Group meeting 21 November 2019

Just a few of us today.
But we had a good chat ranging from hospital attendance to owning pets to music choices.

Group meeting 7th November 2019

An odd start to the meeting for me today, the barrier to the car park was closed and locked. But fortunately I opened it in time for folks to arrive.
Lin from Age UK came along and gave us some very useful information and the cases that she told about the ways people have been scammed or almost scammed in a variety of ways was sadly depressing but made me a lot more cautious.
I think it is a sad reflection on how the world is that those of us with morals and honesty think others are the same but unfortunately there seems to be more ways that we can be taken advantge of. By more sophisticated methods too.
Such a shame that instead of trusting people first, we may have to mistrust first.
I think that those who came along appreciated and enjoyed everything Lin had to say.
Thank you Lin and I hope to see you all in a fortnight.

Group meeting 24 October 2019

A good amount of sunshine today after a drizzly start. Which may be why fewer people came along today but those who did had a good chat and were able to welcome another new member, whom we hope will enjoy meeting up.

We hope that everyone who couldn't make it today are well and have avoided quite a vicious cold bug that seems to be going round which can last up to a couple of weeks. It is great that a flu virus vaccination gets developed but how I would like a cold virus vaccination as I get a few colds every year.

 The clocks go back this weekend which I think is one of the most idiotic things ever invented. I am sure that others remember when not adjusting the clocks was tried, I had no problems with that. For me, keeping the time as now would mean slightly more light in the evenings which is surely better than dark early evenings.

Group meeting

We had a good get together today with two new members and their wives coming along.

It was an opportunity for everyone to have a good chat, swap experiences and share ideas.

Everyone seemed happy to pay their subs for rental of the room, with a good amount left over.
It was decided that as a group, there are enough of us now and too many would be detrimental.

There is a common interest in getting people to come and give us a talk and we will try to organise more in the future.
It would be great to know if anyone has any contacts that we could get in touch with.

Flu jab

We waited in a long orderly queue at Sunnyside Surgery this morning for a flu jab.
It seemed that either people had thought that they would beat the rush or that they wanted to get out of the way early and enjoy the rest of the day.
It wasn't raining and the queue moved quite quickly.
I have never had flu and I am sure many others have not either but it does seem that the unnecessary strain it could put on my whole system is not worth the risk.

Weston super Mare

We went to Weston today and as we always do, visited the BHF shop. We always try and buy something to support them. It is a shame that they don't have a shop in Clevedon as it would be a great place to volunteer.

Drugged up

We had visit from Isabel a pharmacist who probably thought that she was going to give a talk but which was soon hijacked by a lot of questions and discussion from each of the group members.
It was a very interesting chat and I think it was a great opportunity for group members to be able to ask questions about a range of topics and have the full attention of a very knowledgeable pharmacist.
One of the drugs is Entresto and what side effects this could have.
The interaction between certain drugs and commonplace food items such as turmeric or grapefruit was discussed.
What happens if we forget or run out of drugs when we go away is a topic that we don't think about, until it happens.
I think everyone contributed and learnt something useful, I was certainly interested.

Some links that may be useful
https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/treatments/medication
In general the BHF website is full of useful information some of which can be downloaded or ordered in booklet form.