28th October, 1999
The
Noticeboard
GARDENING: CUTTINGS - NURSERY SEEDS
All cuttings need adequate light, protection from
frost and to be kept moist. If you don’t have access to a
greenhouse or cold frame, a kitchen window-sill, a window-sill or
shelf near a window in a garage or a cloche near a wall will do.
Watch humidity levels in mini-propagators such as plastic bags.
Cuttings rot if they get too wet. Enlarge ventilation holes or
make new ones where necessary. Keep the compost moist but not
sodden. Once rooted, gradually harden off cuttings before
removing the cover by opening the propagator vents or making
holes in the plastic cover.
Always take more cuttings than you need. They won’t all
survive. Keep an eye on cuttings and promptly remove any that are
wilted or diseased, you can use a tweezers if the cuttings are
crammed together. Pot cuttings as soon as they have rooted so
they won’t starve.
HARDWOOD CUTTINGS: While plant cuttings and soft and semi-ripe
shrub cuttings need protection to get established, you have a
choice with hardwood cuttings. Using a propagator leads to
quicker rooting, but you can also plant them in a cold frame or
outdoors.
Choose a sheltered reasonably sunny site where the soil is not
waterlogged. Trim cuttings to 25cm with the top of each cut at an
angle and the base cut square. Dig a trench to the depth of the
cuttings with one vertical side and line the bottom with sharp
sand. Insert the cuttings along the vertical wall of the trench
to two thirds of their length, and about 8 to 15cm apart. Replace
the soil.
If your garden is exposed, root bundles of cuttings vertically or
horizontally in sand. Keep them in a sheltered position or
indoors over winter and move them out once severe frosts are
over. In spring check for shoots or calluses (swellings) cut them
into sections so that each has roots and shoots , and plant out.
ST. PATRICK'S MILL PARKING
St. Patrick’s Woollen Mills has recently
completed the construction of 10 new commercial units amounting
to an additional 18,000 sq. ft. It is upgrading its access roads
including traffic controls, parking delineation and resurfacing.
An ongoing programme of refurbishing and upgrading the existing
units is now in hand.
Increased traffic has caused severe congestion both on the estate
itself and, in particular, at the entry and exit points at the
South Douglas Road. New regulations to control the traffic flow
and eliminate illegal parking within the commercial estate will
be introduced shortly. These include the posting of strict
parking regulations in the vicinity of the entrance yard and the
introduction of wheel clamping on all vehicles that break these
regulations. It is anticipated that these procedures will be
operational sometime during the month of November this year.
DOUGLAS LIBRARY
The Douglas Library are holding their “Children’s
Book Festival, 1999” from 26th October to 30th October.
Activities and entertainment will include a puppet show by Remar
Faust, “Beasties & Broomsticks” - spoken storytime
with Nan Kennedy (for over 6’s). You can even dress up if
you like!
Also, a Creative Writing Competition on Wednesday 3rd November at
4.00pm.
Representatives of Douglas Credit Union will award the prizes to
the winners and successful entries of the competition and
runners-up will be on display.
Ongoing activities include colouring for under 8’s, and
their “add a leaf to the reading tree”.
For more information you can contact the Douglas Library.
TRAINING YOUR DOG
At the surgery we have many clients
enquiring as to how to train their dogs, so this week I’ve
decided to train a dog called “D-for”, a labrador.
D-for is 4 and half months old, the optimum age for his breed to
be trained. Smaller dogs such as Yorkies or Poodles can begin
their training earlier as smaller breeds mature quicker. Its a
good idea to begin training at an early age as you’ve heard
the saying, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks!”
With D-for I have to help him understand whose the boss, I can’t
let him bully me! There are, though, a few things that will help
him understand. When I feed him, I feed him after I have eaten, I
go into the house before him, I don’t let him jump on the
beds (or furniture - or me!) and he’s not allowed into the
kitchen. Usually a firm “NO” gets across the message.
D-for is slowly becoming more eager to obey my commands because
he always gets a treat when he does. It is very important to
reward him so he knows when he is doing something right and
becomes eager to repeat his feat.
Unfortunately, all my family won’t help train him. Yet it is
important that only one person takes control of the training and
the rest of the family sticks with your commands so as not to
confuse him. Keeping his training regular and frequent is helpful
in quick learning.
However, D-for regrettably doesn’t understand when I tell
him “SIT”, “STAY” or “ROLL-OVER”.
He just gets a quizzed look on his face, so I end up having to
show him how to “SIT”, “STAY” or “ROLL
OVER”.
Next week I will explain how to train him in these simply
commands, with a few more pointers on successful training.
FUNDRAISING EVENT
Sunday’s Well Swimming Club are holding a
Table Quiz at the Glananaar Bar, Boreenmanna Road on Wednesday
3rd of November at 8.00pm.
Please support this fundraising event.
IRISH MEDICINES BOARD MUST ANSWER QUESTIONS
The traditional herbal remedy St. John’s Wort has been
classified as a prescription only medicine in Ireland from next
January. The Irish Medicines Board has not given an explanation
for this decision to either Irish health industry organisations
or the many thousands of consumers who use this herb daily. It
has been rumoured that the decision has been taken because of
possible interactions between St. John’s Wort and certain
foods or medicines. If this is the case, what evidence does the
IMB possess, and why have they acted to leave Ireland unique
among our European partners in restricting this herb in this way?
If the IMB has evidence that St. John’s Wort is dangerous,
they must publish this to see if it stands up and they must
examine how the regulatory authorities in other countries
respond. If the IMB has indeed recently become a world authority
on the safety of herbs, and they publish compelling reasons for
their decision, it stands to reason that the FDA in America and
the MCA in the UK will review their evidence and follow suit.
Of course this will not happen as most countries have reviewed
the data on St. John’s Wort and have correctly decided that
it is a safe, effective herb which should be allowed on free
sale. If this is the case, then why has this action been taken?
Only the IMB know this, but it would not be unreasonable to think
they have capitulated to demands of pharmaceutical companies who
want to control the growing market for natural products. This has
serious implications for our right to use natural remedies for
health promotion and disease prevention.
If you care about the future of natural remedies and your right
to use safe alternatives to drugs to promote better health for
yourself and your family, you need to act now. Visit your nearest
health store and sign the petition to maintain freedom of choice
and also contact your Government TD’s to make
representations to Brian Cowen to have this decision reversed.
In a similar battle in the UK last year on vitamin B6, people
power won the day and the decision was reversed. We must make
sure the same result is achieved in Ireland and the IMB sticks to
the task it was set up for, regulating medicines.
John Philpott, Frankfield.
BEREAVED PARENTS SUPPORT
Helen and Tony Healy travelled to Omagh to attend
the Omagh Bombing First Anniversary Ceremony on the 15th August.
They did this to join with those that lost and suffered in that
awful atrocity and to offer support, particularly to the
Gallagher family, whose son Adrian perished on that awful day.
Helen and Tony have built up a strong relationship with the
Gallagher family since the bomb blast, and the Gallaghers came to
Cork last November to attend the Bereaved Parents Support Group
annual Commemorative Gathering.
As estimated 40,000 people attended the main ceremony. The
population of Omagh is 17,000 approx. Some of those injured and
family and friends of some of the deceased could not face the
event. Many also have not been to the scene of the blast such is
their depth of grief.
One comment made by the father of one of the young men that was
murdered was that if his son, who loved cars, had only been
killed in a car accident, how “easier” it would be to
cope with the loss. He said this whilst we visited the grave with
him, and it in someway gave us an insight in to the near
insurmountable grief being suffered as we lost our son in a car
accident, which left us devastated.
The Bereaved Parents Support Group in Douglas, offer a free
course to those interested in developing skills to help others to
cope with bereavement. There are a limited number of places
available. For further details please contact (021) 364695.
DEFEAT SMOKING
There have been a number of people who have
actually gone to the trouble of phoning to say that smoking does
relieve stress. In fact these people were quite obviously upset
that I stated that smoking actually causes stress. As stated in
previous articles, people come up with all different reasons in
order to persuade themselves that they need to smoke, “Smokers
Excusitis”. With
logical and scientific argument the nonsense or illusion that
smoking relieves stress is proven to be false. If a person
believes that they are smoking simply to relieve stress and then
at a later stage they realise that smoking does anything but
relieve stress, that in fact smoking causes stress and then they
continue to smoke, then what are they left with? Nothing!
They are then smoking, knowing that the very thing that they
thought was relieving the symptom is actually causing it. Lets
look at the analogy I used last week. You’re locked in a
garage and the engine of a car is running. How stressed would
your body be? Think of the choking. The reason I used the engine
of a car running is that cigarettes contain a toxic gas that also
comes out of the exhausts of cars lorries etc. Carbon monoxide is
a death gas if taken in large dosage. With all due respect to
smokers, how on Gods’ earth could the act of inhaling this
toxic smoke relieve stress? It has to have the opposite effect.
It has to cause the body to go into a state of stress. Even
smokers in a smoky bar will be the first to complain that the
place is too smoky and that it’s killing them. The reason I
said to imagine the choking in the garage is because smokers tend
to be choking a lot of the time, even though they are slow to
admit it. Does the choking relieve stress? Stress is a specific
psychological reaction to threat or danger that we have inherited
from our early ancestors. The liver is stimulated into providing
energy in the form of sugars and the heart begins to work harder
to get this energy to vital organs and muscles. It is a life
saving mechanism that produces the fight or flight syndrome. Is
smoking a life saving mechanism? People have also reported that
since reading my articles on smoking that when they do smoke that
the cigarette tastes disgusting. The simple reason for this is
that cigarettes really do taste disgusting. That’s just one
of the reasons why my Defeat Smoking Method is so successful and
why people report that they’re surprised that it’s so
easy to quit. Defeat Smoking Now.
BAD NEWS FOR "ANSBACHER" BRIGADE
EU Governments are setting up a task force to clamp down on cross-border tax dodgers. The group will be asked to report by the end of May next year on whether current cooperation between national tax administrators is sufficient and, if not, put forwards suggestions for improvements.
Y2K AND MOBILE PHONE
Most mobile phone companies have been reviewing their products
and manufacturing systems to identify and solve Year 2000
problems. Their assessments have revealed that most mobile phones
and battery chargers for mobile phones either a) do not contain
internal date storage, processing or display capabilities and are
not affected by the Year 2000 date change, or b) Do not contain
the above, but are Year 2000 compliant.
Remember, the mobile phone is carried by a telecommunications
network. Although the phone itself may be compliant, the network
may not be updated. The current two mobile networks in Ireland
are continually being reviewed and tested for Year 2000
compliance. Mobile phone users may have problems while using
their phone in a foreign country where the local systems are not
complaint.
