News Alert - Sore Throat Attacks Innocent Man

First day back at work today after the New Year break (of one day!) and there was more than plenty to do and several things achieved setting up work for the New Year. The only thing is I've developed a sore throat. Now for a man this is pretty serious stuff as we know. Everyone around me has had the dreaded lurgy and I've been lucky so far but I guess the time may be imminent for me to get something.

I took a couple of Lemsip Max Strength tablets today which I noticed had caffeine in them and although the sore throat has almost gone away, I am just hoping I can sleep tonight. A colleague of mine took some caffeine tablets a few years ago because she hadn't slept and she needed to stay awake - she was as high as a kite and wouldn't stop talking and had eyes like saucers.

We've only had a smattering of snow here, a dusting and the main roads are okay although some side roads are like skating rings, but the footpaths are horrendous. They are packed solid ice and in some cases near me are quite badly rutted. Clearly it's important for roads and strategic ones to be kept open to keep the country running, I have no problem with than but why don't councils (ours certainly doesn't) grit the important footpaths where people are far more vulnerable. Whats the point in keeping the roads open so goods can be delivered if locals can't walk to the shops to buy them?

When I was a kid, a man from the Haltemprice Urban District Council (long gone) used to wheel a barrow about with two steel dustbins on it and he used to spread grit with a shovel on the main footpaths. Yes it got a little slushy for a while but saved you slipping on your arse. Surely this would save millions treating people on the NHS for slip injuries? At work, the driver handymen have a little bucket on a trolley which spreads grit like a grass feed spreader when you push it along, within minutes, the whole car park and all the footpaths are done!

Anyway the forecast is really not very good across the eastern side of the UK for the next few days so I hope those of you that have suffered, particularly those like fellow blogger Magnumlady in Ireland get some respite. For some, the novelty wears off when it starts to affect life on a day to day basis and stops you doing the normal things you take for granted.

Keep warm this week.

Chat soon

Ta-ra.