Nice to have had an appreciative comment from a reader in New Zealand, and good to know that this blog does get around a bit even if I don't these days.
I spent the morning in then mounted an expedition into Chelmsford for a few things and to take our accumulated pile of empty blister packs (for pills) for specialist recycling. This is, more or less, what I wrote on Myeloma UK Support (facebook):
Several months ago, either here or somewhere else, there was a post about disposing of the empty blister packs for pills that we all generate rather a lot of. Other family members may produce even more. The problem is that blister packs are complex composite materials that require specialist recycling. I researched a bit and found two branches of Boots - one in Chelmsford and one in nearby Danbury - that would accept empty blister packs and send them on in bulk to the appropriate place. A few days ago my wife was in the Chelmsford store and checked that they would accept empty blister packs. She was told yes, they do. We now have two large carrier bags stuffed to bursting, so this afternoon I took them along to Chelmsford. They said they couldn't take them. The man in the dispensary I was dealing with checked with his boss - same answer. I can only think there was some confusion with returning unfinished packs of pills. I wondered whether to phone Danbury but decided to drive there instead - easier to give someone the brush-off over the phone than in person, or that was my reasoning. I got there, stood in a socially distanced queue for what felt like twenty minutes but was probably only about five, and - "No, sorry,we can't take those any more, the bin's overflowing and they haven't collected..." So the carrier bags are still in the back of my car and unless I can find somewhere else to take them, they'll end up in general non-recycling waste where they will remain undecomposed for thousands of years. And in return for trying to be a conscientious green citizen doing the Right Thing for once, I took two totally unnecessary COVID risks and burned some diesel in return for nothing at all but some raised blood pressure. Am I a happy man this evening? You work it out... So, how do the rest of you deal with your empty pill packs? Is it something that bothers you at all?
That produced a lot of positive responses, many pointing out that branches of Superdrug with in-store pharmacies do take blister packs in. Unfortunately the nearest one of those is in Southend. I suppose I'll have to find a reason to arrange a day down there. Fish'n'chips on the front is always an attractive proposition... Many people also said they have small local collections in their churches and the like. Nothing of that kind around here as far as I've been able to find out.
I emailed Dr.Ch about moving Monday's consultation back to 'phone in view of Omicron risk, and he replied "I agree".. The only thing I want to talk about is his promise to forward me the full FISH (genetic) report from my bone marrow biopsy back in 2019.
My Oura ring set me a rather low activity target for yesterday, but I beat it by three times over. Can't be bad..
It had never occurred to me that the things could be recycled. I've found one chain of pharmacies has a system in place but unfortunately not in my state. I'll research further.
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