BEER AND BLOODY PARKINSON’S

In my 2 years since being diagnosed with PD I haven’t read a single paper on the close relationship between my PD and beer and hope to put that right in this blog.

But first of all and before I get into beer and PD I ought to mention this morning that I was at the municipal baths when a cockroach was spotted swimming in the slow lane. The general consensus in the changing room was that we shouldn’t get too worked up about it until they were spotted in the fast lane and presented a clear and present danger to swimmers. In the meantime I’m thinking of switching to a tighter pair of trunks for reduced access, so to speak (isn’t there an Amazonian toothfish or similar that can make its way up your tadger, so to speak?) .

Enough of wildlife for now.......When I was at University in the 60s we frequented a traditional, street corner local, the Victoria, round the corner from our hall of residence, run by an old, stooped cove called George. When you ordered a pint he shook so violently and spilled so much beer that that we clever young intellectuals would add ‘no George, let’s make it a half’. Perhaps George had Parkinson’s? If he did I can’t say that any of us asked or enquired, because it was just one of those quirks of older people. Shakin’ all over.

Jenni Murray of Radio 4 fame is often quoted as being asked if her elderly mother who had PD was drunk (for her mum PD had meant bad falls, broken bones, shaking and blank face, but not drunkenness).

On which point we went to Glorious Goodwood a couple of Saturdays ago and for the first time (apart from some teens in the post office) I could see people and male drunks laughing at my shakes. There were thousands of people enjoying a drink in the sun, many lying flat out on the grass. As I’m sure you are aware, walking over or round moving obstacles is quite a trial for a PD sufferer and so it was for me. I’ve not yet worn a PD wristband but maybe I should start? At least if I freeze at the races or in the swimming pool or on a zebra crossing someone may know what to do! Incidentally the organic burgers at Goodwood were less than glorious.

Yesterday was the start of the Campaign for Real Ale’s annual Great British Beer Festival, a fantastic event with thousands of like minded drinkers drinking hundreds of beers and ciders and eating great fresh local and regional British food. There are 150,000 members of CAMRA and not all sport a beard, sandals and a larger stomach than the average.

 

I’ve asked the docs about drinking with Madopar and the general idea seems to be that as long as you don’t go and get elephant’s trunk it shouldn’t do too much harm. My experiments show that alcohol helps you forget the shakes, steadies the hands and allows you to get two full pints from bar to table. Nevertheless my friends take no chances and willingly rush to help me carry their pints in my round back to the table.

They have even been helpful in advising on new career paths for a man with PD: human cocktail shaker being the most popular. I’m ignoring them.

Topics in the pub after the festival included: athletics dopers, Heart of Midlothian, beer quality, medical issues, football, Bob’s allotment and Edward Heath. No conclusions were drawn.