DO NOT BELIEVE WHAT THEY SAY - SAYING 'HI' COSTS A LOT.

 The nice part time lady was at the post office counter today.  Even so, there was no straight answer  given to my question about the cost of posting a card abroad, it all depended on the weight, I was told.  "A normal sized, average, possibly, even below averaged sized card," I said, "I do not send big ones." "Uhm, difficult to say," was the reply.  I nudged a bit more, asking about the basic cost and was then informed. 

The stamp price for sending a card to Europe, up to 20gms has risen to 87p.  My brain  was thinking it might have gone up from 60p or so last year, to say, 70p.  Obviously that was me being too optimistic.  "And did I have the airmail stickers for them?"  There was no charge for them (yet), so I decided to add the ones offered to my small collection, just in case someone has a brain aberration brainwave and institutes charges for stickers.  It would not surprise me if we are charged for writing in cards in due course.  It makes you wonder what miniscule weight  ink or pencil lettering might add.

THE PAST AND THE PRESENT

My radiators are covered with items of clothing at various stages of drying. It's not that I am stingy about using the the tumble-dryer and using fuel; it is that my consciousness has been assaulted with being economic with the earth's resources. I work much like the local farmers do, observing weather patterns, waiting to quickly take and use any windows of opportunity. In my case, I wait for half decent weather so I can peg out the washing to dry in what nature can provide for the purpose. As the season changes the opportunities to dry the washing outside will contract. 

I am almost wistful for bygone days when rooms in houses were large enough to sustain a wooden dryer fixed with a pulley, which rose to the ceiling. We had one, when I was young, and it settled in a high area in line with the rising heat from the coal range, mostly used for heating. Those were the days of city smog. I would not wish that back. With the thought in mind, I have been eying up any spaces that might accommodate a pulley dryer/airer. The obvious one would be our utility area, but that is far too narrow.

Damp is another issue to think about. These days, with smaller room sizes and the encouragement to insulate houses well, ventilation is more restricted. On the other hand if a house is heated with dry heat, a little moisture might balance things off a bit. The correct balances could be difficult to achieve.

Increasing heating costs focus the mind and the purse. Where I live, there are very limited periods when the heating is completely off during the year. The thinking cap will have to go on again. Meantime, the airers over the radiators and the radiators themselves will have to do their best to support the ecological argument on the basis that every little helps it, and also, every little helps to support the domestic economy drive.

DOES THE END NECESSITATE THE MEANS?

£95 17/- 6d believe it or not, would have been, (if you had the money and the forethought to pre-plan) the total cost of your funeral in 1970, according to the grand announcement on a leaflet. Enticingly, it goes on to enlighten that yours and my funeral would still cost the same now, in 2011, in the United Kingdom.   Did we appreciate the value of the pounds shillings and pence in our pockets, (if we had any), or is this information advising us that the funeral market has been stagnant, funereal even, for forty-one years?   No, it is telling us that if we had planned for the ceremonial departure of our mortal remains that long ago, we would still be charged the original cost, the price for that time.

Having digested the first page, inside the leaflet you are told that "never mind the £95 17/- 6d, the average funeral cost has increased in the last ten years by 94%".  This is certainly meant to be a reality check and like all advertising, works on the emotional senses. 

The best bit of all is the special offer that goes with the eye-catching historical information. You are offered a guaranteed funeral plan, at a price quoted that is based on today's costs, for whenever you die. The other conditional highlight is, if you are over fifty years old when you apply for the offer, you are guaranteed to be accepted. 

I nearly forgot to mention, how remiss of me; you get a stylish pen for requesting an information pack, [and adding yourself to the endless mailshot database].

NOURISHMENT DOES NOT HAMPER RECOVERY


Research undertaken by Cardiff University on a sample of 121 patients who have had major surgery, (because of cancer of the pancreas, stomach or oesophagus)has shown that feeding via tubes has speeded up recovery times. Apart from benefiting patient welfare, this research will also be attractive because of its potential cost savings.

In the past it was believed that introducing nourishment to such patients would hamper recovery. It was commonplace for there to be nil by mouth or fasting for up to ten days post-operatively.  What a thought. Patients would have to be selected for a strong constitution to survive that level of nourishment deficiency.

In the process of [disproving] the old theory, the Cardiff team introduced feeding by tube into the intestines, then observed and measured the results. Recovery times shortened as much as by three days.

I can't help but think, on a lay level you understand, that anyone deprived of balanced nourishment at a time when they are medically, highly vulnerable on many fronts, would physically struggle to overcome such a major trauma. Common sense has always supported 'keeping up your strength'. It's not just an adage is it. I am pleased that the deprivation theory has been challenged and found wanting.

Today, when there are so many medical techniques available that did not exist previously, it would not surprise me to see other older theories re-examined. A cautionary note though, unless the bottom line can be satisfied in some way, it could be much more difficult for a new process to develop, irrespective of how medically successful it might be.