[The Red Arrow]

Oi! Jayzie! Your good news yesterday gave me a 'thank fark for that' moment, and Keef knows they're in short supply in these times. Never be afraid to share here - bad stuff reveals people on your side and good stuff cheers us up. Ya dig?

[Oblomov]

Brother has just informed me that our mother was admitted to hospital yesterday. Will copypaste what I've written around the Whatsapps:

She's had an open wound on her leg for most of this year and the district nurse visited yesterday and thought it needed more treatment than she was able to provide so recommended my mum go to hospital, ambulance took her to Queen's.

She was only supposed to be in overnight at most, Queen's has held true to shambolic form and kept her in for several days now for reasons unknown.

We thought it was supposed to be a short trip so didn't pack her a phone or any long term comforts. Now she's stuck in a ward somewhere not allowed visitors and with no means of contacting the outside world.

And the useless cunts didn't have her medication in the pharmacy so they made my 70 year old at risk dad WALK INTO the hospital to hand them over to the reception desk (after they'd made him wait outside in the cold for an hour).

[The Red Arrow]

Thinking of you, mate - as ever thoughts are all I have, but I hope knowing people are on your side can give you some comfort.

[Boiler]

Sounds about par for the course - I remember trying to manhandle a bariatric walking frame into my previous BMW when the ambulance crew refused to carry it whilst transferring Mrs. B. between hospitals many years ago.

Unfortunately, the NHS is not immune to twattery within its ranks.

Can you get her phone to her yourself, or will they insist on quarantining it for a week or something?

Whatever - we're with you, Obs.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Woke up at 4. Opened the window to get some fresh air and there was a blackbird singing in the dead of night. So that's now my earworm, and possibly yours, too.

Thinking about that made me lose the Game, so now you have too, as well.

[Lardboy]

Y'bastard!

[Oblomov]

Sounds about par for the course - I remember trying to manhandle a bariatric walking frame into my previous BMW when the ambulance crew refused to carry it whilst transferring Mrs. B. between hospitals many years ago.

Unfortunately, the NHS is not immune to twattery within its ranks.

Can you get her phone to her yourself, or will they insist on quarantining it for a week or something?

Whatever - we're with you, Obs.

They seem to have form when it comes to my mother, I remember a hospital porter loudly complaining about having to push my obese mother around on a gurney was giving him premature sciatica which just made her feel worse about her disability and subsequent weight gain.

At the very least I'd like to get her a phone or some means of contact. Her parenting left a lot to be desired and I'm still coming to terms with a lot of her shortcomings but she does not deserve to die scared and alone in a hospital ward without visitors or any contact and her kids having to say goodbye through an Ipad.

Thank you for the messages of support.

Spoke to my dad just now, mum is being kept in because they are concerned about her oxygen levels (which have never been great but she's a morbidly obese diabetic who is prone to chest infections so it's just something we've accepted as part of our lives). If they knew she was going to be kept in, potentially for weeks, she'd never have gone in the first place and waited until January to get her leg seen to (even if that did increase the likelihood of amputation).

I've instructed my dad to ask about a discharge contingency plan, if they need to do a period of quarantine after she's returned home and if so will district nurses still go in to change her leg dressing or are they just leaving my dad to do that when he's struggling to care for her on his own anyway. Depending on when she's discharged as well it could well bugger any plans for Christmas.

Lots to figure out, I know the district nurse was just doing her job but this has been an absolute hand grenade into our lives.

[Boiler]

There's a lot of echoes of Mrs. B. in 2008 for me, Obs. You've got enough on your plate but I'll PM you the history if you wish.

Twat hospital staff don't help. Not all of the NHS is staffed by angels; at least there's a sensible community nurse involved. We had one that was, to not labour a point, fucking useless. I could do dressings better than she could and I saw her in the local deli the other day. Silly cow can't wear a mask properly either.

[Oblomov]

There's a lot of echoes of Mrs. B. in 2008 for me, Obs. You've got enough on your plate but I'll PM you the history if you wish.

Twat hospital staff don't help. Not all of the NHS is staffed by angels; at least there's a sensible community nurse involved. We had one that was, to not labour a point, fucking useless. I could do dressings better than she could and I saw her in the local deli the other day. Silly cow can't wear a mask properly either.

Unfortunately Oblomova has watched too many documentaries and programmes about front line emergency services staff so she thinks they're all heroes and won't hear a word against them and my sanity could do with someone else recognizing my bad experiences with them. I may not write a reply it deserves so apologies in advance.

[Oblomov]

We've got a phone in to the Oblomother, sent her a few texts and brother and I had a phone call with her this weekend. She's okay but fed up of hospital food already.

She has her own room so separated from others but the only spare rooms they had were in COVID-19 wards so I feel very uneasy about it. This hospital doesn't have a great track record for containing contagions in their ward so I'm not comforted by their assurances that medical stuff put on completely fresh PPE when they enter her room.

At least I told her I loved her. Which is a white lie but should the worst happen, she'll have "been told something pretty" as they used to say.

[The Red Arrow]

Still strummin', still beardy. I took a decision to spend less time trawling the interwebs for reasons to get angry and am reaping the benefits. Having said that, well...you know.

In other grumpy old sod news, the new neighbours across the street have turned out to be bulbheads, adding to the other illuminations in the street that only serve to remind me that this Chrimbo is, on the whole, going to suck. Might go in for this flu jab business this year, could turn it into a day out - with beer and crisps in the park and everything.

Stay safe, stay sane, groovers.

[KevS]

A little something from over here in the East which is far better than it had any right to be. Quite beautiful.

[Bones McCoy]

A little something from over here in the East which is far better than it had any right to be. Quite beautiful.

Santa's a Canary?
Childhood ruined, they told me he was a Gooner.

[The Red Arrow]

I have it on good authority that Santa is a Fenerbahçe man.

[Bones McCoy]

This is so confusing: