21 April 2010

Suddenly the ban on flying was lifted. 15 hours earlier in  Europe than in the UK. It seems that the risk was over stated. Now the writs begin to fly, for compensation!

The application form for Election as a Trustee to the MND Association, came today. So now it’s crunch time. I must decide whether or not I want my name to go forward. Am I going to really be able to contribute something tangible as I certainly do not want to be there just making up the numbers. I understand that only two of the current Board of Trustees have mild MND so another one, possibly slightly more advanced in the disease, maybe useful to the Board. As to the commitment I gather there are four meetings a year, I believe in Nottingham, each involving an overnight stay. This then in turn means that Alice will have to  accompany me as my carer. One problem is that she is not over keen spending time away from the house, in particular, during the cold winter months when there is a possibility of pipes freezing. However, she has not vetoed the idea so I suppose we could at least try it for a year or so and see how it works out, that is, of course, if I get elected. I shall have one further telephone call with a trustee before I finally made up my mind.

A good neighbour, Graham Smith, a very experienced  IT man, came round this evening to discuss the possibility of talking me through WordPress, so that I will be able to make all of my own entries  onto this blog and not rely on poor Richard (Morris), my web designer, who is severely overworked and needs this additional responsibility like a hole in the head. I know that Richard is supposed to be preparing a Mug’s Guide on WordPress, for me But as I have pleaded for this for some months, I really believe that I must take matters into my own hands. Once I have true control I need never be more than a day or two out of date, whereas at present  some entries have taken almost a month, after leaving me, to get on.

20 April 2010

Another beautiful spring day for my walk with the geriatrics (or perhaps I should say walk and ride as I shared a buggy from time to time, with John Stevens). The sun shone and the cause may be that there was a bone chilling icy winter which took the edge of the outing.

19 April 2010

I addressed the Rotary Club of Harlow, today, of which I was a member some 45 years ago. I only had 20 minutes so to speak so I mixed Life Is an Accident with snippets from The Anecdotal Ramblings of an Elderly Arbitrator. The talk went down reasonably well and the club kindly donated £50 towards the Great London Swim Appeal..

18 April 2010

Mark Tully’s, Radio Four  Sunday morning slot, Something Understood, today dealt with the, Power of Positive Thinking -something in which I had always strongly believed. This led me to wondering how effective is this blog, on my readers, in terms of imparting positive thinking to them. The blog is, after all, all about Living – Carpe Diem (Live for the Day) and all that. Although I receive a number of e-mails from various parts of the world about the inspirational aspect of the blog, or perhaps more particularly, about my own positive attitude to the MND, I would like to receive readers comments on the inspirational material which I include in the Anecdotes, Photographs and Video (one of the few positive comments on these side issues – whose sole purpose is to inspire and entertain – is that the reader “did not like my jokes”! I take great care to try to avoid anything that is even mildly racist, sexist, political or religious). These side issues  comprise a collection of the truly inspirational stories about courageous individuals who have overcome great adversity or photographs of stunning beauty on which,  I would have expected readers to have commented. Commenting is easy. Just click on the ‘comment’ icon at the end of each entry and say how much you love, appreciate or were inspired by them, so that I know I am not wasting my time including them. I hope not, as I am certainly   inspired or filled with pleasure at some of the beautiful things I have included, both on earth and in space, where great beauty exists, which is  wondrous to behold; it is also a great privilege to be allowed to share it

Early evening I was picked up by Tristan to be taken to his home to meet his father-in-law, John, an engineer inventor, who is Tristan’s girlfriend’s father. The object of the visit was for me to learn a little bit of my licensing and intellectual property protection,  as John has been through this process with his own  invention -a self sterilising baby bottle -which now sells all over the world. As much as anything the value of the meeting was not so much what to do as to what to avoid doing. As a result, I should be better prepared when it comes to negotiating the terms of the deal on one or more of my invention and then they ever reach that point.

Tristan’s own father was also present. He seemed awfully nice chap and, as a retired accountant was able to make Some useful interjections. I am grateful toTristan for the introductions.

17 April 2010

We are now in the third day of the effects of the volcanic ash clouds drifting over the UK and Europe from Iceland. Air traffic is at a complete  standstill, food is rotting (why not give it away free to the local poor rather than allowing it to rot? One reason I heard was that the Kenyans do not eat mange tois – I would have thought they would eat anything if they were hungry enough, which we are given to understand thousands of them are.). As a result of the lack of flights tens of thousands of potential passengers are stranded and are making their way to various European ports, by donkey, camel or taxi, in the hope of picking up some sort of boat or ferry.. There’s even talk of this going on for some weeks, if so I have some trepidation as the effect on the UK economy which is, heaven  knows, is fragile enough. Will it, for example, affect the good doctors travel plans from Australia to Europe and on to stay with us at the beginning of May?.

At the other end of the scale the sky today was deep blue (with no evidence of the volcanic ash which I gather is now up at around 35,000 feet) and sun shone strongly,  making it warm enough to sit in the garden and read for the first time this year.

The house and garden are looking very much at their spring best with the newly thatched roof setting off the picture postcard scene, edged with daffodils, tulips, hyacinths and other spring flowers. More than one passerby stopped to admire and hum and hah beauty of what they saw.

16 April 2010

The die is cast to convert the downstairs bathroom into a wet room. I swallowed hard and accepted the quotation which was roughly twice as much as we envisaged, however, be that as it may, the work will begin on Monday next. It includes repositioning the existing lavatory and providing a new high level bowl, which will make it much easier for me to get up and ultimately to position a wheelchair loo seat. This is anticipating the future a little but being so uncertain it seems sensible to do all the work in one go.

The irony is that, in the recent TV debate between the three potential Prime Ministers, Gordon Brown made a promise that elderly (and no doubt disabled )people who are kept in their own homes will be looked after by the incoming government and the assumption is that whatever is necessary for this will be provided and not means tested, as it is as present. Sadly, we cannot afford to wait as I’m told that as things stand today an assessment can take six months by which time heaven knows what state I might be in.

Sarah, my OT, came round today with some bathroom equipment which, because of the speed  which events have taken place, is now redundant, but she was very sweet  and happy to take it away. She also bought a lifting belt which is placed around one’s waist with two handles at the back. The idea being that it’s less of a strain for the lifter, however, even with the belt Sarah was unable to lift me to a standing position. The stark fact is, that with the loss of  thigh muscles I am a complete deadweight, albeit only  one  of 165 lbs (75 kilos)

15 April 2010

The highlight of  today was a visit from my stockbroker Peter Long, of  Brewin Dolphin, who very kindly made the journey here to see me rather than dragging me to London as I have done over the years. How does one hedge against a totally unpredictable general election;  or a unexpected volcanic eruption in Iceland, which we are told could  continue for two or three years, which has closed down the entire airline network, and for how long?

In between considering such conundrums, Peter took me next door to Jamie Oliver’s dad’s pub for an enjoyable lunch.