27 February 2011

A few medical pointers for my MND readers, other readers can skip the next five  paragraphs.

I started the day  badly by choking on a piece of toast at breakfast. I think it’s what you call ‘going down the wrong way’. I believe that means that food gets into the bronchial tubes. It was only after 5 or 10 minutes of serious coughing and choking that I managed to dislodge it. This has prompted me to include a query about choking on my next visit to Papworth and Addenbrookes. I know the procedure for someone who can stand up.

A good hard thump on the back  may do the trick but the most effective way is to grasp the patient from behind, locking your arms around his stomach and give a sharp squeeze.

In this way you squeeze the person’s diaphragm and hopefully dislodge whatever it is causing the poor soul to choke. What the procedure is for a wheelchair patient or someone in an armchair, heaven only knows. I shall have to find out.

I received a pretty unsatisfactory letter from the consultant at Addenbrookes follow my visit recently to investigate the reason for the painful joints. No mention was made whatsoever of the hip or shoulder  which are the most serious, or indeed, no comment was made of what the x-rays showed. The bone scan, which was a bonus, so to speak, did not reveal any evidence of metastatic (cancer related) bone disease, with only some mild changes suggestive of some degenerative arthritic change in both knees.

As I say no, mention of the shoulder or hip which are the most painful, or any suggestions as to how this pain can be relieved at night,  so I shall have to follow this up and request more information.

Compare this with the consultant’s report I received from Papworth concerning the problems I’m having with my runny nose. As a result of a letter I sent to my GP, Dr Lort, who passed it onto them, this problem, which occurs first thing in the morning and usually around 12 hours later in the early evening, could be a real problem when it comes to breathing through a respirator, and, for this reason, I thought it sensible to raise it and try and resolve before it becomes a real problem. This consultant was most helpful and speculated various possible allergies – although he thought them unlikely – and suggested various forms of treatment we could try and then said they would review the whole matter when I attend next on 7 March. Enough now of medical nonsense.

In the middle of me writing up this blog I received my first video call from my darling daughter, Chloe. We had one or two technical problems on the sound to start with but between us we resolved them quite quickly, so now we have a much more fun way of communicating with each other and for me to see the grand children. In fact, I sent my mother and Richard a web cam yesterday so that they too can join in. I know my mother will be particularly thrilled to be able to see us all. It is so much more enjoyable than  just a rather boring telephone call.

Finally, I cannot resist a brief mention of yesterday’s cricket match in the World Series When England played one of the favourites, India. India chose to bat first and left England chasing 339,  they reached 281 for 2, thanks to a wonderful knock by Capt Srauss (158) ably supported by Bell, until both were out in successive balls. A collapse followed and England slumped to 299 -6, then 307-7 in the 48^th. over when, with only 2 1/2. overs to go it looked very much as though it would be India’s game. 32 was needed from these 15 balls then, after two 6’s from the tail-enders, it got came down to England needing  14 runs from 7 balls but then we lost another wicket. It looked as though the game was up, then another 6 left England needing 4 runs from the last two balls and finally needing 2 runs from last ball to win. The Indian fielders were brought  in England only scored 1 run. The teams were tied. A fair result from one of the best 50 over matches ever played in international cricket. Come on you non-cricket lovers, who was it who said that cricket is like watching paint dry!

26 February 2011

An early morning video call to my dear friends Brinton’s. welcoming them back to the UK God willing I will see them both at Lord’s before too long

A lazy day. Most of the morning spent working on the blog or answering e-mails as well as making and receiving a number of Skype video calls. Then the afternoon spent watching international rugby. First of all Wales versus Italy and then England against the French. The first half of the Welsh match was very entertaining but the second half was scrappy. Nevertheless Wales scraped home with a win, 24-16. The English and French teams were the only unbeaten ones in the championship so far, so it was evidently going to be a needle match and so it turned out, but in the event the English, on their home ground at Twickenham, were dominant. They actually crossed the line 3 times but with one try  disallowed for a very marginal forward pass. The best the French could do was three penalties so England won with a convincing score-line of 17-9, and the only team left in the hunt to win the Grand Slam. International rugby A highlight of the match wars Jonny Wilkinson becoming the highest points scorer, all times in International Rugby. In times past I would have been part of that 80,000 strong group of spectators cheering on the home side but, hey hoh, I have my memories..

For part of the time, while I was watching the Welsh match, I was joined by Liz ‘Moon’ (she married an astrologer!), A talented local artist, a friend of Alice’s who dropped in for tea. Liz painted a wonderful conversation piece for my 60^th. (?) birthday. It hangs in my office and is a view of this thatched garden, weather boarded, 17th century building, looking through the open door, with me sitting at my desk and my secretary on the other side. What was so clever about this picture was that she managed to paint a number of separate pictures in the reflections of the glass windows. ‘My lovely’ feeding the donkeys; Miles and Chloe sitting outside the front of the main house with two of the grand children; the running postmen; the gardener;; our lovely black Labrador Woody and our cat Pandora and so on. I have asked Liz if she can e-mail me a copy of this picture and if she does manage to do so I will include it in the Photo section.

25 February 2011

At last the weather seems to have become more clement. Yesterday was a beautiful warm spring day and although it is not quite so sunny today it appears to be equally warm which is just as well as I am shortly to be wheeled to the Cricketers next door for lunch with some of the Arbitration Club committee members-John Tackaberry QC, Senior Vice President; John Rushton, Vice President; Tim Reynolds, Chairman; Martin Potter, Hon. Sec (together with his lovely wife Winifred). ‘My lovely’ will be joining us so it should be quite a jolly occasion. In the event it turned out as expected, a really enjoyable lunch. Trevor (Jamie Oliver’s dad) kept an eye on us and make sure that everything went smoothly. We were even able to sit outside with our coffee so that I could smoke a cigar, which is the first time I been able to do that for some months. The only slight drawback was that when I got back to the house I found I was extremely exhausted and it took a few hours before I got enough strength back in my legs and arms to be able to drag myself, on my frame, into the bedroom. Alice says that I talk  and that was the reason for my exhaustion. I have no doubt she’s right.

I heard today from the MCC that they have finally allocated my tickets for the forthcoming test matches this summer so I will shortly be able to issue invitations to my various nephews godchildren and friends. I just hope that I will still be able to manage these excursions. The first of the test matches is in June and when you live, from day to day, with MND, 3/4 months can seem light years away.

I also heard today some good news from my dear friends, the Brinton’s. They have left Dubai, to pursue their careers in the UK. Not before time as there could well be trouble to come there, not only because of the extremely financial precariousness of Dubai but also the political trouble that is presently sweeping through the Middle East.(I went out and stayed with the Brinton’s each December, for about five years, to watch the Dubai Sevens – memorable occasions, the biggest party on the planet!) I am glad they are home safe and sound. This family have a special place in my heart as Jeremy was allocated to me on the first working day of his life with my publishers, as a ‘go-fer’ (go for this, go for that) when they were publishing the first of my four books. Since that point, more than 17 years ago, his career has gone from strength to strength with his last job being CEO of Magrudy’s in Dubai, the leading and largest book chain in the UAE. We have been friends ever since and share a passion for cricket. It was at Lord’s that he introduced us to Susie, a young extremely attractive, bubbly young woman. It soon became clear to me that Jeremy was playing ‘Jack the lad’ and not taking this relationship very seriously. As it appeared obvious to me, as an older man, that they were made for each other, I became an avuncular, despite having no right to do so other than through our friendship, I warned him if he did not act soon he would lose her. I’m glad to say they have now been happily married for seven years and have produced two beautiful children.

24 February 2011

Let’s get the sad and gloomy bit over first. I had a bad night-considerable pain from my joints and little sleep from two o’clock.

Sadly, my prediction concerning the fatalities in New Zealand is proving only too prophetic. There were 98 fatalities at the latest count with a possible further 125 killed in the local TV station. In addition, there are still a large number  unaccounted for by the authorities who now seem to have given up all hope of recovering anyone else alive under the rubble.

To complete the trio of gloom I have to confess that I was precipitous in suggesting the imminent toppling of the Libyan President Gaddafi. After running a virtual police state for the last 42 years it seems he is going to go down fighting even to the bitter end. He has engaged a large number of African mercenaries who have no compunction at mowing down the protesters, even using machine guns, and according to rumour, hundreds have already been killed. Will the bravery of the protesters survive the murderous attack of the mercenaries?

Onto more pleasant topics. A late evening call yesterday from one of my young nephews, Tom Grand, informed us that he had a business appointment at lunchtime in Cambridge and wondered whether he could pop in on the way mid-morning to see us. (In the event Tom’s mid-morning turned out to be early evening but then the Grands have always been slightly eccentric so far as time is concerned!). Nevertheless, I was delighted to see him, as Tom is one of my favourites. A delightful young man with a great deal of natural charm and good manners. He kindly brought us a beautifully laid out album of family photographs so that we can come up to date with the comings and goings of his lovely wife, Letitia, and of his three attractive children.

In the background I can hear the hum of the chainsaw being wielded by one of our local tree surgeons who Alice engages once a year, with characteristic generosity (to my pocket!) to trim the top of our long boundary hedge. The problem is  our dear gardener’s fear of heights.  xxWith three acres, even with half of it down to a paddock, there is a great deal to which to attend. I always used to mow the lawns myself with my 1939 Dennis. A magnificent 36 inch cylinder mower, which had been retired from one of the Cambridge colleges. It was a monster of a machine and extremely heavy and difficult to swing round at the end of each row.I knew it had become too much for me the day I failed to make the turn and went straight across one of our flower beds mowing down several of my precious rosebushes.

We have certainly had some funny gardeners over the 46 years we have lived here. One, I recall, had difficulty in bending down so that nothing much got done below 3 feet above the ground, except with a long handled implement- not what you would call an ideal gardener. Yet another was fearful of the gloom and would not go behind any tall bushes, of which we have quite a number, again not what you would call ideal. Our present gardener Peter, has been with us, now I think, for over 30 years and is ideal in every way except for his fear of heights which is well worthwhile forgiving. I have often said jokingly that if it came to a choice between me and the gardener I think my wife’s choice would be a pretty close run thing!

23 February 2011



The misery in New Zealand continues with more bodies being found and hundreds still missing in the rubble. This is probably the worst disaster to strike this small island country of 9 million people in living memory.

Yesterday I mentioned Ethiopia. I had occasion to visit the capital, Addis Ababa, a few times when I was running on the Aden office and we were responsible there are for some building project are other. In fact, whenever I went I used to play polo with a friend of mine from Peat Marwick’s office. On one of these trips I was told that the Emperor’s mother made her income from charging the prostitutes, of which there were a large number in the red light district (or so I was told!) a small sum for each of their nightly clients. I remember that this prompted me to write a short cheeky article in the local Aden Times entitled, something like Queen Mum’s Bob a Knob. I should explain that ‘ a bob’ was another name for a shilling, or in today’s parlance 7 ½.p and ‘a knob’ is another name for… well, you work that out.

As I had not received a copy of the consultants report on my visit to Addenbrooke’s Hospital, over two weeks ago, ago for the x-rays on my painful joints and the bone scan, I gave them a ring to find out what had happened to the report. As a result I was sent a document all about the Information of Freedom Act and an application form. The long and short of it was that I would have to pay a fee of £10 for individual elements of my medical records or if I wanted them complete with x-rays and then the fee was £50. I must say I was pretty shocked at this. All I wanted was the normal consultant’s report on the visit which I will now have to wait for, as I have no intention of paying those sort of fees.

Today was the day of the school half term visit of Chloe, and the three grand children, Fred, Seb and Lara and what a lovely day we all had together. (Karl, was doing his stuff at some County Court or other) The children were on their best behaviour and I did not witness any of the normal squabbling amongst siblings. Maybe, as they are growing up, they are getting more tolerant of each other. Who knows, miracles do happen! We resuscitated the table tennis table and the darts board  which occupied them  happily for some time. Unfortunately it was raining and they were unable to go down to the local playground but I was able to keep them amused with some of the very wonderful photographs and videos and I’ve accumulated on my laptop. I was very impressed at how adept was Fred on operating the laptop. He can move around it like a veteran and can already almost touch type. Like most of the younger generation, I suppose, this will all become second nature to them leaving us Oldies still struggling with the basics. Such is life.

22 February 2011

Terrible news from New Zealand. An earthquake has struck Christchurch, in the South Island, killing anything up to 100 people with over 200 others buried in the rubble. I had no idea that New Zealand was on the earthquake belt but apparently they suffered a less serious earthquake in the same place a short while ago. It transpires that they are indeed on a fault line on a tectonic plate  and as a result suffer a significant number of minor earthquakes every year, usually without damage to property or persons.

I only have happy memories of Christchurch which I visited in 1956. I was living in Australia at the time when the Olympic Games were being staged there. With all the planes arriving in full in Australia I felt it was a sensible time to get one of the empty ones going back to New Zealand and so spent three happy weeks there. I did all the usual things starting off in the North Island at Rotorua, the site of the bubblimg mud pools and other tourist spots before crossing to the South Island where I visited all the major cities and went on the famous three day Milford Sound walk. My time in Christchurch was particularly memorable as it was in second place in the world where I had managed to water ski in the morning and snow ski in the afternoon. (The other being in Beirut where I recall I stayed at what was then, and may still be, the St Georges hotel.)

New Zealand is one of the most consistently beautiful countries I have ever been to. When asked to describe what it was like I used to suggest that if you took a model of Australia, tore out the entire centre,  like they dough from the middle of a loaf of bread (affectionately known by the Aussies as the Great Bugger All) and then twist and tear what was left into two pieces and threw them into the ocean, you would have New Zealand. The point being that all the population and most beautiful parts of Australia are on the edges which, reflectes,  in some ways, the same natural beauty spots in New Zealand.

I am sure that our thoughts are with all those poor people in New Zealand today who have suffered the loss of a dear one or are frantic to find one of their own buried in the rubble.

The I remember 1956 for another. Requests had been issued for volunteers to look after some of the minor Olympic teams and for some reason my boss volunteered that we ended up with the Ethiopian contingent. I don’t recall a great deal about it as I was away for three weeks of the period in which we were responsible for these athletes, however, I do recall that our gift from the Emperor Haile Selassie was a pair of purple drawers (akin to long shorts). I can’t remember whether we got the pair each or there was just one pair for my boss, but it did seem rather a strange gift at the time.

Moving to another trouble spot it seems that I was premature in suggesting that Col Gaddafi would be toppled imminently. He appeared on the local television at 2 p.m, bizarrely from the passenger seat of a car, assuring the population that he had not fled to Venezuela has had been rumoured. However, with Libyan diplomats all over the world deserting the present regime in protest to the hard line tactics of the police and armed forces and, in particular, the defection, to Malta, of two air force colonel’s complete with their Harrier jets, refusing to bomb the protesters, it seems likely that it will only be a matter of time before Gaddafi goes.

In the World Cricket Series the Dutch played magnificently against England, their  292 runs left England  having to score the third highest run rate ever in any World Series to win. They achieved it with a fine six over long off from Bopara with only eight balls to spare. England will certainly have to play better than this in the field, if they are to make the quarter-finals.

21 February 2011

A truly exasperating day. This new laptop is really playing up. Not only is my voice activation, Dragon, only working intermittently, and then very slowly and inaccurately, but in addition Outlook, my e-mail provider has also gone berserk. The entire contents of my inbox have disappeared and I have been through every possible means of recovering them, without success. Add to that my Sticky Keys also failing to follow the normal commands so that for some time I was unable to paste in my current blog entry, and the reader will understand the reason for my exasperation.

When I started off with computers around 25 years ago, with a state of the art Amstrad. I think it had something like a 1 gig (?) Hard disk and a quarter of a gig of Ram ( Random Access Memory). My faithful secretary Doreen was convinced that it had a mind of its own, whenever she managed to lose a document. I unkindly, but I hope gently, tried to persuade her that it was just not possible and the computer only reacted to whatever command you gave it, which is what I truly believed that time. Now I am not so sure I was right. Doreen I think I owe you an apology. This present laptop with its 320 gig hard disk, it’s fancy dual core processor and 4 gig of Ram, certainly does seem to have a mind of its own. Thank heavens Abilitynet also recognise that it is not just me being stupid and they have applied to the MND Association to replace it with a different model. If approved, this will take a couple of weeks or so, so in the meantime I will just have to do put up with  the aggravation.

Having said that I cannot resist recounting an early experience with this Amstrad, which I hope will be an object lesson to all relatively new computer users and convince them not to allow the computer to dominate them but to realise that, ultimately, they are the Master.

What happened was this. I got so frustrated with this early machine that I thought that the only way to improve its performance was to increase the Ram to half a gig. I purchased the other quarter of a gig for the princely sum of £32, which was quite a lot of money in those days and for which today you could probably get  a 250 gig hard drive. I was then told by the local computer wizard it was going to cost me another £50 or so for him to ‘ install’ this new Ram. I was so incensed at this that I decided I would have a go at doing it myself. I had absolutely no idea what to do but having removed the computer casing from the tower I was confronted with a hideous mass of bits and pieces. A hurried phone to a mate in the know told me where to find the ram alongside of which there was a spare slot into which I was to insert my additional Ram. Unfortunately, I did not realise that the little plastic bits sticking out from this new component were essential for fixing it in an upright position. I snapped them off before inserting it only to find, to my consternation, that it kept flopping over. Another hurried phone call to my computer wizard who informed me that I had probably messed up the motherboard and that I would have to spend around £130 for a new one. Refusing to be beaten I overcame the problem by taking four plastic golf tees and shaving their stems into a thin blade, and jamming one at each end on both sides of this new component and to my delight found that the computer worked perfectly and continued to do so until I replaced it, a year or so later, with something more modern, and I donated it to the local primary school.

I think there is a moral somewhere in this tale. Something on the lines of Don’t let the bxxxxxxx grind you down!

20 February 2011

There was an interesting discussion overnight, on the radio concerning advances in medical science. They were talking about the use of robots for internal examinations. An advance on pure keyhole surgery. I was particularly interested to hear that they are using these little robots with miniature instruments to perform the removal of the prostate where it is cancerous and in doing so, as they are able to magnify the site x3, they are able to do so with great accuracy without damaging the two vital nerves, close by, affecting incontinence and impotence.

Those readers  who have followed this blog from the beginning, or have made the effort to read it right through, (and I agree that it is a labour of love to do so due to its length in the) will recall that I had a radical prostatectomy in 2000. It was a five hour operation during which the surgeon managed to destroy both of these two vital nerves. So, it is very encouraging to learn that people in my position, in the future, may not suffer the same loss as did I.

As predicted, the trouble in the Middle East continues to build up. It now looks as though it could be Col. Gaddafi’s time to be toppled. The more protesters he kills, and there has been a significant number, both shot dead and severely wounded, the angrier the protesters will become and I believe the end result, to be inevitable. Is this going to be a domino effect throughout  the Middle East, toppling the long-term rulers and dictators and substituting it with what, Islam or democracy? Either way the  outcome could have a significant effect on our long-term way of life in this country.

Comments continue to come in concerning my long entry, 16 February, which peripherally dealt with belief in God. Readers might find the exchange between Karl and myself at the end of that entry of some interest.

A busy week ahead, number of visitors including Chloe and the grandchildren on Wednesday, it being their school half-time.

I hope some of you readers had a go at the Leap Frog test (see the end of the 18  Feb. entry).  I will be fascinated to learn how many of you managed to do it in the two minutes allowed for 9/10-year-old Chinese schoolchildren I have to honestly say that after two false starts, I was lucky enough to manage it well within in the time limit (1min. 12 sec’s).

I have just watched a fascinating programme on BBC television entitled The Human Planet. It traces the growth and control of grasslands, throughout the world, from the earliest times to the modern day, and concludes that without the grasslands the human race would never have existed. I was particularly fascinated by the tribes in Kenya, Ethiopia and Mongolia, all of which I have visited and therefore have some familiarity with. I can thoroughly recommend looking in on this programme through BBC iplayer.

A friend of mine came out this afternoon asking me to look through a Minor Works Contract for the refurbishment of the house that he and his wife bought recently. I was happy to do it; it was quite like old times. Having concluded our business whilst waiting for Alice to return-she having popped out to see  a friend of ours taking advantage my chum’s presence to keep an eye on me – I challenged my poor friend to do the Leap Frog test, which is set for 9/10-year-old Chinese schoolchildren, to be completed in under two minutes (see above) I was amused when he gave up after six minutes although, he is a very bright chap and I have no doubt he would have managed it on the next attempt or two.

18 February 2011

I’m pleased to say that my long discursive entry two days ago seems to have been well received. In fact, one reader described it as the finest entry yet. Another one referred to an anthropocentric view. I must confess I had to look up the definition of anthropocentric, not a word in my normal vocabulary. To save my other readers  the trouble of seeking a definition, I can tell you it means basically human-centred, or put another way, the  belief that humans are the central and most significant entities in the universe, or the assessment of reality through an exclusively human perspective. If you take the trouble to look at the comments on 16 February entry you will see that that particular reader is horrified at the thought of the universe being human-centred. In other words, this reader  shares my view of evolution rather than creationism. I particularly liked her quotation from Bertram Russell, who I’ seem you recall, had a deathbed conversion, having been an atheist most of his life. He speaks of God’s uneasy vanity which reminds me of another aspect of God which has Always concerned me. If he is the all powerful wondrous  being, that we are all led to believe, why does he require us to worship him?. Surely that is uneasy vanity.! I suggest you read the comments for yourself.

A quiet weekend. The beginning of the World Cricket Series which I believe goes on about seven weeks, the opening match being between India and Bangladesh. However, true to my earlier promise, I will keep my comments on the matches to an absolute  minimum and then restrict them to those matches when England is playing.

It is also the beginning of half-time for schools in the UK and also parliament! I know that some of our politicians work quite hard but do they really need, or indeed deserve, to have half term holidays, three times a year, Like our schoolchildren. (When I look in on the debate in Parliament there are scarcely half a dozen members on either side in attendance, the others, or at least some of them, are serving on various committees) After all they get a long recesses in the summer and other recesses at Easter and Christmas. In fact, I believe they get slightly longer holidays all round than schoolteachers. Why? Perhaps, if I have an MP reader, he/she would attempt to justify it for my benefit and those of the other readers. From my selfish point of view it means that during the half term I will see my grandchildren — they come down next weekend.

I recently sent to them a little puzzle which is set as part of the School examinations in China for 9 or 10-year-olds.

I included it here for you to have a try yourself and see if you can manage to work it out in under two minutes. Frog Test – it will probably drive you crazy!! Watch out, the Chinese are coming and us lazy Westerners will be hard pressed to keep up with them. Having said that, what happened to quality-of-life – but that discussion is for another day.

17 February 2011

As I mentioned yesterday, and I admit you do not have to be a rocket scientist to have predicted it, but there has been more trouble in the Middle East following the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. We are now seeing trouble in Libya and Bahrain. In both cases being put down, with no quarter given, by the police or armed forces. Already a number of people have been killed. I think the entire region will be in tumult for the next few weeks or months or two and we probably have not seen the last of the dictators toppled…

I am really beginning to get value out of my Skype now have I sorted out the sound problem. Two calls to Australia, one to  South Africa and three in the UK. I get an amazing picture and it is so much more personal than a straight telephone call.

One piece of intelligence I would like to share with other MND patients which may give some of you some hope is this. One of my reader MND patients, who for obvious reasons will remain anonymous, was telling me that he was diagnosed with MND around seven years ago. One of his arms and hand became useless quickly, then for a number of years nothing much happened until the second arm started weakening a couple of years ago and now that hand and arm only just work. A year or so ago he noticed that his legs were also weakening but tells me that he can still walk half a mile on the beach so the weakening cannot be very serious. The only other problem he has is a slight breathing one which requires him to wear a respirator at night-as indeed I do myself. This demonstrates very clearly how every MND patient is different and you could say that this particular patient is extremely lucky. At the rate he is going he will certainly be one of those who could go for 10 years or more compared with the 50% who died within 14 months of diagnosis and the other 50% who go within 2 to 5 years.

One of my readers complained yesterday, in the nicest possible way, that the reason they were not entirely up-to-date on my blog was that it was far too long, i.e there was too much to read. I do apologise because I realise yesterday’s  entry was probably unnecessarily lengthy — I did bang on a bit. My reasons for going off on these sidetrack discussions is to take the reader’s mind off their own problems for a short period and think about something else. However, if this it is a university held view that the blog is too long I would like to hear from other readers is so as to temper my loquaciousness in future.