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Major depression last night, today woke up at sunrise (8:00 ) and by 9 I was riding outof Marrakech like a moped rider! Heading for the offroad mountain pass again, buttheweatherwanted otherwise and I changed plans. Having defrosted, am Now about to have some chicken tajine with preserved lemons, some Moroccan white wine, and watch football on the tele with Mamoun and his friends! Tomorrow I head north, and towards Europe, before the real snow and rain comes.

First day back walking after a 10 day gout break. Managed 7.5 k with the Dear Boy. Bloody lovely out there. 7 degrees C but didn't feel cold at all, probably be different when the Sun goes down.

Today was amazing argan trees, the great Tizi n Test pass, rock slides, massive winds, flirting with women at argan cooperatives’ shops, and Marrakech traffic and the medina. Good stuff. Will save pictures for the report but here’s two

There's a lot happening this month, so here's the dates in advance so you know what's going on! Sunday evening 18th - Wednesday evening 21st: Nominations for MOTY (Member of the Year) and TOTY (Twat of the Year).....you have 3 days to nominate somebody. Wednesday evening 21st - Saturday evening 24th: Voting for MOTY (Member of the Year) and TOTY (Twat of the Year).....you have 3 days to place your vote! Vote switching will be in place! On Xmas Eve 24th December at 7PM (UK time) the Polls will close and the 2022 winners will be announced! Will @Slowlycatchymonkey (MOTY) and @Buckster (TOTY) retain their titles? That's up to you! But the fun doesn't stop there, because on Thursday 29th the Poll will open for BOTY (Bike of the Year) which will feature the winning entry from each month. Vote switching will be in place! The Poll will close on 31st December (New Years Eve) at 7PM UK time and the 2022 BOTY will be announced and featured on the front page throughout January. Just to clarify, every month from Jan to Nov will be represented, so some members may have multiple entries! There will be no BOTM this month, but you can carry any pics from December across to BOTM January. If you can't grasp that lot just get a grownup to explain it to you!

With loads of Busa talk but no Busa action!

Turns out there was a Spanish family watching the football when I proclaimed: vai, filho da puta! After their legend of a player scored the last penalty They look at me funny now

My apologies, it was Enchilada's but I scoffed them before remembering to take a photo

It doesn’t have a thing, not even appliances. Months ago I would have been no way…. But now I am actually looking forward to getting things for the house. It will help me to get to know the new area we will be living in. It’s also so different from my first house when I was at work more than home and had no money. This time I have lots of time and a bit of cash so it will be fun to get my old lady home ready.

You’re right, he’s a twat.

I’m honestly confused, for so long you seemed like such a nice fella. Now you seem……well, just not that nice fella….

it was a lovely dish when it arrived, now there’s just the 4 olivepits in it.

That white stuff on the picture was right near where I was going through, and wasn’t there a few days ago! I which I had a heated seat

Well there aren't many contenders for each award.... I understand you are actually sending awards to the winners this year too.....

Here......on and off during the day.

Bobotie Not often made with plantains cos they’re not readily available in a lot of countries so when I spied them I thought ah I’ll do Bobotie. Other than looking pretty, they didn’t add to it. When Mr Slowly asked what the topping was I said translated they are called “banana potato” hehehe

Justice is coming for this bitch and the other greedy cheating fuckers who filled their boots in the feeding frenzy of the Tory profiteering PPE racket.

You are right buck it isn't the best looking bike in the world though that is a very personal choice isn't it, you will probably say your harley is a thing of beauty yet others will say it is hideous so what fits in with one won't fit others. What I will say is so long as the respective bike makes the owner of said bike happy thats all that matters eh

Urr wasn't that my point? Have a re-read

I hope you're going to have a little rocking chair in the corner of the porch and take up knitting Though you have a good few decades left before you become an old lady

Thanks, with lots of practice….some days it would take me a few takes to get a smooth pan, always worth the time. I fell in love with Boya Lake this summer. We were there twice as I went back the second time to lay my Mom’s ashes to rest. I’m sure I will return again. Beautiful canoeing and to visit Mom.

Was she polish?

I put together another video from my travels, this one highlights August. It was a good distraction while I wait to depart on my winter road trip.

He doesn't look too keen on that water...............

Just had sausage mash and beans with fried onions, also forget the pic.

My bike fucking rocks!!!!

I was worrying that somebody had given you a bike!

Yesterday evening was better, Ottolenghi’s Prawn n Corn Taquito’s with chilli, lime n sour cream. Didn’t look great but tasted fantastic

I can see that re reading it, wasn't my intent though. My Job and that of the Clinicians I work with starts at the triage list so that is what we focus on. There are several steps before anyone gets on that list to get a chance to talk to a medic and while I know that, it's not part of our working focus. I have the suspicion that the call center systems in place are often set up just to put people off so that they do just wait until the morning and try and get through to their own GP. I think that 111 is toted as the answer to everything, GP shortages, District Nurse shortages, MIU staff shortages, emergency dental care, OOH mental health care and the list goes on. It's not realistic to think our relatively small service can take up all that slack and to sell that idea to the public is misleading. Especially given that we are short staffed and have the same challenges of recruiting as the rest of the NHS. That is why our service is overwhelmed and people don't get the care from us they expect. The clinicians in our service prioritise the End of Life care, acute but not necessarily emergency pain (blocked catheters and such), the elderly although they do deal with many other cases as well. Now I have probably worded that clumsily as well but I just drive the cars, chaperone, stock the drugs and do the paperwork. I would say it is no wonder that NHS staff struggle and moral is rock bottom. A lot of the non clinical people I work with are looking for a different job, personally I love my job but I genuinely don't know how long I can afford to do it. I could earn more stacking shelves, don't want to but may not have the choice ultimately.

Did you here that wanker Tory minister yesterday saying that the nurses going on strike would play right into Putin's hand , wtf has it got to do with Putin. What a feckin knob https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1705227/Conservative-strikes-nurses-NHS-rail-Christmas-Nadhim-Zahawi-Vladimir-Putin-latest-vn?ref=todayheadlines.live

I certainly was not trying to be misleading. I think we may be talking at cross purposes, I was not talking about the call center staff who work as you say. The service is not fit for purpose as people perceive it, as it is not properly staffed or funded. But our service is run by Nurse Practitioners and Advanced Paramedics once the calls get through to the triage list. They also have to see TCs and work on the cars. I made the point that they are very committed and hard working people and I would never sully their name or what they do. I am in awe of their commitment and professionalism. They are exceptional people.

Sounds like one of Pete’s daughter in laws.

You’re right, they are pig ugly, just look at shite like the Hayabusa, must have been designed by the short sighted Labrador of a geriatric blind man.

I would say that Out Of Hours part where I work is a service that is utterly swamped by the volume of work it is expected to deal with. Lots of good people working very hard but the triage lists are huge and we often fail people who are ill. I have to be careful what I say but I do know what happens in Cornwall and the resources are way too small to deal with the volume of work. Many people don't get the treatment they expect and that is a shame but the amount of dross our clinicians have to work through to get to those in need is staggering. I know our triage list (people waiting for a call back from a clinician) was way above 200 last night. Only 11 clinicians on duty in the whole county to deal with the triage list, visits and treatment centre appointments with seven of those being on the cars. Weekdays it is worse. The same is true across the whole of the NHS. I could tell story after story about it but nobody wants to hear it or really cares until it affects them. Now I am tired and am saying to much so time for bed. I am genuinely sorry things didn't work for you Bob.

yeh.. with pictures... for @Marcel

Twat

Nice one @Pedro, you’re having to much fun now, time to come back to dreary Europe

I wish I could say your experience was rare but its not. I am also sure people come away from using our service (Kernow Health CIC) with the same experience as you had. 111 is a patch work of OOH services around England with levels of contact often farmed out to different areas depending on call volume. Which is why you were bounced around. The service is run mostly by Nurse Practitioners and Advanced Paramedics, all very clever and hard working people but not GP's. On Sunday there were only 2 GP's working in our overnight service to cover a county of 450,000 which more than doubles in holiday periods. Hence why we use the term Clinician. Now with the experience you had, you can probably guess at the level of abuse our call centre staff get as people who are ill get frustrated, it is very hard to retain them given that they work out of hours for just above minimum wage. There is a lot of responsibility and a high turnover, and not surprisingly very low moral. We are recruiting all the time but can never catch up. I have seen many good people leave because the job is unbearable long term. I would not do it. None of that excuses the poor treatment you had and nobody in our service wants it to be that way but it is unfortunately all to common. The real reason things are the way they are is money or lack of it and a public with the attitude like the old biddy I described. Who thought that with a cold it was ok to use the 999 service and then later to tell the 111 service to fuck off rather than open the front door and have the care she asked for. Tis a bleak outlook on a NHS service that is failing and that makes me sad.

I know, good right, I was going for a type of oxymoron

No van anymore

Ummmmmmmmmmmmm , I might be wrong but I think your Bandit is probably made by Suzuki

True that. Jap Crap, Rich Burner, heard many variations of that. I remember one fecking great chap I knew who was in my age group but fanatically committed to brit stuff, from C15 upwards, he often didn't ride with us as he often didn't have functioning transport. He always made the pub to bore us shitless though with the same old tropes. Anyway he was very vociferous about slanty eyed shit, including the local Chinese takeaway which I always thought was odd, but in his eyes they were all the same. One night after the pub he goes in the chinese with us all and demands a pasty pulling his eyes to slits and making a fake chinese accent asking for a flucking plasty, when he didn't get what he wanted he leant over the counter and pulled the owners four or five hair beard out by the roots. Oh fuck was that the biggest mistake he ever made. The diminutive owner who we all knew as Stanley and was probably in his 50's at the time grabbed a broom cleared the counter and chased fuck nuts down the road. We all followed to see what was going to happen. Stanley caught him after about 300 yards and proceed to work him over with the broom. Using it like a long staff or even Kendo stick. We were very impressed. Mind you for all the clouts fuck nuts took there was hardly a mark on him the next day. We all grew up and knew Stanley, he had been in the village for years, none of us knew he was some sort of martial artist though. I knew his son at school who was called Way Wong, of course hilarious to us. He was a good guy though and very good at kicking light bulbs out of their ceiling holders. Imagine a little 5 foot chinese teenage ninja with a cornish accent, we all knew not to ever mess with him though. Obviously whatever he knew came from his Dad. Sorry I ramble on, time for bed I think .