Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Living Life - For Lizi and Sam

Tonight was the CF Trust Breathing Life Awards.





Full details to follow very soon !

Monday, May 26, 2008

Bank Holiday Weekends and 7546ish Kcal !

I love Bank Holiday weekends. I love them even more when I'm feeling really good and able to enjoy them to the max.

I woke up early on Saturday (not that unusual for me) but actually got up and going by 9am (almost unheard of!). I made the most of the early morning sunshine and took a slow walk to the village shops which are just 100 metres or so down the road. After visiting the Post Office, Bank, and Butchers I was feeling rather smug/proud so popped into the Bakers and treated myself to a cake (or 3).

Saturday evening was spent babysitting my nephew - the first time that we'd had the honour of looking after baby Thomas since he was born back in December, and it was a doddle as he slept the whole evening without making a peep. I somehow think we might have got lucky...!


On Sunday we headed over to Oxford. Sally had booked a room at the Malmaison hotel (http://www.malmaison-oxford.com/) which is housed in a renovated Prison! They've kept many of the original "Prison Features" - the rooms in "A Block" are the actual prison cells (slightly bigger now though), complete with original Cell doors !

It was an amazing hotel, and I could have spent hours photographing the place, but Apparently we hadn't gone all the way to Oxford to spend the entire time taking photos' of the hotel, so here is just a taster of the ones I took:

     

After I'd finished being creative with the camera, the eating began - And it was obscene.

In the space of a 24 hour period, I consumed approx 7546 kcal. I put this mainly down to the high dose of steroids that I'm still taking, but even so, I was mighty proud of this achievement. Highlights included:

  • 4 Krispy Kreme doughnuts (in the space of 6 minutes)
  • 18 Millies Cookies (assorted flavours)
  • 16oz Rump Steak and Chips
  • A whole Pizza Express Pizza (even the crust!)
  • Crispy Duck Pancakes
  • Banoffe Pie
  • Continental Breakfast
  • ..and much more!

In between eating, we spent time strolling around the city viewing the sights and doing a little shopping along the way. I also finally managed to find a suitable shirt and tie combo to wear to the Breathing Life Awards which are now just a few days away - I cannot wait !

I really enjoyed Oxford, it's a beautiful city with so much to see. I'd like to go back again sometime soon as there is so much more to see AND I didn't get to visit the Ben's Cookies factory this time :(

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

It's just another Manic....Tuesday

Where do I start?? Today started off as one of days that was clearly going to be "One of THOSE days"..

An approx timetable of this mornings events would read something like this:

The Morning - "PANIC"

6:00am : Wake up to be told hot water tank has a 'leek'. Last time we had a 'leek' it turned into a flood. Panic Panic Panic.

6:15am : Phone British Gas to send a plumber round, but they can't give an arrival time except that "it'll be sometime between 8am and 6pm". Grrrr.

6:20am : Remember that I've got an appointment at the Brompton this afternoon and won't be around for the plumber if he comes after 12:45pm. Panic Panic Panic.

6:30am : Send text to my sister asking if she could house-sit for the plumber this afternoon.

7:00am : "Ring-Ring" - Sister phones, but she got plans this morning and won't be able to get here until 1:30pm at the earliest. Panic Panic Panic Panic!

7:30am : Hit the "Travelator" for my daily exercise. 1 mile in 22.34 mins. Proper slow today, but it's another mile ticked off (and without hurting myself this time!).

8:30am : Due to afternoon hospital appointment, am working from home this morning, but can't connect to network so cannot do any work. Panic Panic.

9:15am : Work phone to say network connection problems sorted. I'm not sure if this is good or bad news...!). No Panic though.

10:00am : GP Surgery phone to advise that one of the items on my repeat prescription no longer exists. Panic Panic Panic.

12:15pm: Plumber arrives. Hooray ! It's the same chap that came last time we flooded our house. He took his shoes off without being asked, so I made him a nice cup of tea.

12:20pm : Plumber has fixed problem. He tightened a screw or something. Feel slightly stupid at having called a plumber out.

12:50pm : Get away on time for the Hospital and phone sister to advise that she no longer needs to house-sit.

12:52pm : Get half way down the drive and realise I've left the bedroom window open. B*llocks. Have to go back in and shut it. Knackered Knackered Knackered!

12:55pm : I once again leave the house.... Panic over....



The Afternoon (Which in comparison was almost quite relaxing)

Today's outpatient appointment was non-stop - I was on a mission, which involved all of the following :
Dietitian, Annual Review Coordinator,
Physiotherapist, Nurse Specialist,
Research Study Coordinator,
Doctor, Professor
and finally the Pharmacist.


As I said in my previous blog entry I've had a lot of things on my mind, many of which could only really be answered by my CF team. I raised a lot of my recent concerns regarding everything from drug doses to Transplantation, all of which were addressed fully and I left feeling that i'd made real progress today.....so I treated myself to a trip down to South Kensington Tube to visit Bens Cookies (If you've never had them, i'd describe them as a cross between a Cake and a Chewy Cookie - I like them so much that I got a box full) before heading back down the M4 to Home and the cookie carnage that awaited...

Monday, May 19, 2008

Look who's back...!

Firstly, apologies for the lack of updates since my last blog... I would go into EVERYTHING that I've done since October 2006, but I could be here a while.... So it's probably best to start afresh from now! (Australia was amazing though...!)

Various events over the last few weeks have resulted in me spending a lot of time doing something that I usually try to avoid; Reflecting on my life, and wondering in which direction it's going to take me next. I haven't yet found all of the answers to the many questions continually flying around my head, but I am at least starting to make some progress in the right direction.

I've also realised how valuable the recording of your daily "musings" can be, not just as an opportunity for the person writing them (eg. ME!) to vent their frustrations or share they successes, but how they also to serve as a permanent reminder of an an exact point in time. It is for those reasons that I've decided to start Blogging again.

This is for you Sam - "You were truly inspirational. Keep dancing on those Kitchen Tiles..."

Saturday, October 28, 2006

The Second installment

Awooga !!

It's been an exciting/eventful couple of days in my little world. On Wednesday we paid off the balance for our trip to Australia. The lady I spoke to at Qantas was called "Kylie" which I thought was quite funny. We also managed to upgrade our accommodation to "Raffles Plaza" which looks absolutely amazing and is much nearer the centre of town than the previously booked hotel so that hopefully means less walking for me. Wednesday evening I popped into ASDA to get some batteries for out kitchen scales and got a mouthful of abuse from another shopper. Lets just say that it would never have happened in Waitrose....

On Thurday I was a good boy and managed to do all of my meds without being nagged to do them. As a reward, sally made me some chocolate covered marshmallows (with sprinkles)- they are my favourite at the moment ! Yum!

And yesterday me and Sal went into town as it was Cedric from her works leaving do. We went to the outlook and I saw lots of people that I haven't seen for ages. It was really nice, and i'm really glad I went. Clancey even played pool, but was well aware that "Barbie wouldn't have approved" so we'll let her off just this once..

It's now Saturday morning and I have a slight hangover (hence being up at this un-Godley hour). I think we're going to go shopping for Sofa's today, which hopefully won't be quite so much of an ordeal as shopping for bedroom furnature was.

Anyway, I think it's breakfast time now..

Song for today: Australia - Manic Street Preachers

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Bloggy Bloggy Bloggy....

...Oi, Oi, Oi !! - Do you see what I did there??

Hello, and welcome to the first installment of "The secret diary of ME!(Aged 26 and a half!).

I've not done one of these before and i'm not really sure where I intend to go with it, so i guess we'll just have to wait and see what sort of farce this descends into...

Today I went to Starbucks at lunchtime and I ate 4 cakes - including 3 of those delicions little chocolate covered marshmallow "kebabs" - they're so delicious. Felt a little ick after wards due to the serious sugar overdose!!

Work was another non event (ie. nothing of any excitment happened), although the pace is still gathering on the forming of the official Kabaddi team for the London 2012 Olympics. It's my only hope of going to the Olympics...

I met Dad and Katherine (and Alison) on the Forbury hotel bar after work and we all drank Champagne. Katherine and Dad had been up to London today as K wanted to buy some lovely fairy shoes. They were very sparkley and nice.

Then I got home and Sally had been`shopping at sainsburys and had bought enough sweets to completely re-fill the Tricky box. Hooray !!

Health wise i've felt okay today, although I did struggle a little walking back to the car as the cold weather has finally arrived. Maybe it's time for "Super Snarf" to come out of his summertime hibernation?

Song for today: Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars (no particular reason, I just like it)