It has often been said
that I am a creature of habit. Very much so with breakfast. When
working normal shifts (as "normal" for me as is
possible) I have cereals for brekkie; otherwise it's toast and
coffee. Always! Without fail! Today in a novel break with tradition I
had toast and coffee even though I was working a normal shift.
Sometimes I can be quite the rebel!
And so, once toasted, I
set off to work. It was cold this morning, but not cold enough for
there to be ice on the car. Also the morning was noticeably lighter
than it has been. I'm grateful for that.
The news on the radio was
all a-buzz about the report into the scandalous treatment patients
had received in Staffordshire hospitals. Shocking! Disgraceful!
Or so we would be led to believe. What actually happened? At this
remove in time we'll never really know. But realism will never
sensationally sell newspapers, will it?
However, whilst terrible
things may well have happened, spare a thought for those working in
those places. Or in any establishment where one has a professional
duty of care.
Does anyone actually go
into caring professions to victimise the vulnerable? Or to be
deliberately negligent? Hardly! So why does the media act as though
people do. Why does the media delight in spreading malice against
health care professionals?
What message does the job
hunter and the school leaver get from all of this? Why would anyone
want to go into a job paying less than what one might get in the
private sector? Add to that a job which needs to be done at all
hours, day, night, weekends and bank holidays? And one in which the
slightest error or lapse gives the press license to pillory the
over-worked.
Not that I'm in any way
bitter or twisted....
(takes a deep
breath...)
On the way home this
evening there was an interesting program on the radio about how high
streets will be affected by the recent collapses of several big names
shopping chains. I can't really speak for any other high street, but
the one in Ashford has been (in all honestly) dying on its arse for
some time. Having said that, the loss of the high street giants has
probably been a good thing for me. With HMV and Blockbuster gone, CEX
will take over with its cheap bargains. Woolworths... what did they
actually sell? Nothing I can't now get cheaper in the pound shops.
And I never ate in Pizza Hut anyway.
I've said before that I
honestly think the entire concept of "high street shopping"
is fast becoming an anachronism. Cheap pound-shops and the Internet
have done for traditional shops. The pundits on the radio didn't
entirely dismiss my theory out of hand...
And rather than going
home I went to Sarah and Steve's for an astro club committee meeting
where I almost passed a motion.
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