Tom has asked me to let you all know that he is under the weather at the moment and not able to do his blog. He hasn't been well for over a week and has been feeling very nauseous. This week it got worse and a visit to the doctor didn't really throw any light on the cause, but he has now got anti sickness tablets which have eased the symptoms. I'm now happy to say we appear to have discovered the cause of the sickeness, vertigo. If Tom moves his head quickly or doesn't walk slowly, he is very di
A German doctor while based in England became very disillusioned with the British class system. It annoyed him so much, that on one occasion he uncoupled the first class carriages from the rear of a train in Crew station. The train pulled away leaving the first class passengers sitting on an engineless train in Crew station for several hours, whilst the second class passengers rattled on towards their destination, probably oblivious to what the doctor had done.
When I was a kid travelling b
I have just enjoyed a poached egg on toast for breakfast. I am glad Barbara was not watching any celebrity chef programmes last night on the TV; otherwise I probably would not have enjoyed my breakfast. In my opinion, celebrity chefs are probably very good at preparing gourmet food. However, I don’t think they have the faintest idea how to cook basic stuff. A few weeks ago, I woke up to a bacon butty for breakfast. Unfortunately one of these celebrity chefs had been on the telly the night before
Good morning people. Firstly I am sorry for going AWOL for the last few days. I was not too good on Thursday and Friday so I’m afraid the blog just didn’t happen. I have been wondering for sometime now about toning the blog down from a daily rant to a weekly one. I guess everything runs its course, and it seems to me that maybe it is now time to press the keys once a week. I will stumble on a daily basis for the next week or so and after that who knows.
Well, we had a pleasant little surpris
Like everyone else on the Island, I am disappointed this morning that our young cyclist Mark Cavendish did not win a medal this morning. Never mind, he is a young fella and his time will come again, of that I am certain. It reminded me of my own cycling triumphs many years ago. I was never going to win an Olympic gold medal, or any other medal for that matter. At the blind school in Liverpool we had bicycles to play with. Yes, we were able to take a bike and ride around the playground on them.
Grocer Jack was one of the few people not upset by the supermarket that had just set-up on the outskirts of the village. On the opening day he took a gander over to check it out. On spotting a large sign at the entrance to the super market that was advertising, "Bacon two shillings a pound," he immediately turned round and headed back to his shop. He wasted no time in putting up a sign advertising, "Bacon one and sixpence a pound." The next day the supermarket changed its sign to read, "Bacon on
Its 9.55 and at present it is not raining, however, the forecast indicated that very soon, it will be pelting down. We are told to expect at least an inch of rain today. When I was a youngster, my elders always used to tell me to make sure I saved a few bob for a rainy day. Well I would have had to amassed a considerable fortune to see me through this lot. When I worked at the bank, I got lots of advice on pension schemes and investment plans for when I grew older. Well we all know what happened
Yesterday, Barbara had a dentist’s appointment in Ramsey. After a few bad experiences in Port Erin, Barbara returned to the dentist we had in Ramsey 12 years ago, Mr Jones. She has been with him now for about 2 years. I have not been to a dentist for over 5 years so I guess I don’t have one at all at present. Anyway we set off for the dentist and stopped off at the Point of Ayre to let Skipper have an hour or so bouncing about out there. I have been having a bit of trouble with toothache now for
I have to make an appointment with a dentist later. I have never liked dentists, in fact I have always thought that if ‘push came to shove’, I could quite easily get by without teeth. Well at least real ones. False teeth would suit me fine. If I can manage the last 50 years or so with a pair of false eyes, then a set of false teeth would or should be a doddle. Well, like I say, I have never been very fond of trips to the dentist but this time it will be a little different. After the events of th
Good morning folks, well it's a lovely bright sunny day. What a bitch! My medical people tell me I must avoid direct sunlight and apply 50 factor sun cream at all times. I have spent the last few days wittering on about the blessed rain and now I want it back again. I am between a rock and a hard place. I either go out and get soggy or stay in because it's too sunny. Life could be so much worse couldn't it! What if I couldn't get out of bed each morning until help arrived! At least I have a choi
Once again I woke up to a sky full of teeming rain. I turned on the radio to listen to Manx Radio for the 7 a.m. news and to catch Eric Kelly with the 'Thought for the day' which comes on just before the news. Today he said that half a million people in this world die each year because they have no fresh water. What is God playing at, I have to ask myself! Why is he/she sending us more water than we can cope with, and none at all to others who desperately need it? For me, the situation just rein
Today there is a fresh wind from the southwest. The forecast says the rain is going to continue and will become heavy again. I don’t know about global warming, but I sure am learning a lot about global soaking. Why have we got all the money and the third world have none! Why have we far too much water and the third world have none! I heard someone on the radio this morning on thought for the day saying. If you have food in your fridge, a roof over your head, and some money in the bank, then you
My wife Barbara is terrified of flying and our Border Collie, Skipper, hates aeroplanes with a passion. Living very close to the airport means that Skipper has plenty of opportunity to vent his anger at the flying intruders to his space. Each plane is chased out of Poulson Park or from the meadow, and every time he returns from chasing a plane from the area, he counts it as another successful mission. He now regards himself as having a 100 % success rate at chasing aeroplanes from the park, the
I’m just about to have breakfast. Well it’s a good job I’m not hungry. I have been out in the fields to collect my breakfast and the two mushrooms I picked are at this minute frying in the pan. Well at least Skipper enjoyed himself, both he and I have had a good walk, and unlike golf, mushrooming does not ruin a good walk. I am never disappointed if I return from mushrooming with only a couple of mushrooms or even nothing at all. Neither I am I disappointed when I return from fishing with only o
Today the rain is teeming; as I sit here I can hear the swish of the cars passing below my window on the soaking wet roads. It has rained every day this week and I am really grateful to whoever it is that organizes the weather. The sun has been a real headache for me lately. I have had to restrict my movements and apply really strong sun cream as direct sunlight stimulates my radiation. If this glorious rain remains with us, I can be out and about all day. It is much more pleasant to be wet than
I have been having some problems these last few days. It has felt as if I have been going backwards. My skin started to peel and dry up again. My eyes began to run again, and all the little devils that plagued me during radiotherapy seem to reappear. Of course I have been out in the sun walking Skipper and now I discover that I am not suppose to venture out in sunlight without some protection Of course I still use the moisturizing creams, but it seems that the cream was not enough. I am now told
Does anything taste as nice as a mackerel caught on your own rod, brought ashore in your own boat, and then within two hours of landing fried and served up for breakfast. Well maybe. On Sunday morning we went out to Langness walking with Skipper and whilst out there, we picked a bag of mushrooms. Yes, I think the taste of wild mushrooms fried up and served with bacon and eggs probably taste as good as fresh mackerel. I woke up feeling good on Sunday. I have not been so clever these last few days
Hi folks, I want to begin today by saying a big thank you to Bluemonday. I hope bluemonday reads the blog. If he doesn't then I will have to find some other way of saying thank you to him. Last night I wasted a couple of hours in a debate as to whether Jaffa cakes were biscuits or cakes. This morning I extended the debate to the forum, and Bluemonday gave me a much defined definition of whether the Jaffa is a cake or biscuit. It seems the court decided back in 1991 that the makers of Jaffa cakes
So here we are on the last day of July. It’s a sort of special day for me. Today for the first time since I returned from Clatterbridge, I walked Skipper around the park alone. Yes it was and still is raining, but at least I really do feel now that things just might be starting to get back to normal, whatever normal is.
My friend David from across the road called the other night to tell me that he had booked a cruise on the Queen Mary for next September. He and his wife and a couple of frie
Its almost 9 a.m. and the rain is absolutely pouring down. I have just returned from Ronaldsway Halt. It was difficult to know whether I was actually trudging through the river or on the path. It always seems to be pouring rain every time a cruise ship visits Douglas. Today the cruise ship Black Prince will arrive at lunchtime. If anyone out there wants to make a quick buck today, then get yourself down to Mouchers market and buy all the umbrellas you can find and locate yourself in the sea term
Good morning folks, well I promised to explain the pig in the ambulance story, apologies to those of you who have read my book. For a number of years Dad kept some live stock on a small piece of land on the airport road. We had Goats, a couple of young calves, 2 or 3 sheep, a little Welsh Cob pony, and a couple of pigs. It once got to the stage where we had too much goat's milk, so we started feeding large quantities of it to one of the pigs. By the time Mr pig was ready for the slaughter house,
This weekend has been the Southern agricultural show. Saturday of the show used to be a really special day for my Dad. He loved going to the show to meet up with old farming friends. Some of those old farming hands only met up once a year, and that was on show day. When we were kids, every year we all used to troop off to the show. My younger brother Kevin and I even made a few quid selling programmes one year. I say one year because we were never invited back to sell programmes for a second tim
I woke this morning at around 4am, and of course I have been awake since. It is now 8.5am. My favourite part of the day is at the point of wakeup. It is simply just so exciting to glance at your watch and see that it is 4 or 5 a.m.; a brand new day, those first gulps of virgin air, the sound of the dawn chorus as yet unspoiled by traffic noise, aircraft, telephones, and flaming police sirens. It seems to me that every police car these days is on their way to an emergency. If that is the case, wo
Good morning folks. Well I guess I will start by explaining that at present I am writing the blog the day before you actually read it. I have found that if I write the blog through the day, Barbara can just come along and post it on to the site at around 7 a.m. This also gives me the chance to update the blog in the morning if necessary. So, it is now 10 a.m on Thursday morning. We were supposed to be taking Aunt May on the steam train to Ronaldsway Halt today but it has fallen through. We could
I have just returned from my morning romp with Skipper. We have Barbara’s Aunty May staying with us this week. She is 79 and lives in Warrington. She made her way here on the sea slug last Monday and completed successfully her first ever journey on her own. This morning as she has done every morning, she accompanied Barbara, me and Skipper along the Silverburn. We began our trek from Ronaldsway Halt. Aunty May can’t believe that this is actually a real railway station. Tomorrow we shall prove it
