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poliphilo ([personal profile] poliphilo) wrote2008-03-17 11:07 am

Praise For The NHS

Ailz went for an eye test this morning- to the new health centre on Glodwick Rd. It's so smart and airy and clean and modern- with its big windows, high ceilings and comfortable furnishings-  that it's a pleasure to be there. People complain about the NHS and how it's on the slide, but it didn't have buildings like this in the olden days- buildings designed to lift your spirits rather than oppress them. So- please sit up and pay attention- I'm going to praise the government for once. Buildings like this- and they're springing up all over the borough and so, I suppose, all over the country- are evidence of tax money well spent.

Another thing: I'm used to NHS appointments wasting hours of my time, so I took a book to read in the waiting room. I read about three pages. The whole expedition-  from us leaving home to us walking back though the front door- took no more than half an hour.

[identity profile] jackiejj.livejournal.com 2008-03-17 11:56 am (UTC)(link)
I've been reading Dan Simmons' newest book (2007), and it's a fine horror yarn with superb, shivery descriptions of the Arctic Circle in the 1840s. It's so cleverly written that I'm not allowing myself to hurry through it as I often do, but instead am enjoying how Simmons is slowly unfolding the horror of icebound sailors being stalked by an ice monster! Even the cover photograph is wonderfully spooky!

I thought you might like this one--reminds me much of Blackwood's atmospheric writing!

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2008-03-17 01:36 pm (UTC)(link)
That sounds like fun.

I'm reading Balzac and finding him addictive. I'm just starting my 6th. Only 90 (approx) to go.

[identity profile] jackiejj.livejournal.com 2008-03-17 11:57 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, sorry: The title is The Terror. It's now available in trade paperback.

The cover alone is worth the price of the book, and there are two pages of maps--how I like those thick books with maps showing where the ships get stuck and where they buried the captain, etc.!

[identity profile] dakegra.livejournal.com 2008-03-17 12:39 pm (UTC)(link)
that looks interesting, I'll check it out. Cheers!

[identity profile] jackiejj.livejournal.com 2008-03-17 12:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, good! It's beautifully written. Very descriptive--so much so that I get cold while reading it.

[identity profile] pondhopper.livejournal.com 2008-03-17 12:02 pm (UTC)(link)
The same sort of revolution is happening in the Spanish version of the NHS. Good news all around.

Recently, too, I accompanied my good friend [personal profile] gwendraith to an appointment she had at her local NHS centre in Ely. She was called in right on time and was out in a flash, also. She said her centre runs like clockwork for the most part and it, too, is a very pleasant place even if you have to wait a bit. Uplifting is a good description.

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2008-03-17 01:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Our government (the Spanish government too, perhaps) doesn't either claim or get enough credit for these kinds of improvement.