Wonderful Service From The Pharmacy

Pharmacy in Hatch End, NW London, England, UK. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

I looked at the NHS (UK National Health Service) and saw that pharmacies had helped large numbers of people quickly and saved visits to doctors for minor problems.

I had two very useful visits to my local pharmacy.

Firstly, a swollen, painful, finger. The pharmacist's practice asked me, 'Does it itch?'

'No.'

She said, 'Then it's not a bite.'

By process of elimination, we had removed one possible cause.

Possible cause, arthritis. Possible remedy, cod liver oil, taken orally.

I had another problem, a toe nail which was bruised. I was afraid. I asked, 'Could it be the start of diabetes? Am I likely to lose my leg, like Meghan Markle's father?'

'Are you thirsty a lot? All the time?'

'I'm thirsty. But not all the time.'

'Are you losing weight?'

'No. I wish I were. I'm putting on weight.'

'Then you don't have diabetes.'

I came home happy.

How wonderful to live in this era. Nowadays, you are not taking up the pharmacist's time by asking them questions. That is their job.

Wonderful. In less than half an hour, I had solved two major worries. And not wasted my doctor's time.

 Useful Websites about pharmacies helping the public 

https://www.england.nhs.uk/2025/05/millions-receive-help-from-nhs-high-street-pharmacies/

https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/pharmacies/how-pharmacies-can-help/

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Nosecco and More No Alcohol and Low Alcohol Options For Drivers and Hosts

Problems
What can you serve guests who protest,
 'No thanks. I'm driving'? Or:
'I can't, I'm pregnant.'
'I can't take alcohol because of my pills,' (Anything which makes you drowsy such as an antihistamine or a pill to stop giddness and many more) Or
'I'm giving up alcohol in January, post-Christmas to lose weight.'
'I'm not allowed to drink 12 hours before flying. So, nothing on New Year's Eve. In any case, I'm a Mormon - so I don't touch alcohol.' (Pilot at our hotel in Florida.)

Solutions
Nosecco is to my mind the funniest and most memorable name. I am very fond of Prosecco. Prosecco is from Italy, around the area of that name. Nosecco comes from France. An amusing play on words, a pun on no, and secco Italian for dry, and Prosecco the Italian sparkling wine.

Driving is not the only problem. I don't like to drink when travelling home long distances on trains. But I never drink before performing on stage either.

Here are some drinks alphabetically:
Beck's Blue
Kaliber
Nosecco
Seedlip

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-6407753/The-party-seasons-corkingly-good-low-alcohol-drinks-quaffable-real-deal.htm

Lime Juice at New Madras, Indian Restaurant, Woodlands, Singapore

Alternatives:
Apple juice
Calamansi juice (fruit between a lime and a lemon, popular in Singapore, sold in cans in hawker centres in Singapore)
Capuccino sold in cans in supermarkets, UK and elsewhere
Club Soda and lime
Coconut juice (in cans in cabinets in supermarkets and hawker centres (food halls) in Singapore

Coffee, decaffeinated coffee,
Cold iced tea (lemon tea - popular in the USA especially the Deep South in summer);
Freshly squeezed orange juice, with the juicy bits
Freshly Squeezed lemon
Green Tea (Popular in Asia, especially Japan and Singapore)
Home made cranberry juice (boiled cranberries in boiled water? - my friend Julie carries it everywhere and claims it cured her stomach problems)
'Honest' brand mixed juices in supermarkets, UK and elsewhere
Lemon Tea - popular in the USA and Europe
Low calorie coca-cola or similar - for a drink with colour as well as bubbles
Mango Lassi / Salted Lassi / Sweetened Lassi (Mixture of yogurt and milk, with fruit or salt or syrup), in Indian restaurants or make your own
Orange juice from a carton from the supermarket
Freshly squeezed pink grapefruit juice
Prune juice from a can of prunes












Sparkling water
Tap water (from a hotel jug or in your environmentally friendly re-usable flask from home) with slices of lemon (for example brought from home or saved from the hotel buffet)
Tonic water

Post being written- saved so I don't lose it. Come back shortly.

Losing weight and gaining weight

Problem
How can I lose weight before or during or after a holiday?

Answers
Assuming I have no major medical condition, how can we lose weight? Weight not shape. Never mind shape. Lost weight and shape will improve anyway.

Let's assume that eat less move more is bound to make us lose weight.

Story
A friend lost a lot of weight. She told me she had started dancing classes. She went out dancing 1-3 hours three times a week. Without any change in diet over a year from the first time I saw her when she was overweight to the second when she was much slimmer she had lost a to of weight.

If you do more exercise but eat and drink more, it will have no effect. So the trick is to eat the same, but move more.

What kind of holiday or holiday activity will make you lose weight?

Trekking
Riding a horse
Skiing
Cycling
Swimming
Walking carrying a weight such as a rucksack or child in a sling.

Standing talking or lecturing, including pacing up and down, walking up and down the aisles checking work, a few extra calories per hour.

Dancing for three hours will have three times the effect of dancing for one hour.

Yes, I am stating the obvious. Perhaps the answer is to keep a food diary and an exercise diary.

Here's a guide to calories burned by the quarter hour and hour.

http://calorielab.com/burned/

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share posts.

Travel and Diet - Fruit or Brownies?

Travel and diet - that's tricky. You know what you ought to eat. You et fruit at home, then pile on the pounds every time you eat out. Do you lose weight at home but put on weight when out at a buffet or travelling?
   When I'm travelling or just out at a conference or meeting, I sometimes deliberately grab the sugary chocolates and biscuits. That's because I need energy to run for a train, talk to an audience, stay awake to catch plane, or get off the train at the right stop.
   If you want to avoid the temptation of a buffet, what can you carry in your pocket or bag? A piece of chocolate or biscuit can turn up in your bag or pocket a week later with no problem. But a bag of fruit or vegetables has turned into a nasty mush.
   However, I am mulling over my choices when travelling after reading what psychologists in Dijon, France, have discovered, that smelling fruit in advance of choosing food. The University of Bourgogne's researchers showed that having smelled fruit in the waiting room, the subjects chose fruit rather than brownies for dessert. 

This is what we eat for breakfast at home. (If we need sustaining, followed by a boiled egg, if in a hurry. Plus lots of water.)