The Minotaur Lives
Imagine my surprise, when a parcel appeared on my doorstep carried by a man who looked like he was doing an impression of Pete Henry, except that he was a few years older than my last recollection.
In the parcel, was about a hundred copies of the infamous Metier Minotaur. This was the edition that had the tall Pete’s picture where he was trying to get into a compromising position with the diminutive Karen, in what looked like the dining room of my old house at Debach with the infamous wallpaper. It was also probably the laste edition as it had Metier’s obituary. On the last page it asked if the hamster really did it.
Pete told me that he had had a vision from God and this had sent him to a dark, satanic print works in Clerkenwell, where in exchange for a fistfull of used notes, he had received these magazines from an atttractive young lady.
So what am I to do with this manna from heaven?
My son died of pancreatic cancer, so these priceless works of great literature will be sold with all proceeds going towards research into the cancer at Liverpool University, where a world-class team has been assembled.
I am not restricting the sales, as the excellent printer, has informed me that if need be he can print enough copies to completely cover every window of the gherkin.
The New Evolution Diet
This was being promoted in The Sunday Times yesterday.
It basically says eat a variety of foods, like vegetables, meat, fish and eggs, nuts and fruit and avoid foods like grains, dairy, starchy foods, some fruit and soy beans. It also advises taking exercise, most of which appears to be walking and simple arm and back exercises. But then Dogtor J has been saying things like this for health in people and their pets for years.
Looking at it in more detaill, it is very close to what a coeliac might eat, except that I probably eat too many potatoes and bananas for the diet’s liking.
So have we coeliacs been right all along in avoiding grains like wheat and barley?
My late wife, C, wasn’t a coeliac, but she followed a virtually gluten-free diet, as she didn’t want to cook separately for me. She also did plenty of exercise.
In the end it didn’t do her any good, as she died of a very rare squamous cell carcinoma of the heart, but only a few months before she died, I took this picture on the beach in the Aeolian Islands.
England in the Pink
England finished the day on 488 for 7, which is a good score that could get even better with some quick runs and then a couple of quick wickets tomorrow.
The most amazing thing was that yesterday was Jane McGrath Day, in memory of the cricketer, Glenn McGrath’s wife, Jane, who died of breast cancer. Obviously, all the money raised will be wisely used. My late wife, C, had breast cancer a few years before she died and fully recovered, so I’m all for days like this and we should see more of them.
Provided of course, they raise either funds or awareness!
Best Wishes to Danny!
My best wishes go to Danny Baker, who has been reported as suffering from cancer.
Let’s all hope he makes a swift recovery!
Some Good News on Pancreatic Cancer?
I think this article on the BBC web site may prove to be a glimmer of hope in the treatment of pancreatic cancer.
Pancreatic cancer may lurk in the body for many years before patients fall ill, US scientists say
Research hints at earlier opportunities to spot and treat the disease, which is fatal in 95% of cases.
Genetic analysis of tumours by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Johns Hopkins University suggested the first mutations may happen 20 years before they become lethal.
UK survival rates for the disease have not improved in the past 40 years.
The disease is often aggressive and unresponsive to treatment by the time it is diagnosed.
The study, published by the Nature journal, found that tumours appear to be slow growing.
In other words if we could find a test for pancreatic cancer, we might be able to catch people suffering from the disease very early in the growth of the cancer. I know of pancreatic cancer survivors, who were caught very early, so perhaps something might work.
I know that my old University of Liverpool is looking for such a test amongst other pancreas research, so perhaps they are on the right track, if not for a complete cure, but for something that might help.
Let’s hope so, as I wouldn’t want anybody to suffer the same death as my son did from an uncureable cancer.
Gene Therapy on the Horizon
Horizon tonight was on gene therapy. It really did give people with genetic diseases hope.
As both my wife and our son died of cancer, it was thought that he may have inherited a faulty gene. He hadn’t, but I can understand how much something like that, would blow families apart.
On the other hand, I have an inherited genetic disease in coeliac disease. Would I want to be cured by gene therapy? Probably not now, as I control my symptoms through diet, but it would have been nice to know, I carried the faulty gene earlier and I could have modified my diet accordingly.
No Pope Here!
I will put it this way. The Catholic Church’s attitude to women, homosexuals, child abuse, birth-control and lot of other things are just so far outside my beliefs about what is good for humanity in general, that I’ve declared my personal space a Pope-free zone. It was so refreshing and uplifting to hear of the work of the Bobby Robson centre in Newcastle, yeserday while other channels were covering the Pope’s visit. When you’ve lost your wife and son to serious cancers, it is just so much more important to you, that research is done to make sure others don’t face the same challenges and problems that I do.
Today, I shall be going to Clare, to see the Tour of Britain Cycle Race, go through one of Suffolk’s historic villages. I shall probably pop in to the church, which is one of the finest parish churches in England.
Some may find it strange that a man with no religion should visit a church or a cathedral, which I generally do, when I’m exploring a town or city! But then what is wrong with my contemplation of beautiful buildings in a secular manner?
Thank Heavens For Sir Bobby!
I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to listen to the Popefest on the radio and it was a great relief when I found that Radio 5 Live, were doing a program on the cancer research centre that Sir Bobby Robson helped to fund!
What a refreshing and uplifting program and yet another reason to celebrate one of the finest Englishmen of the last few decades! He will certainly have or have had more effect on the lives of ordinary people all over Europe than the current Pope.
We can all learn a lot from how Sir Bobby carried on until the end.
He was a selfless man with true humanity, who probably never did anyone any harm! He certainly never meant it, if he did! And to say that about a man, who worked in one of the most ruthless professions is extraordinary.
We will never see his like again!
The Familiar Skirt
As I sat in Carluccio’s in Spitalfields tonight, I realised that the lady on the next table, was wearing a skirt, that was very similar to one that C had sometimes worn in the last couple of years of her life.
I didn’t get emotional, but quietly wished to myself, that the lady didn’t sufer a similar fate to C. Last Thursday would have been C’s sixty-second birthday and next Tuesday would have been our forty-second wedding anniversary.
I could put a cliche in here but I won’t! Add one yourself!
Something to Look Forward To!
The tour de France it is not, but the Tour of Britain is a spectacle in its own right and it will be coming almost past my door, as it goes from Bury St. Edmunds, through Haverhill, Clare and Cavendish on its way to Colchester on the 17th of September. Read more here.
I note two that it has teamed up with The Prostate Cancer Charity, something that has touched a few of my friends.
