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Hello, Elle!
I have never heard of your riddle before.
A good one!
I got on fine at my dentist, but she was like "I'll book you in for a scale and polish."
I also got an excellent report from La Bamba's pal.
(Just had a text from Miss LB!)
Apparently I looked "very smart and was very cheery and chatty"!
That'll do for me!
I know there is a fine golf course at Sandwich but that's about the limit of my knowledge.
I am staying home the rest of the day.
Too warm for stravaiging, I think.
And I have my puzzle to attempt.

Update, Elle!
Just finished the puzzle.
Very good one, and one answer is one of your Bolton words!

Hi, Rusty!
I'm glad you liked the riddle! It is a very old one!
And I am impressed by the excellent conduct report from Miss L-B's best friend!
'Cheery and chatty' is very good.......and the smartness may be down to the newly polished shoes!
We get an automatic "clean and polish" (of our teeth, not our shoes) there and then by our dentist at every six - monthly visit..... it is part of the "package".
(Yes, I noticed the "she was like" ...!)
Ah , yes, "nesh"!
Did you remember it, then ?
I am sure I will have used it many times!
It is a good word!
I haven't yet finished the puzzle... I put it away in favour of reading for a while.
I shall go back to it shortly.......
"Stravaiging"? .......wandering?

Hello, Elle!
It is very warm here!
My dentist has someone else to do the scale and polish this time.
I do not have a "package", just pay for whatever needs doing, except the check-up which is free, and she always gives me a free tube of toothpaste.
My dentist is a keen cyclist, too, and she was telling me about her son, who is abroad with the Boy Scouts.
She is a very nice lady, from Iraq.
Miss LB and her "best pal" are going to a concert at Glasgow Green, this weekend, so she has changed our Pine Cone jaunt to Saturday!
I doubt I would have got "nesh" so quickly if not for you!
"Stravaiging" is wandering, especially in the hills.
The late Tom Weir wrote some very good books about "stravaiging" across Scotland.

Hello again, Elle,
I meant to say that up here, if someone goes "stravaiging" they are often known as a "gangrel".
It cames from the Scots word "gang", meaning "go".
Here endeth the lesson.

Hi, Rusty!
It is warm here, too, but there is a slight fresh breeze and no humidity today, so it remains pleasant.
We have been out in the garden.......no afternoon walk, as we have to go out presently to attend a meeting at the Town Hall, regarding the future of our GP practice.
The GPs currently managing the practice are retiring...and this is to discuss what will eventually happen next.
The letter inviting us to the meeting is not very explicit......and I have a list of questions that I feel need answering.
I need to go and get changed into something "respectable" and we shall be away.
The meeting starts at 5.30 pm
We shall walk there, as I doubt there will be adequate parking.
Talk later!

Hello, Elle!
No breeze here!
There have been problems here with GP practices closing.
I do not know what the solution is.
Hope you get your answers at the meeting and a positive indication to the future of the practice.
I am fortunate with my practice.
Mostly young doctors there and it seems to run very well.
I appreciate it, anyway.

Good evening, Rusty!
It is a really lovely evening here ...the nicest part of the day!
We are finally home again.
The meeting was not a huge success in that it was very poorly attended - I doubt there were more than ten of us there.
However, a few points were clarified.
The practice will not be closing, at least not within the next twelve months.
Present staff, apart from the two doctors who are retiring, will hopefully remain in situ.
A caretaking body will be in charge for this period, during which the practice will be out for tender.
As I understood it, this would go to the person/ group/ company/ business offering the best options ...such as a high financial offer, suitable plans for the practice, patient consideration etc.
The present premises ( a house conversion) are likely to be sold after the twelve month period though, and there is no present guarantee that the new premises will be within the immediate neighbourhood.
It was this last that gave rise to the most concern.
We have been told that the patients will be kept in the loop.......
So we shall have to await developments.
You sound to have a modern up-to-date practice, purposefully built for that purpose?
Maybe we shall get that eventually...who knows...but, unfortunately, it may well be some distance away.




Hello, Chris!
I saw your query about Jolan earlier.
As I understood it, he married again last September?
And yes, I think he posted on the forum last week...or possibly the week before. but definitely very recently .
So he is obviously Ok.

Good evening, Elle!
It does not sound very encouraging, does it?
You should have a modern building if at all possible.
Yes, I feel lucky with my practice.
I think we have nine GPs now, and quite a few nurses etc.
Some nurses run clinics too, for diabetes, Well Woman, podiatry, and several other things.
They have lots and lots of paintings on the walls, all done by local artists, and all for sale.
And lots of books to pay a few pence for.
They have some sort of link with Malawi, too, but I have no idea how that works.
The practice is a two minute walk from the hospital.
Still very warm here!

Hi, Rusty!
Yes, I would definitely say that our GP practice needs updating - modern premises , more life saving equipment, a phlebotomist on the premises ...that last thereby saving long trips to the nearest hospital for blood tests.
But above all, location is imperative.
A modern GP practice will serve no useful purpose if out of (preferably easy) reach of most of its patients.
We currently have only two full time doctors and two part -time ones, with only one practice nurse.
We have to trek to the nearest hospital two miles away to have a blood sample taken.
But to have any actual medical tests/ treatment / see a Consultant, it is more usually a seven mile journey to a larger hospital.
None of this is obviously ideal.
Our NHS is wonderful, but very overworked.
I think you fare much better in Scotland.