New car

well, I say new - it's 12 years old. A 1.6 Vauxhall Astra LS in grey. A cheap runabout in surprisingly good nick, which will do for our holidays and for daughter #1 to drive once she's passed her test.

Interestingly, a 56 plate Corsa pulled up behind me when I was taking daughter #4 to school, and it was the same size as my Astra. New cars are bloating.

Oh, by the way...

... my appointment with the shrink last Friday was one of those 'So you haven't killed yourself, then? See me in November.' ones. I took my letter from the consultant I saw privately (and can't afford to now), but he didn't want to know, and apparently Cognitive Behavioural Tereapy is not for me. I'm not going to get discharged - it took me long enough to get referred, and I'm not going to go through that again.

One down, one to go...

I've finally finished replacing the left door skin on my TR7! Last step was welding the top edges, adding a little sliver of metal where I accidentally cut the frame too much when removing the old skin. Next time, cut through the frame, not the skin...

I had a few problems with my welder spluttering and popping. I thought it might be due to my clumsiness or the 28 year old steel on the door frame. After I finished the door, I went back to practising on some sheet steel to get the right settings. Experimenting with the wire speed resulted in a couple of pretty perfect welds, with a nice buzzing sound and good penetration. I've got a picture on my phone, which I'll upload later (if I remember).

Trouble is, I think my cheapo auto-darkening helmet is taking too long to react. My eyes are sensitive at the best of times (I can get arc eye - or what feels like it - on a bright sunny day), so I think I'll look into getting a new helmet.

The Autism-MMR gravy train

There's an interesting link on NHS Blog Doctor's weekly BritMeds medical links post. An article by Dr Michael Fitzpatrick, explaining how measles RNA was apparently found in the guts of autistic children who, it is claimed, had contracted autism through the MMR vaccine. An investigation on the lab found that the tests were suspect due to DNA contamination. This investigation was withheld from the public for three years due to litigation in the UK. Lawyers acting on behalf of the children and their parents allowed the case to drag on, even when the scientific case against the autism-MMR link was overwhelming, prolonging the agony of the families and costing the taxpayer £15m in legal aid. Of this £15m, £8m went to solicitors, £1.7million to barristers and £4.3million was shared among expert witnesses. £800,000 went to Unigenetics, a company set up by Professor O'Leary who ran the lab referred to in the report. The families got nothing.

It seems to me that there is no good scientific link between MMR and autism. Those who say there is are preying on parents' need to find answers, and are only in it to make money. For what it's worth, both my little ones have had the MMR, and neither of them have autism.

NHS Blog Doctor: Shocking Psychiatry

I remember now. It was the Community Mental Health Team who kept blocking my GPs' (plural: I tried my GP when I lived with my parents, and few times when I moved in with my wife) referrals. Something about 'no change in presentation'.

Elderly care

In one of my earlier posts, I bemoaned the fact that my parents are having to sell my grandmother's home to pay for her nursing care. Today I read Dr Crippen's article about Liz Penny and her experiences looking after her demented mother. I'm feeling guilty now. Thinking about it, it's a bit greedy of me to expect the taxpayer to fund my grandmother's care when she's got all that money tied up in a house she's not living in. Or is it? Why shouldn't our welfare system provide decent care for our elderly, if that is what we so wish? The problem, of course, is funding. So many things to fund out the public purse, and we have to draw the line somewhere.

Dr Crippen points out that Pakistani families look after their elderly, why shouldn't we? Well, Pakistani families tend to be closer and larger, so there's more people to share the load, so to speak. Another thing is that the generation gap in the last couple of generations has increased, such that people are increasingly finding that their parents need help when they themselves are still looking after children. Ok, a lot of these things are to an extent self-inflicted. But calling people scroungers isn't helping. There may be lots of reasons why people can't look after elderly relatives themselves. Some of these reasons may be selfish, but there's no reason why we as a society can't build a framework for decent care for our elderly citizens. One that doesn't involve guilt-tripping, but also doesn't involve dumping the old dears in a home and forgetting about them.

And me? I think I've got to make an effort to see Grandma more often. It may be an excuse, but she's not the intelligent, witty, wise woman she was only a few years ago, which makes it harder.

It's time to meet the muppets

Some terrorists, yesterday.

Tom Reynolds says this:

I'm not scared of terrorism, no-one I work with is scared of terrorism. We
recognise that the chance of dying in a terrorist attack is much, much smaller
than the numerous other causes of death and injury that we face everyday. What
makes us more nervous is considering what the British government might do in
response to these pitiful attacks.

Too bloody right. I firmly believe that as long as there's a Briton with two fingers to wave at these losers, Britain as a whole has nothing to fear.

Now these are good...

Here's some amazing pictures of the London Underground, taken by Robert Stainforth.

Link

Better than nothing. Only just, though.

Next Friday, I have my once in a blue moon appointment with the Mental Health locum at my local Royal Infirmary. I've been going to this ever since I got stressed out with work and the fact that I couldn't get an expert opinion on whether or not I had Asperger's Syndrome about 18 months ago, and drove my car through my father-in-law's garage door.

This convinced my GP to try again, and she suggested I went on citalopram to help force a decision. Parallel to this, I went through my workplace's occupational health section (as I was having trouble with work), and got an appointment to see a psychiatrist.

Funnily enough, my private psychiatrist was the former consultant at the NHS. He agreed that my worries about AS were valid, and agreed to refer me to a colleague who was a specialist in these matters. She saw me twice, the second time for a formal diagnosis. The third time she saw me, she told me I didn't have AS, but that I had got some social issues. This was just what I needed, someone who knows about these things. Fairly soon after that, I came off the citalopram.

Unfortunately, because I've now left work and lost my private healthcare, I can't see my private consultant. All I can do is take his details to the NHS and hope that I can get the help I need though them. Chances are, though, that I'll get a 'Keep taking the pills, and we'll see you in a few months.'

Now this isn't a diatribe against the NHS, just a realisation that it's not perfect. Mental health issues aren't as glamourous or newsworthy as, say, breast cancer or infertility, except when 'some nutter' goes on the rampage. So it doesn't get the funding it needs, sometimes.

Dr Rant: Ding! Dong! The witch is dead!

Dr Rant: Ding! Dong! The witch is dead!

Somehow, I don't think Dr Rant is too upset about former Health Minister Patricia Hewitt's leaving.

Is that Mr MnG?

I don't seem to have a very telephone friendly voice. People assume I'm the wife. As you can imagine, this causes problems, from the guy at Domino's calling me madam, to people at call centres hanging up because they don't think I'm me (and not the Indian ones, either). I think I need a voice changer.

TR7 Progress

TR7 Progress
Originally uploaded by marknotgeorge.

Here's the LH door having the edges of the frame primed with zinc rich primer, in preparation for fitting a replacement door skin. This should, with sealant, stop the edges rusting again.

Shopping Rage

With thanks to Bill Sticker:

Bring the noise.

Top film. Top DVD. A tenner from Tesco - I think I was the first to buy it, seeing as it was still in the new titles drawer, and not on the shelves. But why the utterly pointless cardboard sleeve, which conveyed absolutely no new information than the plastic case? A complete waste.

Parts

I've just ordered some parts for my TR7 from Robsport. Apparently they're almost preternaturally fast, so we'll see...

EDIT: They can't take my Electron card, so I've had to wait until today (Monday) to use #1 stepdaughter's Solo card. Bummer

EDIT AGAIN (Tuesday 12th) : The bits (two handbrake dustcovers for the rear brakes) got here today.

Has it been that long?

I suppose so. A quick catch-up:

• I turned 35. Wahey. At least I managed to go out, get pissed and still catch my bus home. Which is more than my mate Paul did.
• Started dismantling the brakes on my TR7, so that I can fix the handbrake and take it outside to jetwash the underneath. Photos in my gallery.
• Karen's business has seemed to explode in the last week or so. I've been helping her by putting new products on the website.

Reading lots of blogs. It seems that the NHS ran at a surplus. Why? Surely the NHS should only just break even. From where I'm standing, I see £510m that's not treating patients. It'd be interesting to see what NHS Blog Doctor has to say.

Speaking of GPs, I agree that to see a doctor out of hours should incur a nominal charge, if only to stop the ingrown toenail brigade. Plumbers charge extra.

Sometimes, partying's too hard.

Sometimes, partying's too hard.
Originally uploaded by marknotgeorge.

Fri 18/05/2007 22:31 18052007015 My aunt, uncle and their 2 boys are emigrating to New Zealand soon. Last night was their leaving do. Emily's sleeping through the band.

New phone

I've got a new phone. A Nokia N73 on Orange. For £30 a month, I get unlimited texts and 100 mins of calls. Doesn't sound like much, but because I got it on my Dad's account, I'm in his Your Group, meaning I get free calls to Mum & Dad's mobiles. And with Magic Number, I can call Karen for free too!

Now to get Lifeblog working through Flickr...

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

For the sheer hell of it.

I've not posted for nearly a month, sorry. I quit work last Friday, and I must admit a few tears as I walked to the car. Tears of uncertainty, but they soon passed. Karen's business seems to be going well, and there are a couple of new ideas to try.

I've added to my website, too. Back in 2002 or thereabouts, me and Karen, and some friends, were involved in prosthetic makeup effects. We briefly formed a group called the MonsterMen, and attended the Carnival of Souls a few times. We had a website which I thought was long gone, until I found it on my hard drive while spring cleaning. It's a snapshot of how the website was in December 2002, and I simply uploaded it in its entirety. Some of the links may or may not work, but it's there if you're interested.

Here's the link.