GoGo_dancer

If work was the only place I needed to get to then I would happily pay more for regular, reliable public transport! But in the real world where people are parents and carers who need to be able to get to multiple locations quickly and efficiently then the car will always be essential. I work full time, and I'm a carer for an elderly relative... I often have to pop in on my way home from work to drop off shopping (this would require 3 different buses and 2hrs travel time on public transport!). If there's an emergency I can be there in 10 minutes, so it's a no-brainer for me. I used public transport in Oslo last year and it was incredible! Affordable, regular, clean, bang on time and free Wi-Fi everywhere!

I wonder if they're going to stage a protest outside Jessops Hospital and try and get people to have fewer kids? That would reduce carbon emissions much more than leaving your car at home...

There's no question that whatever we do as individuals to reduce waste will have very little impact on the bigger picture, however if everyone thinks like this then we're already doomed to fail. I stopped buying shower gel in plastic bottles and switched to soap, doesn't sound like much but say I use an average of one bottle every 3 weeks, and I lived for another 35 years, that's over 600 fewer plastic bottles that I'll be adding to landfill over my lifetime. It's a small switch but with a significant impact and one that I'm happy to do. If only a quarter of Sheffield residents made the same switch, just think how much less plastic we'd be adding to landfill as a whole!

There's definitely a knowledge gap between the 'new' and 'old' OAP's. My Grandad was born in 1929 and worked in manual labour roles all his life, never had a need for or a desire to use a computer at all. The closest my Grandparents came to having a computer was an Atari console (and they only bought that for the grandkids to play on) It's fair to say he has a phobia of modern technology and without me helping him out he'd be totally lost. About 8 years ago we convinced him to switch from VHS to TiVo and it still traumatises him now! I get at least one call every week to say it's broken or he's deleted something by accident! I manage all of his finances online... the other day I sat with him to pay his water bill and it totally blew his mind..."so how does the water company know to take the money?"..."how does the bank know to release the money?"..."what if they take too much money?"... bless him.

A lot of people say their school years were the best, but I'd say ages 10 - 16 were my very worst, for reasons I won't go into on a public forum. After that I got a job and started to enjoy living by my own rules. My early 20's were terrible in some ways but like a lot of people in those articles, I miss the freedom I had back then and never really appreciated how easy my life was at that stage. Oh to be able to go back and give my younger self some advice!! So many things I would have done differently!!

I've noticed more and more people are simply walking/ignoring past the spice zombies who are laid out on the streets, drooling on the pavement... maybe a year, or 18 months ago, most of us would have shown concern or called an ambulance but we've quickly become accustomed to seeing it, which in itself is pretty shocking. It will only be a matter of time before there's a dead one laid there and nobody will notice...

Far Lane Surgery are terrible for not doing blood tests in the surgery regardless of age or mobility. My 89-year old Grandad was having to take a taxi over to NGH every time he needed a blood test. I found they were then doing blood tests for children in the surgery and complained. They still try it on every now and again so I ring them and state that he will NOT be travelling to the hospital for the blood test and they magically find him an appointment. I have massive respect for the NHS but sometime they shoot themselves in the foot by making things that should be so simple, massively complicated! Just an FYI - if your wife is prone to water infections, I can highly recommend a supplement called Precision D-Mannose which helps to prevent and relieve UTI's. Much better than the Cranberry rubbish.

Pretty standard... they hang about there most evenings. The police are aware and we report antisocial behaviour to them and to our building security people all the time (I work just across the road) but nothing changes so I know to avoid that bit of town, especially if I'm on my own. In the mornings some of them start off around York Street at about 7.30ish... there's usually around 8-10 people having their early morning fix before going off to their designated begging spot... they were at it this morning... one kid was off his face, clinging to a lamp-post and the others were stood round laughing. When you work in the City Centre you get to recognise the usual suspects and know who NOT to give money to. Pretty sad state of affairs.

The kid is ok according to one of the local Stocksbridge Facebook groups, didn't need the air ambulance after all. We were just trying to drive in to Fox Valley not long after it happened and had to turn around. The entrance to Fox Valley has been an accident waiting to happen... hopefully now they will put some proper crossings in!

Just a quick update on this, I spotted the road closure warnings near the top of Vaughton Hill as I was on my way to work this morning...I'm pretty sure it said from the 23rd July rather than the 21st as stated on the website.

The problem with end of life is it's so unpredictable, making it nigh on impossible to plan for. We can be clear in our wishes about how we want to go but there are no guarantees in life or in death. My Grandma was in the final stages of lung cancer and wanted to die at home, but she had a stroke in the early hours of the morning so my Grandad called the paramedics... it was clear she was dying so they took her to hospital and she died in the ambulance. I'm not saying the paramedics should have handled it any differently, I'm just saying you can't predict how it will play out. My Step dad died in St. Luke's and the staff there were great. They knew when he was near the end and made sure he wasn't in any pain. It still wasn't a dignified or peaceful death though by any stretch. I strongly believe we should be given the right to choose to end our own lives if we're diagnosed with a terminal / life limiting illness... anyone who argues against it needs to spend a few days in a hospice to witness it first hand.

Our surgery does online appointment booking through the SystmOnline website as well as telephone appointments... they reserve certain times just for online booking so I'm always able to get an appointment within around 2 days that suit my working hours. Might be worth asking if your surgery has the same option?

http://www.accesscreative.ac.uk/study/interviews/

That's really helpful, thanks!

To be fair, there are so many street drinkers and gangs that hang around on Arundel Gate who are constantly arguing and fighting that nobody bats an eyelid anymore. They are intimidating and dangerous people and I'll admit I would be scared to intervene. I work on Arundel Gate and we have to report all incidents to our security staff or the police but nothing gets done.