Yeah chilling it down a degree or 5 is key, if you want minimal paracetamol/apap.^
Just went into north london for the holidays & managed to find a bottle of Gees lintcus when buying collis browne syrup; i asked for collis brownes, then saw the gees next to it on the shelf, so i asked quickly for gees instead. The pharmacist then felt the need to ask her superior if this was okay; he asked me what it was for to which i replied it was for a dry cough. He then asked why i wanted the collis brownes in the first place as it isn't for a cough. I politely showed him the box where it clearly says 'for relief of stomach upset & coughs' he still said no it's not for coughs!
"The Gees is cheaper" i said smiling at him "I'll take this one instead please". He could tell i knew the medicine at this point & allowed the sale, however i dont fancy my chances of getting another bottle out of that place in the near future. Suppose it's lucky i was using it properly & not for recreation. If i went in there itching for codeine i doubt they'd admit they had it in the store!
Gotta love pharmacy assistants who go above and beyond the job description. I managed to get some promethazine from Boots today. I knew they had it but have been turned down for it at the same store before due to vigilante pharmacy assistants (seriously, it's an antihistamine/mild sedative... not a bloody narcotic).
Today's assistant however was just confused as hell. She was in her late 50's I would guess, with extremely thin hair dyed bright red. Interesting choice. I had my story set out as I was determined to sound legit. Got to the counter and asked the assistant for Phenergan (trade name over here), she picked up a pack of Veganin from the shelf and was about to scan it, I said 'nono, PHENERGAN. it's an antihistamine...' She thought for a LONG moment looking confused, asked me what I wanted it for, I said 'my grandparents had brought their dog with them when visiting for the holidays, and I'm allergic to dogs.' To which she replied "Oh I'm sorry I can't give it to you then, it's not for dogs, you'd have to see a vet about that. You shouldn't give any medicines to a dog without talking to a vet." Looking at me like I'm the sort of person who gives random medicines to dogs. No idea how she got that from what I said, or what she thought I'd be giving antihistamines to a dog for, but I repeated that it was for me and she then looked confused for some reason and paused to think for a moment (which seems like a lifetime when you have a queue of people waiting behind you)... "Have you had them before?" / 'Yes, a while ago, they're the only thing that really works for my dog hair allergy.' / "They come in different strengths... I think..., what strength was it you had?" / 'Sorry I can't remember, like I say it was a while ago..' / "Oh well I'm afraid I can't give them to you then if you don't know what strength you need." Now I'm starting to get pissed off with pharmacy assistants bullshitting me to not give me things which I have a legitimate need for (well, as far as they know), so I decided to be bold and ask her why she can't ask the pharmacist what the recommended dose for allergies is. She stutters for a moment and then goes into the back for a couple minutes, when she returns she throws a pack of Phenergan down on the counter and says "£2.79" with attitude. I pay with a lot of copper to annoy her further.
So Boots DO stock it and it's NOT prescription only as they tend to tell people they don't want to sell it to. I'm not quite sure yet whether or not it actually makes a difference to codeine, tonight's attempt has been average so far. I'll give it another try on saturday on the coach to France (Snowboarding time) :D
p.s. Is it just me or is BL mega slow today?