Last of the York picspam - including bubonic plague and threatening breakfast cereal...

[curiouswombat]

I really do think this is the last of the York picspam! I am hoping it all makes sense - you can blame typos etc on the fact that D-d and I just shared a bottle of wine over dinner! Hic!

There are a couple of pictures from the North Yorks Moors Railway, one is simply of a couple of gentlemen, taken from the station bridge in Pickering, who look like characters from Thomas the Tank Engine






And one of the historical metal advertising sign that caught our eyes - especially S2C and D-d, who both burst out laughing before I even noticed it -






Also - as you may know - York Minster is one of the greatest gothic cathedrals in the world. (With one of the world's best archbishops, IMHO!) This year some of the worn or broken carvings at the roof level are to be replaced by new carvings, as part of a conservation project, which includes training new craftsmen.

The new figures are currently on display before they are put into place - after which it is unlikely that many people will ever see them again.

In keeping with the original figures, these new ones represent illnesses and tribulations of medieval life -

Here are Toothache and Madness -



Backache -



Bubonic plague - see the buboes in the armpit and groin -



And finally the dreaded Plague Doctor -





The plague doctor seems a fitting place to finish - I will spend most of tomorrow gowned up and out in the community taking swabs from people suspected of having the Swine Flu...

Comments

[sammywol.livejournal.com]

Great statuary! I was suitably cowed by the cereal admonishment. *bows head ... gets spoon*

Good luck with the piggy-flu.

[krikketgirl.livejournal.com]

Hahahaha! I LOVE the Weetabix ad!

[quinara]

Weetabix was always King of Cereal. (Unless that's someone else's strapline...)

And those statues look suitably terrifying.

[jerusha]

Hee! I loved the Weetabix ad, and the statuary was very cool. Thanks for sharing with those of us who can't see it up close and personal.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

The Weetabix ad is wonderful, isn't it? Even I (with my wheat intolerance) really feel I should go out and buy some straight away!

Last time I was on swine flu swabbing duties it was quiet - but I don't expect it to be tomorrow! I know I already have one person to contact and go and visit in the morning, and I can't see him being the only one.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

It is wonderful, isn't it?

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

The statues are so neat - I was particularly taken with the perfect buboes on the bubonic plague one...

Perhaps they didn't eat their Weetabix!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

That Weetabix ad is so funny. I'm wondering, now, whether those poor people in the carvings might have fared better if only they'd eaten their Weetabix...

[inzilbeth-liz.livejournal.com]

Those carvings are great, especially the bubonic plague; quite apt really!

Good old Weetabix!

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

'Ware the Weetabix Police! *grin*

Very interesting pics, all.

[bojojoti.livejournal.com]

Weetabix always makes me think of Spike. I like Weetabix, but ingesting has to be quick or it gets too slimy.

I think I prefer gargoyles to tortured people!

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

Of course we all know that Weetabix is only really tasty when mixed with blood...

I loved York Minster and since I was the only photographer of our trip, that's the one time I turned the camera over to P.S. who literally spent five minutes fiddling with it so that when she actually snapped the photo I was in the process of scowling and saying "What on earth is taking you so long?" sigh...

However I paid for some time there and still have my certificate and my lovely White Rose of York pin.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

It is sad, really, that in a few months time they will be up there where no-one can see them.

The Weetabix ad is a classic, I think!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I will probably spend all day driving from house to hospital (to take swabs to the path labs...) to the chemist (to pick up the Tamiflu...) to the next house, and so on. Still - I will get paid overtime, although I'd rather have the day off.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I must admit the Weetabix ad gave us all the giggles - you can just imagine the Weetabix police turning up!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Weetabix with hot milk and a thick coating of sugar takes me back to childhood instantly. But i'm not a big fan...

[kathyh]

Love the Thomas the Tank Engine characters and the Weetabix ad :) Those statues are wonderful particularly the bubonic plague one.

Good luck with the Swine Flu testing.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

The Minster is such a wonderful building - mind you, I have just found the weirdest thing on their website - your own Archbishop Sentamu (http://www.yorkminster.org/shop/christmas/) to hang on your Christmas tree!!

You will have to come back sometime, and I will take a boat and drive to York especially to take your picture for you!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

The Weetabix ad is certainly a classic!

I am likely to spend much of the day going between houses, the hospital, the pharmacy... we are still at the swabbing stage as we haven't had many cases yet.

[quinara]

That's probably it!

[bogwitch.livejournal.com]

I love the plague victim and the doctor!

I'm visiting my friend tomorrow who has had the dreaded lurgy, I may be next...

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

They are neat, aren't they?

We are telling people that they stop being infectious 7 days after onset of symptoms.

[bogwitch.livejournal.com]

NHS Direct is saying two days.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

But two days after onset is when they are coughing and spluttering and still have a temp! No wonder it is spreading through the UK like wildfire!

We are keeping people in their houses and away from work for the full seven days from first symptom, even if they get the Tamiflu.

[bogwitch.livejournal.com]

I'm only going by what the symptom checker said!

My friend had it a week and has been signed off for another.

[bogwitch.livejournal.com]

Actually, thinking about it, they might have been talking about the incubation period.

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

Amazing figures.

good luck at avoiding the flu.I don't envy you your job!

[http://users.livejournal.com/peasant_/]

Pity they didn't actually have bubonic plague in the Middle Ages. It really annoys me that that misconception will now be immortalised in stone on the cathedral for several hundred years.

Fortunately the Weetabix sign cheers me back up again.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I think maybe the two days is in the 'how long have you had symptoms?' bit - if it is more than 48 hours then there is no point in taking the Tamiflu.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Basically, when it comes to the flu thing, it is all hands to the pump - our public health department usually only has one nurse on the staff, and obviously it takes more of us to do the swabbing at the moment. When I finish breakfast I will start with my first phone call and visit...

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I was more amused by the bubonic plague one - it is the only one which is a semi-naked female... I couldn't see any reason for this - and the matching boobs and buboes caught my eye!

The Weetabix sign is just priceless though - I am so glad that S2C, and D-d, were sitting in the right place on the train to spot it so that it could be photographed when we got back.

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

Those are great carvings! I love them!

Are you guys testing everyone for swine flu? We're testing anyone with even a sniffle. All that isolation gear is not doing my summer any favors!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

On the UK mainland they are at the point where people are just filling in a form online, or ringing a helpline where the workers are simply working to a script- basically doing the online thing for them - and if they are likely they give them a code nimber and they get someone to go to the pharmacy and pick up the Tamiflu.

But we have only had 15 confirmed cases on the island, and so we are still swabbing anyone who rings their doctor with a temp over 38C and any two other symptoms. If they have the above, and less than 48hrs of symptoms, we are giving them the Tamiflu during the visit as per a protocol. That way the possibles are staying at home and not coming into contact with anyone else.

So today I decided one person definitely didn't have flu, swabbed the others, but the quick test results for those are negative.

We are making use of a whole lot of us who usually do work in the community to do the visits because we are less likely to get lost than if they send out hospital staff, and less fazed by having to work with our stuff spread out on the floor of someone's living room, or the patient being in an attic bedroom with a very low roof!

We are only using masks, gloves and plastic aprons - one ten year old a few weeks ago was really disappointed that we weren't in full HazMat gear...

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

We do the full hazmat thing in house. For the positive cultures it's PAPR hoods, double gowns, double gloves. Negative flow rooms. I'm just waiting for a case in a non-private room. We still have a few in Adult ICU, and the NICU is all multiple pt wards. And we're supposed to change srubs/ shoes before going out into the community.

::sigh::

I'm pretty sure it's overkill like who, but the H1N1 pts I've actually seen were really sick. Of course, they were mostly pretty sick already-- heme-onc pts, mostly.

We're not allowed to call it Swine Flu BTW. That's "offensive"-- who knew pigs took things that seriously? :D

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Being community staff I'm only seeing those who are not ill enough to be in hospital - but I think that in the hospital they are ready for the whole Hazmat thing - only none of our 15 have been ill enough to need hospitalisation so far, and are all recovered or recovering.

My mother was just commenting that people would be less scared if we just called it summer flu - I think she has a point, but we are, as far as I know, still calling it swine flu!

[keswindhover.livejournal.com]

Ooh, those statues looks like an excuse to visit York again.

*rebelliously eats gluten free cereal instead of Weetabix, since I DO know what's good for me, even if I resent it mightily.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

They were actually in the 'Plague, Poverty and Prayer' display in Barley Hall - but only for another month or two, I gather, before taking their place on the Minster.

I wodner if (a) Oatibix might be al right for we wheat-free people, and (b) would the Weetabix Police regard them as an acceptable substitute?

[keswindhover.livejournal.com]

I fear Oatibix suffers from the curse of barley malt, which has gluten and appears in almost all cereal, damn its hide.

Not that I've checked.