26 January 2012
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.
https://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!
25 January 2012
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.
24 January 2012
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!
23 January 2012
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 you.and material to contemplate on. Click here
22 January 2012
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.
21 January 2012
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.
20 January 2012
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.
19 January 2012
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.
18 January 2012
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.
17 January 2012
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.