What's made you grumpy today?

[Basspedalman]

Have a trapped nerve in my neck vertebra, C8, which is I am told the lowest in my neck. So, coming Wednesday I am in hospital where they will see what it looks like from the inside with X-ray and then either from under my collarbone (if possible) or otherwise from the back of my neck stick a long needle in me and warm it up or with a bit of bad luck (depending on the position) shoot me up with steroids. Not looking forward to it but hey, I hardly sleep due to the shooting pains in my left arm so I'll give it a go.

Not sure why I am grumpy about it now, it is 3 days away and normally I do not get worked up over things I cannot control.

Have you tried an Osteopath or Chiropractor?

[Thenop]

Have a trapped nerve in my neck vertebra, C8, which is I am told the lowest in my neck. So, coming Wednesday I am in hospital where they will see what it looks like from the inside with X-ray and then either from under my collarbone (if possible) or otherwise from the back of my neck stick a long needle in me and warm it up or with a bit of bad luck (depending on the position) shoot me up with steroids. Not looking forward to it but hey, I hardly sleep due to the shooting pains in my left arm so I'll give it a go.

Not sure why I am grumpy about it now, it is 3 days away and normally I do not get worked up over things I cannot control.

Have you tried an Osteopath or Chiropractor?

It's a nerve problem, nothing to do with bones, it's been there for years a neurologist has set the diagnosis.
Been in and out of all sorts of therapists for my lower back (which has arthrosis) but this really is something else.

[captainkurtz]

On Saturday I took our Polo to National Tyres in Coalville to see if they could fit two new tyres while I waited. They were too busy, but the chap on the desk booked me in for today at 11:50. He came out to the car, inspected the existing tyres and we agreed on the replacements and the cost.

Today I arrived at the appointed time, handed over the key and was asked to come back in an hour. So I wandered around Coalville town centre for an hour then came back to collect it.

"Sorry mate, we haven't been able to fit the tyres. We've ordered the wrong size in", I was told.

I pointed out that someone had examined the existing tyres. "Yes but he's never fitted tyres before". He started offering to book the car in again. I just picked the key up off the desk, turned round and walked out. I was mentally composing a highly negative review to post to Google as I drove home.

Twenty minutes later I'm back home and I get a call from them. "Sorry mate", he says. "I've just found out we did actually put new tyres on". I went out to the car to have a look while I had him on the phone, and lo and behold two new tyres had indeed been fitted.

"Excellent", I said. I offered to pay over the phone. "We can't accept payment over the phone, sorry you'll have to come back"

I offered to return tomorrow. He pleaded that he wouldn't be allowed to go home unless I paid today. Also, "they're a different size so it's an extra £20. Sorry mate".

I expressed my disappointment at this because I'd already agreed a price. Fortunately they agreed to revert to the original price. I'll go back in a bit and pay the bill.

I would have had them drive around with their card machine.

[David L]

Nigel Farage has obtained documents from Coutts that prove that his account was closed because his views "did not align with the bank's values"
A report from there "reputational risk committee" cited his views on Brexit, LGBT issues and his friendship with Donald Trump. They even made reference to his friendship with Novak Djokovic as evidence that he was not as "inclusive" as the bank.
That brings us to the BBC who "exclusively" revealed that his account was closed because he fell below the financial threshold required. Bullshit. The report repeatedly states that he "meets the (economic contribution) criteria for commercial retention".
Are we to expect a clarification from the national broadcaster?

[Thenop]

Hospital day. They tried zapping the nerve, and did not succeed, it actually caused an involuntary spasm in my left hand a couple of times. That was not nice and still feels uncomfortable.

So then came epidural time, which was also a bit nastier than I anticipated.
Hoping for a result.

Plus: the people in the hospital were lovely and very caring.

[David L]

BBC and Sky News panic porn about Southern Europe being hot.

As the old gag goes, well yes, it's something to do with the weather.

It's the middle of summer; occasionally southerly winds from Africa make their way up to the Med, where the climate is already very warm,  and cause the odd heatwave - just like every other year.

Apparently, Athens will experience temperatures of 60 degrees Celsius.  Well, I suppose if you're taking your readings during a heatwave from the tarmac next the the runway at Eleftherios Venizelos airport, and round the figure up to the next ten, then yes, maybe. 😏

 

[pxr5]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66242611 "Rishi Sunak apologises to LGBT veterans for past armed forces gay ban".

This has got my back up a bit. I have no issues with gay people in the military nowadays but at the time it was illegal to be gay and those who were kicked out knew very well what the rules were. They don't state on the news that anyone joining the military back then had to specifically attest, and officially sign, that they were not gay. So they were basically lying. I'm waiting for the day when cannabis is legalised, what then - are they going to apologise to all the people kicked out of the mob for drugs incidents?

[David L]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66242611 "Rishi Sunak apologises to LGBT veterans for past armed forces gay ban".

This has got my back up a bit. I have no issues with gay people in the military nowadays but at the time it was illegal to be gay and those who were kicked out knew very well what the rules were. They don't state on the news that anyone joining the military back then had to specifically attest, and officially sign, that they were not gay. So they were basically lying. I'm waiting for the day when cannabis is legalised, what then - are they going to apologise to all the people kicked out of the mob for drugs incidents?

Has he apologised to witches yet?

[Slim]

I hope it's only a matter of time before OFCOM or someone else takes actioan against GB News - it's become a sort of broadcast home for nutters and conspiracy theorists. Oliver does make some reasonable points here about hypocrisy on the part of various parties and in particular the idiot at George Osbourne's wedding but he goes on to flatly deny man-made climate change, which is ignorant in the extreme.

The man's a crank.

[captainkurtz]

Hospital day. They tried zapping the nerve, and did not succeed, it actually caused an involuntary spasm in my left hand a couple of times. That was not nice and still feels uncomfortable.

So then came epidural time, which was also a bit nastier than I anticipated.
Hoping for a result.

Plus: the people in the hospital were lovely and very caring.

Best wishes to you, sounds a difficult experience.

[Slim]

Just missed a WW2 plane again. Heard what sounded like a Merlin or Griffon, went outside to have a look, saw nothing. Planefinder tells me it was this one:




.. it passed our house about 1km away at 1800 ft so I suppose it wouldn't have been the best view anyway.

[Matt2112]

 

Here's a rather more measured view from Thomas Fazi, writing in Unherd.  Notable extract:

Yes, climate change and global warming are real — and yes, they are largely a result of human activity — but the planet is not about to be "uninhabitable". The science is, in fact, much more nuanced: according to the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), it is far from clear whether the world is actually experiencing more drought, flooding or hurricanes, nor the extent to which any changes are influenced by human behaviour.

[David L]

 

Here's a rather more measured view from Thomas Fazi, writing in Unherd.  Notable extract:

Yes, climate change and global warming are real — and yes, they are largely a result of human activity — but the planet is not about to be "uninhabitable". The science is, in fact, much more nuanced: according to the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), it is far from clear whether the world is actually experiencing more drought, flooding or hurricanes, nor the extent to which any changes are influenced by human behaviour.

That extract appears to be contradictory to me. At least the author's statement seems to be contradicted by the IPCC (?)

[David L]

That article in Unherd is indeed interesting although, for me, the notable extract:

In this way, climate hysteria is completely distorting our perception of the world. Last week, a report by the World Meteorological Organization that the beginning of July was the world's hottest week on record received widespread attention. At around the same time, another report was published — this time by the UN Development Programme — that was greeted with less interest. But it was arguably more important. It estimated that the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent surge in inflation and borrowing costs had pushed an extra 165 million people into poverty, bringing the total global figure to 1.65 billion, over 20% of the world's population.

[Slim]

Logged into my TP-LINK router and noticed that there's a later revision of the firmware available. So I clicked the update button. I knew the router would reboot but I didn't expect what amounted to a factory reset. Had to enter all the details again from scratch - BT login, DHCP settings and reserved addresses, admin password, the lot.