How is everyone in the current situation? General Chat

It is very hard getting dental appointments here because of CV19. I should have been having a crown next week, (and in the meantime another tooth has lost a filling), but all appointments have been cancelled. There are NHS emergency dentists, but they are few and far between, and patients have been travelling significant distances for treatment. Tonight we hear that these dentist are now very short of their PPE - it seems that they wear a sealed hood into which air is pumped.

The only thing on offer here from dentists is over the phone consults and prescriptions, Marc. From what I can see, they're not seeing anyone in person. If feel so sorry for those with raging toothaches with just painkillers to see them through

Edited to add: Sorry Carole, I didn't read your post before putting this on and didn't realise that there was any service at all available. Those I've spoken to haven't been offered any in person help at all

No Chris, I think you have to be in bad pain - possibly even referred - and the treatment would probably be extraction in those cases. I hear that some of the lost filling people are being advised to use that DIY tooth stopping that the chemists sell. My lost filling is on the side of a tooth though,I and I don't think that stuff would stick. It was only done at my last check-up!
One young woman that I know was waiting to have sixteen extractions when Covid struck. She has other health conditions and her teeth are breaking. She lives in Devon and her nearest emergency clinic would be Bristol.

That is one heck of a trek even if she can drive.

There seems to be no consideration of those who have to rely on walking or other forms of transport

no major stuff just having some time with my cute babies

Around midnight last night I thought to heck with it, it had cooled down and I have been stuck indoor for what seems like forever and I really needed some fresh air. Nobody would be around at that time and Xanadu is silent so off I went.

Got to the end of my ramp and onto the pavement to get past next door to get to the dropped curb on the tractor path so I could go on the road - and the pavement was blocked by next door's wheelie bins.

Before the lockdown, if I wanted to go across to the macolet and those bins were blocking the pavement I would shove them out of the way, and to hell if they tipped over. But at midnight?

So I turned round and came back because the nearest dropped curb the other way is way up the road, so that ended my little excursion. Buggrit.

I was going to say try again tonight - but then remembered the sabbath starts tonight. Your adventure will have to wait till next week!

Carole, Shabbat started at dusk yesterday evening and ends this evening! I could actually try and go out very late every evening but they deliberately leave their wheelie bins [and why have they got two when they are only entitled to one ] on the pavement in front of their bungalow even though they only go in through the side, ie from the tractor path, as they had a sort of white tarpaulin 'fence' all around the bungalow, the front yard and the back, which was then covered by bamboo fencing. To make sure nobody could see in - or even know how to get to the front door now.

They know that I have to go past their place to get to the dropped curb, and they also know bluddy well that I have pushed their bins out of the way with Xanadu so I can get past to get to the macolet. The binmen, of course, chuck the bins back on the pavement when they empty them, and there they stay. Until I push them out of the way, or Ninja does if he come round on the MDA first-responder bike, as he has to use the dropped curb by the tractor path.

Just push them out of your way at midnight and enjoy a little spin around!!

It would be more shoving them out of my way as I cannot move those big wheelie bins one handed and I need my right hand to control Xanadu. And more than once one or both of the bins have landed on their sides, making one heck of a noise......and a mess...

...which is not too bad during the day when there is nobody at home next door as it could have been anyone knocking the bins over, but presumably they are at home now so to do that at midnight, when there is normally nobody around?

Now I'm a bit of a rebel and would do it anyway and when they came out to see what was going on, just play innocent and say, oops sorry, I thought I could push them out of the way on the DISABLED ramp

Set fire to them......

The bins are not actually ON the ramp, which is angled across my side yard and joins the pavement at the corner of their fence thingy, but are on the pavement less than a metre from where I turn onto it to go past their place. That side yard between my and their bungalows is therefore my part of the plot. Heck, I am the one who pays for the weeds to be cut down and sprayed three or so times a year even though it is our landlord's responsibility.

Which would then set fire to their bamboo fencing...

...but I am no arsonist and in any case I do not posses any matches!

I had hoped the Ninja would shift the bluddy bins when he calls round on Wednesday morning to bring me something but, umm, 'e adda bitovva naccident on 'is Ninja bike yesterday so will be coming in Liat's car and not on the bike, so will park on the road outside. His car is currently on his son's army base as he is using it to drive home when he has a free w/e and then back to base again, as Ninja does not want him travelling on buses at the moment.

I'd still have knocked 'em over and used it as an excuse to say they are in the way of your mobility.

They must know the problem, Juli so are being totally unfair

Sorry for my bad sense of humour... I was just joking about setting fire to them...
These things can be very frustrating I know.....

And now for something nice - how about this for service. I had an order delivered this afternoon which included a couple of packs of ready-made mixed salads which have various types of salad veggies, far more variety than I can get at the macolet which only has the very basics - lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers etc - which would usually end up with me having to chuck most of a huge romaine lettuce away. Plus being ready-made it makes life so much easier for me.

Anyhow, one had mixed baby leaves and when I opened it to put it in an airtight container to put in the refrigerator, it stank. The date was fine - 30 May - and it looked OK, but oh did it stink so straight into the bin it went.

So I sent an email to customer services through their website, gave the order number and the SKU number of the item plus the date on the packet and very carefully worded it to explain, not wanting to complain but just to let them know. And within less than five minutes got the following reply:

Dear Gillian [I have to use my official name of course, even though I have not been called that since I was a child]
I thank you for your inquiry
Following on in the details of the system and to answer your satisfaction, I updated you credit directly to the credit card with which the order was placed for Strauss Selecting Selanova. The credit can be seen within 7 business days in the card detail.
I would love to continue serving you in the future as well.
Have a nice day,​

There are supermarkets and there are supermarkets, but I wonder how many of the others would be so good. That really made my day - not the fact that they refunded me on just my word, and it did not cost that much in any case - but their promptness and their courtesy. It put a really big on my face!

Good result. I have found Aldi Customer Service good too. No use just mentioning things to the assistants though, and I can't always be bothered to write in.

Aldi, Lidl, and various other UK supermarkets did not exist when I was still in England. There was Sainsbury, Tesco, others that are no longer in existence but were not supermarkets - just as the original Sainsbury was a counter thingy, not a supermarket at all. M&S only had a small food hall in some stores but when Brent Cross shopping centre opened there was a good Waitrose. No such thing as home delivery in those days and of course online shopping was still years away when I left.

From what I read in the online media many people have started online shopping since the lockdown and most say they will continue doing so.

It is quite funny really Carole because I write in English and have to be careful how I word things so that they understand, and they answer in English hence the occasional stilted wording - but they are just so nice. I have sent queries about various things at times and they always answer promptly, although not quite as quickly as this one. It is so much easier than telephoning, which could involve hanging on for a while as they are so busy now, and although they do have a "chat" service and a "WhatsApp" thingy - I just prefer to send a brief email.

They are still doing their promotions/reductions, some weekly some fortnightly, plus they give what they call personal coupons for various items [also limited as to how long they can be used for] but I have no idea how they decide what items to choose and why. Not that I am going to argue because I can usually find a couple of treats among them!

I was woken at the crack of dawn - well, 7.30am IS the crack of dawn for me as I am an owl not a lark - by a beep telling me I had an SMS message, Ninja making sure I got up ready for a Health Fund nurse [not our Shula] who was coming at 8am to draw blood. As usual, they all seem to send messages to me via him and not contact me directly, which in a way makes me feel almost like a non-being. Or gaga. Or something.

Stoopid nurse [young man] turned up with his face mask under his chin and no gloves either. And he is a nurse? Coming to draw blood? Sorry, nobody comes near me without wearing a mask, which is still mandatory when in public spaces and definitely when visiting vulnerable people, so I asked him to please cover his face, which he did, laughing as he did so, but still......and they are going to let Amit know the results - why not me?

Then I checked the current situation on my computer and there are two notifications within my area. Well, in town, not on the Moshav, but still not very far away. Three at one address, Hadror 31 and three at Rehov [street] Yehuda Halevi 36......and I thought angonaminnim......Hadror 31 is on Yehuda Halevi and that is Ram's surgery. It gives dates and times that someone who tested positive had been at those places, 14th, 17th and 18th at the surgery address, and 15th, 17th and 19th at the other address but does not say if it was the same person or not.

It just brings it home when it is at somewhere you know and people that you know personally. Obviously Ram did not come here when Tikki's Parkworm shot and Bravecto was due - Ninja went to pick up the Bravecto and said at the time that they were only letting one person in at a time, and not letting people who had not made an appointment queue outside. They knew Amit would be going as I had already telephoned, but still made him wait outside. I have no idea what they do in emergencies though.

I think I have had enough of 2020 - and wish we could just skip the rest of the year.

What a shock to discover that it is likely to be a friend. I hope that if the affected person is Ram, or one of the practice staff, that they are better soon.