Tales of a C3, a Goddess and some BMW's.

KP · Unread post by KP » 14 Aug 2011, 02:35

Richard have you thought about going the E111 route at all and taking a 'holiday' at the same time?

DickieG · Unread post by **DickieG** » 14 Aug 2011, 08:23

KP wrote:Richard have you thought about going the E111 route at all and taking a 'holiday' at the same time?

Interesting thought that. I haven't considered that one, any idea what way I'd go about it as I'd need a diagnosis/referral etc over the channel to eventually be put forward for an operation. I'd imagine that would mean taking a rather extended holiday

DickieG · Unread post by **DickieG** » 12 Sep 2011, 21:54

Car wise still nothing to report due to the state my back is in but today I handed in formal notice of my retirement next month

it was a strange feeling this morning getting up knowing that after 31 years it is now formally coming to an end, the really strange thing was having to give in a copy of my birth certificate after all this time

Morale at work is now at an all time low with people leaving in their masses as they are so fed up with the changes being brought in by the government, in my small department over the past eight weeks, eight people have now left with me and another going next month. A close friend working at Heathrow lost five detectives from one office alone on Friday when around 150 Police Officers left the Met on that one day. Everyone you talk to in the job is chomping at the bit waiting until their time is up, it's little wonder when you consider that it looks like pay is being cut by £200 per month next year with potentially serious reductions in pension benefits making it pointless to continue working. On top of this notice has been given that no leave will be granted between 26th July to the 26th September next year when everyone will apparently be working 12 hours shifts for seven days in succession followed by just one day leave, so no summer holidays next year for those not as fortunate as me. At a leaving do on Friday I was speaking to someone working in the communication control rooms who stated that staff there are so fed up that 42 people handed in their notice last month alone so should you call Police be prepared for a long wait!!

lexi · Unread post by **lexi** » 12 Sep 2011, 22:56

You saw the best of it then.

What is procedure on back op? Any details or do they not know fully till they go in?

DickieG · Unread post by **DickieG** » 13 Sep 2011, 00:06

lexi wrote:You saw the best of it then.

Definitely, there's no point in joining up now, pay and conditions are getting worse almost by the day and now that the pension is being attacked, why would you join if you've got half a brain? I like most have only stayed on for so long to get the pension and now that's going there's no point staying for the full course. The job is going back to how it was in the 1970's and late 90's when far more were leaving than joining, in 1999 Hendon had vacancies for over 300 recruits yet could only fill around 70 of them due to poor pay. When pay was increased people joined up and Hendon was bursting at the seams with a far more stringent entry selection process.

These days the job is all statistics and paperwork and getting worse by the day, every incident has to be written about and then recorded on computer followed by finding what code number to add so that the government can produce statistics showing that crime isn't as bad as it really is. Years ago I used to provide a service to the public, now there isn't the time due to the tosh needed to be recorded for every little incident you deal with, not to mention the ridiculous political correctness, the camaraderie within the job has all but gone as you're having to constantly watch your back from both inside and out as so many people are looking for a way to claim money stating that they have been treated 'unfairly', bless them

A few years ago I had a female officer put in a formal complaint against me about being called "Dippy Dolly Daydream" as she said it traumatised her, she was as dopey as they come yet I was formally interviewed on tape by senior officers for 2 1/4 hours. During the interview I pointed out that if such a comment traumatised her she was clearly unsuited to the job,,,,

lexi wrote:What is procedure on back op? Any details or do they not know fully till they go in?

The operation is a spinal decompression in English that means remove tissue that is causing a narrowing of the spinal canal and pressing on the spinal cord which in turn causes Sciatic nerve problems. I had my MRI scan a couple of months ago and have seen the Consultant so I'm now awaiting the surgery which is booked in for the 26th October, fingers crossed the date won't be put off

Deanxm · Unread post by **Deanxm** » 13 Sep 2011, 07:11

The operation is a spinal decompression in English that means remove tissue that is causing a narrowing of the spinal canal and pressing on the spinal cord which in turn causes Sciatic nerve problems. I had my MRI scan a couple of months ago and have seen the Consultant so I'm now awaiting the surgery which is booked in for the 26th October, fingers crossed the date won't be put off Pray

Hope all goes well for you Richard and you get the op asap, cant be any fun being in pain all the time.

D

DickieG · Unread post by **DickieG** » 13 Sep 2011, 09:12

Deanxm wrote:Hope all goes well for you Richard and you get the op asap, cant be any fun being in pain all the time.

Thanks Dean, the pain really saps my energy both physically and mentally, the weird thing with my back is that the degree of pain varies wildly each day and from hour to hour making it difficult to plan anything, some days its absolutely fine, others,, anyway not too long to wait for the op now then normal service can resume

Dommo · Unread post by **Dommo** » 13 Sep 2011, 09:46

Have you seen the MRI images of the problem area? You really can tell when there's a problem with spine compression!

davetherave · Unread post by **davetherave** » 13 Sep 2011, 10:03

I think the low morale is something that is common amongst all the public services sadly, our pension ontribution is going from 6 to 10% and we are going from final salary to average salary.

Complaints are to easy to make, with electronic reporting some reidiculous crap gets reported.

It all goes in cycles with this kind of stuff, they p**s of the experienced staff and end up with lots of inexperienced ones, then wonder why

Dommo · Unread post by **Dommo** » 13 Sep 2011, 10:11

davetherave wrote:I think the low morale is something that is common amongst all the public services sadly, our pension ontribution is going from 6 to 10% and we are going from final salary to average salary.

Complaints are to easy to make, with electronic reporting some reidiculous crap gets reported.

It all goes in cycles with this kind of stuff, they p**s of the experienced staff and end up with lots of inexperienced ones, then wonder why

Sounds like the current NHS too! The radiology department I work in is one of the only departments that's spending less than the budget and we're still being told to save a shed load of money and taking pay cuts.. Great!

DickieG · Unread post by **DickieG** » 13 Sep 2011, 10:52

Dommo wrote:Have you seen the MRI images of the problem area? You really can tell when there's a problem with spine compression!

Yes I viewed them when I saw the consultant, as you say it was clear to see where the problem is, one side of the triangle the spinal cord sits in is cut off so to speak, as ever the problem is on L4 + L5.

davetherave wrote:I think the low morale is something that is common amongst all the public services sadly, our pension ontribution is going from 6 to 10% and we are going from final salary to average salary.

What ever way the government try to disguise it an increase in pension contributions is a pay cut pure and simple as you get less in your pay packet with no increase in pay or pension. When I joined I paid 8%, that was increased to 11% when Kenneth Clarke was the Home Secretary and got his mate Patrick Sheehey to do a hacking job on the Police back in the 90's (Clarke got himself a job on the board of British American Tobacco out of it

) now its being increased to 14% with an average salary based scheme, this alone will reduce the pension final lump sum by over 50% so its not difficult to see why people are so upset.

Dommo wrote:
davetherave wrote:It all goes in cycles with this kind of stuff, they p**s of the experienced staff and end up with lots of inexperienced ones, then wonder why
Sounds like the current NHS too! The radiology department I work in is one of the only departments that's spending less than the budget and we're still being told to save a shed load of money and taking pay cuts.. Great!

Spot on there chaps, our motto at work is "Experientia Docet" yet most of it has now left,,,,,,,,,,

With all these cuts being enforced upon people who have done nothing to cause the problem morale is at an all time low and whereas before people were willing to go the extra mile to make the job work by way of goodwill, now they are less willing.

DickieG · Unread post by **DickieG** » 19 Sep 2011, 01:31

I feel like a right old Plonker after this weekend, on Friday feeling a little frustrated with not moving my DS out of the garage since around March or April (due to my back) I decided to bite the bullet and used it to pick up my daughter and her friends from school which caused a bit of stir amoungst the other kids. During the trip I was reminded of the excess noise coming from the fuel pump which is located in the O/S sill. Having completed my duty as "Dad Cabs" I decided that I'd have a look at the pump as I only needed to raise the suspension to high then lay on my side to do the job so it shouldn't affect my back very much as I'd be laying down,,,,

After removing the sill cover I discovered that the pipes coming out of the pump were touching the bodywork and in the process transmitting noise into the bodyshell so I had a go at re-routing them but wasn't entirely happy due to the angle of the pump outlet making it difficult to avoid the pipes having some degree of contact so having put it back together I then ordered another pump outlet banjo union with a straight outlet.

Now moving onto the the early hours of Saturday morning I was awoken by terrible pains in my lower back and a feeling of nausea which made it impossible to go back to sleep so I gave up and tried sitting in my computer chair for a while which normally helps but gave up and resorted to laying on the floor and eventually going back to bed until the early afternoon when after throwing loads of pain killers down my neck I finally felt well enough to stand up. Lesson number one, don't take liberties with your back Richard.

Now move onto Sunday morning and whilst having a chat with Jim over the telephone I popped into the garage and opened the up and over door but not fully,,,,,,,,,,,,,turned around and walked straight into it with my head causing me to see stars for a while then feel blood running down my head, so I grabbed loads of blue roll to use as a temporary bandage dressing

I've now got a big gash on my head as a reminder, how many times have I done this,,,,,doh!

In the best interests of my future health I'll be leaving the garage door shut for a while

KP · Unread post by KP » 19 Sep 2011, 06:51

I feel for you Richard, I don't know how many times I've done that with various garage doors and probably will do for many years yet

On the back front I hope all goes well, my dad used yo have such terrible back pains he would be bed ridden for weeks at a time

he hasn't had the same problems for a while yet mind so fingers crossed he will be ok for the future and yourself to after the op

Deanxm · Unread post by **Deanxm** » 19 Sep 2011, 07:21

sounds like you enjoyed your weekend then Richard

hopefully you wont know yourself once your all fixed up, cant be long to go now surely?

D

DickieG · Unread post by **DickieG** » 19 Sep 2011, 09:14

Deanxm wrote:cant be long to go now surely?

Five more weeks yet