Wordplay

Hello again, speaking at the McGill Summer School in Co. Donegal, Irish Health Minister, Mr. James Reilly, alluded to plans to have free GP care for the under fives sometime later this year. According to press reports this would be the start of a phased introduction of free primary care for all. Apparently, Mr. Reilly is hopeful that the new plan will be implemented within the life of this government. With the plan to have free GP services for the under 5’s be extended to everyone over the next two years.

    Junior Minister at the Department of Health, Mr. Alex White is working on the details of the proposals according to reports. The plan is ‘another important step along the road to having universal health insurance before 2016.

     However, according to reports the fine details of this entire scheme have yet to be worked out.

    Reports say that Al-Qaeda’s order for an attack led to US terrorist alert. Media sources state that President Obama’s administration’s decision to shut nearly twenty-four diplomatic missions and issue a worldwide travel alert to Americans came after the US intercepted electronic communications in which the head of Al-Qaeda ordered Yemen affiliated groups to carry out an attack.

     Ireland has just passed the twelfth successive month of growth for the Irish services index according to recent reports.

CAN YOU SOLVE THESE RIDDLES:

How does a flower ride a bike?

How does lady Ga Ga like her steak?

Robby throws a ball as hard as he can. It comes back to him, even though nobody and nothing touches it. How?

Answers tomorrow

Answers to yesterday’s stuff:

A hole

The letter ‘M’

Playing Monopoly

  

INSPIRATION:  Life is what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans.                                – John Lennon

ON THIS DAY: 

1806 - The Holy Roman Empire went out of existence as Emperor Francis II abdicated.

1825 - Bolivia declared independence from Peru.

1879 - The first Australian Rules football game to be played at night took place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The game was to promote the introduction of electricity to the city of Melbourne.

WORDS TO THE WISE:

What life can compare to this?

Sitting quietly by the window,

I watch the leaves fall

And the flowers bloom,

As the seasons come and go.          – Hsueh-Tou (982-1052)

SACRED SPACE:

May you breathe in the beauty of summer with its power of transformation.

May this beauty permeate all that feels un-beautiful in you.

May the God of summer give us this beauty.

May you seek and find spaces of repose during these summer months.

May these moments refresh and restore the tired places within you.

May the God of summer give us rest.

SMILE A WHILE!

Why are two thieves like underwear?

Because they are a pair of nickers

Who is the oldest singer on the Internet?

Click Jagger

What has four wheels and flies?

A rubbish truck

Ciao Bellissimo

Valerie

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR: Hello again, congratulations to Eason’s Book Shop, Shop Street, Galway who recently opened its refurbished store, here’s hoping that the sparkling floor is an image of things to come for them. The refurbishment is brand new and things are still being tweaked, set in place, improved, and perfected: it is in this spirit that I write.

    The shelving all over the shop, to me, is much too close together with far too little space for people to mooch around, examine a book, feel its pleasure, flick through the pages.

      The shop seemed so ‘full’ that there was barely room to breathe upstairs and it was much, much too hot. As I find myself upstairs I will keep going. Because I am visually impaired I wear dark glasses and because of my mobility impairment I use a rollator, walker – like a Zimmer on wheels only sturdier -.

    I actually wanted a fibre tipped pen and as I could not find a member of staff on the shop floor I approached the cash point and asked where the stationery was? The cashier vaguely waved to a point further along, following her wave I moved along only to find several steps with something beside them. Unsure what to do next I returned to the cash point and a different cashier who very kindly proceeded to come with me as with difficulty my rollator fitted between the aisles. The cashier explained that the ‘something’ was a wheelchair lift. With the greatest of respect and gratitude such ‘lifts’ can feel and seem precarious when being used by people who need them, so I ask for patience. The kind cashier started the lift for me and I was up in a few moments. After a little searching I settled for a pen and we returned to the lift. Smooth and efficient the lift was again somewhat precarious for me – though thankfully I ‘landed’ safely paid for my purchases and returned downstairs, glad to leave the very hot atmosphere.

    Downstairs I could breathe more easily but had to retrace a number of my steps as some of the aisles are too narrow for my rollator.

    I like Eason’s shops and sincerely wish the branch in Shop Street, Galway every success however the tweaking is not over yet.