My Allergies and Me
I seem to be getting no relief from the hay fever at all this summer. Just as it seems the pollen level gets to a low level for a day, it then rises back up again. I had lunch with a friend yesterday and he never suffers, but he is this year. It’s a story that I’ve heard so many times in the last few months from others. No-one seems to have any idea about it either.
I don’t get any luck with it either. On Friday I was to see a consultant about it, but for administrative reasons the appointment was put back for a few days. Any sane person, would think that the Devil has it in for them, if they had suffered the last three years I have. To make matters worse, the sale of my house in Suffolk, seems to be moving slowly and Ipswich lost by seven goals to one last night. But I’m still here, which is more than can be said for my wife and youngest son.
I also had a good lunch yesterday with friends, essentially to celebrate my birthday on Tuesday. Even Ipswich contrived to lose six two that night.
I know it’s only a small thing, but I slept well last night and got up feeling fresh. So I thought, it might be a good idea to go to perhaps Brighton or Southend and get a bit of sea air. But after checking the pollen levels, I decided against it as levels were moderate in all the places I checked. And the excellent Met Office web site, says that it’ll be Tuesday before the levels get better.
So I think I’ll go and see my therapist today. I’m not sure where I’ll explore, but because it is so easy and fairly close, I think I might go to Bruce Castle Museum this afternoon.
What I will do is reflect on my life and especially this dreaded hay fever.
I will start with my ancestors. I’m certain that it’s my father’s line that has the really bad genes and has brought me the allergies. From what I know now, I’m certain that he was a coeliac like me. He certainly had more wind than the Outer Hebrides. He was always choked up with catarrh and ate menthol catarrh tablets like others eat sweets. He was also a heavy pipe smoker and that couldn’t have helped. His father had died young of pneumonia and my father had told me, that my grandfather was a heavy drinker and smoker, who suffered from asthma. My father told me graphic stories about how he would pick him up in a terrible state from places like Wood Green Conservative Club. One of the strange things about my father’s family, is that there is very few women, who have ever given birth. Could this be the coeliac gene, which doesn’t help women carrying a viable foetus to full term.
Unfortunately, I don’t have my school records, but it would make interesting reading, as I can remember taking endless time off because I just wasn’t up to it. I seemed to be coughing all the time and spent many nights with my head over a jug of Friar’s Balsam. At one time I supposedly got a case of scarlet fever. How I ever got to a Grammar School I don’t know! Luckily, we had television and I had my Meccano to amuse myself with. And that is what I did, when I was at home. Most weekends I would be off to my father’s print works, where I did useful things. To say, I was an indoor child would not be an understatement. And we worry about kids spending too much time on their computers.
So what was it that made me so ill? Unfortunately, my medical records are incomplete and start in 1970. If only they were on a central database, that I could access!
My GP, one Dr. Egerton White, thought I was allergic to eggs, and so I was rationed to one a week. Did it help? Not at all. My father thought it might be the paint in our house, which he thought contained lead and I can remember him stripping it all off and using modern lead-free paints. It could also have been his smoking or the coal fires we had in those days, but I didn’t really improve much. I suppose it might have got better, when my parents bought a house in Felixstowe, but we only went for the odd weekends. But at least I used to walk a lot by the sea.
I think in some ways, I just grew out of the worst times and what finally killed it in some ways was going to Liverpool, where I spent the next three years at the University on top of a hill with the wind in the west.
So perhaps it was just hay fever of a particularly persistent form, as from what I can remember, I don’t feel much different now. The only difference, is that now I’m on a strict gluten-free diet after having been diagnosed as a coeliac ten years ago. That cured a lot of my problems, like chronic dandruff.
All of my levels like B12 are spot on, so it’s not as if I lack anything.
Since C died, I’ve started to get a few problems, like tight shins, difficulty in breathing and spots on my chest, back and legs. I scratch them a lot, when I’m alone.
I have been told on good authority by an academic I respect, that widows can suffer high cortisol levels and the Internet indicates there may be a link.
So has all the stress I’ve suffered in the previous three years, brought the hay fever back?
I sometimes think, that my mind learned how to control it and the stroke knocked out that knowledge, but that is just a feeling not based on any fact. I have been told by a serious doctor, that stroke patients sometimes have pain return from previous injuries. He did find problems in my neck, which are improving through physiotherapy.
The Man In Seat 28
The title is a direct crib from that excellent train website, www.seat61.com. Use it if you want to find out how to get anywhere by train.
I did get my sandwiches, after failing at the Angel this morning, in Liverpool Street station, and here they are laid out on the table that I didn’t have to share, as I sat in Seat 28 in Standard Class.
Marks and Spencer's Gluten Free Sandwiches
I should say that Liverpool Street now has three Marks and Spencer food stores and I got my lunch from the one in the Broadgate or western entrance.
They are certainly going to make football a lot easier for me, as now I won’t have to worry about lunch or supper. Especially as until now, Ipswich was a virtual gluten free desert. The Marks there is listed as selling gluten-free sandwiches, but I haven’t checked yet.
Seat 28, also gave a very good view of the Olympic Park, as it was on the left side going towards Ipswich. The seat also has a full window.
The Olympic Park from Seat 28
Unfortunately, if you want the best view, you’ll have to be up front with the driver. I’ve done this once and it’s the only way to travel.
I should say that the jouney home wasn’t as pleasant. I had deliberately taken a later train and I took a table seat in an almost empty carriage. But then three obese middle-aged men joined me, hemmed me in by the window and proceeded to talk loudly amongst themselves all the way to London. They talked mainly about rugby and beer. I may have interest in the first, but I certainly have no interest in the sort of beer they droned on about. I also didn’t like the way they talked about their long-suffering wives.
In the end I decanted from the train at Stratford and took the North London Line home. Perhaps, next time I don’t want to be disturbed, I’ll book First.
Today’s trip and my last one to Plymouth and Bristol illustrate that train catering is getting more and more irrelevant for many people. I haven’t bought anything except coffee, Coke or perhaps a water for months now. I either take everything with me, buy something from Marks in the station or make sure I eat well before travelling. As for example there is a Carluccio’s either in or close to St. Pancras, King’s Cross and Liverpool Street, it can’t be long before most large stations have a sensible gluten-free cafe. Most stations too have a coffee shop at least up to Starbucks standard.
I suspect that train catering will disappear completely within a few years. At the Zoo Late, you could pre-order Gordon Ramsey picnics. How long before someone does luxury picnics, that you pre-order and pick up at the station before you travel? They could even be delivered to your seat in First Class!
If you are a food supplier, the great thing about train passengers, is you get at least two goes to sell them food. Obviously, I bought my picnic today before I got on the train and I could even have bought a glass of decent wine in a plastic glass at Marks. But suppose, I’d been going to Brighton to walk on the promenade, I might have brought my lunch when I arrived. And if you’re changing trains at say Liverpool Lime Street, you could buy your food between trains.
So if you run a dedicated train catering service, you’ve got real competition!
So I think that in a few years, the food available to rail travellers will be very good and probably lightly alcoholic if you want a drink. The catering will certainly be better than that on the roads, where everything is over-priced and over-curled.
I think that some of the new trains are even prepared for the revolution. The new trains, I used to get to Cambridge a couple of weeks ago, are built with trays for laptops and/or snacks. All it needs is to make sure the litter is either taken out by the passengers or cleaned up at the end of each leg!
A Saturday Morning Routine
There are two radio programmes, I like to listen to on Saturday morning; Danny Baker and the unsporting quiz, Fighting Talk, as they appeal to my unusual sense of humour.
The trouble is that if I’m going to football, as I am today, it doesn’t really leave much time for me to get to the shops, as I have to leave by about midday to get the train.
So this morning, I got to the Angel, by bus at just after 8:30. I actually took a seventy-free, as if you sit at the back and get out of the rearmost door, it’s much easier to walk to the four shops, Carluccio’s and the physio, that I visit at the Angel.
Today, it was just Boots for some rat poison, Marks and Spencer for some gluten-free sarnies for the train and a beef Stroganoff for tonight and Waitrose for two large carriers of heavy stuff like alcohol and Coke. I went to Waitrose first and found that if I shopped immediately, could get it delivered before the start of Fighting Talk at 11:00. I think I rather caught them on the hop, but hopefully it’ll come on time. But I do have two hours of total float in my critical path, so if they come by one I’m OK.
The only problem, was that Marks didn’t have the gluten-free sandwiches, but then I’ll pass three of their shops that stock them on the way to Liverpool Street. If they don’t have any, then I shall complain. If there aren’t any, it’s probably because they are too good and all those food fadists on a gluten-free kick have snaffled them!
I was back home listening to Danny Baker by ten o’clock.
It sounds like I’ll be repeating this on Saturdays in the future.
The routine could be even better, if Carluccio’s opened at 8:00 for breakfast on Saturday, as they do in the week.
Update at 11:20 – Waitrose have just delivered, so I have plenty of time to catch the train to Ipswich, after scouring Marks for some gluten-free sandwiches.
Thinking about this post. When C and I lived near Newmarket we would go shopping early, often visit one of our horses in traing and then we’d generally be back home around eleven.
I suppose, I’m only repeating what we did together by myself. In some ways, it was easier in Suffolk, as Waitrose opened earlier. But then I had to carry the shopping from the car to the hall. Here, that is all done by the van driver from Waitrose.
Who said manners and service are dead.
Gluten Freedom For Coeliac Travellers in the UK
When I went to Plymouth, I bought a gluten-free ham salad from Marks and Spencer in Paddington station, to sustain me on the journey.
It was excellent.
Today, I had an egg salad sandwich from their shop in Moorgate. It was equally good.
They’ve even got a list on their web site of all their stores that stock the gluten-free sandwiches.
Travelling just got a whole lot easier for coeliacs in the UK.
How To Do Food At An Event
If I’d wanted I could have pre-ordered a Gordon Ramsey-styled picnic box, but as I’m a coeliac, it didn’t say if they were gluten-free or not, so I opted to buy at the event. This is the chicken kebab I had, which was certified by the chef who was cooking it as gluten-free.
Gluten-Free Chicken Kebab at Zoo Lates
It was delicious and the salad was fresh and not of the limp variety you tend to get in many places. They also gave me a discount because I didn’t want the pitta bread.
But it was only one of many varieties of fast food and drink, including Aspall Cyder on offer. There was for example this Korean stall.
Korean Fast Food at Zoo Lates
And even this splendidly politically incorrect one.
Buffalo and Ostrich at Zoo Lates
Sadly, there was no Cambodian for me. This is the only completely gluten-free cuisine in the world.
The food on offer did show how fast food should be done. You would have had to be very picky not to have found something you could have eaten.
Let’s hope the Olympics follow the lead set at the Zoo. But I bet they’ll produce the sort of stuff I can’t eat, like they do at Wembley Stadium.
The High Cost Of Gluten Free Food to the NHS
The Times yesterday had a piece about the high cost of gluten free food to the NHS. They quoted an NHS gluten-free loaf at 32.27 and I know I pay a lot less than that for acceptable ones in Marks and Spencer, Waitrose or Tesco. They also said that you could buy gluten-free afternoon tea in Fortnum and Mason for £34 a person. I think I’ll try the latter out one day!
Anyway I was moved to write to the paper and here’s what I said.
As a diagnosed coeliac, I am entitled to various gluten-free prescriptions. But I don’t exercise my right, as most gluten free products available that way are inferior to products bought in normal shops and supermarkets. I do buy bread from a well-known chain twice a week and if I feel like some pasta I go to a chain of Italian cafes, where the penne is as good as any.
It would be much better if all of those entitled to gluten-free products were given vouchers that could be redeemed in shops against suitable products. That way we could eat quality rather than processed cardboard. Some might blow the vouchers on gluten-free chocolate biscuits, which are not available on the NHS, but then having coeliac disease, doesn’t mean you have to be miserable!
But innovation is the real solution. My local pub has a chef who is a coeliac. He made an alternative muffin from slices of grilled aubergine, a sliced tomato and some spinach. It was much better than any gluten-free bread I’ve ever tasted and complimented the Eggs Royale superbly.
Last night, I cooked one of Lindsey Bareham’s simple gluten-free creations; a chorizo, chicken and chickpea stew, all cooked in one pot. Delicious!
I do think though there is a much more cost effective way of getting coeliacs, gluten-free products. Why should we be subsidised so heavily, when there are people in a much worse state than we are? I would happily give up my right to gluten-free food on the NHS, which I don’t exercise, for a monthly voucher to be spent on something gluten free. I would probably use it to buy a gluten free pasta dish in Carluccio’s or some chocolate chip cookies or Damm Daura in Waitrose!
I do remember going through the gluten-free list with a pharamcist once. There is nothing there with any excitement at all.
Lakeside On The Slide
The leader of Thurrock Council has said that the development of Eastfield on the Olympic Park will harm the Lakeside Shopping Centre at Thurrock.
Let’s face it, Lakeside is a tired dump and impossible to get to be public transport, so it has no appeal for me. But then when Bluewater opened C and I always crossed the bridge to a much better place. As a coeliac too, where’s the gluten free food at Lakeside?
The Interaction Between Coeliac Disease, Hay Fever and My Stroke
I had the stroke about twelve months ago and I thought that by now I would be starting to feel better, but as time goes on, I seem to be feeling worse and worse.
Take today, I got up just around six and felt reasonably good after about eight hours of sleep. I used the hay fever spray on my nose, but when I left home about eleven, I felt that the optimism of the early morning had disappeared. My left shin was tight, as it often is and my nose was blocked solid with the hay fever. After lunch with a friend, I returned to the Angel to do a bit of shopping and could hardly walk back from the bus to my house, such was the tightness in my shin and the pain in my left arm. I checked my e-mails and then lay on the bed, where I fell asleep for a couple of hours. I feel reasonably bright now, although there is a pain in the back of my left shin. What is strange is that I only get pains in my left shin and left arm. I know that was the side of the stroke, but I’ve always had occasional pain in my left arm from where a bully broke it at school and over the past couple of years, I’ve had pain in the back of my left shin, since I trod on a razor shell on Holkham Beach. I couldn’t be sure, but these pains could have been worse in the spring, or should that be hay fever time.
In trying to find out what is wrong, an MRI Scan has shown problems in my neck, where a nerve might be trapped. But it’s nothing serious that good physiotherapy shouldn’t be able to sort out.
If I go back a few weeks, when the pollen was low for a few days, all of the pain disappeared. So it does seem that the pain is partly caused by the pollen levels, which at the moment are moderate. But then they have been for several weeks.
Another point is that at times my gut feels not quite right. It’s almost like being glutened and it feels as though something not too nice is upsetting my digestion. In some ways, it’s something that may have plagued me for years. So do histimines created by the pollen upset your digestion system? Especially, if you’re a coeliac.
I have a feeling that the only solution is to take a gluten free cruise.
Hayley Turner Wins The July Cup
This report from the BBC describe how Hayley Turner won the July Cup at Newmarket on Dream Ahead.
This was the first outright win by a lady jockey in a Group One race in the UK. There had been one dead heat in the past.
Not only is she the best female jockey we’ve ever had in the UK, she’s also a coeliac.
She’s also a very nice person in every way. She rode for me several times and I would recommend her to anybody.
Is The Public To Blame For The Antics of Tabloid Newspapers?
I don’t like the celebrity culture and to paraphrase the evil doctor, when I see any celebrity culture, I reach for my off switch or turn the other way.
About the only time I have anything to do with it, is when I hear some Z-lister being named in the media, I might search the Internet to see who they are. But that is as far as it goes! I do read the obituaries in quality papers, as I’m interested in what makes people tick or worth remembering.
I will also admit to buying the Sun occasionally. Of the tabloids, with the exception of the Evening Standard, it is the only one with any sensible horse racing coverage.
But as to most of the dross they print, about celebrities, I have no interest, except where there is a serious side, like with superinjunctions and business practices, that may have cost us all dear as taxpayers.
To me the tabloids are summed up by this true story.
I was at the Ipswich Inter Milan match in the San Siro, when I found myself sitting next to a journalist, who worked for one of the more outrageous tabloids. We chatted about various topics concerning football and Ipswich in particular and I can’t remember how it came up, but we started discussing my coeliac disease. I then said that the statistics indicated that there must be at least one footballer, who must be a coeliac. I suggested it might make a story, as it might help those with the disease. He then said that the readers of his rag wouldn’t be interested. But if I knew a footballer who was gay, then that would be a very valuable story.
So do these crap newspapers exit because it’s what the general public wants. Or at least what they think they want?
I’ll put in a true story from way back and incidentally from before anybody in the UK had heard of Rupert Murdoch.
During the enquiry into the Profumo Affair, which was held in public, only one newspaper printed the proceedings in full. It was The Times and they printed it because they said they were a newspaper of record and it was their duty.
Sales soared!
The Anonymous Widower 