I regretfully parted with more of the red stuff yesterday morning. The phlebotomist stuck me in the painful place they’ve been using recently and drew three quarters of a tube before tutting, fiddling about and, finally, throwing the tube away. It was, it seems, not working properly.
For those of you not familiar with modern blood-letting, it is no longer necessary to put blood in a tube as it was when I first started. These days they have a tube that sucks the blood out. Or, in this case, sucks most of the blood out then stops.
If it doesn’t draw enough blood they can’t do the test, so they had to re-stab my arm and take another tube.
If I had a bad day, it was nothing compared to the bad day that a number of worms were having. After the night of constant rain there were dozens of large fat worms crawling around the footpaths. I’m not sure where they all came from, or why they decide that the footpath is suddenly the place to be.
What I do know is that when I arrived at hospital at 8.04, they were alive and mobile. When I left at 8.44 many of them were lying dead in the rain.
I blame the carelessly placed feet of the multitude of bustling NHS staff that always seem to be late for work as I make my way slowly along the path. It’s a rare day when I’m not overtaken by at least half a dozen of them as I hobble to Phlebotomy.
I have no evidence for this, as I wasn’t actually watching, but they are the only people likely to have the speed to trample worms underfoot. The rest of us move slower.
When you think about it the average worm is doing more for the planet than the average human, so we ought to take more care of them.
Meanwhile, talking of lowly creatures, and people who contribute nothing to the well-being of the planet, BT still hasn’t moved the shop phone number. They have, however, cut off the old number as of Monday, so we currently have a phone line and a number nobody knows.
Tuesday’s development was a letter informing us that they are going to provide us with an ex-directory number free of charge, because that’s what you want when you have a shop – a phone number that nobody can see.
The shop front – with telephone number
I have seen paths covered with worms and often wondered what was going on. It could be the soil is water-logged – I have read that some worms can’t cope with too much water. It could be that something irritating to the worm had been put on the soil e.g. certain weedkillers. I watched a video on You-tube showing someone pouring highly diluted mustard on soil to get the worms to come to the surface.
I just checked up worm charming and find that the International Festival allows the use of liquids, as long as they are prepared to drink it.
Hehe!
Some people seem to take it very seriously. 🙂
Oops! Yes, they do. I apologise. 🙂
If they hunted slugs and snails by twilight I would participate. 🙂
😀
It is hard to beat BT for service.
Yes, I can’t recall any other company providing service like this. 🙂
Like everything the government has its fingers in, there is no logic to the reasoning!
My feelings exactly!
Scottish Power is no better.
That’s sad too hear – lack of a phone is annoying but lack of power is quite serious.
That is a typical example of bureaucratic knowledge!
🙂
Yes, let’s hear it for the lowly worm, always a welcome sight in my gardens.
Yes, always good to see.
What a bloody awful day
🙂