Month: April 2019

I feel tired and aching today, presumably because I over-exerted myself yesterday when I was moving sofas and cleaning the lounge.  Whatever, I don’t feel up to doing very much aside from the mandatory dog walks.  

The seeds that I planted a couple of weeks ago (in little pots in the conservatory) are looking like they could do with being planted out, but I really can’t face going to the allotment today.  Tomorrow, perhaps?

My wife’s car is going to the garage for its MOT, so I drive to Hevingham to collect her from work this evening.

More cleaning and tidying is on the agenda for today, so I decide to clean the lounge – moving the two sofas to clean behind them, and re-positioning the rug on the floor (which has a habit of creeping).  

Late this afternoon we decide to drive to Cromer (to get us out of the house, more than anything) and we pop into Morrisons  (for a couple of bottles of beer) and Argos (for some bathroom storage items).

This evening we drive over to my wife’s parents house in Worstead for a sociable hour or two, drinking tea and chatting.

My wife is actually having this weekend off work, so today is spent cleaning and tidying the house.  I don’t have a lot in the way of energy at the moment, so mostly I’m sitting on the sofa in the lounge, watching my wife work.  

I do sort out my Winter clothing (to be stored in the loft until next Winter) and replace sweatshirts and wooly jumpers with t-shirts and shorts that have been stored in the loft since the end of Summer last year.  I also wander down to the allotment (while taking the dog for her afternoon walk), pick a bagful of spinach and pull up a few weeds.

I’m getting quite a lot of tremor breaking through on my left hand side (mainly in my left leg), so I decide to have a play around with the settings on my neurostimulator.  

I have been using group “B” settings because the group “A” settings seemed to affect my voice more.  I merely wanted to increase the voltage on the left side by 0.1v, but I find that (at 2.60v) I’m already at the maximum permissible voltage.  

I change over to group “A” settings and increase the left hand voltage from 2.80v to 2.90v (each group has a range of permissible voltages, and group “A” will allow me to vary the voltage on the left side between 2.50v and 3.30v in increments of 0.05v), and immediately my left leg calms down a little.  I’ll let this setting “bed in” for a while and see how it goes, although I really struggled with my voice whilst filming this week’s vlog (over 70 takes for a 5 minute video – it would normally be about half of that number).

I’m feeling the effects of overdoing things yesterday, and really don’t want to travel to Norwich Community Hospital for my speech therapy group this morning.  I make the effort, however, and take the dog for an early walk before leaving Southrepps to drive to Norwich.  

The speech therapy leaves me thoroughly tired out, and I’m slurring like a drunkard this afternoon.  I need to go to the allotment and do some more digging and weeding, but I’m not feeling up to it – I don’t expect I’ll go there until next week now, because tomorrow is vlog day (so I’ll be too busy) and I’m not sure what my wife wants to do over the weekend as yet.

I have a quick tidy-up downstairs and run the vacuum cleaner around before my wife arrives home from work, and then we go to Lidl in North Walsham to do the weekly grocery shopping.

My wife and I are tasked with entertaining our granddaughters today, so we decide to take them to Hillside Animal Sanctuary, which is nearby.  It’s a lovely sunny day (if a little breezy) and we all enjoy seeing the variety of horses, pigs, goats, sheep etc., and having a stroll in the sun (although I had to take a rest every now and then).   My wife drops me back in Southrepps while she returns the grandchildren to their parents in Hevingham, which gives me a little time to recover from the exertion. 

I recover sufficiently to give my wife’s car a quick wash (while she prepares our dinner), but I think I’ve probably overdone things again!

I spend the day in a sedentary fashion, recovering from the busy Easter weekend by researching replacement rub rails and pricing up replacement batteries  (on the internet) for the boat – the time has come for some money to be spent!  

I don’t do much more than that, aside from the usual dog walking, because I’m feeling tired and anti-social – so I don’t even feel like wandering round to our neighbour’s house for a cup of tea and a chat.  Hopefully I’ll be full of the joys of Spring (again) by tomorrow.  

We are invited to a barbecue at my wife’s youngest son’s house this afternoon, so (after quaffing a couple of pints of tea) we head back up the River Ant again, where we moor up (at Wayford Bridge) and transfer all of our baggage from the boat to my wife’s car.  We drive to Lidl in North Walsham to buy salad stuff and a couple of desserts (so that we don’t turn up empty-handed), and then drop in to Southrepps to get changed and empty the car of our luggage.  

We have a relaxing afternoon and evening with my wife’s family, eating and drinking and being entertained by our granddaughters.

A relaxing morning on the Norfolk Broads, following on from a really good night’s sleep (it must be down to the fresh air and the gentle rocking motion of the boat). 

We motor back up the River Ant to Wayford Bridge, where we leave the boat for a few hours while we drive to Southrepps (to pick up my wife’s inflatable kayak and some food for our meal on the boat this evening) and Tesco in Mundesley (to buy some more beer).

Arriving back at the boat late this afternoon, we cruise to Stalham to see if there is any space for us to moor at the staithe – there isn’t, so we end up back at Barton Turf again.  After our evening meal (prepared by my wife) we chill out with a beer or two whilst watching an episode of Peaky Blinders on Netflix, and then grab an early night.

We decide to spend a couple of days on the boat so, after a shopping excursion to Dunelm in Norwich (to buy some Easter gifts for our granddaughters, rather than rotting their teeth with chocolate eggs) we pack our bags, grab some beer and a couple of ready meals from Lidl in North Walsham, and drive to Wayford Bridge (where our boat is moored).  

We fill the water tank, start the engine, get the dog settled onboard and then cruise down the River Ant to Barton Turf where we moor up for the night.

My wife is having a few well deserved days off work.  She can’t sit still, however, so this afternoon she drives over to Hevingham to help her youngest son decorate his bedroom, leaving me in peace to film and edit my weekly vlog. 

My peace is interrupted by the arrival of my youngest nephew and his partner who call around to take me for a beer.   So, we go over to The Vernon Arms to have a beer and a chat (it’d be rude not to), and my schedule for the day is well and truly disrupted. 

I still manage to complete my video, upload it to my YouTube channel and publish it by the time my wife returns from her wallpapering, so all is not lost!

I have to be at Norwich Community Hospital for another speech therapy session this morning, so I take the dog for an early walk, slurp down two mugs of tea and then drive to Norwich.  Today’s session concentrates on the volume of the voice – again, nothing new to be learnt, but a useful exercise, nonetheless.  I fill my car’s petrol tank whilst I’m in Norwich (significantly cheaper than it is closer to home) and I’m back in Southrepps around lunchtime. 

I make a start on researching and scripting my weekly vlog today – it’s Good Friday tomorrow and my wife will be at home, which makes it more difficult for me to film and edit in peace.  Ideally, I would film myself today, but that just doesn’t happen!

Late afternoon, I take our neighbour’s card and present round, wish him a happy birthday and then take him and his wife over to The Vernon Arms for a birthday drink (or two).

I’m definitely on the mend, and not feeling anywhere near as bad as I have been.  I’m still feeling the effects of having overdone things on Monday, however, and my muscles are still pretty sore.   I manage to do half an hour of weeding in the back garden, mind you, so I can’t be that bad.  

It’s our neighbour’s 70th birthday tomorrow, so I drive to North Walsham to get him a birthday card and a bottle of bubbly, and I also pop into Lidl to buy some essentials (fresh fruit to go in our nutriblasts, and some bottles of Hobgoblin).

I’m still coughing and hacking this morning, but I feel as though the worst of this cold has passed (at long last).   I definitely overdid things yesterday, though, because my muscles are aching and I don’t feel up to doing anything (apart from sitting on the sofa and recovering).  

The dog drags me out of the house for the customary two walks, I run the vacuum cleaner around downstairs and then bung a ready meal in the oven for our dinner – and that’s all, folks!

I spend the morning, when the symptoms of my cold (yes, it’s still making its presence felt) are at their worst, taking it easy.  I remember to place online orders for the dog’s food and my thiamine powder, both of which we are running out of.  

I’m feeling better around lunchtime, and take a walk down to the allotment.   I decide to mow the grass before it becomes unmanageable, which raises a bit of a sweat.  I intended to start digging over another vegetable bed, but realise that I simply don’t have enough energy in reserve.  I pick a bag of spinach (for inclusion in our daily nutriblasts) and stagger back home to sit down and recover for a while.

My wife is working today – she has promised a customer that she will deliver her curtains and loose covers before Easter, and now she’s panicking that she won’t finish them on time.  I decide to go to Wayford Bridge to check on our boat – I worry about it if I haven’t been to check on it for a while, and its several weeks since I last went there.  Everything appears to be okay (at least, she’s still afloat!).  I start the engine and run it for half an hour or so to top up the batteries, and then head back to Southrepps (via Lidl in North Walsham for a couple of bottles of Hobgoblin). 

The rest of my day is spent watching more live music videos on YouTube – Cyndi Lauper (again) and The Pretenders.

I’m still feeling like lazing around, so that’s what I do today (mostly).  

The dog gets walked (twice), I post links to my latest vlog on Facebook and a number of online Parkinson’s disease forums, the washing gets hung out on the line in the back garden (and brought back inside later on, when it has dried) and I make up some more thiamine capsules for next week.  

Aside from that, I spend the rest of the day catching up on the news (reading the Metro online) and watching a couple of live concerts on YouTube (Cyndi Lauper, live in Paris; and Todd Rundgren, Liars tour).

I can hardly believe that I’m still suffering with this damn cold!  I thought I was over the worst of it last Friday, but today I’m feeling much worse than I was last week.  I’m not feeling like doing anything, and that’s reflected in the progress that I’m making with the script for this week’s vlog – I like to finish writing by 2pm at the very latest, but today it’s almost 4pm before I’m ready to begin filming myself.  Luckily my voice isn’t playing me up as much as usual (or I’m becoming less fussy) so I manage to catch up with myself a little bit.  My wife arrives home as I’m uploading the finished video to my YouTube channel, so I leave the posting of links to social media until tomorrow.

It’s the second group speech therapy session this morning, so I surprise the dog by taking her for an early walk and then I drive to Norwich Community Hospital in time for the start of the session at 10am.  We discuss breathing techniques to help with voice projection, and we sit around the table making silly noises and feeling self-conscious.  I’m sure that these techniques will prove useful in the not-too-distant future, especially if I make myself do my homework (which involves making silly noises for 20 minutes a day, in the privacy of my own home – the dog is going to think I’ve lost the plot!).

The effects of my cold are much worse first thing in the morning, so I sit on the sofa drinking tea and Nutriblast, reading the Metro online, listening to PopMaster and generally taking it easy until I feel up to taking the dog for her morning stroll. 

By the time the afternoon rolls around I’m feeling like I could do something more than sit on my backside, so I dig out some plant pots and a bag of compost and sow a load of vegetable seeds.  Then I wander down to our allotment and finish off digging over the vegetable bed that I started on Monday.   I spend less than half an hour working, but I’m completely knackered when I get back home.   Predictably, the dog wants me to take her for another walk (which I’m not feeling up to, but she must not be denied) so I take her over to the field by the village hall and let her run around while I sit down and watch. 

I chuck a ready meal into the oven for our dinner, and get the washing off the line while it’s cooking (the ready meals, that is – not the washing!).

I’m still suffering with my cold (phase two), so I don’t feel very inclined to do anything today.  I drop in on my neighbour after walking the dog this morning, and have a cup of tea and a chat, during which we discuss the success of the recent eBay auctions that I arranged for them recently.  The upshot is that I get roped in to sell some more of their unwanted items, so I stay there much longer than planned, taking photos and creating listings on eBay and Gumtree. 

The dog drags me around the field for my afternoon walk, and then I slump on the sofa in the lounge until my wife returns from work.

My cold has entered phase two, which involves a nose (of the streaming variety) and a cough (of the painful, bronchial variety).  I’m feeling thoroughly miserable and sorry for myself, so this morning I stay in the house (after a quick stroll around the village hall field with the dog) and surf the ‘net.  

This afternoon I combine another dog walk with a visit to the allotment.  I pick a bag of spinach, and dig over half a vegetable bed while I’m there.  I’m invited in for a cuppa by our neighbour (who sees me stumbling back home from the allotment, sweaty and exhausted) and we sit outside in the sunshine drinking tea and chatting for half an hour or so. 

My cough really kicks off this evening, and my wife must be seriously cheesed off by my hacking and sniffing.  A whisky (Dalwhinnie 15 year old single malt) helps, as does a swig of cough medicine.

the weather is still rubbish in Norfolk today – grey, damp and showery. It’s not conducive to outdoor activities, so I stay indoors (my wife assumes dog walking duties for the day).  

I’m not feeling great (this damn cold doesn’t want to go away) so I vegetate on the sofa and research stock management software for my wife’s soft furnishings business, and then search eBay to find some props for her stand at the Norfolk Show in a couple of months time.

I try to keep myself busy while my wife is at work (again).  I have an urge to go to the allotment and do some more weeding, but the weather isn’t great – there’s a fine drizzle in the air, so the weeds can wait.  I do (of course) venture out for dog walking purposes, but even the dog isn’t keen!

I make up some more thiamine capsules (I’m still taking 4 grams per day, which I intend to increase to 5 grams next week), tidy the kitchen, do some washing-up and then vacuum downstairs.  

I’m on the road to recovery – I’m still feeling lousy, but definitely a huge amount less lousy than I was feeling yesterday – maybe the prawn vindaloo that I ate last night had something to do with it; it certainly cleared the sinuses! 

It’s Friday, so it’s vlog day, which means my day is pretty much the same as every other Friday – researching, scripting, filming (and cursing my voice), editing and publishing my video.  I post links to my vlog on Facebook and several online Parkinson’s Disease forums, and I’m done for the day – just as my wife arrives home from work, laden with bags of groceries, which is pretty good timing.

I have a group speech therapy appointment at Norwich Community hospital at 10am today, so I’m out of the house before my wife (for a change) and driving to Norwich.  There are only four of us at the group session, and two of the other attendees were in a much worse state than me, so I’m grateful that my symptoms are relatively mild – I don’t know how I’d cope if my dyskinesia was as bad as this other bloke’s, he was almost wriggling out of his chair!  I don’t really get anything out of the group session (apart from the gratitude, as mentioned) but I’ll continue attending for the full course – I’m sure that I’ll find some of the information useful/beneficial at some stage.  

My brother calls in on me this afternoon – I’ve been nagging him (for over 6 months) to provide me with some documentation to enable me to make progress with finalising our mother’s estate, and today he brings me the required proof of identify, which I put straight in the post.

This evening my wife and I join our neighbours (and several friends) at Labone Indian restaurant in North Walsham for their Indian buffet, which is both delicious and a rare social outing for us. 

I’m sick and grumpy today – feeling even more under the weather than I felt yesterday, and very tired because I didn’t get very much sleep last night.  I spend most of the day sitting on the sofa in our lounge, surfing the ‘net.  

This afternoon I feel a little better (I took a couple of paracetamol) and walk down to the allotment to pick a bag of spinach (to go in our daily nutriblast).  While I’m there, I finish hoeing the vegetable bed that I started on Monday, which is something that I hadn’t expected to do today!

I walk the dog (a brief walk, because it starts raining!) and then run the vacuum cleaner around downstairs before my wife arrives home from work.

I have a speech therapy appointment in Norwich this morning.  I’m feeling very much “under the weather”, but it’s a bit short notice to cancel, so I take the dog for a quick walk and then drive to the hospital for my appointment.  The appointment is basically an assessment of my voice prior to my attendance of a speech therapy group, which starts this week (on Thursday), so I have to fill out a few forms about the concerns I have about my speech, and also have the volume of my voice measured.  Half an hour later, I’m back in the car, driving back to Southrepps. 

I pop in to see our neighbour for a cuppa and a chat, take the dog for another walk, and then retire to the sofa in our lounge to read the Metro online and recuperate.

I have come down with a nasty sore throat, banging headache and cold this morning, so I’m feeling lousy and am unlikely to achieve very much today.   The morning is spent answering a couple of emails, replying to a few comments on YouTube, and posting links to my latest vlog on Twitter and Instagram. 

It’s another beautiful Spring day, and I consider walking to the allotment to do some more weeding, but I’m still not feeling great and walking the dog is about all I can manage this afternoon.  The fact that I actually considered it is hugely significant, though!

It’s Mothering Sunday today in the UK, so we have a busy day.  First stop is the Amazona Zoo in Cromer, where we meet up with my wife’s youngest son, his wife and our youngest granddaughter.  It’s a beautiful sunny Spring day, and we spend a very pleasant couple of hours wandering around and seeing the animals.  

From Cromer we drive to my wife’s parent’s house in Worstead to give her mother her card and presents.  We stay for cups of tea and a chat before heading over to my wife’s eldest son’s house in Hevingham for a lovely roast dinner.  

It’s almost 10pm when we get home so we round the day off with a beer and an episode of Touch on Netflix.

My wife is working again today, so I concentrate on making myself busy in her absence.  

I hang out the washing, make up some more thiamine capsules for next week (I’m now taking 4 grams per day with no noticeable improvement in symptoms as yet – unless my recent improvements in motivation can be attributed to it), and then wander up to the allotment (while taking the dog for her walk).  I pick several pounds of rhubarb for distribution to various family members that like that sort of thing, and then hoe approximately half of the vegetable bed that I dug over earlier in the week.  When I get back home I vacuum downstairs and then get the washing in from the washing line.  

I haven’t actually done all that much, but I do feel a sense of achievement that comes from doing SOMETHING!