It's rather a dull and over-cast day. It rained in the night, not particularly heavy, but a sort of steady sort of wetting. It will definitely keep things green.
I had to ring Ashfield Medical Centre this morning to ask for a Doctor's certificate for Carol, as the latest one runs out this week. I did attempt to do this yesterday mid-morning, but the receptionist said that there were no appointments available the rest of the day, and I couldn't book one in advance, it could only be for the same day. Crazy. This would make life so much easier. I don't understand why they do this, because sometimes, when you've seen the doctor, he might ask you to book an appointment for, say, a month ahead. Or doesn't that count? It seems they make up rules just to he awkward. It seems to me that the staff are running the place just for their own benefit, and not for the patients. It took a reasonable length of time to get through this morning, but I rang at 8 o'clock, just as the surgery was opening and there were three other people ahead of me in the telephone queue. I got through and then told them what I wanted and the doctor will call back to speak to Carol and, hopefully, sign another certificate and I will drive to the surgery to collect it and then take it to the H.R. department at Milton Keynes Academy.
Carol was scheduled to be at the oncology department for 2.20 on Thursday afternoon to have the dreaded pump removed. As usual, we drove there in plenty of time, but we couldn't find a place to park the car, so I dropped her off near cardiology and then I drove to the street level carpark at the front of the hospital in the hope that there would be a space. On arrival I drove in but no space was to be had. I wracked my brain in an attempt to think of a suitable place to leave the car and drove immediately to the multi-storey carpark opposite the new entrance. There were cars queued to enter, and when they moved there was a complete jam-up within the confines of the carpark. It was similar to one of those games where you have tiles to move, but there's only a couple of spaces and to complete the picture that the tiles make, you can only move a couple of tiles. The queue wound it's way around the carpark. There's a crazy layout to exit. Even if I'd gone onto the higher levels I don't think I would have found a space. Then, when I eventually got to the exit I didn't have a ticket, so a parking official had to let me out. Just as well as you don't have to pay if you're in there for under 15 minutes. So, I was still stuck for somewhere to leave the car, so I drove round the inner ring road and back to where I'd left Carol. I considered parking in a no parking space within the carpark. As Carol's appointment would be no more than 20 minutes, it would be fine, or so I thought, to leave the car in what was essentially a 'No Parking' zone. It's marked off with yellow lines painted on the tarmac. I got out of the car, and then a man who had just parked his car told me that I could be fined £70 if I left the car there. So I decided to drive out and had no alternative but to drive around again to the carpark at the front of the hospital. Again, no spaces. I was tearing my hair out by now. If only we'd bought our mobiles with us, I could have contacted Carol to tell her what was going on. Again I drove round to the cardiology department entrance and went into the carpark once more but THIS TIME I was able to park in a space directly opposite the entrance. As I walked towards the cardiology entrance, Carol was coming out! She said she had wondered where on earth I had got to, but at least it meant I didn't have to walk in to find her in the oncology department, so we walked back to the car and managed to drive home. Certainly something of an adventure, to say the least.
Carol was scheduled to be at the oncology department for 2.20 on Thursday afternoon to have the dreaded pump removed. As usual, we drove there in plenty of time, but we couldn't find a place to park the car, so I dropped her off near cardiology and then I drove to the street level carpark at the front of the hospital in the hope that there would be a space. On arrival I drove in but no space was to be had. I wracked my brain in an attempt to think of a suitable place to leave the car and drove immediately to the multi-storey carpark opposite the new entrance. There were cars queued to enter, and when they moved there was a complete jam-up within the confines of the carpark. It was similar to one of those games where you have tiles to move, but there's only a couple of spaces and to complete the picture that the tiles make, you can only move a couple of tiles. The queue wound it's way around the carpark. There's a crazy layout to exit. Even if I'd gone onto the higher levels I don't think I would have found a space. Then, when I eventually got to the exit I didn't have a ticket, so a parking official had to let me out. Just as well as you don't have to pay if you're in there for under 15 minutes. So, I was still stuck for somewhere to leave the car, so I drove round the inner ring road and back to where I'd left Carol. I considered parking in a no parking space within the carpark. As Carol's appointment would be no more than 20 minutes, it would be fine, or so I thought, to leave the car in what was essentially a 'No Parking' zone. It's marked off with yellow lines painted on the tarmac. I got out of the car, and then a man who had just parked his car told me that I could be fined £70 if I left the car there. So I decided to drive out and had no alternative but to drive around again to the carpark at the front of the hospital. Again, no spaces. I was tearing my hair out by now. If only we'd bought our mobiles with us, I could have contacted Carol to tell her what was going on. Again I drove round to the cardiology department entrance and went into the carpark once more but THIS TIME I was able to park in a space directly opposite the entrance. As I walked towards the cardiology entrance, Carol was coming out! She said she had wondered where on earth I had got to, but at least it meant I didn't have to walk in to find her in the oncology department, so we walked back to the car and managed to drive home. Certainly something of an adventure, to say the least.
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