Month: July 2018

We have some more heavy rain showers today, but it is still extremely warm and humid.  I’m feeling the effects of a couple of relatively busy days, and a late night last night, so I’m not up to doing very much and spend much of the day just sitting on the sofa in our lounge.  The dog (of course) ensures that I do get out of the house and have some sort of exercise.  I combine our afternoon stroll around the field by the village hall with a visit to the allotment – the vegetables are looking remarkably good considering the long dry spell we have had, and there are French beans, runner beans and courgettes (zucchini) that will be ready to harvest in the next few days.  I pick the remainder of the broad beans (fava beans), harvest some spinach and a few sticks of rhubarb and head back home for another sit-down.

It’s wet in Southrepps this morning, and a little cooler than it has been of late, which is good news for the veggies on our allotment, which have been dying of thirst (because I have lacked the energy to carry water up there – there isn’t a water tap at the allotment, and our water butts were emptied weeks ago).

I receive a message from the friend we delivered the medicated chocolate brownies to yesterday – she’s eaten a piece of brownie and she’s no longer in pain, which is absolutely fantastic.  Her husband says that he can’t believe the effect it’s had, and that it’s been a long time since he’s seen her so happy and relaxed.  Our government told us that cannabis has no medicinal value and is a dangerous drug – the only danger it poses is to the profits of pharmaceutical companies…

My wife’s father had his 75th birthday yesterday, and so my wife and I meet up with her parents in The Vernon Arms this evening to give him his present and buy him a beer or two (or three, or four…).

I’m making cannabis edibles (for a friend with multiple health issues) this morning – delicious chocolate brownies made with the cannabutter (cannabis infused butter) that I prepared a few days ago.  I try one out before I give them to my friend (to assess how strongly they are medicated – it’s a bit hit and miss when you have to buy your raw ingredient from an unregulated market; another good reason for legalisation) and I’m happy that I have produced something that is effective.

We go to deliver the goods, and then head over to the Hevingham Music Festival to join my wife’s sons, partners and our grandchildren for a little while – we bale out just before the weather changes, driving back to Southrepps through some pretty heavy rain.

My weekly vlog is focused on cannabis (again), and the attitudes of those people who have been misinformed about its medicinal properties, so I manage to write a script for it straight off the top of my head (no research required).

The UK government announced yesterday that they will reschedule cannabis-based medicines within weeks.  That’s a great headline, and it is a step in the right direction, but it truly isn’t the end of the matter.  The government also seems determined to make it very difficult for anyone to qualify for medicinal cannabis, and to only permit pharmaceuticalised medicines, which is a complete nonsense – one of the best known cannabis-based medicines is Sativex, which (according to GW Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturer) is a whole plant extract with added alcohol and flavouring; what was wrong with just using the whole plant?   Profits, that’s what!  I’m afraid that UK policy on medicinal cannabis will be shaped by the fact that the government wants to appease pharmaceutical companies and party donors rather than do what is best for medicinal cannabis patients – time will tell, I guess…

We are awake early and getting ready for my daughter’s graduation ceremony at York University this afternoon.  I adjust my DBS neurostimulator, turning up the voltage on the left side by 0.3 volts (now 3.1 volts on the left side, the right side is unchanged at 2.45 volts) to take care of some troublesome tremor in my left leg – I must remember to turn it back down again later so that I don’t get any over-stimulation effects.  My daughter arrives, and we check out of our accommodation and catch a bus into the centre of York – we are taking her out to lunch at a tapas restaurant called Ambiente before we make our way to the university campus.  We have an array of tasty food to sustain us, and then return to collect my car and drive to the university.

The graduation ceremony goes smoothly and my daughter gets through it without any of her imagined disasters (tripping and falling over, headgear falling off, etc.) taking place – I’m a very proud parent!

After taking photos, my wife and I begin our journey home (this time without any traffic jams) arriving back in Southrepps around 11pm.

We are travelling to York today to attend my daughter’s graduation ceremony tomorrow, so the dog goes to my wife’s parents for a short holiday, and I spend much of the day preparing for the journey and ceremony.  I cut my hair, have a shave, get my suit out and check that it still fits me (it does), and get together all of the paraphernalia that we need to take with us – DBS controller, tablets, vaporiser, iPad, iPhone, chargers, etc., etc.

We get away almost as soon as my wife arrives home from work, and have an extremely tiring 5 hour journey, getting caught up in heavy traffic around King’s Lynn which resulted in us being delayed for an hour.  Finally we arrive at our Airbnb accommodation at a shade after 10.30pm, unload the car and fall into bed.

I’m off to North Walsham cottage hospital for another physio session on the motorised exercise bike this morning.  I am told to limit myself to 30 to 45 minutes, rather than my usual hour, because of the continuing hot weather, so I stop after 45 minutes.

I am feeling quite tired today, so don’t get up to very much at all when I get back home.   I finish making some cannabutter (cannabis infused butter) for making some cannabis edibles for the neighbour who was questioning me about the benefits of cannabis yesterday, then run the vacuum cleaner around downstairs.  I want to wash the dust off my car (we are driving to York tomorrow for my daughter’s graduation on Thursday, and I’d hate to let the side down by having a grubby motor), but it’s just too hot at the moment – I wait until after dinner, when the day is much cooler!

More questions (from people that we know) about cannabis oil, and whether it will help with this condition or that condition.  I’m not qualified to offer them the advice that they are seeking, but I know someone who is, so I message them on Facebook and set up a meeting on Skype, and everyone’s happy with that.

I have an appointment with my neurologist at the Norfolk and Norwich hospital this morning, so we drive into Norwich prepared for another fruitless encounter with him (the last time I saw him was prior to my DBS operation, and he really didn’t have anything of value to say to me).  This time I have some things that I want to ask him to do:

1. Write a letter to my doctor to ask him to prescribe exenatide for me – this is a type 2 diabetes drug that could, according to a recent clinical trial, arrest the progression of Parkinson’s Disease.
2. Assess my condition using the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) so that (if my doctor agrees to prescribe me exenatide) it can be compared with my condition in 12 months time to see if progression has been halted.

I was successful on both counts.  He put up mild resistance to asking my doctor to prescribe me a drug that isn’t currently licensed for Parkinson’s, but after I argued my point, he said that he wasn’t opposed to the idea and agreed to write to my doctor about it.   He printed out the forms to assess me on the UPDRS, but assessed me while I still had my DBS switched on which, of course, invalidates the result.  He really had difficult in accepting my assertion that he had wasted his time, but eventually he saw sense and agreed with me that he needs to redo my assessment with DBS switched off.   Unfortunately we didn’t have sufficient time to do this today, so I’ll be returning in a couple of months time…

All in all I think that I got the results that I wanted (so far), but I feel somewhat underwhelmed by this healthcare professional – I shouldn’t really have to be telling him how to do his job.

Today we are off to London.  I attended the funeral of an old friend a couple of months ago, and we are going to meet with a bunch of his friends to scatter his ashes in the garden that he used to love so much.   We drop the dog off at my wife’s youngest son’s house in Hevingham, and then drive to North Walsham where we grab a bottle of wine (to give to our hosts) and catch the train to begin the journey to Hither Green.

We arrive at Hither Green at a shade after 3pm, and get stuck in to some food, drink and conversation, before our hosts say a few words and our friends ashes are scattered amongst the beautiful flowers at the bottom of the garden.  It’s a real flying visit for us – our train journey home starts at 5.29pm from Hither Green station, so we say our goodbyes and begin our return trip to North Walsham.

We are both absolutely shattered by the time we have collected the dog from Hevingham and driven home to Southrepps, and it’s not even 10pm – it is time for bed, though!

We are going to a fancy dress party this evening – my wife’s eldest son’s partner is having a Hawaiian themed 30th birthday party.  We look after our eldest granddaughter for the morning (while her parents are busy organising the house for the party) and take her to the beach at Overstrand for a paddle in the sea and an ice cream, which meets with her approval!

We get togged out in colourful shorts and shirt (me), grass skirt (my wife) and leis (both of us), and head off to Norwich to join in the fun (although parties, especially fancy dress parties, aren’t really my thing).   We do, however, have a good time because there are loads of people there that we know (and haven’t seen for ages) and our grandchildren (of course) are providing much entertainment.  We return home at a reasonable hour and leave the youngsters to it!

My wife has another day off work today, and spends the morning cleaning the house around me, while I attempt to research and script my weekly vlog.  Luckily not a great deal of research is required because I am vlogging about medicinal cannabis, and how we (the general public) have been brainwashed by our government into believing that this medicinal plant is bad.

I bump into one of my neighbours when taking the dog for her afternoon walk, and he gives me good feedback for my appearance on Channel 4 yesterday, which is nice.

My wife spends the afternoon babysitting for our two granddaughters, returning home just as I finish my video and upload it to my YouTube channel – she watches it and gives it her seal of approval, which is also nice!

My wife has the day off work, and we decide to spend it working on our boat, so that it’s ready for use when we eventually get around to spending a few days aboard.  We load my wife’s car with the new boat fridge (which was, conveniently, delivered this morning) and head off to Wayford Bridge where our boat is moored.

I install and connect the new fridge whilst my wife is busy cleaning the shower room and the galley.  I book the boat in for it’s four-yearly Boat Safety check with the neighbouring boatyard, and get some invaluable advice on dealing with a leak from the engine’s water pump (it has been dripping steadily for the last year or two, but the drip has now become a steady stream).  I do as instructed (tighten the gland nut) and the leak is no more, so that’s saved us a pretty penny.  My wife puts the freshly laundered cushion covers back on the seat cushions and I run the vacuum around the cockpit – it’s looking good inside – we just need to spend some time cleaning and painting the outside now!

I spend much of the day researching and sending information to a contact on social media who needs advice on medicinal cannabis – this has been consuming a great deal of time just lately, and I’m beginning to think that it’s my calling!

I also post links to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram about a Channel 4 programme that airs this evening, and in which I appear, discussing the use of cannabis to treat my Parkinson’s Disease symptoms.

Once the heat of the day has died down (we are still having a heatwave here in the UK) I take containers of water down to the allotment in my wife’s pink wheelbarrow, water the vegetables and harvest some spinach and broad beans.

I watch the Channel 4 programme this evening, and am reasonably pleased with my contribution.

Tuesday is physiotherapy day, so I’m off to North Walsham cottage hospital (after drinking my tea and walking the dog) for an hour of cycling on the motorised exercise bike.  I have my brain thoroughly picked by the team of physiotherapists regarding medical applications for cannabis – it’s unbelievable (to me) that they really know nothing of the positive side of cannabis, but spout the usual nonsense that our government has brainwashed them with – I think it’s criminal that access to a medicinal plant is denied to sick people who could really benefit from it.  It angers me.

I decide to wash my car when I get back to Southrepps (I have hardly driven the car since I last washed and polished it for my wife’s niece’s prom, but it’s covered in a thick layer of dust) so I spend a busy hour or two with a bucket of soapy water and a sponge making it clean and shiny again.  Unfortunately, I also succeed in overdoing it, and I feel completely exhausted.  I intended taking some water down to the allotment to water the vegetables (it still hasn’t rained), but I cannot summon up the energy to do so.  Tomorrow, perhaps…

I have admin tasks to attend to today, which is just as well because I’m really not feeling up to doing much else.  I’m relieved of dog walking duties because my wife is taking her to the vet to have her annual booster injections, so takes the dog to work with her this morning.

I need to email my ex-colleague (the one that my wife and I had lunch with yesterday) with some photos that I promised her, and a whole load of links to podcasts on Cannabis Health Radio about medicinal cannabis and Multiple Sclerosis – she has a friend who has MS and could possibly benefit from cannabis, but who is afraid to try it, so wanted some reference material to assist in persuading her to give it a go.

My next two emails are also cannabis related.  One (to my physiotherapist) to recommend a vaporiser for her partner to try vaping cannabis to treat his PTSD, and another to another ex-colleague whose sister has stage 4 lung cancer and who contacted me wanting to find out about cannabis oil as a treatment for cancer (something that I know very little about, but was able to refer her to somebody who is a bit of an expert).

The remainder of the day is spent searching for a replacement water pump for the boat engine (the existing one is leaking quite badly now).  It’s an obsolete part for an obsolete engine, so perhaps I’ll end up having to have the existing pump reconditioned…

We have a busy day of socialising.  An old work colleague of mine is visiting Norwich, so my wife and I meet up with her at the Rushcutters Arms where we have a leisurely Sunday lunch and catch up with each other’s news.

After leaving the pub, we head off to my wife’s youngest brother’s house in Spixworth (via Morrison’s, to purchase beer and soft drinks) to attend the 16th birthday celebrations of my wife’s niece.  Virtually the entire family are there (including my wife’s sons, their partners and our two granddaughters) and a lengthy session of drinking, eating and chatting ensues.  By the time we leave for home it’s getting on for 8.30pm, and we don’t get through our own front door until almost 9pm.

I’m exhausted (again), so am early night is on the cards.

We decide that we are going to the boat today to give it a bit of a clean.  My wife is hoping to take a few days off work next week (if the weather stays nice) and so it would be nice to spend some time on the river, just chilling – if the boat is nice and clean, then it means we can concentrate on the chilling without feeling that we should be cleaning.  That’s the theory, in any case.  We take the freshly charged fridge battery with us (so that I can reinstall it), a pair of shears (so that I can cut down the nettles on the riverbank) and we set off to Wayford Bridge, where our boat is moored.

My wife does the hard work of washing down the outside of the boat while I refit the fridge battery and remove the fridge from the boat (we were given the fridge by my wife’s father last year, but I can’t get it to work, so I’ve ordered a brand new 12 volt fridge which should be delivered next week).  I remove the seat covers (to be taken home with us and washed) and also bale out the engine compartment (which has a couple of gallons of murky river water sloshing around in it) and then chop down the nettles that line the riverbank.

That’s it!  I’m completely knackered, and it’s all I can do to walk back to the car.  Home, dinner (prepared by my wonderful wife), a couple of beers and some cannabis.  Perfick!

It’s Friday the 13th (and I’m not superstitious).  I spend all morning and some of the afternoon researching sleep disturbance in Parkinson’s Disease, which is the chosen subject for my weekly vlog.  I learn quite a lot about this symptom, its causes and available treatments.  I don’t suffer too badly with disturbed sleep (unlike my mother, who used to be awake for half of the night, and could frequently be found in the kitchen at 3am, baking cakes) but I do find that I have difficulty in getting off to sleep, and I suffer with restless legs syndrome (RLS).  I treat both with cannabis, and find that this works well for me – I’d hate to suffer badly with disturbed sleep; I get very tetchy when I’m overtired.

As is usually the case, I learn something new about Parkinson’s when I am researching for my vlog, even when I think I know something about the subject before I start my research.  I have a hard time filming myself (again – it’s becoming a habit) so I am only just finishing the editing when my wife gets home from work.  I upload the video to my YouTube channel, publish it and post links to it on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram while my wife is busy making our evening meal.

Another day of taking it easy – I’m not quite as fatigued as I was yesterday, but I do still have a streaming cold.

I have a lengthy video call from my son, who is currently in Australia and wants to tell me all about his planned trip to Nepal and Sri Lanka later this month.  I also spend a good deal of time searching online for a suitable graduation gift for my daughter, who graduates from York University with a Starred First in Biochemistry this month.

When I take the dog for her second walk of the day, I also visit the allotment to harvest some rhubarb and a couple of handfuls of spinach.  I chop (very slowly and very carefully) and cook the rhubarb when I get back home, and also make a pint of custard – pudding for this evening!

I have a streaming cold today which, partnered with the fatigue that I’m experiencing, means that I don’t feel very much like doing very much (or anything, to be 100% accurate).

I receive a copy of Doctor Frank‘s new book (The A-Z Of Medical Marijuana) in this morning’s mail, which is a nice surprise, and it seems very readable (in spite of the small typeface, which I’m struggling with a little).

The dog drags me around the field a couple of times, but that’s about all the activity that I get until late afternoon when, ashamed of myself, I manage to motivate myself to wander down to our allotment to water the vegetables (still no rain, although it has been overcast today).  On return to our cottage, I vacuum downstairs before resuming my position on the sofa, sweating profusely from my exertions.

I’m still feeling a little below par, and don’t really want to go to North Walsham cottage hospital for my physiotherapy appointment this morning.  I force myself, though, because I think it’s important to improve muscle tone in my legs.  I spend an hour on the motorised exercise bike, and feel pretty knackered afterwards.  I had an interesting chat to a couple of the physiotherapists (one of whom recognised me from my YouTube video showing the effect of cannabis upon my tremor) about my speech in support of medicinal cannabis at the United Patients Alliance event last week, and about the many  conditions that people are treating with cannabis.  If only our politicians were as open minded as these health professionals!

I return to Southrepps, collapse onto the sofa and spend much of the afternoon fighting off sleep – I think the physiotherapy has taken it out of me.  I wake myself up (momentarily) by taking the dog for her afternoon walk.  I’m planning on another early night tonight.

I really have to go to the boat and fit the freshly recharged batteries today – I hate leaving it without any power on board because the bilge pump won’t be working, and that worries me.  So, after I’ve had my mugs of tea and my nutriblast, and walked the dog, I load the batteries into my car and drive over to Wayford Bridge, where our boat is moored.   As expected, the fridge battery that I connected yesterday (so that the bilge pump would be working) has completely discharged, so I connect the newly charged batteries and stick the fridge battery in the car to take back home for charging.  The boat engine starts really easily, and I leave it running while the bilge pump empties the bilges.  Next on the agenda is pouring the jerrycans of red diesel into the boat’s fuel tank, and in doing so I manage to slip and fall into a patch of nettles (which really hurts!).  Luckily my younger brother has turned up to help me, so he helps me to stand up and ensures that I don’t end up in the river (which was a distinct possibility).  I have nettle stings on my left arm and all the way up my back, but aside from that, I’m fine – just annoyed with myself for falling in the first place.

I leave the boat feeling happier about it having freshly charged batteries and a tankful of diesel.  Hopefully we can get some use out of it this year!

I wake up feeling somewhat ropey, but not as bad as I had feared – obviously the cherry schnapps did the trick!  We decide to go to our boat today – I have three 25 litre containers of red diesel in the garden shed which would be much better in the fuel tank of the boat, and it’s been such a long time since we checked on it.  We get to the boatyard in Wayford Bridge shortly after lunchtime to find that we are only just in time!  The batteries are completely exhausted, so the bilge pump hasn’t been working and there is a lot of water in the bilges – luckily the engine compartment hasn’t been completely flooded, so I swap over the fridge battery (which still has some charge in it) for the main starting battery (which is completely dead), and the bilge pump springs into action.  There’s not enough juice in the battery to start the engine, but at least it should reduce the level of river water in the bilges while I take the other batteries home to charge them.  We load the batteries into my wife’s car, and then drive around to Barton Turf to meet my wife’s youngest son, his wife and our youngest granddaughter, where we sit in a shady spot and enjoy a picnic and a chinwag.

We arrive home in the early evening and I get the batteries into the house and on charge while my wife busies herself washing her car.  Hopefully, there will be sufficient charge in the batteries to start the boat tomorrow.

I’m whacked, and I wake up with a sore throat this morning, so it looks like I’m coming down with a cold – terrific!  I’m not feeling like doing very much, in any case.  I post links to my latest vlog on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and then my wife and I drive to Longwater to buy some clothes in the Next sale (for my wife) and to buy some gifts for my wife’s niece (who is soon to have her 16th birthday) and also for our grandchildren (for no real reason – just because!).  Actually, it’s my wife that does the shopping – I’m feeling worn out from my London trip yesterday, and I’m also feeling lousy with whatever bug it is that I’m coming down with, so I stay sitting in the car for most of the time.

We call in on my wife’s sons on the way back home, just in time to catch the last half of England’s World Cup quarter final match against Sweden – I have no interest in football whatsoever, but I have to say that I did enjoy seeing England win their match 2 – 0!

Home again, I slump on the sofa (feeling sorry for myself) while my wife prepares dinner for us.  I’m planning on a couple of beers, some cherry schnapps (for my sore throat), some cannabis (to help me sleep) and an early night.

I’m up at 7.45am, drink 2 mugs of tea and a nutriblast, grab my essentials (car keys, DBS controller, camera, phone, speech and tickets) and I’m out of the house just a shade after 8.30am. I’m soon on the train from Gunton to Norwich, on my way to Westminster in London, where I have been asked to speak on behalf of Parkinson’s patients in support of medicinal cannabis at the United Patients Alliance event, Patients In Parliament.

I arrive in plenty of time (I’m the first person there), so can sit in the relative cool of the Houses of Parliament (it’s still a heatwave here in the UK – I hate to complain about good weather, but it’s almost unbearably hot outside).  Other people arrive soon enough, and the event kicks off just a few minutes after 1pm.  I am one of about a dozen people who have been asked to speak, and the audience consists of medicinal cannabis patients, MPs and parliamentary secretaries who will be providing input concerning the prescription of cannabis for medicinal purposes, so it’s important that the patient voice is heard.  I give my speech, which runs a little over the three minute limit, but nobody seems to mind, and it seems to be very well received (I lost count of the number of people who came and shook my hand afterwards).  We get turfed out of the meeting room shortly after 3pm, and everyone wanders down to Parliament Square where much socialising and photographing takes place.  I get asked to tell my story to camera by a film maker who is also a medicinal cannabis patient, and then I wander off to the Blues Bar in Soho to catch a little live music before catching my train back to Norfolk.  I roll through the door of our cottage around 11.45pm, completely knackered!

I am scripting, filming and editing my weekly vlog today, because tomorrow I will be travelling to London to speak in Parliament on behalf of Parkinson’s patients, in favour of the legalisation of cannabis for medicinal purposes.

I select a subject, research it online and write myself a script.  I have a difficult time filming myself because my voice is so bad – retake after retake, and I’m now starting to worry that my voice will let me down tomorrow, which will be a real bummer!  I’m really not satisfied with the video – it’s just as well that I put subtitles on my videos, because even I would struggle to understand myself without them.  I finish editing it, upload it to my YouTube channel and schedule it for tomorrow evening.

I spend the evening preparing everything for tomorrow – tickets, hardcopy of my speech, directions to the event…

I need to refine my draft speech for the Patients In Parliament event this Friday – I take into account my wife’s comments, and then time myself reading it to ensure that I’m neither too wordy or too brief.  It takes me a shade under three minutes to read it (the target is three minutes) so that’s okay.  I then film myself reading it, and manage to add about 30 seconds to it, but I’m sure that’ll be alright.

I go to see my neighbours, who have volunteered to give my speech a critical review.  After much speech reading (and quite a lot of tea drinking), we agree on some subtle changes, and I return home to edit my script.

I run the changes past my wife when she gets home, and she approves, so now I just need to work on the rhythm and speed so that it flows nicely and I don’t run out of breath and start strangling my sentences – an added complication that I could do without, frankly.

It’s time for another session on the motorised exercise bike, so I’m off to North Walsham cottage hospital after I’ve had my tea and walked the dog.  I manage a solid hour of cycling at between 80 and 100 revolutions per minute, and feel as if I’ve had a proper workout – the current heatwave isn’t helping!

I tackle some domestic chores when I get back home – emptying the washing machine, having the washing out to dry, and ironing some of the stack of clothing that is waiting to be ironed (I’m feeling guilty about my wife doing everything, especially since she hasn’t had a day off work in over three weeks now).  Finally, I vacuum downstairs before collapsing onto the sofa to work on scripting my speech in preparation for the Patients In Parliament event this Friday – I have a finished draft by dinner time, and my wife reviews it and declares it fit for purpose (with a couple of minor revisions) so that’s a relief.

I don’t feel quite as bad as I thought I was going to feel today – I’m still exhausted, though, and I don’t think that the current heatwave that we’re experiencing is helping (not that I’m complaining – give me “warm and dry” over “cold and wet” any day of the week).  My voice is the only outward sign of my fatigue, and it’s weak, husky and slurred, despite my attempts to make it otherwise.

I take the dog for her morning walk, and then spend the rest of the morning thinking about (and researching) the speech that I have been asked to make (on behalf of Parkinson’s patients, in support of medicinal cannabis) in Parliament this Friday.

I have received an email from My Dreams To Reality (the company that, in conjunction with Patient Zero Productions, have been working on The God Plant documentary about cannabis) giving me access to a screening of the film, so I sit down and watch it (with one of my neighbours who was interested to see it) this afternoon.  I’m very pleased with the way that it has turned out, and delighted that they have used so much of the footage that they shot at our cottage last year.

I round the day off with another dog walk and then run the vacuum around downstairs.

I decide to do some work down at the allotment today, while my wife is at work.   So, after drinking my tea and nutriblast, and walking the dog, I load my wife’s (pink) wheelbarrow with pots of seedlings and a watering can full of water and wander (slowly) down to our allotment.

I spend a couple of hours hoeing, weeding, planting out seedlings and watering some very thirsty plants (we haven’t had any rain for a couple of weeks, and the ground is starting to crack up).   I return home about half an hour before my wife arrives home from work – it’s only then that I realise that I might possibly have overdone it.  I wasn’t exactly exerting myself, but I find myself staggering slightly on the walk back home, and almost collapsing onto the sofa – it takes me a good hour to recover sufficiently to get up off my backside.  I expect I’ll be feeling a little bit sore tomorrow.

I start thinking about my 3 minute speech in Parliament this Friday, and begin my research – I don’t want to find myself still writing it on the train to London!

I’m still feeling fatigued, so I’m taking it easy (again) today.  My wife is working all weekend (again) so I decide to deal with some administrative tasks that I can accomplish online from the comfort of the sofa.  I pay the river licence for our boat and settle the invoice for our Calor gas delivery before taking the dog for a stroll around the field by the village hall.

Last week I received an invitation from the United Patients Alliance (UPA) to join them for an event inside the Houses of Parliament next Friday.  I declined the invitation (the event was to do with the legalisation of medicinal cannabis) on grounds of cost, but today I receive a message from the UPA offering to pay my travel costs if I would be prepared to speak on behalf of Parkinson’s patients. Naturally I agreed, so now I need to have a think about what I want to say, and prepare a script for myself (or at least a list of bullet points).  I book my train tickets for next Friday, take the dog for her afternoon walk and then have a quick tidy-up and run the vacuum around downstairs before my wife gets home.