BLOODY PARKINSON’S: HELPFUL DIY SUGGESTIONS

The other day my wife sent me to buy a pot of paint from a little local DIY shop for a flat she is refurbishing. The two assistants are leaders in customer service, particularly in the area of unfriendly service. There’s no segment of the population they can’t be rude to. So I was surprised to be addressed by the smaller of the two.

“Is it Parkinson’s?” he asked me, presumably after seeing my shake.

“Yes”, I answered.

“My dad died of it a few years ago” he said helpfully. Following with the equally useful statement: “he was the youngest person in Britain to catch it”.

“How old was he when he was diagnosed?” I asked.

“Seventeen and three-quarters” was his answer.

The other man serving had now captured a 1 litre tin of the required shade of paint and was clearly anxious to join the conversation and asked me to “show us your shake then”. I explained that “you can’t turn it on and off. It comes and goes of its own accord”. This seemed to satisfy the taller man.

“Must be hard work painting the fancy bits, corners and lights, what with the screaming abdabs and all that” remarked the other man.

“Come back and let us know how you get on with the corners” said the smaller of the two. “We’ve got disabled parking”.

Two weeks or so later I took the unused tin back because my wife hadn’t needed it. Neither of my new friends was working that day, but I’ll keep an eye open for them.

BLOODY PARKINSON’S: HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL

The first thing the specialist says when we see him for the 6 months catch up tends to be along the lines of ‘how are you?’. Which requires the answer ‘rubbish’. But for some reason I reply that ‘things are fine'.  In some ways they are.

Because 3 years since diagnosis I’m the same man, only in a worse place. I’m suffering from arm aching, illegible scripting, eyes dimming, muscles shrinking, smile vanishing, balance failing, shakers shaking, pills swallowing, fingers stiffening, self belief drooping, gait robotic, voice dulling, tiredness debilitating, pints spilling, bladder all over the place, no control of cuff links. Apparently you don’t die from PD, you die with PD. I guess it means that PD works best at wearing you down till there are no defences left.

I notice that I’m shaking on the right side in the cinema, pretty much throughout the films, even through La La Land (as good as advertised) and Manchester by the Sea (also great). My wife sits on my right side and tries to calm my right hand, but often to little avail

Meanwhile back with the professor, after we have discussed the state of play and I’ve had a thorough moan my wife asks about miracle cures – ie ‘any miracle cures, doc?’.... ‘nope, afraid not this week’. I paraphrase!

So we look for miracle cures closer to home and including the tabloid papers: ‘could blasting brain with soundwaves help control Parkinson’s?’. A recent article said the method could also help multiple schlerosis sufferers. The treatment has been concentrated on a small number of patients suffering essential tremor: a brain disorder that causes uncontrollable shaking, and affects 1 million people in the UK.

The Evening Standard headed a recent article on a cure for PD ‘doctors inject stem cells into man’s brain in hope of Parkinson’s breakthrough’. This has apparently happened in Australia where doctors have injected neural stem cells into a patient. The operation aims to replace lost dopamine which is a transmitter in the brain which is lost with the onset of PD. As usual, we can only wait and see.

While I wait for a miracle cure I am also in search of the perfect pint – a search that never ends and which is not, it seems, restricted by good old PD. And meanwhile, pub discussion ranges from Trump to Farage to May to Gove to Fox to Davis to Bojo. For we remainers it’s still amazing that 6 months from the referendum we finally put the lunatics in charge of the asylum!

BLOODYPARKINSONS: NEW SPORTS FOR PARKINSON’S PATIENTS

Alejandro Finisterre
Publisher and inventor of table football, he was exiled by Franco

Michael Eaude
Saturday 24 February 2007 

Exile from Franco's Spain made the life of Alejandro Finisterre, who has died at the age of 87 (died in 2007), one of constant movement and creativity. Though Alejandro most valued his fight to conserve the legacy of the poet León Felipe (1884-1968), whose literary executor he was, he was famous for inventing table football.

Which also means I’ve finally found a sport that is ideally suited to Parkinson’s disease sufferers: table football or foosboll. The table game allows the shakiest of PD people to play at a high level. I know this because I just defeated my wife’s sister in law (with no spinning). She was in fact useless.

Perhaps there is something in clenching fists round wooden handles soaked in sweat that suits PD?

By the way, a whole host of people claim to have invented TF, though I quite like the claims for Alejandro Finisterre, not least because he changed his name to that of the local lighthouse. He seems to have been more interested in poetry than football too.

Meanwhile I have been searching for other exercises for us PD patients and seem to have found the magic key in the form of a new electric bike (cycling having got too difficult for me). My wife bought it as a surprise on my 70th birthday. The bike assists you when you want it to, responds to the rider pedalling it and has a real swooping feel when you ask for help from the battery system. The bike is an Impulse 2.0 pedelec/ BeatBike. And it is my new best friend.

It is also the dog’s new best friend as she now gets a 5 k run on a regular basis.

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At the pub we spoke of Brexit, Trump, Mrs May’s trouser suit (just wrong!), Lincoln City, and other issues of importance.

BLOODY PARKINSONS: THE BIN MAN COMETH

PD makes your face freeze so you don’t smile quite so easily, even when people say absurd things to you. Like ‘look at ole misery face’. (Dundee pub 2015). And last week I got a new spin on this form of encouragement to smile.

I was walking the dog through the woods on the common, when a small terrier bit me on the ankle. Its owner, an older woman, said ‘it’s all right, he won’t bite. In any case, he thinks you are the bin man’.

Knock me down with a feather! So it was my fault for looking like her bin man. The dog ran off, yapping; the woman walked on, muttering; my dog would have said she was shocked (if she could talk, that is.) 

This was quickly followed by an incident in what might be termed an upmarket small chain restaurant. The waiter took my order of a can of craft beer called Neck Oil, and he took ages to serve me. I waved and waved again until he finally strolled over and gave me a piece of his mind – on the topic of impatience. I was gobsmacked as he wandered away. Eventually he deigned to serve me. The restaurant did not appear to be under pressure.

My wife took the issue up with the manager, saying that her husband had PD and could sometimes look stony faced, but he had waited an inordinate length of time to be served his Neck Oil.

They handled it well offering a free meal which we probably won’t take up. It’s not about the money after all.

IN THE PUB

We talked about Brexit, Chelsea, Clinton, but not Chelsea Clinton, Trump, North Korea, peanuts, double glazing, Rugby Union, plus several topics that I have forgotten. No conclusions reached!

SHEFFIELD UNITED WIN!

The Blades won at AFC Wimbledon in a 3-2 thriller in Skybet 1. One of our party even won £100 for forecasting first scorer and time of goal. Lovely ground and friendly welcome from AFCW fans. They deserve to succeed!

BLOODY PARKINSONS: A LATE QUARTET

The Guardian’s pick of the week’s films on TV was ‘A Late Quartet’, made by American documentary film maker Yaron Zilberman based around a famed classical music quartet and led by a recently widowed cellist Peter (Christopher Walken) with the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, Mark Avenir and Catherine Keener. Peter is diagnosed with Parkinson’s and the film follows the turmoil that ensues. Can he keep on playing? Can the group stay together?

It is a remarkable film on two levels: first for the chemistry from four such great performances and second for the portrayal of a Parkinson’s diagnosis. Christopher Walken shows how hands and fingers stop doing what you want them to do, how suddenly you can’t get up from a chair, how you stoop involuntarily, how your stride shortens, how everything gets smaller, especially hand writing, how your stony facial expression makes it look as though every day is a bad day.

If you have an interest in PD then watch this film. It made me feel that there are others out there facing the same horrible demons as myself, but at the same time fighting and adapting with all they have got. Nuff said.

And PS - the musical score is marvellous.

On a more personal note, just lately I’ve been having nightmares which may be caused by my various medicines. But last night I compounded the situation by howling aloud, followed by throwing myself out of bed, knocking down a concrete sculpture, which landed on my left ear cutting the lobe, which in turn tipped a Kilner jar of Euros on my head....which woke me up.

We have of course cleared the booby trap and some of the debris, but at least I’ve not howled much of late.

IN THE PUB

A full house of members of the pub grumblers society meant we had a lot to debate though nothing useful emerged, not that it ever does. We live in hope!

NEW MEDICINE

Just read the warnings on my latest medicine pack. Two possible side effects at more than 1 in 10 persons; swollen ankles and red blotchy spots. Twenty plus side effects at less than 1 in 10 persons (includes hallucinations!). Rare side effects affecting less than 1 in 1,000 persons, nine of them. Very rare side effects 1 in 10,000 of which there are four.

The lists provide several examples of possible contradiction eg diarrhoea and constipation, loss of bladder control, ie difficulty in peeing or a sudden urge to pee. Hey ho and ‘festina lente’ as the Romans said.

BLOODY PARKINSON’S: SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS ARE BELGIAN

In summer there is an unfeasible number of beer festivals and since my Bloody Parkinson’s seems to be calmed by a drop of beer, I attend a fair number of these cheerfully amateur and semi-pro events, sated by a long list of classics and something new.

Most of the audience are in a good mood and keen to talk beer and pubs till the cows come home.

But there are exceptions....

A small but fiery man came up to me at the Great British Beer Festival at Olympia and yelled at me above the noise to ‘stop shaking!’. I looked at him, slightly concerned, and asked him what he had just said. ‘STOP SHAKING’ he yelled, this time at what seemed to be maximum volume; he was now going blue in the face. My companion said, pointing at me ‘he’s got Parkinson’s Disease’. The small man’s anger had abated somewhat as he demanded ‘what’s that when it’s at home?’ Then he staggered backwards into the throng in search of his next of no doubt many pints.

Very few visitors to a beer festival go to get drunk and stewards deal with anyone who seems to be getting intoxicated or elephant’s (trunk = drunk in rhyming slang).

Then at the Brussels festival, a very civilised do in the centre of the historic Grand Place, a slightly inebriated German gent apropos nothing at all said, what is it? Pointing at my shaky right hand. Alzheimer’s? So I explained it was something quite different, Bloody Parkinson’s, no less. He nodded sagely and wandered away towards the bars to replenish his glass.. I never saw him again.

We visited Brocante, Moeder Lambic, Poechenellerkelder, Fleu de Papier Dore and more in Brussels and four places in lovely Leuven including Fiere Margriet with 250+ beers.

TOPICS OF CONVERSATION

Brexit, Cameron, Theresa May, Belgian beer (strangely), the rarity of Westvleteren beers, Eurostar prices, beer glasses, why it’s a pity we are Brexiting the EU when countries like Belgium are so great....

THE WHY FACTOR AND PARKINSON’S

I have to thank Margaret from my French class for the central construct of this week’s blog. Margaret had heard ‘The Why Factor’, a smashing series of 10 minute programmes on Radio 4 which simply ask ‘why?’ and in this particular episode they asked ‘why cycling?’. The programme was, like one of my blogs I like to think, pretty discursive, moving from the history of the bike, to bike commuting and bike messengers in India, and so on to a trans-Iowa bike ride by a woman suffering PD: not a capable cyclist, couldn’t hold a pen, a tremor in her right arm.

She was aiming to cycle across Iowa with her husband on a tandem. But she fell off when her husband forgot she was on the back and continued falling off. So Dr Jay Alberts, a very keen cyclist and neuro-scientist, offered to ride the tandem front half with the PD woman on the back. At 80-90 RPM.

And the woman kept up and stayed on, and is now able to pedal at a far higher rate. On a bike it was as if she had no more Bloodyparkinsons.

A subsequent trial of 10 sufferers indicates that ‘forced exercise’ may improve mobility, get arms swinging, head rotating and eyes looking up rather than down; new skills can be learned, and old ones relearned. The trial has been increased to 100 respondents. Watch this space.

One hypothesis is that forced exercise helps the body build proteins that send information back to the brain, helping the patient acquire new skills and retain or relearn old skills.

So now I’m looking for a tandem on e-bay..... and the dog’s keen too.

DOWN THE PUB

Meanwhile down the pub we have an annual lads’ trip to Brussels or Paris, which in these times of Brexit was transferred to Brighton with the theme of Craft Beer pubs in mind. Inter alia, we visited the Craft Beer Co, The Evening Star, the Trafalgar and more whose names and beers are lost to me!

The Brighton i360 needle was hard to miss as they were conducting trial runs before opening for the tourists. Impressive.

Discussion ranged over many topics eg the Premier League, the small claims court, fish and chips, mushy peas, Brexit options. Firm conclusions were drawn but for the life of me I can’t remember any!

And by the way, did you you hear about the bloke who went in the chip shop and asked for cod and chips twice? The bloke behind the counter replied: ‘don’t worry, I heard you the first time’.

BLOODY PARKINSONS: BRAIN BURGERS

MEATliquor and Fergus Henderson collaborate on a brain burger. 

We bite into brains for a very good cause.

Burger chain MEATliquor  has teamed up with  St John  owner Fergus Henderson to create a brain burger, which it is selling in order to raise money for research into Parkinson’s Disease. 

Fergus Henderson — who suffers from Parkinson's himself — is famed for his nose-to-tail cooking and dishes such as bone marrow on toast.

It’s rather appropriate then, that he’s partnered with MEATliquor founders Scott Collins and Yianni Papoutsis to create an offal burger.

The burger is made from a slice of calf’s brain fried in panko breadcrumbs and served with Sauce Gribiche, homemade mayonnaise and shredded cabbage — all sandwiched in a potato and onion roll from  St. John Bakery. 

The burgers are a strictly limited edition, available throughout June only from Monday to Friday at the MEATliquor restaurants in both Marylebone and Islington as well as MEATmission in Hoxton.


Those wishing to bite into the brain will need to  book a ticket in advance. Each ticket costs £30 and includes a brain burger, fries and a kitchen apron designed by Henderson.


Tickets are available now.  All of the profits will go directly to Parkinson’s research. 

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As it happens word of my blog has got out and I was invited with my wife to taste the brain burger at MEATliquor in Welbeck Street (back of Debenhams, Oxford Street).

As it happens, just 2 weeks earlier, we’d tried out CHICKENliquor in Brixton and had enjoyed their wings and meaty chicken dishes in various sauces (Thai, Korean etc) and had a great meal experience in the atmospheric old market. Very messy eating, if you know what I mean, in a good sort of way.

So, focusing first on ambience, it wasn’t a surprise to sit down in MEATliquor in a darkened room – decor seems based on what might be a war torn vibe (ie you have to see it) – with great music (loud), great friendly service, a great big tray to share from or leave the debris of great finger food if you feel so inclined, and a very appealing cocktail list, alo
ng with craft beer and the rest. We drank a Grapefruit High Wire and a WHEATliquor weissbier in frozen glasses, so no danger of warm beer.

Conversation ranged around whether brain burger raises your IQ or not; would it spontaneously increase my brain cells in size or number; would I take on the brain donor calf’s personality or start mooing; would it improve my dopamine flow and suppress the shake in my right hand; how were they going to ‘hold’ the brain in the bun and so on.

The brain burger was among the best burgers I’ve tasted; just different, sweeter and softer than expected, breadcrumbed, so more like a pattie than a burger, in a great two flavoured and textured bun. A pity there isn’t more offal on menus generally if this experience is a guide.

So there are a few more days of June to give the Brain Burger a try! Or miss your chance!


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Note that these are my individual thoughts and brain burger should not be relied upon in the search for a cure for PD!

BLOODYPARKINSONS: FLYING THE FLAG

This blog is less about Parkinson’s and more about the issue of flying a flag in our front garden. We, that is the whole Jackson household, are all in favour of remain, so we have a blue with yellow stars EU flag. £3.28 from Amazon – a bargain. So we look like a sophisticated Euro family and, after all, some of our best friends are Belgian!

Meanwhile we are obviously England supporters at the Euros and so fly a cross of St George which comes out regularly for the short period when hopes are high.

The two flags are essentially unconnected and fly together in close harmony, except....

If you stand in the garden for a few minutes people put the two flags together and ask us if this means that either my wife or I are an urbane much travelled Guardian reading liberal. While the other is looking for a Russian with whom to start a fight.

The big red St George flag might as well say National Front / English Defence Force lives here; though I must say my shaven head isn’t helping one iota.

FAIRY HOUSE DOOR

If you recall the earlier blog in which I reported fairies at the bottom of our garden. Well someone keeps unscrewing and stealing their doorknob. This included a polar bear shaped knob. Perhaps it’s Boris or maybe Michael Gove angered by one or both of our flags?

MEANWHILE AT THE PUB

Six of us go to the pub and there are 24 teams in the Euros. In the sweepstake I have drawn plucky Albania, plucky Iceland, plucky Northern Ireland and plucky Turkey. Hey Ho. I’m feeling very plucky...

BRAIN BURGER

Next week I’ll report on an adventure I’ll be having eating a brain burger for Parkinson’s! Looking forward to it!

BLOODY PARKINSONS: TRYING RESTORATIVE YOGA

Some parts of this blog are true.

Other parts less so.

One thing that is true is that I’m desperate to defeat PD. And always willing to try something new....even something called restorative yoga.

My wife is a yoga junky: no yoga is too extreme for her, whether late, early, hot, tepid, cold, strenuous or easy. So it came as no surprise that a free trial offer for both of us to give a go to Restorative Yoga hooked her. I was immediately booked in as a slightly resistant triallist. Objections from me included:

· What’s it all about?

· What is it restoring ‘cos nothing’s broken (not that I’m aware of)?

· Wednesday is pub night with the old lags. Some may not last much longer by the look of them, including me. Am I worth restoring?

· How much does a session cost?

Answers: yoga in the dark with cushions, the old lags will get through at least one Wednesday, about £10.00.  That’s less than a round for four in Wetherspoon’s. And it’s easy and you’ll enjoy it. And it’s near the pub for afterwards.

And after all that worrying I really enjoyed being pampered by the yoga woman. One man (me) and five women, all equipment provided, whale mating style music (ommminggg?), semi blacked out so very relaxing, easy positions and propped up with cushions, eyes covered by eucalyptus bags, option to stay in a 10 minute position for 20 minutes if you find one you like. Found a position called the Goddess and it was so comfortable that I just ommed in and drifted into my own private zone. Went to pub and fell asleep.

Verdict? Will definitely try it again.

MEANTIME: AT THE PUB

We discussed, inter alia, Brexit (all six of us are ‘remainers’ though one is a waverer), immigration, Majorca, asparagus v. Rhubarb (asparagus won), builder’s dust, gas main repairs, law courts, play off finals, and beer quality. Note the use of the so-called Oxford comma before ‘and’. All agree that we are not hearing clear arguments from either side!

BLOODY PARKINSON’S: TRIPEWRITING

In case anyone wonders how I produce the written wordsof the Bloodyy Parkinson’s blog, with a shake greater than that of a maracas playing cocktail barmanin a force five gale, I thought I’’d simply type the first coupleof lines of one ofmy favourite poems, Casabiianca by Feliciia Hemans (1826), parodied by Ken Dodd and mmanny others as below:

Theboy sstood on the burning deck

When all before had fled

And when his feet had burned away

He stood upon hhis head.

That iillustrates how PD affects me. Far from the 10 fiinger typist I once was, I’m now a two finger typist at best.

And incidentally, some of my blog is true.

OTHER THINGS?

Towards the football season’s end I watched the mighty Brentford beat (very easily) the once mightier Wanderers of Bolton. At the final whistle I rose from my seat to find myself seemingly staring down into an abyss. For a moment I was stuck, unable to go forward, back or sideways and that’s in a tiny stadium. And so I had to sit down again before being ‘helped’ down to the ground by the throng. PD gets at your balancing capabilities as well as everything else you can think of. When I bought a round (Brentford’s Griffin Park is the only league ground in the country with a pub at each corner) I had to circumnavigate a pillar very cautiously in case of that old foe, beer spillage.

In the cinema I recently saw someone I know and went to shake hands, stepped up one stair and collapsed backwards dragging him with me. So we let go and I fell sideways into an empty seat and survived with just a bruised rib.

For another related example of PD inconvenience, turning over in bed is a bit of a nightmare as it can’t be done in one move. Say I’m asleep flat out and face down and wake wanting to turn right over or just onto my side, then for whatever reason, I have to turn my legs and then in a separate move, my trunk. Or vice versa, shift my trunk then my legs. Makes you feel pathetic. Similar problems arise in getting up from a low chair or sofa, or even rising from a bed which necessitates a rolling and simultaneous bending action.

Enough moaning. At least I sleep OK!

MEANWHILE....AT THE PUB

Wetherspoon’s have announced that they are selling the most central pub in SW15, The Railway. Cheap beer, attracting old and young, friendly, convenient for the station, no piped music, value for money food, range of well kept cask ales, spacious. Modelled on a fictional perfect pub – the Moon Under Water - invented by George Orwell for his column in the Evening Standard.

Who am I to question the logic of closing what looks like a successful operation, but its disappearance will create an awful gap.

BLOODY PARKINSON’S: FATIGUE OR TIREDNESS OR BOTH?

A warning to readers: these are the ramblings of a Parkinson’s Disease sufferer who uses his blog to get back at this pestilential illness. Apparently every cloud has a silver lining, but in the case of PD I do wonder. The intention of the blog however is to take a sidelong glance at PD and to let the reader make up her or his mind.

This week we are mostly thinking about fatigue or tiredness, or both. Because PD is weighing me down and demotivating me. It’s as if I’m caught in a vortex. Sucked down a metaphorical plughole.

Parkinson’s UK has a very useful information sheet entitled ‘Fatigue and Parkinson’s’ which says that ‘fatigue can be caused by Parkinson’s, but it has other causes too’. It explains what fatigue is, how it can make you feel fatigued and how fatigue may be managed.

To paraphrase the information sheet: fatigue is more than a feeling of occasional tiredness and is separate from sleepiness where the latter means you may fall asleep at inappropriate times. Whereas people with fatigue need rest but generally do not drop off to sleep.....I hope you’ve got that?

I thought I was suffering from fatigue: an overwhelming sense of tiredness, lack of energy and a feeling of exhaustion such that I dreaded making a 10 minute there and 10 minute back walk to the all night supermarket. What I couldn’t get out of my mind was the impending return journey. This led to me avoiding walking the dog to and fro: a partial solution is to walk in circles or for longer excursions, catch a bus to a neighbouring borough and walk back because you have to.

We feel fatigue because of pressure at home or work; we feel it for physical, mental or emotional reasons. Writing about fatigue is sending me to sleep......zzzzzzzzzzz.

AT THE PUB

Racking my mind to remember what we talked about: I do recall walking trips, dead friends, Nicky Campbell, London Mayoral elections, Leyton Orient, Thailand, Hillsborough, policing football, snow, rain, Heart of Midlothian, growing a lawn, playing the flute, pub closures.

RESTORATIVE YOGA

My wife is a yoga fan and has introduced me to Restorative Yoga: warm, candle lit, comfy, sleep inducing, fab. I’m a convert. Only I’m falling asleep again......Wake me up for the next blog!

BLOODY PARKINSON’S: GOODBYE TO THE FAIRIES

Note that the following words and thoughts are mine alone and should be treated with due caution! My wife calls me a fibber at least once a day.......

Interesting list of target research areas from Parkinson’s UK. For what it’s worth, I have trouble with 1-3 and 8-10. You, dear reader, can perhaps work out if 5 and 6 apply:

Top 10 priority research areas

1. Balance and falls
2. Stress and anxiety
3. Uncontrollable movements
4. Personalised treatments ie everyone with PD has their own version
5. Dementia
6. Mild thinking and memory problems
7. Monitoring symptoms
8. Sleep
9. Dexterity
10. Urinary problems

MEANWHILE....

Older readers may recall that fairies moved in to the bottom of our garden in Autumn last year. Here’s a picture of their front door.

Well they have been evicted by the local council who essentially informed us that we were at risk of damaging the tree outside the house with its little door. I can see their point but it’s a pity that we won’t keep meeting the charming people, old and young, who used to stop and leave sweets and toys for the fairies. Let’s hope they find a nice home soon.

Anyway enough of fairies! I’ve been given a questionnaire to complete which asks me to indicate which of a long list of possible symptoms of PD I’ve suffered from recently. The trouble is that I interpret the questions as a long shopping list of things PD is trying to do to me. Pint half full, I suppose. There are several things I’m suffering from now: a sense of urgency to pass urine makes you rush to the toilet, getting up regularly at night to pass urine, problems remembering things that have happened recently or forgetting to do things (I have a particular problem remembering to mow the lawn), feeling sad, finding it difficult to stay awake and so on.

Not applicable at time of writing, but I’m sure lying in wait are the following ‘gifts’ from PD: believing things are happening to me that other people say are not! Who are these people? Maybe it’s the fairies? Dribbling saliva in the day time. Vomiting or feelings of sickness.

Other possibilities include: difficulty staying focussed, talking or moving about in my sleep as if acting out a dream, double vision, excessive sweating (not excessive swearing!), and seeing or hearing things that I know or am told are not there. Is there any area of my life that isn’t already or won’t in the future be affected by PD? I guess not.

On an unconnected note we went to see the new Jungle Book film in a cinema packed with parents and parties of kids who all seemed to enjoy it, including the grown-ups. Now this is a relatively new cinema with members and a members’ bar and restaurant, yet all over the cinema and throughout the film people left their phones on – admittedly with sound turned off – checking emails and texts continually. What hope is there for the manners of the next generation if their parents can’t tune out for 2 hours watching an amazing film?

IN THE PUB

Conversation ranged around an interestingly hoppy and very tasty pint from Truman’s called Budburst, the London Mayoral election, Victoria Wood, Prince, Billy Connolly, dinner parties, car parking and much more I cannot recall. Another potential problem from PD according to the questionnaire is ‘difficulty concentrating or staying focussed’. Better watch out for that one!