruit ! It just wasn't the same.. I don't know whether to feel insulted (do they think we are all unhealthy ?) or grateful, (someone is thinking of our waistlines). But do me a favour, have cake on my birthday.
Anyway I had my eye on a nice red apple in the basket.. Mm an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Fat chance in this job. But it kind of worked, by mid afternoon the department was so quiet I was able to take a few hours annual leave..


Today's photo, sort of sticking with the health theme, is of an Apotheke in Salzburg, it is apparently one of the oldest pharmacy's in Europe.

Thursday 7 May 2009

Pigs Ear..

Well I'm not going to ramble on about swine (Media) flu to much. It seems to be dying down now just as SARs and Bird flu did. One school of thought is that it will disappear now only to mutate and come back with a vengeance next winter. Guess we will just have to wait and see.

One Swine I feel sorry for though is
Khanzir. Khanzir is the only pig in Afghanistan. He is a curiosity attraction in a zoo for a population who don't eat pork. Because of Swine Flu hysteria he has now been isolated from even his goat friends. What a lonely life :-(

Todays
photo was taken at an animal sanctuary near Loch Ness a few years ago. What a pair of beauties.

Wednesday 6 May 2009

No more Mr Whippy ?


Reading the newspaper today at work I began to think this country has gone crazy.

First of all a mother got fined £75 when her toddler daughter dropped a piece of sausage roll she was eating. She was given the instant fine for littering, seconds before a pidgeon scooped it up.

Secondly a village didn't get it's post for a week because of a 3 inch pothole in the road... however they managed to deliver letters telling them this was the case...

Then a Policeman refuses to pose on a bicycle for a publicity photo because he has not passed the required cycling proficiency test.

And sadly in Worcestershire Ice-cream vans can now only play their jingle for 4 seconds every three minutes while in Sheffield, Liverpool and Manchester the vans are excluded from parking near schools, playgrounds and parks.

Who is making these laws/rules ? have they got nothing better to do ?

Todays photo is another quirky sculpture from the centre of Salzburg. The writing translates as 'forgive me for all my sins'

Tuesday 5 May 2009

Jemaa El Fna

Ok, lacking inspiration at the present so have resorted to Plinky for ideas... one being: Describe the coolest thing you've seen in another country, so here goes..
Jemaa El Fna translates to 'assembly of the dead' but this square in the centre of Marrakech is anything but. The square comes to life at night with storytellers, snake charmers, musicians, juice sellers and market stalls cooking exotic food that that is akin to that served up in bush tucker challenges. It felt like we had gone back in time and history as we soaked up the carnival atmosphere.