20 September 2011

One of the main domestic issues taking up a great deal of media space, at present, is the removal of the ,of 51, so-called ‘ travellers’, illegally occupying the Dale Farm site, in Basildon Essex.

Some of these families are indeed regular gypsies but the bulk of them are people have just chosen that way of life. But whether travelling comes in I’m not sure as most of these people seem to be permanently encamped on this site.

This removal issue has gone on for over 10 years. The original site, which was occupied illegally by 37 travellers , was subsequently granted planning consent for such occupation. Then an adjacent scrapyard came up for sale and was bought by one of the travellers who subsequently allowed more and more of his family and friends to fill the site until they were 51 families there. A number of these travellers subsequently built semi-permanent dwellings on this site, all without planning permission. Basildon Council have been battling away for 10 years .one more, in and out of the courts, to have them evicted. Although the estimated cost of doing so is estimated at £18 million the Council considers that it must proceed with the eviction to prevent creating a precedent for building Green Belt land.

The travellers say they have nowhere to go and refuse to move. (Do they pay community tax or income tax. They certainly do work for cash and use all the facilities such as education and medical). Barricades have been erected and up to 100 supporters have built their own fortified camp on the site, I suspect many of them being people who like a good scrap and they will be the ones who will cause most of the difficulties if and when it comes to the actual eviction. Even the United Nations have become involved on the grounds of ethnic cleansing, which, of course, is complete nonsense. The United Nations would serve society far better if it were to concentrate eliminating the Somali pirates and bandits who live openly in an ostentatious style paid for by their ill gotten gains. There have also been some people who say that by forcing them to move we are infringing their human rights if you take that argument to its logical conclusion persons human rights would have precedence over most legislation that has been passed in order to protect society as a whole.

According to the various television programmes that I have seen, dedicated to this issue, all of these 51 families have been offered alternative accommodation but have rejected it on the grounds that it is ‘culturally unacceptable’. In other words they prefer living in caravans. One programme that I saw showed that a great number of these so-called travellers actually own some beautiful villas in a village in Ireland where 80% of the houses, in that village, are owned by them.

The bailiffs and police have been ordered to evict these travellers using the minimum of force necessary but inevitably some people are determined to make trouble and there are one or two elderly sick people amongst the travellers who will have to be dealt with even more carefully than the others. These supporters, many of whom,, as I say, I suspect are troublemakers who move from one demonstration to another , will undoubtedly cause the most trouble. Some of them have chained themselves to immovable objects and one man has concreted his arm inside a 44 gallon oil drum. The evictions were meant to start yesterday but, almost unbelievably, the High Court granted a last minute injunction on a new ground raised by the travellers which will be challenged by the local Council in court on Friday

I cannot see any way that the Council can give in on this issue. Once you allow any single person to build on Green Belt land then the principal precedent is established and our beautiful countryside could be ruined by ribbon development adjoining village and town. There have been numerous examples in the past where people have constructed a building without planning consent and it almost always ended with the property being demolished.

Watch this space!

 

19 September 2011

We are all only too aware of the current state of our economy and the need for every one of us to play our part not only to save money but also not to waste it.

Hospitals have been commissioned and have brand new wards left empty, for one reason or another that the hospital is unable to afford to run them. It is therefore up to each individual to do what he or she can to save money being wasted wherever possible.

It was for this reason that, at least six months ago, I asked the people responsible for installing Possum equipment, in my office, to remove it and thus end the rental charges to the NHS. I should explain that the equipment that was fitted consisted of a freestanding screen connected to a push button on my desk which changed the mode displayed on the screen and also moved the cursor up, down and sideways.

This piece of equipment operated the lights in the office and also displayed telephone numbers. The idea being that you could move the cursor to where a particular number was displayed and it would bring it up for you or, alternatively, you could move the cursor up and down the columns selecting the numerals which made up the telephone number.

This all sounded marvellous until you came to try it out and then the archaic nature of the software became obvious and it would drive you mad trying to use the telephone element of it. In these modern times of touch screens and voice activated equipment this Possum was out of the ark. I mentioned it to the people who installed it and I was told that they had no money to develop something more modern. In the end all  I used it for was to switch the lights on and off, although as ‘my lovely’ came in each evening to take me back to the house the switching off of the lights would have been no big deal for her, so the whole thing was a colossal waste of money. However, having said that, it may well be that there are other people who are more patient than I am who found they could get some benefit from of this equipment ,however old-fashioned it was.

When I broke my leg, in May 2010, and it became obvious that I was not going to be able to get back into the office, we asked the Possum people to remove the equipment and terminate their loan agreement and thus hopefully save money. At the same time I asked them if they could find a different alarm system to the one I currently had on my wrist as my hands and arms were getting so weak that I could hardly muster up enough strength to press the button. Apparently this gave them a reason for not removing the main equipment. To be honest I have no idea what arrangement these people have with the NHS but not being cynical if the equipment is leased, which I suspect it is, then it would suit them to leave it in situ as long as possible. I am sure that there is a reasonable explanation for this but even if the NHS owns this equipment outright and are not paying any rental costs for it, I have no doubt that there is a patient somewhere who has been waiting a long time to have this equipment installed.

I have chased up this alternative alarm system two or three times and did so again this morning, through Lynne, my occupational therapist. They acknowledged that the request had been made for an alternative alarm for my wrist sometime ago but they were waiting for confirmation of funding from Hillingdon Hospital (Heaven knows where Hillingdon Hospital come into the picture, unless it is where Mr moneybags for the PCT is situated) .This for a tiny wrist alarm when all of their expensive equipment lies dormant in my office.what a waste of money. I could give you another half a dozen instances where money is being wasted through inefficient administration. Multiply this sort of nonsense by a few thousand and you can see how it would be possible to save billions on the NHS budget if it was properly administered. Having said that, of course, I am immensely grateful to the NHS for any of the equipment that they havs kindly loaned to me but instead of suggesting the loss of front line nurses and doctors, if economies are to be made, then I believe they are available in the back office.

I know that I told my readers that I would not give them a blow by blow description of the various matches in the rugby World Championships in New Zealand, but I must just mention England’s win over Georgia. This was a match that England were supposed to win very easily, which indeed they did in terms of the score, but they will have to tighten up their game if they are to go much further in this competition.

I am not saying I have seen a notice like this in an NHS hospital but I’ve certainly seen some as ludicrous as this one. Click here to see what I’m talking about

18 September 2011

Two things I meant to mention yesterday for other MND sufferers and their carers. One, is that the fasciculations in both arms and legs ceased some considerable time ago. maybe even up to 12 months. When I stopped to think about this I wondered whether it meant that all the damage that was going to be done, had been done and that I might plateau from there on in. Sadly, this did not prove to be so in my case. As the readers will have noted my legs continued to weaken until I could no longer walk even with a frame and my arms are steadily getting weaker and weaker so that I can no longer able to feed myself or even hold my electric toothbrush. This last piece of lost independence occurred over the last few days

it is for this reason that I have spent the last four months battling with the voice activation people as I am becoming more and more dependent upon voice. As a stop gap I jointly designed a splintered finger with my occupational therapist, Lynne, which is used in conjunction with an articulated armrest loaned to me by my MND team at Addenbrooke’s Hospital. This certainly allows me to press any key at present and this, in conjunction with ‘sticky keys’ means that as long as I have some movement in my left arm I can pretty well managed, in conjunction with voice commands, but what I am planning for is the day when I do not have any movement in my arms at all.

I hope this is helpful and if any reader, or their carer, would like to discuss this further then make a comment on this entry from which I will glean your e-mail address and be in touch direct.

As well as my body I sometimes think I’m losing my mind. Let me give you an example. At the golf club the other day one particular member was extremely kind and helpful and he happened to mention, in the course of conversation, that he was going into hospital the following day for an operation , which sounded pretty serious but he made light of it. I made a mental note to ring his wife two or three days after the operation just to check up on how the operation went and to wish him well. I may be forgiven, for what I did next, as this was a relatively new member who shared the same Christian name with another relatively new member. So what do I do? True to my mental note I rang up what I thought was the member’s home and asked the good lady who answered the telephone, who I assumed was my friend’s wife, how the operation had gone. She sounded a little puzzled but then said, oh yes, you mean the one he had on his foot nine months ago. That must be it, I said, thankful for the get out ,and mumbled something about meaning to ring before but I’m sure she understood how quickly the weeks fly by etc etc. Of course, I felt .a complete idiot and then put things right by ringing the right member’s wife. ( I’m pleased to say the operation appears to have been completely successful). What a wally I am!.

The cricket season being over, so far as I’m concerned, I have now turned my attention to watching the odd game of rugby, in the World Championships taking place in New Zealand but, unlike the cricket, I promise you I will not be giving you a blow by blow description of any particular game that I watch.

Following on from making a complete fool of myself, as told in the story above, here’s another guy who now knows that if you have any cans of paint in your car you will always put them in the boot. . Click here to see what can happen if you don’t.

17 September 2011

Enough about me, (yesterday’s entry) what is happening in the wider world.? Sadly most of it is bad news. Yesterday confirmation came that all four of the miners trapped in the goldmine in South Wales have died. This was one of the small private coal mines that is still running. As I understand it, it has a high-quality coal seam, worth mining on a small scale and the seven miners who worked it were prepared to do so in order to make a living. A very sad conclusion to their initiative.

The next horror story concerns the young couple who were taking a luxury holiday on a beach in Kenya. They were attacked, the husband was shot and the wife abducted. To date there is no clear evidence as to who is responsible for this atrocity but the likelihood is that it was Somalian bandits who drove the 30 miles across the sea from Somalia by speedboat. No doubt, we will hear shortly about ransom demands. The most awful aspect of this particular horror story is that I do not believe that these two people were targeted specifically. It was just bad luck that they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

On an even wider scale the uprisings in the Middle East continue. In Libya, Gaddafi and a few loyal followers – mainly foreign mercenaries apparently- seem to be trapped in two small corners of the country. – the capital Tripoli having fallen to the rebels some days ago. One of the sons has already fled and I suspect Gaddafi will do this same in the very near future. There is no going back now as the new council representing the new regime has been officially recognised by Great Britain and France with the prime ministers of both countries having made a short visit there. The biggest problem for the new regime is that under Gaddafi there was no proper civil service set up, so this new democratic state will have to start some form of administration virtually from scratch. Whether it goes the Islamic way with Shari Law prevailing over all others or whether it becomes a true democracy with which the Western world can deal with comfortably, I think, remains in the lap of the gods.

With the dictators in Egypt and Syria having been toppled, I suspect the next big insurrection, will be in Bahrain, even though the earlier attempts have been brutally crushed

The economy remains as fragile as ever with inflation rising to almost 5% and working people everywhere beginning to feel the pinch from the current squeeze. Despite this we face a nationwide strike in a number of the public services in November if the union members follow the recommendation of their committees. This has to be sheer lunacy, as I said in a previous entry.

On the wider front still I suppose the good news is that the threat of Greece defaulting on its debt repayments has diminished pro tem with Germany and France vowing to save the euro, then, on the other hand, there are those who say that Greece could be thrown out of the Euro market without having too. deleterious effect on that currency. Who knows? Every three economists asked you will get four different answers!

So much for the state of affairs at home and overseas. Not a happy picture. Having said that it is still possible that we could all come through unscathed but it will be touch and go. As ever I remain the eternal optimist.

To demonstrate my optimism I have included a video on futuristic technology in the home and office. I apologise to the family and friends of the couple in Kenya and the miners in South Wales. I do hope that none of you think I’m being flippant, I feel deeply for your grief.

Click here for the PowerPoint slides. Wait a moment or two for them to download and then click on the fourth icon from the left in the tray at the bottom of the picture which should say ‘Slideshow’.

16 September 2011

It is now precisely 4 years to the month since I became aware, when I was working out at the gym, that I had a problem of weakness in my left arm. At the time, I put it down to old age and did nothing about it until a health check-up at BUPA, scheduled for January. It was following that that I was referred to a neurologist and after nine tests was diagnosed with MND. Looking at the various reports on the disease, as one does, there was a clear pattern as to the prognosis. 50% of people who incurred MND were likely to die within 14 months, some less and some more. The other half would go between two and five years. When I raised this with the MND team, that I was ultimately referred to at Addenbrooke’s, they said that one in 10 could go for 10 years, so I immediately raised my hand and said I would have that one. Although, I am in a pretty sad way limb and lung wise, I have certainly beaten the first 50% and in a years time will have beaten the second 50% and will be in the no man’s land of the one in 10. The way I feel now, provided my lungs do not deteriorate too much more, I feel as though I might go and at least another year or two. Time will tell. Having said that I have noticed, quite recently, that after the is also in the company of other people were either join in the conversation, I feel quite fatigued and slightly breathless although I would have never believed it if you’d told me, I’m usually quite happy to go to bed at 9.30, I suspect it will not be too long before I need to use my respirator for brief periods in the evening.

Paul ‘the computer’ came round for a couple of hours this afternoon, as for ‘Jane the sheep’ is still suffering from a cold. I wish her well and a speedy recovery but with Paul standing in this gave Alice the chance catch up with some shopping and other errands. An added bonus to me as we were able to continue working on the media element my computer. I’m pretty sure I’ve cracked the simpler stuff but there are one or two niceties involving the videos with which I need to get a grips. I do hope that my readers understand that in order to access these Anecdotes; Videos; Photographs and Jokes, which I usually add when the blog is getting rather boring, appear at the end of the entry, all the reader usually has to do is to click on the highlighted word to get it up. Quite often you have to wait a minute or two for it to download but most of the things that I put on are either extremely funny or exquisitely beautiful if they are videos and photographs. Some of the jokes might be ‘old hat’ but they are usually very funny. What surprises me is with such a large readership-around 2500 a day-I do not get more comments on some of the more controversial subjects that I deal with. If you want to leave a comment all you need to do is to click on the comment I can at the bottom of the entry and I will always reply on the same page within a day or two.

England reinforced India’s misery in the final of the ODI’s cricket at Cardiff by beating them in a rain interrupted match by six wickets with 10 balls to spare. Poor old India, they came here as number one in the world and failed to win a single match on this tour and now go home ranked number six.

As most of this blog as being about me and my ailments, this little Sick Note   may amuse you,

15 September 2011

My mother (95) and husband Richard (92) were driven down today from Shropshire to have lunch with us Smiler was able to join us at the last minute as he had an appointment cancelled. Fortunately the weather was just warm and sunny enough for us to have lunch in the garden. (Will this be the last time!?). Smiler was in good form and is a very good conscientious son comes down regularly for brief visits to check up on me and, quite sensibly to make sure that his mother is not overdoing things. We love seeing him and of course Chloe, when she can tear yourself away from her family.

Mother and Richard like all good lunch guests did not out stay their welcome and left at 3.00. I think they are both absolutely amazing as they seemed just as perky when they left as they did when they arrived. In fact, I was the one who was beginning to feel the fade. I have noticed that I do get tired more easily than I used. In fact, in a recent ‘Patients like Me’survey, I noted that most MNC patients claimed that fatigue was one of their main symptoms and at that time I was convinced that this did not apply to me. However, if I was filling in the same survey today I would give a different answer.

Anyway it was lovely to see them all, even for a brief visit. Richard, as an old naval hand has turned himself into a very competent carer as my mother’s Alzheimer’s precludes her from doing very much. He has even taken up cooking with, he assures me, some success. They are wonderful example of two elderly people managing on their own. They get absolutely no help from social services and Richard, being the independent soul that he is, refuses meals on wheels. They are typical of millions of other elderly people in this country managing on their own but they are and should be an inspiration to others. Of course, being so far away, we worry about them particularly with me being ‘hors de combat’. Fortunately we have some very good old friends, the Prirz’s, who lives close by and who very kindly drop in, on a regular basis, to check up on them. In addition, as they were once pillars of the community they are surrounded by friends and people who offer to do things for them. (Which, to the best of my knowledge, Richard has never tested) So we are very fortunate in that respect. Anyway, it was a very successful visit which, depending on the health of all three of us, we will probably repeat in the Spring.

One of our little jokes is that they are responsible for the cut in the Ministry Of Defence’s annual budget. As I have both been drawing pensions from the Ministry for around 35 years according to the actuaries should have popped off long ago. This, is symptomatic of what will happen to the present generation of small children. Most of them can expect to live to 100 and without the retirement age being raised to at least 70, the government will find it extremely difficult to afford their pensions. This is why the unions balloting on all-out strike against the government’s proposal to bring them into line with the private sector, i.e. increase their contribution slightly and the age from (in some instances 55) to 67 like the rest of us. What on earth is the point in striking against the inevitable, as we say in English ‘cutting of one’s nose to spite one’s face’. There is no way that the government can give in and this without leaving a massive problem for the next-generation and I admire them for taking such a bold step which will inevitably cost them votes at the next election.

I know that the English have a reputation for always starting a conversation complaining about the weather but really this year has been immensely disappointing and this after what appeared to be a very long winter last year. My main concern will be getting to the golf club on Tuesday’s, my intention, at present, is to try to go every week when the temperature is at or above 10°C and of course, it is dry. If 10° proves to be too cold I shall have to raise it a little. The problem is, as you will appreciate, as I cannot move my limbs I will feel the cold much more than someone who is playing and walking.

After all that misery and complaining I think the reader deserves some compensation so have included a video of some absolutely beautiful scenic views. Click the highlighted link below.
This is one of the most beautiful and meaningful streaming videos .
Be sure your speakers are on.
  
www.andiesisle.com/creation/magnificent.html

 

14 September 2011

Unbelievably, I have not heard from Nuance, the Dragon people, since Reuben’s video call to the writers of the software for this programme, in America, 2 (or was it 3) weeks ago..*(I got this far before my voice activation programme stop responding, which is typical of the sort the problem I’m having at present. In fact I tried for two hours to boot up Dragon and Word together in order to write my blog and in the end had to give up. (another ‘Not responding’ here.) You can see therefore how absolutely impossible it is for me to get stuck into a proper blog entry with only one splinted finger working. I am sorry to whinge but it is desperately frustrating. For that reason this will be the shortest entry that I have made since this the blog started.

Although ‘Paul the computer’ came this afternoon we concentrated more on the media side of things than voice activation as I’m waiting for Ruben to telephone me with the result of the video-conference..

Bearing in mind the distance away that my mother Richard live I think the following is apposite. Click here for the PowerPoint slides. Wait a moment or two for them to download and then click on the fourth icon from the left in the tray at the bottom of the picture which should say ‘Slideshow’.

12 September 2011

I‘m glad to say that my seriously runny nose was back to normal this morning when I removed the respirator. ‘My lovely ‘seems convinced that it was the result of an allergic reaction to the amount of alcohol that I consumed at Lord’s, however much I tried to convince her that it was a very modest amount! Although it’s an alarming thought that she might well be right. (Aren’t wives always right!) Certainly 10% of the people who take Riluzole do have such an allergic reaction. As I’ve been taking it now for over three years it might well be that I am now joining the 10%.

‘Jane that sheep’ had a bad cold and so her lodger,’Paul the computer’substituted for her this afternoon, I have to be particularly careful about not catching cold as a chest infection apparently could turn to pneumonia and carry me off. Although I was sorry about Janes’s, as it happened , it suited me as Paul is still working on the business of attaching media to the blog so we spent a couple of hours together on this. I think we are nearly there, after which Paul will go back over the last year and tidy up some of my mistakes,

I rang the wheelchair people this afternoon and asked them to hurry up with the provision of the chin control for the wheelchair. With the increasing weakening of my right hand I managed to lose control of the chair yesterday, one of them landing me in a flower bed, and on the second occasion I went round in circles very quickly scattering a number of members at Lord’s, so the sooner I have an alternative way of controlling the chair the better.

If you want to see some amazing futuristic technology, currently being developed in Japan, click here. Again the patient it can take a minute or 2 to load such a big file.