Vocal Voices

Tried to rid for a Dr's appointment this morning. 25 calls in between 10 and 11 o'clock, none of which were answered. Just "This system is busy, please phone back later".
The we went to Ponte to an appointment at Lloyd's bank with the aim of opening a small savings account for a rainy day.
We chose this branch because it is sited on Ropergate, where you can park on the roadside, get a ticket and then walk straight into the bank.
Or at least, you could until last week.
Wakefield council have decided to improve things and now you can't park on Ropergate at all. They've blocked half the road with planters so you can drive down it, but not park on it. So that's going to kill the small independent shops down the street for sure.
So we've come home for a rethink.

Our council decided to alter the main A49 from the south side of Wigan. It was a dual carraigeway with three lanes going north.
The planners decided to widen the pavement, put a cycle lane in and reduce it to two lanes. While the road works have been going on
it has ben reduced to single line traffic with queues of a mile. They are now altering what should have been the finished layout, as
they have found a fire engine cannot overtake a lorry on the new layout.
More wasted money and time.

Our council has installed lots of protected cycle lanes - I HATE them! Poles with fluorescent strips, with regular yellow posts, many of which have already been knocked sideways. Cyclists love them but most motorists I know dislike them as much as I do. They are distracting and mess with your peripheral vision while driving along.

https://i.postimg.cc/gk42WrH9/E6-D2387- ... -BC016.jpg

Also, as Cruiser says, they must impede emergency vehicles because there is nowhere for a car to pull over.

cromwell wrote:Wakefield council have decided to improve things and now you can't park on Ropergate at all. They've blocked half the road with planters so you can drive down it, but not park on it. So that's going to kill the small independent shops down the street for sure.

Leeds has a department named "Connecting Leeds".

It should be called "Congesting Leeds" as it has closed many roads with those damned planters.

However, in Burley, Hyde Park, Beeston, Middleton and Belle Isle the locals have taken to shunting them to the side of the road to keep the roads open. They are not very popular outside the group think, focal groups of the council.

That does all sound aggravating, Crommers Our surgery seem to have upped their game recently - Mick had a telephone consult that quickly became a face-to-face, so that got sorted quickly. I needed a test for a minor problem which got sorted by the practice nurse on the day I rang. Harry got a medication review face-to-face, and I was allowed to wait for him in the reception area with no problem.

Hopefully you will get through tomorrow?

I’ll join you with yesterday’s frustrations Crommers.

My Mom had a home visit from the GP yesterday (I know! ) and my Dad called me at 5.30 to see if John could collect some medication she’d been prescribed on his way home from work.
This is more or less the conversation…

-Phone rings-
Me: Hello Dad
Dad: It’s your Dad
Me: I know
Dad: -laughs for a minute-
Me:…..
Dad: Can John get your Mom’s prescription on the way home?
Me: He’s on his way now so I’ll see if I can get in touch with him, where is it?
Dad: At Lloyds
Me: Which one?
Dad: The one in Hednesford
Me: Which one, there’s two.
Dad: The one at the back of the shop
Me: Do you mean Tesco?
Dad: Yeah.
Me: Okay, I’ll see if he’s answering his phone. Will it be ready?
Dad: She said it’d be within the hour but she’s only just gone.
Me: What did she say?
Dad: She was only a young girl!
Me: But what did she say?
Dad: I’ll pass you to your mother, she was Indian.
-Mom told me what the doctor said-
Me: Can you phone the pharmacy and check the prescription’s ready before John goes that way?
Mom: Yes, it’s at Lloyds.
Me: Is it Lloyds or Tesco? Dad told me Lloyds and then Tesco.
Mom: Tesco, I’ll phone them.
Me: Ok, it’ll save John going in and queuing if it’s not ready, but we’d have to go back later for it.
Mom: Well that’s ok.*
Me: Let me know

*No it’s not okay really, by the time everyone’s home and we’ve had dinner, given Bill his meds and then walked him it’s 8.30pm. Can’t skip the walk because he has to stick to a strict routine to keep his levels stable. As it was, Tesco hadn’t even received the prescription so we had to go back. We got there at 9, they’d only just received it so said it’d take around 15 minutes to do so we had to hang around. By the time it was done it was 9.30 and then we had to drop it into my parents and it was close to 10 by the time we finally got home and sat down with a cuppa.

Blimey Jo

LOL, Jo, you richly deserved that cuppa!

Blimey Jo, that's a palaver.

WM, Wakey Council's slogan is "Working for you". As if!

ps Over the last two days I've made 40 calls to our local GP practice, not one of which has been answered. Just an automated reply saying sorry, the system is busy please ring back later.
My hand is swollen and sore, I don't know why. But can you imagine someone in real pain, who can't get through?

cromwell wrote:Blimey Jo, that's a palaver.

WM, Wakey Council's slogan is "Working for you". As if!

Someone’s been paid a lot of money to come up with that one!