MND can get in the sea

On 13th May, we celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. As we don't know how many more anniversaries we will have, these days are precious to us. Its also 6 months since we renewed the vows so we now get to celebrate twice a year! This week I attended the monthly local MNDA branch coffee morning for the first time. It's held on a weekday so previously I have been unable to attend as Alice is at work and I no longer drive, but Nigel, who attends as carer to his wife Janet, picked me up and I had a really nice morning.  There were 19 people there, made up of sufferers, carers, and volunteers, and we chatted over coffee and biscuits about our symptoms, the support available to us and the upcoming activities and fundraisers planned.  We are having a day out in the Solent on a boat this coming Sunday that has been adapted to accomodate wheelchairs. We are also having a day at Paultons park, a local theme park which has been organised for the children and gra...

Apologies for not posting a blog for a while, unfortunately I haven't been well as I've had tonsillitis, which laid me low and I just wasn't in the mood for writing.  I'm very lucky that I don't have to get up for work any more, so I could stay in bed, wallow in my own self pity, drink lots of lemon and ginger and for the first time this year...sunbathe! I slapped on the factor 50 and took my book and a coffee outside and it was lovely to feel the warmth of the sun after a long wet, and windy winter.  I'm storming through my books to read, having gorged on and enjoyed Alan Partridge's hilarious Nomad, a really interesting biog plotting the genius/madness of Nina Simone, and I'm now halfway through Back Home, the story of England's disastrous exploits at the Mexico 1970 world cup, which ushered in years of disappointment, as we failed to qualify for the next two tournaments.  It has been a fortnight of mixed emotions in the Baker household, as I'm...

We love our new running buggy! We've had it for a couple of weeks now, have already completed three parkruns and have been out and about around our area on smaller training runs. I'm starting to trust Alice not to push me out into traffic (or litter bins), and we even used it to go to the chippy this week! It's hard for Alice as the chair and I weigh 80kg and it must be like pushing a big baby around, but she's up for the task and it means we can still get out and do what we love.  It was largely thanks to a donation from Challenging MND that made this possible. Inspired by British triathlete, Alex Gibson, who was diagnosed in 2018, Challenging MND is a charity set up with the mission to provide financial support and assistance to those living with motor neurone disease, to complete any lasting memorable challenges or experiences. Whilst the MNDA raises money for much needed research and practical care, Challenging MND sets out to create experiences for sufferers, givin...

I didn't leave the house for 5 days this week! I still didn't feel right after feeling ill last week so from Monday to Friday I stayed home and relaxed. I wasn't bored though. I drunk lots of coffee, played a lot of records, did a lot of writing on a little project I'm working on, and sorted through my library of books. I have a big pile of annuals that I have collected over the years that Alice doesn't want so I've put them all on Vinted to see if there is any interest in them. We all used to love an annual at Christmas and my collection includes The Pink Panther, The Magic Roundabout, Popeye, Whizzer & Chips  Blue Peter, Top Of The Pops, Hotspur, Tiger, and lots of Roy Of The Rovers. I have another pile by my bed of all the books I want to read before my fingers can't turn the pages. It's a mixture of novels and non-fiction, and again Roy Race features heavily. I even managed to sit outside a couple of times in the sunshine,...