23 November 2011

Since I started this blog I have always made a hardcopy which I went out, ‘my lovely’ and for the children before publishing it to the world at large.

I had finished this entry early on the morning of the 24^th. having written it the day before, then, instead of publishing it, as I usually do, as Dragon was performing well, I decided to carry on and put some thoughts down for 24 November entry. I then noticed that at the bottom of the page I was apparently on page 1. This was not possible as I know I had at least 15 pages prior to that in this current section of the blog. (Why only 15 pages, you might ask. well, it has been my practice to make my blog entries in sections of approximately 100 page and only a couple of days ago I started Blog Diary, Part 7. If I had not done so I could have lost 115 pages of the blog, most of which I could recover, from the published version but one entry at a time which would be very tedious as all of them would have required some formatting. What an horrendous thought, for once in my life I’ve had a bit of luck)

So, I had managed to wipe out those 15 pages or at least Dragon had misinterpreted something I said and deleted them. I went through all the usual ways of recovering lost documents but without success. Then I made a telephone call to Paul ‘the computer’ and he very kindly dropped in to see if he could help but it was even beyond him, so I had to start again on this entry and try to remember some of the things I covered.

Following the point that ‘my lovely’ made about the entries perhaps being a little too long for busy people who really wouldn’t have time to read them, I’m glad to say that having mentioned this I received several e-mails from readers confirming that as far as they were concerned the entries were not too long and I should just keep going as normal.

I think I then mentioned the 74-year-old woman who recently died in a care home and was found to have been severely neglected by the staff. She had horrendous bedsores and the records showed that she had not been moved for 9 days at one stage. Poor thing she must have suffered terribly as I know from my own experience of being unable to move. As she had dementia and Parkinson’s disease she was not mentally capable of making a fuss. but I must say I find such revelations horrifying. Fortunately these so called carers are a rare exception to the rule Most of those , that I have had dealings with. Have been wonderful.

It prompted me to think about my own situation as I sit immobile in the same chair from 8.00 in the morning until 9.30 at night, unable to shift my weight around. Paula, one of my carers, told me that once you have pressure sores you are confined to your bed, being turned every 2 hours, resting first on one side of your body and then the other – obviously not on the back – until these sores clear up, which can be several weeks. This would drive me crazy as it would mean I could no longer work on my laptop, read or watch television. About the only thing I could do would be to listen to music and audio boos which is great but not day after day.

This being the case I am now taking precautions against getting pressure sores on my bottom and getting my carers to hoist me up out of my chair at the midday call and again at 6.00 p.m, and then to massage my bottom and apply some Conotrane cream. I might be worrying unnecessarily and it’s better to be safe than sorry..

I think I then mentioned events happening on the international fronts. Specifically the riots in Egypt, where the revolution, six months ago had removed President Mugabe to be replaced by a military council. The people, who had bravely risked life and limb, had been promised a move to towards democracy and little or nothing seems to have changed over the last six months. In addition, in a smaller way, riots were still continuing in Syria and Libya, the Yemen and Bahrain which made me wonder whether the domino effect really was working its way through the Middle East’

I can’t remember what else I commented on but I do know that I finished with a little Irish joke. I accepted that it was probably politically incorrect but then the Irish have been the butt of our jokes for decades, and vica versa, and as most of them are such lovely people I think they would find this as amusing as I do. I certainly would not wish to give offence to anyone but click here to see the joke and have a little chuckle.

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22 November 2011

Being a Tuesday I had every intention of going to golf. I had been watching the weather very carefully and today’s forecast was 14° and overcast with light winds. Just about as good as I could get at this time of year. My carers got me all ready to go, my lovely packed my bag and shortly before I was due to leave it started to rain. Of course, that did not necessarily mean that it was raining at the golf club but after a phone call to the girls there they also confirmed that it was raining. So very disappointedly I rang Mrs Ollie (Debbie) and she said she was expecting a phone call cancelling the booking. I must say Ollie and his wife are the nicest couple they really are extremely generous in allowing me to cancel an hour or two before they are due to pick me up.

It was the good doctors 75th birthday yesterday (or maybe the day before!) We send him birthday greetings and lots and lots of love.

A report yesterday from Paul Mitchard QC who has stepped into the breach to take on my lectures. He seems to have gone down very well with the students which is just as well bearing in mind the colleague I took two or three years ago who the students did not take to. Apparently, this colleague rambled on a bit and failed to ‘stick to the script’, which the Chinese students are very serious about. Putting myself in their shoes I can understand this. If I was given a copy of the notes beforehand in Mandarin which I could just about understand I would expect the lecturer to follow these notes fairly closely which my good friend did not do. Also, he had a very slight northern accent which the students did not understand him very well and as a result I received an from the administration of the University suggesting that he would not be welcome again. Unfortunate terminology it merely meant that he had not gone down too well with the students who seemed to have quite a lot of influence. I softened the blow, of course, as best I could as I was very embarrassed having made it clear to him that if all went well and he was available then he could consider taking over from me in the long run. As it happened that would not have been the case as he died two years ago from a heart attack. Whenever I mentioned to the university authorities possibility of success they would brush it off and say that I would live forever. Maybe they knew something that I didn’t stop

Although the students numbered over 100 this year only eight of them have opted to sit the Membership Exam for the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. I have volunteered to mark those papers but I have not yet worked out how I can mark the appropriate part of the answer and write the number of marks against those ticks. I shall probably have to have help from Jane’ my sheep’ or my secretary Doreen

A nice short entry today so here is a treat I suppose for the over 50’s. I mentioned Bob Hope to one of my carers and she admitted she never heard of him but believe me he was famous and one of the best comedians in his time.   He Was 52 at the time he made this and Cagney , who played the baddy in gangster films. was 56.

 Tu up the sound ,  click here and enjoy

21 November 2011

I had a pretty lazy day yesterday the weather was bright but extremely cold so it was a question of staying in on keeping warm I did my usual work publishing the blog, answering e-mails, writing the odd e-mail thank you – for example to Martin and Winifred Potter, the secretary and treasurer of The Arbitration Club, who represented the at the London Branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators Dinner – and then spent the rest of the day leisurely reading, listening to music and watching the television. I suppose a lot of people would think that sounds like a lovely way of spending a day. So it is, as a treat, but not day after day after day!

As much as anything. yesterday I was having another bad day with the Dragon and ‘my lovely’ said ‘why not give it a miss and not worry about it so much. Your readers will understand, and so on’. Add to that she said that she thought that perhaps my entries are far too long and that most of my readers would be busy people and hardly have time to read them. In that regard she might be right but, once I get the bit between my teeth, it is difficult not to explore the pros and cons of a particular piece of news or alternatively just to express my own opinion. I suppose it’s not so much that I set out to influence people , my objective is to try to write something of interest. Another problem I have concerns the spread of readership, a large number of them being outside this country. Obviously then I cannot spend too much time discussing something which only applies here in the UK. I have tried to explain to Alice that the blog is my lifeline to the outside world and although its main objective is to help others it also helps me. As I’ve said before., it gives me a reason for getting out of bed in the morning, particularly if I have heard something during the night on the wireless that I would like to share with my readers.

So much in the news at the moment is about the economy both at home and overseas, particularly Europe. On the European front the Spanish seem to believe that they can get themselves out of trouble by swallowing a lot of cuts in various services. The Italians are probably the most vulnerable at present but many of the top brains are working on a way round to get them out of trouble. On the home front our main problem seems to be stimulating the economy. We have two opposing objectives which to my mind seem irreconcilable. We want people to spend money in order to generate activity and employment but then on the other hand we don’t want individuals to build up vast overdrafts, which they did in the past, and were subsequently unable to service.

It doesn’t help that Christmas is upon us and families don’t seem able to bite the bullet and to tell their children that times are hard and they cannot expect so many expensive presents this year. At the mention of a cut or change in any employment terms to affect savings, even looking 30 to 50 years ahead, which is unusual for most governments, the unions threaten strikes instead of recognisng that their members are lucky to have jobs at all in these difficult times.

Unfortunately inflation is rising, partially because of the price of fuel which has risen 50% since I stopped driving. Now we’re getting into the winter those of us who have oil fired boilers practically have to take a second mortgage to fill up our oil tank. I heard of one elderly couple complaining, quite reasonably, that they needed to spend 30% of their income on keeping warm

The government is certainly tackling the million plus who are on benefit, or unemployed. In particular the 2.9 million claiming disability allowance. The suggestion is that they be reviewed, not necessarily by a doctor but by an independent assessor who would be able to say if they were able to undertake some sort of work. It doesn’t have to be heavy physical work as there are many jobs needing the simplest of skills and little or no qualifications. Work that can be done sitting down. As much as anything the government are putting a lot of effort into satisfying themselves which of those people are genuine handicapped and unable to work and the tens of thousands of people on benefit who frankly should not be there. For the unemployed generally, somehow they have to make it worth while working. I mentioned in an earlier entry, the couple who came onto the television and openly admitted that they had lived on benefit for years and intended to go on doing so, as by working they would only be about £30 a week better off , which they could probably by moonlighting for cash; baby sitting for exampnle.. I know amongst a lot of the young people I come into contact with, where they might well have gone on a winter package holiday this year, they are holding back and saving their money for a rainy day. This is admirable in its own way but does not, of course, stimulate the economy.

Coming back to the benefit fraudsters, how to stop that situation and not penalise the children of such families? I would have thought we could have introduced a system whereby those who were able to, would work to earn their benefit and then the  government would contribute an amount necessary to bring that household’s income up to a living wage. Surely something on these lines would be far more sustainable than the present system.

The government have announced that they are considering capping the total weekly cash benefits to every household at £500 per week, equal to a post tax income of £32,000. This is in the face of some beneficiaries currently getting as much as £1500 a week plus free housing, community tax etc. Fortunately, we are not alone. Practically every country in Europe is having to consider cuts in services and benefit, raising the pensionable age to 67 and increasing slightly the amount of contribution from the employees. Without such action, by the year 2050 half the countries in Europe would become bankrupt and would simply not have enough money to pay the state pensions Even with this prospect hanging over the would-be pensioners the trade unions are still striking against these proposals. To my mind retiring at 67 will not last that long and within 10 years the retirement age will be raised to 70. Why the actuaries could not have seen the outcome of people living much longer, I find puzzling. I know that my own mother and her husband retired some 32 years ago and have long since gone past the age when they were expected to die and as a result, of course,: drawing a pension probably for 15 years more than they actuarial tables suggests they should have done. I recently read that a child born today can expect to  live to 102!

In all these talks of cuts, the current pensioners – and there are great deal of them -have been largely overlooked and are obviously feeling the pinch. Although the state pension will go up at the beginning of next year it is still well below the amount needed to compensate for the rise in the cost of living. Those people who worked hard and saved all their lives to accumulate a little nest egg are now faced with the aspect of losing it. if they have to go into government owned sheltered accommodation, or a nursing home. In order to qualify for free care,   either in their own home or one run by the government , they must not have more than £23,250 in savings. So, I have heard of a number of them spending their money on cruises and the like in order to reduce their savings below the maximum allowed before throwing themselves on the state for the rest of their lives. Who can blame them? as there is no differentiation between the careful and prudent worker who has saved a little money for their old age and the permanently indolent unemployed. Again, this cannot be right.

It is getting very difficult in this country to leave anything to the next generation with inheritance tax on all assets over £325,000 and the price of even the humblest house having risen dramatically over the years, almost everyone, certainly in the south of England, will have to pay something, leaving very little to hand on. I know that Australia abolished death duties, or inheritance tax , some years ago and have obviously raised the loss of tax some other way. When the Conservatives were canvassing for votes, prior to the last election, one plank of their manifesto was that they would raise the level of assets free of inheritance tax to £1 million, which sounds a great deal money but in view of the value of people’s houses is much more reasonable than the current level. No government has recognised the difference between a basic terraced house in London which could be worth £2/£3 million and a similar house in the North of England that would sell for a 10th of that value. Unfortunately this was one of the concessions they had to make to their coalition partners and will have to wait at least until the next general election to see if the Conservatives get a clear majority and are then able to honour some of their election pledges.

This has been a rather pessimistic entry but that sadly it reflect the mood of the country at present. Somehow the government have got to swing things round and to get people feeling more confident in the future and then build on that confidence, so that the economy starts to move forward once more. Until that happens we are in dire danger of talking ourselves into a double dip recession.

Oh dear, I’ve done it again. I rambled on far too long after lecturing myself on the necessity to make my entries much shorter. Even then I cannot resist showing you this little video which reflects my view of the protestors camping at St. Pauls cathedral, Dale Farm et al, it is a must. Click here and view it for yourself.

19 November 2011

Son Miles came home last night. For supper en route to his friend George Courtauld who has kindly invited him for a day shooting. It was a fleeting visit and he left early this morning as the carers were attending to me but it was nice to see him as his next visit will not be until Christmas. How quickly the festive season has crept up on us with Christmas only a mere five weeks or so away.

This Dragon voice activation programme really is unbelievably sporadic. Yesterday I tried anything up to 15 or 20 times to get it to log on, without success. It would do so for several words and then freeze and I would have to go through the whole process once again. In the end I was so exhausted I gave up and began to think that I would have been able to do my daily entry. However waking up this morning I switched it on and it immediately logged on and I was able to do take the whole of yesterday’s blog and part of this one without any trouble whatsoever. In the meantime I had rung Ruben, the senior technician in the UK for Nuance, but he played his normal trick of passing a message through the person who answered the telephone saying he was busy at present but would ring me back in the afternoon, which ,of course, he did not do. I am curious to find out what he and his company’s reaction is to my official complaint to the Trade Standards Office.

Paul’ the computer’ came round this afternoon whilst Alice went to an art exhibition in Saffron Walden that. In between chatting about some of the latest amazing gadgets are being developed, about which he is terribly enthusiastic, I managed to pin him down to do some more work on my computer. He has one specific task left to do that is to log all the various media I’ve used todate so I know what is left and available for use in the future. When he’s finished that particular task I think we will have gone about as far as we can go and then it’s a question of who and how the remaining problems with Dragon get resolved. I believe the work he’s done already will have isolated some of the problems and are now beginning to to suspect that there is a faulty USB connection which may be adding to the confusion., Then being right up to date on our own laptop after taking off all of my data and programmes and reinstalling them, if they cannot then find the fault theln we may have no choice but to switch to a new computer if they cannot find the problem with this particular one.

Apart from the work that he is doing on my laptop, Paul has very generously brought me copies of a very exciting series, previously shown on television, some years ago, entitled, quite simply Lost. The storyline is all about a group of people stranded on an island after their scheduled airline had been blown off course and crash landed on a mysterious jungle like island. It becomes compulsive watching as our there are so many twists and turns in the plot. I believe there are six series altogether with about 20 episodes in each, and Paul has all except series 6, so that should keep me pleasantly occupied in my idle moments!

The reference to airline crashes prompted me to include this amazing video showing how quick thinking and nerves of steel combined with an incredible piece of flying skill adverted what could have been a major accident when the airliner’s landing gear failed! Click the link below and you will see what I mean.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=zbfZxvsDp3c&vq=large

18 November 2011

I meant to say yesterday, when I was discussing having published an entry without checking it through, that if any entry does not make sense then it must have been published before I checked it through and I would be very grateful if the reader could bring it to my attention. It takes a matter of minutes to correct it.

I had a good night once I got into bed but for the whole of the evening my nose ran like a tap and it was very exhausting raising my arms every 30 seconds or so to wipe it. ‘My lovely’ is convinced that it was as a result of the alcohol I had at lunchtime, which, as I said yesterday, was really quite modest. I suppose anyway I can test out this theory very easily by cutting out, for a week or so, my whiskey and the my small glass of red wine which I take most evenings. It out altogether for a week or so and see if the runny nose stops. I did this some two or three months ago and there was a really no noticeable improvement so it may well be to do with the quantity of the wine rather than the alcohol itself.

I was horrified last evening to hear two pieces of news. One, that 14 of the Dale Farm travellers caravans have returned to the site from which they were, only a week or so ago legally evicted. This after a ten-year battle in the courts. They are parked in a long continuous line on the approach road to the old site but say it is their intention to return to their previous sites. They claim to have nowhere to go but we have been given to understand that they have been offered housing which they say is “culturally unacceptable” and an alternative land site a mile or so away from Dale Farm, which for some reason or other, was also a unacceptable. However, we have also been led to believe from the BBC Panorama programme, that a number of these so-called travellers own beautiful villas in a small town in Ireland. Having just spent around £19 million at the end of a 10 year battle in the courts, and heaven knows what cost, to legally evict them, surely these returning travellers are in contempt of court and can be summarily removed. Yes, there will be battles with the police, or bailiffs, initiated by the agitators. Elderly people and young children will have to be removed with the other erstwhile Dale farm residents and these groups of people will ,no doubt, be used to try to bring shame on the police or the bailiffs. But frankly I think public opinion will be against them. Otherwise what are we going into, nothing short of anarchy. If it takes an emergency legislation to stamp this out once and for all, then I for one, would be in favour of it.

We have a not dissimilar situation arising now with the protesters around St Paul’s Cathedral. Initially there were a small crowd of protesters going about their business in a peaceful way. I would always defend the right of anyone to make a peaceful protest provided it did not obstruct or inconvenience a lot of other people. I gather that as this protest grew and attractive numbers of the unemployed (and unemployable)’ professional’ agitators they only opted to use the land around St Paul’s as it was the nearest they could get to the London stock exchange against whom, I gather the initial protest was being made. Then the full-time agitators moved in. of course Capitalism in Crisis has a great ring about it but what on earth do they expect the authorities to do other than what they are currently doing. Do these protesters really believe that capitalism will crumble overnight and be replaced with what, communism?. Then someone had the bright idea of pitching tents and the whole business has growing like Topsy from there, until every inch of the land around St Paul’s is covered with tents .

We now have the ludicrous situation where there are three distinct areas of land. around or adjacent to St Paul’s church yard., all of which are governed by different legal rules. First of all the land immediately in front of St Paul’s which is part of the cathedral from which the cathedral authorities have made it clear they will not get involved in any form of eviction. (Big mistake in my view. It would been far better to have waited and watched events before deciding on this once said, impossible to go back on, decision.) Perhaps the church authorities were thinking of Jesus turning out the money lenders! No doubt this particular piece of church land will be smothered with tents in no time and, as before obstruct the entrance to the cathedral which may well mean the end of any services until the matter is resolved. Will this mean that the normal Christmas services will not be able to be held this year due to this bunch of anarchists?

Then there is the pavement that runs around the front of the cathedral. We are told that this is subject to different laws then the actual churchyard itself , which lies on the other side of the pavement, on which the courts have granted a 28 day notice of removal.

Why are these people being treated any differently from someone, who for example, decides to set up a fish and chip van, on the road or pavement next to the Cathedral? They would very quickly be moved on for obstruction. Why is it then that these campers are not able to be moved under the same law ,many of whom had vowed they intend to stay there’ for ever’. This surely is anarchy and must be stamped out before it takes hold. Certainly not through serving 28 day notices on people who have no intention of moving and will, no doubt, make more appeals to the court and drag the whole process out.

I heard, on the radio, during the night ,that common sense is beginning to prevail at last. The Justice Minister, Kenneth Clarke, is discussing with the powers that be, in Strasberg, making our Supreme Court the last court of resort for all Human Rights. In other words we would no longer be bound by the European courts on such matters. Thank heavens for that. Since the introduction of the Human Rights Act almost everything can be reduced to an infringement of one’s human rights giving the right to go to the European courts of Human Rights, which is, no doubt, expensive and time-consuming. (Who pays the protesters legal fees? I hope to goodness it does not, and of legal aid paid by the taxpayer) I have every confidence in our own judges to decide what is sensible in terms of individuals human rights without having to go to Europe to a court made up of judges from all parts of Europe many of them having different views on human rights as they start from a different cultural base to us..

Another interesting piece of information that came through the radio waves during the night was that there has been an increase, admittedly not a large one, only 4%, in the number of people getting divorced in their middle to late age, compared with other divorces, the percentage of which has gone down. So much so that is has been described as the silver divorce syndrome. Presumably the silver refers to the 25 years of marriage. It seems that the general opinion is that people believe that they probably had enough of each other by that stage and they would like a new start. Frankly I suspect a large majority of them find that the grass is not greener on the other side of the fence and lived to regret having divorced someone with whom they have invested the first 25 years of their married life.

In my view, in many ways marriage becomes better and better if you have the right partner. It becomes more to do with companionship and the closeness of your best friend than the volatility heat and passion of the earlier years. Certainly in my case where we are only 16 months away from our 50th anniversary, I would not swap ‘my lovely’ for ‘all the tea in China‘ or for anyone or anything else for that matter. I cannot imagine another person caring for me in the way that she does. (I suppose the reference to the tea in China was when it first came to England it was incredibly expensive. Even today you can pay a great deal for one of the rarer of the 1000 or so different varieties which I saw on my last trip to China)

17 Novemer 2011

I‘m glad to say that the nifedipine tablets had done their stuff on my feet. They are no longer a ghastly mottled purply colour but are now pink and look a lot healthier.

I was in contact with one of my readers who is caring for a husband who has recently been diagnosed with MND and it suddenly struck me that he might benefit from using the adapted walking frame with the big wheels, which I mentioned in my 12th of November entry. I managed to find out the telephone number of the depot where these frames and eventually ended up but unfortunately, as I feared, the adapted frame was no longer the ad presumably being scrapped. In any event, when I explained what I wanted it for the lady in charge said that she would not be able to return it to me without reference from my doctor or occupational and even then the same process would have to be gone through with the recipient. Frankly, it’s not worth the effort and will be much easier just to purchase wheels and adapt another frame.

As I was writing this entry I happened to refer to the previous one and noticed what I thought was a typo error. When I started to read it I realised that there were several errors in the same paragraph so went back to the beginning and to my horror realised that I must have interrupted had published it without having read it and as a result there were any number of minor errors which had crept in which made it read like a gobbledygook. I quickly corrected and republished it hoping that not too many people had a read it in the two hours that it had been published in its incomprehensible state. Just to add to my words the voice activation seems to have gone completely mad this morning. Not only has it frozen half a dozen times dictating this paragraph, causing me to log off and log on again, the cursor was jumping about backwards and forwards so that words get jumbled up. All sorts of pop up options appear, which I certainly hadn’t asked for. I do hope the trading standards people move reasonably quickly to get it sorted out for me. Having said that I must reiterate what I said before that this Dragon voice activation programme is by far the best, so far as I’m concerned. It is just a freak I have got some of incompatibility between my other programmes and Dragon that is causing me a great deal aggravation.

Apart from the very bad service from their technicians, over this particular problem, which again I must be honest and admit is unusual, I would still thoroughly recommend people to try it out for themselves.

The highlight of the day was lunch at the Cricketers was my good old, lawyer/poet friend, Dr James Barnett. In fact it was our 40^th. such Christmas lunch that we had had together. For the past few years we have usually had them at the Groucho Club, in Dean Street London, although we did start off you the very first one in Chelsea and we returned there for the 25^th. And even managed to get the same champagne and wines which we had drunk on our first Christmas lunch. In those days I could drink a reasonable amount without getting tipsy but now I find that I haven’t got the body mass to cope with very much so have to confine myself to a couple of glasses. In any event, it was a fun lunch mulling over old times and having our usual well tempered disagreements over political issues. James will be the first to admit that he is solidly left-wing, as far to the left as I am to the right, but we have always managed to discuss issues without giving too heated about it. It was very good of James to get car to drive him from Newbury and back, so as not to miss our lunch and he was very attentive to my needs whilst we were together, including wiping my nose, fairly regularly. Being a world-famous poet it would not surprise me if that kindness at did not spark off the beginnings of some sort of prose or poem. He has written of funny things and that in the past!

I have so many happy memories of these Christmas lunches that the only suitable diversion I can add today has to be something rather special. I noted I have video of beautiful pictures and cannot recall whether I have used it before but even if I have it is worthy of a second look. So click on link below and enjoy it

Be sure your speakers are on.

www.andiesisle.com/creation/magnificent.html

16 November 2001

‘My lovely’ left early this morning to catch the train to London. She had organised everything in advance like a military exercise, so much so that I asked how many weeks she was going to be away! As soon as the two carers appeared at 7.25 she was off. First stop was Olympia, Earls Court for the Antique Trade Fair to which she is invited each year, either because she happened to buy some small object years ago or she is invited through son Miles’ gallery. In any event, all one can do at this fair is to go around like Charlie in the Chocolate Factory admiring the magnificent items on display and realising how relatively poor one is!

Following that visit she then met my daughter-in-law Kimberly for lunch at the V & A (Victroria and Albert Museum) in Kensington. Apparently they do very nice meal in the cafe there.

In the meantime I followed my usual pattern except that Sarah, one of my early morning carers, staying on until Jane’ the sheep, arrived at 9.30. It was my plan to put poor Sarah to work assisting me printing out the latest batch of my blog but sadly we could not find the ink cartridge which ‘my lovely ‘had somehow spirited away.

One of my readers very kindly alerted me a new Apple product in which she knew I would be interested , a voice activated telephone. I telephoned the Apple Store in Regent Street and they confirmed that their latest phone, the IP4 (?) is indeed able to be used by voice, either by saying the telephone number or the name of the person you wish to speak to (provided you have already listed them under contacts on that telephone) and it will dial the number and, of course, you can then speak to the person, hands free. Whether one will be able to link it to broadband and just buy the telephone or get locked into some sort of annual fee, I have yet to find out. It will also read out text messages (not that I ever indulge in such things,) plus one or two other useful apps. according to the sales person to whom I spoke. Apparently this is newest and latest telephone and costs £500. So this is not the right time to buy it. Give it three months down the line and the price will come down dramatically and, no doubt, one or two of the other people in the business will have produced a clone. Having said that, it’s nice to know that it exists and when I really need one. there is such a thing that I can readily buy. It is usually me giving advice to my readers but on this occasion it worked the other way round, which is a demonstration of one of the main purposes of this blog, sharing ideas.

Those readers who have been with me for some time. Will recall that I had a period, after my broken leg ,of getting about with a walking frame with what they call gutters at the top on which one can take the weight of one’s body through your arms. I took one of these frames and bought some 4 1/2″.rubber tyred wheels and had them fitted in place of the little plastic ones and thus was able to use this frame outside for a few months. Unfortunately, we had these frames taken away some time ago, when we no longer had a use for them but now I would like to recover that one and hand it onto another patient who could benefit from it. But how to get it?

Another thing I need to work out is how I can strap a pen onto either my left or my right hand, in order to make a small tick and perhaps a number as I will shortly have some examination papers to mark from my Chinese students, as a result of the recent lectures given by my friend Paul Mitchard. I shall speak to Lynne my occupational therapist, who is brilliant at dreaming up new ideas.

As it was going to be an extra long day and Jane’ the sheep’ and I do not get on over the lavatory problems, ‘my lovely’ arranged for someone from Ross nursing to pop in, mid-afternoon to give me a pee, which they did and then I lasted until Alice got home around 6.00 and relieved Jane ‘the sheep’. It has been a successful experiment which means that ‘my lovely’ will be able to plan the more days in London in the future without worrying too much about me ,which I am very pleased about. It is terribly important that carers have regular time off when they can really relax knowing that everything is being taken care of by others.

15 November 2011

As I sit here as I sit here looking out of my study window I see a beautiful blue sky and the sunny autumn day. I feel cheated as today is Tuesday, my geriatric golf day. I did a five-day weather forecast last evening specifically for the postal address of the golf club and it clearly showed grey cloudy skies, the lowest temperature of the week (9°C) and a stronge wind. I always said I would not venture out in the winter when the temperature dropped into single figures, but looking out of the window. I really cannot believe that the warmth of the sun would not have made it bearable.

As Ollie,’ My Friendly Wheelchair Taxi Service’ very kindly allows me to telephone him as late as 8.30 on the day, to confirm whether or not I am going to the club, I have decided that this is not fair on him, although it is excellent rom my point of view as I do not have to make up my mind until an hour or so before I would leave for the club. Having said that, I feel guilty if I do ring up, even the evening before and cancel, so I have rung Debbie, Ollies wife, who organises the office, and suggested that between now and 31 March, she can take it that I will not be going unless I ring her. This way, if Ollie gets a booking for all three ambulances and there is no one to take me there. that’s the risk. I must take for this winter period as I’m certain that there will be more days when I will not go, than when I do.

The district nurse, Claire called in mid-morning, at my request to look at my feet , which were very swollen and a horrid deep purple colour. More like something you would expect to see on a cadaver in the morgue rather than a living person. One of my toes has developed a small, sore patch and knowing the dangers of any open wound on one’s legs and feet. when you are not moving around I felt justified in ask Claire, the district nurse, to pop in, and look at them. She was horrified at the colour of my feet and the fact that they were icy cold. She was so concerned that she askred the doctor to drop, in on his round, and look at them. The doctor arrived about an hour later and seemed equally concerned until I told him that I suffered from Raynard’s syndrome. (This is a condition whereby the minute blood cells close up in any sudden change of temperature, cutting off the blood supply). I also told the doctor that I took nifedipine in the winter to open those blood vessels and it was clearly time that I resumed taking it again. He seemed much relieved when he heard this. The doctor ascertained that I had a pulse in each foot, albeit a weak ones and prescribed checked outprescribed an anti-virus for the sore and recommended I resumed immediately taking the nifedipine. He also thought that some sort of electric blanket or pad under the feet might help to keep them warm and night. As to the swelling the only way I’m going to get that down is to have my feet higher than my hips, for lengthy periods, and as I cannot breathe without a respirator when I’m lying as flat, it just isn’t worth it. I shall put up with the swollen feet

Day by day we’re told the various governments are close to a solution for bailing out those countries in the Eurozone and cannot service their debts. I say close because they have that yet to cross the ‘t’s, and dot the eyes. So, in effect we are living from day-to-day praying that one or other of these countries does not go under. I have already given you the Canadian point of view concerning these debts, now, click here for the Spanish one.

14 November 2011

Jane’ the sheep’ was still indisposed today so Paul’ the computer’ stood in once more for her. Of course, as much as I like Jane, at this stage of cleaning up my computer, it suits my book to have Paul here. As usual we spent three happy hours tinkering with the computer and I think we have gone just about as far as we can in isolating the problem. Still no news from Ruben, Dragon’s, senior technician in this country, with suggestions as to where we go from here. I know he will have heard by now from the trading standards officer concerning my complaint. I rang this gentleman, Mr Missen on Friday, as I was a little surprised that he had not requested copies of factual evidence to back up my complaint against Dragon.. He told me that he had telephoned the technical support line himself. So the first complaint concerning “fraudulent misrepresentation” was quite clear to him. As to the other complaint that their programme was not ‘fit for purpose’ I should have thought he needed copies of my telephone bills showing the 55 calls and copies of the various e-mails where I set out all the problems I was incurring in using Dragon. However, Mr Nissen, informed me that they have their own way of doing things, so presumably I just have to await events.

Quite honestly, after having spent the morning doing my blog and e-mails and most of the afternoon with Paul. it was almost suppertime and I began to unwind. In fact, I watched a couple of episodes, of a fascinating drama, Lost that Paul had brought for me. It was on television. some years ago. He has a whole series and after watching the beginning. I can see how easy it will be to get hooked on it. The basic story is simple enough. A scheduled airline flight gets thrown 1000 miles of its course in a tremendous storm and crashes on a deserted island. The storyline then works its way through the various characters with flashbacks to their past and more and more fascinating things are disclosed about them.

Here is an amusing diversion foryou. What purports to be the 10 funniest golf commercials . Click here.

13. November 2011

Today, being Remembrance Sunday (As opposed to Remembrance Day-11 November) Many of the programmes on the television had some sort of wartime connection. Firstly, there was the magnificent ceremony at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, laying of wreaths by the Queen and other members of the Royal family; the heads of armed services; the clergy and a myriad of other organisations with some sort of connection with the services. It was a relatively sunny day which enhanced the beauty of this solemn occasion and the magnificence of the cards and batnds.that led the procession. Although it would have been more moving to have been in the crowd in Whitehall, watching the whole thing on television still made one very proud of the discipline and precision of the troops and other organisations involved. I think it no exaggeration to suggest that the whole thing was timed down to seconds. It has always been my view that the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, due to be held here next July, could well do worse than to include something on the lines of the Royal Tournament, which involves all of the armed services demonstrating their skills and discipline but in a very entertaining way. It is after all, something to which we are supreme and which is essentially British.

Even my wife’s favourite programme, The Antique Road Show, concentrating on memorabilia from the two World Wars. Some of the interviews were very heartrending and the interviewer and person being interviewed, more than once choked on their words with a tear streaking down their cheeks. It was all very moving and something which I totally believe should be repeated once a year to keep alive the horrors of warfare in the hope of educating the next generation to avoid such a futile waste of young men and women.

To round off the evening of television they showed My Boy Jack, the Story of Rudgard Kipling’s son struggling to get into the services to please his father and then subsequently being killed in one of the many pointless storming attempts on the German frontline trenches where, over the duration of the war, many thousands of young men were simply mowing down like wheat being harvested. I believe I heard that on the first day of the Battle of the Somme 57,000 young men lost their lives. What an horrendous waste of a generation The intensity of the Kipling’s grief on learning of his son’s death was very touching. His emotions wavered between being torn by the intensity of his loss and his immense pride that his son had lost his life in the service of his country.

I know I spent some considerable time delving into the debt problems on the EU countries in the last couple of entries, so will not touch on these again for the time being. Although nothing to do with the EU but more to do with the global financial situation I have been aware for some years of the problems that Japan had suffered in a very long recession. Ironically, along with the Germans. they were our bitterest enemies but now, some 60 years later, we must forgive but perhaps ,not forget. The Japanese are an extraordinary race of people starting from an entirely different cultural base to us. They were, in fact, for the first suicide bombers with their kamikaze pilots.

When one of their major companies fails it is not unusual for the Chief Executive Officer to commit harikari (suicide) by falling on his sword. (It as much as we can do in this country to get them to resign with a very compensation package). So one needs to understand the mentality of these strange people to appreciate how they coped with one of the worst disasters since the dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima. From this I think you will understand why I was fascinated to see photographs of various parts of Japan before, and six months after, the tsunami. and earthquake. What is so amazing about the ‘after’ photographs is that they showed how incredibly quickly. the Japanese had cleared up the mass of debris and utter devastation, in such a short time,, even to the point in one area of having cleared and ploughed the land and began physically to plant their crops.. I wonder whether, if we suffered such a calamity, we would have managed the same feat and get dropped back into business in such a short time without help or intervention from any other nation? Click here to see these amazing photographs.