Afternoon readers! Another week has passed.

The weather here in the UK has put us firmly in early winter. The days are getting shorter and I have not been out much on my trike recently. This is NOT good. Exercise, whatever it may be, is vital. We all know there is no effective treatment for MND but you might be shocked to learn that it is pretty much accepted now that activities such as exercise or other physical therapies are potentially MORE effective, quantitatively than our only available drug, Riluzole!! I will say that again, readers. Our one drug is so marginally effective, that just doing some exercise could increase your lifespan! I will go into this in a bit more detail in my next research update.

Back to my trike.

I will get out when the rain subsides or at any other convenient time. However, I have now put into action a contingency plan! Oh yes, folks! I still live up to my nickname during my working career. I am Mr Contingency!

What is this cunning plan, Lee?“

Getting to the gym requires Jean to help me, and I don’t want to inconvenience her all the time. So bingo, why not just get an exercise bike for home? But, let me think it through a bit more……….

Most home exercise bikes are complete and utter rubbish. They take up loads of space, and would not manage my floundering legs and unpredictable movements. At least without me falling off and the bike ending up on my head!

So stewing on the idea further and after a very helpful tip from my physio, I started to consider how a bike trainer could be used with my trike. You might know the sort of thing. It is a simple device on to which the rear wheel of your bike or trike is suspended on a mini roller? Here is one…

I could then exercise on bad days in our shed where my bike is stored, with no extra equipment aside this little contraption. I could even place the trike just ‘peeking’ out the door to experience bit of prevailing weather!

Great idea, but as always, I continued to research further.  I found several in the great shop in the sky (Amazon). Hold on, I might have a problem because my rear wheel is small (20 inch), so most devices won’t fit. Further searching across bike sites revealed some good news. There are some trainers available with an adapter for smaller wheels.

So had I now found a solution? Yes, but before I order I’ll just send an email to my trike manufacturer to check a few more things.

“Jeesh Lee! Get on with it!” 

Calm down you unthinking masses!

As usual I was proven right to take a bit more heed. I was warned by ICE trikes that cycle trainers will burn a tyre out in less than an hour of use!!! You actually need to use special trainer tyres! Damm, so I need to change my tyre each time! As that could take me half a day at my current level of mobility and I would need help, this is not an option. Another approach was to buy a second wheel. But that is just as bad as tyre changing, ie still needing to switch wheels.

After much procrastination I was advised to buy a set of standard bike rollers, which exert much less force on the tyres!!

They seem to be working well! Feeling smug again by not jumping to conclusions!

I made one final purchase to help with the rollers. I wondered if there was a kit or tv screen that I could fix to the front of the bike to help alleviate the boredom of pedalling in a shed! I found the Lord Bragg Cycling Incentive package, only £99.99.

But when it turned up, it was just a metal bracket, a website link, a Queen CD and you had to use your own iPad!

What a guy!!!

What else has been going on aside my trike dilemmas?

We went to the theatre again last week, and of course we got the disabled discount tickets! Or as I like to call it, “The Insurance in case of disappointment special rate”. But seriously, no! It was a great show, but don’t, occasionally, arty people (including very famous actors) perform some garbage!

“Oh did see you Sir blah blah, he was amaaaazing and so down to earth”

This time we had booked a Saturday matinée performance. Such times are a little problematic as the car park is busy with both shoppers and the arriving theatre goers. All the spaces get taken up extra quick.

Being ultra cunning, we decided to go early, and just get parked up. I could then scooter into town with Jean in the spare time. However, on arriving, it was raining heavily. So I decided to be abandoned with my rollator in the theatre cafe whilst Jean did the shopping in the time before curtain up!

What could go wrong? Jean placed me at a table and got me a sarnie, coffee and a hot water bottle (only joking).

I was all hunky dory until 30 minutes before the show started. A pullover (I think my American friends call them Sweater Vests?) type asked me whether the seats at MY table were taken. I mumbled “yes”, as Jean was just returning. Pretending not to hear me, he, his friend and their wives invaded my table. I remained calm!

They then proceeded to moan and moan…

”Did you see the price of a programme, £6 million!”  

It was £3!

And then the leader of the pullovers noticed my purchased copy of the programme, on top of my rollator, and proceeded to move (touch) it to see who wrote the play!!! Man, not even my rollator is a safe space!!

Jean returned and noticed I was stuck with these living, breathing Victor Meldrews (for my American friends Victor was a UK TV comedy character that always moaned). Jean arrived just in time to stop me inserting my walking stick into the eye of the lead protagonist. We then calmly proceeded to the lift to enjoy the show.

Just this last weekend we were kindly invited by friends to spend a lovely couple of days at a great Country hotel. We hadn’t been away for a couple of months and this great time has spurred us on again. It’s strange, but rather than checking the facilities of a destination, I now check car parking, lifts, steps, and even road approaches to make sure my scooter can work!

We were lucky enough to experience fine dining with a chef and it really was a great night. Thank you Nadine for arranging it. We will remember it for a long time. However, at one point it nearly turned nasty when Jean decided to make a comment (without really thinking) on one of the courses by saying directly to the chef:

”It could do with a bit more salt!”

I was prepared for it all to totally kick off. Telling a chef that the food needs more salt is about as insulting as it comes. Fortunately it passed without incident, but it was pretty darn hairy for a second!

Right I must go, readers. I need to work on the one thing that is more anticipated than

  • the John Lewis Christmas advert
  • Brexit!
  • The next single from Cheryl Fernandez (Cheryl Cole or whatever she calls herself now)

Yes it’s my onein400 Christmas post!!

I am aiming for publication on Christmas Eve this year so that you have something to enjoy if you are not allowed to open a present!