Temperatures rising

The negotiations in the nurses' wage dispute have unanimously agreed on a proposal for a settlement on a four-year contract plan but no details of it will be made public until and if, it has been accepted by both sides.

There is still time until midnight today to avoid the almost 13.000 nurses quitting their jobs in protest with a couple of more thousands to follow suite.

The pharmacists and dispensers union wages negotiations has failed and their strike has begun and the union is threatening to further expand the strike later this week if no agreement is reached.

Most of the pharmacies are remaining open despite the strike as it affects mainly smaller pharmacies to begin with. In the meanwhile people are warned about longer waiting times than usual when collecting their prescriptions from the pharmacies.

And the Finnish prime minister has sought for medical care again due to lower back problems; maybe his kidney stones are troubling him again so he was admitted to hospital as he was last week.

Weather is bleak and gloomy, moist as the temperature has risen to above zero and the snow has begun to melt. All the joy of winter sports of last weekend is melting away, at least here in the southern parts of the country. Better get my wellies and woollen socks out to avoid spoiling my new winter boots when going shopping later this afternoon. So it seems that the temperatures are rising in more than one way here in Finland. Will just have to wait and see when the new doctor’s appointement arrives.