An Ideal Mouth Refresher
My mouth still feels rubish and I try to freshen it up with all sorts of things from curries to whisky.
Last night though when I cooked the chicken pie, I found the ideal drink to refresh my mouth. As I had some cider left over, I did the good thing and drunk half a bottle of Aspall’s Premier Cru Suffolk Cyder. It was so good, I’m drinking another bottle tonight!
Does The Watch I Wear Affect My Hand?
Normaly, I wear a heavy stainless steel bracelet-type watch on my left hand. As that is my gammy one, recently I’ve taken to wearing it on the right, but I don’t like to do that as it is inconvenient. I should also say that it used to be the Rolex that C gave me as my last Christmas present and that I nearly lost in Naples, but that is just too heavy for either hand.
So today, I got an old watch out with a leather strap and my hand seems to be a little bit better now that it is released from its steel corset.
I should also say that for years I always wore my watch on my right hand, as I felt that it was more comfortable. This was because my arm wasn’t very good for many years, due to it being broken by a bully at school. It almost seems to be that since the stroke my arm has returned to the state it was until fixed by a fitness trainer a couple of years ago.
It’s all very puzzling. But do I care, as it’s certainly better this evening.
Real Tennis at Cambridge
I went into Cambridge today to have a game of real tennis at the Cambridge University Real Tennis Club in Grange Road. I was also introducing an old Metier friend and colleague, Spencer Hamill, to the game.
I fared better than last time and still miss balls that are low at the left with a backhand. But then I was always crap in that area. But I did find that I could volley reasonably well and also I was serving overhead, which I haven’t done since the stroke. Here’s a clip.
Next time I play it’ll be off handicap and it will be interesting to see what happens.
Asthma Drugs
There was a lady on BBC Breakfast last week complaining that a new asthma drug has not been approved by NICE. At up to £26,000 a year, I can understand why not, especially as there are other cheaper alternatives.
Now I know a lot about asthma, as I funded the development of a metered dose inhaler to deliver asthma drugs. Sadly, the only people who made money out of the device were me and my fellow collaborators, as it offered completely green and very efficient delivery. But you can’t compete against the big drug companies, even if you are one of the top-ranked second-level ones.
Interestingly, one of the countries with the highest level of asthma, as measured by devices prescribed is that very polluted country, New Zealand. So there’s myth number one seriously questioned. Clean air is good for your asthma! Possibly, but then why do the Kiwis prescribe so many drugs?
A teacher once told me that in her classes of seven-year-olds, some years no kids had inhalers for asthma and in others a good proportion did. She felt there was a lot of peer pressure. As Johnny has one, can I have one Mummy?
Then there is research that shows that naked flames are a problem, as the oxides of nitrogen produced can cause the disease. So chuck out that gas cooker and never smoke, whilst your kids are around. It also would appear that sealed modern houses with fitted carpets are not good either. I have heard endless tales of people moving to a draughty cottage and the asthma in their children has gone. Especially, when kids now walk to school, rather than are ferried.
So before we prescribe expensive drigs, let’s sort out the lifestyle factors that cause the disease first! We’d probably all be healthier!
Would a Private Firm Ever Buy Anything with Something Like PFI?
It’s grim reading about the problems the NHS is facing over bloated PFI deals.
No-one with any sense would ever have locked themsaelves into such deals. I’m sure people like Tesco have probably used design, build and maintain for stores and depots, but they wouldn’t have ended up paying six times the cost of the building. They’d have also used standard designs to save building costs. I bet each hospital is very different.
The problem is not with PFI, but with the politicians, civil servants and administrators, who pushed these deal through. In a banana republic, I would be smelling the pungent smell of bungs, bribery and favours. But here it’s just bad economics and incompetence. And who was in charge of the country’s finance at the time? So add this to a list of his big mistakes, like pensions, banks, renewing Trident etc. Gordon Brown must rank as the worst Prime Minister any country in Europe has ever had. let lone the UK!
A New Test for Autism
This report on the BBC shows the way that modern medicine is going. I know that I don’t suffer from autism, although I’m a bit weird, but then programmers are a lot of the time. These sort of scans though, will help doctors sort out stroke sufferers like me.
Let’s hope the medics and the programmers, who work with them keep going!
They have had one of the researchers involved, Christine Ecker, on BBC Breakfast this morning. She reckons that soon they will be able to use the test with children. They have even developed a quiet non-claustrophobic scanner, so children won’t be frightened.
I am very enthusiastic about this test and feel it will have other beneficial effects. Obviously, as the research techniques get better and we know more about the brain, they will benefit people like me, who have had strokes to those with more serious brain problems or injuries.
I also think that C, my late wife, would have welcomed this test. She was a barrister and most of her work was with families, divorce and children. She said to me many times, that childen with things a like autism and ADHD, put a tremendous strain on the marriage and often caused the break-up. Sometimes, that strain was caused by the difficulty of getting a diagnosis.
Hopefully, this test will reduce those problems and might even help couples to stay together!
Too Many Allergies
NICE thinks that too many children are labelled with food allergies, according to reports like this.
I might agree, as I think so many people these days have vanity or lifestyle allergies.
I don’t, as I am a coeliac, that was properly diagnosed at Addenbrookes, when I was over fifty. Since avoiding gluten, I’ve had no diarrhoea, no migraines, no joint pain and no chronic dandruff. I’ve also stopped biting my nails.
Probably about 1-in-100 are coeliacs like me, according to researchers at Nottingham University, Coeliac-UK and the NHS.
But I’ve had all sorts of cranks and quacks tell me that such things as homeopathy can cure my allergy. They are talking crap. But they are the same sort of people who imagine and test for all sorts of things in their children. Often, they are so stupid and paranoid that they don’t believe in vaccination and won’t allow their children to play outside.
But why are we getting so many allergy sufferers. With coeliac disease, a lot of the increase has come because, those born before 1960 are now being properly diagnosed. I was found to have a problem from a simple blood test, which showed I had a vitamin B12 deficiency. Remember that children with coeliac disease couldn’t be diagnosed until the early 1960s.
Also there is more awareness of coeliac disease and how it is passed on through the genes.
The Caruccio’s Stroke Recovery Index
Obviously it helps if I eat properly to recover from my stroke.
So when I’m in London, Cambridge, I tend to go to one of Carluccio’s cafes for lunch and have a plate of prosciutto and one of their delicious lemonades.
The prosciutto is not that easy to eat with a knife and fork, but I notice that I’m getting better. I also dribble less with the lemonade. As the staff are always very attentive and can help with an extra serviette if required, I doubt there is a better way to gauge how your recovery is going.
I note that since I got to London at 12:30 yesterday, I’ve had eaten three meals in Carluccio’s cafes; lunch in Hampstead, supper with my son and his friend in Islington and then breakfast in St. Pancras. Perhaps, it is not a cheap way of travelling, but I am alone and I know that everything I eat will be totally gluten-free and safe.
Homeopathy on the NHS
The most sensitive thing that you mustn’t criticise in this country is homeopathy.
But this government is actually allowing the use of this witchcraft (the BMA’s word not mine!) to increase in times of budget cuts according to the Daily Mail.
If fools want to be parted from their money, then it should be up to them to find their own quack, at their expense and not mine as a taxpaper.
Did Anybody See Top Gear on Sunday?
If you didn’t, it’s repeated tonight on BBC2 at 8:00.
They asked the team to buy three reasonably priced UK-built sport cars and Richard Hammond turned up in a Lotus Elan like mine. What he didn’t say about it, was that Elans are second only to E-Types, when it comes to pulling posh birds of a cerain vintage!
He was also unable to show, how it is still one of the fastest cars across country. Read some of my posts from last year about the car.
Interestingly, I am now driving the car again, in and out of its garage and round the yard. I can’t do this with my Jaguar as the clutch is too strong for my gammy left leg.
Perhaps, one day I’ll be back on the road! But it will be in the Elan!
The Anonymous Widower 