The radio in my car is fairly permanently tuned in to Radio 2 - Chris Evans on the way to work and Simon Mayo on the way home. Sometimes when I am in the car around lunchtime, I am tempted to turn over to something else, as I'm not mad on the Jeremy Vine show, but during my travelling from Guildford to Brighton today, the segment of his show devoted to letters from the front line during World War One was quite something.
As I have mentioned, I am reading a book about letters at the moment, but haven't reached the 20th Century just yet, so it will be interesting to see how much time is spent on WW1 correspondence when I get to it.
A lot of the background to the radio show piece can be found in the BBC website's magazine article here.
There were a few things that just amazed me about the story. Firstly there was the amazing organisation and efficiency, dealing with billions of letters throughout the war period, and being able to get correspondence back and forth from everywhere in the world that soldiers were serving. Then there was the censorship - a massive exercise undertaken to ensure that no sensitive military information got out, but also the censoring of anything that might cause morale to fall. And finally, and most movingly of all was the volume of unopened mail that was returned to the sorting offices because the intended recipient had been killed in action. 30,000 letters every day. The postal service even ensured that the unopened letters were not returned to the senders until the official telegram with the dreadful news had been delivered.
Here's an extract from one of the letters, transcribed using the online "listen again" service:
Private Vic Jones of the Cheshire Regiment to his wife, 21 November 1917:
"Don't worry yourself about me darling, I'm quite alright, but I'm terribly homesick. I'm not staying in Blighty if I get out of this alright. I never want anything more to do with the so-called civilised Christian people. They're not fit to associate with the boys who've so willingly risked their lives in defence of something which they never possessed, only in name. Often since I've been out here if I've heard a fellow say "It isn't worth it", I've thought very seriously over those few words, and have come to the conclusion that it isn't worth it. Heaven, if there is such a place, is not worth the sacrifice of life which has been made this last three and a half years, much less Blighty. Wouldn't it be fine if it would finish before Christmas. My one cherished ambition is to see you and Cliff again, and I hope that ambition will soon be realised."
Friday, 31 January 2014
Thursday, 30 January 2014
Membership Magic
News from DVC today that they are launching something called "Membership Magic". Looks essentially like a way of bundling up some special offers to tempt us with. It's good to see that some member offers on passes have arrived, but sadly they are nothing like as good as the half price deal that was going a couple of years ago. Looks like it's possible to get a premium annual pass for about the same money as the UK 14 day ticket deal. The other ones that have caught our eye so far are member exclusive evenings at Splitsville and at some of the spas. Still work out fairly expensive, but its seems like they throw in some upgrades and/or extra treats along the way.
We'll have to keep investigating and see whether we want to take advantage of any of these offers nearer the time.
In the meantime, we are under 180 days to go now, so may have to start contemplating some restaurant bookings.
We'll have to keep investigating and see whether we want to take advantage of any of these offers nearer the time.
In the meantime, we are under 180 days to go now, so may have to start contemplating some restaurant bookings.
Wednesday, 29 January 2014
Home defeat
So, Horizon tonight concludes with the fact that completely cutting out sugar could be very bad for you and potentially put you at risk of diabetes.
The main conclusion seems to be to avoid processed foods which contain a mixture of both sugar and fat together. They seemed to single out cheesecake for a particularly hard time - which was distressing to see, obviously.
Right, off to watch mid week MOTD now - might be rather painful viewing for Spurs fans!
The main conclusion seems to be to avoid processed foods which contain a mixture of both sugar and fat together. They seemed to single out cheesecake for a particularly hard time - which was distressing to see, obviously.
Right, off to watch mid week MOTD now - might be rather painful viewing for Spurs fans!
Tuesday, 28 January 2014
Messages
Messages:
Mum - great to have you up and running and a new member of the iPad club, even if you did beat me at our first game of chess. Expect lots of requests for rematches!
Dad - my solution in seven steps (if we call the 8 unit jug A, the 5 unit jug B and the 3 unit jug C):
Pour A to B, B to C, C to A, B to C, A to B, B to C and finally C to A!
Mum - great to have you up and running and a new member of the iPad club, even if you did beat me at our first game of chess. Expect lots of requests for rematches!
Dad - my solution in seven steps (if we call the 8 unit jug A, the 5 unit jug B and the 3 unit jug C):
Pour A to B, B to C, C to A, B to C, A to B, B to C and finally C to A!
Monday, 27 January 2014
Weighty issues
Maybe I shouldn't have a weekly weigh in on a Monday morning, it can make the start of a new working week so much more fun!
The news was this morning was that despite losing a few pounds over the last couple of weeks, today I was exactly back to where I started. Hardly surprising really given that in the last week I had put away:
- a GBK takeaway
- a whole box of chocolate fingers
- chocolate cookies
- a fair few lattes
- a praline danish
- a fishfinger sandwich
- omelette and chips from the chinese
- a three course meal out including pecan pie for pudding
- a roast dinner.
In fact, looking at that list it is a wonder I hadn't ended up worse off than when I started!
Back on the straight and narrow (mostly) today - breakfast biccies, green tea, water, small sushi box for lunch, apple, satsuma, half a bag of nuts, and spag bol for tea.
The news was this morning was that despite losing a few pounds over the last couple of weeks, today I was exactly back to where I started. Hardly surprising really given that in the last week I had put away:
- a GBK takeaway
- a whole box of chocolate fingers
- chocolate cookies
- a fair few lattes
- a praline danish
- a fishfinger sandwich
- omelette and chips from the chinese
- a three course meal out including pecan pie for pudding
- a roast dinner.
In fact, looking at that list it is a wonder I hadn't ended up worse off than when I started!
Back on the straight and narrow (mostly) today - breakfast biccies, green tea, water, small sushi box for lunch, apple, satsuma, half a bag of nuts, and spag bol for tea.
Sunday, 26 January 2014
Framed
A productive day at home today, starting with a trip to Thurrock to go to Ikea. It was just as well that we stayed at home for breakfast, otherwise we would have been there before it opened.
Our shopping trolley this time comprised of a new desk for Jake, a large number of picture frames to start the framing marathon that we need to work through to get some of our collection of artwork up on the walls, plus a load of clothes hangers to help with continuing to sort out wardrobes.
As can be seen from the pictures, some good progress was then made this afternoon putting things together / up.
Our shopping trolley this time comprised of a new desk for Jake, a large number of picture frames to start the framing marathon that we need to work through to get some of our collection of artwork up on the walls, plus a load of clothes hangers to help with continuing to sort out wardrobes.
As can be seen from the pictures, some good progress was then made this afternoon putting things together / up.
Saturday, 25 January 2014
Dreaming
I woke up this morning with the remains of a dream floating around in my head. It always seems to be the case with me that when I dream (which I don't think is all that often) I have a vague recollection of the subject matter when I wake up, but that it fairly quickly dissipates followed by occasional snippets of reminders over the following hour or so.
This dream seems to have been fairly jam-packed, as I can definitely recall it featuring family, home, work, colleagues, travel, and even some plot lines inspired by last night's TV! I wonder if it is just a case of my mind trying to process and sort the contents of a busy week. Also, isn't it the case that dreams are more likely to occur in the shallower, pre-waking part of sleep, and so more likely to occur at the weekend when there isn't an alarm call, and more of an opportunity to slumber before getting up to face the day?
I have a theory that those sorts of later-rising days are more risky from a migraine perspective. You know the fuzzy-headed feeling of having stayed in bed a bit too long? Sometimes for me that can feel very similar to the early indications of a potential migraine. As for whether I then worry that my fuzzy feeling feels a bit migraine-ish and I manage to inadvertently induce one, or whether there is an actual connection, who knows. Maybe my next visit to the neurologist will be enlightening.
For it is back to the neurologist I go. The trip to London on Thursday to see the cardiologist was an 'interesting' one. The place we went to was just off Harley Street, and was very unlike any medical facility I have been to before. I think it was going for an ambiance somewhere between upmarket office and boutique hotel, but it all felt very forced. We all knew, even the posh sense-of-entitlement Belgravia types by whom I felt like I was surrounded, that we were there to see the doctor.
And the doctor himself, he said no to doing the operation. Gradually, we are coming around to the fact that, given that it seems like he is one of the leading exponents in the country of PFO closure (including dropping into conversation that he invented one of the techniques) then clearly we have to bow to his superior knowledge, and if he said the likelihood of not improving the migraines whilst at the same time making the AF worse is a real one, then we need to accept that. It's just disappointing that, even accepting the fact that we shouldn't have done so, we'd kind of gotten our hopes up that a PFO closure could be a real step in the right direction. Now we are back to see the neurologist (and Nicky was straight on the phone to his secretary yesterday and I'm booked in to see him the week after next) and we feel like we have come full circle without any meaningful progress. OK, so we know I have a PFO, but then again, as everyone keeps reminding us (including our Harley Street specialist who took great delight in telling us that he has one as well - although on reflection I can't help but wonder - how does he know that he's got one?! If, as he was at pains to point out, lots of people have one but it doesn't cause them any health issues at all, doesn't that also mean that lots of people have one and are also blissfully unaware of the fact? If you know you've got one, doesn't that mean you have had some health issue or symptoms that have caused you to go looking for it?), so do lots of people, but just knowing it is of no benefit at this stage if there are no plans to do anything about it. So it will be interesting to see the neurologist again. A lot of what's happened in the last couple of months stemmed from his question, "Why do you have AF?" to which I didn't have a ready answer. Next time he asks it, I'm not actually sure that I have much of a better answer. I can tell him that I have a PFO, but I don't actually think anyone has suggested that it is the cause of AF in the first place.
A trip to London on Thursday took me away from work for half a day. It didn't mean that I didn't end up still doing a full day's work (I think I knocked off just before midnight) but it did mean that I got to spend a bit of time with Nicky, which was a rare pleasure this week given that I was staying in Brighton from Monday through to Friday, with just a brief return for parents evening along with the trip to London on Thursday. Work seemed to go OK. As always when sending a report to Dallas at this point in proceedings, the word 'Draft' gets bandied about a fair bit. In amongst the Brighton-Dallas work, there were a few other things going on as well - talking to a partner in LA to explain that it's not our fault that our Dutch office sent a file to us very late, meeting a new client (also in Brighton) along with a manager from Chicago, and getting a report sent off to the Austrian firm, to name but a few.
One of the bits of light relief at the end of the work week was that the team in Brighton have been keeping track of the comedy quotes that people have been coming up with whilst working there over the last few months, and sent round a summary of them on Friday. Gave us all a good chuckle at the end of another busy week.
Whilst in Brighton this week, I finished off my Oliver Burkeman 'Happy!' book, which was an excellent read. Actually, it's not entirely accurate to say that I have finished it, as the final chapter contains some of his sources and ideas for additional reading, and I'm taking my time in working through that, as I keep getting distracted and looking up some of the on-line sources. One that was particularly interesting was an article about the idea of living without constantly being under pressure to set, monitor progress against, and achieve, a whole load of objectives and goals. To me, as someone who spends far too long worrying about meeting both professional and personal objectives, this seems like an idea which is equal parts alarming and freeing! Worth a read, it can be found here.
Having finished Happy!, I moved on to the Simon Garfield letters book, as I mentioned in Thursday's blog, and I'm enjoying that one too. We've arrived in the Elizabethan age so far, and the discussion at the moment is about how the postal service worked (or frequently didn't work) in those days. Maybe it's a little ironic to be going on about that particular book in my blog, as one of the main points that the book seeks to make is about the special nature of letters, and how they can teach us so much about how people lived and communicated through the ages. The demise of letter-writing, which has been hastened by the arrival of the internet age, does pose some interesting questions for what resources future historians will have at their disposal to understand the lives of people living in the early twenty-first century. After all, it is in the everyday correspondence from hundreds of years ago that we get to learn the most, and the question is, will the everyday correspondence from our age still be around and available to future generations? It will either be available in abundance, if on-line activity is archived in such a way to still be accessible, or maybe the vast majority will disappear and get forgotten as technology changes and moves forward. I certainly don't feel like I have any particularly direct control over whether this blog will be preserved (not that I am suggesting in any way that it has any content particularly worthy of preservation!), as, if Blogger were to decide to shut up shop tomorrow, it would all disappear from view, and I don't have any backup copies of all my inane ramblings - I'm not even sure whether it is possible to take an offline backup of one of these blogs. Maybe I should ask Ms Shrewsday about the possibilities of getting the whole lot printed out (thereby relying on a centuries old 'backup' method!) as I think that she has managed to get some of her writings printed as a book.
(By the way, thinking internet-related thoughts, Stephen Fry's most recent blog was particularly interesting. I never knew that Tim Berners-Lee and Steve Jobs came so close to meeting without actually managing to do so. Who knows how things might have developed had Sir Tim been able to show the infant internet to the visionary Jobs?)
Interestingly, both of the last two books that I have been reading have made a mention of the same book, and I'm pretty sure that the same book got a mention in one of the books I read last year as well (probably The Art of Fielding). The book in question is Walden, by Thoreau, and given that it keeps popping up, I think that I might have to pick up a copy and give it a go - see whether he made any startling discoveries whilst living by the Pond.
The final book that has been dipped into this week has been Johnny Ball's puzzle book, and opening the book at a random page I found this puzzle:
You have three milk jugs which will hold 8, 5 and 3 units of milk. The largest jug is full of milk. Can you split the milk into two equal 4-unit measures, just using the three jugs and no other measuring devices?
I'd been mulling this problem over in my head for the last few days, and whilst I had a few ideas, didn't have a solution, so I've just committed pencil to paper, and have found an answer. The interesting thing is that it takes me seven pouring steps to get there, and it feels to me like there ought to be a quicker answer than that. (There are answers in the book, but I haven't looked at any of those yet - where would be the fun in that!)
Off out for dinner with friends this evening. We are going to eat at Eight! Who knows, maybe tomorrow's blog will include a bit of a restaurant review.
This dream seems to have been fairly jam-packed, as I can definitely recall it featuring family, home, work, colleagues, travel, and even some plot lines inspired by last night's TV! I wonder if it is just a case of my mind trying to process and sort the contents of a busy week. Also, isn't it the case that dreams are more likely to occur in the shallower, pre-waking part of sleep, and so more likely to occur at the weekend when there isn't an alarm call, and more of an opportunity to slumber before getting up to face the day?
I have a theory that those sorts of later-rising days are more risky from a migraine perspective. You know the fuzzy-headed feeling of having stayed in bed a bit too long? Sometimes for me that can feel very similar to the early indications of a potential migraine. As for whether I then worry that my fuzzy feeling feels a bit migraine-ish and I manage to inadvertently induce one, or whether there is an actual connection, who knows. Maybe my next visit to the neurologist will be enlightening.
For it is back to the neurologist I go. The trip to London on Thursday to see the cardiologist was an 'interesting' one. The place we went to was just off Harley Street, and was very unlike any medical facility I have been to before. I think it was going for an ambiance somewhere between upmarket office and boutique hotel, but it all felt very forced. We all knew, even the posh sense-of-entitlement Belgravia types by whom I felt like I was surrounded, that we were there to see the doctor.
And the doctor himself, he said no to doing the operation. Gradually, we are coming around to the fact that, given that it seems like he is one of the leading exponents in the country of PFO closure (including dropping into conversation that he invented one of the techniques) then clearly we have to bow to his superior knowledge, and if he said the likelihood of not improving the migraines whilst at the same time making the AF worse is a real one, then we need to accept that. It's just disappointing that, even accepting the fact that we shouldn't have done so, we'd kind of gotten our hopes up that a PFO closure could be a real step in the right direction. Now we are back to see the neurologist (and Nicky was straight on the phone to his secretary yesterday and I'm booked in to see him the week after next) and we feel like we have come full circle without any meaningful progress. OK, so we know I have a PFO, but then again, as everyone keeps reminding us (including our Harley Street specialist who took great delight in telling us that he has one as well - although on reflection I can't help but wonder - how does he know that he's got one?! If, as he was at pains to point out, lots of people have one but it doesn't cause them any health issues at all, doesn't that also mean that lots of people have one and are also blissfully unaware of the fact? If you know you've got one, doesn't that mean you have had some health issue or symptoms that have caused you to go looking for it?), so do lots of people, but just knowing it is of no benefit at this stage if there are no plans to do anything about it. So it will be interesting to see the neurologist again. A lot of what's happened in the last couple of months stemmed from his question, "Why do you have AF?" to which I didn't have a ready answer. Next time he asks it, I'm not actually sure that I have much of a better answer. I can tell him that I have a PFO, but I don't actually think anyone has suggested that it is the cause of AF in the first place.
A trip to London on Thursday took me away from work for half a day. It didn't mean that I didn't end up still doing a full day's work (I think I knocked off just before midnight) but it did mean that I got to spend a bit of time with Nicky, which was a rare pleasure this week given that I was staying in Brighton from Monday through to Friday, with just a brief return for parents evening along with the trip to London on Thursday. Work seemed to go OK. As always when sending a report to Dallas at this point in proceedings, the word 'Draft' gets bandied about a fair bit. In amongst the Brighton-Dallas work, there were a few other things going on as well - talking to a partner in LA to explain that it's not our fault that our Dutch office sent a file to us very late, meeting a new client (also in Brighton) along with a manager from Chicago, and getting a report sent off to the Austrian firm, to name but a few.
One of the bits of light relief at the end of the work week was that the team in Brighton have been keeping track of the comedy quotes that people have been coming up with whilst working there over the last few months, and sent round a summary of them on Friday. Gave us all a good chuckle at the end of another busy week.
Whilst in Brighton this week, I finished off my Oliver Burkeman 'Happy!' book, which was an excellent read. Actually, it's not entirely accurate to say that I have finished it, as the final chapter contains some of his sources and ideas for additional reading, and I'm taking my time in working through that, as I keep getting distracted and looking up some of the on-line sources. One that was particularly interesting was an article about the idea of living without constantly being under pressure to set, monitor progress against, and achieve, a whole load of objectives and goals. To me, as someone who spends far too long worrying about meeting both professional and personal objectives, this seems like an idea which is equal parts alarming and freeing! Worth a read, it can be found here.
Having finished Happy!, I moved on to the Simon Garfield letters book, as I mentioned in Thursday's blog, and I'm enjoying that one too. We've arrived in the Elizabethan age so far, and the discussion at the moment is about how the postal service worked (or frequently didn't work) in those days. Maybe it's a little ironic to be going on about that particular book in my blog, as one of the main points that the book seeks to make is about the special nature of letters, and how they can teach us so much about how people lived and communicated through the ages. The demise of letter-writing, which has been hastened by the arrival of the internet age, does pose some interesting questions for what resources future historians will have at their disposal to understand the lives of people living in the early twenty-first century. After all, it is in the everyday correspondence from hundreds of years ago that we get to learn the most, and the question is, will the everyday correspondence from our age still be around and available to future generations? It will either be available in abundance, if on-line activity is archived in such a way to still be accessible, or maybe the vast majority will disappear and get forgotten as technology changes and moves forward. I certainly don't feel like I have any particularly direct control over whether this blog will be preserved (not that I am suggesting in any way that it has any content particularly worthy of preservation!), as, if Blogger were to decide to shut up shop tomorrow, it would all disappear from view, and I don't have any backup copies of all my inane ramblings - I'm not even sure whether it is possible to take an offline backup of one of these blogs. Maybe I should ask Ms Shrewsday about the possibilities of getting the whole lot printed out (thereby relying on a centuries old 'backup' method!) as I think that she has managed to get some of her writings printed as a book.
(By the way, thinking internet-related thoughts, Stephen Fry's most recent blog was particularly interesting. I never knew that Tim Berners-Lee and Steve Jobs came so close to meeting without actually managing to do so. Who knows how things might have developed had Sir Tim been able to show the infant internet to the visionary Jobs?)
Interestingly, both of the last two books that I have been reading have made a mention of the same book, and I'm pretty sure that the same book got a mention in one of the books I read last year as well (probably The Art of Fielding). The book in question is Walden, by Thoreau, and given that it keeps popping up, I think that I might have to pick up a copy and give it a go - see whether he made any startling discoveries whilst living by the Pond.
The final book that has been dipped into this week has been Johnny Ball's puzzle book, and opening the book at a random page I found this puzzle:
You have three milk jugs which will hold 8, 5 and 3 units of milk. The largest jug is full of milk. Can you split the milk into two equal 4-unit measures, just using the three jugs and no other measuring devices?
I'd been mulling this problem over in my head for the last few days, and whilst I had a few ideas, didn't have a solution, so I've just committed pencil to paper, and have found an answer. The interesting thing is that it takes me seven pouring steps to get there, and it feels to me like there ought to be a quicker answer than that. (There are answers in the book, but I haven't looked at any of those yet - where would be the fun in that!)
Off out for dinner with friends this evening. We are going to eat at Eight! Who knows, maybe tomorrow's blog will include a bit of a restaurant review.
Friday, 24 January 2014
Thursday, 23 January 2014
Quote
Disappointing day today. At least that's how it feels right now.
I'm sure in retrospect it won't feel that way - I mean, who wants to have an operation if it isn't the right course of action. But we'd kind of got ourselves psyched up for it.
So, back to the neurologist, and we'll see where we go from there.
Maybe I'll blog some more about today when not in iPad mode. Certainly could say a bit more about the place we went to. A bit odd!
Anyway, fringe benefit today was being able to get stuck into Simon Garfield's book about letters on the two long train journeys up and down from Brighton.
Pliny gets a mention, as might be expected. I have a book of his letters on the shelves at home. I think it may have been needed as part of Latin GCSE, but I can't really claim to have read much. Still, reading an extract from one of his letters today, there was a lovely quote with some great advice:
But isn't it really time your handed over those tiresome petty duties to someone else and shut yourself up with your books in the peace and comfort of your retreat? This is what should be both business and pleasure, work and recreation, and should occupy your thoughts awake and asleep! Create something, perfect it to be yours for all time.
I'm sure in retrospect it won't feel that way - I mean, who wants to have an operation if it isn't the right course of action. But we'd kind of got ourselves psyched up for it.
So, back to the neurologist, and we'll see where we go from there.
Maybe I'll blog some more about today when not in iPad mode. Certainly could say a bit more about the place we went to. A bit odd!
Anyway, fringe benefit today was being able to get stuck into Simon Garfield's book about letters on the two long train journeys up and down from Brighton.
Pliny gets a mention, as might be expected. I have a book of his letters on the shelves at home. I think it may have been needed as part of Latin GCSE, but I can't really claim to have read much. Still, reading an extract from one of his letters today, there was a lovely quote with some great advice:
But isn't it really time your handed over those tiresome petty duties to someone else and shut yourself up with your books in the peace and comfort of your retreat? This is what should be both business and pleasure, work and recreation, and should occupy your thoughts awake and asleep! Create something, perfect it to be yours for all time.
Wednesday, 22 January 2014
Parents' eve
Well yesterday was a bit disappointing. Woke up with a bit of a headache, which only proceeded to get worse during the morning, and by lunchtime I had to come back to my hotel and put myself to bed for the rest of the day. Not ideal work wise, but more importantly not great for people worrying about me from afar.
Sorry about that!
Head much better this morning and so back to work to catch up on a few things before heading off early to be back home in time to go to parents evening at school. I'm sure I've blogged in glowing terms about Jake's academic prowess before - but that's not going to stop me doing so again! Without fail, ever one of his teachers only had good things to say and would gladly have Jake continue with their subjects to GCSE level. To my mind, it's just a shame that they can't all be fitted in as I know he'd do brilliantly at all of them.
My challenge is keeping my views or myself - it should be entirely up to Jake to do whatever he enjoys the most and is inspired by. He mustn't do subjects because he thinks it is the right thing to do or because he thinks that others want him to. Knowing that he has the confidence of all of his teachers he should be in charge of the decision and can be reassured that we'll support him all the way (although may be of limited practical assistance to him in some subjects, e.g. Spanish!)
Anyway, once parents evening was done, I was back in the car to Brighton, ready for an early start tomorrow before a trip up to London to see my cardiac consultant ...
Sorry about that!
Head much better this morning and so back to work to catch up on a few things before heading off early to be back home in time to go to parents evening at school. I'm sure I've blogged in glowing terms about Jake's academic prowess before - but that's not going to stop me doing so again! Without fail, ever one of his teachers only had good things to say and would gladly have Jake continue with their subjects to GCSE level. To my mind, it's just a shame that they can't all be fitted in as I know he'd do brilliantly at all of them.
My challenge is keeping my views or myself - it should be entirely up to Jake to do whatever he enjoys the most and is inspired by. He mustn't do subjects because he thinks it is the right thing to do or because he thinks that others want him to. Knowing that he has the confidence of all of his teachers he should be in charge of the decision and can be reassured that we'll support him all the way (although may be of limited practical assistance to him in some subjects, e.g. Spanish!)
Anyway, once parents evening was done, I was back in the car to Brighton, ready for an early start tomorrow before a trip up to London to see my cardiac consultant ...
Tuesday, 21 January 2014
Migraine
Whilst it is nice to know what a possible cause of my migraines may be, it isn't that much comfort when I'm having one.
Monday, 20 January 2014
Orange
It's a Monday evening in January, so that must mean Myhotel!
And, this week's colour is orange.
Work seems to be going smoothly here in Brighton. Not entirely sure about whether that should be thought of as a good thing, or whether the storm is still to come.
And, this week's colour is orange.
Work seems to be going smoothly here in Brighton. Not entirely sure about whether that should be thought of as a good thing, or whether the storm is still to come.
Sunday, 19 January 2014
3-1
Good news from the football today - both my team and Jake's won 3-1 - Chelsea against Man U and Spurs against Swansea.
Nice one!
Nice one!
Saturday, 18 January 2014
Self help
I love Saturdays like this one has been. The key ingredients as far as I am concerned are having no fixed agenda, no-one needing to be distracted by work, spending time with my family, and not suffering with a headache or migraine.
Slow start to the day - we were all only just out of bed when Jake's friend came round at 10am (in fact Jake was still in the shower), and a fair amount of the rest of the morning was spent catching up with Bec on the phone. Particularly excited to hear their holiday news - sounds like a proper adventure.
Once we'd all had a sausage sandwich and Jake and Josh had headed off to the coffee shop for their shift, Nicky and I took the dog on a nice long walk, picking up the Saturday newspaper on the way back. Jake reappeared with Owen and we left them playing football whilst Nicky and I went to Hempstead Valley to pick up a few things at the shops.
Took the boys to the driving range to bash a couple of buckets of balls when we got back, and I enquired about the lessons that are available there - they have a PGA pro who does lessons, and Jake and I could share an hour's lesson at £45 (plus they do a 6 for 5 deal). One to contemplate, maybe a little later in the year.
Home for spag bol and a relaxing evening including a soak in the bath with my book, and now Jake and I are sat in front of Match of the Day.
And that, for me, adds up to a quality Saturday!
As for the title of this blog, I'm reading Help! by Oliver Burkeman at the moment (one of the damaged but now replaced books from the Book People sale - well done to them for some decent customer service, and also my 4th book of the year, should anyone be counting). The book is excellent, and basically takes a look at the whole self help movement, doing a good job of pouring scorn on the many ridiculous, contradictory and self-defeating self help advice that is our there, but at the same time picking out some nuggets of valuable observations. It feels like a book which I might have to enjoying reading now, but then come back to sometime soon and re-read it with a pen and notebook in hand.
Slow start to the day - we were all only just out of bed when Jake's friend came round at 10am (in fact Jake was still in the shower), and a fair amount of the rest of the morning was spent catching up with Bec on the phone. Particularly excited to hear their holiday news - sounds like a proper adventure.
Once we'd all had a sausage sandwich and Jake and Josh had headed off to the coffee shop for their shift, Nicky and I took the dog on a nice long walk, picking up the Saturday newspaper on the way back. Jake reappeared with Owen and we left them playing football whilst Nicky and I went to Hempstead Valley to pick up a few things at the shops.
Took the boys to the driving range to bash a couple of buckets of balls when we got back, and I enquired about the lessons that are available there - they have a PGA pro who does lessons, and Jake and I could share an hour's lesson at £45 (plus they do a 6 for 5 deal). One to contemplate, maybe a little later in the year.
Home for spag bol and a relaxing evening including a soak in the bath with my book, and now Jake and I are sat in front of Match of the Day.
And that, for me, adds up to a quality Saturday!
As for the title of this blog, I'm reading Help! by Oliver Burkeman at the moment (one of the damaged but now replaced books from the Book People sale - well done to them for some decent customer service, and also my 4th book of the year, should anyone be counting). The book is excellent, and basically takes a look at the whole self help movement, doing a good job of pouring scorn on the many ridiculous, contradictory and self-defeating self help advice that is our there, but at the same time picking out some nuggets of valuable observations. It feels like a book which I might have to enjoying reading now, but then come back to sometime soon and re-read it with a pen and notebook in hand.
Friday, 17 January 2014
Wet
Another week done, and one member of the family is being a dirty stop out this evening - not surprising given that she has a girls' curry night at the local Indian (a combination of a late booking, non stop chat, and the traditional slow service and who knows what time she might return).
Work sign offs completed ok today. I was in Maidstone for the day, which at least from a travel point of view made for a pleasant change from Brighton, especially given the amount of rain that was around. Judging by the texts from Bec this evening it sounded like Crawley was mostly underwater.
As far as I know (and I stand to be corrected!) I don't think we have many plans for the weekend, which is just fine with me!
Work sign offs completed ok today. I was in Maidstone for the day, which at least from a travel point of view made for a pleasant change from Brighton, especially given the amount of rain that was around. Judging by the texts from Bec this evening it sounded like Crawley was mostly underwater.
As far as I know (and I stand to be corrected!) I don't think we have many plans for the weekend, which is just fine with me!
Thursday, 16 January 2014
Late
Just remembered after a long day at work, driving home and heading fairly straight to bed, that I hadn't blogged today.
So here it is!
So here it is!
Wednesday, 15 January 2014
Brighton
So, my first 'still at work' post of the year. Working away here in Brighton but hopeful that I might be able to creep out and head to the hotel before it gets too late, albeit I might not feel in a very blogging mood by the time I get there.
Juggling skills are clearly going to be put to the test this year. In previous years, whilst there were other things going on, I could be fairly singularly focused on my Brighton-based responsibilities during these few weeks. This is not entirely the case this January. I have recently taken on a number of additional client responsibilities, and two of those require reports to be issued at the end of this week, so as well as focusing on the task in hand where I am, I am also reviewing other work to make sure we are on track for those reports as well. And then there is at least one more report required next week, and at least another one the week after that ...
Tried several times to call UCL today, but keep getting put through to voicemail, so I have left another message. If no luck again tomorrow, I think I might call the Kings Hill team and see if they can get on the case for me.
Juggling skills are clearly going to be put to the test this year. In previous years, whilst there were other things going on, I could be fairly singularly focused on my Brighton-based responsibilities during these few weeks. This is not entirely the case this January. I have recently taken on a number of additional client responsibilities, and two of those require reports to be issued at the end of this week, so as well as focusing on the task in hand where I am, I am also reviewing other work to make sure we are on track for those reports as well. And then there is at least one more report required next week, and at least another one the week after that ...
Tried several times to call UCL today, but keep getting put through to voicemail, so I have left another message. If no luck again tomorrow, I think I might call the Kings Hill team and see if they can get on the case for me.
Tuesday, 14 January 2014
Options
(Updated a couple of previous posts to show a pictures from the Boat Show and a picture of Jessie sitting on my case yesterday morning.)
Disappointing news from home this morning - seems like the damp is back in the hall. Nothing like as bad as before but we'd noticed that the new floor had lifted in a few places, and when investigated by the carpenter today there is definitely another leak. So, off we go again - the company with the heat-seeking cameras are coming back on Thursday, and another insurance claim is up and running.
Home early from Brighton this evening so that we could all go along to Jake's Options evening. I think that most decisions have been made, but there are a couple of things to ponder further, and we can talk to some of his teachers at parents' evening next week for further advice. As expected, there are more possibilities for doing (and doing well at) GCSEs than there is space in the timetable.
Was going to go back to Brighton this evening and stay in the hotel, but decided to stay home and hit the road in the morning.
Disappointing news from home this morning - seems like the damp is back in the hall. Nothing like as bad as before but we'd noticed that the new floor had lifted in a few places, and when investigated by the carpenter today there is definitely another leak. So, off we go again - the company with the heat-seeking cameras are coming back on Thursday, and another insurance claim is up and running.
Home early from Brighton this evening so that we could all go along to Jake's Options evening. I think that most decisions have been made, but there are a couple of things to ponder further, and we can talk to some of his teachers at parents' evening next week for further advice. As expected, there are more possibilities for doing (and doing well at) GCSEs than there is space in the timetable.
Was going to go back to Brighton this evening and stay in the hotel, but decided to stay home and hit the road in the morning.
Monday, 13 January 2014
My
Blogging by phone tonight as I can't be bothered to fire up the computer and connect to hotel wifi. Hoping I've remembered the email address for blog posts.
Just been reading the paper and see that the cover price has gone up to £1.20 (corrected in response to comment!). Makes the £4 / week subscription offer seem like an even better deal.
Was in the office this morning and then down to Brighton where I still am, safely tucked away in Myhotel. Plan was to blog a picture of Jessie sat on my suitcase this morning but now that I am blogging from phone it will have to wait. Maybe I'll post it at the same time as I get round to blogging some Boat Show pictures.
Today's paper has a pull out with a 7 day diet for men - lose your paunch and 5 pounds in a week. So if I do that for three weeks...
Today's attempts at healthy eating:
- breakfast biscuits
- sushi snack pack
- grapes
- apples
- nuts
- half a chicken burger from Nando's
- chips
- another pack of breakfast biscuits (because the chicken burger was so cr*p)
- 3 coffees (with sugar!)
- 1 tea
- water
May not seem great, but better than most days (for me)!
Just been reading the paper and see that the cover price has gone up to £1.20 (corrected in response to comment!). Makes the £4 / week subscription offer seem like an even better deal.
Was in the office this morning and then down to Brighton where I still am, safely tucked away in Myhotel. Plan was to blog a picture of Jessie sat on my suitcase this morning but now that I am blogging from phone it will have to wait. Maybe I'll post it at the same time as I get round to blogging some Boat Show pictures.
Today's paper has a pull out with a 7 day diet for men - lose your paunch and 5 pounds in a week. So if I do that for three weeks...
Today's attempts at healthy eating:
- breakfast biscuits
- sushi snack pack
- grapes
- apples
- nuts
- half a chicken burger from Nando's
- chips
- another pack of breakfast biscuits (because the chicken burger was so cr*p)
- 3 coffees (with sugar!)
- 1 tea
- water
May not seem great, but better than most days (for me)!
Sunday, 12 January 2014
98p
Amazingly, from starting to hunt out the necessary paperwork this morning, followed by tracking down my online registration details, trying to print out the working sheets, popping out to get some more ink for the printer, trying again to print, and sitting going through the "transfer box A23 to box A32" and "Insert the lower of boxes A55 and A56 into box A57", I have completed and submitted my tax return today.
And after all that, apparently the tax man owes me 98p!
And after all that, apparently the tax man owes me 98p!
Saturday, 11 January 2014
LBS
Up and out at a reasonable time for a Saturday today, so that me, Jake and John could head to Excel and the London Boat Show.
As always, Jake and I made a beeline for the stands with the biggest boats, starting with Fairline and then Princess. Had a good look around a fair few boats, and on both stands managed to come away with the swanky hardback brochures.
Sunseeker was fairly full up by the time that we got there, and there were queues at the five or six boats that they were letting people on. There were a number of other very impressive boats on the stand but they were already owned and weren't being shown to the general public (which I think is pretty poor given that the whole point of the boat show is that you pay your entry so that you can go and look around the boats on the stand). I think the people on the Sunseeker desk sensed by disappointment - I didn't even have to ask for the hardback version before they popped it in the bag.
The show was only on one side of Excel this year - I'm sure it has taken up both sides on previous visits. But, this did mean that after a bite to eat we were able to pop in to the "cruise show" on, which was taking up a small amount of space on the other side. John picked up lots of brochures, which we might have to study when we head over for roast pork tomorrow!
Came home with a bit of a headache so took to my bed for a couple of hours. Still got it now but hoping it will gone in the morning. Definitely looking forward to getting booked in to UCL!
As always, Jake and I made a beeline for the stands with the biggest boats, starting with Fairline and then Princess. Had a good look around a fair few boats, and on both stands managed to come away with the swanky hardback brochures.
Sunseeker was fairly full up by the time that we got there, and there were queues at the five or six boats that they were letting people on. There were a number of other very impressive boats on the stand but they were already owned and weren't being shown to the general public (which I think is pretty poor given that the whole point of the boat show is that you pay your entry so that you can go and look around the boats on the stand). I think the people on the Sunseeker desk sensed by disappointment - I didn't even have to ask for the hardback version before they popped it in the bag.
The show was only on one side of Excel this year - I'm sure it has taken up both sides on previous visits. But, this did mean that after a bite to eat we were able to pop in to the "cruise show" on, which was taking up a small amount of space on the other side. John picked up lots of brochures, which we might have to study when we head over for roast pork tomorrow!
Came home with a bit of a headache so took to my bed for a couple of hours. Still got it now but hoping it will gone in the morning. Definitely looking forward to getting booked in to UCL!
Friday, 10 January 2014
Tears
(As in the sort of tears that cause things to become torn, rather than tears that you cry!)
Good to get to the end of the first week back. I was in Brighton today, and the biggest news so far this year is that allegiance has been changed from Toast to the Deli a bit further down the road. I had a coronation chicken jacket potato, a piece of quiche, a fruit smoothie and an apple for lunch. And jolly nice it all was too. Bit worried for Toast though - they might go out of business!
Jake had his first evening at the table tennis club today. Sounds like it went well, and he is keen to go back next week which is a good sign.
My order from the Book People arrived today. Unfortunately some of the books are slightly damaged - a few tears on dust jackets and a few damaged pages. I've sent a message to them, and it'll be interesting to see what they propose doing about it ...
Good to get to the end of the first week back. I was in Brighton today, and the biggest news so far this year is that allegiance has been changed from Toast to the Deli a bit further down the road. I had a coronation chicken jacket potato, a piece of quiche, a fruit smoothie and an apple for lunch. And jolly nice it all was too. Bit worried for Toast though - they might go out of business!
Jake had his first evening at the table tennis club today. Sounds like it went well, and he is keen to go back next week which is a good sign.
My order from the Book People arrived today. Unfortunately some of the books are slightly damaged - a few tears on dust jackets and a few damaged pages. I've sent a message to them, and it'll be interesting to see what they propose doing about it ...
Thursday, 9 January 2014
Paying my dues
Phoned DVC today to pay my 2014 dues as they are due. Sadly Disney still won't accept monthly payments if you don't have a US bank account, and so it was a case of biting the bullet and saying goodbye to a few thousand dollars in one go. Hopefully I'll get a reasonable rate on the credit card.
Also phoned Dr Mullen's secretary, and she said that Dr Mullen should be looking at my referral tomorrow and she will call me back on Monday, so maybe I'll have a date then.
Also phoned Dr Mullen's secretary, and she said that Dr Mullen should be looking at my referral tomorrow and she will call me back on Monday, so maybe I'll have a date then.
Wednesday, 8 January 2014
Challenges
Weather continues to be weird - I was out pretty early this morning, and whilst it was still pitch black, there was no breeze at all, and the temperature gauge on the car said 8 degrees. I think we might be getting a couple of days off from the wind and rain, but no doubt it will be back with us pretty soon.
Still, at least we aren't in the US, the majority of which seems to be experiencing some alarmingly cold weather at the moment. The forecasters showed a map of the USA last night, and Florida was pretty much the only bit that wasn't coloured in blue!
The 2014 reading challenge is properly underway - finished my first book last night - the eighth and so far last in the Mole series. It would be great if there was another one to continue the saga (and in fact a quick search suggests that there hopefully will be some more on the way, although not entirely sure when given that this article is from May last year).
Speaking to Mum this evening, it sounds like I do have a companion in the reading challenge, and so, Mum, I will introduce you to the delights of recording things on Goodreads asap (Dad - get Mum's netbook up and running or failing that get her a new one !!!).
Still, at least we aren't in the US, the majority of which seems to be experiencing some alarmingly cold weather at the moment. The forecasters showed a map of the USA last night, and Florida was pretty much the only bit that wasn't coloured in blue!
The 2014 reading challenge is properly underway - finished my first book last night - the eighth and so far last in the Mole series. It would be great if there was another one to continue the saga (and in fact a quick search suggests that there hopefully will be some more on the way, although not entirely sure when given that this article is from May last year).
Speaking to Mum this evening, it sounds like I do have a companion in the reading challenge, and so, Mum, I will introduce you to the delights of recording things on Goodreads asap (Dad - get Mum's netbook up and running or failing that get her a new one !!!).
Tuesday, 7 January 2014
In numbers
Days survived at work so far: 2
Distance walked during lunchtime stroll into town: 3.5km
No. of e-learning courses completed today: 1
No. of further e-learning courses to be done by the end of the week: 3
Portions of fruit and veg consumed today: 4
No. of chocolate indulgences: 1 (club biscuit)
Kitten weights per their visit to the vets today: 2.75kg (Jessie) and 2.65kg (Coco)
No. of weeks off Jake will be getting in the Autumn half term: 2
Cheapest direct returns to MCO found during that time frame: £544
Temptation factor for two Disney trips in quick succession: 95%
Distance walked during lunchtime stroll into town: 3.5km
No. of e-learning courses completed today: 1
No. of further e-learning courses to be done by the end of the week: 3
Portions of fruit and veg consumed today: 4
No. of chocolate indulgences: 1 (club biscuit)
Kitten weights per their visit to the vets today: 2.75kg (Jessie) and 2.65kg (Coco)
No. of weeks off Jake will be getting in the Autumn half term: 2
Cheapest direct returns to MCO found during that time frame: £544
Temptation factor for two Disney trips in quick succession: 95%
Monday, 6 January 2014
Healthy?
Back to work and back to school today, but we seem to have survived the first day unscathed.
Is it nearly the weekend yet?
And, now that reality is setting in, and even though the house is still fairly full of chocolate, it is about time to face up to some of those plans for the New Year.
Not sure that I can quite manage giving up sugar (as was being suggested on the breakfast show this morning), but some healthier eating is definitely not a bad idea. Hence the sushi and fruit at lunchtime (and yes, ok, some chocolate found in my work bag as well!).
Statistics for the day: pounds over my ideal weight = 15, kilometres cycled on exercise bike = 5.
Is it nearly the weekend yet?
And, now that reality is setting in, and even though the house is still fairly full of chocolate, it is about time to face up to some of those plans for the New Year.
Not sure that I can quite manage giving up sugar (as was being suggested on the breakfast show this morning), but some healthier eating is definitely not a bad idea. Hence the sushi and fruit at lunchtime (and yes, ok, some chocolate found in my work bag as well!).
Statistics for the day: pounds over my ideal weight = 15, kilometres cycled on exercise bike = 5.
Sunday, 5 January 2014
No trees
The time has come for the Christmas decorations to be put away, and so here they all are waiting to go back up into the loft.
Remember how nice the two trees looked when they had been decorated last month (see this post). Well, now the place looks a little bare without them.
Still, at least we had some help with taking the decorations down!
Remember how nice the two trees looked when they had been decorated last month (see this post). Well, now the place looks a little bare without them.
Saturday, 4 January 2014
Reading plans
Over the last three years, I've met my target of reading 50 books each year (see Goodreads for details), and the plan remains the same for 2014. Normally, there isn't much rhyme or reason to my selection of books to read - it depends on what I have just bought, what takes my fancy, what I see on the shelves ..., although I have made a point of starting at the beginning of a number of series of books over these three years safe in the knowledge that I won't forget what I have and haven't read thanks to the benefits of recording things on Goodreads.
The plan remains much the same for 2014, although here are some of the books that I may well end up reading during the course of the year:
The plan remains much the same for 2014, although here are some of the books that I may well end up reading during the course of the year:
- The final instalment of the Mole series (The Prostrate Years) as I read all of the others last year, and anyway, I've made a start on book eight already.
- Pam Ayres' latest collection of poems (You Made Me Late Again) - a Christmas present from Nicky, which I have dipped into already.
- Some James Pattersons - in particular Alex Cross, Run, which I think might be just out in paperback, and Cross My Heart (which was a Christmas present from Bec and Mark).
- Some John Grishams - Sycamore Row (also a Christmas present from Bec and Mark), and A Time to Kill, which I will have to read first given that Sycamore Row is a sequel to it, and the fourth instalment of the Theodoore Boone series (paperback due out in April).
- Having read the first 10 over the last three years, the final four Inspector Morse books (Morse's Greatest Mystery, The Daughters of Cain, Death is now my Neighbour, and The Remorseful Day).
- It's about time I went back to The Lord of the Rings, and I might read the 6 book (excluding appendices) version that I bought around the time of the films.
- The Mysterious Affair at Styles - Poirot's first case, bought in Foyles last month, and if I like it I might get the 12 book set from The Book People for the bargain price of £15.
- May We Be Forgiven by A M Homes - been sat on the shelf for a while, and I quite like her books, even if they are a little odd!
- The Kill Room - the latest Lincoln Rhyme story, due out in paperback soon.
- Lee Child's Killing Floor - bought last year but not read yet - I should see whether Jack Reacher is worth all the hype.
- Always Looking Up by Michael J Fox - having re-read his first autobiography last year, time to give the next one a go.
- Help! by Oliver Burkeman - I enjoyed The Antidote, and The Book People have it in their sale.
- To the Letter by Simon Garfield - if he can make a book about fonts interesting, then this should be good (plus The Book People also have this one in their sale).
- Dexter 5 - Dexter is Delicious, as it is over a year since I read the 4th in the series.
Not promising to get through all of these, but let's see how I get on. If I do, that'll be half of 2014's tally accounted for.
Friday, 3 January 2014
200
Shopping trip to Ashford today. Jake was at Owen's, so Nicky and I hopped in the car (Q3 - my car has barely moved since Nicky's new one arrived) and headed to the outlets.
When we went to the dismal Dockside a few days ago, I saw a nice blue suit in Moss for the bargain price of £79, but because the jackets and trousers were already paired together, and because my waist and chest measurements do not differ by 6", it was no good to me. Well, at the Ashford store, they had a "faulty" suit, so labelled because the jacket and trousers were not the predetermined 6" size difference, and it was marked down to the even more bargain price of £59. My measurements are exactly the right faulty size, and so the bargain suit came home with me!
We got some new jeans for Jake (and if he doesn't like them they should fit me!) and Nicky found a nice cardy in Phase Eight, so everyone got something. We met up with Heather and Mikey for a drink, but decided not to stay for lunch as the food hall was pretty packed, so went and tried out the cafe at the new John Lewis home store. Nicky found some new kitchen knives whilst we were there - part of her ongoing campaign to turn everything in our kitchen into Joseph Joseph.
Also, 200 days today until our next trip to Florida. We're booked in for 5 nights at BLT, 3 nights at Vero Beach, and 6 nights at OKW (although we are wait listed for a 2 bed villa at Boardwalk at for our final segment). Crossing off those days.
When we went to the dismal Dockside a few days ago, I saw a nice blue suit in Moss for the bargain price of £79, but because the jackets and trousers were already paired together, and because my waist and chest measurements do not differ by 6", it was no good to me. Well, at the Ashford store, they had a "faulty" suit, so labelled because the jacket and trousers were not the predetermined 6" size difference, and it was marked down to the even more bargain price of £59. My measurements are exactly the right faulty size, and so the bargain suit came home with me!
We got some new jeans for Jake (and if he doesn't like them they should fit me!) and Nicky found a nice cardy in Phase Eight, so everyone got something. We met up with Heather and Mikey for a drink, but decided not to stay for lunch as the food hall was pretty packed, so went and tried out the cafe at the new John Lewis home store. Nicky found some new kitchen knives whilst we were there - part of her ongoing campaign to turn everything in our kitchen into Joseph Joseph.
Also, 200 days today until our next trip to Florida. We're booked in for 5 nights at BLT, 3 nights at Vero Beach, and 6 nights at OKW (although we are wait listed for a 2 bed villa at Boardwalk at for our final segment). Crossing off those days.
Thursday, 2 January 2014
Next stop UCL
Follow up appointment with the cardiologist this morning. Not a whole lot to report, other than as expected, she thinks that getting the patent foramen ovale to stop being patent (with the little umbrella thingy) is a good idea. So, she has referred me to a consultant at UCL and he should be getting in touch soon to get me booked in for it.
The cardiologist was at pains to point out that I shouldn't assume that this will be a miracle cure and that the migraines and the AF will disappear, and interestingly, she seems to be more positive about the likely impact on migraines, saying that with the AF it was more a case of "suck it and see". Still, definitely worth going ahead with the procedure, and still worth being hopeful that it will make a positive change.
A quick Google search reveals a few good pages from the Cleveland Clinic, one of which explains what PFO is all about, and another which gives some details on the procedure to close it.
Stopped off on the way back from the cardiologist to pick up some supplies, as we've done a pretty good job of emptying the freezer over the holiday period. Enjoyed a free coffee from Waitrose thanks to Nicky's loyalty card - maybe I'm one of those people that the Waitrose crowd are worried will lower the tone!
As for the rest of the day, we enjoyed the decent weather today (the calm between the storms) by taking the dog for a nice long walk and playing table tennis in the garden.
The cardiologist was at pains to point out that I shouldn't assume that this will be a miracle cure and that the migraines and the AF will disappear, and interestingly, she seems to be more positive about the likely impact on migraines, saying that with the AF it was more a case of "suck it and see". Still, definitely worth going ahead with the procedure, and still worth being hopeful that it will make a positive change.
A quick Google search reveals a few good pages from the Cleveland Clinic, one of which explains what PFO is all about, and another which gives some details on the procedure to close it.
Stopped off on the way back from the cardiologist to pick up some supplies, as we've done a pretty good job of emptying the freezer over the holiday period. Enjoyed a free coffee from Waitrose thanks to Nicky's loyalty card - maybe I'm one of those people that the Waitrose crowd are worried will lower the tone!
As for the rest of the day, we enjoyed the decent weather today (the calm between the storms) by taking the dog for a nice long walk and playing table tennis in the garden.
Wednesday, 1 January 2014
New Year
We saw the New Year in with great friends, and otherwise, 1 Jan has been pretty uneventful. We decided against going anywhere due to the horrid weather, and so have hunkered down at home with a bit of Christmas telly.
Lots of half-formed thoughts about New Year's resolutions. Probably best not to mention any of them here in case I change my mind!
Off to the docs tomorrow morning to talk heart stuff ...
Lots of half-formed thoughts about New Year's resolutions. Probably best not to mention any of them here in case I change my mind!
Off to the docs tomorrow morning to talk heart stuff ...
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