The Problem with the NHS…

So, it’s all over the news at the moment; the NHS was completely slated by one of our own MEPs in America. And rightly so. Let me tell you exactly what I think the problem with the NHS is, and why I have a right to say so…                                           (( Because somebody made a comment to me the other day saying that I make an opinion with no evidence to back it up… During this conversation, just to fill you in, this person said that ‘according to psychologists children shouldn’t start education until they are 7′. When I pointed out that it’s a fact that you absorb more the younger you are, because we would like to send our kids to school in France, and they start at two years old there…, this particular person laughed at me and made the comment about me making opinions not based on fact. Actually, a psychologist on Sky News this week said that children do absorb more the younger they are. So if you want to bring your children up according to what psychologists say, then you had better ask more than one psychologist……… Also, that comment offended me because I have family and friends in France, so that is real evidence – real people who live there rather than a psychologist’s ‘opinion’………..))

Anyhooo…………….

Unfortunately, this story will involve me babbling on about my three kidneys, (or Duplex kidney), yet again. If you don’t know about it already check out my previous blog post to get the details.

The first major problem is the amount of time and money completely wasted on fixing drunks on a Friday and Saturday night. Thousands of people admit themselves, or are admitted by someone else (like the police…), to casualty wards all over the country EVERY SINGLE weekend. In fact, the problem is becoming so bad that weekends don’t seem to be the only time these idiots are being treated – nearly every night a drunk person will have to be admitted to casualty. In my opinion, the time and money spent on these louts would be put to much better use actually treating sick people, and the way to do this is to refuse free treatment to anyone who enters a hospital over the alcohol limit. These people should be made to wait and made to pay for their treatment. Why the hell should we be paying for it?! If they can afford to go out and get so drunk they need hospital treatment, then they can damn well afford to pay for it out of their own pockets.

Secondly, is the case of mis-diagnosis by incompetent doctors who sit in their surgery all day dishing out prescriptions without actually making a proper diagnosis. I know this is true, because I had three kidneys for 22 years and not one doctor diagnosed me correctly. I had always been ill – I suffered sickness every single morning of my life, terrible stomach pains and generally felt lathargic most of the time. I visited my GP at least once a year to try and find out what the problem was, and was referred to hospital for scans each time. The first few times the doctor informed me that my physical symptoms were actually depression, and twice I was given a prescription for strong anti-depressants which I refused to take. Of course I was depressed – nobody was bothering to find out what the real problem was. As for the scans at the hospital, I have lost count of how many I had. Once, the doctor said that there was something there – on my womb. For weeks I was worried that I may have cancer, and on returning to the hospital for another scan was told that there was nothing there at all. In fact, it only became apparent that I was really ill when I began bleeding when I went to the toilet. Even then, I went to hospital and the doctor told me I had cystitis. He didn’t bother scanning me, or taking a urine sample, but instead gave me the usual antibiotics and sent me on my way. It was a week later when I could no longer walk, was bleeding internally and the antibiotics hadn’t taken effect that I went back to the hospital and was finally admitted for further checks.

I ended up in the William Harvey hospital in Ashford. It’s the worst hospital I have ever seen. I was put on a ward full of very old and frail people, with the smell of urine all around me. The toilet, which I was in and out of since I had kidney problems, wasn’t cleaned for the entire week I was in there – the same piss stains coated the floor and toilet seat, and it absolutely stunk. The nurses weren’t much cop wither – one night, a very frail lady was buzzing for the nurse and calling out but nobody came. The poor lady climbed out of bed and made it over to the end of mine, where she fell hard and broke her hip. I had to go and find a nurse; and when I did they were sitting around reception eating a box of chocolates. I’m not saying all of the nurses are like this, but I refuse to feel sorry for them anymore after spending a total of two months in hospital and seeing how they actually work…

The William Harvey told me I had a very large tumour and I was taken to Kent and Canterbury hospital, believeing once again that I had cancer. After seeing a specialist, I was finally diagnosed with a duplex kidney after 22 years of sickness. Something which usually would be fixed at birth. Possibly the most shocking part of the story is that once I had been diagnosed I was sent home with a tube attached to my kidney as it needed to drain all the gunk out before they could operate on me. On returning to Kent and Canterbury, the lady said I needed to do an MRSA test; “You know what you’re doing” she said, as she ushered me into a cubicle. “Actually,” I replied, “I have never had one of these before…” In the two months I was in two hospitals, both should have given me the test whilst I was there – particularly when I left one hospital and entered another. But they didn’t bother.

So in 22 years, the NHS could have saved themselves so much time and money by just taking the time to diagnose me properly in the first place. I believe that GPs are paid far too highly for the work that they do, (or don’t do, as was my case…), and for the sort of money they are being paid they should be on call 24 hours a day. You can’t even get a GP to visit your home anymore, and even at the hospital I had to wait over the weekend until a doctor came in on the Monday morning. People aren’t sick from 9am-5pm, therefore healthcare shouldn’t be 9am-5pm.

I really do think that the NHS could work if we weren’t all paying for expensive doctors and drunken louts. The system in France is excellent – you do have to pay a small fee on visiting the GP, which stops people who aren’t ill from going, and all of your medical records are in YOUR possession. If you have an x-ray then you have to look after it. Something which the NHS can’t do – I had to give blood numerous times due to it being lost. On that note, where the hell did it go? I want to know why my blood is floating around a hospital somewhere… The French also treat the main illnesses, such as cancer and heart disease, for free and there isn’t a waiting list. It’s top notch care all the way – and I should know, my grandparents live there and have used the French health service many times. In fact, we’re moving out there ourselves because I can’t bear the thought of having my children in a dirty hospital and having to wait for treatment if they ever needed it. However, I still think that if they really wanted to, the government could make healthcare here so much better. We all pay enough towards it, and if the money wasn’t going towards doctor’s fat salaries when they can’t even make a diagnosis, and drunken louts who don’t deserve treatment, we’d all be a lot better off!

What About the Other 100,000?

According to an article by Sky News quoting the charity Missing People, over 100,000 children go missing in the UK every year. That means one child goes missing every five minutes. As shocking as these statistics are, we’re still obsessed with looking for one child – Madeleine McCann. Why? It truly upsets me to see her and her family’s faces plastered all over the telelvision whilst the police follow ridiculous leads which have so far led them absolutely no where, when there are literally thousands of RESPONSIBLE parents out there who have lost their children. These missing person cases are often closed when there are no leads, and the families are left to search themselves, often with little or no media attention.

So why, when the McCann’s thoughlessly left their children alone in a an apartment whilst enjoying their holiday, do the police continue to waste time and money on something that has so far had no results at all? The worst part of this entire story, of course, is that the McCanns have not been prosecuted for neglect, and are allowed to continue flaunting their grief on tv whilst thousands of other children and responsible families have long since been forgotten about. The McCanns have also raised millions of pounds to help search for Madeleine, yet the people who have donated money haven’t given a thought to any of the other missing children – or people – out there. If they had they’d have donated the money to a Missing Person’s charity rather than give it directly to the McCanns, who, for all we know, were involved in the disappearance of their own daughter. Since the most DNA evidence they found was in the McCann’s own hire car, I personally believe that this is possible. Concentrating on Madeleine like this will have a profound effect on the McCann’s other children’s lives, too. It’s not right to bring children up in that environment – other people have had to pick up the pieces and get on with their lives, and the McCann’s should too.

I’m not saying that we should stop searching for Madeleine – the story is very sad and everyone would like to see her safely back home, but please, before donating to the McCann’s fund, please consider donating to a Missing Person’s charity like Missing People, and spare a thought for ALL those people who have lost children or other family members from their lives. The search should still be ongoing for all of these families – not just the McCann’s – and those people should be remembered too.

Sky’s Blog – Life With A Kitten

My first blog! It’s rather unfortunate that I’m having to write it in between Molly taking naps so that I can get a bit of peace and quiet… The past couple of weeks have been rather ‘difficult’. It all started two and a half weeks ago on a Wednesday; the day that both of my humans are usually at home with me. They awoke unusually early, and, not being an early riser myself  I was shocked to find that I’d barely finished a mouthful of biscuits when I was bundled into that awful plastic carrier-box. I had no say in the matter – even though I mewed loudly the entire way. Secretly, I rather enjoy looking out of the window when we’re travelling somewhere, but I will not let it be known that bundling me into a box without my permission is actually quite exciting…

Anyway, it turned out that they were taking me to the PetDoctorPurrson, (I think his name is Vet…), to get my claws clipped. It was my own fault really – my huMan had been trying to clip them for about a week but I wasn’t having any of it. How on earth does he expect me to scratch that awful sofa when my claws are so blunt?! The waiting room was filled with dogs and humanLadies… Slobbering, smelly beings. And the dogs. Thankfully it wasn’t long before I was called in. I noticed that the humans stayed in a different room whilst the PetDoctorPurrson and an unable assistant ‘did the deed’. Typical human behaviour; disassociating themselves from reality when things don’t go their way. After the claws they made me take one of those awful tablets for worms… The humans never try to give me one of those at home. I have this amazing ability to be able to completely close my throat with my tongue and as soon as any foreign object is inserted into my mouth it gets CatApulted to the other side of the room. I must teach Molly that one at some point….

Where was I?! Ahhh, yes, the PetDoctorPurrson and their evil worming tablets. So I was put back in my box and taken back home to recover from the whole experience – OR SO I THOUGHT. Almost as soon as the humans had let me out of my box I wolfed down some biscuits. Oh no, that’s not what I meant to say. I should have said; Almost as soon as the humans had let me out of my box they went out again. With the CatBox… I was about to go out and give the garden a quick patrol, perhaps have a CatNap in the sun, when I remembered that the huMan had changed the CatDoor the day before. This new one, although in a very stylish brown to match my coat, actually had a door. The last CatDoor that we had was always taped open for me because I refuse to use them. They always seem to whip me on the way in or out. And the humans really ought to open the big door for me. I suppose that’s the problem with having just two legs – it makes them tired far too quickly. Anyway, the old CatDoor got broken off by the fat GingerCat that comes in to steal my biscuits, so it was a nice ‘me’ size hole. This new door could be a problem…

I went upstairs to the office for a CatNap in my favourite sunbeam – it’s very rare to catch it, but when you do… *ahhhh purrs*. Finally, the humans arrived home… with the CatBox… and… no, it couldn’t be, could it?! Inside MY CatBox was a very small, (and might I add rather smelly) little Feline that was squaking like a seagull. In my CatBox! In MY HOUSE! Now, I would like to say I was completely uninformed about the situation, but the humanLady had been telling me for weeks that another Feline was coming to live us. And if that hadn’t work they left rather unsubtle hints like extra bowls and beds lying about all over the place. I wasn’t complaining then though… the extra strokes and new toys were enough to keep my mind off the bad mews. So it did come as a bit of a shock when they bought the new kitten back. And I’m still outraged that they bought the kitten her own bed and bowl, but couldn’t be bothered to buy another CatBox for her. Now she’s been stinking mine out. It’s going to be like riding in a cattle truck on the next journey I have to go on. And I hope they don’t expect me to share…

I was fairly inquisitive about this new arrival. The name “Molly” was being flung about all over the place so I guessed that was the new kitten’s name. Our first meeting was not pleasant for me – the stench from the little one was  over-bearing, and she was, (and still is, might I add…), a tad too hyperactive. I’ve never met a kitten before. I think I left my family when I was very young – I’m very much used to, and enjoying being, an independent Cat. So this new Feline in the house has caused quite a stir.

The humans are trying to help but they obviously favour the kitten at the moment; she gets fed four times a day! FOUR TIMES! It’s an outrage. I have been put on a diet and have to have my food MEASURED by the humans – and only twice a day. Don’t they realise I’ll just eat out?! They haven’t collared her yet, either, and she has this rather annoying habit of sneaking up on my tail and pouncing on it. She even had the cheek to jump on my back whilst I was eating the other day. Of course as I said, I was eating at the time so I let the humanLady take her off, and swiped her later. Perhaps that’s why they cut my claws…

I am spending much more time in the house than I was before, but outside is my CatSanctuary since Molly hasn’t been vaccinated and isn’t allowed out yet. Obviously Cats don’t ACTUALLY need to be vaccinated before we go out; we survive purrfectly well in the wild, but I’m not telling the humans that otherwise she may be allowed out early. I have heard talk of a ‘lead’ for Molly since we may be moving soon; changing home so quickly may not be as easy for Molly as it will be for me… So I may have my freedom for some time to come!

I’m sure things will get easier. I even managed nose-rubs with Molly a couple of days ago. Holding my breath, of course… I’ll keep you all updated on Twitter. I’m going to try my cute-eyes with humanLady now – she finally got the GoCat that she ordered for me months ago, which didn’t please her since I emailed them myself, (have a look at my Twitter profile to see the email I wrote them – I posted it on there…), and received the ones I had ordered via First Class post and in a rather lovely box. The humanLady’s were posted Second Class and weren’t in a nice box at all. Obviously; they knew they were sending it to a human. If you want to be a second class citizen, then be human.

Photographic proof that she DOES sneak up on me....

Viki’s Really Tasty Chocolate Muffin and Chocolate Butter Icing Recipe!

I made some really tasty muffins the other day, so I thought I’d share the recipe because it’s the only one that’s ever turned out right! This recipe makes 6 XL Muffins or 12 Large Muffins. You will need paper muffin cups as these will stick if cooked directly in a tray.

For the Chocolate Muffins, you will need:

• 2 Large Free Range Eggs
• 220g Sugar
• 110g All Purpose/Plain Flour
• 6 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder (I used Bourneville… *yummy*)
• 2 Teaspoons of Baking Powder
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Essence
• 160ml Full Fat Milk
• 150g Butter
• 120g Very good, cold chocolate (or chocolate chips; although I highly recommend the bar of chocolate option for texture!)

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C, Gas Mark 4 or 350 degrees F.
2. Make sure your chocolate is really cold, place inside a plastic bag and batter it with a rolling pin until you have lots of broken bits of chocolate. Try not to make them too big, but uneven chunks is the way to go for a fantastic texture once the muffins are baked! You can use 120g chocolate chips but they don’t work as well. Place the broken bits back in the fridge whilst you make the muffins.
3. Beat the eggs with the sugar. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder and sieve these into the sugar and egg mixture. Add the vanilla and milk and mix well.
4. Melt the butter in a bowl over a pan of water. Once it has melted you MUST wait for it to cool before mixing it with the other ingredients. Fold the melted butter slowly into the mixture using a spatula.
5. Once all of the ingredients have been mixed you can add the chocolate – if you add it to the mixture too early it will sink straight to the bottom of your muffins.
6. Pour the final muffin mixture into the cases and pop them into the oven until you can slide a skewer in them and it comes out clean. About 30 minutes for extra large muffins and about 20 minutes for large muffins.

When the Muffins have cooled they will be ready to ice…

For Tasty Chocolate Butter Piping Icing you will need:

• 25g Cocoa Powder (again, Bournville is fantastic!)
• 100g Butter
• 300g Icing Sugar
• 1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Essence
• Some Full Fat Milk

1. Beat the butter until it is really soft.
2. Sieve the icing sugar and the cocoa into the butter a little at a time beating as you do so.
3. Add the vanilla if you wish to use it.
4. To pipe the icing, you may need to add more liquid – I used the milk instead of water as it makes the icing taste much better with a creamier texture!
5. This should be enough icing to completely cover the tops of all of your muffins in a very, very generous chocolately layer!
6. You can finish the muffins with anything you want – I have used cherries and chocolate sprinkles. Very tasty!

Most importantly, GO AND ENJOY YOUR MUFFINS!!!

My Emo Week…

…is probably the best way I can describe this emotional rollercoaster of a ride that has been the past week. It started last Monday when Chris, the plumber, came around to re-do our bathroom. Apart from the fact that tea-making and his constant racially-intolerant chatter kept disrupting me from my work, the first day passed without incident and the job seemed to be getting done. By the end of day two, however, the plasterer, (who, incidently, needed to plaster the ENTIRE bathroom), cancelled at the last minute and said he couldn’t make it the next day. Chris was umming and arring about what to do next and whether coming back the next week instead. Of course, I wasn’t happy about having a half finished bathroom for a week. Especially since we’ve got birthdays, kittens and grandparents on the way. Fortunately Mike, (our sparky mate!), stepped in and found us a Ninja Plasterer. He came around that Tuesday night, and within 3 hours the sweaty little Ninja-Man had boshed out our entire bathroom, and it looked amazing! (Believe me; plain plaster is miles better than the old-man tiles that were falling off the wall before… Anything is an improvement on that!). Anyway, the rest of the week involved Chris finishing up and non-stop talking, which got more frustrating toward the end of the week since his topic of conversation seemed to dwell on how many jobs we needed doing in our house, and how much he could do them for. I understand it’s hard for everyone to get work at the moment, but if we need a plumber we’ll bloody call one. I don’t need one regularly, and if he’s done a good job, I SHOULDN’T need one regularly!

Anyway, Friday night we were able to relax and enjoy a nice bath in a nice bathroom for a change, and celebrated the fact that our advert was due for release in The Festival Guide that weekend at Download Festival. So you can imagine how pissed off I was when we received an email from BA Media yesterday (dated 2nd June…) saying that the ad looked ‘very pixelated’ and was ‘it meant to like this’? Of course it bloody well isn’t you damn fools! To make matters worse, the advert has been ready since the beginning of May and we have had to email it off to them at least EIGHT times because they have had server problems and hadn’t been receiving the ad. WE had to do all of the running about phoning them to see if they had received it, and when they FINALLY did we spoke to them on the phone and NOT ONCE were we asked whether our ad should look pixelated or not! They even promised to mail us a copy of the magazine which we still have yet to see. And we never received a proof copy of the ad so we don’t know what the damage is on the final print – which was out this weekend, so there’s no chance of changing it now. I’m really upset about the situation – it should have been a huge thing for us, and I was building it up with all the customers telling them about the discount code.. of course it’s now only relevant if they can decipher the bloody thing. Spirits were high when we got the bathroom finished but that really put a dampener on the whole weekend and meant my weekend off was spent advertising and doing url submissions just so we don’t miss out on the festival crowd throughout the Summer.

Anyway, yesterday and today have been much better. I’ve been working on my email to BA Media and trying to figure out what I want from the situation and what I can realistically get; the ad probably can’t be reprinted but I might be able to get some or all of our money back. Thing is, I want to see the ad myself first to see how bad (or good…?!) it looks. I don’t want to send them a huge rant if they sorted the problem out for us! I’m learning to keep my ranting under control now… I’m getting there!

Sky has also had a big week – she sent an email to GoCat asking about a free biscuit sample I sent off for and never received – low and behold a parcel turned up this morning addressed to “Miss Sky The Cat” with a free GoCat Indoor biscuit sample in it! She was very pleased with herself, (and rather enjoyed the biscuits!). She’s got over 1,000 followers on Twitter now so she’s turning out to be quite the celebrity! Well, Sockington could do with some feminine rivalry…

Molly the Cat!

Talking of rivalry, we should be picking up our new little kitten at some point in the next couple of weeks! She’s called Molly at the moment, (we may change her name to Tilly, but we’re not sure yet…) and she’s a tabby cat like Sky so hopefully they will get on… I’m getting quite excited now, she’s a right cutie! Sky’s being a bit of a traitor again at the moment and keeps going next door. We’ve told her that there’s a new cat coming and she’s been quite clingly lately, so I think she understands. It’ll be good for her to have some company during the day. It can probably get a bit tiresome having to put up with human company all day every day!

Well I need to go and finish the email to BA Media, find Sky and see if PayPal postage is working yet so I can get my postage labels done! I haven’t forgotten about the book blog – it is coming, but as you can see it’s just like Funhouse here at the moment – all we need is a mullet-weilding tv presenter and we’ll be well on the way to a new series! ***It’s a real WHACKY show!***

Living without the Internet and Stuff in Between…

This week has probably been the worst week of the year. For days our internet had been cutting out (we’re with Talk Talk, so that’s not unusual…), but at the beginning of this week – this week, which, by the way, included our advert being released in The Festival Guide, (which hasn’t gone to plan, but more about that little incident later…), and a whole new range of items for The Krafty Lady coming in…. – the internet decided to choose to ignore my laptop completely. If my life didn’t involve running a business online then this would have made no difference to me whatsoever, however, my whole LIFE is organised online so as you can imagine it caused quite a panic… Even our business phone number is run through Skype so I couldn’t even receive calls. It’s been a freaking nightmare!

Of course my trusty BlackBerry kept receiving my emails for me – I do wish they’d hurry up and invent a Skype app for BlackBerry that actually works, it would have really helped me out. I had to uninstall TwitterBerry because it was playing up and installed TwitBreeze instead. Which also didn’t work. However, on emailing support they got straight back to me and said my APN wasn’t set up – another thing Orange didn’t tell me about – so it’s set up and I can now access Twitter again at the touch of a button which is great. I also downloaded Viigo and HIGHLY recommend it if you have a BlackBerry – awesome app!

It also gave me a chance to concentrate on other things; like getting the bloody house finished. The roof men came and fixed the kitchen roof which is great, (it feels like so long since I last blogged that I’m not sure if I already told you that…), and the bathroom man is coming to fit the bathroom on Monday. Yay! So we’ll no longer have to bathe with the plaster that’s falling off the wall. Good times. The living room is now in the dining room so we can get that decorated and carpeted, and we’re well on the way to getting it on the market in time for the Summer. And it’s looking so much better than it was before!

I also found a new Fair Trade supplier for the shop at the end of last week and we ordered the most truly awesome hats which arrived at the beginning of the week, (and should be in the shop by now… I’ve got a lot of work to do over the weekend!). I don’t want to reveal too much about them on here because it’s a work thing – you’ll have to keep an eye on The Krafty Lady blog to find out more about those; or have a look in the shop – they should be listed by the middle of next week. We’re also getting a few more clothes as our new supplier has some AWESOME bits and bobs, so that was a nice start to the week. Just a shame everything has been delayed because of no internet access!

As for the ad in The Festival Guide… GRRRR! We paid for it and sent it in a couple of months ago, as the due date was waaaaaay back in May. The company, (I don’t want to name names here, because they’re good people; just a bit of a cock up!), have since asked us to send it over a further FIVE times (or maybe six – who’s counting?!) because they have server problems and couldn’t find it… Basically their server couldn’t deal with the large picture files that they’d asked everyone to send their ads as because it wasn’t set to accept files larger than 5Mb or something ridiculous… So Paul, cunning as a bag of Baldrics, set up their own Googlemail account for them, sent the file, checked it was in their Googlemail account and phoned them to let them know! Brilliant. They thanked him very much, and are probably getting everyone to email their files to their new email address as we speak…. I just hope they get it all done in time for the the first festival – it’ll be out at Download to begin with. Exciting stuff with some slight frustration along the way!

So the computer is working now, thank goodness – I installed Seti@home at the beginning of the week and had to uninstall that because we thought it might be the reason my internet wasn’t working… It wasn’t the reason, so I’ve redownloaded it and are now currently receiving signals from the stars! In the hope that maybe I’ll hear from home fairly soon…

Anyway, I have a TONNE of work to catch up on, (mostly listing new items and editing photos for the shop – boooo!), but I’ll be back soon because I have to tell you about this book that I’m reading…. Laters!

Britain SHOULD be part of the Euro & EU!

I am absolutely FUMING. I posted a message on Twitter this morning, saying that BNP party and UKIP would NOT be getting my vote in the election, and if they gained any power at all here we would be moving to France. Some complete twat, (excuse my phrase, but I can’t think of a bettter one for UKIP/BNP supporters…), replied to me and posted links on my page to UKIP. If he’d just started a debate, I wouldn’t have minded, but the fact that he had the nerve to plaster links all over my page really, really made me angry. I told him I would not vote for them as they are racists. He asked me for evidence of this, so I simply quoted one of their taglines; “UK jobs for UK people”. That statement is not racist in itself, but obviously has deeply rooted racist meanings, along with some of their other advertising campaigns. Admittedly, UKIP are far more subtle with their racism than the BNP, but they are still too patriotic. It makes me sick. The UKIP man didn’t respond to me about the tagline, so I think I won that argument, but now UKIP members are Twittering me trying to convince me to vote for that. I WON’T BE VOTING FOR UKIP, BNP, LABOUR, CONSERVATIVES OR LIB DEMS. Fact.

So why else am I so pissed off about this? I was reading our copy of Kent on Sunday the other day and got to the letters page. Nearly every letter was from some narrow-minded British Patriot who is disgusted by the idea that we should go over to the Euro and be a part of Europe. What annoys me, is that we ARE ALREADY A PART OF EUROPE, and have been for years. One of the comments was that food in Europe is highly priced and living under EU law would be like living under a dictatorship… Well, let me tell you something… Because you obviously don’t know anything…

Food in Europe is mainly sourced locally. You see, the Europeans support LOCAL produce and LOCAL trade – the myth that it is more highly priced than here is completely false.  Every year, Britain imports MORE THAN  A THIRD of its produce for consumers, which doesn’t support locally produced food, seasonal food or HEALTHY food. In fact, Britain has some of the highest priced food in the world. You say you’re against joining Europe but you eat European fruit and veg all of the time! It is also a FACT that EU Guidelines are exactly that; guidelines. Remember the smoking ban?? Well, you’ll see the same “No Smoking” signs in bars and restaurants in France – right behind the ashtrays on the table and the smokers.  The French, you see, have taken this guideline as… well… a GUIDELINE. The EU gives us these rules as guidelines; it is BRITAIN that determines how strictly they are put in place and often they take it too far, then simply wangle their way out by blaming it on the EU.

I think more people need to visit Europe before they start making decisions against joining it – we are no longer an Empire. This is not the 1800s people! We need all the support we can get from Europe. And the media should start putting across all the facts instead of the ones they feel will cause the most controversy and debate. Hell, the Euro is equivalent to the pound now so it would be a perfect time to change over. What is  the point of having our own currency when the rest of Europe has joined together?

There are tonnes of other reasons we should join, but I’m not going through them all. If you really care that much you’ll do some research instead of just listening to Ex-Pats who believe we should still rule over India. My rant is fizzling out now and I feel a summing up coming…

It is a very selfish attitude to not want to join with Europe. Especially since so many Ex-Pats move out there and take over areas of another country. Look at Spain; it’s mostly full of English people who have only moved over there to sit on their fat arses in the sunshine and eat fish and chips every day. They have no interest in learning the language, meeting other Spaniards and eating local dishes. I hope all the people who live as Brits in Spain get land-grabbed (NOT those who make the effort! You truly are Great Britons) You don’t deserve to be over there. We would be doing ourselves a favour if we joined – we are happy to call ourselves European when we travel; we wanted to be part of Europe when they were fighting alongside us in the world wars – yet we do nothing to prove that we want to be a part of Europe. We are stuck in the old ways of good ol’ Great Britain. Well, it’s not so ‘great’ anymore, folks, and if we don’t move forward soon, it never will be again.

I’m Really Not Getting This Blogging Thingy, Am I?

I’m trying. You know, it’s very hard to go from keeping everything to yourself to putting it all out there on the internet… I’ve been looking at other people’s blogs for some inspiration – there are so many out there; picture blogs, poetry blogs, cat blogs, dog blogs, news blogs, art blogs, music blogs, personal blogs, movie blogs, joe blogs… I think mine would have to be in the ‘essay blogs’ catergory… Although, surprisingly, currently 213 people have popped by. I think it’s because they’re all taking a look at my fatty picture  I really ought to add a few more pictures and blog a bit more often to prevent my mind from running away with me when I do finally sit down to write a bit… Here we go again…

It’s been a very busy couple of weeks here and I’ve barely had time to access the internet at all… Oh the tragedy! Thank goodness for my BlackBerry. I’d have been completely out of touch with the world without it.

So, what’s been going on? Well, the house seems to be coming along nicely – the roof man came ridiculously early this morning to give us a quote for the flat-roof above our kitchen which decided to begin moving into the house a few months ago, and the bathroom man is coming at the beginning of June to finish the plastering, plumbing and tiling for us so we’ll finally be able to have a bath without plaster falling off the walls and joining us.

The dining room is finished – HURRAH! – but the pub-style carpet still threatens to engulf the room. We’re getting the carpets fitted after the bathroom’s been done, and I can’t wait for that. It’ll really finish the room off. So next we’ve got to move the furniture from the front room into the dining room so we can get that done, and then we ARE done! Another few weeks and this madness will end.

It’s been very tiring; I’ve also commited myself to a Conspiracy Theory group on Facebook which I started myself and seems to have had an effect on people, which is great. There’s some interesting points being made during our little ‘discussions’ and I really hope to take it a bit further in the next few months, but haven’t felt like I’ve been giving it the time it deserves. My friends have also felt a little neglected recently and for good reason; I haven’t seen a couple of my closest friends since last year, and haven’t even had the time to drop them a quick email over the passed couple of weeks. I think that once we’ve moved we’ll be in a much better position to be the sociable lovelies we once were It’s been hard work keeping the business going whilst the house is a building site – even though the office upstairs is finished the rest of the house is well, frankly a mess. I never feel like I can concentrate when there’s stuff and things all about the place, so it adds to the stress – trying to be an organised business in a disorganised household!

The advert for The Festival Guide is being published at the end of this month, so I’m frantically trying to get the shop up-to-date, order in new stock, photo it all, list it all, email customers… it’s a pretty endless joblist for me at the moment. And that’s without the decorating and trying to organise workmen and such. Paul’s been a complete gem about the whole thing and doing his full time job at Soundcraft as well as helping me greatly with the DIY jobs I can’t do, (mainly because I am a feeble short-arse…), and phoning the workmen for me. Which I could do but probably wouldn’t know what I was talking about as well as P does

I think I may have also upset a few people this month with my outrageous and frankly… tactless approach to debates. I blame the stress, but then I have always had the ability to speak before I think, so that could have something to do with it. Royal Mail and Ashford (Kent, not Middlesex; gosh I don’t want to get the two mixed up and have two towns of people on my case…), are two subjects that I am completely unable to approach calmly and reasonably at the moment, so I have been doing my best to avoid them altogether. However, when The Rage decides to join me again I will probably be ranting here, so keep your eyes open… I’m sure it’ll be a good ‘un

Yesterday P and I had a chillout day, (well as much as you can when you run a  business 7 days a week…) and went out for a lovely lunch at the pub down the road. If it wasn’t in Ashford, that pub could be amazing. Anyway, I’m starting again aren’t I?! So… yes, food… burger and chips! A naughty treat and no good for my diet, but it was well worth it. Followed by an afternoon in the garden, where the veggies and seeds we’ve planted are all doing really well! I need to post some photos up. Veggies and plants; another thing we have commited ourselves to during this ultra-busy time… but we do love a challenge

I need a coffee now. There’s emails to answer. Lunch to be had. And possibly a quick nicotine fix. I’ll be back very soon because I need advice on a TARDIS tattoo…

Laters lovelies!

The Viki Diet

12 Stone at 12 Years Old...

I always was a chubby child; sweets were my downfall, since I was lucky enough to hate McDonalds and fish fingers, so greasy junk food was never the cause. But I could buy 10 CHOMPS FOR A POUND?! Yes please… Mmmmm…. Chomps for lunch, Chomps for break…. Chomps when I’m home. DAMN CHOMPS!

When I was just 12 years old I weighed in at 12 stone and wore size 16 clothes - and was almost at 12 and a half stone when I reached 14 years old and decided to start Slimming World with my mum and my nan. It was pretty embarrassing; every Monday night we would waddle up the road with all the other fatties, (I am allowed to say that, because we all were!) to get weighed in by the ladies and told off if we hadn’t had a very good week… I was only there for a couple of months and managed to get my weight down to 10 and a half stone. I would recommend anyone trying to lose weight to join a group – you don’t have to stay with it (and I don’t recommend you do), but when you first start dieting it really does help with discipline and seeing other people who have the same eating problems as yourself can be really helpful. As a young person at the time I felt very isolated – most of my friends were skinny types who could eat as much as they wanted and never seemed to get fat. Slimming World, although embarrassing at first, helped to give me a bit more confidence in myself, and also taught me how to eat properly. As soon as I felt my confidence coming back I left Slimming World to carry on on my own.

I found it so hard to lose the weight – it had fallen off when I first started to diet, but as your body gets used to your new diet the weight seems to stay where it is. For years I stayed at 10 and a half stone, then two years ago when I started working from home I began ballooning again and went all the way up to 11 and a half stone. What slim people don’t understand is that once you’ve been fat and lost the weight it can be so disheartening when you put it back on. It can be due to stress, boredom… a whole number of things… but as soon as that weight starts going back on it’s pretty hard to stop it. I’m the sort of person who binges when I face disappointment, so of course, on putting weight on I carried on eating. That’s the answer, right?! Erm no. In August last year I decided to change things.

Size 16 at 12 Years Old...

Now I just want to tell people that I have NOT been sticking to a particular diet. Although Slimming World helped me by putting me on a fairly rigid diet, I actually don’t believe in diets to lose weight. The problem with diets (and believe me, I’ve tried a lot of them; including the cabbage soup one with my nan…), is that all the time you’re on the diet you’re losing weight. As soon as you go back to eating normally, (not bingeing – just normal meals) the weight goes straight back on.

So last year I decided to go healthy. I’m fortunate in that I don’t have the palate for red meat, so cutting this out of my diet has been really easy. The only time I eat it is minced in lasagne or spaghetti, and these have been once a month ‘treats’ for doing well on my diet. I don’t eat fish, either, so chicken is the one meat that has really helped me through. We also grow all of our own veg so Paul’s been making up lots of tasty soups and pasta sauces for me and freezing them like ready-meals – all completely additive free. And I want to clear something else up here - I have not, at any point, cut carbs from my diet. I never have. I eat LOTS of wholegrain un-cut bread, pitta breads, potatoes, pasta…. I laugh in the face of carbs! Hahaha! In fact, if it wasn’t for the multitude of toppings you can put on a jacket spud and pasta then I wouldn’t have lost any weight at all. We also saw an interesting programme that said that actually, carbs are the best ‘diet’ to be on – they burn the right sort of fats and if you cut out carbs you’re much more likely to put all that weight back on when you reach your desired weight and start eating properly again. I also eat a lot of cheese – people say it’s fattening, but actually dairy products are so important in a diet – they also contain things that break down fats much quicker, so despite being quite fatty products themselves they do actually help you lose weight. If you think about it, that’s one of the reasons cheese is served after a large meal.

Obviously I have been eating in moderation, but if I’m starving I’ll completely stuff my face with pasta. It’s really filling and keeps me going for ages. I’ve also taken to always having a bottle of water nearby. It’s a cliche, I know, but it has helped so much and also noticed that it’s had an effect on my general concentration. I used to get fairly tired and lethargic during the day, but now I’m drinking lots of water and herbal teas (to break the water monotony and because they’re very good for you!) and my concentration levels stay high all day. I have cut down on caffeine a lot – I don’t think this has helped me lose weight as such, but it does make me feel better and healthier than I did before. In between October and Christmas I didn’t drink alcohol at all, but I don’t think it has as much of an effect on weight as people say it does. If you don’t want to cut out alcohol just make sure you drink vodka and unsweetened drinks – alcopops and beer are pretty fattening, but most other spirits can be put with a diet mixer and shouldn’t affect your diet too much.

Cutting out sweets and chocolate has definitely helped me, but that’s quite an obvious thing - I don’t eat them at all anymore, and if Paul buys chocolate he will get me a high percentage cocoa dark chocolate, so I’ll have a square every night. This keeps the cravings away (especially since we’re smokers and suffer from the dreaded munchies every now and then…!), and is actually quite good for you. I’ve also made sure that once a week I break the diet. I think this is REALLY important. If you keep eating the same things all the time, like you would in a ’set diet’ then your body gets used to it and your metabolism starts to slow down again. If you treat yourself once a week, or once every couple of weeks then you break the monotony and you’ll find that your body will shift the next few pounds a lot easier. The more weight you lose, the harder it is to shift the next few pounds!

Exercise has helped me, but I haven’t joined a gym or any of that palava. I bought a £12.00 ARMCHAIR exercise bike (haha!), a gym ball and a sit up bar for under the door and that’s my home gym sorted. I don’t exercise with the equipment everyday, but as and when I can, or if I feel I haven’t done enough exercise through general day-to-day stuff. I don’t drive so I walk everywhere anyway, and when I’m doing the housework I’ll do it more thoroughly and vigorously so I can count it as my daily exercise!

In a nutshell, the best way to lose weight is to not try and diet to lose weight, but just to learn to eat better and cut out certain things you don’t really need in your diet. Drink lots of water – boring, but it really does help – and make things awkward on yourself so you get a bit more exercise – leave the tv remote on the telly for instance! Don’t try and lose weight quickly, because it will go back on just as quickly. And don’t try to lose too much – I know my limit and I won’t go below that. I don’t want to end up looking like one of these Hollywood Skeletors, and neither should you. It might be fashionable, but it’s also bloody gross and terribly unhealthy. Who wants to see someone’s ribs anyway?!? They’re inside your body for a reason, y’know…

If you want to treat yourself then do so and don’t feel bad for it. Know that you can eat it, eat healthy for a few days after and that treat will probably have little or no effect on your weight loss. At Christmas I pigged out because I’d been eating healthy up until that point. Christmas day AND Boxing day were food days, with lots of beer and booze. I started eating healthy straight after and I only put two pounds on over Christmas! And let me tell you, that dinner was WELL worth it! Don’t deny yourself things if you’ve been good – treating yourself is VERY important!

Size 10 at 25 Years Old!

So, since weighing in at 11 and a half stone in August last year, I am now 8 stone 10lbs and a size 10! My goal is to get down to 8 stone; I have promised myself a large tub of Ben and Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream when I get there, but it does seem to be taking SO long to shift the last few pounds! It always does Bear in mind that I am only 5′2″, and your height plays an important part in how much weight you lose. If you’re a tall skinny person you might weigh more than a short chubby person but it doesn’t mean you’re fat. Take a PROPER look in the mirror – not just glimpse yourself and start fishing for compliments off your partner – really look at where you need to lose weight and keep an eye on it whilst you’re dieting. I didn’t think I’d notice a difference but I can actually see cheek bones now! I didn’t realise I had any And I have less rolls on my belly – yuk! I think they just need toning up now Have an idea of what you want to weigh, but if you start losing too much then adjust your goal to suit the way you want to look. Remember that this is working for me but everyone is different – if you are heavily overweight you should consult your doctor before partaking in any vigorous exercise and diet routine.

So, in a blog that’s a Viki Diet – not really a diet at all, but it’s helped me and I feel like a changed person! Happy eating!

The House from Hell

Morning people of the Blog-O-Sphere!

I’m glad I’ve finally got time to sit down and write something – I feel like I’ve been covered in gloss paint and wallpaper paste for the past two weeks. Actually, that’s pretty much how it has been. I ought to explain…

Three years ago, (around the “Three Kidneys” time), we bought a two bedroom Victorian terraced house in Ashford in Kent. We were so excited because it was our first house that the gruesome pub-style carpet, textured wallpaper and gaudy gloss paint didn’t even make us flinch. We were ready to take on the world.

Three years on, work has progressed rather slowly… We set up The Krafty Lady two years ago, so most of our time has been going into the business; especially since the recession started. The house, unfortunately, has had to take the back-burner. Paul’s out working full time and although I’m here I’m promoting the business most days, if I’m not packing parcels and answering countless emails, we have been finding it hard to get motivated.

Fortunately, our neighbour is an absolute cock, and that’s pretty much all the motivation I need. I know, that sounds harsh, but for the past three years he has disrupted our lives with his weirdo dance music and thuggish friends – he’s even has noise level stickers put on his stereo by the council, yet he still felt the need to have a party last night. TWAT. Anyhoo, I also heard a couple of weeks ago on the news that  house sales have risen to their highest level for the first time in 18 months, so I decided to crack on with the house whilst we’ve got a bit of quiet time at the shop in between The Festival Guide ad being published at the end of month.

It’s been pretty stressful; I feel like a right mess because my day has literally consisted of waking up, changing into decorating clothes and cracking on with the issues at hand. I check my emails in the morning and the evening, but other than that I’m a full-time property developer at the moment. And this house isn’t an easy task… What we thought would be a case of ripping down wallpaper, a bit of painting and some touch ups has turned into a full-scale war with the walls. Numerous times we’ve taken off wallpaper to reveal either 50 more layers of wallpaper or some plaster which now resembles sand and falls out of the wall should you even breathe. Talking of breathing, I dread to think what sort of chemicals are in the paint we’ve been sanding off the doors. If we stay here too long this house could ACTUALLY kill us.

So that’s basically what I’ve been doing. We finished our bedroom months ago because we wanted to make sure we had somewhere nice to go to sleep at the end of the day. Personally, I think that was a pretty good call because I only ever lose my temper on getting downstairs, rather than getting out of bed… We’ve recently finished The Krafty Lady office, which doubles up as a spare bedroom and is absolute heaven compared to using the dining room downstairs as an office. The bathroom is a real issue because the walls are completely squiffy and we need to have them levelled up before the bath can actually go up against a wall… but we’re paying a very nice man to come and do all that for us. Thankfully. The same with the kitchen roof; it’s started leaking and bowing (another unexpected and expensive problem to fix…), so we’re paying someone to come and do a proper job. We’ve decided not to change the kitchen though – we’ve done enough major work on the rest of the house and the new people would probably change the kitchen anyway so that’ll be left as a blank slate.

So I’ve basically gutted the rest of the house and been glossing for… oooh, two weeks now? HOW MANY COATS does it take to cover up BLUE GLOSS? Actually, I lost count, but it’s lots. I feel so out of touch with everybody – and I’ve been neglecting The Krafty Lady which I hate doing, because it’s always there in the back of my mind…. It’s a case of having to do one or the other – it’s impossible to do both since we are in such a small space. But we’ve got most of the lining papering done; just lining paper in the front room to go. Painting, too, of course. And fixing the beautiful original Victorian doors which had been crudely covered with hardboard and glossed with a beautiful LILAC… WHY?!?! I’ll post some photos up soon…

I think the guy who lived here before must have died of some kind of lung-butter disease – the walls are absolutely thick with nicotine and greasy yuckiness, I dread to think what his insides must have looked like… I thought I’d cleaned properly when we moved in – apparently you only notice how yellow everything is when you add brilliant white gloss to the equation. But how damn satisfying it is slapping it on over all that funky gunkiness! I’ve estimated that we’ll have practically finished the entire house in a month or so, and then we’re sticking this baby on the market. We’ve decided to go back to renting now – buying property in the UK is simply not an option for us anymore. We’d rather wait until we move to France before we own a property. And we’ve seen some really lovely detached places well within our monthly rental budget, so it’ll be lovely to live somewhere that we don’t have to listen to the neighbours everyday; or worry about them listening to us. We’re also moving closer to Canterbury – yay – as Ashford is probably by far the worst town I have ever lived in. And I am allowed to say that because I’ve lived in a lot of towns.

I’ve never known a town to be so full of chavvies and really quite intellectually challenged people… It’s the sort of place where pikeys drive up and down the road in vans, scouting for the latest copper pipe scrap – they even have the cheek to knock on your door and ask. And the ringroad around the town centre has made it impossible for some people to leave – quite a lot of people who live in Ashford STAY in Ashford, know what I mean? I’m not that sort of person, unfortunately. Or fortunately, whichever way you look at it. It’s sad, really; they’ve tried to spend so much money on making the town centre, but they’ve just stuck a massive indoor shopping centre (which are one of my absolute biggest pet hates), in the centre of town and moved all the shops that were on the High Street indoors. And independent shops, (like ours, hahaha), can’t afford the rental rates in town now because too many big companies have moved in forcing rates up and small business out. It’s a bloody joke. They haven’t finished it properly anyway, AND they’ve left all of the really ugly bits there! I’m seriously considering asking for a council tax refund as I don’t use ANY of the services in the town anymore. I live ten minutes walk away and can’t actually remember the last time I went into town. It’s such a depressing place. I’d much rather jump on the train to Canterbury – and would recommend to anyone to do the same!

Anyway I’m sitting here babbling on and I should be getting back to this poxy decorating before I lose the motivation altogether. “Nearly done, Viki, nearly done…” Yup, I’ll just keep telling myself that……..