First of all let me introduce myself and the easiest way I could think of was to include a short profile which you will find here and the following video (June 2011):
Latest Diary Entries
With all my talk yesterday about a moment of Spring I heard on the news this morning that we will very shortly be going into a month of deep freeze, so that will teach me not ‘to count my chickens‘ (for my overseas readers, who may be unfamiliar with this term, in its entirety it is ‘ Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched). Presumably, this means that until the eggs have hatched you cannot be sure of how many chickens you are actually going to get. -some may not survive). Anyway, a month of deep freeze will be very appropriate. In my case, as I am currently ploughing my way through that magnificent BBC programme, The Frozen Planet. -kindly lent to me by one of my carers, Sarah, who is very moment is on her own part of the frozen planet, hopefully skiing like a champion I thoroughly recommend this documentary to anyone who has not seen it- superb photography capturing an entire living world in the frozen Arctic and Antarctic..
Dragon have at last made a positive suggestion, basically to open up a new user profile under a slightly different accuracy level. I tried to follow the directions but my computer simply would not allow me to do what they requested.
In any event, as I said to them, the actual dictation side is significantly improved is significantly improved now that Paul has stripped down the computer and reloaded the programmes, There are still one or two wrinkles that need sorting out, in particular, commands and corrections, but it is 100% better than it has been over the past few months, although it would be great if I could get it completely right. This is going to be particularly important if and when I lose the use of my one splinted finger as a result of weekend arms.
Paul’ the computer’ came round after lunch today to babysit and at the same time went through the past years blog text tidying it up before tackling the same task for the media. He does it so much faster than I could by voice plus one finger so as he is here and he seems to enjoy working on the computer. I’m only too happy, and indeed grateful, to let him do it . He is very knowledgeable and an excellent teacher and I usually manage to pick up a trick or two most times he comes here.
Click here for a rather amusing homily on’ why I do not drink water’. (I hope I have not used lhis before)
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A couple of days ago, Althea – who had been caravanning in France with her husband-returned and cut my toe and fingernails. (To be strictly correct they haven’t got a caravan but a motorvan, so I suppose I just say had been mottorvaning, if there is such a word). Not my favourite element of personal maintenance and that’s probably why I skipped a day on writing my blog. However, as it is meant to be a complete daily record of my life, however mundane it must be mentioned.
For all of those of you who suffer from cold feet, as I do you, may recall that my dear son bought me a sheepskin lined, electric foot warmer for Christmas. Sadly, it turned out to be a little disappointing as it only heated my toes and that without the lining. Smiler very kindly contacted the people and after some discussion, they decided that there was only one element at the front, the reason being that these foot warmers are frequently used by diabetics and the manufacturers were fearful of overheating or even burning the diabetics feet so they restricted the whole thing to a gentle warmth. Sadly, in my case not are not sufficiently effectively to unfreeze my feet. In any event I have no-oneto blame but myself as I chose this from the Internet.
Fortuitously ‘my lovely’ came back today from her shopping expedition with a couple of pairs of colourful knitted, fleecy lined Norwegian slippers. I immediately donned about her and they certainly seem to do the trick.
I had a moment this afternoon when I could believed that spring was not far away. It was a beautiful sunny day here, with a deep blue sky. No doubt chilly outside but cosily warm in my study enhanced by the direct rays of the sun.
Having completed my morning’s work. I switched over to watch the test match between England and Pakistan, which was being held in Abu Dhabi. Just for a few minutes the sun beat through my study window onto the back of my neck and I could actually feel it’s warmth. Couple that with watching cricket, albeit from halfway round the world. .you can see why I had a momentary glimpse of pleasurable anticipation of the spring and summer to come.
For those of you who enjoyed the video of Rick Mercer tagging bears in British Columbia (attached to my blog. two days ago) you might like to click on the link below and see some more fascinating clips of this man, which came from one of our regular readers, Christine, who lives in that part of the world. Thank you Christine.
http://www.dmarkcato.com/2012/01/25/24-january-2012/#comments
On the other side of the fence you get the macho Canadian who sends me this sort of message.
Just talked to a guy on the ham radio living in northern Minnesota near the Canadian border… He said that since early this morning the snow is nearly waist high and is still falling… The temperature is dropping and is at about 15 deg F and the north wind is increasing to near gale force… His wife has done nothing but look through the kitchen window and just stare.
He says that if it gets much worse, he may have to let her in!
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The other major item occupying much media space is the question of independence for Scotland.. The Scottish Nationalists are seeking a referendum on the topic but want to wait as long as possible in order to persuade the populace to vote for it, whereas the Tories are keen to get on and hold it sooner rather than later and seem fairly confident that they will get a resounding no vote as they did before. The SNP are being quite canny and are floating the idea about as to whether or not they should lower the voting age to 16. The usual arguments are made about 16-year-olds being able to marry and have children and so on, and therefore they should be entitled to vote. I don’t think there’s much doubt that if they did lower the voting age. most of the youngsters would probably vote for independence without giving them much thought to the ramifications but free University in Scotland against up to £9000 a year in England, could sway a great number of youngsters in favour, who would be affected by the significance of a substantial post-university debt.
Personally, I think it will be a backward step. ‘United we stand’. I think it will be a backward step and there would be many complications, not the least of which, after much wrangling as to the wording of the referendum itself, would be who would owned the North Sea oil and gas. Leaving that out of the equation I’m not certain that Scotland could stand on its feet financially, certainly not in defence terms.. The union has worked perfectly well since James IV of Scotland- an avid Protestant -became James I of England, 1603.’, following the death of Queen Elizabeth I. Fpart from being the first king of Great Britain, ‘he is best remembered for the James IV Bible which is still used throughout the kingdom today. I am for the status quo
Of course, scarcely a day goes by when the economy does not raise its ugly head. Today, it was disclosed that in the last quarter of 2011 our GDP was a negative .0.2%. I cannot remember how long ago it was that we went into negative growth (if that doesn’t sound like a contradiction in terms) but this must be viewed, in the light of the Chancellor of the Exchequer forecast of 2.6% growth last year and a 2.8% growth for this current year, neither of, which, of course, will be achieved.
Now the ‘Bears’(a stock exchange expression for those who believe things will get worse) are mumbling about a ‘double dip’ recession. In other words, the stock market having hit a bottom once and bounced back, will sink once more to a similar bottom before bouncing back yet again. 2009 was supposed to be the worst year of this current recession which the pessimists believe might be repeated.
On the personal front, things seem to be going ahead very smoothly for my dear mother-in-law’s Memorial Service, in Wales -a service to celebrate her long life and the many fields in which she was involved and played a part.. I am extremely sorry that I shall not be able to be there myself in the flesh but I shall certainly be with them in the spirit. The big problem not being so much the travelling there and back-which we could do with Ollie-but the overnight stop in houses with steps which were not designed for the disabled, plus the lack of hoisting equipment which we now rely upon very heavily
The Dragon people have actually come back, for the first time in six months, with a positive suggestion to try to resolve my problem. I shall follow this through today and see how I get on.
Click here for a typical example of the unromantic husband.
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The eye, from which the cataract was removed, seems fine. The first 24 hours being the most critical, i so far as haemorrhaging or infection is concerned. I had to split up the various eye drops into two separate dishes for the girls as there are three different capsules one-for-one eye and two for the other and they could get easily muddled. Can I see any better now. I’ve had both of them done? I can’t say that they are noticeably better as I have a constant drip from my left eye, which tends to blur the vision. The surgeon said he would have a look at that. wekn I go back, for my check-u in four weeks time
The big political battle raging at the moment is the government’s proposal to cap the total amount of benefits received by any household to £26,000 per year ,which they calculate to be the amount, after tax, of a working family. There are apparently 67,000 people who currently claim more than that and the government feels it is quite immoral that you should receive more in benefits than a good, honest working family. However, a few of the do-gooders, particularly the bishops, in the House of Lords disagree, and the proposal was rejected by the Lords by a small majority.
There is a moral issue here. Whilst any person should be allowed to decide whether they wish to work or not they should not be put in a position where they can only do so if they are supported by the state, i.e. at the expense of the taxpayer. The most right wing of the Tory papers considers that something in the region of 75% of those claiming benefit, of one sort or the another, is capable of work. . Is it is the old chestnut that has been going around for years as our benefit bill has risen. How can you ‘punish’ an adult for taking advantage and cheating the system, without making the children suffer. It is a dilemma. One is between a rock and a hard place and I really do not know the answer, however, the best political brains are struggling to come up with a fair solution..
Certainly those people claiming disability allowance with all the benefits that can attach to it, housing benefit; community tax; tax credits; blue badge parking diskk etc s who hould have no objection to being re-assessed. Of course, there have been the extreme cases where the government’s spies have produced video, photographs of some of these disabled claimants skydiving or heaving great pieces of building equipment around when they claim to be so stricken with back pain of arthritis that they can scarcely move. It amazes me that even having claimed thousands of pounds worth of benefit the worst that it seems there can happen to most of these people is a suspended prison sentence and, an order to pay back the money but, no doubt, at such a small amount per week that it is no great hardship.
It is the old chestnut of the government stemming the flood of money going out on benefits and bringing it back to a manageable level. This is particularly as the UK national debt yesterday passed the historic figure of £1 trillion, which I believe is 1000′ 000′ 000 000 ( depending upon whether it’s an English or American trillion ? Either way, it’s a lot of money) Even at this figure apparently we are less per head of population than a number of European countries, our indebtedness being equivalent to around £16,000 per head of population.
The financial world still seems to be expecting some sort of Euro collapse like the proverbial bus ithat never comes. Or perhaps when it does, there , like the buses, will be three at the same time, financial collapses that is!
How’s this for a job, if you’re unemployed. Click here to see the counting and tagging of brown bears during the depths of winter in Canada. That one I think a number of people would be justified in turning down!
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Last night was uneventful. I used my normal ‘nose only’ respirator without any repetition of the alarm on the night before. So hopefully that was just a one-off. I should know better when the good doctor arrives in a fortnight’s time and we continue our habit of cracking a bottle of champagne each evening. I must say it would be rather sad if alcohol does prove to be the reason for my blocked nose as I really enjoy the occasional glass. Readers of the Comments , at the end of the daily entries, over the past few days will notice that one MND patient who was being fed through her stomach had a glass or two of wine in the evenings, I think, just to be sociable, as I cannot think that there was no great pleasure attached to having it pumped in. Having said that, great credit to her. What a wonderful person do that just to make her guests feel comfortable.
Today I went off to Addenbrookes to have the cataract removed in my second. The appointment was scheduled for 12.30 and one is always asked to be ready for the ambulance 2 hours before, so just after 10.00 I found myself sitting in my wheelchair ready for the off. True to their usual form the ambulance crew arrived late in fact, at 12:45, 15 min after the operation was due to begin. (To be fair to the ambulance crew on this occasion there had been a multicar pileup on the M11, which had effected all of the traffic on the local roads).
When we eventually got there the surgeon, acknowledging that I had been delayed, was kind to see if he could fast track me but fast track in a hospital can still be pretty slow and in the event I did not go into the operating theatre until around 4.30. The odd thing is I was slightly more apprehensive about this second operation then the first, which is strange as having had the first operation only five or six weeks ago you would think that knowing it did not hurt. I would not have been worried. However, one of my concerns was breathing as I had to lie absolutely flat for 15 to 20 min and, in the event, this seemed like an eternity. The outcome. .however, was satisfactory and the surgeon was pleased with the result.
We now just have to go through a four week regime of .eye drops and antibiotics when I then go back to both eyes checked over. The surgeon was pretty horrified when he learned that I had not been called back four weeks after the last one and instructed me quite firmly not to leave the place until we had an appointment fixed four weeks hence. After hanging around in the draughty entrance at the transport desk. I eventually got home at 5 minutes to 6 .00 just-in-time for Paula,, my night carer on this occasion, to do her usual six o’clock stint. I must’ve looked a bit grumpy as Paula confided in Alice told me it that she thought I looked stressed out. As soon as the four-week inspection has taken place, which hopefully I will pass with flying colours. I can then buy myself a decent pair on reading glasses which will certainly be an improvement at the squinting. as I had been doing to read the laptop or even watch television.
Some interesting pictures for your and material to contemplate on. Click here
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We had our first disturbed night around 12 o’clock. I found that I was having great difficulty breathing under the’ nose only’ respirator. Both nostrils were semi-blocked and I was having to force the air into my lungs. After 10 or 15 min. I slightly panicked and hit the alarm button for ‘ my lovely’. She came down , without complaint despite having only just got to sleep, at my request, me hauled into a me sitting b a position ,before removing the mask. I then spent the next 10 or 15 min trying to clear my nose which I managed to do to some extent, but not to point that I was happy to go down again wearing that nose only respirator – the point being that although your mouth is not covered up. It’s not possible to breathe through it with this respirator on.so we opted to fit the old one that covered both nose and mouth.
I then settled down again and although my nose was still semi-blocked was able to breathe through my mouth until the nose cleared and I fell asleep. I must say the whole experience was a little alarming, thank goodness we had the original respirator available. We speculated what might have caused such a build-up of mucus and the only thing we could think of was that it might have been because I had a couple of glasses of white wine with my daughter, whereas over the past three or four days I have had nothing to drink at all. I shall abstain again tonight and see if that makes any difference.
Chloe was a great help during the morning, printing and bringing up-to-date the hard copy of the blog before we had lunch together and she headed back back to her little family in East Dulwich. A happy visit.
Chloe had given me a wonderful lighter for Christmas, for my cigar, as everyone had trouble lighting it for me, particularly if there was a wind The one she chose was meant to be storm proof. She filled it today with butane and we were dismayed to see that the flame was extinguished on the slightest puff of wind. Ao rub our noses in it, in the instructions it clearly stated that the lighter was not be used for lighting pipes cigars or cigarettes. When Chloe had clearly spoken to the people and ordered a storm proof lighter that would do just that. So this is another Christmas present, sadly, that has to go back and be exchanged.
Started Part Eight of the blog today and was amazed to find that it covers 750 of pages so far. When I started Part Seven in November. I wondered then whether that would have been I can’t help wondering if that would be the last, as I limit each part to roughly 100 pages. It seems not. Of course, this begs the question who on earth is going to read this biography bearing in mind that the blog diary is only part of it. The rest of my life is covered by the balance. I suppose one day somebody will dust it off and sit down and read it but I certainly don’t anticipate any of the present generation doing this.
At the end of last week I received my friend Neville Tait’s Moderator’s report on the examination. Then I marked for my Chinese students. Fortunately, Neville found nothing in my examiners report of significance and the number of passes and fails remained at 50%.
Despite the candidates putting their name on the examination paper instead of just the number, Neville was kind enough to point out, as indeed I did in my own Examiner’s Report, that although this be an automatic failure in this country, as the Instructions to Candidates quite clearly says that no distinguishing Mark must be included on the examination paper other than the candidates number, as neither of us had met any of the candidates we could on this occasion overlook it.
Apropos of nothing in particular, who says crime does not pay? Click here and be convinced otherwise.
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Gong Xi Fa Cai!
My best wishes to all of my Chinese readers for a happy, healthy and successful New Year
I hope the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre will forgive me reproducing their card to me but I am rather handicapped in finding an original one of my own.
The captain of the tragic cruise ship Costa Concordia would have us believe that the reason he abandon ship before all the passengers had been evacuated was because he ‘ slipped and fell into a lifeboat’. A McEnroe’s immortal words “you cannot be serious”. His excuse is about as convincing as the schoolboy who claimed that’ the dog had eaten his homework’.
With all this brouhaha group circulating about the way the captain behaved I cannot resist reproducing what Churchill have to say about the Italians.
After his retirement he was cruising the Mediterranean on an Italian cruise liner and some Italian journalists asked why an ex British Prime Minister should chose an Italian ship. ‘There are three things I like about being on an Italian cruise ship’, said Churchill. ‘ First their cuisine is unsurpassed. Second their service is superb. And then, in time of emergency, there is none of this nonsense about women and children first.’
My dear daughter Chloe, made one of her regular weekend visits today. She brought with her a delicious spicy lamb moussaka , I like to think that she gets a little bit of rest when she is here that she has a very busy life those three young children As always, it was lovely to see her and, in addition, she was able to help me a print the latest hardcopy of the blog.
I can’t remember whether I mentioned that my mother’s husband, Richard (the young 93-year-old) decided he wanted to get onto Skype so he got a webcam and made his first call to me yesterday. We went through the business of alternately seeing each other but not being able to hear or to hear and not see and so on but after a bit of tinkering between us all, cheating by using the telephone in conjunction with the video picture, Paul’ the computer’ (who happened to be with me at the time) We eventually managed to get pictures and voice both ways. (The problem, which other readers may encounter is the difference in operating systems Richard has XL Professional at and I have Windows 7. They do work together but it’s a question of taking the right boxes. and indeed my mother , who will be able to see us when we have our weekly chat and they also be able to see their grandchildren from time to time. Fred, the eldest, is certainly capable of Skyping them. Whilst Chloe was with us we tried making a Skype call to my revered parents. They were tickled pink. (For my overseas visitors, this means that they were very pleased!) Despite encountering the same problems as before, so I shall have to wait until Paul comes here on Monday so we can get to Richard to do whatever he has to do at his end .
I received a number of exceedingly encouraging responses to yesterday’s blog entry. Some of them were quite touching, and it is that sort of response, as I’ve said before that makes the effort were worthwhile.
Click here for a joke about a couple of ladies who meet in Heaven stop.
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I have a confession to make. When I first started this blog a little over four years ago, my objective was to share with other MND sufferers and their carers, in effect, how I would die from MND, making the best of every day that I had left. I had no idea how long this journey would be or how I would cope with vicissitudes I would have to cope with on the way. At the time course, I did not know whether I would fall into the first group 50% who died within an average of 14 months, or the second 50% who would go within five years. Then there was that of one in a thousand who could last longer. I said jokingly that I would take that one I’m now over four years-the first symptoms of the MND showing themselves in September 2007-and I suppose I have every expectation of exceeding the five years.
The confession I refer to was that although I have attempted to maintain a blasé and cheerful outlook on this dreadful disease, and what it’s doing to me, it has not always been easy. As time has gone by and I have become more and more immobilised to the point now that I only have a little use of my arms – my hands both of which are curling up – are useless, I do tend to get rather low in the evenings. This is not surprising as the key symptom of MND is apparently extreme exhaustion. So from around 7 .00 p.m. onwards, until I go to bed. I’m usually feeling pretty low and slightly depressed and there are times when my frustration bubbles over and I want to scream and shout and I sometimes do!
My regular readers may think I lead the life of O’Reilly, I’m always going on about all the wonderful things that happen to me; the friends who call; the lunches at the Cricketers; the outings to golf and Lords ;this champagne and so on, and I fear that, in some respects, this might look like showing off. It really isn’t. It is, what it was always intended to be, merely a demonstration of someone continuing to do a number of things that he did before he was diagnosed with this disease. I was setting out to show that there is an alternative to sinking into a deep depression and curling up in the corner waiting to die.
Of course, it helps enormously if you have an angel of wife as I do. She looks after me wonderfully well, particularly in the personal little things she has to do for me which I have always dreaded for the potential lack of dignity. She even puts up with my occasional outbursts of frustration because, as she says, she can fully understand how awful it can be to someone who has always been very active. I suppose living with someone for half a century has the benefit of a deep understanding between you. Many’s the time when we comment on something and the other says they were thinking about the same thing themselves. In fact, without her. I wonder how long I would be prepared to carry on.
I say all these things because in themselves they may be a comfort to the reader who perhaps thinks that when they gets low and depressed, that they are different from me: not so. There are certainly times, fortunately not too often, when I begin to wonder whether I am nearing the end, so far, in terms of my quality of life, and then wonder how best I could put an end to it all. If I stop eating and made it clear in my living Will, that I was not to be force fed, how long would it take me to starve to death and would it be painful, or can I be sedated? Fortunately, these morbid thoughts are rare but my confession to you all is, that like you, I am human
As I say these episodes, which Churchill used to describe as’ his black dog’, are usually infrequent , in my case, mostly in the evenings. Having said that, the following morning I’m usually as perky as ever and have forgotten how low I got the night before. So I revert now to the objective of this blog, Carpe Diem.
I seriously wondered, due to the rather serious nature of today’s entry, whether I would skip the addition of a diversion but I happen to find this particular one which, I hope demonstrates and I still have a sense of humour and, I believe, is a desire to this subject matter on the entry. Click here to read about the Patient Grandfather.
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Alice had great difficulty this morning in turning off the respirator. Somehow water got into it from the humidifier. She called to the emergency helpline who produced a new one. within a couple of hours. I must say I’m very impressed with this service but then I suppose if you
literally rely upon a respirator to stay alive, they have to offer a genuine 24/7 service.
As I mentioned yesterday, my brother and sister-in-l aw came to lunch It was very kind of them as they made a special journey to London (they live near Shrewsbury) just to spend a little time with me. We kept it fairly short as Alice, politely but firmly requests that the visitors do not stay too long as I get tired and breathless. There was certainly no need to remind Anne and John of this and I must say I was very pleased to see them. John was kind enough to mention that his son Charlie is somehow associated with an arbitration and the party involved apparently was very complimentary about my book, Arbitration Practice and Procedure. He found it very easy to read and understand. This is the greatest compliment that could be paid to me as this is exactly what I set out to do.
Still no news this morning of these special eye drops needed to be administered prior to the cataract operation on Monday. If I don’t get them by this afternoon I can feel inclined to speak to the surgeon and ensure that I am not at risk by not having taken them.
Pau ‘the computer’ popped in this afternoon with some more episodes of the compulsive viewing of Lost for me. I am already on the third series and I must say this is one of the most fascinating drama series I have ever watched the television. I’m surprised that I knew nothing about it at the time when it was broadcast some three or four years ago. Dear Paul, he’s such a kind chap who has been immensely helpful to me. We discussed another way possible way round the Dragon problem which we will try tomorrow whether or not the Dragon people themselves, ultimately, come up with a solution. We will have at least tried a number of the more obvious ways of isolating the problem. Dragon’s approach to this whole thing has been an absolute disgrace but then, there seems to be little one can do about it in the face of fighting a multinational Corporation a multinational Corporation.
Reflecting on Paul’s kindness I could tell feeling how lucky I have been since I started this blog. First of all, came Richard Morris, the web designer who did an absolutely splendid job and supported me for a while whilst I learnt to put on the daily entry. Then when Richard life became rather complicated, I discovered that my next-door neighbour but one, Don Smith, was a computer geek and we spent hours together over the next few months looking at ways of putting on the media, before this job transferred him to Geneva.Then came Duncan, an ex-employee of the local Flying Doctor service ( computer engineers.) who again, like the others, proved to be extremely willing to help, softened occasionally by the odd bottle of wine or two. Then, when he fell by the wayside. I discovered that Jane ‘the sheep’s’ lodger Paul was also well into computers and over the last four or five months, particularly over these Dragon problems, he has been absolutely indispensable. I am a very lucky man.
Click here for a little joke which I’m sure my Jewish friends will not find offensive.
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On the matter of the problems with Dragon. I shall no longer comment in this blog as having decided to consider whether or not to take them to court, if I do the matter becomes ‘sub judice‘ and therefore I cannot comment on it. I will let the readers know the outcome.
We seem to be getting a flurry of visitors again. This afternoon, Julliet (Sheffield as was – Alice’s first cousin) dropped to just after lunch and spent the best part of an hour chatting to me. It was an unexpected call, so far as I was concerned but I obviously missed’ ‘my lovely’ mentioning the possibility that she might drop in. My problem with this is that I’m not very good in a one-to-one session with anyone, particularly for the best part of an hour. I find I get breathless and start almost hyperventilating. It’s alright if there are two or three people who can talk between themselves and don’t expect me to comment every other word, anyway apart from that it was nice to see Juliet..
Tomorrow Anne and John Garton Jones (brother and sister-in-law) come for a soup and sandwich lunch,
The latest in the farce of the Italian cruise ship, which capsized on the Italian coast, a couple of days ago, and from which allegedly the captain, deserted ship. was today’s revelation from the captain was that he now suggests that he slipped and fell into the lifeboat. Presumably, by accident!
Whether or not this was before or after the local pilot was screaming down the phone to get back on board and take charge. I know not, but I think that poor old captain is digging himself into a deep hole.
On the economic front, the news is not good. Unemployment has now reached almost 3,M -the highest for 17 years. Although, as one commentator said, this has to be looked at in relation to the working population. This current figure is just over 7% of those on the employment register, whereas previously, 17 years ago, the number of unemployed was over 9%. Put into the equation. the half – 1 million workers here from the EU and the number, although high, is not quite so alarming. I still believe that we should try to negotiate an annual cap on the number of people who can come here from the 27 EU countries seeking work, at the expense, most particularly, of our young people, many of whom would be prepared to work for the same level of wages
I am supposed to be going to Addenbrookes, next Monday, have my the cataract on my right eye dealt with.Yesterday afternoon I reminded Alice that last time I was given some special eye drops which had to be used for seven days prior to the operation. This time we were given nothing. So we contacted the eye clinic who in turn undertook to ring my GP to prescribe these eye drops. I just wonder what would have happened had I turned up for the operation and then they discovered I had not been using the drops ,whether I would have been sent home again or they would have operated knowing I had no used them?. All a little alarming and until the GP has spoken to the eye clinic, we will not know whether I shall be going to have this operation on Monday or not. The other problem associated with it is that I have to be able to lie absolutely flat for 15 to 20 min whilst the operation is being carried out and even with the respirator. this is becoming more difficult. If I panicked halfway through the operation because I could not breathe, heaven knows what would happen. Presumably if there was any chance of this happening they would not carry out the operation. Bearing this in mind, it would obviously be sensible to have this done sooner rather than later
Today’s joke is a golden oldie, but one I had not seen for some time so click here for a chuckle.
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The tragic accident involving the cruise ship, Costa Concordia, off the coast of Italy continues to incite a lot of comment in the pree as more details of what actually happened are revealed. In a nutshell the blame is alleged to be that of the captain who apparently deviated from the authorised navigable channel to bring the ship closer to the isola de Giglio in order to give a salute to one of his friends. The captain said that these sail-by- salutes, with a three horn blast, were a regular occurrence.
He maintains that rock he struck,, which caused a great gash in the hull below the waterline, was not marked on the maps.
The most alarming revelation to-date was the recording of the pilot ordering the Captain to return to the ship to ensure that all the passengers were evacuated safely. Naval tradition, since time immemorial, is that the Captain is always the last to abandon ship. (The Captain of The Titanic went down with his ship, which was not uncommon in those days).
Todate the death toll is 6 with another 29 passengers still unaccounted for. The captain has been arrested on a variety of charges, but certainly I would not like to be in his shoes.
My friends the Orde-Powlette’s – who I mentioned a couple of days ago – have connections with an internationally renowned neurologist who is heading a team of other eminent medical personages who, according to my friends, have made some progress in the MND field. I have been given an introduction to this man and will speak to him over the telephone. Having said that, with the greatest respect to my friends, I should have thought that my own MND team would have been only too aware of such research if it had any chance of success. But, grasping at straw, I am prepared to follow up any lead and am grateful to the Orde-Powlett’s for the introduction. I will revert back to the readers when I have something to report
Cllck here for today’s diversion .I reproduce this precisely as I received it. I have absolutely no idea whether it is true or not, but, one way or the other, it is very amusing.
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After spending nearly 4 hours yesterday morning Trying to complete my blog entry with more stops and starts than I care to remember, and much of it using my splendid finger to tap out words letter by letter, I decided that my patience ihad really had come to an end and that I would put the whole matter in the hands of my lawyers. The point being that these are the only people who can resolve my problem. I have been with them since their very first version, 20 odd years ago,, and I’m not even sure that there is anything on the market today equivalent to this programme when it is working correctly. This being so, I have to sue for “specific performance” as well as “fraudulent misrepresentation” in not mentioning that the telephone call to them is at a premium rate whereas you are led to believe that the whole process is free, and a claim for “unfit for purpose” as quite clearly if they had not got anywhere after nearly 7 months the product they are selling i.e. this particular programme, is not doing the job for which it was purchased and therefore it is “unfit for purpose.
I have been extremely patient with them over these past several months but the straw that broke the camel’s back was the long e-mail I sent to them, following my last browser session with one of their technicians, came back “deleted and unread. Last time this happened. Ruben, the senior technician, assured me that this could, or should not happen. If they use these sort of tactics when every time they e-mail you they say’ unless we hear from you within 14 days we will assume your problem is resolved’ and then delete your e-mail in response,. I suppose this could always give them a let out.
In any event, the die is cast unless my lawyers persuade me that I do not have a strong case. In the meantime I have said to them that I assume they would wish to mitigate (minimise) their losses and therefore will continue to try to resolve this problem. Ironically, I received an e-mail from them this morning requesting a further copy of the Dragon long I have no idea how to get this so have asked for specific instructions or, alternatively, they will have to wait until Paul’ the computer’ comes at the end of the week…
In the meantime I am experimenting using only the (Dictation Mode),which, miracle of miracles, worked almost flawlessly writing this entry, albeit at snail’s pace. The main problem that started this whole process off it was that the programme did not understand my commands, so .maybe it is only the’ Command .Mode’ which is corrupted. We will see.
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We had two visitors last evening our old friends Jane and Kit Ode-Powlett .I’m sure they would not mind me mentioning that they were the perfect guests, arriving at 5.00 and leaving a few moments before the carers were due at 6.00. I really enjoyed our chat together but I have found that an hour is just about the right length of time before I got too tired to be sociable. After Jane and Kit and left I attempted to bring my yesterday’s entry up to date, to cover the visit, but got so frustrated with Dragon stopping every few words that I gave up in the end
It would be remiss of me not to mention the generosity of these two old friends, Jane, knowing of my love of her homemade marmalade generously bought me two jars of hers and Kit, knowing my’ penchant for a glass of champagne, very generously bought a bottle of Bollinger. I really know not what I have done to deserve such kind friends.
Although we originally met at the golf club, Kit who is an extremely good bridge and chess player – county standard in both, I believe – offered to come here in the winter months, perhaps on a Tuesday ,if the weather was too bad for golf and play, or perhaps I should say improve, my rather poor chess. We did this once or twice but since then, most Tuesdays the weather has been quite clement plus the problems with Dragon taking three or four hours to do what I would have done in the past in an hour, we simply. I have not had the time to resume my chess lessons. This is a great pity as I have always been keen on board game is (that’s my success in becoming World Champion in Monopoly, in 1977) This one of the reasons I shall be very happy when Dragon resolves this problem so I can take Kit up again on his kind offer.
I had intended to bring my blog entry up to date, to cover the visit, but after frustrating myself,almost into a state over Dragon’s antics, I gave up and read a little and watched the old programme on my laptop.
I did get round to telephoning my little granddaughter today to wish her a happy birthday, which had I intended to do on Friday We tried to do this through Skype, but we went through a farcical 15 min or so where we could either see one another and not hear, or speak and not see or hear one person speaking and see the other but never managed to get us both speaking and seeing at the same time. I am almost paranoid enough to suspect that Dragon has even infiltrated Skype, although I know that is not so..My daughter was running a Skype programme from a little note pad tablet which wasn’t really up to the job. I was particularly pleased with my own picture which was sharp and clear, so at least my end was working. We managed to overcome the problem, to some extent ,by speaking to each other on the telephone, whilst seeing our pictures from the laptop. Not exactly a proper Skype call but, no doubt, we will get it right in the end.
I gathered from the conversation we had that Lara had had a little party of seven or eight girls and the entertainment was a lady showing them how to make jewellery, necklaces, bracelets etc. A clever way of entertaining her friends after a birthday tea.
She managed to show me some of the pretty things that she made. This is where Skype comes into its own; being able to show each other things while talking about them.
Today, I must confess it turned into a lazy one. I didn’t feel 100% last night or even this morning. I suppose it’s not surprising that I have the od day when I don’t feel 100%. As I am 4 ½. years into this dreadful illness and feel okay most of the time, I really can’t complain.
I had intended to write something on The Big Question broadcast last Sunday, which I understood dealt with the issue of assisted suicide, which is currently being discussed by a government committee. Sadly, I found that such programs are only kept for seven days by the BBC and clocking in this afternoon for last Sunday’s broadcast, in an attempt to hear it again, I found I was just too late, it can be removed.
As this is still a pretty hot topic laid out there will be other programmes on the subject the closer the committee get to making a recommendation to Parliament, I shall comment then Having said that, my readers will recall that I went into some depth on this matter previously when we saw Sir Terry Pratchett in Switzerland in the Switzerland witnessing Mr Smedley taking his own life (see entries 5 July 2011 and 7 Jan. 2012)
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Horrendous news. A very modern Italian cruise ship struck rocks somewhere near Sicily and keeled over very quickly killing half a dozen or so people and to date 70 others are unaccounted for. The captain has been arrested but to date we have no more news on that. It will certainly put off a number of people I know who enjoy mini cruises around the Mediterranean. It does seem to be an inexcusable error when the cruise ship was following a well known course.
Good news. It was my darling little granddaughter Lara’s 7th.birthday yesterday and shame on me. I forgot to ring her. I had every intention of doing so. but somehow events overtook me and it is already too late today so I have to do before church tomorrow.
The Dragon. people are up to their normal tricks. I sent them a. ‘High Importance‘ e-Mail with a Request for a Delivery Receipt. This was on Friday and it included a very useful, highly comprehensive, dialogue of the problems from which I had suffered that which I thought would be very helpful to in trying to get to the source of the problem. What happens? I get back notification that my e-mail has been deleted without being read. This is the second time that an important e-mail has been treated that way by Dragons server. The last time they swore that it should not have happened and I had to go through a whole rigmarole of sending it again which is what I have to do again on Monday. I suppose they think that sort of defensive approach is enough for complainants to get tired of the whole business and just give up. But not me!.
The weekend papers were full of global financial Armageddon. 14 of the Eurozone countries had their credit rating reduced by Standards and For, the International Credit Agency. Even France had its rating reduced from triple AAA to the AAB. This is an indication that the international bond market anticipates problems with some of these Eurozone countries. Servicing their debts. What does this mean to the man in the street? I am no economist but as I understand it, in effect, the de-rated Eurozone countries have to pay a higher rate of interest to borrow money on the bond market to service their debt. This of course increases their indebtedness u
It’s rather like these loan sharks ,in this country ,who lend money to people in trouble with a high level of debt and at such punitive rates that it spirals out of control and gets to the point where bankruptcy is almost there only alternative.
France, of course, is furious that its credit rating should have been reduced from AAA and demands to know why their old enemy, the UK has not also had its credit rating reduced. The UK’s. level of indebtedness and its relation to GDP being very similar to that of France. The irony is that the, AAA rated countries are there to support those Eurozone countries which might get into trouble, so France could find itself, for example, helping out Greece, where it clearly is not very far from needing help itself.
How long , Oh Lord, how long.? Until the Eurozone. .inevitably crumbles. In the meantime I have no doubt that they money market speculators are having a ball
I gather from one of my readers that she has difficulty in opening .docx documents which I use at the end of my blogs entries to show you videos jokes etc and as a result they are missing out. I will find out, within a day or so, a way of overcoming this problem.l
Incidentally, I’m getting desperately short of videos, pictures, jokes etc to catch on to the end of my entries as a little diversion. That will be obvious from today’s offering, click here and see yourself.
Although there is an element of personal interest in it, then that I have been surprised at the large number of people now spend their lives wandering the streets ,travelling on buses. and underground, clutching a bottle of water as if their life depends upon it. Maybe they will not be so keen after reading this.
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‘Paraskevidekatriaphobics - People afflicted with a morbid, irrational fear of Friday the 13th will be pricking up their ears about now, buoyed up by the seeming evidence that the source of their unholy terror might not be so irrational, after all. It’s unwise to take solace in a single scientific study, however, especially one so peculiar. I suspect these statistics have more to teach us about human psychology then the ill-fatedness of any particular date on the calendar.
(Source Wikipedia)
This superstition seems to date from ancient times. There will be three such occurrences this year, exactly 13 weeks apart. According to some it is the most widespread superstition in the USA today. Some people refuse to go to work on Friday the 13th; won’t eat in restaurants; and many wouldn’t think of setting a wedding on that date.
I certainly do not subscribe to this superstition and have never avoided walking under ladders, stepping on the joints in the paving on pavements and so on. Obviously there’s not much chance of me being either. Let’s hope I feel the same when I go to bed tonight. (Although I suppose that house could catch fire!
What I should mention, which is far more interesting then superstitions, is that this blog went through its 2 millionth hit, a few days ago. I had hoped it would occur on Christmas Day (who says but I’m not superstitious!) as the first million was clocked up on Christmas Day last year. But the second millionth missed it by a couple of weeks. Maybe if I last that long. we’ll get the 3 millionth. hit by Christmas Day this year. It still amazes me that so many people login regularly to check up on the life of a nobody. K know my friends and family look rather bashful when I asked them if they have read blog recently
They generally reply honestly, not for two or three weeks. If this is the general trend, as I suspect it is, then it means that there are something like 40 to 50,000′ regular’ readers which is a staggering number. So long as a few people everyday draw comfort from it; maybe learn some new trick or some way of overcoming a problem or feel reassured by something I have done or even just been amused for a few moments by whatever I at the have added at the end of a particular entry. If it has taken their mind. off their own problems, even for a minute or two then the blog is achieving its objective.
I was fortunate that Alice needed Paul ‘the computer’, yesterday so he came round for a couple of hours in the afternoon and, as usual, we spent the time tinkering about with the laptop, mainly working on improving my web cam picture and got it quite sharp at the receiving end. It was at that point we tested it out on Richard, my mother’s husband. This 93-year-old was very keen to be up-to-date with today’s technology. Unfortunately, his own picture seemed very blurred and although I sent him a Logitech camera. I don’t think it was up to much, so I shall buy another one. Not only will Richard. then the able to see each other but we will also be able to exchange views with my mother, which I know will give her some deal of pleasure. She will also be able to see her grandchildren from time to time thus overcoming the disadvantage of living so far away.
Part of Paul’s. tinkering was to see if he could get the infrared controller to operate my iPod from my laptop Paul is confident that he can do it with XP professional, but still has concerns about Windows 7. Anyway, he comes back next Monday for another stint of babysitting and hopefully he will have furthered that objective then.
An e-mail from Dr Michael. He is in his seventh heaven surrounded by family in Sweden all mucking in – as he puts it – , and also this trip has given him an opportunity of meeting son.
Tom’s new girlfriend, Cloe (Mick’s spelling not mine) With his two boys having delightful English girlfriends (William’s Daisy, whom I’ve met and would agree., is a poppet.) I am looking forward to meeting Cloe as I believe William has some business in this part of the world so it’s not impossible that they may call in to see me. Certainly, Friday the 13th held no fear from Mick-quite the opposite. The way things are. Mick feels as though all his Sundays have come together.
Talking of good fortune, how lucky was this one-day old baboon when he met this compassionate lion. Click here to see an amazing video.
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For an Englishman my overseas readers must admit I have pretty well kept away from mentioning the weather every 5 min, which we are reputed to do. However, I think it would be remiss not to mention that as I sit here in my study, I’m looking out of the window at a beautiful sunny day with a deep blue sky. According to the weather forecast, the temperature is just in double figures 10 or 11°C. Really quite amazing for this time of the year. I can’t help feeling we have turned the corner so far as the winter is concerned, I know that there is plenty of time for it to become ghastly cold and wet, snow and ice etc but we are moving inexorably towards spring. What gives me a degree of comfort is the way my friends anticipate that I shall so be a condition to have lunch with them in May (having just made such an arrangement). However,I fear I shall go out very little between now and our wedding anniversary on 16 March.
Not so long really and well worth the sacrifice, if I can go through this period, without contracting a cold. Talking of that, I had just come off the telephone after commiserating with a friend of ours, whose husband died recently from pneumonia. He had some weakness in his lungs, a sort of emphysema and although they got him into hospital in good time. was on the respirator for a fortnight but for some reason could not be saved. I must say I find it all rather alarming as I have been told, more than once, that it will probably be my breathing that will; carry me off, so to speak, presumably after catching pneumonia. What surprises me is once you’re in the safe hands of the medical profession in hospital, even with pneumonia. I would have thought, with all their equipment on hand, your chances of survival were fairly high. However, this is obviously a misapprehension. so for that reason we have gone to excessive lengths to ensure that no one comes near me with a cold, or even the suspicions of one . Iof the suspicions of one. In the same vein, I have avoided now going out into the cold, clammy weather even round the house in my electric chair into the breakfast room, so no cigars now since the doctor left, and probably will not indulge again until he returns next month.
Talking about being’ ‘carried off (it was the coughing that carried him off, not the coffin they carried him off in). I think that’s the right way round. At least it was almost me last evening as I got a tiny piece of pastrami stuck in my throat from the delicious mushroom omelette that’ my lovely’ had made for me. I was forced to abandon the omelette and continued cough alarmingly for an hour or so, not having the strength in one’s throat muscles to clear any obstruction. I’m not sure quite what one can do about it. For a person who can stand up. I know you can lock your hands in front of his stomach and give a short sharp squeeze which should dislodge anything in the patient’s throat. But when the patient is sitting in a wheelchair or armchair and cannot move, I’m not clear as to the recommended method. I must remember to raise it at Addenbrookes or Papworth when I go there for my quarterly assessment next month.
I had e-mails from both of the children, Smiler and Chloe, both in, effect, saying how nicely the arrangements for their grandmother’s funeral (cremation ) went. Smiler specifically mentioned how dignified was the whole business. I was very pleased to hear this as my mother-in-law was a lady who always carried herself with dignity.
Dragon, over the past two days has a reasonably long periods of behaving itself, except that a new element of exasperation has been added to all of the others and that is the delay factor between dictating and the words appearing on the screen – anything from 3 to 30 seconds. Add this to the other current eccentricities (it wiped out the whole 83 pages of the blog. I was working on, during the dictation of this sentence, which fortunately, I knew how to recover) and the use of this programme turns into a bit of a lottery. I got no acknowledgement of receipt from my last e-mail to Dragon, despite specifically asking for one. If I complain I shall probably find that this is against company policy. I shall give them to the beginning of next week and then start the process of court proceedings against them. The first thing to do will be to get my barrister friend: to agree that I have a good case against them.
I certainly don’t. want to risk running a case which I lose, then end up with a large bill for their legal costs. However,
this is always a risk you take when you commence legal action against another party, however cast-iron your case appears to be to you and your advisers.
Last evening I was surprised when I received a video Skype call from Richard, my mother’s 93-year-old husband. Dear Richard is quite determined to be ‘with it’ and virtually taught himself how to work the computer. I encourage him every step of the way as I know it gives him a window on the world and short periods of break from looking after my slightly demented mother. The only trouble is now have to ensure that my Skype camera is properly focused and gives him a good picture..
Finding an apposite joke for this entry was not easy but I think is one almost fits the bill. Although Richard is a gentle man and certainly wouldn’t say such a thing, who knows, he might think it. Click here.
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Last night went fairly smoothly, Carla coming in, to turn me, at 1.00 a.m., 4.00 a.m, and again at 6.00 when she got up. She brought me my tea. just before 7.00 and we resumed our normal routine. It all went fairly smoothly and I was in my study chair, as usual, at about 8.10. From then on the rest of the day when pretty much as usual with Jane ‘the sheep’ attending to my needs. Alice arrived back in Cornwall at 3.00 p.m., Lovely as my carers are, I must say I am happy that she is back. Quite apart from our personal relationship. I feel safer in the house when she’s here.
Two unexpected visitors A man turned up to service the standing hoist which I know will make’ my lovely’ as she is a great one, keeping things well serviced and in this particular case, as we rely s’o heavily on it. Then Peter ‘the garden’ dropped in. Dear Peter is really like one of the family who, despite being a fairly shy person apparently asserts himself with Alice and says he wants to come and see me from time to time, which he does, and yesterday was one of those times..He just wants to reassure himself that I am no worse and we usually chat inconsequentially about cricket, which we both love, and when he has satisfied himself that all is well, he returns to his labours in the garden. I am fortunate to have so many people who appear to be interested in my well-being..
It seems that the funeral in Cornwall went extremely well. It was intentionally kept small and low-key and attended virtually by family but the numbers crept up to include various’ old faithfulls’ from in the village. Quite sensible really. I believe of that all of the grandchildren, made it, except,sadly,the eldest, Willim Garton Jones,for reasons to which I have not been made privy. As Victoria has lost her dining room which has been converted it into a bedroom for herself and Lawrence, they managed to set up a long dining table, in what was granny’s sitting room What more can one say about funerals of one’s loved ones. In the event, so to speak, will be the Memorial Service given in celebration of my dear mother-in-law’s life, sometime in the spring in North Wales, where she lived carried out most of her good work. I would not hesitate to go to the Memorial Service, by Ambulance but as it is too far to go and come back in one day I would have to find somewhere to stay and without my equipment it would eventually be impossible, so sadly I have to rely upon other people’s descriptions as to what went on.
I received e-mail confirmation today from my good friend Julian (Critchlow) that he has kept his word and dictated a block of update work on my book over the Christmas break. Apparently it is being typed as I speak, but just how far he has got and how much left to do. I have yet to find out. I know from Robert (Prof Robert Merkin) that he has gone about as far as he can. So what’s left is all down to Julian.. The great excitement today nearly was the return of ‘my lovely’ and slipping seamlessly into now well established routine.
I received an e-mail today from one of my regular readers who come across some very slippery sheets which helps her MND suffering other than the turnover easily embed. Well, as my regular readers will know I went through this whole process between March and June of last year and in the end made my own from satin cloth. But even these are not entirely satisfactory. I had hoped that my new correspondent had found something that I hadn’t been in the end, I discovered that she was talking about the WendyLette, which were not bad but not entirely suitable. The point that comes out of this is that if all MND sufferers, or probably their carers took the trouble to read backwards into my diary. That’s selecting a point when they think they started to notice more things going wrong with the patient and then assiduously read page after page of this diary. They may well come across matters which I have struggled with and resolved (like the silk sheets). I know it’s a bore, but it would really be worthwhile setting aside the odd hour or 2 to read this account which which unfortunately runs into two or 300 pages about which I hope is worth the effort and will save the patient, or his carer, making the same mistakes as I did.
I should perhaps say although it shouldn’t really be necessary, for, the masculine read and or feminine,. throughout this blog diary. This avoids having to put his/her own equivalent every time.
I can’t remember why I wanted to use today’s diversion except perhaps I’ve had it hanging about a long time but in any event it’s a clever idea, which I would have thought could have been used to great success on the Thames between Westminster Bridge and Greenwich. Click here to see ‘a bus like no others’.
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The A team functioned very well in Alice’s absence. I wish I could say the same for Dragon. I did manage to get yesterday’s entry down eventually, but only after a great deal of effort. I received a note from the good Dr Michael commenting on his visit and one of the things he suggested was that the stress that I’ve been put under over the problems with Dragon could be affecting my health and the quicker I resolved them the better. I wonder if that is one of the reasons I have become hypersensitive with sudden rises in temperature and, no doubt ,if. my blood pressure was taken at that time it would be quite high. Good old Michael suggested some other possibility for these symptoms. He thinks that there are possibly surges in adrenaline caused by a tumour somewhere or other, and vague possibility, but one which he respectfully suggested that the GP might have investigated so as to eliminate it as a cause. Anywhere the Blood Pressure has been taken and some blood for further tests and no doubt it t I shall here the results in a day or two.
One enormous advantage in having Michael to stay for a few days is that it is equivalent to having one’s private physician shadowing your over this period. He can obviously observe you under varying degrees of stress or other activity whereas in the one-off appointment with your GP . you can only recount situations which have occurred to the best of your recollection.. So with someone as experiences as Michael his comments or observations can be extremely helpful lto the GP. Of course, Michael has been around long enough to know the sensitivities of the medical profession and is always extremely polite in suggesting they might care to consider this or that and not look as though he is usurping their personal relationship with the patient.
Jane ‘the sheep’ came until midday when Paul ‘the computer’ took over and fed me my lunch whilst being subjected to the honest to goodness treatment of people, mainly involved in ridiculous domestic situations, being lectured to by Judge Judy. I forget then what happened about the switchover but I know Jane went off around 6.00 when the carers came to get me ready for bed. That was before Paul fed me my supper. He had brought with him a film called Inception, which, I think was a little too complicated for my weary brain. It was very well done but very noisy as we had my surround sound on, which, in the normal way, I would not use because ‘my lovely’ suffers from sensitive hearing.. Beside that the film and the special effects were incredible. As to the storyline, which was indeed complex,it was not always easy to follow, in that it involved planting dreams within dreams within dreams in a person’s mind to have some effect on a real event in life. It all got a little mixed up in my befuddled brain, particularly as I probably dozed off for a few minutes here and there, which made it even more complicated to follow. Even the simplest films today seem to have to have a subplot. That is two stories going on at the same time intercut and perhaps in different time zones. What happened to the good old simple movies with a beginning, a middle and an end? One didn’t have to work to be had to follow the storyline whereas with a modern movie. It is almost like an oral examination. In today’s film you had 5 or 6 min of action, before the title appears. , You could be well excused for wondering if you’re on the right channel or whether what you’re watching an advertisements, as what you are watching would appear to have. nothing in common with the title of the film, who had intended to watch, except it all becomes clear an hour so later when what you were seeing was a flashback 10 years earlier!.! Anyway Paul enjoyed it., that was the main thing.
I have not commented on the world global financial situation for a week or two because several countries still seem to be teetering on the edge of financial disaster So, nothing new there then. A new element has crept in to the European side of it and that is Hungry’s financial situation which apparently is dire. and which, apparently, the Finance Ministers and only just noticed.! Or, if they had they weren’t telling us about it. Spain, Italy and even Portugal’s debts have been well aired -the fact that the latest interest that Italy is now having to pay is 7 1/3.%, which apparently is totally unsustainable – But nothing, so far as I can recall, about Hungry Although they are not part of the Eurozone. They are a member of the EU and therefore their financial collapse would impinge upon all members. The whole business has become so complex, not only in terms of the possible European position should one of its members default ,either one who is part of the Eurozone or even one is just an EU member, that it is hard to keep up. We just go on day-to-day with our head in the sand hoping nothing will happen, and somehow or other, it will all go away.. One thing is for certain, there is nothing I can do sitting immobile in my office chair all day other than to protect my own personal interests which I have done to some extent by switching the form of my investments. Beyond that, I follow my long observed philosophy of not worrying about things about which I can do nothing.
Yesterday was a first in that I received a couple of e-mails from my oldest grandson, Fred. Up to now everything has being filtered through his mother. As I have been feeding the boys on snippets from U tube. this is the first real response I have had, which I’m very pleased about.. Fred’s two e-mails comprised one of which a poor buffalo calf with attacked by a pride of lions, slipped into the river, during the fight with the lions and then engaged in an uncomfortable, and no doubt painful, tug of war between lions and croc which the lions won when the calf was dragged back onto dry land, at which stage the whole buffalo herd charged the lions and drove them off. The buffalo calf was quickly swallowed up by the herd so we shall never know what physical damage he suffered at the teeth of the lions or the crocc. but he would certainly have been traumatised and learned his lesson not to stray too far from his mother’s side in future.. It was all very fascinating and exciting but I don’t think that one is for the blog. The second one he sent involved a tiger protecting and sleeping with a one day old baboon, whose mother he had killed. These sort of videos showing great insight into the animal kingdom and I think are fascinating. Fred, thank you and I reproduce your second video here. Just click here and watch
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A day of coming and goings. Alice’s mother’s funeral is on Wednesday so there were many things to organise to allow ‘my lovely’ to be away for the best part of two nights. It might just as well been a month for amount of things that had to be arranged. First of all, there was the evening session with the carers. Tonight, Carla, one of the Ross nursing team and our most regular carer came to do the 9.30 session and then stayed on in the spare room above me ready to carry out the morning duties, getting me up sitting on the edge of the bed, giving me my morning cup of tea; then my orange juice and my daily mineral and vitamin tablet, Berroca ; then breakfast, a shave and cleaning my teeth with my electric toothbrush..’My lovely’ normally gets all is done before the 7.30 girls arrived to give me a shower, dress me etc .
On this occasion Carla carried out his duties very proficiently before Emma, the other carer, joined her to carry out the next stage. In the meantime’ my lovely’ got about four o’clock to catch various trains to get her to Cornwall in time for the funeral. I’m not quite sure how it works but I know she’s going to be away tomorrow night and then back late the following day. So it’s Carla again this evening with Jane’ the sheep in the background in case things go wrong as she is more familiar with the house, than Carla.
It’s amazing the amount of things that Alice had to think of in advance. quite apart from the medication and the meals. It was a real military exercise. I must say everybody says how wonderful Alice is. I really should tell her more often. I much appreciate what she does for me. No matter how good the other carers are, there really is no substitute who comes even close to her. I suppose she understands my needs better than anyone else. Having said that, Carla, who is our most regular morning carer, was very good and picked up on most of the things that needed to be done.
Paul ‘the computer’ popped in a couple of times to tweak my computer; the hoist man turned up unexpectedly to do the annual maintenance check and the district nurses came in to take some blood as a result of my recent visit to Papworth. What with struggling with Dragon. most of the day in between all these comings and goings. the time passed swiftly. The problem is that from about 6.30 p.m onwards I begin to feel pretty exhausted and cannot be very good company in the evening, although up to that time I am usually pretty perky but go downhill fast. I just want to go to bed except that the longer I stay in bed the longer I have to put up with the painful joints, so I always hang on until the 9.30 carers come in.
Reading this again I’m very sorry that it is rather dreary but then I suppose we are all entitled to our off days. I include these details of how I feel in order to share them with other MND patients so that they realise that they are not alone.
Two good things to report, to finish on the right note.The sheepskin lined electric foot warmer that Smiler and Kimberley gave me for Christmas has being a great success in un- freezing my icy cold feet.
I also have to look forward, hopefully only until tomorrow, when Paul is going to bring me an infrared device that will enable me to operate my iPod ,on its Bose speaker stand, I have over 5000 pieces of music (mainly classical) on my iPod and feel deprived of late in not being able to play them. I really miss my music. The remote control has to be pointing precisely at the iPod and I really do not have enough strength in my fingers to press down on the right buttons. So, being able to operate it from my laptop will open up an entirely new chapter for me.
In trying to decide what to add to today’s blog that might be of interest to readers. I decided to use an extraordinary clip about a couple who had reared a baby lion cub who had lost its mother. It was released into the wild and then reunited with them, a year or two later.in the jungle, where he had been released when he became too big to keep at home, It really is the most amazing sight to see this lion who has spent the last year or so in the wild, in his native surroundings, rush up to these people, greatly excited like a dog, licking them and wagging his tail (or do whatever lions do to show they are happy and not about to bite your head off !!). He even brought his wife to be there. Click here to watch this amazing clip.(I just hope that I have not used this clip on an earlier entry.)
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A quiet day at home after all the recent excitement. Of course, it’s Sod’s law that my Dragon was worse than ever,. immediately following the co-browser session with the technician when it had behaved itself reasonably well. (It’s what I call the ‘dentist syndrome’. We’ve all been there. Been kept. awake all night with a raging aching tooth. Booked an emergency session with your dentist you are in his chair and find it’s impossible for you to tell precisely him which tooth was troubling you) Today Dragon was totally ”beyond the pale’ and I very nearly gave up and thought I would skip a day on the blog . In the event I persevered and managed to get something down.
The problem with the present stop start method is that I am having to put up with, is that the lack of fluency in the entry itself. When I get an idea on something that I would like to develop into something thought-provoking for my readers ,the sense of continuity goes out of the window ith the frustration of having to log on and off every few minutes
Presumably we must be getting close the end of the road with these Dragon people now that the whole history of the case is being sent to the USA. They have a contractual duty to get it right. and as I made clear to them. I intend to pursue their current breach-of-contract. But must first radio. I must do everything I can to mitigate my. Loss ( damages). I consider I will have reached that point when I see the outcome of this latest co-browser session
I really must not bang on about this problem too much as I’m sure the reader is getting as tired of it as I am.
(Here is an example for you. I dictated these last two lines but when I looked up at the screen, they were nowhere to be seen. In fact they were between the 8 and December in the heading). My reason for being so persistent in pursuing this matter is very much the same as it was for pursuing the dentist over fraudulently charging me for work which he had not done. (Admittedly, the outcome was not very satisfactory. but that was mainly because I could not afford the risk of failing on a Judicial Review or a private court case and find myself landed with all the costs.).
I want to inspire everyone, who has a genuine gripe to follow through and not be intimidated by some pumped up arrogant person at the other end of the telephone. We are all equal under the law and everyone has a right to complain if they have bought something and it doesn’t work. I am really trying to make all my readers understand why I have continued this battle for seven months., Apart from the fact that there really is no alternative voice activation system for me after using this one for the past 20 yea
It is as much for what I call the’ little man’ (and I hate using an expression because it sounds so patronising). Those people who know me will know that I am not being patronising when I use that expression. It is for the man who has not got enough confidence to stand up for himself. The one thing I have, and just about the only thing now, is my voice. Add to this the snobbery attached to being a professor and it is often possible for me to get to the most senior person very quickly. That in itself makes me very cross as there is nothing at all special about being a professor. These days, just about everyone on television seems to be one.
But to return to my purpose in running this complaint for continuing to run this complaint for seven months. It is the same as a problem I had with the dentist, which I admit I did not ultimately resolve in my favour, but I certainly got the issue fully aired at the Dental Council, but could not simply afford to risk losing a Judicial Review or even a case in the Small Claims Court, which were the only two avenues open to me.
I shall await the outcome of this latest co-browser, said and then if we are no nearer resolving the problem may well resort to the courts. I already have a good barrister friend of mine who has agreed to run it for me. ‘Pro bono’(at no cost to me). In fact, I may well run the case myself from my electric wheelchair, with my friend, the barrister, sitting next to me in court. Every litigant in person, which is what I would be as no one is forced to be legally represented in the lower courts, is entitled to take a friend in with him to assist him within a matter. This person is called a’ McKenzie friend ‘after a case which there is no point in me going into/
Perhaps I need somebody like this Chuck fellow as my ‘McKenzie Friend’ to sort out my Dragon problem!. Click Here and see which you think,
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