Back to the Past!

Hi readers! The theme this week is the Past. You know, back in the days when music was proper, cars used to break down and spaghetti bolognese was posh! Several events have taken me back. Ooooh, have I got you intrigued? Perhaps, but it’s more like a mix of the mundane with the plain and simply stupid.

As part of dealing with MND, not only do you have the disease itself, but the planning/decision making regarding mobility that you never thought you would have to make. I have mentioned before that we are taking each day as it comes, neither making earth shattering changes, nor being blind to the potential adaptations that might be needed in the future.

One of the big ones is wheelchair use, and specifically a powered wheelchair. Over 16 months ago, I was advised to get one ordered as they can take months to come, and with MND you just don’t know when it would be needed. I got one a year ago and stored it in a secure place, and kept it clean etc. As luck would have it, I have not had the need to use it just yet. I use sticks and rollators (review coming up I promise!). However, I was suddenly reminded of its presence by the appearance of a card on our doorstep the other day indicating that the wheelchair team had called to carry out an annual service!!

Don’t get me started about efficient running of services!! The NHS team HAD not phoned or emailed to arrange an appointment, just sent someone out!!

Anyway, after calling and rearranging the service took place. Unfortunately, for the last few months I hadn’t checked the battery charge, and it was out of power! Now, I connected the charger up, and nothing! It lit up, but did not appear to take charge.

Apparently if you let a modern wheelchair battery discharge, the advanced chargers will NOT work! Why? Well, they have to detect a small voltage to start charging. The battery is almost certainly fine, but cannot be charged. Now I understand that this built-in detection is to prevent against charging a “bad” battery which could swell/overheat. But this was just a discharged battery! I know I will get a techie saying, yes well you should have kept it charged, but Jeesh, allow an override option! The only solution  for my issue, yes neglected batteries, was to replace them! I understand that this issue has hit people when, after spending a week in hospital, they tried to use a wheelchair that had became power depleted during their stay!

I say it’s design gone a bit out of control. A case of being too safe for me. Two wires, spark and we would have had it done like in the old days!

Arhh Lee, that’s a good link to the very last item in this very post readers. But you will have to read more before getting there….

“Hold on Lee, why is your post very very very late this week?”

Ok, well Jean wanted some help producing a large formal document, so I offered my help with Microsoft word skills, photoshop etc to do this. I used to do this all the time for detailed customer proposals. In fact, we used to have a team of people to help me assemble proposals from many inputs/people. However, in reality it still came down to me, the poor salesman, always having to ensure it was perfect for customer eyes.

So I was going back to my past, offering to help Jean assemble documents/differing formats, etc etc into one document, that would in future be very easy to maintain. So that’s what I have been doing folks! And of course the blog got a back seat.

I charge by the hour now, which is very cunning of me, as of course I might be slower with MND! I should have started doing this some time ago, I would have had a tidy sum by now I can tell you! Good advice Lord Lee!!

The result? Jean’s document looks great and I haven’t lost my old skills.

Another blast from the past this week was my good friend Jim, who is a few years older than me, bringing this item around for my enjoyment. It’s the 1971 Arsenal, Liverpool FA Cup final programme!

Jim went to this game, back when football was football, not acting! I was but a mere 8 years old and watched the game on a new colour TV at friends. We never had a colour telly then, just B&W so when my Dad said we would watch on a colour TV, I wondered what the hell it was. I genuinely thought it was a normal TV with a coloured frame!!

Anyway, I have supported Arsenal until this day. Mind you what did the designer/printer think of putting red text on a crowd scene! Amateur!

And look at the cost, 10p!!! Inflation huh! For history readers, this was just a couple of years before the UK had 26% inflation!! That’s as about as much politics you will get from me!!

On the subject of football in the old days, this always makes me laugh,..

Our gardener, Nick, was around this week using a chainsaw to split a load of logs. Now that is a tool that with MND I think I will definitely avoid. However, I wonder if there is an assessment for my ability to use one!??

Apparently he is very impressed with his hands-free  chainsaw mobile phone kit sold to him by Lord Lee Bragg! It did ring during the log splitting, and after using the Braggs Blood Quenching (BBQ™)  tissues he was able to answer the phone, a call he would have ordinarily missed!

What else has been happening?

It’s been the Goodwood Festival of Speed, and Jean, I and the dogs went along to the Goodwood Hotel to watch the Typhoon Air Display!! What a piece of kit! I have always loved speed, and a little known fact about me was that I wanted to be a fighter pilot when I was 21 years old. An RAF fighter pilot I have you know!

I got very interested in flying during my university years and applied, went though the selection process and was chosen. I signed up for a 16 RAF year commission, embarking on Officer training. However, just 3 weeks into the training, whilst sitting in a navigation lecture, I had a blackout. It was apparently caused by the huge number of vaccinations administered in the previous week. Although there were no lasting effects, and no I don’t think about it re MND cause, I was told that it was the end of my fast jet career. So reluctantly as I only wanted to fly, I was retired at the age of 21 and began a career in computers. Yes a little known fact, I am a failed Fighter Pilot! I got over that, but speed has always been a passion.

Just how fast is the Typhoon? It can reach Mach 2 at altitude, and that would enable the flight from its base in Lincolnshire (200 miles away) to Goodwood in just 10 minutes! In my view, it is still the best fighter in the world, and the F35, although newer, is no match for certain roles.

Anyway, at least that darn Lord Lee Bragg didn’t get into Goodwood to see the Typhoon perform its staggering routine.

Finally, a box arrived this week! What does it contain? Well it’s highly dangerous and over 47 years old! Also, there is no way now, in this safety conscious world, it would ever be made. Some youngsters wouldn’t go near it! Wimps! Thanks to the joy of eBay (you can sell anything on there), we were able to acquire one of these beasts!

You will have to wait until next week to find out what it is, when we relive the past!! One clue, it involves Commander Buzz Bragg, a hero of a type you just don’t see today!