Not such a Merry Christmas as I had hoped for!

This Christmas everything started off fine, but then things started to go wrong! On Christmas Eve, I had to work until 01:00, and then drive home. Earlier in the day I had stopped off at a supermarket and bought my wife some flowers. When I arrived home at 02:30, she was awake and waiting for me. My wife was overjoyed with the gift of the flowers!

On Christmas Day we were up at 07:00, to take my wife's friend home, after an overnight stay. On the way back home we discovered that someone had made a snowman in the form of a polar bear! Back home, we opened our presents, nothing special, as we already knew most of what we were getting already! (That's because we all went shopping together to get the presents!) It was while I was sitting in the kitchen that the first problem started to manifest itself.

I noticed that every time I moved my left knee, it was very painful. It was fine when standing, or sitting. It was only if there was any movement in the joint that it hurt. I decided to rummage in the cupboard, and dig out the bottle of Cod Liver Oil tablets, hoping that they might help improve the situation.

Later in the morning, it was my task to prepare the turkey for roasting. As I had never done this before, I first searched the Internet, and came across Delia Smiths recipe. So my wife and I duly stuffed, and basted, the turkey with butter, and wrapped it in foil, then put it in the oven at a high temperature for 30 minutes.

After the 30 minutes had passed, that was when things went wrong. When I went to the oven to turn it down to slow cook the turkey, I noticed that the legs had stretched, and opened up the foil. I took the tray out of the oven and put it on the side I then got some more foil to seal up the turkey again. It was while I was trying to put the foil on the turkey that the tray decided to slide on the worktop and tumble on the floor. In an effort to stop the turkey ending up on the floor, I grabbed the tray with my left hand! That was when I discovered how hot the tray was. Although I managed to save the turkey, I ended up with blisters on my hand. Because of this accident, my wife banned me from the kitchen, and proceeded to cook a beautiful roast turkey dinner! I only wish that I had managed to cook the dinner as I had promised to do!

This morning, when I woke up, my knee was much worse. so I have included taking Ibuprofen tablets along with the Cod Liver Oil tablets. I am also wearing a heat pack on my knee to see if that will help. Personally, I think my colleague WarrenJoffre has been so generous, he has passed his affliction on to me! I just hope he doesn't pass on his back problems too!

Finally, I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, and a prosperous, fantastic New year to you all.

The Governments plan to make the nation miserable!

I have just read in the morning paper Alister Darling's pre-budget report. His idea is to tax the working population even more than before, borrow more money to shore up the crumbling economy, and worst of all delay any benefits as long as possible.

It doesn't matter who I vote for at the next general election, as these tax changes will still go ahead no matter which party wins. All I have discovered so far is that the Conservatives, might reduce income tax a bit, but have not bothered to reverse any of stealth taxes Labour seem to favour as their way to raise revenue.

If I could discover a politician who would try their best to reward the working population of this country instead of taking more away, I would vote for them no matter which party they belonged to. To give an example - Why is it that if you are ill and require medication you have to pay for the prescriptions in England? I know the Government will say that they have to fund the cost of the medication from somewhere, but I think that I have already paid for any medication I need.

We have been told that all workers will have to make increased NI contributions from 11% to 12% of their income. Now I was lead to believe that My NI contributions were supposed to support the NHS system. So why am I paying 11% of my income to fund the NHS and then have to pay again for medication to help me get back to work, when the Government is quite happy to allow people who are not working, and therefore are not contributing any NI into the Government coffers, allowed to get free medication?

I am beginning to wonder if there will come a time in the not too distant future, where those who work will be unable to provide enough taxable income to pay for all the benefits the government keeps paying out. Already we are told that the Government can no longer find the resources to continue to pay the state pension. What is the next casualty going to be?

The Governments drive to try and improve the NHS system doesn't seem to be working either. I have just discovered this week how it has affected me.

My daughter has been unwell since Friday (7 days) and I have finally managed to book an appointment for her to visit the doctor. Every day I have phoned the surgery, and every day I have been told there was no appointments available. It never used to be this way before. I could always get an appointment, if not today then at least the next day. Now I can only attempt to book an appointment for today. If I want one tomorrow, I have to phone tomorrow, and join the frantic queue of people trying to see their doctor! So tell me how this system is an improvement over the old system!

I have now got to the point where I am totally disillusioned with the political parties, and I am now unsure who I would vote for in the next general election. When the campaigning starts, I will have to discover what each candidate will try to achieve whilst in office, if they are elected. Then perhaps I might have a clearer idea of where to place my vote.