… so I'm off to the garage to build my new bike!

Seriously, though, she has. She's been complaining since Friday that she feels like she's got a cold, then suddenly last night felt awful. Raging temperature, bad cough, feeling absolutely rubbish. The Swine Flu helpline people gave me the reference and I've been out for the Tamiflu this morning. She's spent most of the day in bed and asleep, has managed to eat something at last and is now telling me to leave her alone for an hour or two – so at her suggestion I'm going to the garage to build my new Ragley Blue Pig (see, it *is* in the right forum, it *is* bike related!). Will use the motorola radios that we bought for bking so she can call me if she needs anything. Pics (of bike build) to follow!

Isn't it great when your wife understands you?

Mrs BoardinBob has it too. She's pretty bad at the moment. I have the start of a sore throat so it may be sooner rather than later.

nbt, speedy get-well-vibes. All the best and hope shes up and about soon 🙂

On the Ragley, seriously. Please ensure your garden is trimmed and fettled properly before you attempt the obligatory-shot 😉

Oh no! Get well soon mrsnbt.

why did she get Tamiflu, out of interest? Is she one of the at risk sorts? How was the flu direct process?

Loads of people at work have swine flu! I have been told if you have more than 2 of the symptoms then they will issue you with the Tamiflu, but that also it can make a lot of people feel really really bad and worse than just suffering the flu!!

Healing vibes from here too.

So it is real!

I just thought it was a way of taking peoples minds off the banking crisis and PM's expenses. 🙄

Friend of a friend had swine flu – he wasn't suffering all that much until he took got a reaction to the Tamiflu and ended up in hospital. Ooops.

How's the build going NBT?

thanks for the healing vibes everyone, Mrs NBT is up and about at the moment so that's good, I expect it won't last long though! Better get some food down here while she's moving

thepurist – Member

Friend of a friend had swine flu – he wasn't suffering all that much until he took got a reaction to the Tamiflu and ended up in hospital. Ooops.

How's the build going NBT?

Hmm, Mrs NBT did say that she felt worse after taking the Tamiflu.

Build is going well. Have a running chassis now, popped in to check Mrs NBT / mails / fora and make a cuppa. Back out to fettle gears and brakes soon

theotherjonv – Member

why did she get Tamiflu, out of interest? Is she one of the at risk sorts? How was the flu direct process?

In order: dunno: yes but they didn't ask: really easy if rather long winded. They asked a load of questions, including specific questions about renal failure but not about any other at-risk groups, but we reached a point where he said "ok I'm going to authorise tamiflu" and away we went

hora – Member

On the Ragley, seriously. Please ensure your garden is trimmed and fettled properly before you attempt the obligatory-shot

I've actually been out in the garden buiding it, it's a lovely day out there. Shame i'll miss the outdoor volleyball in the park tonight, I bet the rest of August is wet! Anyway I've had the camera set up on a tripod and have been documenting the build as I go along. I think the background is our little veggie plot – Green beans, spinach, lettuce, raspberries and potatoes. Yum.

Don't go spreading any of her germs about on here will you? I hope you've washed your hands before touching your keyboard??

mrsflash – Member

Don't go spreading any of her germs about on here will you? I hope you've washed your hands before touching your keyboard??

Are you kidding? After working in the garage, I am escorted through the house with doors opened for me until I reach the en-suite where the taps are turned on and soap dispensed into my hands. Only once declared clean am I allowed to touch anything that does not live in the garage. 😉

Sorry to hear that. Hope Jane gets well soon, please pass on my best wishes.

See you soon.

Photos! Of the bike, not MrsNBT.

NBT – She may as well stop taking the tamiflu to be honest, if you are not taking it within the first 48 hours of developing symptoms then you have missed the boat for reducing your symptom severity/duration. If the side effects are making her worse then she may as well not bother.

We have stopped issuing it for people who have been symptomatic for >48hrs, as per the most recent DoH guidelines (but then you can't expect the swineflu hotline to be up to date – being staffed by and old punter off the street!!!)

oh gosh… hope the mrs is better soon…..

healing vibes

"mrsflash – Member

Don't go spreading any of her germs about on here will you? I hope you've washed your hands before touching your keyboard?? "

Its usually AFTER touching the keyboard he has to wash his hands…. and the monitor, and the wall, and the curtains… and the ceiling

blimey, i';d rather not risk the tamiflu side effects and have the virus for one day longer myself, now don't get me started on the untested vaccine they expect us to take

looking fiorward to the bike pic 🙂

i rang the swine flu helpline, but all i got was crackling…

IGMC.

hope yer old dear's alright, and your build goes well 🙂

well I wasn't going to upload a pic, but since you insist…

Before I go for a (deserved) beer though, points to remember

[list]
[*]the long grass in the background is deliberate to encourage wildlife. There's a bees nest in there[/*]
[*]I need longer brake hoses, both seem to be a little short[/*]
[*]Frame and forks are new – everything else came off the dead 'bred[/*]
[*]If you're building a bike and documenting the process yourself, don't rely on the preview screen of the camera, it really isn't detailed enough to tell you how very slightly out of focus the frame is :([/*]
[*]note, when you go out testing a bike you just built, always take a multitool. then when you do crash – cos you will – you can reset the handlebars and tighten the stem you forgot to tighten properly beforehand[/*]
[/list]

Yes, I went out for a quick spin. On the very first corner off road, I crashed and since I hadn't tightened the stem, the bars ended up parallel to the frame. Even so (once I'd reset the bars) I enjoyed the 10 minute spin and am looking forward to being able to get out for a bit longer sometime soon

cheers for the advice about Tamiflu, will pass it on to Mrs NBT

J – That takes the biscuit as the classic 'look what I've just built' thread on here!

Say hi to Mrs Nbt and hope she's feeling tip-top very soon.

Lovely consistency. I was told that Tamiflu is only handed out if you've had it more than 7 days (5 days for kids). Sounds suspiciously like "they" are learning as they go along how to use this drug with this flu.

On the very first corner off road, I crashed and since I hadn't tightened the stem, the bars ended up parallel to the frame.

I did that on my Orange5. I ended up running over the handle bars (tried turning and the bars just spun 90 degrees in my hands). 😆

mrs.nbt here. Thanks all for the healing vibes.

It did make me laugh when nbt came into our bedroom after his first ride on the Ragley to announce he had fallen off, I knew he was o.k though. Of course the first question I asked was " is the bike scratched" ?

Also regarding the tamiflu, I agree with you dr_death.
I was also concerned that when nbt phoned the flu helpline they told him to take me to see a doctor, implying go into the surgery, which of course is s really stupid idea.

Are you feeling better mrsnbt?

Glad you're well enough to post…. Must be getting better. At least it wasn't man flu. You should have gone into the GPs – everyone else is, you'd be surprised how many people are coming to see us in A&E. We have started asking them if they have managed to catch a newspaper/the news/the entire internet/the TV at all in the last ooooooo 3 months!!

Kelvin – dunno where they were getting that advice from as that's bollocks. Tamiflu was originally not OKed in this country by NICE (National Institute of Clinical Excellence or the rationing board as they are sometimes known) as you have to take it so bloody early in the course of your illness and it only reduces symptom severity a smidge and duration by a day or so that it was thought to be about as cost effective as your average NHS manager.

We are beginning to get the feeling that some eejit politician/civil servant in the DoH was wowed by a presentation from Rosche (makers of Tamiflu) (or took a back hander) and agreed to buy 50 million doses at the tax-payers expense. They are now trying to think of something to do with this enormous stockpile and have decided to just give it a way to all and sundry…. Me cynical – never!!

You should have gone into the GPs – everyone else is, you'd be surprised how many people are coming to see us in A&E. We have started asking them if they have managed to catch a newspaper/the news/the entire internet/the TV at all in the last ooooooo 3 months!!

I'd suggest that's more to do with people worrying that they'll not have a job to go back to when they recover if they don't have some "official" certification rather than general daftness, if you don't mind my saying.

No chance Dr_death it's a battle trying to explain to people why they don't need to go to hospital face to face never mind from reading a paper.

Dolittle you don't get a sick not from an A+E.

You get a sick note if you need one, but given that you can self certify for seven days and anyone needing more than seven days off with a bloody cold needs to MTFU!

ANyw, slightly back on topic, Mrs NBT is still poorly but tons better than on Sunday. SHe's currently catching up on on 74 zillion episodes of Friends that she's got on series record.

In other news, the bikes is built and working, I've spent the evening in the garage replacing brake hose – both hoses on there were slightly too short, which is annoying as I'd only bled the brakes on Friday

Anyway the front is done as I had a spare hose from my old z150s, but I need to do the back hose – anyone got 130cm of 6mm hose for hope minis? My LBS doesn't have any 6mm hose left, only 5mm or braided. If not I'll have to use 5mm hose and get new fittings. I also need new shifters as the deore shifters on there are falling to bits. Bought a 75mm oversize stem and matching bars, only to find on getting home that the bars are not oversize, so back to the LBS in the morning – luckily it's only across the road. I'll get it out for a proper ride at some point 👿

Good to hear she's mending, proper Flu is crap to have would hate to get it again.

proper Flu is crap to have would hate to get it again

I got proper flu 3.5 years ago. Not something I'd like to repeat; spent a week knackered.

You should get binners to get his crayons out and redesign you a logo saying 'Swine'Pig instead of bluepig 🙄

We are beginning to get the feeling that some eejit politician/civil servant in the DoH was wowed by a presentation from Rosche (makers of Tamiflu) (or took a back hander) and agreed to buy 50 million doses at the tax-payers expense. They are now trying to think of something to do with this enormous stockpile and have decided to just give it a way to all and sundry….

Alternatively… they know it's of little or no benefit but have to be seen to be doing something in the face of this 'crisis'.

The swine flu line seem to be giving it out to all and sundry.

BTW as a GP, I feel that it's a combination of having a stockpile of drugs that's going out of date, and wanting to be seen to be dealing with a crisis effectively when coming up for an election that is driving this 'crisis'.

I shan't be taking Tamiflu if I get symptoms of swine flu. I'd probably take it if I was pregnant or in a high risk group as documented on the HPA site and it was in the first 48 hours of symptoms.

Mrs NBT is high risk, but a) didn't get Tamiflu in thw first 48 hours, and b) found that taking Tamiflu made her feel worse.

She had proper flu some years ago and was bedridden for a week, this is only a mild flu in comparison she says, she's able to get out of bed already

Bump. New bars and stem fitted, brake hose replaced and brakes bled (again!), out for another ten minute sping to check it out and shake it down. Multitool coming with me this time 🙂

Second bump. Out for rather longer than ten minutes as I wanted to try some different things. You'll all be pleased to know that this time I successfully negotiated the corner that I crashed on first time out, so I'm putting the crash down to the loose stem and not my ineptitude 🙂

The bike does like to go downhill, more so than I do – a couple of time I found myself going a little faster than I would have liked and faster than I would have on the inbred. With such a slack head angle and long forks, the steering is definitely more relaxed than I'm used to and a couple of times I had the foot out of the pedals and dabbing on the ground before the steering bit and took me round.

Made sure I did a climb too, nothing hugely technical, but the bike coped with it fine. the 75mm stem that's gone on to replace the 90mm stem seems ok length wise – on the first ride I found I was trying to push myself back in the saddle, as though the bike was too short, but I didn't notice any of that this time – maybe I'm getting used to it?

Out for a longer ride tomorrow, will post the feedback (and any pics I can persuade friends to take) on a new thread.

Third bump. Mrs NBT would like to ask the doctors on this thread if catching the flu now will provide increased immunity to flu for the autumn and winter?

Third bump. Mrs NBT would like to ask the doctors on this thread if catching the flu now will provide increased immunity to flu for the autumn and winter?

I'm not a doctor, but don't think having had swine flu will give immunity to anything other than swine flu.

It will stop her getting swine flu again (which is probly a good thing coz it's pretty mild at the moment – if it mutates this autumn/winter and gets a bit more serious then we are in for a whole world of pain).