How to alleviate symptoms

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What details of your life could you pay more attention to?

When you have lots of illnesses it’s hard to keep track of what’s going on. Different things go wrong and you take medication, but it’s hard to know how to manage things. Which symptom is the most concerning, how do things interact, should you exercise more or less? What diet would improve your health?

But also don’t rely on Dr Google or online miracle workers. Many people have been affected by malpractice and con artists. Use your intelligence and listen to what professionals say, but with a pinch of scepticism. If you are unsure don’t be afraid to ask questions. Not the “I want a second opinion” type maybe? But try and get a sensible answer. Doctors are not infallible, they can make mistakes, but I do try and communicate with them. Fingers crossed by doing this I can pay more attention in how I look after myself.

Newt dream!

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I just woke from a weird dream. I was in a wooden hut/ nature reserve and was with a large group of strangers. The team leader bought up the question that people were asking about, could we go canoeing?

I put up my hand to speak, but whilst other people voiced their opinions I was studiously ignored. Suddenly I saw a newt in a corner and I didn’t want it to get trampled. I went over and gently picked it up, wondering if I was allowed to. Don’t you have to have a licence for newt handling?

I came outside by the front door into a lovely natural wood, but the newt had dissappeared. I had to find it again. Meanwhile I was in a garden with a pond. I saw the newt and picked it up. I placed it in the foliage by the pond, and as I stood up I saw the newt tail in my hand.

Then I woke up! I have no idea what it meant. I was just glad that I remembered it. I don’t think it was a lucid dream but it was interesting. I wonder why I dreamt it?

Scone

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How do you pronounce Scone?

Is it sk-own, or scon?

Each is used in the UK

How do you serve it?

With Jam

With Cream

With Butter?

Or all three?

Etiquette matters!

Cream first

Jam first?

You can tell if someone

is from Cornwall or Devon.

I can never remember

which way they choose?

Just they do opposites

My way is butter, then jam

and cream on top. Yum

And with hot chocolate.

Although it should be tea to drink…

Dilemma time!

Set design

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Crashed UFO at the play I went to yesterday. It wasn’t actually on the stage but in a seperate room on the way in.

In a strange way it reminded me of a Santa’s sledge I saw once outside Santa’s grotto as a child. You then got into another sled inside a large screened of area and the landscape on the sides seemed to move. It was actually a painted backdrop on rollers that ran round so the landscape seemed to scroll past. At the end of your “journey” you got off to see Santa and get your present…. Oops rambling there

..

I could imagine doing the same thing with the UFO  so it would look like it was flying through the sky with stars and clouds.

Clouds and blue

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Looking out of the kitchen window this morning I saw blue sky amidst the white puffy clouds. The clouds were breaking up and merging. Reminding me of the song Cloud busting, by Kate Bush

It didn’t last, soon flat layers of cloud spread across the sky, then darker layers built up, piling up as the wind dragged them across the sky. We were on the edge of them, some yellowish light filtered through the upper clouds. So where are the photos? My phone was out of charge and when it was ready for a picture or two? The sun had set.

Compassion

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What’s the trait you value most about yourself?

I try and be compassionate and care about people. It’s hard sometimes because you have to care about yourself too. If you don’t you can sink under the pressure of peoples problems.

I was bought up to be compassionate, I would watch things on TV or listen to the radio and feel bad for people in trouble, I understood some of the pain they were going through. I don’t know why? I was just doing what people around me did, but it’s stuck with me throughout my life. I hope it shows through.

Traits are hard to recognise in yourself though, it’s not something I  go looking for but deep down its there.

Bright lights over Bentilee

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I’ve just got back from the local theatre, Claybody Theatre at The Dipping house, Spode Works, Church Street, Stoke upon Trent, Stoke-on-Trent.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable performance. It was set in 1967 on the Bentilee housing estate, on the edge of the city of Stoke on Trent. A city of potteries and coal mines and steel works that had since suffered industrial decline.

It’s late summer on the estate when several people see a bright glowing light in the sky that goes from red, to slightly greenish to a blue hue. It ended up on TV with locals talking about what they had seen, but no real explanation. (this was the era of science fiction programmes on TV, like The Invaders, or Space family Robinson and even Fireball XL5.)

What I enjoyed was the local knowledge. The speech was real Stoke on Trent accents, with a smidge of Durham and a twang of American or Irish.

I won’t go into detail with spoilers, but there is a mixture of 1960s memories, a touch of romance, a lot of local in jokes. It was useful knowing Bentilee estate, I have worked there. The comedy made the audience chuckle and laughter out loud. I do enjoy Deborah McAndrews writing. The play got a loud round of applause at the end. Good to see local friends who had come out to see it!

3 jobs?

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List three jobs you’d consider pursuing if money didn’t matter.

I guess this question is asking what jobs you would consider if you already had sufficient funds and didn’t need to earn more?

I would like to do jobs that were useful and interesting, and that helped people. Perhaps someone who volunteered to support patients and visitors at hospital, explaining where various wards and departments were, offering to get people a drink of water or show the where they could get food?

Alternatively I would like to work on some environmental issues, support natural wildlife, perhaps in a hedgehog hospital?

Finally I would have liked to persue a more formal career in art. I’ve always painted but never been able to make enough money to turn it into a career. Oh and sell books too!

But basically I think it’s important that people are paid a decent living wage. So many people have been working at below the poverty rate and taking two or three jobs to survive, and that’s just in industrialised countries. Think about it, one man is likely to become a trillionaire in the near future and also being offered tax cuts to increase his income even more. Total madness.

Candle in the window

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When we went to lunch earlier this week I took a photo of the room. I liked the ambient light from candles dotted around the it. They gave a warm glow on the wood panelled walls and floor. The pub has  spectacular stained glass windows so I shifted the candle over and took a photo. I guess the building is Victorian and may have been the watering hold of thirsty potters after work at the Spode pottery.

The Glebe Public house, Glebe Street, Stoke upon Trent, Stoke-on-Trent. Staffordshire.

Garlic mushrooms

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Tasty lunch, doubled portion (just flipped photos). It was very tasty with a fresh salad. I was taken out for lunch by my friends and I really enjoyed it. It’s been a while since I went out and socialised. I’ve been a bit up and down recently. This was at the Glebe pub in Stoke, Stoke-on-Trent.