Bloke

Hey thank for the insult, but it was based on my own experience of quite a number of friends and colleagues who left/emigrated over a number of years for those very reasons, and as a ward manager who had to use agency staff who were working for agencies for those exact reasons, yet according to you, I am lying. Maybe not all of the privatised services are as bad as I said, but certainly, quite a few are. I am glad you did not have those experiences, obviously things have greatly changed since I retired.

With the NHS under fire from all sides, people are voting with their feet, sick and tired with being tarred with the hatred and bile from rags like the Daily Wail, portraying all NHS staff as lazy, theiving, workshy scum, instead of acknowledging that in one of the biggest workforces in Europe, there are bound to be a rotten apple or two, but that does not detract from the rest of the good work. When I was working the wards, you had to apply for your holiday dates up to 18 months in advance, no guarantee of weekends off at any time, short staffed, almost never a meal break, moved to nights or days without any warning, days off cancelled with less than 48 hours notice, regardless of family commitments etc, being spat on and punched by the drunks on a weekend, expected to work to the job, not the hours (which we did anyway). Meanwhile, countries like Australia, Canada, US etc were all offering far better salaries and conditions, removal packages, child care etc, so many Nursing/Medical staff took up the offers and left ! Others, especially those with families, soon realised the benefits of working for agencies. Sure, you had to pay your own pension etc, and there was no guarantee of work - but you only work when you want, can take your holidays to work round your family, with significantly better rates of pay. Also, if you work somewhere that treats you like dirt, you just tell the agency you won't work there any more. The NHS have no choice, if they want the staff they have to pay. Privatising won't help, all they are doing is employing staff with lower qualifications for lower pay to give poorer care, but in sparkly, shiny, new buildings. Everyone wants a great health service, but when they see the bill, they complain. If you want the person who operates on your heart etc to be the lowest paid, most overworked and demoralised, yes, they will be cheaper, but not for me! I expect to pay a specialist nurse/surgeon/consultant more than a plumber, because Doctors and Nurses mistakes almost invariably kill people. Phew, rant over !

If you do this regularly, maybe a gun safe in the van and/or something like the secure gunslip that Napier do, maybe make your own, after all, it is just a takedown gunslip with a hole in the side and a dirty great steel u-ring and washer through the trigger to a security cable/lock. Or, as has been said, spread the parts around and carry one essential with you, to make the gun unusable. They only expect 'reasonable' precautions, but you dont want to be the test case..

try the Electronic Cigarette Company, up in Sheffield, my lad swears by them- Internet shop, and apparently they have just opened a drop-in shop as well.

From what I was told, the British airgun manufacturers were consulted by the government of the time, who didn't know, as to what they thought would be appropriate for air rifles/pistols, and they decided on the 6/12 limit, which would (a coincidence, I am sure) mean that only their guns would be legal, and they would have a total head start on the US and Euro manufacturers ad far as sales were concerned.

First learnt to ride in about 1968, on a mates brothers old Matchless -250cc I think. Then a local bloke gave a battered old pre-unit 650 Triumph to our local scout group as a project, so we took it in turns thrashing it round the local disused old WWII airfield, that was when scouts ignored H&S, one lad broke his leg, no skid lids, nobody was bothered back in the late 60s! Years later got into chops and Harleys, after one too many scrapes from road racers great times, can't ride now though, due to balance disorder. :(

I have Bladder Cancer, for the checks for that they do the 'finger test", in case it is actually the prostate, followed by an ultrasound if they aren't sure, and if they really want to be thorough, they will do a Cystoscopy ( camera catheter up the old 'pipe') none of them painful, uncomfortable at the most. Get it done, if I hadn't I wouldn't be here now, it's only a bit of embarrassment, but believe me, the nurses and doctors see it all day and it doesn't bother them! Of course, if your nickname is "Horse", they might raise an eyebrow....

Or "The frozen tundra of the Lincolnshire plains" whereabouts in Lincs? - DUH - sorry, just spotted the above posts, forget I asked...

N.S.R.A.

welcome from another flatlander!

If you have a family they can be a cheaper option, but if there is only a couple, it can be more expensive. By the time you factor in cost, depreciation, insurance, maintenance, extra fuel/larger car to tow, site fees, hook-up to mains, etc etc, it can become cheaper for a couple to have budget holidays abroad. Having said that, I loved my caravan, great memories of holidays when the kids were younger, and of course, with a caravan, you can pack pushbikes and telly/dvd/electronic games etc, and your meals can be cheaper.

Pigeon from about 10 yards, in around 1967-8 when I was about 12-13, with my brother's old Original 50 .22 air rifle. It has been in the loft since about1970 and he recently gave it to me, I am trying to get it renovated, just for nostalgia's sake. First shotgun at about 18, a Greener Mk 2 with Martini action and changeable chokes, lent to me by a friend's brother on his farm, for vermin control. Got a similar gun now, but going to sell it, nostalgia's OK, but it's no gun for clays... Great memories though..

I know it is not a Jeep as you want, but it may be worth considering the alternatives. I have leg problems as well, and I picked up an 06 Nissan X-Trail with the 2.0 Diesel engine and the 6-gear auto option. Seems bombproof, goes well, and have had up to 39mpg on a run to Southampton and back, plenty of extras as well.

Absolutely right! I am by no means the oldest on here, but have seen more than 5 decades and travelled a fair bit of the globe during that time, and one thing the British seem to do better than any other country is whine about how rubbish we are! We have our problems, and we have some scummy and violent areas of the country, but we had those in the 50s and 60s as well. We moan about immigrants and 'foreigners' but that's nothing new either, and some of the most idle, feckless and violent people I have met have been home- grown Brits as well. The poisonous bile spewed out by some of the daily rags like the Daily Wail etc does seem to be more than ever though, looking at the Britain in the past through a rose-tinted brain, people like to believe bad news. We do have a good country, maybe it was never 'great', - depends on your individual viewpoint, but it is MY country and I ain't ashamed of that!