Strictly

Actually, I watch very little reality TV but I do quite enjoy "Strictly" on BBC TV. This is a knock-out dancing competition. This year, the standard is very high and it is hard to see who will win. It is many years since I enjoyed ballroom dancing with Ann, my old girlfriend in my teens. These are distant memories now.

Climate change - progress

So all the countries at the Paris climate summit have reached agreement. This is just the start, but it shows a willingness to work towards a world which does not have dangerous warming. As someone pointed out on BBC TV this morning, the cost of choosing a non-carbon path has significantly reduced, so it is less burdensome to choose clean energy.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35084374 .

Lunch with old friends

This lunchtime we enjoyed lunch at a local gastro pub (in the next village) with old friends who live quite close to us. The food was good as always. The friends came back to us for tea/coffee afterwards.

Poor voice

Today I had to go to Addenbrooke's Hospital for an outpatient appointment at the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) clinic. This meant having a camera down my nose into my throat. Sadly, the diagnosis was that my poor voice is "neurological" and there is nothing that can be done to make it better. I am seeing the "main man" just in case, but it sounds like I am stuck with my poor voice unless it gets better over time. This is a blow, although at one time I was told I would never eat ever again. For the last year I've been able to eat just about anything. Moral? Never, ever give up.

Activity contests and antenna article

It must be my age!  My wife said last Tuesday "have you got a radio contest tonight?" I said, "no" thinking it was the end of November. Somehow I also read my email reminder of the 70cm UK activity contest too late last night.  So, I managed to miss both the 2m and 70cm December legs of the monthly RSGB amateur radio activity contests, thinking it was the end of November still!

Incidentally, my article on the big-wheel antenna for 2m is in the January RSGB magazine RadCom. If I had remembered, this is the antenna I would have used! It works well and is a horizontal omni with gain. Mine was very kindly erected by a fellow radio amateur David Tegerdine G0LRD, to whom I am much indebted.

Stroke exhaustion

It is perhaps surprising that well over 2 years since my stroke, I still get very exhausted so easily. We have had good old friends staying for a couple of nights and after helping to prepare lunch and washing the dishes, I was totally exhausted. After 10-15 minutes I am OK again, but anything physical or mental gets me very tired after a short time.

I guess I have to accept this is how it is going to be, although people tell me I am getting slowly better. They can see progress, although I cannot generally see it.

Sitting down  and driving are OK generally.   I find I get stressed more than I did and my instinct is to, "say it as it is". This sometimes gets me into trouble! I am sure I was more tactful in the past.

Floods

As I write this, Storm Desmond is dropping record quantities of rain over northern England and Scotland.  I can imagine little worse than having your home or business flooded out, especially at this time of the year.  My heart bleeds for those affected, who may be without homes for months and even when they get back there is the ongoing threat of it all happening again.  There is also the worry over insurance. No, flooding is going to become a major issue in the years ahead.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35019021 .