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!