Month: May 2018

I’m still overtired and under-motivated and feeling miserable (because I’m not achieving very much, and because I’m still biting the inside of my mouth when I’m eating, and it’s very sore).  I feel that I’m biting myself a little less this morning, but the inside of my mouth is so swollen that it’s difficult to tell.  I resist making any further changes to my DBS settings.

I have set myself a very simple task today (to fill out some forms that the speech therapist sent out to me, for inclusion in a LSVT trial) but it’s late afternoon by the time I manage to persuade myself to do it – I do complete the form, though, and all that remains is to get my wife to read the information sheet and see if she wants to be included in the trial (as a carer) and then return the completed form to the speech therapy department.

Other than that, I walk the dog (twice) and vacuum downstairs – That’s all, folks!

I’m thoroughly worn out at the moment, and I ache – not sure if it’s because I’ve been working down at the allotment, or just symptoms of my Parkinson’s Disease.  Whatever, its extremely debilitating.  I have planned to do as few things today – none of which are physically demanding, but I just can’t get myself to get on and do them!  The essential routine tasks (dog walks – two of) are completed, but I manage to do very little else.

I am still biting the inside of my mouth, and the incidence is becoming more frequent, so I decide to adjust the voltage on my neurostimulator.  It’s only when I go to make the voltage change that I notice I am using group “B” settings (my old settings that caused my eating problems to intensify) instead of group “A” settings (the ones that my neurologist amended last Thursday) so it’s little wonder that I’ve been having problems!  I switch my service back over to group “A” settings, and will have to let these settings “soak in” for a couple of days before making any further adjustments – let’s hope for a reduction in my chewing issues.

I complete some paperwork relating to my mother’s estate (which I have had for several months now, and had only partially completed), so now I just have to get my youngest brother to sign it, have the signatures witnessed by a Justice of the Peace and get it posted off.

It’s another Bank Holiday Monday, and we have very untypical Bank Holiday weather – the sun is shining and the sky is clear and blue.   Our expected visitors do not materialise today, presumably because the call of the beach was so strong.

I think that my recent DBS adjustments are causing me problems – I have noticed that the problem I had with biting the inside of my mouth when chewing, has returned and I also have lower back pain that I attribute to muscular tension caused by over-stimulation.  I will give it until tomorrow, and then make some setting changes if things haven’t improved by then.

My wife and I drive to North Walsham to do some grocery shopping in Lidl, and also for my wife to have her eyes tested, and then we spend some time down at the allotment, weeding between the spinach, carrots, beetroot and radishes.

The day is spent cleaning and tidying the house in preparation for a visit from my wife’s younger brother and his new girlfriend tomorrow.   I’m still feeling very low on energy, so my contribution is fairly limited.  My wife is almost a blur as she races around trying to do everything at once – I sit on the sofa in the lounge, trying to summon up the energy to get off my backside and help.  Eventually, I empty the woodburner (which is still full of ash from when it was last used), clean the windows in the doors and wash the outside of the stove, then I wash the hearth and seal it with a little WD40 – it looks pretty good, if I say so myself!

We do a bit of weeding in the back garden, and then take a drive out to Mundesley to meet up with my wife’s youngest son, his wife and our youngest granddaughter, who are going there to have one of the locally famous Mundesley burgers.

By the time we return home I’m flagging – my speech is awfully slurred at the moment, and my legs feel weak and inadequate for their intended purpose.  I feel that Parkinson’s has taken another step forward and progressed – perhaps as a result of my latest DBS adjustments (then again, perhaps not – perhaps Parkinson’s has just decided to give me another kick in the teeth…).

The last couple of days have caught up with me and I’m feeling tired, aching and unmotivated.  My wife has a busy day ahead of her (babysitting/working/having her hair done/shopping) so she leaves the house soon after we get up, leaving me vegetating on the sofa in the lounge.

I post some links to my latest vlog on Twitter and Instagram, and then respond to some comments and emails that have been waiting for me for several days. The dog gets her morning walk (albeit a little later than usual) and then I empty the dishwasher and tidy up the kitchen.

My wife returns in time to join me for the afternoon dog walk, and then we pay a visit to the allotment, where the weeds are growing like…. weeds!  We need to spend an hour or two sorting things out down there – tomorrow, if the weather holds out.

I’m not particularly keen to get out of bed this morning – I’m feeling tired from a long day yesterday.  We didn’t get back home until just after 11.30pm, and it was after midnight by the time we got to bed.  You’d have thought that getting off to sleep after such a busy day would have been a piece of cake, but my mind won’t shut up and I seem to be laying awake for ages.  I get up at 8.15am, just as my wife departs for work – it’s Friday, so it’s vlog day and that means that I have loads to do.

My wife is picking the dog up from her parents and bringing her home with her this evening, so I am excused dog walking duties today.  I have an appointment with the nurse at my doctor’s surgery this morning (to review the results of my recent lung function tests).  My lungs are working just fine, so I don’t have asthma – but I’m still wheezing on occasion and they don’t have any explanation for it, other than that it could be Parkinson’s related…

I notice that I have given myself a couple of nasty bites to the inside of my mouth since my neurologist adjusted my neurostimulator yesterday – I seemed to have been doing this much less, recently, so I do hope that the adjustment hasn’t started it off again.  My neurologist made the adjustments to the group “A” settings on my device, so the current settings (pun intended) are: 2.90 volts on the left side, and 2.45 volts on the right side.  She has also increased the window, which means that I can adjust the voltage upwards or downwards, should I find it necessary to do so.

I have an easy vlog to do this week – it’s about my trip to London yesterday – so scripting it is a breeze, and I get it filmed, edited, uploaded to my YouTube channel and published before my wife returns home from work.

I’m travelling to the NHNN in Queen Square, London today to see my neurologist.  I’m not completely clear on the purpose of the appointment, but I believe that they like to check on the progression of your Parkinson’s Disease, and review how your DBS is performing every 12 months – it’s a little over 2 years since I had my operation, so it’s about time, really.  I also want to talk to her about exenatide (a type-2 diabetes drug that was shown to halt the progression of Parkinson’s Disease in a recent clinical trial) and try to persuade her to write to my doctor, authorising him to prescribe it for me.

I take the dog over to my wife’s parent’s house while my wife disappears off to her workshop in Hevingham for a couple of hours (she has an order that is meant to be delivered on Friday, and she’s a little behind schedule with it), and then we toddle off to Gunton station to begin our train journey to London.

We arrive in plenty of time for my appointment, and are kept waiting for almost 45 minutes.  I kind of expected this appointment to be a thorough evaluation of my condition – expected my DBS to be switched off to expose my PD symptoms without the benefit of stimulation, expected my neurologist to assess my balance and gait, expected a discussion of current medication, expected some sort of testing of cognitive function.  Instead, I was treated to a very brief consultation (no more than 15 minutes) during which she adjusted my neurostimulator to eliminate some left sided tremor, and was about to wave me off with the promise of a further appointment in 6 months time, when I broached the subject of exenatide.   Her reaction was very positive, and she was more than happy to write to my doctor to suggest prescribing it to me, so all of the worrying about her possible reaction to my request (and all of the arguments that I had prepared in my head) had been completely unnecessary.  If it hadn’t been for this, I would have been extremely miffed about a round-trip of almost 8 hours for a 15 minute audience, but as it is, I’m over the moon.

I try to make an appointment for 6 months time, but the receptionist informs me that the closest appointment is in 9 months time…   I smile, and we laugh and joke about it – what else can you do?

We pay a quick visit to the Blues Bar in Soho (it’d be rude not to) where we guzzle a couple of beers before heading back to Liverpool Street Station to catch our train home.

I’m feeling the effects of all the activity yesterday, so it’s hardly surprising that I don’t achieve so much today – although I achieve significantly more than what has become the norm.  My day starts much like yesterday did – without a great deal of motivation.

My morning is pure routine until PopMaster finishes at a shade before 10.45am.  This is the time at which I start giving myself a hard time for not getting anything done.  So, I pay my water bill online and decide to check my phone and broadband account, and find they have added a late payment charge because I was late in paying my bill last month.  I’m a bit miffed about this because they didn’t actually send me a bill, and I was only aware that it was overdue because they sent me an email saying that my payment was overdue.  I spend the next hour trying to get through to customer services through the most frustrating voice recognition automated phone line, which basically could not understand a word that I said!  Eventually I get through to a human being and get the late payment charge removed before my blood pressure goes through the roof.

I receive a delivery of Calor gas, which should last us through until the summer is over, and then take the dog for her afternoon walk.  I persuade myself to wander down to the allotment again (2 days in a row – woohoo!) and harvest some spinach (for our daily nutriblast).  I cover over the newly planted spinach seeds to stop the birds from nicking it as soon as it sprouts, and water the broad bean plants, which are looking good.

I’m knackered when I get back home, and I have a long day tomorrow (I have an appointment with my neurologist at the NHNN), so I have a quick tidy up in the kitchen before my wife gets home, and then sit on the sofa to get my breath back.

I start the day slowly, not feeling particularly motivated, but manage to surprise myself (and my wife) by achieving loads this afternoon.

The morning is spent in a very leisurely fashion – tea, nutriblast, dog walk, PopMaster, The Metro online…  I’m actually feeling frustrated with my lack of “get up and go”, so I start thinking about jobs that need to be done.  The big water stain on the front of our cottage has faded considerably following the application of some brick acid a month or so ago, but another application is required, so I lever myself off the sofa, manage to find where my wife has hidden the brick acid, go outside and apply it to what remains of the stain.

I walk the dog for the second time today, and then wander down to the allotment, which is in need of some attention.  I mow the grass paths, hoe and weed a couple of the beds and then harvest some rhubarb to take back home with me for stewing.

Finally, I vacuum downstairs before my wife gets home from work.  I’m feeling quite pleased with myself, even though I’m aching all over and I know that I’ve overdone it.

I’m feeling exhausted (again) following a late night last night (I didn’t get to sleep until after 2am).  I’m determined to do more than I did last week, though, so I consult my “To Do” list (which seems to get longer by the day, with very few items crossed off it last week).   After drinking my tea and nutriblast, walking the dog and listening to PopMaster, I tackle some of the easier clerical-type tasks.

I research Velux window blinds for one of my wife’s customers – I fail to find the information required, so email Velux customer services to see if they can assist me.

I order some more Calor gas (we are using our last cylinder at the moment).

I reschedule an appointment with my physiotherapist – I was due to see her tomorrow, but she called this morning to cancel my appointment due to illness.

I email my speech therapist to update her on my eating problems, and to ask her to add me to their LSVT trial.

I email the holiday company that we are going to Barbados with later this year, to request transfers between the airport and the hotel, and also to request special assistance at the airport.

I email the hotel in Barbados to request a certain room that I know my wife will particularly like (I have stayed there before, almost 10 years ago – my wife hasn’t).

Items are crossed off my “To Do” list with a vengeance!

The dog gets another walk, and then I vacuum downstairs before my wife arrives home from work.

We have had a very busy Sunday.  Our eldest granddaughter stayed with us last night, and treated us to a lie-in this morning, not waking up until almost 9.30am!  After some breakfast we take the dog for her morning walk, and my wife takes our granddaughter into the children’s playground by the village hall for 10 or 15 minutes – something that’s repeated when her parents come to collect her at lunchtime.

When the miniature whirlwind has departed, we have a quick tidy up to restore some semblance of order, and brace ourselves for our next visitors.  My wife’s youngest brother, wife, daughter and dog drop in, bringing my birthday card and present (more beer!) and some rather nice carrot cake.  We enjoy a good old chinwag, a communal dog walk and another visit to the children’s playground (for the benefit of my wife’s niece).

Our next visitors arrive late in the afternoon (my wife’s mum and dad), also bringing my birthday card and gift (you guessed it – more beer!).

This evening we go to Cromer Community Centre to see Wreckless Eric.   It is a bit of a mixed bag of a gig – some great new material, one or two oldies, and quite a lot of screaming guitar and feedback, which I didn’t particularly enjoy (I must be getting old!).

I’m awake early at 5.45am, and don’t really get back to sleep – my wife has had a restless night and is going to work (for an hour or so) this morning, so there didn’t seem to be much point.

I drink tea and nutriblast while my wife is at work, and them we take the dog for a walk together, and also wander down to the allotment to check up on things – everything is growing like crazy, especially the weeds and the grass paths.  We really need to spend a couple of hours down there to keep on top of things, but we are having our eldest granddaughter over to spend the night tonight, so we don’t have the time to spare today – tomorrow, perhaps…

We clean, tidy and childproof the house (as much as is practical) and then drive over to Hevingham to collect our granddaughter. On our return to Southrepps, we all walk down (dog included) to the children’s playground by the village hall to expend some of our granddaughter’s seemingly boundless energy.  My wife runs around after her while I stay with the dog, but by the time we return to the house it’s me that is exhausted.

My wife manages to get our granddaughter off to sleep early, so we don’t watch any telly this evening for fear of disturbing her – we have an early night as well.

I manage to achieve much more on a Friday than any other day of the week.  I think it is due to the fact that I have publicly committed to publishing my weekly vlog every Friday, and because I have said that that’s what I will do, then that’s what I do!  I think I need to find a few more things to commit to on a daily basis to motivate me the rest of the week (although I do have a commitment to walk the dog twice a day, and I never miss that – unless my wife beats me to it).

I spend a large portion of today researching GDNF because one of my YouTube channel followers requested it as a topic for my weekly vlog – it seemed like an interesting subject, so I chose it.

I’m not happy with my voice (yet again) and I struggle so much with filming some of the script that I break it down into smaller segments.  In spite of these problems, I have filmed, edited and uploaded my video to my YouTube channel before my wife arrives home from work.  Result!

It’s groundhog day, at least it feels that way at the moment.  I come to write my daily blog, and I could (almost) cut and paste yesterday’s entry, or the day before.  I feel that I’m stuck in a rut and can’t see any way out of it at the moment – I need to give myself an almighty kick up the backside, but I really can’t be bothered (and therein lies the problem).

Mugs of tea.  Nutriblast.  Dog walk.  PopMaster.  Regular readers of my blog must be bored to tears with my daily routine.  Imagine how I feel?!

I eventually lever myself off the sofa, set up some lighting and camera tripod and start filming a review of the grounding mat that my wife bought me for my birthday.  Much more work is needed, but at least a start has been made.

I’m still feeling extremely tired at the moment, and find myself fighting sleep (again) this afternoon.  Ironically, the closer it gets to bedtime, the more awake I become.

I do very little today, sitting on the sofa in the lounge and reading the news on Twitter and The Metro online.  The dog provides my only incentive to exercise, and I take her for her two walks around the field by the village hall.

My wife bought me a grounding (or earthing) mat for my birthday (following on from my recent vlog about the health benefits of grounding) and it arrived in the post today – I’ll set it up tomorrow, and may even do a review video for my YouTube channel.

We have leftover chilli con carne for dinner this evening, followed by leftover birthday cake, followed by an early night!

It’s my 57th birthday today, and my wife’s youngest son, his wife and our two granddaughters have arranged to meet me at Stompers in North Walsham to have coffee and a cake whilst being entertained by the children scrambling around the soft play area.  So, I take the dog for an early walk and them drive over to North Walsham to meet them.  Coffee, cake and entertainment are provided in equal measures, and an hour or so is passed very enjoyably.

My wife arrives home early to prepare the house for guests this evening – she has prepared a chilli con carne and a vegetarian lasagne for dinner, and we are expecting my wife’s two sons, their partners, our two granddaughters, my wife’s ex-husband and his partner, and my wife’s younger brother to help us to eat it all.   We have a chaotic, crowded evening, and many of my birthday presents are bottles of beer, so it seems that everyone knows what I like!

Everyone departs by 10pm and my wife clears up the devastation while I sit and drink (another) birthday beer.

I slept well last night, so why am I still feeling so washed out?  I have no energy whatsoever, so I’m taking it easy (again) today, but I’m swiftly getting bored of sitting around doing nothing – I feel that I have no purpose.

I walk the dog a couple of times, make some kefir to put in my green smoothie (nutriblast), and run the vacuum around downstairs – that’s the full extent of my activity today…

I am fighting off sleep (again) this afternoon, so another early night is on the cards.

Two very busy days, coupled with not getting as much sleep as I would have liked, means that I’m even more knackered today than I was yesterday (and that’s saying something).  Apart from accompanying my wife on a shopping trip to Lidl (and Sainsbury’s) in North Walsham, vacuuming the lounge and walking the dog this afternoon, I have done nothing of any value.   My wife has been busy cleaning and tidying the house whilst I have been sat on my backside on the sofa in the lounge, trying to remain awake.

I’m determined to have an early night, but the later in the day it gets, the more awake I become – typical!  We sit and watch a bit of telly after our evening meal, and then we have a relatively early night.

I’m absolutely shattered today.  We didn’t get to bed last night until after 1am, and I’m awake before 7am.

It is our youngest granddaughter’s first birthday party today, so my wife spends the morning wrapping birthday presents while I post links to my latest vlog on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.   We take the dog for her morning walk, and wander down to the allotment to pick some spinach (for us) and rhubarb (to give to others), and then we pack the car with presents (and the dog) and head over to Hevingham for the party.

The weather isn’t great barbecue weather, but the company is good, and we have a very pleasant afternoon and evening with family and friends, although I’m flagging and fighting to stay awake by the time we make a move back to Southrepps.

I have a long and tiring day today – I’m travelling to Hither Green (just outside London) to attend the funeral of an old friend of mine.  I’m travelling alone (for once) because it is our youngest granddaughter’s first birthday, and my wife simply can’t bear to miss out on it.

I leave the house just before 8.30am to catch the train into Norwich from Gunton, eventually arriving at the house of some friends in Hither Green a shade before 1pm.  I cadge a lift to the crematorium, and the sad business of saying goodbye begins.  The service goes smoothly, is well attended, and over within half an hour.  We adjourn to a local pub to raise a glass or two to our departed friend, and then a few of us go for a curry at a restaurant close to the railway station, finishing our meal just in time for me to catch my train back into London for my connection to Norwich.  I finally stumble through the front door of our cottage at 11.45pm – it’s going to take me a couple of days to recover, so I’ll be taking it even easier than usual this weekend.

I am doing my weekly vlog today (rather than tomorrow) because I am travelling to Hither Green to attend the funeral of an old friend of mine tomorrow.  I have already selected a topic (Does Parkinson’s Start In The Gut?) and failed to start researching it yesterday, so I have my work cut out this morning.  I drink my tea and nutriblast, walk the dog and listen to PopMaster before getting stuck in.  Its not a difficult subject to research (there’s loads of information available on the internet) and I’ve got a script that I’m happy with by about 2pm.  I film myself (with quite a number of retakes – my sore throat and cough have compounded the usual weak voice problem), have finished editing the video and am uploading it to my YouTube channel by the time my wife arrives home from work, so I’m reasonably pleased with myself.

My sciatic pain seems to be receding today, and I’m feeling a lot more comfortable – I just need to get rid of the sore throat and chesty cough and I’ll be right as rain!  As it is, I’m feeling like death warmed up, so I’m not going to be doing very much (again).

My eldest nephew calls round to see me this afternoon, and drags me (kicking and screaming) over to The Vernon Arms for a pint and a chat, which actually lifts my spirits and makes me feel much better.

I intended to do some research on my weekly vlog thus afternoon, to save me getting stressed tomorrow (I’m travelling to London for a friend’s funeral on Friday, so filming my vlog a day early), but I simply don’t get around to it – I guess I’ll be having a busy Thursday…

I’m really not in much of a better place (pain and mood-wise) than I was yesterday.  I still have a lot of sciatic pain in my hips and legs, and it’s getting me down.  My sore throat and bronchial cough are not responding to the medicinal dose of cherry schnapps that I administered just before bedtime last night, so that isn’t exactly cheering me up, either!

I tend to a few minor administrative tasks that are on my “To Do” list, and get them crossed off.  I then spend an hour or so replying to a number of messages that I have received on social media over the long weekend.

I prise myself out of my seat to take the dog for her exercise, but without a shred of enthusiasm.

It’s my wife’s youngest brother’s birthday today, so this evening we drive over to Spixworth to take him his present and card.  We return to Southrepps in time for me to self-medicate with cannabis, Hobgoblin beer and Dalwhinnie single malt before heading to bed.

It’s a Bank Holiday Monday, and a beautiful, warm, sunny day.  The two do not occur together very often in the UK.  Unfortunately, I’m not in any state to really appreciate it – I’m in a significant amount of pain today, as well as feeling exhausted from my allotment mowing of yesterday.  I also have a nasty bronchial cough, which doesn’t help.  I seem to have provoked my sciatica (probably by crouching down a fair bit when I was working on the allotment) and I have pain in my lower back, my hips, buttocks, and down the backs of my legs to the top of my feet – suffice to say that I’m not feeling like doing anything at all today.  My wife wants to get on with cleaning the outside of the conservatory, and getting the back garden sorted out, so she’s beavering away outside while I’m sitting on the sofa inside, feeling extremely guilty for leaving her to do all the work.

I force myself to take the dog for her two walks, and muster the energy to vacuum downstairs, but that’s about it!

Another fabulous day in Southrepps – blazing sunshine, clear blue skies and a temperature in the mid-20s Celsius.  Our babysitting duties passed without incident – our youngest granddaughter is an absolute angel, and we hardly knew that we had her.  We take her back to her parents in Hevingham a little before lunchtime, and return to Southrepps for an afternoon at the allotment.

My wife prepares the ground for planting out onion sets and courgette (zucchini) seedlings while I get the mower running and mow the grass pathways that are getting very overgrown.  The mowing exhausts me, so I sit on the ground and try to clear grass and weeds from the strawberry and raspberry plants that are struggling to be seen at the moment.  I leave my wife to it, while I return home for a rest and to take the dog for a walk (which really finishes me off).

I’m still feeling out of sorts, and have had a mild headache for most of the day – not severe enough to warrant the use of painkillers, but enough to make me want to crawl into a quiet corner somewhere.

We have a visitor coming -we are having our youngest granddaughter to stay tonight, so this morning my wife spends time cleaning, tidying and “child proofing” our cottage – I do help out (a little) by vacuuming downstairs and constructing the fireguard (not that we have any intention of lighting the fire, but it will prevent our granddaughter from falling onto the slate hearth and doing herself a mischief).

We drive over to Hevingham just after lunchtime to collect her (and all of the accompanying paraphernalia), and then return to Southrepps (via North Walsham for shopping purposes).

I’m feeling fatigued and out of sorts, as if I’m coming down with something – I woke up with such a splitting headache that I took some paracetamol before I’d even had a cup of tea, so I must be feeling rough!  It’s just as well that our youngest granddaughter is a very laid-back and contented child – I don’t think I could cope with one that screams and cries just at the moment.

I have an appointment at my doctor’s surgery this morning, to have some “lung function” tests – I have been wheezing (on occasion) since my deep brain stimulation operation 2 years ago.  Its not something that I am unduly concerned about, but I know that my wife worries about it.  The nurse has me breathe and blow into a machine a dozen times or so, expresses surprise at my readings (which are almost off the scale) and tells me that my “lung age” is 39, which is pretty impressive for an old geezer like me (57 years old this month).  My wife is suitably relieved!  I’m still wheezing, though, and we don’t know why – they have given me a “peak flow meter” to take home and use for the next three weeks to see if there is any pattern to my wheezing episodes.

I return to Southrepps, and get cracking on my other commitment for the day – my weekly vlog.  I pick up where left off yesterday and finish researching and scripting my chosen subject (MRI-guided focused ultrasound for Parkinson’s Disease).  I have a few problems filming myself – my voice is weak and slurred in spite of my device being set to use group “A” settings, the ones that I usually use when filming because my voice is less affected.  On the plus side, my eating problems (biting the inside of my mouth when chewing) seem to have improved since I switched over from group “B” settings, so perhaps the settings of my DBS are a factor…  I’ll certainly mention it to the DBS nurse when I go to the NHNN for a tune-up later this month.

I’m feeling a bit on the low side this morning.  I didn’t sleep very well, but I don’t think that that’s the reason.  I plan to research and script my weekly vlog today (I have an appointment at the doctor’s tomorrow morning, which is when I would normally do it), but firstly I need to select a subject – and I’m having difficulty deciding.  I finally choose a subject and spend a couple of hours researching it, and then I change my mind and select a different subject, but my heart’s not really in it.  By the time my wife arrives home (wanting to go grocery shopping) I have written about 30 seconds worth of script, and I like my videos to be about 5 minutes long – I’m going to have my work cut out tomorrow!

My wife and I drive to Lidl in North Walsham, do the necessary grocery shopping and return to Southrepps for our dinner (yes, you guessed it! Soup and soggy croutons).  My wife thinks that I’m being quiet, and I can’t help but agree.  Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day.

I’m feeling very tired this morning, in spite of having had a good night’s sleep, and I feel very unenthusiastic about getting up off my backside and doing anything.  I sit on the sofa with my iPad, responding to a couple of emails and several social media messages while I drink my tea and nutriblast, and then take the dog for her morning walk before PopMaster starts.

My new next door neighbour disturbs my sloth by knocking at the front door to ask me if I know anything about television aerials because he can’t get his telly to work.  I grab my tools and wander around to next door to take a look, seriously doubting that I would be able to sort it out for him, but prepared to take a quick look nonetheless.   It turns out that he has recently had all of the sockets, switches and television points replaced by an electrician – an electrician who didn’t know how to wire up a television point!  I correct the wiring for him, and leave him happily watching daytime TV.

I return to being a couch potato, and catch up on what’s happening in the world by reading The Metro online.  I manage to stir myself and take the dog for another walk (in between heavy rain showers) and then tidy the kitchen, load the dishwasher and vacuum downstairs before my wife gets home from work.

I concentrate on authoring a wedding DVD for my wife’s youngest son and his wife – their wedding was almost 6 months ago now, and I really want to finish the task and get it crossed off my list of things to do.  I actually manage to finish it mid-afternoon, and take a leisurely stroll down to the allotment with the dog, who waits patiently while I hoe between the rows of seedlings that my wife planted out a couple of weeks ago, and cover them to protect them from the birds.  It only takes me about 15 minutes, but it tires me out, and my feet are starting to drag as we return home.

My wife and I go over to Hevingham this evening so that we can deliver the completed DVD – the happy couple are delighted with the result, and I feel pleased at a job well done.

Yet another day of lousy weather – it’s cold, wet and windy out there today, and even the dog doesn’t want to spend much time on her walks.

I book train tickets for my visit to the NHNN at the end of May, and also to Hither Green in a couple of weeks time for the funeral of a good friend of mine who passed away recently.  The rest of the day is spent working on my wife’s youngest son’s wedding video, which I’m determined to finish in time to present it to him and his wife when we all get together to celebrate the first birthday of our youngest granddaughter on the 12th of May.  I manage to finish all of the editing which just leaves me the authoring of a DVD, which (hopefully) I can do tomorrow.  I’m feeling quite pleased with myself, especially since I’m still having some difficulty using a trackpad due to tremor (a consequence of a recent change to my device settings).   My voice, although still far from perfect, is definitely better on these revised settings, also.