2 July 2014 (Wednesday) - Postling

I had set my alarm for 6am; I was awake shortly after 4am, and chasing a woofing dog round the garden at 5.20am. I *thought* his worrying at the door meant he needed a tiddle. It actually meant he wanted to chase the local cats.
We both scoffed toast whilst I watched "Reggie Perrin".

As I drove to work the Prime Minister was expressing his concerns about the growing problem of bacteria developing resistance to antibiotics. His solution was in theory admirable; he is keen to persuade the private sector to develop the next generation of antibiotic drugs. In practice it's not such a good plan. A leading doctor was then interviewed who explained that it is common practice not to prescribe antibiotics unless they are absolutely necessary because of the problem of bacteria becoming resistant to them. How often does anyone get prescribed antibiotics these days?
Consequently antibiotics aren't quite so lucrative to the drug companies as drugs such as anti-rheumatics and statins and things that are taken by millions of people every day.
One of the directors of a leading drug company was then interviewed and he agreed that his company wasn't keen to invest in antibiotic research because there was more money to be made in other pharmaceuticals. So who *is* going to fund the research? Heaven forbid it might be done out of a sense of public decency rather than for financial gain.
The really worrying part of all this is that I personally knew full well about the dangers of antibiotic resistant bacteria twenty years ago. Why has it taken so long for this to become news?

Over my tea break a colleague told me of his friend's latest acquisition, a wi-fi kettle. Costing a mere one hundred quid this kettle can be activated remotely by a range of wi-fi enabled devices including one's phone. What an utter waste of money. Bearing in mind one cannot fill the thing with water remotely, or make tea or coffee via wi-fi, what on Earth use is the thing? It's a sad indictment of our society that even in these days of austerity there are people with far more money that sense.

The union rep was sniffing round work at lunchtime today. She clearly didn't recognise or remember me. I suppose it is now over two years since I asked for the services of the union. (And over two years since she told me she's rather get involved in silly political stunts than to help people needing said help.) I resisted the temptation to throw rocks at her, and went out to practice my saxophone instead.

Gettiing home took a little longer than expected due to the A28 having been closed. Once home the nice lady from MyYodel picked up my knackeredd walking shoes and said shee would pack them off to Cotton Traders for me. Let's hope she does - the refund is dependent on them getting the shoes back.

Once "er indoors TM" came home we put the lead onto "Furry Face TM" and drove out to Farthing Common. We had a little stroll around the fields and footppaths. It was a tad hilly in parts, but such is life when walking the Downs. I took a few photos whilst we were out...
I think we deserved the curry we had when we got home...


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