Amazon recommendations

Sometimes they're very good: for example, I got Amartya Sen's Development as Freedom recommended to me. Which is just the sort of thing I'd read.

Sometimes they need to be more diverse: just because I viewed several Depeche Mode albums recently, you don't need to recommend 6 more.

Sometimes they need to be a bit cleverer: if I've said I own all of the His Dark Materials trilogy, don't use The Golden Compass to recommend The Amber Spyglass in another edition!

Sometimes I'm ahead of them: I already own The Best of New Order, thank you!

ooh, exciting!

Yesterday I went to the chemist's to drop off my prescriptions. When I came back to pick them up, the pharmacist took the slips off the bag and looked at the back. She said, "you pay for these?" I assumed she was surprised because I was getting a prescription for metformin filled, and said "oh, I'm not diabetic" (diabetics are charge-exempt). She said, "ah." Then she looked again. "But you've got thyroxine." Me: "Yes." Her: "Well, you don't need to pay the charges then, you're exempt." News to me--but good news!

Upshot was that I had to pay my £19.50 this time, but I can get an exemption certificate from my GP, and she gave me a form to fill in so I can get a refund.

I have 3 prescriptions, and they run 2 months at a time, so this will save me nearly £120 a year. Not bad.

(For the non-Brits: There is a standard charge of £6.50 per prescription under the NHS. Certain people--children, the elderly, people on benefits, pregnant women, and people with certain medical conditions--are charge exempt. I knew diabetics were one of them, but I didn't know about hypothyroidism. :) )