29 July 2011

A quiet-ish day. It was just as well because I had had a bad night with pain in my hip’s and shoulder where there is no longer any flesh. Just skin and bone. I have spoken to.Dr Margaret Saunders who has suggested that I try slow release tramadol at night.

My problems with Dragon are still unresolved and have made yet another ‘remote assist ‘appointment with me next week but in the meantime sent a great list of things for me to send to them in advance of the session. Fortunately, Paul popped round with a new computer lead for me and I was able to get him to deal with Dragon’s request. I’m afraid he was rather blunt in his reply and suggested that to ask someone in the advanced stages of MND to come up with this amount of information was like asking someone in a wheelchair to climb Everest. His words. Not mine, I just hope it does not sour relationship. The technicians have been extremely helpful and patient but the long and the short of it is that where I was getting something like 99% accuracy and 100% recognition of commands I’m achieving nothing like that degree of accuracy at present which can be very frustrating. What’s more we have had at least half a dozen sessions on one half hours, so far, trying to resolve this problem.

Speaking of that I do hope that my readers are clicking on these links at the end of the entries. For example, the one on 4 July – the speaking dog- is hilarious, as is the one I added yesterday, dealing with a voice activated lift.. Also, the one, the day before when I showed how the American using 454 bit robotic camera, can pick out any face in the crowd up to about half a mile away. Amazin technology

Paul ‘the omputer ‘(to distinguish him from my other good friend, Paul Newman) has been an absolute star and being immensely helpful with my computer. He is trying to devise a way of me embedding videos, photos and PowerPoint slides, into my blog using Word. This is something that I had had least four sessions with Dragon on, but failed in the end to devise a simple method

Some year or so ago I decided I needed new reading glasses and the optician came to the house and tested my eyes I had known for some time that I have a star cataract on one eye and he confirmed it and said there was little point in new glasses until such times as that had been dealt with. As I am finding it increasingly difficult to read my computer and I see double images on the television, I have asked my GP, Dr Law, to make an appointment for me to have this cataract removed.

Harriott, the head of Ross nursing, whose girls look after me, popped in this afternoon to check out that all was well. She’s had her family over here from Shanghai for the last month and that following a short holiday in Cyprus, so she’s got out of touch. She is a very caring and helpful lady whom we have the comfort of knowing lives only about 500 yards away and would always popping to help us in any emergency. Her girls ‘to a man’are absolutely first-class and all very carefully chosen and trained by Harriet to ensure that they fit in with the rest of the local girls.

28 July 2011

 

Doreen, my long serving secretary, came in this morning for her routine filing and tidying up session. She must been with me for around 35 years and knows where everything is so I don’t know what we would do without her.

 

According to the famous Meteorological Office the weather forecast for this afternoon was meant to be sunny and quite warm so as a result I had decided to go out into the garden in my wheelchair to top up my sun tan and I dressed accordingly, shorts short-sleeved shirt etc.

In the event it was fine as long as the sun was out but chilly when it wasn’t. What on earth has happened to our summer?

 

As my friend Barton William=Powlett was coming after lunch to do some voluntary babysitting, to give Alice the opportunity of popping out for an hour or two. I thought we could sit in the garden together, whilst we were out there we designed a stand for my smoking stick so the cigar would be up at mouth level when standing on the table all the tray of my wheelchair we also designed a similar stand for my plastic two-handed bottle which is invariably too low for me to drink from without and very long straw. Barton has the most fantastically fitted out woodworking workshop and is very clever with his hands. He actually made dogleg oak staircase for his daughter’s house in London. I was always reasonably good on the design side and could draw up precisely what was required but when it came to the physical work, say, for a mortice and tenon joint, I was just as likely to end up two tenons or two mortice’s.

Now for today’s little joke. The Wine Taster
 

27 July 2011

M regular readers will know that I have been having a certain amount of trouble with my voice activation-Dragon Naturally Preferred version 11. Now, I have used this particular program since the first version came out, something like 20 years ago, and in those days it cost around £1000 and, to be honest, it was pretty useless. I seem to remember that you had to dictate to lines at a time and having checked that they were okay transfer them to your text document. A slogan of glorious process hardly worthwhile unless you could not at all. As each version has been released this software has got better and better..

When I received version 11 I found it was reproducing my dictated text .pretty well 100% but was not responding correctly to my commands. It is absolutely amazing how many things you can do with commands not only the default ones within the program itself but your own special commands such as’ my usual e-mail address#, or ‘my usua signature ‘.

After three sessions with the Dragon technical team, around an hour and a half each, we had still not really improved matters very much so in desperation the senior technician decided to send me version 11.5, which we loaded yesterday. For the moment it does appear to be an improvement but I will let my readers know, in due course, if version 11.5 has solved the problem.

In the meantime readers might be amused to see this little video on voice activation. Just click on the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3JcHhA7M-Y

26 July 2011

It is exactly one year to the day for the beginning of the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Most of the venues are complete, or well on the way to completion, and even it is early stage there is an air of anticipation. Already there have been complains about obtaining tickets for various events. I can understand that with so many countries involved the allocation of tickets must be very tricky. I know that my own little family made an application and were awarded tickets for events for which, I believe, they are not particularly interested (I could be wrong) such as archery and women’s hockey but apparently those people who have been disappointed in the first round of applications will be given priority in the next round so maybe they will then get tickets for the events which they really want.

The only Olympic Games in which I have been personally involved were those in Australia in 1956. I say involved, to this extent. My office had volunteered to look after one of the minor teams and were allocated Ethiopian. I decided that the enormous influx of people into Melbourne at the time could make life pretty unbearable so I took one of the empty planes going back to New Zealand and enjoyed three glorious weeks the working my way round the North and the South Island. The highlights of which was the three day wore in the Milford Sound and skiing in Christchurch – there is waterskiing in the morning and snow skiing in the afternoon. Is anyone other place in the world that I have managed this rather bizarre combination and that was in Beirut. Whilst I was away New Zealand the office staff were doing their stuff with the Ethiopians and as a gesture of gratitude were each given a pair of purple silk draws (boxers!) with a note of thanks from the Emperor, Haille Selassie,

It was another golf day today but the weather did not live up to ‘summer weather’, indeed it was overcast, quite chilly and started to drizzle just as I was leaving at 2.15. Nevertheless, I had a very enjoyable time as usual. Griggsy was away in France with the whole of the Griggs tribe. His daughter-in-law, Katherine, has a very generous boss who lets her have his chateau for the month of July. However, John Gray was there and not only fed me at lunchtime but also produced another one of his excellent Monte Cristo No.4’s so I was able sit out after lunch and have a pleasant smoke (this was particularly generous of John as he used to enjoy a cigar himself by abstains in deference to wife Wendy’s weak lungs.)

In my e-mail inbox today there was one from Patients like Me gently reminding me that I had not updated my own profile for 73 days. However, one interesting piece of information including on the web page was that they had carried out a survey and out of 175 questionnaires returned had determined that the top three symptoms most complained of by MND, patients were fatigue; fasciculations and anxious moods. I have to say that at this stage this is not my experience. I agree I might get a little tired towards the evening but perhaps no more than any other 77-year-old and I do not have a rest in the afternoon. My fasciculations (violent muscle twitching) stopped some little time ago, I cannot say exactly when. Whether this is good news or not I shall have to check with my team on my next assessment. It could mean that the muscles where the fasciculations occured are now well and truly dead! Alternatively, it might mean that I have plateaued, which will be good news. As for anxious moods I really cannot acknowledge suffering from them. Of course, I get frustrated from time to time because I cannot plug something in, or pick something up, but I really don’t believe I suffer from anxiety.

Here’s an interesting piece of technology for you I just hope it works when you click on the link.Just pick a person in the crowd and keep double clicking on their face.Very impressive engineering – this will help law enforcement.

You used to be able to get lost in the crowd, but not anymore. Double click on any area in the picture to bring the person closer.

Or, just click the mouse and use the mouse wheel to bring them closer.

This is a photograph of 2009 Obama Inauguration. You can see IN FOCUS the face of EACH individual in the crowd.

You can scan and zoom to any section of the crowd.   Wait a few seconds. Double click anywhere.  And the focus adjusts to give you a very identifiable close up.

The picture was taken with a robotic 1474 megapixel camera (295 times the standard 5 megapixel camera).  Every one attending could be scanned after the event, should something have gone wrong during it.

Click on GIGAPAN

24 July 2011

England starting this fourth day of the Test Match against India, where they left off last night, at 5 without loss, in the second inning, or 193 ahead overall.. They then struggled through to 56 before a clatter of wickets fell. Pieterson and Cooke were each out for one run and Bell out for a duck, leaving England at 62/5 Suddenly India must have begun to believe they could actually win this first test match rather than playing for a draw. However, a splendid partnership . between Prior and Broad took England, at tea, to 362 ahead with four wickets in hand. Then Prior and Broad. took thier partnership to 162 when England declared with both batsmen not out, Prior with a magnificent 103 and Broad with a commendable 74 putting England 457 ahead. The highest score. any test side hss made in their second inning to win the match was 418 in the West Indies by India.

 

So with 128 overs to go England were in a very strong position .In the event, India finished the day 80 a for one wicket. leaving them to score 398 to win tomorrow in 98 overs or, put another way, leaving England nine wickets to get for victory

25 July 2011

Lord’s excelled itself on this fifth day of the test match between England and India . It let in free under 16’s and old-age pensioners and all others for a flat £10. As a result there was an enormously excitable crowd of youngsters, some, no doubt, with their fathers and uncles who decided to take a day off, or perhaps felt unwell and rang in sick!

So excited were many members of today’s 28,000 strong crowd that some of them went to extraordinary lengths to ensure that they obtained a seat. One man, for example, walked home last evening to see how long it would take him. Finding it was two hours he left home again at 2 a.m. to arrive around 4.00 a.m. to join the already mounting queue. A number of the youngsters interviewed by the Test Match Special commentators, prior to the match, said they got up around 4.30 to join the queue and one dear little six-year-old girl said that she was so excited she had been unable to sleep all night. Not unsurprisingly the ground quickly filled up with scarcely an empty seat to be had, even the debenture holders seats were ultimately filled with keen youngsters. What on earth Lord’s would have done had a debenture holder turned up demanding his seat I know not. I can only think they would have offered them one of the hospitality boxes..

Undoubtedly today’s crowd were in for an exciting finish and also for many of them the only chance to see their great hero, Tendulkar, attempt to achieve the only accolade he has failed to win and that is a place on the honours board in the Pavilion for batsmen who have scored a century on the hallowed turf. In the event, England took three useful wickets and India went into lunch at 144 for 4 with Tendulkar still batting having scored 9 runs. In the end, Anderson put an end to the great man’s hopes and those of India for winning the match, by taking Tendulkar’s wicket lbw for 12, with India on 165, an hour or so after lunch. The youngsters were treated to a wonderful day’s cricket with India putting up a spirited defence. despite which, they were all out, 196 runs behind England – Anderson having taken five wickets. A wonderful victory for England against the world number one side and a great beginning to the test series.

21/23 July 2011

I advise any non-cricket fans to skip this entry as it covers my three days at Lord’s for the beginning of the first test match against India. The 100^th. between England and India. As a result there were a great number of famous past players who were to parading around, around the ground, in golf buggies. On Sunday morning.

The good faithful Ollie turned up each morning, in his’ friendly wheelchair van’, sharp at 8.30 after ‘my lovely’ had dressed me in all my usual cricket gear, Blazer; MCC tie together with a masquerade rose (in bud yellow with a streak of red which matched the ‘egg and bacon coloured’ tie! ) We encountered heavy traffic on the M25 and the Finchley Road on the Thursday and Friday but on both occasions managed to get to the ground in time for the first ball. My good helpful friend Paul Newman, having been alerted by Ollie on his mobile, kindly met me on each occasion and we made a quick visit to the disabled loo so I could start off with an empty bladder to make way for the champagne was to come.

In January, when our priority booking forms came through, I had purchased guest tickets for 14 friends or family having no idea whether I would be fit enough or not to go myself so had posted their tickets to them all in advance just in case. So you can imagine how thrilled I was to have made it this far and able to go and still enjoy myself

My guest for the first day was my oldest friend Geoffrey Hanscombe, (GAH) literally the oldest in both senses of the word – he gave me a job in my school holidays when I was 15 and we’ve been friends ever since. He is an absolutely marvellous old boy who will be 94 on August 4^th.. I have been privileged to be invited to make a speech at his 70th, 80th and 90th birthday parties as well as his 65th wedding anniversary. He is also the person who absolutely insisted on paying for the magnificent private dinner party given for me for my 70th birthday at Rules restaurant. After last year we would meet regularly at Sheekey’s restaurant, just off Charing Cross Road and lunch on delicious fish washed down with two bottles of champagne. Even in his 90s GAH could hold his own with me in his capacity for champagne. I certainly miss those wonderful lunches. When inviting him to cricket, in the past, I’ve always met him outside Grace Gates but as I was due to arrive roughly at the same time, I arranged for the good Paul to do the honours. I told him to look out for an old gentleman wearing a beret with a string of onions round his neck. The onions were, of course, my little joke but the beret was something that GAH often wore, so he was easily recognisable. I’m glad to say that Geoffrey was on amazingly good form, in fact, I think he was probably better than I was as I had been constipated for the best part of a week. I left at the tea interval at 3.45 whereas Geoffrey had planned to stay on until 6.00 but as it started to rain just as I left so I suspect he also left early

England lost the toss and India put us in. We scored a respectable 107 for the loss of two wickets when rain stopped play just before tea, when, as I said, I had already left so was lucky enough not to miss any of the action.

On Friday, the second day. the weather was absolutely perfect. Fluffy white clouds broken by large areas of blue sky and sunshine throughout. England batted all day before declaring, with six overs to go, with a very respectable 474 for 8, after Pieterson had made a magnificent double century. England then put India in for the last six overs, obviously hoping to take at least one wicket. At the time I thought this was probably a mistake as they could have added another 30 or so runs to the score making a very difficult target for India to reach to avoid the follow-on (and so, in fact it) proved. In the event England failed to take an Indian wicket leaving India with a closing score of 17/0.

I had two guests on this second day, John Gray- who left his magnificent Bentley in our drive and travelled with me in the ambulance – and Simon Tulson. Alice was so thrilled to have this beautiful car sitting in our drive all day enhancing, our property, I think she would have happily left at there permanently!. Unfortunately Simon, being the conscientious chap he is, decided to slip into the office before coming to Lord’s and inevitably got snared up on some great drama and sadly did not arrive until just after I had left.. I was really sorry about it as he works so hard that he really needed a good day off, but at least I tried. John very kindly bought some Montecriso No 4’s, which I enjoyed smoking the following day.

Saturday is always the most popular day in a five-day test match because the scene is set usually one way or the other. Also, on this particular occasion we were privileged to see, the world’s greatest batsmen, after Don Bradman, Tendulkar, attempting to score his first century at Lord’s which would have been his 300^th. in test cricket,|,but for him, he was disappointingly bowled out for 34 by Broad. He will now have to make a final attempt in India’s second innings. However Dravid saved the day for India with a fine century, at last getting his name on the, honours board in the Pavilion.

There were even more of my friends, on this particular day, sitting in the seats we have occupied for the last 40 years or so, the front row on the ground of the Warner stand. James Barnett; Paul Newman; Roger Goodwin; MC Patel with his two nephews;; Anthony Baine- Walker, with his regular guest’ the Cqlonel’ and, to my great surprise and delight. Jeremy and Suzy Brinton.

These, of course, in addition to my two guests Karyl and Monty who sat with me all day. Karyl and Monty produced, a wonderful picnic, to which, unfortunately, I did not do justice due to my bloated stomach. Another old faithful, Judith, a friend of Paul Newman’s – who. as a result, has become a good friend of mine – was unable to come, but very generously sent me a bottle, of champagne, none of which, I enjoyed (or was even offered!) but at least the boys, no doubt, enjoyed it! Outside, on the lawn at lunchtime, like bees round a honey pot. were the two generous brothers, Bob and Groff Ledermsn feeding and watering the 5000 from their much beloved brother’s Memorial bench.

Amongst the crowd, with the brothers Ledaman, were many of my fellow Worlington members/ Alex Sexton; PJ Cooper; Roger Dalzell; Chris Wykes and I’m sure there were one or two others I have failed /to mention

The cricket was a little more exciting today and England bowled magnificently getting the Indians all out for just 286 (12 past the point at which England could have forced the follow-on) and the day ended with England on 15 without loss. No doubt we will knock on a couple of hundred runs or so before declaring and then leaving India a slightly possible achievable target but with England with enough time to an attempt to bowl out the opposition by the end of the fifth day.

For me, as I say, it was a great personal triumph and I was delighted to have survived three days without undue exhaustion and with the pleasure of seeing so many old friends again. Heaven knows what I will do next year, if I’m still around. I would love to think I will be able to go again next year as all the staff with whom I am involved, and in particular Steve Crocker, who is in charge of the wheelchair area, are now very familiar with me and my routine and are very helpful and accommodating. . We sweep into Gate 6 with the ambulance where the staff are likely to say good morning Professor and never even check my membership card I then drive the short distance in the wheelchair enclosure passing in front of the pavilion where Steve Crocker again greets me ‘good morning Professor’ and assures mr that he had kept a batch of seats and space for me in the Wheelchair Enclosure. Everyone is so immensely kind. welcoming and helpful that it is a great pleasure to be back there.

20 July 2011

Any reader logging into my blog from today will no longer have to read the lengthy introduction explaining the object behind it. Instead I have converted this introduction into a DVD (with grateful thanks to Monti) as much as anything apart from introducing myself to the reader in a much more personal way, it will give other MND sufferers and their carers an indication of the physical condition that one can be in, with this awful disease, almost 4 years after the first indications of it were observed. Having said that, of course, I should stress that every MND patient is different- some will  deteriorate faster and others more slowly. No doctors yet seem to be able to forecast, with any degree of accuracy. the slope of deterioration. In my case, for example the early diagnosis was that I was possibly suffering from ‘flail arms syndrome’, which to me indicated that I could expect my arms to give up before anything else. This has not proved to be the case, my legs and hands.are all completely useless but I still have 30/ 40% movement left in my arms.

Another storm has arisen. This one in The Times (19 July,p.4) under the heading of ‘Lord’s give ladies a dressing down’ Some 12 years ago the members of the MCC ( Lord’s, the hallowed ground of cricket) were invited to vote on whether or not to allow women to become membersr the club – this after it being a ‘men only’ club for 212 years. Predictably, in this modern age, the women won the day and since then 50 or so have been admitted.. I predicted at the time that this would cause ructions in the future and so it has proved  (I actually voted against, in no way being a misogynist, quite the contrary, but merely because I could not see why women continue to invade what have been traditionally men’s domains).

The articles in The Times today complained because women were turned away for being ‘inappropriately clad’  The MCC dress code for women stipulates that they should wear “dresses”; or skirts or trousers worn with blouses instead women have been trying to enter the pavilion wearing jeans and have upset the men by taking their jackets of once inside; male members are forbidden to do so. Two women, it appears, in  have tried entering the pavilion in jeans, one of which ‘had large holes in them’

A second article appeared on the same page of The Times in which was reproduced yet again, the now iconic photograph of me with two of my chums in  MCC blazers, taken by Graham Morris, The Times photographer.. Cathy Harris, who is clearly a misandrist (a man hater) says ’you only have to mention MCC and the image of row upon row of blazered, often overweight, men occupying the members stand comes to mind’ (presumably this is the reason for the inclusion of the photograph. Blazered  my two chums might be, but there are certainly not ‘overweight’)  She goes on to say  ’it is ridiculous to expect ladies to wear blazers or jackets at all times’. I  am sure that no-one is suggesting that they should have to wear jackets but if they enter the pavilion in a jacket – as part of a smart trouser suit, as Ms Harris suggests – then they should leave the jacket on, as indeed we men are bound to do.

Now you can see the good sens¢ that I  displayed in voting against the introduction of women in the first place. I’m surprised that my mobile was not hacked into, at the time,  by an overzealous journalist, (or maybe it was!) after all The Times is one of Rupert Murdoch’s flagship papers.

19 July 2011

Readers will gather by the absence of an entry yesterday that it was, euphemistically, what I have come to label as ‘a quiet day ‘. Really, nothing of interest occurred, in my life, which I felt the urge to write about. To some extent today also promises to be ‘a quiet day’, in that the threat of a short sharp shower was sufficient to put me off the idea of going to golf. As much as anything this week is going to be very busy anyway with three days out at the beginning of the test match against India at Lord’s.

The only real excitement is, I suppose, this business of hacking into mobile phones that resulted in the demise of the News of the World newspaper.. Yesterday, saw two more resignations, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police – not only the head poncho for the 7.4 million Londoners but probably the most important policeman in the country – and one of his deputies, who was responsible for terrorism. Following the other two resignations, on which I reported a few days ago, this whole business is now beginning to take on a really sinister tone. These two policemen were due to appear before a Select Committee in two days time but having resigned from the police force this may have been a way of averting, what now seems to be, a possibly embarrassing cross-examination. Clearly there is far more to this business than anyone imagined when it was first raised. I can only speculate that the Commissioner and his Deputy, at least knew that the telephone tapping was going on and may well have even authorised it. All will become clear as more and more revelations are made.

Since writing this I have heard of the sad suicide of the ‘whistleblower ‘journalist and yet another senior management resignation. This afternoon I watched The Politics Show on TV, which was in the live cross-examination of James and Rupert Murdoch in front of the Parliamentary Select Committee. Whilst both of Murdoch’s made much of how appalled they were and what the staff had been up to (but what more could they say?. Both Murdoch continued to vehemently deny any knowledge of the alleged phone tapping at the time it was taking place. I must say that it is very hard to believe that at least the editor of the News of the World was unaware of these underhand tactics to gain exclusive stories. The whistleblower journalist, in and earlier interview, said that such telephone tapping was endemic in the industry, so there must be a number of other editors and senior journalists who are quaking in their boots for the outcome of the enquiry which will shortly start into this whole shabby business.

 You part of this enquiry will look into the relationship between the Metropolitan Police and Murdoch empire, News International.

It seems that they paid £12,000 medical expenses for the Commissioner following a serious illness and that he also accepted 18 invitations to lunch or dinner over a relatively short period. The excuse the Commissioner gave was that the Murdoch’s controlled 42% of our newspapers and therefore it was necessary for him to keep in close touch with them. Couple with this the fact that a number of ex-News of the world newspaper employees ended up advising the Metropolitan police and the whole business becomes to look very murky. I just hope not too much of this rubs off on the Prime Minister who, rather naïvely, engaged an ex-editor of the News of the World, as his publicity agent (now resigned)

 The live Select Committee examination of the Murdoch’s took a bizarre twist when a member of the public tryied to throw a plate of shaving cream (I suppose he could not get a custom pie!) into the Rupert Murdoch’s face and was prevented from doing so by a swift uppercut from Rupert Murdoch’s young wife, who was sitting just behind him.

17 July 2011

Dear Chloe decided to leave just before lunch as she had a great deal to do in preparation . .before leaving tomorrow morning for a weeks holiday, in her cousin Augustus’ house in Corfu, . Karl is extremely busy preparing for a four-week trial starting on Monday, so getting everything ready for the holiday fell to Chloe

Karl gave us a bit of a scare on Sunday morning when he rang up to say that he had had recurrence of an old back problem (he was playing cricket). Fortunately, it eased off during the day otherwise he might well have been in difficulty in running his trial as it meant standing all day. The problem when you get to be middle-aged, i.e. in your mid to late 40s, is that you tend to forget that you are no longer young and in the prime of your life and have to face up to the fact that your body just can’t take the same knocks and strains as it did when you were really young.

I remember the sadness I felt in giving up squash as. I used to play five times a week, in the mid-60s, when I worked in London quite near the Lansdowne club. So it was easy to spend my lunch times, playing squash rather than stuffing my face. We were very fortunate in having Jonah Barrington-the world champion-as our professional and you could have a lesson for 7/6 (or in today’s money 37 ½./ p) mind you that was 50 years ago!

I really did suffer from a bad back, in those days, quite apart from the spinal fusion I had in the late 70s following four vertebrae having been smashed playing polo, I had a prolapsed lumbar disc. At one stage I recall spending three weeks, literally living on the floor, that is eating, sleeping and doing everything else. On another occasion I spent two or three weeks in hospital with a series of ropes and pulleys attached to heavy weights, tightly stretching my legs and opening up the vertebrae in my spine – I’m not sure that they do this form of torture any more There were mornings when I got up and I could not straighten up for love or money, for the first 10 min or so and would walk about like an ape with my hands as well, as my feet on the ground. Eventually, I decided to go to an osteopath who twisted my body into a weird shape and then suddenly jumped on me. There was a loud crunching of bones but miraculously I was then able to stand up. Fortunately, by doing stretching exercises in bed, every morning since, opening and closing my spine, I have warded off this affliction now for some years.

The weather was again very uninviting so I did not feel at all guilty at stopping in and watching the British Open Golf Championship. Having started 10 shots behind the Leaders after the Third Day, our new US open champion, Rory McIlroy. fell away and was never a real challenge.. Tn the event, it was won by a British player from Northern Ireland, Darren Clarke, who just soldiered on throughout the day always ahead and never really looking as though he was going to be overtaken, so in that respect final day was a bit of a damp squib.

In the evening we had the great pleasure of having my brother and sister in law to supper. (Victoria is Alice’s sister) they been to a 50^th. Birthday party, and put up at Duxford Lodge, so were able to spend the evening with us instead of worrying about rushing back to Cornwall. Alice adores her sister’ Tor’, and it was lovely to see them having an animated chat. They left just before the evening contingent came in to put me to bed