GrumbleSmiles

“No Gumption 2”

Posted on November 27, 2010 by john graham

On the 11 June 2010 I wrote a post about the problem of chewing gum on the pavements of Westminster City Council.

Looks like this problem is going to increase. Kraft have opened a new gum research centre in Switzerland to cash in on the growing chewing gum market by developing new flavours. Apparently the market is worth $23,000,000 annually.

How about inventing a flavour that appeals to dogs like Boneo gum, Winelot gum or Pedigree gum. That way there’s a good chance that everybody walking their dogs will be hoovering up the mess on the pavement at the same time.

Otherwise we are all destined to be stuck with the problem for a long time.

Posted in SMILES | 2 Comments

Breakfast Exercise 2

Posted on November 21, 2010 by john graham

This morning I woke up early – 5.45 am, tired and in my natural stupor first thing in the morning. It’s a time for an autopilot routine – not a time for a challenge. Still half-asleep – grumpy is my default behaviour.

Put on the kettle, brew the tea, reach blindly into the overstocked kitchen cupboard for the cereals. At least today nothing falls out and makes a mess on the floor. A familiar friend – the green, yellow and red of a Kellog’s Cornflakes box; brand new, unopened in great big print written down the side of the box CORNFLAKES. I turn the new box on its end and the first unwanted challenge of the day awaits. Where’s the little easy-to-open tab – can’t find it – can’t see it – damn it – they must have changed the packet design. They are always doing that! I am sure the box used to be easy to open. It’s no doubt on things like that that wars are started. Start off grumpy, hassle before you’re even out of your pyjamas; belligerent for the rest of the day. All thanks to Mr Kellogg!

Undefeated, I charge into battle and manfully tear open the tightly sealed down lid of the packet. Open the inside un-resealable airtight bag and at last the welcome crunch of crispy flakes fall into the breakfast bowl. The now forever opened box goes back in the cupboard, no doubt ready to fall out and become tomorrow morning’s natural disaster.

It’s too early for the daily papers, so I sadly decide to get the cornflake box out again and investigate how this change in Kellogg packaging policy had come about. Of course I have to be especially careful not to spill the contents in the process.

All the usual small print. The key ingredient details on the front – calories, sugars, fat, saturates and salt to the nearest tenth of a gram. Who on earth ever counts all these up through the day?

The amounts are also in percentages but strangely the totals only add up to 18%? Where have the other 82% gone? Am I being short changed?

Turn to the side of the box and there is an encyclopedia of further information about the ingredients, including vitamins I have never heard of and lots of small print I can’t read. I hope it’s not important!

The other box side is equally small print but I can just make out it’s the details of how to complain. I’ll bet Kellogg’s don’t get many complaints this way.

On the back of the box the marketing claims really go over the top. Apparently there is a “whole lot of sunshine in each and every bowl”. No health warning about ultraviolet light but you probably get wrinkles for free.

One final side to the box which I can only read by carefully holding the ripped open opposite end. It says in small print “to open, slide your finger under the tab and break seal to left and right”.

Grrrrr!

Posted in ELDERLY MARKET, GRUMBLES | Tagged packaging, Small Print | 2 Comments

“Walk for life”

Posted on November 14, 2010 by john graham

This is the conclusion of a review done by Bangor University of recent research into where best to exercise. The study points out that exercising outdoors is better at helping your mind to relax. It helps cut anger, fatigue and sadness. After a walk in the open air, people felt more energetic and found it easier to concentrate.

It would be good to see some research on how frequently older people do go outside after they retire. There are lots of intrepid travelers abroad and closer to home ramblers in the countryside or window shoppers in the town. Nonetheless I would guess that people are less active as they get older. The image of more leisure time is curtailed by limited financial resources and replaced by the easy option of daytime TV. Add to this the limitations of impaired mobility and worries about street crime and gradually we are creating a generation of “her indoors” as Arthur Daley would say.

For the older elderly this is especially true, particularly for those in residential homes who very rarely get outside simply because of the shortage of staff to assist them.

This study reaches a simple conclusion but one with important consequences for how people should be looked after in later life. The opportunity to get out and enjoy some fresh air and gentle exercise should be an essential ingredient of housing and support for the elderly. This relatively inexpensive activity can be the start of a virtuous circle that improves well-being and reduces social isolation. In turn there is ample evidence to suggest that this lifts people out of the downward spiral of loneliness, depression and deteriorating health.

It’s not a cure-all but it is a positive lifestyle change that could be encouraged and supported.

Maybe we should start a “Walk for Life” campaign ?

Posted in HEALTH | Tagged " Walk for Life ", Exercise | 4 Comments

“Pop memories dashed”

Posted on November 14, 2010 by john graham

One of my earliest childhood memories was the excitement of looking up the street every Thursday to see when the Corona pop man was coming, bringing my weekly treat – a bottle of pop. In fact a whole crate – 4 bottles – bright yellow lemonade not like the cloudy white colour you get now – sweet red cherryade – the mystically named dandelion and burdock and the fizziest of all orangeade. You had to be good for the week before you get it, but I rarely missed. That pop must be responsible for keeping me on the straight and narrow.

Only now sixty years later, do I find my memories dashed. Research at Harvard University suggests that pop can accelerate ageing. Maybe I am only 40 after all.

Apparently too much pop can lead to wrinkles and even worse, damage to heart and kidneys. I don’t remember there being any warning on the bottle, perhaps I could sue the Corona pop man!

How many more happy memories will be dashed?

Posted in SMILES | Tagged ageing | 1 Comment

TODAY OF ALL DAYS !

Posted on November 11, 2010 by john graham

I have complained a lot about over-sensational newspaper headlines which only succeed in worrying older people, but today I would have been pleased to see this as a front page headline – “Widespread neglect of elderly patients revealed”. Instead it made Page 22 of The Independent (but only a small paragraph), page 20 of the Daily Mail and page 18 of The Guardian. It was missed altogether by other press.

I’m talking about a comment from a Report published on the very day that we commemorate the high sacrifice made by our parents and grandparents, which should bring shame on the rest of us for the complacency and neglect we give to the care of generations who were called upon to give up so many lives.

The Report entitled “An Age Old Problem” is published by a quietly under-the-carpet and awkwardly named organisation called the “National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death”. Maybe it’s a deliberately obscure and marginalised organisation because its conclusions in this report are such a devastating indictment of the medical profession and the NHS as a whole in terms of its treatment of older people. The study looked at elderly patients who died in hospital within 30 days of undergoing surgery.

Here are some of its shocking findings:-

Two thirds of patients do not receive good care
Most patients were poorly nourished and had other serious illnesses
Yet two thirds of cases were not seen by a Specialist in Elderly Care
A fifth of patients had significant delays between admission and surgery
A quarter of hospitals had no Acute Pain service

Commenting on the Report:-

Katherine Murphy, Chief Executive of the Patients’ Association said “It’s unbelievable that any Acute Hospital can think it’s safe to admit elderly patients without the correct Specialist team.” (I agree – so what’s the Patients’ Association going to do about it?)

Jo Webber, Deputy Policy Director of the NHS Confederation said “There is absolutely no excuse for poor care, regardless of the age of the person involved.” (This is a complacent understatement if ever there was one.)

Michelle Mitchell of AGE UK said “This Report is a stark reminder that too often older people receive second or even third rate care in hospital, condemning many of them to an early death.” (Time to Rage against the Dying of the Light don’t you think Michelle?)

Paul Burstow, Care Services Minister said the Study “paints a disturbing and unacceptable picture of the Quality of Care experienced by older people.” (Well Minister, like it or not, your Government is now responsible for killing people rather than curing them. Time for Action don’t you agree?)

The findings of this Report will not be news to many older people who have experienced surgical NHS care, where stories about mistakes and complications are commonplace. However, tragically, this important Study deserves far greater media coverage than it has been given and a sustained Campaign for change NOW is called for.

Sadly and with great irony the significance of today’s date has been missed by Journalists and Editors alike.

TODAY OF ALL DAYS!

Posted in HEALTH, N.H.S. | Tagged "Neglect Shames Britain", Age UK, NHS, Patients' Association | 2 Comments

“Spectacle wipes”

Posted on November 7, 2010 by john graham

If ever there was a product that needed to be easy to open it has to be spectacle cleaners. You would also think that the makers of these would be highly aware that without their glasses, 50% of the elderly can’t see clearly enough to fiddle with opening packaging, nor can they read small print.

I am beginning to think that product designers must all be young people with 20/20 vision and a perverse interest in puzzles and guessing games.

Out in my car in Northampton, I noticed fog had slowly descended – strange on a sunny autumn day? I suppose it could be the windscreen misting up but I couldn’t see the demist switch on the 747 cockpit of dials on the dashboard in front of me. Finally, it dawns on me it just might be that my glasses need cleaning!

A quick rub over with my hankie only succeeds in making the lenses look like they have been smothered in Vaseline. As a former boy scout I have to confess that the years of being told to “be prepared” made little impact on me.

My wife and all other ladies who wear glasses would undoubtedly have been able to reach down into the bottomless pit of her handbag and just like Paul Daniels, magically from nowhere be able to pull out a lens cleaner. Where are wives when you need them!

With the luck of the devil I catch a glimpse through the mist outside of a “Boots” sign. A quick U-turn – there is a sound of sharp breaking behind me but I didn’t see anything in my mirror.

Rescue at hand I go into the shop which like all big chemists has at least fifty similar products for every possible medical condition. Dry eyes, sore eyes, sticky eyes, —I suppose I should be pleased I am in the right part of the body. I could have spent hours peering at pile creams! Now I have narrowed my choice down to the last fifty spectacle cleaners. Handy plastic bags, big economy boxes, individual wipes, sprays, own brands, two for one offers. I can’t see to read any of them so I settle for the first thing I come to – “wipe and shine – spectacle wipes”.

Back in the car all I have to do now is open the packet. It should be simple enough but obviously it did not occur to the package designers of these “spectacle wipes” that you might not be able to see too well without your glasses. After a fair amount of pulling and tugging on the plastic I finally give up and bite the corner off the packet – good job I’ve still got my own teeth! They should make strawberry flavoured wipes in future – these don’t taste too good, in fact I think I’ve just they have just spoiled my appetite for lunch.

The good news for Carr Day and Martin, who make this product, is that when you can finally get at them, the wipes are O.K. Or at least the first one is,only now I can see I bought a packet of 20. Unfortunately, the remaining unused 19 will probably dry out now that I’ve torn the re-sealable pack apart. What’s more, even though my glasses are now clean, I can barely see the small print instructions on the back of the packet. I certainly can’t understand the diagrams and only with a magnifying glass when I get home, can I eventually see the tiny tab that has written on it:-

“ LIFT HERE TO OPEN”!

Posted in ELDERLY MARKET | Tagged packaging, Small Print | 5 Comments

“I Spy – small print”

Posted on November 7, 2010 by john graham

“I spy with my little eye” was a fun game when I was a child. We especially used to play it to pass the time on long journeys with my parents in the car. No motorways then and roads which twisted and turned making 30 miles a long way.

Now with over 50% of older people having impaired eyesight, “I spy” is a whole new game re-invented by the advertising industry and hidden in the small print. Virtually all adverts these days are accompanied by footnotes in unreadable small print, usually disguising a host of disclaimers which protect the seller not the buyer. So beware !

To play “I spy” now you need a magnifying glass and then these are just a few of the phrases you will see – and my guess at what they mean:-

“Prices are correct at time of going to press”

I Spy – they want you to think prices are going up shortly.

“Discounts are for first call incentive offer”

I Spy – no discount left when you ring up.

“If we are out of stock we may substitute garments”

I Spy – goodness knows what you might get.

“A 3% balance transfer applies”

I Spy – an extra charge hidden in the small print.

“Delivery surcharges may apply”

I Spy – we may overcharge for delivery.

“Subject to terms and conditions available on request”

I Spy – if you don’t ask we won’t tell you.

“Tick if you don’t want to receive information from other companies”

I Spy – you will soon receive lots of junk mail.

All the above were in very small print in SAGA MAGAZINE. So they are aimed at older people and are certainly not designed to give you clear information about the advertised product. Surely this type of advertising should be outlawed under the Trades Description Act !

Get your magnifying glass out and tell me if you can spy other examples of small print ?

Follow up comment to “I Spy”

In the same Saga magazine, was a loose leaf flyer from British Gas selling boilers. It was all written in small print and in even smaller print still was a helpful little note:-

“If you would like this leaflet in alternative format such as large print ………………………”

I’ll bet they didn’t get too many requests !

Posted in ELDERLY MARKET | Tagged grey market, packaging, Small Print | Leave a comment

“November Reflections”

Posted on November 3, 2010 by john graham

Ten months since I “retired” time has flown by, my days are full but less pressured by 10 or 20 issues a day. Now it’s more like one or two things at a time, but I still feel busy and productive.

Getting into a routine has been the most difficult thing. Then again, maybe I don’t need one – perhaps that’s just a thing of the past – the old way. Maybe I should just let the river of time flow naturally, but it will take some while to learn how to do that.

It’s been a golden time of opportunity to explore new avenues and forge new partnerships:-

Retirement Villages in Spain

Blogging

Wood Turning

UK Retirement Housing

Spain

Initially, a brief and interesting peek into a new world, albeit with a strong British ex-patriot overlay. The draw of a warmer sunny climate and an easy going lifestyle, accompanied by a whole new culture of working. There is a definite need to fill a gap in the Spanish ex-pat retirement market, but it’s far from a straightforward transfer of a UK Housing Model, and the economic downturn doesn’t help at all. It’s a fascinating challenge ??

Blogging

Writing is in my head – I had just forgotten. Soon after I went to university at Sheffield to study architecture in 1966, I thought about giving up architecture to become a writer. A hopelessly romantic notion that I was easily persuaded out of by a very brief conversation with the Professor of English Literature – William Empson. His lectures were so interesting that they were attended by people like me who were not even on his course – a fascinating man.

So nearly fifty years later – pen-in-hand, we will find out if I can be a writer in a new world of blogging. Step one – turn on the computer and put down the pen. Not really, I still prefer paper and pen, but I have no option but to embrace the keyboard and cyber space. The internet opens up a new universe of information and opinions which are an everyday (or at least every week) treasure trove to be explored. One of the best things has been linking up with my son Tom who is adding colour to my blogs with his cartoons. We definitely share the same sense of irreverent humour. I have no idea where this will lead but it’s good fun and something I think will last.

Wood Turning

I have always loved the look, feel and smell of wood ever since my early childhood days spent playing in my grandfather’s building yard. I can remember my father with a huge band saw cutting up oak tree trunks that were later made into coffins. Later dad and some of his brothers would swap their overalls for bowler hats and tail coats and set off in my uncle’s hearse to act as bearers at funerals in Abergavenny. Several years later I was shown how to use a lathe by my Uncle Den. He was a very talented carpenter who could turn his hand to anything. Every year at Christmas he would surprise us with a wonderful beautifully crafted wooden box or piece of furniture he had made. I wish I had half of his ability.

I had not done any woodwork since I left school but I was inspired to take it up in my retirement by seeing some of the excellent turned work of Bill O’Neil, a resident at Lovat Fields Retirement Village. Sadly Bill passed away recently but he had set me on a course to take up wood turning which I very much thank him for. I was fortunate to find Bill Hart in another retirement village – St Crispin in Northampton. Bill is not only a skilled craftsman but also a very good teacher. He has given a lot of his time and much encouragement. Thanks to him I have found a completely new hobby which I very much enjoy, although I feel I have at least six more years of apprenticeship before I can properly call myself a wood turner.

Retirement Housing

Last but not least, I still have an abiding interest in housing for older people and I was delighted recently to be appointed as a Non-Executive Director of Hanover Housing. They are a long established Housing Association who provide accommodation for over 30,000 retired people throughout England. They have a very friendly and positive staff team who are enthusiastic about working with their residents. This is a fresh challenge for me and I will work hard to make a contribution to the Board.

Posted in ABOUT GRUMBLESMILES | 3 Comments

“The £140 Pension Illusion”

Posted on October 31, 2010 by john graham

This is a story about the cynicism of politicians and the fickle nature of press reporting. Sadly it’s about an issue of great importance to the elderly. The presentation of The Issue has the power to raise and destroy hope in a matter of days with scant regard for peoples’ feelings.

DAY 1, MONDAY 25TH OCTOBER 2010 – THE DAILY MAIL REPORTS:-

“Now you see it”

£140 pension for all
Historic shake up of state pensions
Huge boost for stay at home mums and married couples
An end to Means Testing
Paid for by cutting bureaucracy

Pensions Minister, Steve Webb, either in a clever sleight of hand which is the hallmark of a great illusion, or in callous disregard of current pensioners, announces a new higher basic pension.

The newspaper’s editorial comment blindly follows the front page lead and swallows the good news, almost hook line and sinker:-

A bold crusade to reform state pensions
Hugely enhanced weekly payments
40% increase for single pensioners
Truly whopping 75% increase for married couples
Slashing the vast pension bureaucracy

A note of caution to the tale:-

Will it all add up; are the sums right?

P.S. Strangely, none of it happens until 2015. If it is such good news and saves waste and bureaucracy you wonder why not? It could not be anything to do with wanting to give out good news just before the next General Election, could it? Meanwhile, deserving pensioners can wait!

Dr Ros Altman, the new Director General of the SAGA organization and an expert on pensions, welcomed the news as “a fantastic reform”.

DAY 2, TUESDAY 26TH – THE DAILY MAIL REPORTS:-

“Now you don’t!

The disappearing act. The Daily Mail wakes up like a drunk with a hangover from yesterday’s celebration. The headline now reads “Pensions Apartheid”. It appears that current pensioners will not qualify for the rise to £140 per week. Neither will those who reach 65 before 2015. All of them could be £100 a week worse off than the apparently richly rewarded late arrival baby boomer pensioners.

Dr Ros Altman now says, in what sounds a more chastened explanation of her euphoria yesterday: “At least we can take care of the future, even if we cannot take care of the past”. This is a phrase that is hardly going to endear her to the loads of readers of SAGA magazine.

Neil Duncan-Jordan of the National Pensioners Convention, was closer to the mark when he said “this is outrageous. The fact is today’s pensioners are those who need most help now”.

“You can’t possibly have a pensions apartheid where one generation gets one level of pension and another gets less”.

“Women will fare far worse from this, as there are about 5 million who currently don’t have a full state pension. They are leaving the most vulnerable to suffer”.

Rather more limply, Andrew Harrop, Policy Director at Age UK, said: “It will seem very unfair if you happen to be on the wrong side of the cliff edge”. This is an unfortunate analogy especially coming from an organization which has done so much to campaign against age discrimination and for equality for women pensioners.

The Daily Mail shows no remorse for yesterday’s headlines, even though they were well and truly fooled by the Government’s initial announcement into believing this was such good news. On day two they switched sides with the fickleness of a fair-weather friend, or a newspaper chasing tomorrow’s headline.

Meanwhile, a Government spokesman, who obviously doesn’t intend to retire before 2015, said: “our aim will be for a simple, decent state pension for future pensioners”. Carefully chosen words intended to foster the illusion of a universal benefit for all. I guess he assumes current pensioners will conveniently fall off the edge of the cliff!

A cruel and callous illusion played on the older war generation of pensioners who will be expected to continue to make sacrifices in the years ahead, unless this shameful policy is changed to include them.

Would you vote for this reform to pensioners?

Posted in ELDERLY UK POLICY, Pensions | Tagged " £140 Pension Illusion", Daily Mail, pensions | 8 Comments

“Welcome research. Cheers!”

Posted on October 24, 2010 by john graham

Raise a glass to researchers in Norway, who after seven years’ studying over 5000 people whose average age was 58, reached a conclusion we would all like to toast. They found that contrary to what you might imagine, drinking moderate amounts of wine can improve thinking skills and even prevent dementia. Sadly, the same outcome was not true for men.

I am sure this must be wrong. I will be the first to volunteer to take part in another seven year study if that is what it takes.

Posted in SMILES | 8 Comments