Use your VOTE today

Whatever your political allegiance today is your chance to use your democratic right to help elect the MEP that you chose.

My wife and I chose to vote for the GREEN PARTY.   As this election is by proportional representation even votes for minor parties are not wasted.  I very much hope the GREEN PARTY does well and wins more seats. They would act as a moderating influence in Europe.  Their policies seem very sensible, unlike some others. Their catch phrase is "for the common good". These days they have moved on a lot and some forecasts expect them to out-do the Lib Dems.

In a democracy, of course, you are free to vote for whoever you choose. USE your vote.

Stroke and phone calls

Not sure quite why this is, but when friends phone why is it that several of them decide they have to speak "down" to me as if I was stupid? This happens time and time again and is very annoying. As far as I can tell my intellect is fully intact and I am very far from stupid! Maybe it is because my voice still sounds odd (a bit) and I have to speak more slowly to be understood? It must be even more of an issue for others with physical impairments much worse than mine.

If you are a friend phoning me please treat me absolutely normally. I am NOT an idiot and do NOT want to be treated as if I am.

Tides Reach Hotel (Salcombe) - good news!

The plans have now been made public and they please me! I was expecting a large hotel complex quite out of step with  the environment, but I am very pleased to say the developers have good plans that manage to blend a larger, modern hotel well with the existing surroundings.

See www.tidesreachdevelopment.com and look for the display boards from the Cliff House public exhibition held yesterday. I am well pleased this is not going to be an ugly concrete mess.

Designers - thank you, and well done!

A greener future?

In the Eastern Counties, Rupert Read has a real chance of becoming a Green Euro-MP this Thursday, not least because of proportional representation and voting, so every vote counts and minor parties have a great chance. Last time he polled 9% and he needs 10% to get a seat. Your vote could be the decider!

See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm-KaOzqJw4.

Use your vote on Thursday May 22nd. A vote for the Greens is very much NOT a wasted vote!

Swifts

For the last week or more, swifts have been a common sight on the wing in the skies overhead. Swifts return from Africa around the end of April and the start of May. Usually, most have gone again by late summer, although I suspect many linger in Spain where in September they are still plentiful as are insects.

At this time of year swifts are very common, perhaps more common than many other species. There are a good number of swallows around, but, so far, I have not seen a single house martin. I may just have been unlucky but fear numbers are down yet again. The returning swifts are a real sign of summer. As the poem goes, "all's well with the world...".

Who should you vote for on Thursday?

Try this simple quiz and read, at the end, which party best matches you views.

See http://uk.votematch.eu/ .

Cambridge United promoted (back) into Football League

After several seasons in the Conference League, Cambridge United beat Gateshead at Wembley this evening to gain promotion back into the Football League Division 2. So next season they will be pitted against the like of Plymouth Argyle.

It was a tense end to their season  as they lost against Gateshead at Wembley last Sunday. The promotion is well deserved and, although (mainly) a "fireside supporter" it pleases me enormously.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/27360422 .

It is a pity the BBC or ITV don't broadcast League 2 games live. MUCH less expensive than Premier League and the clubs would benefit enormously from the broadcasting rights.

Friends visit

Today we were visited for lunch by our old friends Jean and Alan who live in Letchworth in Hertfordshire. This afternoon they visited Burwell Museum and Windmill. These are friends from university days. We see each other not too often, but when we meet up it is as if we last saw each other just a few days ago. This is a measure of true friendship.

Salcombe (South Sands)

Some days ago I mentioned how my old hometown Salcombe was in danger of being ruined by out of character developments, mainly by profiteers from outside only really interested in profits and not the longer term best interests of the town.

From http://www.tidesreachdevelopment.com/plans-and-images/

Next week (May 20th, Cliff House) there is a public meeting on plans to develop the Tides Reach Hotel site at South Sands. See http://www.tidesreachdevelopment.com/plans-and-images/ . This is a chance for the general public to influence the planning decisions. In my view, apathy could take over and the whole plan get approved even  though it could ruin the area. Go on-line and get your democratic voice heard or visit the exhibition and complete feedback forms!

Maybe I am totally wrong although recent planning decisions make me think the developers have BIG ideas and they are assuming the plans will just be waived through.

Bizarre sounds this afternoon

This afternoon our ears were hit by a couple of bizarre sounds.

Firstly the sound of a bagpipe sounding a lament leaving a house in our Close to accompany the coffin of a neighbour who died having had Altziemers for many years.  Later the bagpipe could be heard as the coffin left the church.

Then the sound of a Rag and Bone man's van with the song "Any Old Iron". This I had not heard for years and years. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Any_Old_Iron_%28song%29 . At one time this was a familiar street sound, but not any more.

Chippenham

This is the OTHER Chippenham (near Newmarket) rather than the one in Wiltshire.  This Chippenham has a hall with a massively long wall than must have cost thousands when made in the 1700s. It also has delightful cottages (see above) which look like alms houses, or cottages for workers on the local estate.

Snailwell

Snailwell is a small village a few miles from here.  It is nothing special: a collection of delightful houses and cottages in the older part and a few more nondescript houses in the rest of the village.  It does have a splendid little church with a round tower. These towers are common in East Anglia but far less common locally.  This was the first church in which our grandson rang a church bell some years ago now when he was about 4.

Profound tiredness

One of the effects of my stroke is I feel profoundly tired when awake a lot of the time. This feels more like M.E. as this tiredness is like nothing I have known. Every thing I do requires immense effort.

Gradually, I hope these feelings will subside, but right now, coupled with my giddiness on my feet and a slight sick feeling all the time, life is a struggle. Some days are better than others and I tend to remember the worse days.

My pattern does feel like 3 good days forward followed by 2 bad (worse) days.

Roll on getting properly better.

Floating homes?

One possible measure to ease the problems of rising sea levels and inland flooding are homes that float. This is not a new idea: such homes have been a common site in Holland for many years. It has even been suggested that entire cities should be made that float. By the end of this century London and New York could both be regularly, or even permanently, flooded.

For ideas see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27425225 .

Why I am voting Green next week

See http://reasonstovotegreen.herokuapp.com/ .

No political party perfectly matches my wishes but the closest are the Greens and they will be getting my vote next week. I do not see this as a wasted vote at all, rather a chance to say how I feel about many matters.

UKIP may pick up some  protest votes but I want to vote for a real party with real policies. UKIP seem to be strong on getting out of Europe but very little else. The Green manifesto looks well thought out. They have changed. Make up your own mind.

Use your vote next week.

The Greens - a wise choice.

Quadcopters

At a BBQ a few years ago one of the guests had a small quadcopter controlled by wi-fi from an iPad. Equipped  with stabilisers and an in-built camera it was able to fly over the assembled guests and we could all see ourselves on the iPad from about 20-30m above ground level. Prices then were around £200 but I expect prices have dropped. Great fun with iPad control and in-built camera. Of course drones have war uses, but this was a nice benign application. The design looked robust enough to survive the occasional crash although most have algorithms to land safely if out of wi-fi range, I believe.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-27403761 .

Weather and moods

It is funny how the weather influences ones mood. Today here we have started the day here with very bright sunshine and I feel much better: still giddy and still slightly sick inside, but feeling much more positive.

At the moment I am on 400ml of liquid feed via my stomach peg. Next week this reduces to 200ml, all being well.  I am eating 4 meals a day by mouth (breakfast, lunch, tea and supper) and have 2-3 drinks by mouth. I am maintaining the same weight I was when on 900ml of liquid feed, which is 11 stone.

All being well, I shall be off the peg feed (directly into my stomach) during June and that will be a real milestone on the road to full recovery. I still have to conquer the giddiness and sickness.

Sepura shares

Sepura shares have been "on the up" recently. They fell back to around 132p but have climbed back to 140p. Not too long ago they were worth about 30p.   Unfortunately shares can fluctuate widely, but recent movements suggest Sepura must be doing something right.

Lawns

Most weeks, our "London" son visits us with our granddaughter Amandine. Whilst here, he usually cuts the front and rear lawns, bless him. To save him time, my wife Lis mowed (part of) the rear lawn.

Granddaughter Amandine (nearly 3) being a butterfly today

Lis dislikes me being ill: in days gone by I would do both lawns in about 1 hour. These days it is a real struggle for me. I wish it wasn't so, but I cannot help it.  I'd love not to depend on anyone. Roll on that day, please.

3 steps forward and 2 back?

This is the pattern my stroke recovery seems to take. Some days are good and I feel things are improving, only for this to be followed by a day or more when I appear to slide backwards.

Today has been a bad day: although food and drinks have gone down OK, I feel very giddy and tire easily. I very much hope I can overcome the giddiness. This and the uncomfortable sickness feeling in my stomach and food pipe are making life very hard.

If  I am honest, only sleep is a release.  Days are long and uncomfortable and I am sure no-one (not even my long suffering wife) understands just how miserable life still is for me. I very much want to be well again and able to do all the things I used to be able to do. But almost everything I do exhausts me. A slight bit of gardening and I am zonked out

I keep going because people tell me I will get better given time. God, I hope they are right as life as it is now is unbearable for too much longer.

Gym referral

As my physio sessions for my stroke draw to a close in Ely I have now been recommended "on referral" to the Newmarket Leisure Centre for further work on balance and stamina. Being referred, one gets discounted rates for the 12 weeks of group sessions twice a week for 30 minutes each. Hopefully this will help my recovery.

I  am not really a "gym" sort of person, but I am game for anything which will help me recover my "old" self.

Sepura

Can you believe it - it is over 6 years ago that I retired from Sepura.  For the first few years I still felt "connected" to the old place but these days it is just a distant memory. Most times were good ones, but towards the end things were getting silly and I was glad to get out and realise there was more to life. When fully fit I really enjoyed my retirement: time to do what I wanted, when I wanted, for a change. Our grandchildren came along when we had time to see and be there for them. At the moment, with my stroke, retirement is harder work and I cannot do as much as I'd want. Hopefully this will get better again soon.

Sepura shares are doing well, having risen from around 30p to 137.50p currently, although they were even higher earlier in the year.  Most of my Sepura shares have gone, but I do still hold some.

Of course, I wish all my old Sepura colleagues every success.  It must be even harder working there now I expect.  I have no idea about projects or people there these days. It is several years since I have been in.

Hedge trimmer

Our (quite old) hedge trimmer is lost: we have checked the garden shed and garage and cannot find it. The Qualcast 500W hedge trmmer is £39.99 in Homebase, less 10% OAP discount on Tuesdays, which seems a fair price. I bet it does NOT last as long as the old one though!

Sadly this stuff is made in China (I expect) and almost guaranteed to fail within a few years. My son had a so called " decent" fridge that failed after just 2 years. Although the parts were under warranty the labour was not and it was actually cheaper to buy a new fridge. What a crazy world we live in!

Flight MH370?

Notice how this is no longer news worthy?

It still strikes me as VERY odd that not a single piece of wreckage has been spotted by anyone anywhere. My guess it was secretly landed somewhere. The USA remains extremely quiet considering they must have the spy technology to have located it by now.  Is the USA in some shape or form complicit?  Who knows.

Day in Canterbury

For the first time since my stroke last September I ventured out of the county (Newmarket and Bury-St-Edmunds, Suffolk excepted), with my wife, to visit my son and family who live near Canterbury, Kent.

As I cannot drive (currently, as a result of the stroke) we did a day return by train. It was seamless and travel in both directions was fast. We had from 12-4pm with our son and family and about the same time in travel on fast trains, especially in Kent.

Now we have done it once we may well do it again. Being a Sunday, parking at Cambridge station was easy and cheap. Our son picked us up at Canterbury West station. There were no delays because of engineering works.

Booking in advance, via http://www.thetrainline.com/, and using our Seniour Railcards, the fares were reasonable too. 

All in all, a very good day.

What does my stroke feel like?

People who see me say, "you do look well" and similar.  I have then to explain how I feel on the inside.

Outwardly I do look pretty good: I have put back lost weight, got colour back in my cheeks and am looking more and more like my "old" self.  Inside it is (still) a very different story. The best way to describe how I feel is by saying I feel wobbly all the time when walking - like I have had 8 pints of beer -  always giddy and unsteady when on the move. Any physical exertion, like a tiny bit of gardening, leaves me shattered and in need of a sit-down and rest. I also feel near constant, low level nausea in my stomach and gut.

Overall, I AM making progress but this is too slow!  I desperately want to be "normal" again . At present, it seems 3 steps forwards and 2 backwards. I should be off  the stomach liquid feed by June/July and already the amount through the peg is vastly reduced compared with when I first came out of hospital. I think my giddiness and sickness/nausea are slowly improving.

So, I may look OK but inside I still feel rough at the moment. Normality is a way off yet still, sadly. Thankfully I sleep very deeply: when I drop off it is (usually) a long and good quality sleep. Sleep is the only time in the day I feel OK. The rest of the time is still a struggle.

Anonymity in sex cases?

With many people accused of sex charges recently being acquitted, is it not time to grant those accused of sex charges anonymity until proven guilty? In English law a person is innocent until tried and found guilty but the press coverage of many recent trials makes a nonsense of this. What is worst, mud sticks. Even if found not-guilty the harm to reputation as a result of the early sensationalist press and TV coverage is extreme.   This coverage is usually sensationalist in nature.  If found guilty the accused will usually have to serve time in prison i.e. they have to pay back to society.

As an example, Ralph Harris is already being judged guilty even though his trial has only just started. If he is acquitted, the bad press will still be there to haunt him.  This serves no good.  See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-27340134 .

Personally, I think both sides in sex trials should be granted anonymity. To do otherwise is grossly unfair on those accused and then often found not guilty. A non-guilty verdict should leave the accused able to walk free with head held high, not to be forever in fear of the press baying for yet more blood.  When the accused is guilty the sentence is the punishment.

I am all for justice, but let us have justice for all. To judge a person guilty before a trial has ended and all the evidence has been heard is totally wrong.

Salcombe, Devon - how to destroy it

In the last few years, Salcombe is being taken over by rich bankers and the like with silly money and very small brains. Homes and flats are being sold for millions, hotels are being converted into penthouse suites, and now the Tides Reach Hotel at South Sands is being redeveloped at a cost of £12M as a boutique hotel for yet more of the stinking rich. It makes me sick.

Salcombe and harbour from Snapes Point

At one time, Salcombe was a pleasant seaside town enjoyed by many. Now it is becoming the holiday home from home (for a few weeks a year) of the rich and famous and a ghost town out of season. It cannot go on: the locals can no longer afford to live in the town. In 20 years tradespeople will ALL live out of Salcombe.

It really saddens me to see how my hometown is changing.

Wet (at home) day

This morning I had a 1 hour visit from the speech therapist because of my stroke. This was uneventful. This was followed by a visit from an old work colleague, Ted Williams. We talked radios most of the time.

After Ted went home we had lunch which was more important than usual: my dietician has advised me to reduce my liquid feed (via Peg into my stomach) down from 600ml a day to just 400ml, meaning I now need to eat more substantial meals by mouth. I had a pie. potatoes and spinach - it was a decent helping. I must also eat more soft snacks between meals.

As the weather is so wet, I doubt we will go far today.

Afternoon tea at Simpson's garden centre

Amandine "reading" Mr Men earlier

This afternoon our son Tim and daughter Amandine came up to see us. Tim cut the grass and afterwards we all went out to our local garden centre for afternoon tea.  My wife bought some plants afterwards.  Amandine loved her trifle and fruits. Here she is tucking into her fruit bowl.

Amandine and our son Tim

Branson's visit

Peter Branson

Today we had the pleasure of our old friends, Peter and Chris Branson who were in Burwell for the day. Chris went out with my wife Lis for lunch and Peter had lunch with me at home. A long time ago I worked with Peter and Lis has been friends with Chris since our boys were babies.

Chris Branson (nearest camera) with my wife Lis

Like all real friends, it is very easy to pick up where we last left off, almost like we'd seen them just yesterday, even though they now live 100 miles away in the Cotswolds and we've not seen them for many weeks.

Quiet again here

Grandchildren with their mum

Our "London" grandchildren,and their mum and dad have returned home, so we are quiet again here. We love having them come to stay.

Time to jam

Tomorrow we have some good old friends coming across from the Cotswolds for the day. It will be good to see them. They'd be welcome to stay the night but have to get back for a meeting Wednesday morning.

Cambridge United FC

Cambridge United ( the "U's") are off to Wembley for the Conference play-off finals. I sincerely hope they make it back into the Football League. They deserve it.

The play-off final kicks off at 4pm Sunday May 18th.

Vote Green?

See http://www.greenparty.org.uk/ .

Reading their values on their website (see below)  they are very close to my own. Maybe I should vote green in the EU elections in a few weeks' time?

"We live in unsettling times.
Many of the securities that our parents and grandparents fought for – a functioning National Health Service, free education, and an affordable home – now look out of reach for most of us.
Coupled with this, climate change is bringing unpredictable and threatening weather patterns.
People feel let down by politicians, and yet there has been an explosion in political activism. People want to do things differently and aren’t afraid to be bold and challenging.
We believe that public services should be for the benefit of the public, not sold off in bits; we believe that education is worth investing in and not something that should mean a lifetime of debt; we believe in leaving behind a better world for our children and grandchildren.
This is the only world we have and its welfare, above all things, should be the highest priority for us all.
Politics should work for the benefit of all, not just those who shout the loudest or have the deepest pockets.
We believe in “The Common Good”.
A vote for the Green Party is a vote for The Common Good."