The Sneeze
A man and a woman were sitting beside each other in the first class section of an airplane. The woman sneezed, took out a tissue, gently wiped her nose, then visibly shuddered for ten to fifteen seconds. The man went back to his reading. A few minutes later, the woman sneezed again, took a tissue, […]
29 November 2010
Right, enough of sport. Yesterday I had my first Skype video call to Fred, my grandson and little Lara, who was in the background. It really is the most wonderful way of communicating, particularly as I can no longer travel to see them as I used every six weeks or so. I hope that we […]
28 November 2010
This was a night well worth being awake for. One of the most exciting final days of a Test match cricket, I, or anyone else for that matter, can remember. From what looked an absolutely hopeless position Cock and Trott batted all day, both not out, Cook with 235 and Trott with 135. England finished […]
27 November 2010
I thoroughly recommend the regular reader who is not sports minded to skip the next two days. The entries will be all about the battle between England and Australia for the cricket Ashes with a smattering of rugby union and the APT tennis Masters in the O2 Stadium in London. Instead, I recommend those readers […]
26 November 2010
Yesterday’s mention of Cecilia Gordon — my erstwhile piano teacher — prompted me to dig into my autobiographical notes and recount the rather sad history of my piano playing. I was at a supper party one day, in my 40th year, and a discussion ensued about playing the piano. I heard myself say how much […]
25 November 2010
I have been very remiss with regard to another MND sufferer — Patrick Joyce. Some months ago Patrick did me the honour of choosing me as one of the people whose portrait he would paint in a series of 100 Extreme Optimists. He did indeed paint my portrait – but more like a jolly caricature […]
24 November 2010
Another uncomfortable night with painful joints, despite increasing the dosage of Ibrufen (anti-inflammatory painkiller) to 600 m.g. I will give it another week or so on this dosage and if there is no improvement, check with Dr Chris Allen, my MND assessment team leader, to see if this is a normal symptom of MND or […]
23 November 2010
Again a day of activity. Chris Camp came round, early morning, to the erect the metal shelter I purchased to house the generator. All being well the other Chris (Rix), the electrician will be here tomorrow to install the unit. Not before time as heavy snow is forecast towards the end of the week. Although […]
22 November 2010
The tiny baby,  now a 6 3â€,46-year-old, came to lunch with Kimberly, his wife, on Sunday. It was great to see them and Kimberly was looking lovelier than ever. Today was one of those days of coming and goings. First of all, early morning, Graham Smith, our neighbour -who is now working in Zürich – […]
19 November 2010
I had an interesting comment today from a lady in the USA whose husband suffers from MND. She was pointing out how very lucky we are in this country to have people who are prepared to visit us in our own home. For example, the reader will have noticed that over the past week or […]