MEDICAL MATTERS

[Marilyn]

I have a favourite Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon...
( mind you...we have a huge beer fridge full of stuff, including soft drinks, beer, white wines and champagne...totally lost on us as we do not drink any of them. Kept for visitors, as we have no interest whatsoever)
Then there is the “top shelf” of the bar. Again...we are not the least bit bothered with spirits or liqueurs. ( yuck!)
Help yourself. There will be something to suit, I am sure. Our adult kids always find something to take their fancy.)
Hubby doesn’t mind a sip of Whisky when he has a man flu.

I never seem to get man flu

[Tizer]

You'd be better to stock up on strong navy rum then you can always use it as hand wash in an emergency! (When Mrs Tiz's parents went to `forn parts' they always had whisky with them - good for sterilising your mouth after cleaning your teeth with the local tap water. At least, that's what they told us!)

I foresee a potential problem arising now. If we had an outbreak of a bad cold or mild `flu' the medical services could be overwhelmed by people wanting/needing virus tests and businesses running into trouble due to people staying off work to self-isolate. All this could happen without the Covid virus spreading. Especially when the news media and social media stoke up panic!

[Marilyn]

The “kids” brought Rum and other stuff with them when they came to claim the dog. ( they had been on a cruise, drinking obscure cocktails, and bought the stuff duty free).
Gut rot. I didn’t want one when they offered it. I am very particular...

[Wendyf]

I'm not! Just don't offer me Pernod or that pink coloured vermouthy stuff that tastes like cough medicine....the name escapes me.

[chinatyke]

I haven't been outside our estate gates for a month. Sounds like Alcatraz for the rich. On a more serious note. Will they be banning the use of air conditioner units that blow air directly out into the street without going through a HEPA type filter? I'm thinking about Legionnaires' disease where air passing over contaminated water spread the bacteria outside the building.

I don't know what sort of air conditioners you are thinking about. Our compressors and hot side heat exchangers are mounted externally and take in and blow out the surrounding air, only refrigerant passes through the closed coils. Inside, the cold side heat exchanger takes in air from the room and circulates it back into the room. Fresh air isn't ducted into or out of the room. Air-cons were liable to spread legionella if the the hot side and cooling towers became infected but these were generally the water cooled towers used in large installations.

[Tripps]

Campari ?

[Wendyf]

That's the one Tripps!! Thanks for that, I would have been struggling all day....

[Tripps]

Mrs T had a Campari and soda in the casino in Puerto de la Cruz - Tenerife.
The fixed menu was Fillet steak, and the exotic veg was a solitary brussels sprout.

I felt like James bond.

[Cathy]

You say you’ve got white wine Maz, I hope it’s not a dessert wine . Yucky stuff spit spit.
Pour it down the sink, then bleach

Oh by the way, I only like Rhine Riesling - dry.
The odd Baileys or Kahlua... Thanks

Oh, and daughter drinks Gin and Tonic.

Just remembered, Port is nice in Winter

[Stanley]

My favourite wine in summer is a Gewurtztraminer from Alsace, the later picked the better. (Spätlese or Eiswein). Light and very refreshing. Favourite whisky is Lagavulin single cask, the older the better! (Take out a mortgage!)
Medical matters, I go to see my Polish Nurse this morning at the surgery for bloods, BP, feet and water testing. All good but it's nice to be in the diabetic programme, it is very efficient. (I do five days BP readings for her, all hovering around 130/80 so 16 year old country!)
Oh, and I pick up my new reading glasses as well, they are ready. It's all go!
As for Covid-19, I wonder how many people realise that we exist daily immersed in a soup of trillion of bacteria and organisms, some of which are very dangerous but our wonderful immune systems and other bodily defences protect us. How many people will die of sepsis today? The Sepsis Trust says that the average is five deaths an hour. Don't facts like that put Covid-19 into some sort of context?

[Marilyn]

I believe you. Dave nearly died from sepsis, caused by a common throat bug (Strep).
And they nearly killed him trying to save him!

[Stanley]

Quite.....

[Sue]

As for Covid-19, I wonder how many people realise that we exist daily immersed in a soup of trillion of bacteria and organisms, some of which are very dangerous but our wonderful immune systems and other bodily defences protect us. How many people will die of sepsis today? The Sepsis Trust says that the average is five deaths an hour. Don't facts like that put Covid-19 into some sort of context?

I am agree completely . It is concerning however the media loves to be scary. Why not be positive too telling us the numbers who have recovered. At my writing group yesterday people thought that it must be far worse than we are being told as places are being closed, new hospitals built rapidly etc. i wonder what the truth really is.

[Tizer]

I worry that more damage will be done worldwide by the fear and panic caused by all the hype than the direct damage done to our health by the virus. The financial markets are already dropping back to 2008 credit crunch territory and just think what that did to us. Those markets run on `sentiment', not logic and are treated as a money making game by some who will already be raking in profits from betting on falling prices.

When Professor James Lovelock first published his Gaia idea many decades ago, that the Earth was a self-controlling system based on feedback mechanisms, many people didn't have minds open enough to understand it. They saw it as silly supernatural rubbish. The development of Earth Sciences has since shown how right he was. The current climate change is one example, with its basis in physical sciences, but now we're experiencing the biological equivalent. We have a mismatch of people in wealthier parts of the world flying quickly between countries and mixing with people in less wealthy regions with old habits such as selling live wild animals for food in public markets. Cities are getting even larger and more crowded. Dodgy foods and drugs are marketed and sold through the Web worldwide.

[plaques]

Lets face it, people over the age of 80 are a disposable commodity. Equally those between 65 and 80 are a wasting asset. The worry is not the 15% who may pop there clogs but the effect on business by large numbers of workers and spenders stopping at home. Matt Hancock is doing his best by talking about containment and the fact that to-date no cases have actually arisen with the UK that haven't been initially contracted elsewhere. At the moment we are in the containment phase, self-isolation etc, but once this rises to large numbers you can bet this approach goes out of the window and profit and stock market share value will take over. The thinking will probably change to, 'well its out there now continue living as normal'. This virus outbreak could be the thing that brings the current capitalist system to its knees.

[Tripps]

Of the four infected British people taken off the cruise ship Diamond Princess and sent to hospital in Japan - one has now died. More info needed before reaching any conclusions, but I think we have a lot to learn about this new virus.

My lad tells me he works 'ten paces' away from the company which sent 300 workers home two days ago in Canary Wharf. He says he wont breathe when he goes outside.

Interestingly I've had a look back through the last couple of months of this thread, and quite a few have had what would now make them a suspect for the new virus, and at least subject to isolation and testing.

[Sue]

Your last paragraph Trips makes me think of my sick friends who have obviously had something more than a cold, more lie severe flu and have been very ill.

[Stanley]

Good posts. The only thing I'd say about yours Tiz is that markets run on fear and greed and yes, they are almost at panic stage, they don't know where to put their money to protect it. Tough and it's easy to not feel sorry but there is the question of the pension funds. My pension which rises 3% a year is a modern miracle. Is it safe?
Back in the real world, my tests at diabetes clinic were fine. I have a clean bill of health on every count and urine and blood analysis will be back with the Diabetic Nurse when I see her on Wednesday. As usual I took Dracula a cream and chocolate éclair and she gave me a hug and a kiss as I left saying I am a nice man!

[Marilyn]

Hopefully Dracula herself isn’t Diabetic!

[Stanley]

Maz, you don't 'catch' Diabetes, it is a condition, not an infection.

[Wendyf]

Maz was no doubt referring to the eclair! Mind you, your own advice at the start of the new virus outbreak was that we shouldn't go round hugging people, especially medical staff!

[Marilyn]

Got it in one Wendy!

[Stanley]

I didn't hug her, she hugged me and it would have been churlish to fend her off. I doubt if it was a moment of high danger!
I hadn't thought about the éclair. Sorry Maz.....

[Tizer]

These dramatic images of the fall in pollution in China show the effects of coronavirus...
`Coronavirus: Nasa images show China pollution clear amid slowdown' BBC/NASA



It's backed up by the manufacturing figures too...
`Chinese manufacturing hits record low amid coronavirus outbreak' Manufacturing
`Factory activity in China fell at a record rate in February, as manufacturers closed their operations to contain the spread of coronavirus. The country's official measure of manufacturing activity - the Purchasing Manager's Index (PMI) - dropped to 35.7 from 50 in January..'.

[Cathy]

Amazing. Almost gives you the shivers.
And how are those workers existing day to day?