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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