GPs under siege; Choo-choo runs again; Grumpy cop; Numpty suicide sausage; Bum sniffer; and Dangerous Crimbo.

Abso-bloody-lutely freezing again this dark morn, it snowed AGAIN last night, and then froze over, so what we have at the Angus castle is Snow; ice. Snow, ice, Snow, ice.

The boiler stoker is working nonstop to keep the central heating going and I give up scraping the car, it can stay there till after that thing on Friday.

I tweaked my ankle yesterday slipping on the ice and thought I might see a GP but now I know why it takes so long to get an appointment-Migrants are registering with family doctors at a rate of one a minute, leaving GP surgeries "straining at the seams" as they try to cope with the impact of rising immigration, new figures show.

More than 600,000 people signed up with a GP practice in England and Wales last year having arrived from overseas – an increase of 50 per cent in just seven years.

The number of GPs only increased by a fraction of that over the same period fuelling concerns that Labour's immigration policy has placed a huge strain on resources.

Thanks Gord.

That chuffin useless Eurostar is due to resume operation of its high-speed trains through the Channel Tunnel on Tuesday after three days with no service.

But passengers with pre-booked tickets are being advised not to travel unless it is essential, as the operators try to clear a backlog of journeys.

I was watching the news and it seems that if you have a ticket for last Friday, Saturday or Sunday you can travel today, if you have a ticket for Monday or today it’s tomorrow, I think.

The firm said snow shields used to protect the trains' electrics had worked for the past 15 years, but the recent cold snap in France had been "unprecedented" in their experience.

So it seems that the cold weather in the UK doesn’t cause any problems, but the cold weather in France has had undesired effects, if that is true why is it that the trains were breaking down in the tunnels?

Detective Grinch

Over in Washington: police are investigating after Internet videos showed a detective waving his gun during a mass snowball fight on a city street.

Police said Monday they were looking into reports that the plainclothes officer pulled a gun after he and his personal car were hit by snowballs. Police say witness accounts and videos from the scene appeared to support the claims.

Hundreds of people were gathered for the snowball fight during Saturday’s record snowstorm.

A video posted on YouTube showed the officer waving and pointing a gun as he walks toward the snowballers. Another video shows what appears to be the same man telling people he is a detective and that he pulled his gun because he was hit by snowballs.

The link for the video is Here


Miserable bugger.

Want to see my sausage?

And from the other direction: A Chinese robber threatened to blow up a restaurant with sausages, disguised as explosives, strapped to his body.

The 23-year-old man ate a meal at the restaurant, in Benxi, Heilongjang province, before grabbing the owner's daughter.

He put a knife to her neck and demanded cash from the till - but the restaurateur and other diners overpowered him.

They called the police - but when officers arrived the man, named He, jumped to his feet and revealed his 'explosive' belt.

Police managed to restrain He and took him outside to an open space - and called bomb disposal experts, reports the Huashang Morning Post.

"When they experts arrived, they laughed out loud as they quickly realised the explosives were actually sausages," said a police spokesman.

He said he staged the robbery because he was depressed after splitting up with his girlfriend. He told police he had been "inspired" by the shape of the sausages.

If he likes sausages that much he is going to be very happy in prison.

Co-op Bum Sniffer

Click on the link over the pic to view the video.

Police are hunting a man who carried out what they describe as 'bizarre' sexual assaults after he repeatedly knelt behind a shelf stacker to smell his behind.

The man was caught on CCTV creeping up on the unsuspecting worker at least 20 times as he stacked shelves at a Co-op store in Plymouth, Devon. The footage shows him casually pretending to chose items from shelves before suddenly crouching down behind the employee.

The man's odd behaviour to the employee was spotted on at least two occasions. The offences only came to light when the employee became suspicious and informed his manager who checked the in-store security video.

The victim - who cannot be named for legal reasons - said: "I had no idea what was going on. I thought it was all a bit strange. I was shocked and I couldn't believe he was in the aisle for that long."

Police say they are treating it as sexual assault.

DC Steve White of Plymouth police, said: "We are treating this incident very seriously and we would appeal to the public's help in tracking down this man.

"It is a bizarre incident and the shop was full of people. Someone must have seen the man and could well help us identify him."

The man is white, clean shaven and of medium to large build.

During the first incident he was wearing a brown T-shirt with jeans and black shoes and glasses and in the second a blue shirt with jeans.

What can you say?

And finally:

Crimbo-be afraid, be very afraid.

A casualty doctor has warned that carving the Christmas turkey while drunk or popping champagne corks could seriously damage the population's health on Christmas Day.

More bizarre accidents medics have seen include: exploding Christmas tree lights, which caused small burns to eyelids and eyeballs, and zips caught on eyelids as people struggled to try on a new jumper.

Also on the list are burns from the oven, older people choking on their turkey and nasty hand and limb injuries caused by people trying to get stones out of avocados - something that is becoming an increasing issue.

Others can turn up at accident & emergency with eye injuries from poking themselves with Christmas tree branches while getting presents from under it.

Eye unit staff commonly see children suffering after poking themselves or others in the eye with new toys and glitter fragments in the eye from cards or craft activities.

Dry eyes from sleeping with eyes open after excess alcohol consumption is common.


Don’t say you weren’t warned.

Angus

AnglishLit

Angus Dei-NHS-THE OTHER SIDE

Angus Dei politico

Recession over; Choo-choo catastrophe; Cha Yu-ram; Illiterate binmen; and a Numpty in a goat skin

Monday again, just been down to Tesco, it seems that they opened at 6am instead of the usual 8am this morn, shame they didn’t tell anyone, but it was nice to have 20 checkouts open instead of the usual one, must be Christmas or something.

Anyone else fed up with the snow and having to scrape the car every morning?

Still there is good news of a sort:

The recession will be over by the end of the year, bringing a close to the worst period for the British economy since at least the 1930s, according to the CBI.

The business lobby group predicted economic output will have grown by 0.5 per cent between October and December, meaning that Britain will have finally exited its recession, the last major economy to do so.

The news will come as a welcome relief to Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, who has been under pressure since the Pre-Budget Report, which was widely criticised for failing to address how the deficit would be tackled.

Let’s all go out and celebrate.

Still the wrong type of water

Eurostar trains modified overnight will be tested today as Channel Tunnel services are suspended for a third day.

Eurostar has warned it will be not able to carry all of the passengers due to travel over the next few days as well as the backlog of those whose journeys have already been cancelled.

It is advising people to postpone their trip unless absolutely necessary.

Eurostar commercial director Nick Mercer said the company believed it had now identified the cause of the problems.

"We will be testing the trains with the new modifications in the deteriorating snow conditions," he said.

Snookered, but in the nicest possible way

South Korea's pin-up pool player Cha Yu-ram has insisted she has no plans to switch to a career in modelling despite publishing a book of racy photos this year.

The cue-wielding beauty has won international titles this year, proving there is substance behind the style, and has vowed to deliver at next year's Asian Games in Guangzhou.

"I had a photo shoot for a sexy photo album this summer but promise my fans I won't go into the entertainment business," Cha told South Korea's Chosun Ilbo.

"I want to be recognised for my pool skills, not for my looks. I think my (time) is about to begin. Look out for me (in Guangzhou)."

And yes I know it’s not about snooker, but it seemed to fit.

Where’s you bin

One thousand homes in Oxon were left without bins for a month-and-a-half because drivers were unable to read addresses and street maps.

The slip-up emerged after an official report was released from waste contractors Verdant, who were contracted by South Oxfordshire district council in June.

''A consequence was that bins were not delivered to approximately 1,000 properties at the start of the contract.''

Resident Val Wolsey, 74, from Wallingford, Oxon, said: ''I'm staggered. Where was the management?

''These people clearly were not given sufficient guidance and support to be able to carry the job out properly.''

Another resident, Tim Day, said: ''It's totally ridiculous. I just cannot understand how people cannot read a map.

''On our road, there are only two or three of us that never got them, so it was a case of missing out houses.''

Verdant spokesman Blair Drummond said crews delivering the bins were not the company's usual binmen, but short-term contractors from a local employment agency, unfamiliar with the district's geography.

Not many tips this year then.





And finally:

Dressed to die

A Greek man dressed in animal hide was mistakenly shot dead while out hunting wild boar for a Christmas dinner.

Police said members of a shooting party made up of families opened fire when Christos Constantinou, 49, moved through the undergrowth.

They are thought to have been confused by the fact the victim was disguised in dark goat skins, which are used to camouflage and to mislead their prey.

The groups had fanned out in pairs of two to track down an animal for the traditional festive dinner when the accident happened.

Police in the northern Greek town of Nemea, Chalkidiki, said Mr Constantinou was pronounced dead upon arrival at hospital.

Two unidentified men, aged 25 and 28, were detained and were being questioned.

The lack of common sense of the human race never ceases to confuse me.


Angus

AnglishLit

Angus Dei-NHS-THE OTHER SIDE

Angus Dei politico