First Post of 2019

Well I have to start off by saying 'happy new year' and wishing you all the best for 2019.
I hope this year is kind to us all. Last year was, how can I put it, shit!

Yes indeed, apart from the birth of our 4th grandchild, I had little else to celebrate last year.

2018 saw me admitted into hospital in a coma, caused by encephalitis and I was happy to come out from ITU alive.
All I remember was going to bed on the 1st March and waking up a couple of weeks later. I also had pneumonia, hypertension and other sinusitis / asthma...

I had no memory of what happened... I cannot remember fitting, stopping breathing (arresting) or how I sustained the fractures on my spine...
Now, I have been retired from work,  early retirement.
Up to now, retirement is not much different to being off sick!!
I am in loads of pain, my mobility is restricted and I don't get to see too many people outside of the family.
I pass the time cleaning, cooking, painting and undertaking my physiotherapy to strengthen me up.
It's difficult because I lost so much muscle strength and although I have recovered lots of it, I still need to strengthen up!
Added to this, I have put on some weight too.
I now take pain killers, inhalers,

So what will my blog do that is different?
I will still be unashamedly promoting my books and art but... I want to keep track of my progress but also give you a synopsis of what has happened to date. The serious points and the funny ones, if there are any.
After all, humour can cure lots... 😜

I also want to educate and support anyone with sharing experiences.
This will include retirement, hobbies, encephalitis, relationships with one's self and others and life in general...

I also feel that it will be very powerful to write about being a patient after decades of being on the other side... Believe me, it is very different and very hard!

If you are interested, sign up for instalments, interactions and updates...
I hope to keep you posted

Ram

Politics mis-explained

My wife and I were enjoying a nice pot of tea and a scone with cream send jam in the sunshine today.  We'd just had a lovely,  cultured walk around the Gibberd Gardens in Harlow.  We were sitting outside the Gibberd tea room and overheard a father explain politics to his two children aged around 8-9 years.
Both of us feel terrible for not intervening in the indoctrination, brain-washing and utter balls this man was spouting... But protocol, politeness and not ruining the children's opinions of their mis-informed father was our choice, not to react...  One cannot change the world at times, energy fails and bigots exist, no matter what.

Anyway,  he was saying Frederick Gibberd was a great architect and that he designed Harlow for people who were non-aspiratonal, happy to live in bland housing and all looked the same... He was right about Gibberd being a visionary but that was the limit of his correctness.
He didn't like roundabouts, and Harlow does have a load,  however if he did not know how to manage a car around a roundabout, we would not hold that against him.

He then linked in politics...  Asking if they were aware of the main political parties in England..  Really???
Shouldn't he have spent time going around the gardens with his offspring and learning about art, sculpture, nature etc.  Rather than just sitting at the tea rooms!

He explained that conservatives allow those who work hard to make a difference to their lives,  labour was socialist and this was a slightly less extreme from communism and that these were not good for society!

We managed to remain outwardly calm and inwardly seething!

Is it any wonder that the world is full of misinformation and cruelty. These kids will grow up believing this rubbish.

What other 'lessons' are being downloaded to them via the parental units?

I doubt this blog will be read by these ignoramus couple but let's put some facts straight.

Socialism is not evil.
All opportunities are made by hard working people and they are not governed by the politics they follow.

Harlow people have aspirations,  aspirations to make Harlow a great place to live in, a safe community that allows equality.
The houses are similar but certainly not the same.
Harlow has a lot going for it and does not have People who have no aspiration...  Some people choose to live here because of the wealth of opportunities it offers, diversity and proximity to London, Cambridge etc.

The saving grace was that the children did not seem too bothered by dad's blurb as once he finished his misinformation, all they said was... Can we go and look at the sculptures now!!

Thankfully, they did!

Infants fun and educational book

Extending my portfolio of books, I have written and illustrated a book for infants.
It is called I Don't Like It
It is a pre-school / early years easy read for the parents to read with the child.
It is about learning to eat new foods and trying new flavours / textures, aimed at the difficult eaters.
It will be fun without the drag of a difficult dining experience that some families suffer.
The inspiration for this was my nephew, who for many years, was only eating chicken nuggets and chips!
No Fruit, no veg, no other meats, just chicken nuggets and chips!
A few tweaks are needed and then, it will be available for all to read, hopefully as an interactive book on kindle, but also as a colour paperback.
As I said, the illustrations will be mine too...
Exciting...
Here is the working cover: