04/08/2024 - 'Devon knows I'm not miserable now' by David

Unfortunately I have felt unwell this week. I may have picked up festival flu after last weeks shannanagens, or maybe it was covid as there has been a spate of cases locally. Either way, a cough, sore throat, headache and the shivers has laid me low.

Of course my nurse, carer, and wife, Alice has looked after me, with suitable aplomb, bringing home Lucozade and paracetamol and I have spent even more time in bed than I normally do.

I was off drinking coffee, so I must have been ill, and I couldn't face sunbathing with a temperature, which was a shame as we are enjoying a mini heatwave in the UK. 

This week, I have mostly been eating cold oranges from the fridge, warm  peaches from the conservatory, figs, and kiwi fruit, so I have definitely been having my 5 a day in pursuit of feeling better. The non stop Olympic action from Paris has also aided my recuperation.

My friend and nutritionist doctor, Sandra will be pleased with my fruit filled diet. She has recently been looking into MND and sent me her professional opinion with a few You Tube videos as there isn't much research out there. She says that neurological diseases like MS, Alzheimers and Parkinsons, have all been found to be inflammatory conditions where the bodies white blood cells attack & destroy nerves. For each of these illnesses it has been shown that eating an anti-inflammatory diet can dampen down the body's response. 

Evidence suggests cutting out meat, dairy, junk food and fizzy drinks is beneficial, so luckily as a vegan I'm half way there, but I do like Cola, cakes, crisps and biscuits - who doesn't? 

She said the healthiest diet for the brain and nerves consists of mainly greens, beans, berries, and good fats, which include nuts, seeds, and avocados. Spices, especially turmeric, ginger, black pepper and cinnamon, and all plant milks apart from coconut are also good.

The best news is that tea and coffee are good, as is bread, especially wholegrain and sourdough, but all oils are bad.

Obviously, no diet is going to cure me, and I will have to find an achievable balance between a healthy but restrictive diet, and eating what I like while I can still swallow, but I will try my best to eat healthier.

I love to sing and always have. I haven't got the gorgeous voice that my daughter is lucky enough to possess, but it was good enough to play nearly 200 gigs with a bunch of great mates of mine. Unfortunately this week I noticed in the shower, that my voice is both croakier and weaker than it has ever been, which is disappointing. Luckily, and very timely, a friend of mine posted a video of Frazier Chorus, a British pop group that I used to love. Their unconventional songs were accompanied by sarcastically witty lyrics delivered softly in a 'singing by talking' style. I have come to realise that this is now my register, and as such, am available if ever they reform and Tim isn't willing. 

I hadn't left the house all week, but by Friday, though not feeling much better, we decided that we couldn't afford to waste a weekend so we hopped on a train, rollator in hands, westwards. 

Fin and his dad, Matthew were staying in a holiday home at Seaton in Devon, and we joined them for a couple of nights of paracetamol-fuelled fun.

I like trains. I don't know why because I know very little about how they work, but I just do. Whether it's a sit on, a sit in, wide or narrow gauge, I like trains, and the journey from Salisbury to Exeter is one of the most gorgeous and scenic that I can remember taking. 

It's all rolling fields and pretty villages, and many of the stations have been restored to reflect the time when steam engines thundered across the tracks. Templecombe is the most wonderful station I saw, with it's flowerbeds, railway curio, and grassed areas, tended, no doubt by enthusiastic volunteers. The station was cut by Dr Beeching's axe in 1966, but reopened following public demand in 1983. 

As I was sat on the train, watching all this beauty unfold in front of me, I was listening to the lovely sound of Anna and Jake, my daughter and her boyfriend, who have recorded some songs together, and I spent a pleasant hour or so feeling wonderful about the world and myself. 

Seaton is a seaside town with a harbour, a walled pebble beach, and . . . a parkrun course! Unfortunately, with it's start and finish on the pebbles, it isn't buggy friendly, so while Alice ran with the 35 minute pacer's shirt on, I voluntered out on the course, Matthew and Fin watched from the beach.

We then travelled to Beer, which is the next bay along, and we hired a motorboat and had great fun pootling around both harbours and out to sea.

Back in Seaton, we found a nice little artisan vegan cafe, followed by a walk through the town, visiting lots of charity shops, before retiring to a pub garden for a pint. Alice now pushes me up hills as I struggle with my rollator on inclines so it was nice to sit down.

On the Sunday we went on the Seaton Tramway, a 3 mile, 4 track layout using the trackbed from the Seaton branch line that was also closed in 1966.

Alice was admitted free as my carer, and we sat up top and enjoyed views of wetlands, wetland birds, other trams with passengers waving equally frantically as me, and plastic dinosaurs. 

We then found a play park (for Matthew's pleasure more than Fin's) and I kicked my first football for about a year! I needed my stick to balance, but it felt good, even though I needed to be subbed off after about 10 minutes. 

After a trip to the beach to watch Matthew riding his rubber boat like a surfboard as the bemused public looked on, we had one last football pinball championship, which Fin won, before we boarded the train home. 

I'm writing this on the train and would just like to assure anyone who is feeling sorry for me and my plight that I am truly enjoying every day, especially every weekend that I spend together with Alice. 

I'm sure that the time will come when I will want your sympathy but until that day comes, I am enjoying every warm sunny day, and every cold, rainy or windy day in between. 

Time for a snooze next to my bestie me thinks, and hopefully I'll dream of being me.

Seeya punks x