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.