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 my stage.
We had a delivery of heating oil earlier in the week and I was pretty shocked at the price per litre of .46p.
This prompted me to look back on my record over the years where I have noted, on a single sheet, the price per litre and any particular reason for that price. My first entry is 3 November 1983 when I paid 18.5p. The price rose to 22.9 pence in March ‘85 during the three-day week and the miners strike, in the UK.. In July 1986 the price went down to 9.85p. due to a world oil glut.
The price per litre rose steadily until January 1991 when the 12 day, first Gulf war, caused the price to increase  to 16.9 pence. It was down in the years ‘93 to ‘98 floating between 11 and 13 pence. On 13 December 1998  it slipped to 9.7 pence, again, according to my annotation, because of the low price of oil, worldwide. The next significant cost was 21.5 p on 12 December 2001 when America suffered a terrorist attack. With the threat of a second Gulf War on 12 September 2002 the price was 17.05 pence.. From that point on the price seems to have risen inexorably. For example, in November 2005 it was 32.79 and reached 56 pence per litre in August 2006 when, I seem to recall, the price per barrel of oil exceeded $140. This being so I am told by my supplier that I am fortunate, today, in only having to pay,.46 p. per litre. That may well be so but with a tank holding around 2200 litres, and requiring two fill ups per year, that still amounts to around £2000. This on top of an annual electricity bill of around £1500 makes a nonsense of the £200 Winter Fuel Allowance generously given to pensioners by our government.
The generator was returned today fully serviced ready to be plumbed in tomorrow. Jane came to babysit me whilst Alice went off to do her own thing including, no doubt, inevitably something for me.
Do sports drinks really work? Watch this video and judge for yourself (sportsdrink.wmv)