A Worst Nightmare Avoided
My house isn’t totally electric, but everything from the central heating to the cooker relies on electricity.
So my heart sank, when the power went off this afternoon at about two-thirty. I was left with no heating, internet, landline telephones and lights. My trusty mobile wasn’t working as it looked like the ariel on the cell might be down, as I wasn’t getting a signal. I diodn’t have a battery radio, but I did have a wind up torch. I suppose too, there was enough heat in the AGA to keep me in hot food.
I was just trying to work out what I would be doing for the rest of the day, when it came back on.
So the nightmare was avoided.
The funniest power cut we had was when the power went off at eleven at night and we had to go to bed by candlelight. In the morning we found a massive Scania truck in the front field. It turned out, that the mains had blown near the prison and as we were on the end of the line, Eastern Electricity had installed the generator on the transformer for our house.
To be fair, in the perhaps week it was there, the generator was no trouble and it eventually sneaked away in the manner it had arrived. It even had an en-suite flat for the operator. He didn’t even ask for as much as a kettle of water.
In my new house, I’ll be very much prepared, as I can’t be doing power cuts in my paranoid state!
Zoe Renault
Another legal spat reported in the Telegraph.
Interestingly in France, where I thought they had better things to do.
A Spat Over a Breast Enhancement Cream
There is a legal spat going on between a company called Rodial and a plastic surgeon called Dr. Dalia Nield. You can read about it in this article in The Independent.
It strikes me that this one will run and run, but it could be one that falls into that category, where someone makes a legitimate comment, from professional knowledge and experience, and someone else decides they’ll challenge that statement in the Courts by suing for libel. Read the article in The Independent and you will see that Dr. Nield is supported by Sense About Science, a charity which fights against these actions and in the past supported the author, Simon Singh.
These sort of actions worry me, as I have pretty strong opinions on some controversial subjects and one of these days I might arouse the ire of a rather nasty snake oil salesman. So I will not come down in favour of one party or another.
I do know of Rodial though, but in a strange way. At least twice a week for several months, I have got a sales e-mail from them. When I got the first, I thought it was a spam e-mail, as it was trying to sell me a breast enhancement cream or other such product, that I have no need for. Mainly because I’m a man, but also because I don’t use any creams or potions at all. I should also say, that, I’ve seen lots of this type of e-mail from spammers in the United States and as this email seemed little different, I immediately regarded it as being of the same type, even though it enlarged breasts rather than the male organ. I didn’t even bother to try to unsubscribe, as it came from a retired e-mail address, I don’t use very often. So that means they must have obtained an old list from somewhere. I wonder what the Information Commisioner would say about that. I’m not bothered, as I just set the spam filter to drop them straight into the Spam Folder, as I do for most of the spam I get, as often unsubscribing tells the spammer that the e-mail address is real.
How Am I Doing?
I’m going to see my Doctor at Addenbrooke’s tomorrow, so I thought I’d write down a few notes.
If I start with my body and move downwards from the top of my head, I can summarise it as follows.
I was suffering a sort of itch and a sensitive scalp, but that seems to have reduced and almost stopped since, I’ve started taking the Amitriptyline. I’m only on one 10 mg. tablet a day and I take that just before bed, so that it helps me sleep reasonably well.
My brain seems to think clearly and I’ve started programming again. I do think though, that some of my memory functions aren’t too good, in that I make a mental note to do something and then forget it a few minutes later. But the long-term memory is intact and I can remember funny tales from years back with ease.
My eyes now seem to be working better, in that I have no trouble seeing anything as I walk around. Although, obviously, I’m not driving or even cycling. I also find that I can’t see the ball when I try to play table tennis. But I can use binoculars to look at things like the moons of Jupiter, which is something I couldn’t do when I left the hospital.
I do seem to have gone a bit deaf, but then I was always going that way.
I still have pain in the left side of my face and it gets worse as the afternoon progresses towards evening. I suspect this is because the Amitriptyline I took the night before is wearing off. I find too, that typing on the computer gets more difficult from about three and my eyes are tired.
My mouth is a bit sore, as my teeth tend to catch the inside of my left cheek. It could be that I’m cutting a Wisdom tooth, but my dentist is a long way away in Felixstowe. In addition, my teeth never seem clean. I wish there was a walk-in dental hygienist!
My right arm is a hundred percent, but my left hand is still a little wayward and there is pain the wrist. I can though now wear my heavy Rolex again, which C left for me as her last Christmas present. It has the inscription “J Xmas 2007 and Forever C” and I feel undressed without it.
I do find trouble reading newspapers, as I find it difficult to separate the pages. I had thought this was due to the stroke, but my friend, John, at the football has the same problem and he’s a fit farmer, who’s about my age. He reckons it’s the papers and the ink they use! So perhaps it’s just old age again!
There is also pain in my left humerus in the old injury, where the bully broke my arm at school. Again it gets worse as the day progresses.
I have been working on my core strength and don’t seem to suffer any pain or reactions in my trunk at all.
I do however have a bit of a problem with a mixture of constipation and diarrhoea. That’s probably the best way to describe it, as sometimes I find going a strain and at other times it’s loose like it was for most of my life before I was diagnosed as a coeliac.
Incidentally, when I typed that last paragraph, I just typed diarrhoea right for the first time in my life!
My legs are fine, although I do suffer the odd cramp at night in my left shin and my varicose veins are getting worse. But compared to my parents’ ones, they are minor.
I’m eating well and I’m now just about the same weight as I was this time last year of about 58.5 kilos stripped.
One slight problem is that I always seem to feel a bit cold during the day. But as I said, I’m sleeping well and am very warm in bed.
As to getting around, I have no problems, that others don’t have like late or missing trains and taxis that take forever to come. But how many who are recovering from strokes, have travelling as far as Inverness, Edinburgh, Middlesbrough, Sheffield and Crewe without any special assistance? I can’t wait to get to my new house in London, from where I can really explore the country.
I’m also managing well with the Warfarin. But it’s a system that is so antiquated and ill-thought out, that something should be done to create a proper National Anticoagulation Service, possibly based on pharmacies and the Internet. But I’ve not missed a correct dose and save for the odd small nose bleeds, I’ve not had any trouble.
I also think I felt a bit better after last Wednesday when I had my three-monthly B12 injection.
So let’s face it!
I could be much worse.
I sleep well, get tired, cook everything I need, travel where I want, but just feel trapped living in the country with a bit of nagging pain.
I’m moving so the first problem will go and I hope that the pain will fade away with time.
The Universal Credit
I can’t help feeling that this is the way to go on benefits, but it won’t be an easy change.
But I think if anybody can drive it through then Ian Duncan-Smith can, as he seems to have researched the subject thoroughly.
I know my late wife, C, would be applauding the changes. In so many of her divorce cases, the client was often in despair about dealing with the various agencies. She said they all complained, that if they worked too many hours or earned just a little too much, they saw none of it, as the benfits just reduced in line. In the changes, it has been said this morning, that for every pound extra claimants earn, then they will be able to keep thirty five pence. It may not seem much, but it’s more than nothing.
There will be fights over this benefit and those outside the process will try to create havoc, just as some students did yesterday on the protests in Westminster.
Tiptree Tomato Sauce
I found this sauce from Wilkin and Sons, the jam makers in Waitrose. It isn’t cheap, but you wouldn’t expect that from a quality company.
On the other hand it is rather addictive and goes well with the potato-topped pies I have in the freezer.
It doesn’t say it’s gluten-free on the bottle, but then it doesn’t say that on the jams or marmalade. But none of the ingredients contain gluten.
The Anonymous Widower 