Stroke update

This morning I managed a walk to the local Budgens and the chemists. Round trip is about 1.5km. The last time I did this walk was back in June. It was good to bump into a few people I knew but I was disappointed to still feel so giddy.  By now I was hoping the giddiness would have gone. It seems to be related to how tired and exhausted I feel.  The giddiness must look as if I am drunk. Solid foods generally go down well.  Drinks and speaking are still problematic. Overall, progress is very slow now.

UPDATE 1415z:  Just cut the front lawn again, without a break, in less than 30 minutes. At the end I was well and truly EXHAUSTED. Recovery progress is exceedingly slow. I get SO frustrated that this simple task leaves me so tired. I want to be interested in the world around me, but it feels almost like a parallel universe. I seem to need all my strength to get through each and every day and the world around carries on. I do hope next year will be better. Certainly things must be better than they were, but by now I was expecting to be back to as I was before. I still get totally exhausted and feel so useless. I am more aware that I am living on borrowed time.

Migration into the UK

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28964323 .  One of the "benefits" of being a member of the EC is free movement of people across borders.  In the case of the UK, already a small and overcrowded little island, we now have far more people coming than going, so there is a large net inwards migration. We should be able to control this but we seem powerless to do so.  Our PM has promised to get inwards migration down to 100000 by next year - fat chance I'd say unless we leave the EC.

Both my sons married girls from overseas: one a French girl (the family lives in London) and the other an Australian (family live in Kent).

We should be able to say who comes and goes.

Massive wasp nest on bed

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-28949601 .

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/77193000/jpg/_77193328_waspbed-copy.jpg

A woman in Hampshire and a pest controller had a shock when they discovered a huge wasp nest in a spare bedroom. The wasp nest was covering a spare bed and was 3 feet across. It was the pest controller's most diifcult job in 45 years.

Conkers

Collecting lots of conkers

One of our "Kent" grandchildren has just got back from the churchyard with a bag of 112 conkers from the horse chestnut trees. My wife has been busy extracting some of these from their green, spiky casings.

It is nice to think that the conkers from these very same trees brought pleasure many years ago to our own sons.

Norway

Unlike the UK, Norway decided to keep its oil wealth so it could invest it for the future.  By contrast, here in the UK we continue to live beyond our means and we have huge debts. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-28882312 . Norway seems to be an example of how we should have behaved. Now it is too late.

See also http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/dec/25/vitenberg-norways-mythical-oil-wealth/  for a touch of sour grapes.

Gaza Truce

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-28939350 .

Today it is announced that Egypt has brokered a long-term truce between Gaza and Israel. I hope this one holds and that Israel starts to treat the people of Gaza as real human beings for once. Of course, Hamas has to stop firing missiles into Israel. Is it too much to hope that Israel and the Palestinians to forge a real peace deal that would really last?

Family day

Today, the "London" grandchildren went home and the "Kent" grandchildren and their mum and dad arrived. In the changeover we had a house full and a good opportunity for the grandchildren to play together and for us to take some family photos.

This is all the family today: