Author: Ian

My wife has our eldest granddaughter for the day, so she is up early and out of the house before I have even woken up properly.

I am supposed to be going to see her accountant this morning – he has agreed to provide me with a formal letter of identification so that I can legally deal with certain aspects of my mother’s estate – but he is unavailable when I phone to confirm our appointment, so it’ll have to wait until another day.

I drive to the Gunton Arms at 12pm to meet up with my wife’s parents, her younger brother, my wife and our granddaughter – we are treating them to some of the quirky (and delicious) bar snacks on offer there, as a gesture of thanks for looking after our dog while we were away on holiday recently.  Also my wife is hoping that she can show our granddaughter some of the wild deer that roam the Gunton estate, in which the pub is situated.  We spend a pleasant hour and a half eating, drinking and chatting, and then take a stroll around the estate where we finally spot the elusive deer (I’m not sure who was most excited – my wife or our granddaughter).

I return to Southrepps to walk the dog (again), and then publish my weekly vlog and post links to it from my Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.

I prepare another basket of kindling, split a basketful of logs and get the fire lit – it’s chilly, even though it’s a beautiful sunny day!

My sore jaw (from Tuesday’s extraction) continues to overshadow my Parkinson’s symptoms, so I’m evidently feeling pretty good at the moment!

It is going to be a busy day tomorrow – looking after our eldest granddaughter and also taking my wife’s parents and her brother out for a pub lunch to thank them for looking after our dog while we were away on holiday.  This will interfere greatly with my weekly vlog schedule, so I make the decision to do my vlog today instead.

I walk the dog, and then spend the rest of the morning researching and writing a script about psychosis in Parkinson’s Disease.

The afternoon is spent filming (with a large number of re-takes due to my voice, which is sounding a little indistinct today) and editing the video.  I upload it to my YouTube channel just before my wife returns from work, and I’m all set to publish it tomorrow.

My jaw is a little on the sore side following my molar extraction on Tuesday, and I think that this didn’t assist with clarity of speech when filming.  My Parkinson’s symptoms are fairly well under control at the moment – bubbling away beneath the surface, but everything is tolerable.

It’s Valentine’s Day, so my wife and I exchange cards (I gave her her flowers when she got home yesterday evening) and gifts.

I spend the day buying another holiday.  Ever since I met my wife I have gone on and on about how wonderful the Sugar Cane Club in Barbados is, and when we were in Egypt the other week I rashly promised to take her there this year.  So, I have been in touch with number of travel companies this week, trying to get the best possible deal.  When we were discussing getting each other a gift for Valentine’s Day, we agreed that our gift to each other would be a holiday to Barbados for our fifth wedding anniversary this October, so that’s what I have booked.  Not quite sure where the money is going to come from, but I have a few months to find it.  I justify the expense by telling myself that I have to do these things while I still can – nobody knows how quickly (or slowly) my Parkinson’s will progress, or which symptom will be next to emerge.  In any case, my wife deserves to be taken somewhere special – she’s a very special lady.

My mouth is still pretty sore following my molar extraction yesterday, so our romantic Valentine’s day meal this evening will be broccoli and stilton soup with soggy croutons – yum!

I’m having a broken tooth extracted at the dental department of the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital this afternoon.  I don’t expect to be feeling too sharp afterwards, so I need to get a few things done before leaving the house for my appointment.

First and foremost, the dog needs to be walked, so I wrap up well (it’s still chilly out there) and take her for a leisurely stroll around the field by the village hall.

Next on the agenda is a basketful of logs for the fire this evening.  This is an easy win – I have a stack of logs that I split the other day, just waiting to be carried indoors.

It’s Valentine’s Day tomorrow, so I drive to North Walsham to get some flowers and a card for my wonderful wife – I definitely won’t have an opportunity to get anything later on.

I have a shave, brush my teeth and change my shirt (a red t-shirt in case the dental surgeon gets blood on it) before my wife arrives home to take me to hospital.

The operation goes smoothly and quickly and is relatively painless.  I wasn’t nervous about having the tooth extracted, but I guess the adrenaline must have been flowing – my tremor went through the roof when the surgeon was injecting me with local anaesthetic, and there wasn’t a thing I could do about it.  I even had tremor in my right side (especially my right arm) which is very unusual these days.  By the time the anaesthetic has taken effect, though, things have settled down a little, and I’m no longer conscious of shaking.

I’m back home in Southrepps less than 3 hours after my operation, drinking lukewarm carrot and coriander soup with soggy toast croutons – delicious!

My wife takes the dog for a walk while I light the fire – our day is done, apart from an episode of Suits on Netflix.

I’m determined to get my neighbour’s safari holiday video edited and out of the way, so today is spent moving all of the completed videos (there’s one for each day of their holiday) onto a network drive so that I can free up some space on my MacBook.  Eventually, I manage to free up over 25gb of disk space, which should make a big difference to the performance of my laptop.

It’s still very cold here, even though it is a bright and sunny morning, so I warm up by splitting a few logs (even though I didn’t need to – I split a couple of days worth yesterday), fill the log basket and light the fire.  By the time I’ve vacuumed downstairs I have to take off my fleece and sweater because I’m too hot!

I prepare dinner (for a change) to save my wife from having to do so – she’s had a long day, and doesn’t get home until almost 8pm.

Nothing much going on here today – it’s freezing cold outside, so I’m trying to stay in the warm.  My wife takes the dog for her morning walk and I sit and drink my morning cuppas.

I decide to continue with editing my neighbour’s safari holiday video – the sooner I have that finished, the happier I will be.

We go over to have dinner with my wife’s youngest son, his wife and our youngest granddaughter this evening, so I don’t bother with bringing any logs in to the house today, since we won’t bother lighting the fire – I do spend half an hour splitting a few logs, though, because I feel that I’m being a tad lazy and they’ll come in handy later in the week.

We get back to Southrepps in time to watch an episode of Suits on Netflix.   I’m suffering with restless legs at the moment, so I take a little cannabis to calm it, which it does.  It also helps me get off to sleep (and stay asleep).

My wife is going to work today, so I am left to my own devices – no big deal, it’s just like a normal weekday!

I take the dog for her morning walk, and discover how flipping cold it is outside – I’m ready to light the fire already, and its only 9.30am.  I warm myself up by splitting a few logs in the back garden and filling the log basket.  Resisting the temptation to light the fire immediately, I drink a couple of mugs of tea whilst reading The Metro online and posting links to my weekly vlog on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

I relent, and light the fire at 11am – I’m still feeling the cold, in spite of my log splitting exertions.

I have a number of videos that I need to edit, so I try to make some progress with my neighbour’s safari holiday video – I have now completed 10 days worth of editing, so I’m hoping that I have broken the back of it!

The pain in my side is getting fainter and fainter now, although it still makes itself known if I lie on my right side in bed – very strange that it should take this long to heal.  I am still on group “A” settings from yesterday – tremor doesn’t appear to be to much worse than when I am on group “B” settings, but I do think that my voice is generally a little better, so I’ll stick with it until the tremor becomes too annoying.

An evening in front of the fire watching Suits on Netflix follows.

Back from holiday, and back into the routine, so the day is spent scripting, filming and editing my weekly vlog.  My wife suggested a subject (special assistance available at airports for those of us that require a little help), so that’s what it’s all about.

The only symptom that is impeding my progress is my voice, which is (to my ears) slurred and indistinct.  I change the settings on my neurostimulator to group “A” (because those settings appear to have slightly less of an effect on my voice) but I still have many retakes before I’m anything approaching satisfied with its clarity – if I listen to myself and can’t be certain of the words that are coming out of my mouth, then how can I expect anyone else to understand me?  At least the subtitles, that I routinely put on all of my videos, help a little in that respect.

It’s another very cold day here in Southrepps, so I split a few logs, fill the log basket and light the fire quite early in the day.

The dog eats something that she found whilst out for our afternoon stroll (Labradors do this!), and promptly throws up over the rug in the lounge when we get home – so half an hour of precious vlogging time is spent on cleaning up after her.  It’s an achievement, therefore, to have finished the video, uploaded it to my YouTube channel and published it by the time my wife arrives home from work.

We are awake at 7.30am, which is a bit on the early side considering we didn’t get to bed until after 3am, but once we’re awake we get up and start sorting stuff out.

My wife empties the suitcases and sorts out the dirty laundry.  I clean out the woodburner, bring in a few logs from the back garden and get the fire going (because we are feeling the cold).

The pain in my side has almost disappeared now, which is a major relief.  Left leg tremor is still present, but no better or worse than it has been over the last week or so.  Voice is a touch weak at the moment, and I am still having to make a conscious effort to enunciate clearly to make myself understood.

We go to North Walsham this evening to visit Lidl to get some groceries, and also drop in on my wife’s parents in Worstead to collect our dog – home just isn’t home until the dog is back in residence!

It’s the last day of our holiday today, so we pack our suitcases as soon as we get up, take them to the hotel reception for safe storage, and head for the beach to make the most of our last few hours of sunshine and warmth.  Our taxi arrives at just before 4pm to take us to the airport for our flight back to Gatwick.

Everything goes to schedule and we are back in the UK by 10.30pm – it feels a bit chilly as we load the cases into my car, and the computer confirms that it’s -2 degrees Celsius.   We drive back to Norfolk (with a quick stop at McDonald’s in Clacket Lane services), arriving home (-4.5 degrees Celsius!!) just after 3am.  We bring the suitcases into the house (leaving them in the lounge to be dealt with later) and collapse, exhausted, into bed.

It’s a slightly cooler day in Marsa Alam today – still just a gentle breeze, but sunshine is a little hazy.  We venture out along the pier from the beach this morning to do some deep water snorkelling, but find that there are a large number of jellyfish (of the stinging variety) in the water, so our swim is cut short. Today is a beach day, which is fine by me, especially as the sun isn’t too strong.

The pain in my right side is less intrusive today, which is nice!  Tremor remains the same – annoying, but bearable.  My voice is definitely weaker and strangling my sentences.  Overall?  Can’t complain!

The weather forecast was correct, and there was just a gentle breeze in Marsa Alam today, so deep water snorkelling was very much on the agenda.  We got to see a couple of fish that were have never seen before (a spotted reef stingray and a conger eel) as well as the usual array of colourful marine life that makes swimming in the Red Sea akin to swimming in a well stocked aquarium.

Tremor remains prominent in my left leg, but it’s not bothering me unduly.  My voice is a little weaker than it was yesterday, and I feel that I’m slurring my words (and it’s got nothing to do with the number of all-inclusive cocktails that I’m enjoying).  The pain in my right side is still there, but no worse than it was yesterday – I’ll go to see my doctor about it if it hasn’t disappeared by the time we get home.

Up until now we have been snorkelling in a shallow lagoon close to the beach, because the strong breeze made it more difficult to enter the water at the end of the pier.  The pier stretches out from the end of the beach, across the shallow lagoon to the edge of the coral reef where the depth of the water is more than 10 metres.  The sea has been very rough at this point, breaking into surf as it reaches the edge of the reef.  Today there is a much more gentle breeze, and there are scarcely any waves breaking over the reef, so my wife and I have been enjoying snorkelling in deeper waters.  Tomorrow is also forecast to be less windy, so we will make the most of it while it lasts.

I am still extremely uncomfortable with the pain in my side, but it isn’t stopping me from enjoying my holiday – I just wish it would go away!  My tremor is much the same.  My voice has definitely improved in strength, although I feel it is bordering on indistinct because of the number of times that I have to repeat myself to be understood.

Predictably, the sun is shining this morning, it’s another beautiful day (if a tad breezy) in Marsa Alam.  My wife and I spend another day lounging on the beach with frequent snorkelling excursions.  The colorful marine life is absolutely amazing, and we spend hours marveling at it.

The hotel that we are staying at has its own beach with a fine stretch of coral reef that attracts a huge variety of marine life, so there’s no need to go anywhere else (unless, of course, it doesn’t interest you).

My tremor (left leg) remains pretty much the same, the pain in my right side (which was a lot better yesterday) is really uncomfortable today, and I can’t think what I can have done to aggravate it.  Hoping it goes away…

Another day in paradise dawns – 24 degrees Celsius is forecast, and there isn’t a cloud in the sky.  I think the pain in my right side has eased a little since last night, and I’m very relieved about that – it’s still uncomfortable, but the pain is not as sharp. Tremor in my left leg is still there, but it’s manageable.

We both overdid the sunbathing yesterday (very deceptive with the cool breeze that is blowing here), so we smother ourselves in high factor sunscreen and I make sure I cover up well.

More beach, snorkelling, eating and drinking today – as you do when on holiday.

I’m awake quite early, around 7.30am which is 5.30am in the UK, but we don’t actually get out of bed until 9am (well, we are on holiday!).

It’s a sunny 22 degrees Celsius in Marsa Alam today, and there isn’t a single cloud in the sky.  After we have had some breakfast, we get our swimming cossies on, and head for the beach.  Marsa Alam is known for being quite a windy resort, and that certainly proves the case.  The sea is quite choppy, but that doesn’t prevent us from snorkelling and seeing some wonderful colourful marine life, which is exactly what we came here for.  The constant breeze also has the effect of making you less aware of the strength of the sun, so I cover up around lunchtime so that I don’t get sunburnt.

The pain in my side is still giving me grief – I probably didn’t help it any by lugging heavy suitcases around yesterday (even though my wife tried to stop me), and my tremor is being a nuisance in my left leg (probably because I’m tired from yesterday’s travelling).  Hopefully both will improve as the holiday progresses!

An early start this morning. We are up, cases loaded into the car, and on or way to the airport just a few minutes after 3am.  We have a good uneventful journey without the drama and expense of last week’s blowout, and we are parked up and in the terminal in plenty of time.

For the first time, I have booked airport assistance because I know how long it takes to get from the departure lounge to the boarding gate, and I have to say that the experience (which I had been worried about) was very positive. Once the gate for our flight had been announced, we were transported directly to the aircraft steps – no standing around in long queues, which made a hell of a difference. Once we were airborne, tiredness caught up with me and, although I had real difficulty in falling asleep, I spent most of the journey with my eyes closed.

Assistance at Marsa Alam airport was a somewhat different experience, but they did their best and we were safely delivered to the arrivals hall to queue for our visas and to get through passport control.

We had booked a private taxi firm to take us to our hotel, so we avoided the usual hassle of being transferred by coach and visiting every other hotel in the area before reaching ours.

We had some dinner and a drink or two, and then retired to our room to have an early night.

I spend the day preparing to go on holiday (again). My wife re-packs the suitcases and I weigh them to make sure each case weighs less than 20 kilos.

My wife goes to work, and I walk the dog (twice), split a few logs, fill the log basket and then oil the kitchen worktops so that the oil has a good long time to soak into the wood.

I have a minor panic when I discover that I have reserved parking at the wrong terminal, but a quick phone call to the parking company reassures me that it shouldn’t present us with any problems.  I double-check that we have all of the necessary paperwork and documents – passport, flight vouchers, boarding passes, accommodation vouchers and parking voucher – all present and correct!  Let the holiday begin!

I have an even lazier day today.  I decide to go to see my doctor about my eye, which is still irritated and swollen, so I take the dog for an early walk before heading off to the doctor’s surgery at Aldborough.  The doctor examines my eyes, can’t see any reason for the irritation and prescribes me some ointment, telling me to come back tomorrow if there’s no improvement.

I spend much of the rest of the day sitting on the sofa in our lounge replying to emails and messages on social media.  I take time out to walk the dog again, bring a basket of logs in from the back garden and light the fire.  I’m not naturally lazy, although it might sound like it to you, but I’m still recovering from last week (a night with practically no sleep, followed by the exertion of changing a large wheel at the roadside) as well as trying to rest the sore muscles in my right side, which are still a little sore and uncomfortable.

Tremor isn’t quite as bad as it has been over the last few days, but it is still there.  Voice still weak and husky.

A lazy Sunday begins with a brief shopping trip to North Walsham for my wife to buy some clothing and for me to grab a couple of bottles of beer from Lidl, and a bottle of Optrex from Sainsbury’s.

When we get back home, my wife decides to wash both of our cars, so I occupy myself by splitting a few logs and preparing a load of kindling.  I also take the dog for her afternoon walk, and then try rinsing my irritated eye with the Optrex.

Tremor remains in left leg and right arm, my voice is weak and husky, and I still have muscular pain in my right side.  My eye is feeling a little better, though, so that’s positive news!

This morning I have to take my car to have two new tyres fitted.  Only one of them got shredded on the way to the airport on Thursday, but they have to be replaced as a pair, so that makes it a very expensive blowout!

Having emptied my wallet, I return to Southrepps, where a rather chilly house prompts me to clean out the woodburner, split a basket full of logs and light the fire.

I’m still feeling very tired from having less than an hour of sleep on Wednesday night, and also suffering several little niggles that I’m hoping are just related to the physical effort of changing a large tyre at the side of the road, and the resultant fatigue.  It feels like I have pulled a muscle in my side, so I’m trying to take things easy so that I don’t aggravate it. I seem to have got something in my left eye, which is causing me some mild irritation and has made my eyelid swollen, so I’ll pop along to see one of the nurses at the doctors surgery on Monday, if it doesn’t work its way out in the meantime.  I know that my tremor has been all over the place the last couple of days – left leg and right arm today.  I’m not going to make any adjustments to my device just now, though – I’m hoping that it will settle down as I recover from lack of sleep and over-exertion.

I’m still extremely tired after our disastrous day yesterday, but I haven’t got plans to do very much today in any case.  My main task of the day is to complete the travel insurance claim form so that were get some money back for having to abandon our holiday.  There are a few questions on the claim form that I don’t know how to answer, so I call the company that is dealing with the claim and ask their advice.  I also have to chase up Green Flag to provide me with evidence that they had attended our breakdown, but soon I have a wad of printed documentation ready to send off with the completed claim form, so I bundle it all up, stick it in an envelope and post it off.

More printing of documents takes place this afternoon, as I make sure that we we have all of the necessary paperwork ready for our (re-booked) holiday next week.

I split a few logs for the fire, and intended to split enough to last until we go away, but I underestimated my fatigue and couldn’t even manage to split enough for the weekend.  Left sided tremor is prevalent today, affecting both my arm and leg, and my eyes are so tired that I am fighting a constant battle to keep them open.  I do believe another early night is on the cards!

We should, by now, be in Marsa Alam in Egypt, on the Red Sea.  We got out of bed in the middle of the night to drive to Gatwick airport to catch our flight at 8.10am.  So why are we sitting in Southrepps in front of a blazing fire, preparing to watch an episode of Suits on Netflix?  Because I drive an old Porsche, that’s why.  So, when I have a blowout halfway through the journey, I cursed a little (as you do) but got on with the job of changing the shredded tyre with the wonderful space-saver spare wheel.  It was only then that I realised that the space-saver needed to be inflated, and there was no pump in the car.   I assume that there was once a pump, but at some point in my car’s long history it has been removed!  We then had to wait for three hours at the side of the road for a Green Flag patrol to come to our assistance, by which time we were too late to catch our flight…  Long story short, we drove back home, rang our insurance company to claim for our lost holiday, booked the car in for new tyres, and re-booked our holiday for next week.  Now I’m extremely tired and I’m off to bed!

More holiday preparation today, so I spend the morning checking us in online for our flight to Marsa Alam, printing out all of the necessary paperwork to take with us, and going through my checklist to ensure that we don’t forget anything.

We like to oil the kitchen worktops when we go on holiday because it gives the oil a chance to soak into the wood, so I move everything (and there is quite a lot) off the work surface and stack it on the dining table, and then apply a liberal coat of linseed oil to the oak worktops.

The dog is pestering me to take her for a walk (even though it hasn’t stopped raining all day) so I take her for a soggy trudge around the field.

Personal grooming is next on the agenda, so I get the hair clippers, retire to the bathroom, give myself a nice close haircut, have a shave, cut my nails, have a bath and (finally) clean up after myself.

Just a few gadgets and chargers to pack in the suitcase now, and we’re all set!

I have some admin tasks to do this morning so, after taking the dog for her morning walk, I sit on the sofa with the phone and my MacBook and try to sort out the insurance renewal for my wife’s soft furnishing business, transfer money between bank accounts (that I should have done months ago), tax my car, and make an appointment at the dental hospital to have a broken tooth extracted (eek!).

I have been meaning to give my grubby car a wash for some time now, so I take the opportunity to do so while it’s not raining.  The car is very grubby indeed, and it takes me almost 2 hours to wash it and leather it dry.  It really needs a coat of wax, but I simply don’t have the energy to do it today.

I take the dog for another walk and bump into one of my neighbours who asks me to help him put up a light fitting in his house that he can’t manage on his own.  Naturally I agree and, after putting the dog inside, I go across the road to help him.  The light fitting is large but not too heavy, and I don’t have any difficulty (at first) holding it while my neighbour fastens the securing screws.  After I have been holding the light fitting above my head for as minute or so, I’m feeling the pain and strain in my weak arm muscles, and I’m very glad when my neighbour declares that he has finished securing it.  I retire to our little cottage to recuperate, and then (before it gets too dark) split some logs, fill the log basket, vacuum downstairs and light the fire.

I am still preparing to be away from home for a week when we fly to Egypt for a holiday, snorkelling in the Red Sea, so today I am preparing two weekly vlogs so that I can maintain my schedule of publishing them on my YouTube channel every Friday.  I finish scripting the second of these vlogs this morning, and then set up the camera, tripod, lighting and teleprompter so that I can film myself.  The first of these videos is about DBS and speech problems, which is kind of ironic given the problems that I am currently experiencing.  My neurostimulator is still using group “A” settings, which I switched to yesterday because my voice was getting me down.  My voice isn’t as bad as it was yesterday, but I still have a multitude of problems when I’m filming myself, and have to do countless re-takes.  The second vlog is about swallowing problems with Parkinson’s, and I manage to film that one without quite so many problems.  I transfer all of the raw footage to my MacBook and make a start on the editing, taking a break to take the dog for a walk just as it starts to get dark.

I had hoped to finish both of these videos today, but it just isn’t going to happen…  I manage to finish the first one, and upload it to my YouTube channel ready to publish it on Friday – I’ll do the second one tomorrow!

I split some logs, fill the log basket and light the fire just as my wife arrives home from work.

I spend today preparing to go on holiday, so I research and script the next two of my weekly vlogs (well, I actually finish one of them, and make a good start on the second), and I select some t-shirts, shorts, swimming trunks and a couple of baseball caps to be packed in the suitcase.

It’s freezing cold here today, and it has even snowed a little bit, so I clean the woodburner, split a few logs, fill the log basket, light the fire and run the vacuum cleaner around downstairs.

I take the dog for her afternoon walk, and then settle down in front of the fire for the evening.  Tremor is fairly well under control today, but my voice is rubbish again, so I try changing my neurostimulator settings to group “A” to see if that helps.  It does help a little bit, but I’m still not happy with the way that I sound – I’ll leave it on group “A” settings for the moment and see how my voice is in the morning.

We are going to my wife’s eldest son’s house this morning.  We bought him a small gas forge for his birthday – a strange gift, I know, but that’s what he wanted because he wants to make a set of kitchen knives!  This morning he is going to be firing it up for the first time, and I volunteered to film it and make a video to publish on YouTube.  We arrive, he fires it up, I film the process, everyone is happy.  I will edit the video and publish it when we return from our week’s holiday in Egypt.

We take our leave of the family and drive to Tesco in Sprowston to get some currency, some milk and a couple of beers, and then we head back to Southrepps.

My wife has to go out again, to visit a potential customer for her soft furnishings business, so I fill the log basket, light the fire and take the dog for her afternoon walk before it gets dark.

I expected to be well ahead with the script for my weekly vlog today, having done some research and scripting yesterday, but I’m not ready to start filming until gone 1pm.  I change my neurostimulator settings over to group “A” because these settings don’t affect my voice quite so much, but I still have quite a number of re-takes because I’m dissatisfied with the way that I sound.

I finish filming, transfer the footage to my MacBook and am ready to start editing just before 3pm.  The dog comes first, though, so we go for our afternoon exercise before I get stuck in.

I finish editing the video and have uploaded it to YouTube by the time my wife gets home from work.  I have also got the logs in, lit the fire and vacuumed downstairs, so I’m set for a lazy evening in front of the telly with a beer, some cannabis and my wonderful wife.

My car is booked in for a replacement thermostat at Autowerke this morning, so I’m up and dressed and out of the house by 7am, which would normally be plenty early enough for me to drive the 20 miles to the outskirts of Norwich by 8am.  I hadn’t reckoned on interference from mother nature, though.  We had high winds during the night (which I managed to sleep right through), and there were several big trees lying across the road, that had been brought down by the gales.  It took me almost an hour to drive as far as Aylsham – normally a 15 minute drive – and I didn’t get to the garage until nearly 8.30.

Thankfully the mechanic didn’t mind my lateness, and just got on with the job.

My return journey was a lot easier and quicker, because the emergency services had cleared the roads, and I’m back home in Southrepps with a mug of tea in my hands by the time PopMaster comes on the radio.

I fill the log basket from the stack of logs that I split yesterday, light the fire (because I’m feeling cold again) and then get on with researching and scripting my weekly vlog, which is about temporomandibular joint disorder in Parkinson’s Disease.

My wife and I are joining her sons and families for a fish and chips dinner this evening – it’s her eldest son’s 31st birthday today – so, my wife gets home from work early and we head over to Hevingham to join in with the celebrations.

I’m still suffering from overdoing things on Monday, so the muscles in my legs and arms are extremely stiff, weak and painful.

I resolve to do some of the admin work that I have on my “To Do” list so that I can sit on the sofa and take it easy.

Before I get settled, I walk the dog and split a load of logs – enough to fill the log basket, plus enough to last us tomorrow (and possibly the day after!).  I definitely need to sit down and recover after that!

I do a little research for this week’s vlog, reply to a few messages that I’ve received on social media, and then call a physiotherapy centre in Hellesdon that specialises in neurological disorders to see what they have to offer.  I really struggle to make myself heard and understood, so I know that my voice is really rubbish again.  I’m told that one of the physiotherapists will call me back to discuss.  I’m still waiting.

I light the woodburner because I’m feeling chilly, although I know that the house really isn’t that cold – inactivity makes me feel colder than I actually am.  Tremor has returned to my left leg, but not in a big way.  Everything seems insignificant next to the muscular pain I have at the moment, though.  I take a little cannabis this evening to take my mind off it.

I’m paying the price for my exertions of yesterday, repairing the electrical supply to my wife’s workshop.  The muscles in my arms and legs are stiff and painful today, and I moan and groan in pain and discomfort every time I move my aching muscles.

I stagger around the field with the dog this morning, and then empty and clean the woodburner, split a basket full of logs, vacuum downstairs and light the fire.

Apart from taking the dog for her afternoon walk, I don’t stir from my seat on the sofa in front of the fire (other than to chuck a couple more logs on) for the rest of the day.  Interestingly, my tremor has been totally under control in spite of my general fatigue – it usually becomes more of problem when I’m tired and aching.  My voice (although about the only time I use it is to talk to the dog) is also not as bad as it has been of late.

I planned to try and cross a few things off my “To Do” list today, but my plans are thrown into disarray by a crisis – my wife rings me mid-morning to say that she has had a complete power failure in her workshop and can’t do any work.  I walk the dog, sort out a few electrical tools, get in my car and drive over to Hevingham to see what can be done.  I end up having to drive to Toolstation in Norwich to get something to repair the main power cable to the workshop, which appears to have been damaged somehow…  My wife helps me to effect the repair (in the rain!) and then I head back to Southrepps to take the dog for her afternoon walk, split some logs, fill the log basket, light the fire and vacuum downstairs.

I do manage to cross one item off my list – I ring Autowerke and book my car in to have a new thermostat fitted this Thursday morning at 8am, so I’ll be up bright and early on Thursday!

I have a large amount of pain at the moment – sciatica is rearing it’s ugly head.  I’ll have to try some exercises to try to alleviate it.  Tremor is back again (left leg) but very mild.  Voice is still rubbish.

I am up first this morning (for a change) so I make the tea/coffee and empty the dishwasher while my wife has an extra few minutes of well-deserved sleep.  I really should wash my car today – it’s looking extremely grubby – but I can’t seem to summon up the energy to do so.  The car remains grubby!

I walk the dog and then spend some time reviewing my son’s blog and correcting any grammatical errors, and responding to a couple of emails that have arrived overnight.  My wife decides to clear out the conservatory, while I split a load of logs and light the woodburner.

I’m aching from my exertions yesterday, and my voice is very weak and soft today, although my tremor is much more under control.  The only time that my voice has been anywhere close to acceptable (to my ears) this week was when I was filming myself for my weekly vlog on Friday, and I changed my device over to use group “A” settings.  Group “A” settings offer me a clearer voice, but inferior tremor control.  Sometimes it’s difficult to decide which is the lesser of two evils, but at least I do have a choice!

Today my wife and I are going over to Hevingham to help her youngest son replace some fence panels in the garden that got damaged in the recent high winds.  So, after I take the dog for her morning walk and drink a couple of mugs of tea, we head over there.

I help my wife’s son, his wife and his dad while my wife looks after our youngest granddaughter.  Its quite a straightforward job really, and we have finished it in a couple of hours.   A couple of hours of work is enough to knock me out these days, and I’m looking forward to getting back home, lighting the fire and having a bit of a sit down.

My wife takes the dog out when were get back to Southrepps, while I split a few logs, fill the log basket and light the fire.  That’s me finished for the day – literally and figuratively!

I have no idea what I am going to vlog about this week, so my first task of the day is to scan all of the Parkinson’s related websites and Facebook groups looking for some inspiration.  I finally decide to talk about uncommon symptoms of PD, prompted by an uncommon symptom that I have been experiencing for well over a year – the tendency for me to bite the inside of my mouth when eating – very painful, and it’s currently making my life a misery.

I have several interruptions to the filming and editing of my vlog – my daughter calls me from York on FaceTime for a chat, my son calls me from Melbourne on FaceTime for a chat, and one of my neighbours drops in to discuss a local planning issue – so my schedule is well and truly out of the window.  I eventually finish editing just after we have eaten dinner, and publish it just before bedtime.

I’m up bright (ish) and early (ish) because I’m expecting a delivery of logs first thing this morning.  Sure enough, the lorry pulls up outside our cottage at 8.15am, and then proceeds to block the high street for 10 minutes whilst the driver offloads a huge bag containing 2 cubic metres of hardwood logs, which he puts in the road by the gate that leads to my back garden.  I start moving the logs from the road in a wheelbarrow and stack them against the flint wall at the bottom of our garden.  I have moved a little over half of them when my next door neighbour appears and insists on helping me move and stack the remainder, which was very much appreciated!

I light the fire, and soon the house is feeling nicely warm and cosy.

I’m aching a little (well, a lot, actually) and my speech is slurred and indistinct from my exertions this morning so, after taking the dog for her second walk of the day, the rest of the afternoon is spent sitting on the sofa, warming my bones in front of the woodburner.

I spend a large amount of time trying to install a replacement hard disk in my MacBook today.  I fail umpteen times, and end up putting my old drive back into it.  I really need to upgrade my MacBook to something a little bit faster and more up to date, but I will carry on with what I have got – at least until after we get back from holiday next month.

I receive an email confirming our delivery of logs tomorrow morning, so I spend some time (between dog walks) cleaning out the wood burning stove and preparing a basket full of kindling.  I also vacuum downstairs, because I’ve made a bit of a mess!

We have a few of the inferior heatlogs (that I bought in the garden centre in Overstrand the other day) so I light the fire just before 5pm.

I’m feeling under a certain amount of pressure at the moment.   I have two video projects in progress that I really need to finish off – one is editing my neighbour’s safari holiday video (payment in kind for a video camera that he gave to me), and the other is my wife’s youngest son’s wedding video (which I had hoped to finish before Christmas, but didn’t!).

My Macbook is fast running out of disk space, so I need to back it up to an external hard drive so that I can install a larger disk drive in my MacBook.  Sounds straightforward enough, but I was trying to back it up yesterday afternoon (and failed), so I try again today.

This time I’m successful, but it does take me all day to accomplish.  I’ll leave the installation of the new disk drive until tomorrow – should be straightforward… (famous last words!).

My wife and I have an appointment with the Parkinson’s nurse at 9am, so we get up at a reasonable time and I take the dog for a quick walk while my wife makes the tea/coffee and the Nutriblasts.

We are out of the door by 8.40am and arrive at the cottage hospital in North Walsham bang on schedule.  The nurse listens to our concerns (muscle weakness, balance issues and lack of motivation) and actually comes up with some good suggestions (which is unusual).  I was particularly impressed that she knew about forced exercise (which I covered in last week’s vlog) and was also able to offer me forced exercise through a referral to their physiotherapy department which, she told us, she would request for me as a matter of urgency.  She also picked up on my voice issues, and is going to refer me for some speech therapy which should address my vocal problems and also swallowing problems (which have started to become more of a problem of late).   We left the hospital feeling much more positive than we had when we arrived, and I just hope that there isn’t too much of a waiting list for the proposed referrals.

My wife departs for work, and I depart for Lidl in Cromer to see if they have got any heatlogs (they have sold out of them in their North Walsham branch) but Cromer branch have also run out!  It’s just typical that we have to wait until Thursday for our log delivery just as the weather turns cold again…  I drive back to Southrepps via the garden centre in Overstrand and grab a bag of heatlogs from there (inferior quality and higher price than Lidl, but needs must).

I light the fire at 3pm (having put it off for as long as possible) and take the dog for her afternoon stroll.

I don’t do very much at all today.  We make up for an early start yesterday, and lie-in until almost 10am. My wife’s brother and his family are dropping in to see us later on today (with Christmas presents) so my wife wants to clean and tidy the house before they arrive.  She also wants to catch up with the tasks that she would have performed yesterday, had she not been working.  My main task today, therefore, is keeping out of the way and not getting under her feet!

I sort out the woodburner, laying the fire ready to light later on this afternoon, and then I fill the log basket with the heatlogs that my wife bought back from Lidl yesterday evening.

I vacuum downstairs, light the fire and then take the dog for her afternoon walk just before our visitors are due to arrive.

My voice isn’t too bad today and I’m not slurring as much as usual, so conversation isn’t too embarrassing for me.  Tremor is still there (in my left leg) but not troubling me unduly.   My main discomfort today is muscular rigidity, and I find it very difficult (and painful) to move around too much – that’s my excuse, and I’m sticking to it!

My wife is working this morning, so there are no lie-ins today!  While she is out I make myself useful – walk the dog (twice), take the recycling out ready for collection on Monday, connect up one of the new Calor gas cylinders to the manifold, clean the woodburner, light the fire and vacuum downstairs.

When she arrives back home, we take down the Christmas decorations (it’s twelfth night), pack them away in boxes and stick them up in the loft again until next December.

While my wife cooks our dinner, I post some links to my weekly vlog on Instagram and Twitter, and then we settle down in front of the fire (with a beer for me) to watch a couple of episodes of Suits on Netflix.

I jump out of bed early (for a change) and go downstairs to make the tea/coffee and give the dog her breakfast.  I haven’t decided on a subject for my weekly vlog as yet, so I have some researching to do.  I decide to make a video about the effects of exercise on Parkinson’s Disease progression, so I start reading articles and writing a script as soon as I return from the morning dog walk.

Filming is a bit of a trial because my voice keeps letting me down by strangling my sentences.  In the end I decide to change my neurostimulator over to Group ‘A’ settings to see if that makes a difference – it does, and I finish the filming with much less hassle, changing back to Group ‘B’ settings again once I have finished (better tremor control, but worse voice).

The Calor gas delivery arrives, and I stash the full cylinders in their enclosure in the back garden.

The dog and I take our afternoon walk (in the rain) and then I light the woodburner because I’m feeling chilly.

I have finished editing my vlog and have uploaded it to my YouTube channel and published it by the time my wife returns home from work.

I have a few things to sort out today, but I’m suffering the dreaded lack of motivation at the moment, and I’m struggling to make myself do even the most basic of tasks.

The dog gets me out for a wet and muddy traipse around the field (which I definitely didn’t feel like doing) and then I get the Calor gas empties out from the gas store ready for the delivery tomorrow.  I renew my car insurance (I couldn’t find a better price than that offered by my existing insurers) and then notice that my phone and broadband bill has suddenly doubled in price – my discounted deal must have come to an end and they have put me onto their standard tariff without notifying me.  I’m so annoyed that I immediately send their customer service people a snotty email inviting them to call me to “discuss”, and start looking for an alternative service provider.

I contact the log supplier that I placed my order with yesterday, hoping to get a delivery before the weekend, but they can’t deliver anything to me before next Thursday (which is a bit of a bummer).  I expect I’ll be picking up some more little bags of logs from the garden centre tomorrow…

My wife arrives home from work and I cook the dinner (for a change).  Then it’s time for a beer, some cannabis and some telly (not necessarily in that order).

I’m not feeling very motivated today.   The weather is damp and miserable, which doesn’t help.

The company that I tried to order some logs from yesterday have been in touch by email this morning, so I place my order online (as instructed) and keep my fingers crossed that they can deliver by the weekend.  The house feels chilly, so I decide to drive to the local garden centre in Overstrand and buy a couple of small bags of logs so that I can light the fire.  I would have also bought a sack of food for the dog, but they were out of stock – typical!

I light the fire as soon as I get back home, and then take the dog for her afternoon stroll.  I really need to check car insurance premiums, because my car insurance expires tomorrow.  My existing insurance company has quoted me a very reasonable price for renewal (which is most unusual these days) but I still want to make sure that I’m getting a good deal.  I spend the rest of the afternoon comparing insurance premiums online!

Back to relative normality today.  My wife leaves for work, and I consult (and add to) my list of things that I need to do.

I receive an email from the holiday company confirming the holiday in Egypt that I booked online last night (which is good!), and I follow some advice from a traveller’s review on Tripadvisor and book an Egyptian taxi firm for our airport transfers at a fraction of the cost quoted by the holiday company.

I (at long last) prepare an invoice (for tasks I performed at The Executor’s request) and email it to the solicitors who are Executors of my late next door neighbour’s will (that one has been on my list for at least 3 or 4 months – crossed off with a vengeance!).

I order some Calor gas cylinders (for my boiler) and then try to order some firewood (and fail – they are still closed until the end of the week).

I get the last of the logs in from the back garden, and light the woodburner – the last fire we’ll be having this week, I’m guessing!

Happy New Year – best wishes for an amazing 2018!

It’s New Year’s Day and my wife wants to make some progress with the house – I can’t say that I really blame her, we moved into the cottage almost 3 years ago (before I had finished renovating it) and I’ve not made very much progress since we moved in.  Today we are putting pictures up on the lounge walls (as well as one or two on the landing), and I have to say that it does make the place feel more homely.

I finish my holiday investigations and book a week in Egypt (Marsa Alam on the Red Sea coast) and we then sit and watch YouTube videos of the hotel and surroundings, and start getting excited about going there.

New Year’s Eve, and I spend most of my day looking at last-minute holiday bargains online.   My mum gave me £1,000 for my birthday last year so that we could use it to go on holiday, and we just haven’t got around to doing anything about it as yet.  We usually like to go somewhere warm for a week while the weather is cold in the UK – I don’t see the point in leaving behind the British summer, we might as well stay here and enjoy what little sunshine we do get!  By the time I have finished browsing, we have narrowed our choices down to one or two resorts around the Red Sea in Egypt, so now all I have to do is find the best possible deal!

We are supposed to be setting in the new year with my wife’s sons and families, so we head over to Hevingham when were have had our dinner.  By 10.30pm, most people have departed to put children to bed, and it feels like we are keeping people up!  My wife and I return to Southrepps at 11pm, open a couple of beers and see 2018 in together.

I spend the morning catching up on messages and emails, and posting links to my latest vlog on various Parkinson’s Disease forums.  Then my wife and I go to North Walsham to buy some nibbles for tomorrow evening, when we will be seeing in the new year with my wife’s eldest son and his fiancee (and our eldest granddaughter).  While we are out and about we drop in on my wife’s parents for a cup of tea and a chat.  Before we know it, the daylight is fading, and it’s completely dark by the time we get back to Southrepps.  My wife takes the dog for a walk while I do the usual business of getting the logs in, lighting the fire and vacuuming downstairs.

Once again, it is my tremor (left leg) that is most troublesome, but I’m wary of increasing the voltage on my neurostimulator in case it has a detrimental effect on my voice (which still isn’t great).  I opt for a little cannabis and a beer to relax me, and that does the trick.

It’s Friday, so it’s vlog day.  I get up late, but my schedule for the day is already in tatters.  My wife is at home this week, so my normal routine has gone out of the window.   I committed to going to the Dunelm sale on the outskirts of Norwich today, so I know that I won’t be able to get started on scripting my weekly vlog until we get back home.  My wife walks the dog while I do some research on the internet.  I continue my reading while my wife drives us to Dunelm, and then we wander around the store in search of bargains.  My wife buys some towels, and then we call at a local craft store to buy some wool (my wife is desperate to start knitting a blanket for our youngest granddaughter) before dropping in on her youngest son and wife on our way back to Southrepps.

The daylight is fading fast by the time we get home, so my wife takes the dog for her afternoon walk while I split logs, fill the log basket and light the fire.

I write a script for my video, and film myself while my wife sits on the other sofa pretending not to watch me.  I have quite a few retakes, but I’m soon loading the video onto my MacBook and editing it.  I manage to finish the edit, get it uploaded to my YouTube channel and publish it before the day is out…

Tremor in my left leg is my worst symptom today, but a little cannabis this evening moderates it.

It’s another day of taking it easy, and the day starts off with a nice lie-in.

I split a few logs, fill the log basket and light the fire while my wife does some laundry and cleans the bathroom and bedroom.

We decide to go to Cromer to get out of the house, get some fresh air, and get some groceries.  I feel incredibly lazy at the moment, and really don’t feel like doing very much at all.   My tremor (left leg) and dystonia (right foot) are playing me up today.  My voice is dreadful – high pitched, indistinct and slurred.  My right arm is still painful, so I guess it’s a Parkinson’s symptom rather than just a simple muscle strain – I’ve been hoping that it would get better (which it should have done by now if it were a strain), but I guess I have to accept that it is PD progression…

We return to Southrepps, chuck a couple more logs on the fire, and watch a film or two on the telly.

The festivities are over for another year, and my wife and I enjoy a significant lie-in to recover from the last couple of days.

It’s teeming with rain here this morning, and there’s also a strong wind blowing, so I don’t really feel much like going for a dog walk (and neither does the dog!).  Luckily, the rain eases a little at around 11.30am, and we have a very quick dash around the field before it resumes.

I light the woodburner and get a few more logs in from the back garden, and then we have a very lazy afternoon on the sofa in front of the fire.

Boxing Day, and were decide that we will go to see the grey seals and their pups at Horsey to get us all out of the house for some exercise and fresh air, so we get in the car and drive the 20 miles to Horsey, where we walk along the sand dunes at the top of the beach and take a few snaps of these strange looking creatures.   By the time we return to the car (about 45 minutes, I think) I’m feeling completely exhausted and I’m quite keen to get back home to recover.

We have a late Boxing Day lunch of leftover turkey, cheese and pickles, sausage rolls and quiche, followed by Christmas pudding with brandy butter, and then settle down in front of the telly to watch Dunkirk.

My wife and I return to Southrepps (with the dog), and have an early night.

Christmas Day – we both have an unsettled night and we are up and about reasonably early.  Breakfast and present opening are top of the agenda, and so we have a breakfast of bacon, sausage and beans amidst a sea of discarded wrapping paper.

My wife and I go back home to Southrepps to drop off our presents and have a bath, and then we drop in on her mum and dad to deliver their gifts.

We return to Hevingham to cook Christmas dinner for everyone (my wife does the cooking) and sit around drinking beer (I do the drinking).

I’m still sounding like a drunkard (even before I started drinking) and have a fair amount of tremor in my left leg.  To be honest, I find the slurred speech more debilitating than the tremor I am experiencing at the moment – I’m reluctant to get into conversation with anyone.  I can see how isolating Parkinson’s Disease can be…

Christmas Eve, and we are getting ready to be away from home for a few days.  My wife and I are staying with her youngest son and his wife for Christmas day and Boxing Day, and we have been invited to have dinner with her eldest son and his fiancee this evening, so we need to load the car up with all of our Christmas gifts (and the dog) and get ourselves over to Hevingham.

First things first…  We need to get some more beer to take with us, so I dash into Lidl in North Walsham and buy some bottles of Hobgoblin and Bishop’s Finger  while my wife busies herself wrapping presents and cooking Christmas food to take with us.

Presents wrapped, food cooked, car loaded we depart for Hevingham.

I have some last minute Christmas shopping to do, so I drive to North Walsham this morning (after walking the dog) and have a wander around the shops looking for some inspiration.  I don’t find any, so I decide to have a look in Cromer instead.

I’m swiftly losing the will to live because I can’t find anything suitable for the remaining gifts that I need to buy.  Everything that I want to buy is out of stock until the new year – that should teach me not to leave it to the last minute next time (but it won’t!).

This evening we are going for a (belated birthday) drink for my wife with her mum and dad in The Vernon Arms.  The pub is surprisingly empty for a Saturday night, so we manage to get the coveted armchair and sofa in front of the open fire.  My voice is really bad at the moment, at least to my ears.  I’m slurring like a drunkard before I’ve even had a sniff of my beer, and I’m sure my wife’s parents think I have been drinking all day.  Three pints of Abbot Ale and a small Dalwhinnie later, and I’m struggling to make myself understood (and, although I know that I’ve had some drink, I’m certainly not drunk).  The lateness of the hour doesn’t help, either – tiredness alone can adversely affect my voice, and it’s 1am before my wife’s parents leave us to get to bed.

It’s a day of disruption for me.  Friday is the day that I do my weekly vlog, but I usually have the house to myself.  This week my daughter is here, my wife is at home (having taken a couple of days off from working) and our eldest granddaughter is coming over for a few hours to prepare a Christmas surprise for her parents (with a little help from my wife).

I walk the dog while my wife is collecting our granddaughter from Hevingham, and then I sit on the sofa with my iPad and write my script while my daughter sits on the other sofa revising for her final year exams and my granddaughter trashes the place!

My wife returns our granddaughter to her mother just after lunchtime, and my daughter takes the dog for a good walk while I set up lights, teleprompter, camera and tripod, and film myself.  I manage to do what I need to do in record time, with only half a dozen re-takes, and by the time my wife and my daughter return, I have packed everything away again and am in the middle of editing the video.

My wife and daughter leave to do more shopping in North Walsham.  I stay at home, finish the video, upload it to my YouTube channel and publish it.

My daughter is leaving first thing in the morning, so we have an early Christmas present opening session before settling down to watch some telly.

I wax and polish my daughter’s car this morning, even though I’m aching from washing it yesterday.  It’s a major improvement, but it won’t stay bright and shiny for long – the roads are wet and muddy, so the car will be dirty again as soon as it’s driven.

We are scattering my mum’s ashes on Barton Broad this afternoon, so we head over to Stalham (driven by my daughter in her clean and shiny car) to meet my younger brother.  We motor down the River Ant in my brother’s boat – it’s very misty, and I’m already thinking that perhaps this is not such a good idea!  When we get onto Barton Broad, the mist is so thick that we have great difficulty navigating, but eventually my brother declares that we are in the right place.  We scatter the ashes on the water and lay flowers in memory of mum.  Then comes the tricky bit – finding our way back to the boatyard.  We become completely disorientated and don’t know which way we are going – if it weren’t for the GPS software on my smartphone then it’s quite likely that we would still be on Barton Broad, cruising round and round in ever decreasing circles.

We return to Southrepps in my daughter’s car (which is now significantly less clean and shiny than it was this morning), and my wife takes the dog for a walk while I get some logs in from the back garden and light the fire.

We eat out at The Vernon Arms this evening (a belated birthday treat for my wife) and enjoy a pint or two of Abbot Ale as well as an excellent meal.

It’s my wife’s birthday today, so she’s having the day off work and we’re going into Norwich to do some more Christmas shopping (with my daughter).  It’s horrendously busy in the city, and it’s not long before we have had enough and we head back to the tranquility of Southrepps.

I give my daughter’s car a quick wash, because it’s in a disgraceful state. We plan to wax and polish it tomorrow (it’s been a long time since it has seen any wax).

This evening we travel to have a birthday dinner for my wife at her eldest son’s house in Hevingham (prepared by her youngest son’s wife).  A chaotic evening of good food, a beer or two and a house full of my wife’s relatives ensues.

We get back home shortly after 9pm, have another beer and settle down for an episode of Suits on Netflix.

My daughter is arriving this evening to spend a few days with us before Christmas, and it’s my wife’s birthday tomorrow, so I need to go shopping in North Walsham this morning to get some more food and snacks and drink to offer to my daughter, and a birthday card for my wife.

I walk the dog (first things first!) and then drive to North Walsham to do my shopping.  The shops are busy with Christmas shoppers, which makes me feel quite claustrophobic, so I buy what I need as quickly as possible and head back home to Southrepps.

I wrap my wife’s birthday present, write her birthday card and then prepare a basket of logs for a fire this evening.

Considering that we had a long day yesterday, and I drove us home from Derbyshire in appalling conditions, I’m not feeling too bad today – tremor, dystonia, dyskinesia are all tolerable.  Even my mood isn’t too bad.

My wife and I are travelling to Derbyshire to visit my wife’s grandmother today, so we leave Southrepps at little after 8am, having guzzled some breakfast cereal and a couple of mugs of tea/coffee.  We drop the dog off at my wife’s youngest son’s house in Hevingham, collect daughter-in-law and youngest granddaughter and join a long line of traffic travelling up the A17.

My wife’s grandmother is pleased to see us (she only recently moved into a care home, and is enjoying a new lease of life) and we spend a pleasant couple of hours with her before taking our leave and heading back to Norfolk.

Traffic is heavy, the temperature is near freezing and it’s foggy – not ideal driving conditions.  By the time we get back home (dropping off daughter-in-law and granddaughter, and picking up the dog en-route) it’s getting on for 9pm and I’m shattered!

We unwind with a beer and an episode of Suits on Netflix before retiring to bed.

It’s flipping freezing here this morning!  The road outside our cottage is icy and the doors to my car are frozen shut.

We are going over to Hevingham this morning to give my wife’s eldest son’s fiancee her birthday presents, and then going on to Stalham to meet my younger brother on his boat, with a view to going down the River Ant to Barton Broad to scatter mum’s ashes.

So, we are up early (for a Sunday), tea/coffee drunk, dog walked and we are out of the house and on our way just before 10am.

Birthday gifts given to (and opened by) the birthday girl, we are getting ready to drive over to Stalham when my brother calls to tell me that the water in the boat yard (where he keeps his boat) has frozen over, so the scattering of ashes will have to wait for another day.

By the time we get back home it has started to rain (at least the temperature has risen sufficiently to prevent it falling as snow).  My wife sets about cleaning and tidying the house, so I walk the dog, split a few logs, fill the log basket and light the fire.

Left leg tremor has returned and my mood is on the low side again (and I’m feeling grumpy).  Time for a beer, some cannabis and an early night.

My wife and I are off to Hevingham this morning, to babysit our eldest granddaughter while her mum and dad go Christmas shopping, and then we have a little Christmas shopping of our own to do.

Before we leave for Hevingham, I take the dog for a quick walk, fill the log basket for this evening and then pop into Cromer to pick up my mum’s ashes from the funeral director – my younger brother and I plan to scatter her ashes over Barton Broad tomorrow afternoon (weather permitting).

My wife entertains our granddaughter while I surf the internet on my iPad, catching up on the latest news.  By the time we leave Hevingham to go to do our Christmas shopping it’s starting to get dark and I’m really not feeling like traipsing around the shops, but time is running out, so we go shopping.

We get back to Southrepps in the dark, and I light the fire while my wife prepares dinner.  Time for a beer, some cannabis and some Netflix.

Vlog day has arrived, once again, and I haven’t really given a thought to the subject of this week’s video.  I take the dog for an early walk, and then sit in the lounge on the sofa with my iPad and scan the internet, looking for inspiration.

Duly inspired, I rattle off a script, then film, edit and upload the finished video to my YouTube channel.

I achieve nothing else today, aside from a second dog walk, getting the logs in for the fire this evening (and lighting it), and vacuuming downstairs before my wife gets home from work.

Tremor is being a nuisance today, both in my left leg and in my right hand, which slows me down substantially.  Other than that, my only other symptom that bothers me is my mood – I’ve been feeling a little bit low and grumpy for the last 24 hours or so.  Hopefully I’ll be able to shake it off tomorrow.

Another day of trying to cross a few items off my “to do” list.  Another day of failing to achieve very much at all.  I do manage to cross one or two items off, but they aren’t the most important or pressing tasks.  Motivation (or lack thereof) is really, really frustrating!

I email Martha Orbach, the London based artist (who has just relocated to Glasgow) who is working on a project about Parkinson’s Disease and DBS – I promised her some input to her project when we met in London a few weeks ago, and I have now forgotten exactly what it is that I promised!

I defrost the freezer in the kitchen, placing bowls of boiling water inside to speed the process up, and then (impatience cutting in) use my wife’s hair dryer to blast it with warm air and really speed the process up.

I butcher my daughter’s defunct MacBook so that I can use some of the parts to repair and upgrade my MacBook – my computer is becoming very slow, the hard disk is getting extremely full and I want to make it as saleable as possible so that I can sell it in the New Year and buy something a little less antiquated (my MacBook is over 12 years old).

I also take my car around the block a couple of times – it has been well over a week since it has been used, and the security system has a habit of flattening the battery if the car isn’t used for a long period of time.

Other than that, I walk the dog (twice), bring in some logs for the woodburner and light the fire.

Southrepps has avoided the blanket of snow that seems to have brought most of the UK to a grinding halt.  The temperature this morning has risen sufficiently for the ice on the road outside our cottage to have thawed, although it’s still pretty chilly out there!

I take the dog for her morning walk, and then respond to a couple of messages that I have received on YouTube, one of which requires a detailed response that takes me quite a while to formulate.

I’m feeling the cold again, so warm myself up by splitting a few logs, filling the log basket and lighting the fire.

I review (and add to) my “to do” list, which is getting longer and longer – I’m starting to feel a little panicky because I have a lot of things to do before Christmas is upon us, and it’s already the 13th of December!

My wife’s younger brother takes us out to dinner at The Vernon Arms this evening, which is really kind of him.  We have food, a beer or three and a good chin-wag.

It was a cold night last night, and the road outside our house is a sheet of ice that remains frozen the whole day – I narrowly avoid falling flat on my backside this morning, when I slip whilst taking the dog for her walk.  I’m certainly a lot more cautious when I take her out for another walk this afternoon.

I make some progress with my neighbour’s safari holiday video, but it’s pretty slow going – I’m working on day 9 at the moment, and there’s still another 5 days to go!

It’s not exactly chilly in our little cottage, but walking the dog has chilled me to the bone, even though I was fully togged up for the weather – thick coat, woolly hat and a pair of gloves.  I make it a priority to split a few logs, fill the log basket and light the woodburner before lunchtime.

My tremor is a little calmer than it was yesterday, which is nice.  The only problematic symptom today is my voice, but since I only need to use it a couple of times (when I receive phone calls from my wife and my younger brother) then it really isn’t that much of a problem.  I count myself lucky!

It’s cold and grey outside this morning, but at least it isn’t raining.   It actually feels cold enough to snow, and the leaden sky appears to be full of snow clouds.  We do have a light shower of hailstones this afternoon, just as the dog and I are venturing out for our afternoon exercise, but it only lasts for a few minutes.

I stay indoors as much as possible, only venturing out to bring some logs in from the back garden so that I can light the fire.

I deal with a minor backlog of emails and social media messages, and start work on some of the paperwork associated with my mum’s recent demise (which I have been putting off).

I have a couple of videos that I need to work on this week (my neighbour’s safari holiday video, and my wife’s youngest son’s wedding video), so I start preparing to work on those – I feel I should finish the neighbour’s safari video first (he gave me a video camera in payment, and he has been waiting very quietly and patiently for some months now), but I really want to finish the wedding video because I know that the happy couple are eager to see it…

It’s forecast to snow here today, and it certainly feels cold enough.  It doesn’t snow, but it does rain.  Heavily.  All day.  My wife ventures out with the dog in the morning, and I take her out in the afternoon (the dog, not my wife) when the rain is much lighter.  Apart from that, we stay in the house, although I do dash out to the log store in the back garden to get an armful of logs for the woodburner.

We spend the day sorting stuff out, cleaning the house and putting up Christmas decorations.  I’m not really that fond of Christmas (I hate all of the commercialism – my wife refers to me as a “bah humbug”), but I must admit to looking forward to seeing our grandchildren enjoy it, particularly our eldest granddaughter who is now getting to an age where she knows what’s going on.

My tremor is still breaking through (quite strongly) in my left leg, so I decide to increase the voltage on my neurostimulator to see if it can be contained.  I increase the left voltage by 0.1v (now 2.4 volts on the left, and 2.75 volts on the right).  It calms it a little, but doesn’t obliterate it, so I add a little cannabis to the mix (which helps).

My immune system has managed to give the dreaded lurgy the heave-ho, and I’m feeling so much better today.

My wife disappears off to North Walsham to do some Christmas shopping, and I make a start on straightening out the lounge (which I have cluttered up with various paraphernalia over the last week).  I split a few logs, fill the log basket, prepare about a week’s worth of kindling and light the woodburner (it’s 2 degrees Celsius outside, and I’m feeling distinctly chilly!).

The rest of the afternoon is spent trying to configure an electronic gadget that I bought online a couple of months ago – gone are the days when I would have done something like this in a few minutes, and would have done so the moment I opened the package.  I used to think that the reason my father struggled with such things was that he was from a generation that was less familiar with electronic gadgetry – I’m beginning to think it’s more to do with advancing age and a lack of patience!  I give up the battle when my wife serves up our dinner – it can wait for another day.

I had considered giving my weekly vlog a miss this week, because I’m still feeling pretty lousy.  After having a couple of cups of tea and taking the dog for a walk, I manage to convince myself that I am feeling marginally better than I did yesterday, so I sit on the sofa with my iPad and start scripting the first subject that comes into my head which, appropriately, is DBS related.

While I go through the process of scripting, filming, editing and uploading my weekly vlog to my YouTube channel, I sustain myself with a couple of slices of dry white toast and another cup of tea, and feel a little more human. I must be getting better, because I couldn’t even face dry white toast yesterday.

It’s a chilly day in Southrepps, so I split a few logs, fill the log basket and light the woodburner.  It feels a lot cosier in the cottage when the fire is lit!

Okay, I’ve had enough of feeling ill now.  I expected to be feeling just a little more human today, but I’m actually feeling even worse.  I had decided not to have anything to eat or drink (other than water) last night, but then my wife arrived home with some chicken soup and two bottles of Lucozade, so my resolve weakened.  This morning I’m paying the price, because I feel as if someone has given me a good kick in the stomach.  Liquids only today, I think.

It’s chucking it down with rain this morning – luckily the dog doesn’t want to go out in the wet, so we wait for a break in the weather before venturing out just after 11am.

I manage to tackle a few of the tasks on my list, the most important one being “buy birthday present for wife”, so that’s good!  My other achievements of the day?  Well, I get some logs in for the fire this evening, vacuum downstairs and light the woodburner.  Considering how I’m feeling, that’s not a bad list…

Today my wife and I are babysitting our eldest granddaughter, so we decide to take her to Stompers (a soft play area) in North Walsham, to use up some of her (seemingly) boundless energy.

I’m still suffering from the dreaded lurgy and am feeling extremely unwell, so it’s with a large serving of reluctance that I leave the house at all.  Once we are there, my wife entertains our granddaughter while I sit quietly, reading The Metro online.

I have a splitting headache, so we drop into Waitrose on the way back to Southrepps and pick up some more paracetamol.

Mid-afternoon, my wife returns our granddaughter to Hevingham while I light the fire, bring in some more logs, walk the dog, have a quick tidy around and then slump on the sofa (again).

My tremor seems to be aggravated by the lurgy, and is driving me mad at the moment.  I want to self-medicate with some cannabis but I’m feeling exceptionally nauseous today, so I really don’t want to risk doing anything that’s may aggravate that.  I haven’t been able to face food since breakfast time (when I forced down a couple of buttered crumpets) and I’ve only managed a glass of water since my morning cups of tea.  It’s probably wisest to refrain from eating and drinking this evening, and just hope I’m feeling better tomorrow.

Today feels like a repeat of yesterday.  The dreaded lurgy is still in control, and I’m feeling like death warmed-up, so the prospects of my actually doing anything useful today are virtually nil.

My son calls me on FaceTime from Australia (where he is currently on his travels) wanting me to have a look at his blog, Wandering Yokel, which he is using to catalogue his travels over the next year or so.  We review his efforts and have a chin wag about his plans for the next few weeks.

I am feeling cold and miserable, so decide to cheer myself up by lighting the fire and toasting myself next to it.  I take the log basket outside to fill it, only to find that my neatly stacked pile of logs has toppled over, so I spend the next 45 minutes picking them up and re-stacking them.  By the time I have done this, I’m so hot and bothered that I don’t need to light the fire.

I cool down by walking the dog, and light the woodburner when we return.

Our eldest granddaughter is coming to stay the night tonight, so I vacuum downstairs, mop the kitchen/dining room floor, and construct our large child-proof fireguard before my wife arrives home with her.

I’m feeling pretty rough this morning – the dreaded lurgy has tightened its grip, so I spend much of the day slumped on the sofa, armed with a packet of Strepsils, some paracetamol and a big box of tissues.

I have a list of things to do this week, and I had every intention of starting to work through the list today, but as the day progresses it becomes more and more obvious that I’m not going to do so.

I walk the dog (twice) and then (spurred on by the fact that I’m feeling the cold) I split a load of kindling and a basket of logs.   I light the fire and vacuum downstairs, and return to the sofa feeling annoyed with myself (for not doing anything on my list) and pretty low (but a little warmer).

Left leg tremor has raised its ugly head again, presumably because I’m feeling under the weather.  The pain in my right arm is also playing me up, and my tinnitus is significantly louder than usual.  I self medicate with some cannabis oil to calm the tremor, moderate the pain in my arm and to help my mood, which seems to be getting darker by the minute.

We have had a very lazy Sunday (especially me).   This morning we didn’t exactly rush to get out of bed (9.30am) and then I just sat drinking tea while my wife took the dog for her morning walk.  I had a bit of a disturbed night, and woke up at a shade after 4am with a terribly sore throat. I eventually got back to sleep around 6am having had a gargle with mouthwash to numb the pain.

We had our Sunday lunch over at The Vernon Arms for a change, and I’m glad to say that I was feeling much better by the time we crossed the road to the pub.  My wife’s youngest son and his wife (and our youngest granddaughter) joined us for a dessert, which was a nice surprise.

By the time we return home it’s gone 4pm, so I take the dog for a stumble around in the dark, before carrying in a few logs from the back garden and lighting the fire.  I’m feeling weak and feeble and full of the dreaded lurgy, so it’s an early night for me!

I have a good lie-in this morning, and it’s almost 11am by the time I drag myself out of bed.

I’m suffering with a bad back today, and I have quite a large portion of sciatic pain in my left hip and right leg.  It was giving me some discomfort yesterday, but today it is causing me to move very slowly and carefully.  I think it’s probably a result of overdoing things when splitting logs and carrying them into the house – I’ll certainly be a little more careful when I do them today!

My wife and I go out to North Walsham to do a little bit of Christmas shopping and to see if we can find a small Christmas tree to go in our small cottage (we failed).  I end up feeling exhausted after an embarrassingly short period of time, so we head back home.

My wife takes the dog for her afternoon walk while I split few logs, fill the log basket (carefully) and light the fire.  A little cannabis relaxes me and takes the edge off my discomfort.

I have my weekly vlog to do today.  I had already selected a subject, but changed my mind at the last minute, so I haven’t given my new topic any thought at all, let alone done any research.  I spend the entire morning (and part of the afternoon) researching sham treatments for Parkinson’s.  I’m ready to film myself just after 1.30pm, which I accomplish without too many takes, and then take the dog for her afternoon walk while the video is transferring to my MacBook.

I have the video edited and uploading to my YouTube channel just after 4pm, and hastily split some logs and fill the log basket before it gets too dark to see what I’m doing.  A quick whizz around with the vacuum cleaner, and I’m done for the day.

It’s cold and wet, snowing and sleeting in Southrepps this morning.  The dog isn’t keen on going out, and neither am I, but needs must!   It’s a much briefer walk than is usual.

I broke the suction hose on our vacuum cleaner last week, so I spend the morning searching for a replacement part (the original part has been discontinued by the manufacturer).  I finally find a pattern part that looks like it’ll fit, and order it.

I email the Parkinson’s nurse, asking for an appointment – I feel the need for some physiotherapy to see if it can improve my balance and mobility, and I’m also still suffering motivation problems and would like to see if she can offer any solutions.   I hope she actually replies to my email this time – I never even received an acknowledgement when I last emailed her at the end of August.

I decide to give the woodburner a clean, so I empty the ash and clean the windows in the stove doors with some oven cleaner.  Then I split some logs, fill the log basket and light the fire.  Finally, I vacuum up all of the mess I made while cleaning the woodburner, holding the broken suction hose together whilst I do so.

The dog is due for her afternoon walk, and hailstones are falling again.  We have another brief excursion, returning home damp and cold.

My arm is still painful, although it’s not as bad as it has been for the last couple of days.  Tremor and dyskinesia are also reduced.   My voice is the troublesome symptom today, and I sound like a slurring drunk (to my ears).

My wife and I are babysitting our eldest granddaughter today, so my wife disappears off to Hevingham to collect her whilst I drink some tea, walk the dog and construct the huge child-proof fireguard around the woodburner.

We take her to Stompers in North Walsham (a soft play area) both to entertain her and to wear her out.  I sit and watch, while my wife runs around after her – most entertaining!

My right arm is giving me some discomfort at the moment.  I thought that it was due to sleeping awkwardly (at first), but now I’m thinking that it could be Parkinson’s related because the pain in my arm moves around between shoulder and elbow and doesn’t seem to be due to pressure on the arm or when I’m using the muscles – it seems to be random.  It was definitely eased by the cannabis I vaped last night, so at least I know what to do when it’s bothering me.  Other than that, the only symptoms that are bothering me are tremor in my left leg and some dyskinesia in my right arm, so I’m in reasonable shape at the moment.

My wife returns our granddaughter while I split some logs, fill the log basket, light the fire, deconstruct the fire guard and take the dog for her afternoon walk.

I’m feeling tired, and plan on another early night.

I have a bit of a backlog to attend to.  I haven’t really been passing much attention to my emails and social media messages for the last few weeks, so I spend this morning responding to them (after my usual cups of tea, nutriblast and dog walk).

It’s on the chilly side today, and the cars parked on the street are sparkling white with frost.  I don’t usually feel the need to light the fire during the day (at least, not before lunchtime) but I’m feeling the cold today, so I light the woodburner and then split a basket full of logs and bring them indoors.  While I’m feeling energetic, I vacuum downstairs and take the dog for another stroll around the field by the village hall.

I have been trying to do all of the little tasks that distract me from editing the wedding video, because I really want to make a start on it today.   It’s dark outside now, and I’m just about to start editing, so I have achieved my goal (just).

I’m feeling a little less fatigued than I was yesterday, but it soon becomes evident that my energy reserves are very low.  My wife and I met with the newlyweds this morning in Hoveton to have brunch in the McDonald’s there (my wife took the morning off work because she is full of cold and not feeling too sharp).  While were are out, we visit a local hardware store so that my wife can buy some allen keys that she needs for work, and we have a quick look around the local department store where my wife purchases some shoes.  By the time we leave the department store, I’ve had enough – all I want to do is sit down somewhere warm and comfortable to recover.

We return to Southrepps – my wife disappears off to work (somewhat revived by her brunch) while I walk the dog, split some logs and fill the log basket, vacuum downstairs and then light the woodburner.  I then collapse onto the sofa to recharge my batteries.

I intended to make a start on editing all of the video footage that I took at the wedding and reception, but the day has passed me by – tomorrow, perhaps?

Left leg tremor is bothersome today, probably because I’m feeling so knackered.  Dystonia and dyskinesia are less of a problem, which is weird – usually dystonia goes hand-in-hand with tremor.  Muscular weakness is definitely an issue – time for some cannabis to ease the discomfort.

Today is the first day of recuperation.  I’m recuperating from a very late night last night, but also from an extremely stressful couple of weeks.  I’m not feeling inclined to do very much right now.

My wife takes the dog for her morning walk, and then we drive out to Taverham to return the cake stands that we hired for the wedding reception last night.  We drop in on the newlyweds on our way back home, and then I split a few logs, fill the log basket and light the woodburner.

We settle down in front of the telly and finish watching the final season of Dexter on Netflix.  Beer and cannabis help me to relax, and it’s not too long before we are heading off to bed.

My wife’s youngest son and his new wife are having their wedding reception at the village hall in Hevingham this evening, so my wife and I leave Southrepps just after 9.30am to help them decorate the hall, lay out the tables, set up the wedding cake, etc.

As it turns out, my wife’s role is to look after and entertain our 2 grandchildren (at which she excels) until everything is done apart from constructing the wedding cake (she doesn’t trust anyone else to do this, and I can’t say that I blame her – she invested a great deal of time, money and effort in baking three tiers of fruit cake, and then applying marzipan, icing and decorating it with hand made sugar-paste roses).  My role is mainly to do with hanging decorations where other people cannot easily reach (I am 6’2″ tall).

It’s getting dark by the time we get back to Southrepps. I take the dog for a walk and then we have a bite to eat and get ready to go out for the evening.

The reception is a great success (which isn’t always the case when you mix alcohol with large number of people in a confined space).  My wife and I stay behind to help clear up afterwards, and it is after 2.30am by the time we get home.  I’m absolutely, completely and thoroughly worn out, and it’s all I can do to get myself up the stairs and into bed.

I have an appointment at the dental hospital this morning, to let a dental surgeon have a look at a tooth that I broke whilst on holiday a year ago.  My own dentist was originally going to extract the broken stump, but I think he chickened out for couple of reasons.  Firstly, he thought that he would struggle to extract it cleanly because the roots of the tooth were very curved.  Secondly, I think he was a little nervous of my DBS – I think the letter that the DBS nurse at the NHNN sent to him, listing all of the precautions that he should take, made him take the easy option – refer me to the dental hospital, and let them do it!

I leave the house at 9.15 (allowing an hour to drive the 20 miles the the hospital) and arrive a couple of minutes late for my appointment (oops!). The dental surgeon has a five minute chat with me, spends 2 minutes looking at the tooth in question and sends me away to have an x-ray. I leave the hospital (who promise to call me with an appointment sometime in the next 3 months), fill the car with fuel, and drive back to Southrepps.

I wrote some of the script for my weekly vlog while I was sitting in the waiting room at the hospital, so it doesn’t take me too long to finish it.  My voice is a little indistinct (to my ears) so I change my neurostimulator settings over to group “B” (the latest program), which does make my voice sound a bit better.  I film, edit and upload my video to my YouTube channel before my wife gets home.

I’m feeling a lot of muscular tension and dystonia this afternoon, so I self-medicate with some cannabis, which makes things much more bearable.

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I need to recharge my batteries a little.  I’m feeling drained after the events of the last few weeks.  Consequently, I’m lounging around and not doing a great deal today.

My wife takes the dog for her morning walk, and then sets about making some edible roses with which to decorate her son and daughter-in-law’s wedding cake.  I spectate.

I manage to split as few logs, bring in some kindling from the garden shed and fill the log basket in preparation for a fire this evening.  I take the dog for her afternoon walk, and them we drive into Cromer to meet up with my wife’s youngest son and his new wife (and our youngest granddaughter, of course).  We have coffee and a cake in Morrison’s, and then return to Southrepps.

I light the woodburner and my wife bungs a couple of ready meals in the oven for our dinner.

My arm muscles are stiff and weak, and muscular tension is also making me feel pretty uncomfortable, so I decide to self-medicate with some cannabis.  Tremor (although present in my left leg) isn’t troubling me too much at the moment, neither is dystonia or dyskinesia – perhaps I’m just getting used to them…

Today is the wedding day of my wife’s youngest son and his fiancee, so this morning I decorate my car with some white ribbon, and set off to Hevingham to pick up the Groom and his Best Man to convey them (in style) to Dereham registry office.

We arrive at the registry office in plenty of time, and I find that I have been nominated as official videographer, by virtue of the fact that I have brought my video camera and tripod with me!  I liaise with the registrar, and set up my tripod and camera ready to record the ceremony.

The Bride arrives on the arm of her grandfather, and the wedding commences.

All goes smoothly, and 30 minutes later we exit the registry office into bright sunshine.  We are invited to the Bride’s grandfather’s house (in nearby Shipdham) for some celebratory glasses of bubbly and a bite to eat, and take plenty of photos (in the garden) of the happy couple and their guests.

We return home to Southrepps to tend to the dog and to get changed – we are all going to the Buckinghamshire Arms in Blickling for a meal this evening.

My wife and I keep ourselves busy today.   Yesterday, a funeral; tomorrow, a wedding.

My wife’s youngest son and his fiancee are getting married in Dereham tomorrow.  My wife has made their wedding cake (three tiers), and has covered it in marzipan already.  Today she is covering it in icing in preparation for decorating it – the wedding reception is not until Saturday evening, so she has a few days in which to get it right!

I am driving the groom and best man to the ceremony, so I need to make sure that my car is pristine.  I spend the day cleaning cars – firstly my wife’s, and then mine.

My wife goes shopping for (amongst other things) some white ribbon to decorate the cars with.  I fill the log basket, light the woodburner and vacuum downstairs.  I’m now exhausted, my back is aching and I’m feeling fragile – must be time for a beer and some cannabis…

A

The most difficult of days has dawned.

My wife and I take the flowers (for mum’s coffin) to the funeral directors’ in Cromer.

I print off copies of the eulogy, the poems and the extract from Under Milk Wood.

My younger brother and I deliver flowers to The Vernon Arms, where the wake is to be held.

My daughter arrives.

My wife collects my niece from Cromer station.

Relatives arrive from far and wide (Bristol, Yorkshire, Edinburgh, Australia).

The coffin arrives.  The service begins.

One if the most emotional hours of my life follows.  The service is exactly what mum would have wanted, and ends on a humorous note with a reading of one of Pam Ayres‘ poems (“Oh, I Wish I’d Looked After My Teeth“).

The wake is a happier occasion, the crushing grief of the funeral lifted by good food and beer.

At last, the day is over.  I feel physically and emotionally drained.

Final preparations for mum’s funeral tomorrow.  Additionally, I have committed to helping my wife’s eldest son to write his Best Man’s speech for her youngest son’s wedding on Wednesday this week.

I arrange to collect the flowers for the top of mum’s coffin this afternoon, my wife binds the last few Order of Service booklets, I make further changes to the eulogy and email the (hopefully final) version to my nephew and the lady who is officiating at the service.

My wife and I spend the evening at her eldest son’s house in Hevingham, being entertained by our eldest granddaughter and writing a very amusing Best Man’s speech (with a little help from the internet).

Today I want to finish writing the eulogy for my mum’s funeral, and also print and bind the Order of Service. Before I can do any printing, I need to get some card to print on, so my wife and I head off to Taverham to buy some.

30 copies of the Order of Service, 2 pieces of A4 card per booklet, printed both sides, means 120 pages to print.  It takes far longer than I anticipate, especially because the card is borderline on being too thick for the printer, so I end up feeding each page through by hand.  My wife makes an excellent job of binding the booklets, hand stitching them together.

With that job done, I concentrate on finishing the eulogy.  I email mum’s sister to get some more information on their childhood, and then rewrite sections of it – I originally wrote the eulogy from my perspective, because I intended to read it.  I have now realised that there’s absolutely no way that I can read it, so one of my nephews has volunteered to do so, and I need it to make sense when he reads it from his perspective!

I finish writing at a shade before midnight, and email copies to my nephew and the lady who will be officiating at the ceremony.

I need to finish the Order Of Service today – my elder brother (who is preparing the Order of Service for me to print and bind) is going to be away for the weekend after this afternoon, so I need to make sure it is absolutely correct before he disappears.   There is a revised copy sitting in my inbox this morning, which looks good, bit I’m unhappy with the photo of mum on the cover – it lets the rest of it down, so I set about finding a decent replacement.  My younger brother manages to find a few more photos that he took on his phone, and one of those looks a likely candidate, so I email it to my elder brother so that he can replace the cover photo.

While I’m waiting to receive an updated Order of Service, I script, film and edit my weekly vlog.  I’m uploading it to my YouTube channel by the time my elder brother sends me the revised document.  I proof-read it for spelling errors and typos, and print a copy to ensure it looks okay (which it does).  Another job done and ticked off the list.

The first draft of the Order of Service from my elder brother is sitting in my inbox this morning, so my first task of the day is to check it over.  I make some notes about the changes that are required and email them to my brother so that he will see them when he gets up (he’s on Nova Scotia time), and then take the dog for her morning walk before driving to North Walsham to buy some card on which to print the Order of Service.  Unfortunately, the stationery store in North Walsham has very limited stock, and doesn’t have what I’m looking for, so I’ll have to go further afield (tomorrow).

I received an email from the lady who is officiating at mum’s funeral with details for the Order of Service, so I review them and send copies to both of my brothers (for approval).

I deal with members of the family who had agreed to read some poems at the service, but have now decided that they will be unable to do so (having had unsuccessful private rehearsals), and with those who have volunteered to fill their shoes.

I walk the dog (again) and vacuum downstairs before getting stuck back into organising mum’s funeral.  It’s now almost midnight, and I have just sent the final changes to the Order of Service to my elder brother.  Time for bed!

A better day today, in that I manage to keep my emotions in check.  I start off by creating a music CD for my wife’s youngest son and his fiancee, to be played at their wedding ceremony next Wednesday.  It was preying on my mind a little, because I’m so busy making all the arrangements for my mum’s funeral next Monday, so I’m really glad that it’s done and ticked off my list of things to do!

I send the first draft of the eulogy that I have written to the lady who is officiating at mum’s funeral, along with the poems that we have chosen and a passage from “Under Milk Wood” that my elder brother suggested. I also email my elder brother an example of an “order of service” to look at – he’s a graphic designer and has offered to design the order of service for me to print out.

I speak to a florist and order a beautiful sheaf of white lilies and roses for the top of mum’s coffin.

I take a break, and walk around a very wet and muddy field with the dog, and then split a few logs, fill the log basket and light the woodburner because I’m feeling chilly (even though it’s really not that cold).

I pop over the road to The Vernon Arms to confirm the menu and number of guests for the wake on Monday afternoon, and then I sit down and try to write out the content of the order of service so that I can send my brother something to be going on with by the time we go to bed (he’s in Nova Scotia, so several hours behind the UK).

My voice is dreadful at the moment – husky, slurred and strangling my words.  My tremor (left leg) is also driving me mad, and dystonia (right foot) is also putting in an appearance.   It’s likely that this is as consequence of the stress of the last couple of weeks, rather than any failure of my DBS to control my symptoms, so I don’t fiddle with the settings just now.  I rely on a little cannabis to help me out (which it does).

Today I am going to attempt to write the eulogy for my mum’s funeral, and also select a couple of poems to be read out at the service.   I think that this is the hardest thing that I have had to do so far.   When I start writing the eulogy, the fact that she is no longer with us comes crashing home, and selecting the poems makes it even worse.  I end up sitting on the sofa in floods of tears, sobbing my heart out while the dog looks at me questioningly.

After a while I manage to pull myself together and take the dog for a walk.  I bump into one of our neighbours who sees that I’m distressed and invites me in for cup of tea and a chat, which does me the world of good.

This evening we have dinner in Hevingham with my wife’s family – it’s her youngest son’s fiancee’s birthday today.  This does a good job of taking my mind off things, and by the time we leave there to return home, I’m in a much better frame of mind.

I’m going over to my younger brother’s house in Stalham today, to go through photos of mum and choose one or two to print on the order of service, and also to select some music for the service.  It’s not as straightforward as you might think…  Mum was a big Tom Jones fan, but the two most popular songs of his are about a murder (Delilah) and a prisoner on death row (Green, Green Grass Of Home), so not exactly appropriate.  After much debate and playing of YouTube videos, we settle on Matt Monro – “On Days Like These” for the start of the service, Tom Jones – “Funny, Familiar, Forgotten Feelings” for the middle, and Louis Armstrong – “What A Wonderful World” for the end.  I return to Southrepps with a box full of my mum’s photographs to go through – we were unable to agree on which photos to use, so I’m just going to use my judgement.

Daylight is fading fast when I get home, so I dash out with the dog before it gets too dark, then bring in a basket of logs and light the woodburner.

Today my brother and I have a meeting with the lady who will be officiating at mum’s funeral.  So, after we have done all of the usual Sunday morning things, we drive over to my brother’s house in Stalham.   The meeting goes really well, and the lady gives us some excellent pointers for writing the eulogy, which I am going to do over the next couple of days.  I have a busy week ahead of me, because I have volunteered not only to write the eulogy, but also to design and print the orders of service, and to sort out the flowers to go on top of the coffin.

When we return home to Southrepps, I fill the log basket and light the woodburner while my wife walks the dog, and then send emails and text messages to various family members asking them for their memories of mum for inclusion in the eulogy.

My tremor, which had been fairly well controlled this week, is breaking through in my left leg a little more strongly today, so I self-medicate with some high THC cannabis oil that I was sent last week – very effective!  I will try turning my DBS off (when I get a few hours to spare) and see if it is as effective as vaping the plant itself.

I’m going to pick my car up from East Bilney Coachworks this morning, so my wife and I are going to combine this task with a shopping trip to Norwich – my wife needs to buy herself an outfit for her youngest son’s wedding on 22nd November, and I need to buy myself a suit for my mother’s funeral that can also be worn to the wedding (provided I manage not to spill any food or drink over it at the funeral/wake).

The car looks fine, and the new paintwork matches the old, so I was worried unnecessarily.  It’s good to hand the little courtesy car back and fire up my Porsche – I’ve missed it!

We drive into the city centre, get parked and go shopping.   My wife finds what she wants and I find a suit that my wife likes (which is very important) in double-quick time, and so we move on to the cake decoration warehouse, where my wife purchases cake boards, cake boxes and ribbon necessary for decorating (and keeping safe) the wedding cake that she is making for her son’s wedding.

We are home just as it its getting dark, and my wife walks the dog while I bring some logs in and light the woodburner.

I’m feeling completely knackered, so I slump on the sofa while my wife prepares dinner.  I do manage to summon up enough energy to pop open a couple of bottles of beer!  It’s my son’s birthday today – Happy 20th Birthday, Son!  I raise my glass to him – any excuse, eh?

I receive a phone call from East Bilney Coachworks to tell me that my car is ready to be collected.  In feeling slightly nervous about it because last time they did some paintwork on my car, they got the colour horribly wrong and ended up having to do the job again and again until they got it right.  They have had the car for almost 2 weeks now (for a job that shouldn’t have taken more than about 3 days) which would suggest they have been struggling to match the paint colour again…  I won’t be able to go and fetch it until late this afternoon (and then the daylight will be fading) so I arrange to pick it up tomorrow morning instead.

After walking the dog this morning, I pop into The Vernon Arms to talk to the landlord about arranging a buffet for my mum’s wake on 20th November.

That done, I get to work on my weekly vlog, which this week is about the stigma attached to the use of cannabis as a medicine, and how my mum never let on to me that she knew I used it.   I write a script, film myself (with minimal re-takes, for a change), edit it and upload it to my YouTube channel (taking a break to walk the dog again, and to light the woodburner – its definitely getting a bit chilly now) before my wife gets home from work.

After dinner I pop open a beer, self medicate with a little cannabis and settle down in front of the telly to watch an episode of Dexter on Netflix.

Today is spent dealing with paperwork relating to my mum’s passing on Monday, and arranging her funeral.

So, after a quick walk around the village hall playing field with the dog, I head over to Stalham to pick my younger brother up, and we drive to North Walsham to the registrar’s office to register mum’s death.  Then we are off to Cromer to complete the necessary paperwork at the funeral directors’ office.  Finally we pay a visit to the crematorium, just so that my brother can be reassured that it’s a fitting place for mum’s final journey.

I drop my brother off in Stalham and return to Southrepps just in time to walk the dog before it’s completely dark.

My wife’s two sons, their fiancees and children pay us a visit this evening, armed with bags of fish and chips from the local chippy in Roughton.