A Revelation on the Essex Road
Over the last few weeks I have been increasingly drowsy during some days. I have put it down to the Keppra I have been taking and going to bed late the night before. But in researching Keppra, I had found that several serious sites say that the side effects of the drug, may be mitigated by taking vitamin B6. Now coeliacs may be deficient in B6, as they don’t eat some of the foods like breakfast cereals, that are enriched with the vitamin. It’s a bit more complicated than that, but this paper from the Netherlands has shown links, between coeliacs, vitamin B6 and strokes.
So could this be the problem? My vitamin B6 levels may be too low to help the Keppra! After all it hasn’t been checked for several months, which was before I started taking the Keppra.
So I walked straight into a pharmacist and bought some tablets.
They can’t do me any harm, but just might help to get a proper balance between being asleep and awake.
Christmas Shopping Completed
I got everything I needed in Oxford Street this afternoon. The strangest request I had was to get six lemons for Christmas Day from my son. In John Lewis, they were in fours, so he got eight.
Some parts of Oxford Street were seriously manic, but none as much so as Selfridges, where I was picking something up. John Lewis was quite quiet, but when I enquired about blinds for my house, the assistant said that a lot of their departments are quiet over Christmas and pick up in January. So as their sales are up four percent on last year, they are doing very well. Although the food department in the basement had the longest queue to pay, I’ve ever seen in a shop.
After I left Selfridges, I had intended to take the 30 bus which stops at the end of my road, but they seemed to be thin on the ground, so I took a 274 to the Angel, where I knew I’d be able to get any of five to get home.
The 274 bus brought back many memories, as it effectively took the route of the old 74 to Camden Town and then meandered towards the Angel. We’d used 74s many times when we lived in St. John’s Wood in the 1970s to get to and from Oxford Street and Knightsbridge. The route used Routemasters and you had to be quick to fold the double push-chair and stow it under the stairs, before someone else grabbed the space. C would regularly do the trip with three children under four on her own. Mothers today have it so easy.
The 274 will be a useful bus for me, as it connects so easily to where I live. Either I can take another bus from the Angel or a train from Cmden Road or Caledonian Road and Barnsbury to Canonbury and then walk.
Today I did the simple thing and got a bus down the Essex Road.
Little (And Big) Boxes Everywhere
Today the recycling collection takes place and I’ve just thrown out 32 boxes that were used by the movers for packing.
Boxes for Recycling
I bet I was charged for every box, so shouldn’t they pick them up for a reward. Obviously, this wouldn’t be practical in all cases, but surely with moves to a large town or city, it would save money and create less carbon dioxide all round.
Do I Have a Claim under the Disability Rights Act?
Ipswich Town are playing at home on Boxing Day, but unfortunately there are no trains between London and Ipswich, so I will be unable to go.
If I could drive, it would not be a problem, but because of the stroke, I now no longer have a driving licence, or a car available for that matter. So am I being discrimanated against, especially as I’ve paid for the match with my season ticket?
I can’t even listen to the match on local radio, as I would have done in Suffolk!
I’ve also checked the Supporters Club web site and no-one runs a coach from London.
C Would Not Have Been Amused
I most certainly aren’t and she would have been with me on this one.
The lights in this house are generally wall units, which were originally fitted with 40 watt tungsten bulbs, that I believe should be removed immediately, as we do need to do something about our electricity consumption and carbon emissions. As half of them have failed, the light in some parts of the house is not good. The fittings were designed for 100 watt tungsten screw bulbs, which despite being available in markets round here should not be sold. Finding an adequate energy-saving replacement is proving tiresome, as it seems that many shops only carry a few very standard and expensive bulbs. So perhaps people in London stick with their illegal tungsten bulbs. As an example, I’ve not seen one of the clever light sensitive bulbs I used to use outside in Suffolk.
There are also loads of the dreaded MR16 halogen bulbs. I hate them as they give me headaches, but the LED replacements don’t. They also give out a lot more light, use a lot less energy and last for ever. I did manage to find two and they helped, but I need to find a lot more, as quite a few of the old ones have either failed or flash on and off.
The Anonymous Widower 