Thoughts of a carer

  (This was written before ‘Dancing Bloody Nurses’) *** For the fifth time in just over a month my partner, Viv, and I spent nearly an hour last Tuesday trying to arrange to chat with a GP. We had to subject ourselves to the dial, redial shenanigans at 8am, along with hundreds of others, and the local phone exchange was jammed - a daily event hereabouts. We persevered and got through after half an hour, before having to queue and wait, listen to recorded messages and be put on hold for another ten minutes or so. The reason for this was that Viv had had some hospital tests on Saturday, and, Tuesday being the first working day following that, we needed to chat to the GP to arrange next steps.  In any sensible healthcare system our family doctor would have called us anyway to discuss the results of hospital tests; in ‘our NHS’, you have to go through the 8am process of ritual humiliation first, then wait at home to be called. Soviet Russia was not the final bastion of obdurate ad...

We have more space on our drive than most. We have a small courtyard garden in front of our garage (which is used for storage and as a workshop). I don't mean that we have done what some of our neighbours have - turned the drive into a garden, and are using the street or pavement as storage for our car. No.  Eighteen months ago we got rid of the car. And we don't miss it one bit.  When Viv was ill, the car was useful. Indeed, we couldn't have done what we did - go on holidays, go out to shops and hospital appointments - with her in a wheelchair without the car.  But even before that - back in 2016 - we were questioning whether we really needed one. For a whole year - March 2016 to March 2017 - I kept a record of every expense we incurred relating to the car - insurance, tax, maintenance, fuel, cleaning and washing - everything. I also kept scrupulous records of our mileage and purpose of journeys. Financial costs of car usage At the end of that time I was able to look at...