Jools

This afternoon I finally had chance to watch the film Vanishing Of The Bees. My original plan for this blog had been to say how much I liked the minimal packaging and why can’t all dvds be packaged this way, saving much needed space in my little house and also hugely reducing the amount of plastic required.

But….

I have been shocked by the dvd, things happen to bees that I was not aware of.

Like most people I know bees are needed for the pollination of many plants that we humans and our animals need for food. I know that there are commercial bee keepers who move their hives around to help farmers pollinate their crops. I know there are growing numbers of hobby bee keepers and I know it’s not exactly cheap to start off keeping bees.  These things I know, these things I accept.

But….

What I can’t accept is that bees are transported thousands of miles on the back of a truck to pollinate a crop. The hives are loaded back onto a truck after their job is done and moved to pollinate another crop again thousands of miles away. To me at least, this seems wrong, why can’t more local bees be used for pollination? It would seem the answer to that is monoculture, the growing of just one plant for as far as the eye can see. Once the bees have pollinated all these flowers there is no more food for them and this is why they have to be moved thousands of miles to pollinate and feed.

I can’t accept that still no one knows what causes Colony Collapse Disorder, where a once healthy thriving hive is suddenly abandoned by the bees leaving it empty. This CCD has been going on for years but it seems that little has been done in terms of research. I’m quite sure that if cows suddenly upped and left the farm and couldn’t be found that something would have been done by now. From the research carried out so far all the results seem to show that pesticide accumulation within the hive is the cause of CCD. We still need more research into this and it needs to be done now, before it’s too late.

On average a Queen bee lives 1-5 years but in the huge commercial bee keeping world she’ll live for a year and then be squished! She’ll also have been artificially inseminated so that she’ll produce a certain type of bee characteristic that the commercial bee keeper requires! I found that quite shocking.

I love bees, I’ve toyed with the idea of keeping bees for many years. I’ve taken a step closer to that by starting to read more about what it entails. I know I can’t just put a hive of bees in my garden and then sit back all year to let the bees do their thing. They have to be checked on a regular basis. This year I intend to do more research into bee keeping to see if I can do it, to see if my garden is suitable and if so where is the best place to site the hive. I need to check that my landlady has no objections and to try and find out what pesticides are used on this farmland.

In the meantime I shall garden organically in spite of what goes on around me, I shall plant more bee friendly plants that last from early spring to late autumn, I shall write,email and generally get on the nerves of the local and county councils to find out what they are doing to help bees. I shall continue to get in touch with the prospective Parliamentary Candidates for my area to find what their views are with regard to bees. I shall, as always, leave part of my garden wild with lots of hiding places for all sorts of bugs, birds and creatures. I’ll also be asking my husband to help make bee and insect boxes, we’ll even make some to give to family to help spread the word.

Without the bees to pollinate our crops we’ll have a very limited diet, as someone on the film said if you go to Macdonalds all you’ll get is the bread, although many may argue the bread is the tastiest part but that’s by the by Please if you can do something to help the bees, they’re only little but they work so hard for us so that we can eat a huge variety of foods.

If you only have a window you can still put a pot of flowering herbs there to attract bees.

If you have a garden plant a wide range of native plants which will encourage healthy bees and insects.

If you’re on Twitter follow Damian who is known as @HelpSaveBees as he tweets some great links, tips and advice to help save bees.

Anything you can do will help.

Thanks for reading and please help the bees

Come feed the little birds,
Show them you care
And you’ll be glad if you do
Their young ones are hungry
Their nests are so bare
All it takes is tuppence from you
Feed the birds, tuppence a bag
Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag
Feed the birds,” that’s what she cries
While overhead, her birds fill the skies

Lyrics from Mary Poppins.

Well it would be nice if it were so cheap to feed the birds wouldn’t it? I’m not complaining though all the little and not so little birds have bought me a lot of pleasure these last few days. The difficulty has been keeping up with their appetites. With all the ground covered in snow there has been little natural food available for them and keeping the fresh water topped up has been problematic in sub zero temperatures. Hubby and I have learnt a few things in recent weeks when it comes to feeding the birds….

Given a choice between peanuts and seeds the birds tend to go for seeds first. If you change the seed mix or brand it will take the birds an hour or so to get used to it. Chapelwood No Ice bird bath treatment works.

With the No Ice liquid we were unsure of adding it to the birds water but as it’s from a reputable bird food supplier we thought we’d give it a go. The label says it stops water freezing down to -4C so obviously those days when we’ve been way below that the water still froze overnight. It did however thaw a bit quicker during the day meaning we didn’t have to go outside too often to top up with water that would quickly freeze over again. We’ve seen most of the birds drinking the treated water and they keep coming back so it must be ok for them.

We have 2 tall poles in the garden, on one we have a nut feeder, a fat ball feeder and a seed tray. On the other pole is a nut feeder, a seed feeder and a water dish. We also scatter seeds and nuts on the ground for the ground feeding birds and the larger ones that can’t use the hanging feeders. We can see the birds feeding from our comfy seats in the living room.

Normally I’d be at the window with my camera but with my arm out of action I’ve had to rely on Graeme to take photos for me. He’s taken some good ones too as you can see….

These are just a small selection of the birds that have visited the garden in the past month. Some birds like the blue tits, great tits, chaffinch and robin are regular visitors throughout the year, others we see occasionally  at times when food or water is in short supply in the wild. We’re lucky that we live on farmland, we have lots of trees and bushes in the garden and in our own garden we don’t use pesticides and garden as naturally as we can.

For those of you interested here’s a list of  the birds we’ve seen actually in the garden in the last month…

Blackbird

Blue Tit

Bullfinch

Chaffinch

Crow

Goldfinch

Great Tit

Greater Spotted Woodpecker

Jay

Nuthatch

Pheasant

Robin

Starling

Tree Sparrow

Wren

Yellowhammer

We see the buzzards flying overhead regularly and along the lane we see partridge from time to time. There have been tawny owls hooting away in the trees and on one rare occasion we saw a beautiful barn owl very early in the morning. The sparrowhawk sometimes zooms into the rosebush in the middle of the lawn and takes a little blue tit for lunch. It’s amazing to see, it’s not pleasant but it’s nature, everything has to eat.

So please remember to feed the birds, it may cost you a few pounds a month but it really is worth it

A few folks have suggested that I should write about my experiences with the weather recently. It’s not been great and shows no signs of improvement but we’ll see how it goes, one day at a time and all that.

I’ll tell you bit of my background story and maybe you’ll understand my situation a bit more, for those of you that know I apologise for going over old ground.

I live about 3 miles outside of Penrith in Cumbria in quite a rural area, well on a farm actually. We’re just off a very steep hill and the house is quite exposed to the elements.

I am a Postie, I deliver the post on foot around the town of Penrith. On December 11th we’d had quite a hard frost so I was taking my time walking around as I knew the paths were slippy. At one house I stepped onto a sloping slate paved path and slipped on black ice. I landed on my right elbow, it hurt, a lot. I sat there for a few minutes and then got up and like a trooper carried on delivering the post for around 30 minutes. It got more painful so I called the office and a colleague took over the round whilst I was taken to hospital. I had x-rays and it turned out I had broken my funny bone, an olecranon fracture, that required surgery. 12th December saw me arrive at Carlisle hospital for the operation which involved screwing the bone back together. 13th December I came home to begin what would be a minimum 6-8 weeks of recovery.

The following week passed fairly uneventfully, my husband managed to get some special leave granted from work so that he could stay at home and take care of me as I wasn’t allowed to move my right arm. The weather remained very cold with frost almost daily. The weekend after my accident we got the first significant snowfall.

Monday 21st December we managed to get out to stock up with food and fuel locally, getting up the steep hill from here hadn’t been easy and getting home again was more of a slide than a drive.

Tuesday 22nd we woke up to a thick covering of snow, several inches and I cancelled an appointment I had as I knew there was no way we’d make it up or downhill. Even when the other roads are clear our hill is usually covered in snow and ice. Hubby went out and threw the remains of the grit pile at the end of the farm track onto the road but it made no difference really.

Wednesday 23rd we made an effort to go to Maryport to deliver some Christmas gifts, we didn’t make it up the hill. We resigned ourselves to the fact that we were stuck in over the holiday.

Thursday 24th, Christmas Eve, our neighbour temporarily moved to her family’s home in town. There was no-one else within half a mile of us. The hill was becoming more treacherous as tractors and 4×4’s compacted the snow to ice.

Friday 25th, Christmas Day, we hadn’t planned on going anywhere, just as well as there was no sign of a thaw setting in.

Saturday 26th, Boxing Day, again, no plans of going anywhere but maybe a slight hint of a thaw going on, we crossed our fingers and were hopeful of getting out the following day.

Sunday 27th, indeed a slight thaw and the snow was turning to slush. We got ready and made a dash for it. We got to Cockermouth for some groceries and then onto Maryport to visit relatives. We didn’t stay long. Of course this was the day when my family were due to arrive from Nottingham but we’d told them not to come as the roads were so bad. We got home as the slush was starting to freeze.

Monday 28th, going nowhere due to ice and snow. Emails to the council requesting grit go unanswered.

Tuesday 29th, had to cancel appointment at Carlisle hospital with the surgeon due to snow and ice on the hill.

Wednesday 30th, managed, just, to get out for supplies of food and fuel. Don’t think I actually got out of the car much as everywhere was so slippy.

Thursday 31st, New Year’s Eve. Hubby back at work which meant he had to leave me my lunch prepared and I assured him that I could get a couple of jacket potatoes into the oven one handed. He had trouble getting up the hill nd back again but managed it.

Friday 1st January, New Year’s Day. Hubby went to work, it snowed, a lot, 3-4 inches, he set off home and got most of the way here but had to abandon the car in a layby as he couldn’t get up the other side of the hill. He walked home the last 2 miles. He’d had the sense to take a walking pole with him and had a torch and high visibility clothing but it didn’t stop me worrying until I saw him coming along the lane. Also learned today that one of my dear friends had lost her mother, we all knew it was a matter of time but the shock is just the same. Happy New Year? I don’t think so!

Saturday 2nd. Hubby got a lift to his abandoned car from a work mate and drove himself to work. It snowed on and off all day. I spoke to my sister in Derby and they’d got snow there too. Hubby set off for home around 5.45pm and he got most of the way back, within a mile, only to get stuck because some thoughtless person ad abandoned their car in the middle of the road. It seems that the Penrith side of the hill had been gritted too, why not our side? Anyway after a 2 mile detour and what seemed like forever hubby got home safe and sound but rather stressed. He called the police about the abandoned car but when they went to check later it had gone.

Sunday 3rd. A very cold day but that’s becoming the norm recently, it’s not been above freezing for the better part of 3 weeks with the exception of last Sunday for a few hours when we reached the dizzy heights of +3C! We stayed in again! We tried ringing he council hotline number to request grit and sent more emails, none of which were answered.

Monday 4th. I had an appointment at the hospital, I didn’t want to cancel but it wasn’t looking like we’d get out. A friend on Twitter sent out a request for help which lots of folks repeated but this time no luck. Hubby went out with the shovel in an attempt to find more grit, he was unsuccessful. We decided we had to at least make an attempt at getting to the hospital and set off a couple of hours early. As we reached the end of the lane we saw a tractor coming slowly down the hill. Hubby got out of the car to see what was going on. The tractor driver said he had driven to the council grit depot and had been allowed to bring some back to put on the hill. He was doing this because, like us, his requests for help had gone unanswered. He said that there were 4 gritters sitting idle in the depot. They could have been gritting the back roads to give some of us a chance to get out but the managers had said they weren’t allowed! So thanks to tractor guy we finally got the hill to a state where it was passable with care and I made it to my appointment. We stocked up with groceries again and will see what the coming days bring.

So what can I say about the weather so far this winter? Well it’s been cold, I’ve never seen Cumbria look so pretty but I’ve only seen it through the eyes of other people’s photographs really. It does look like a true Winter Wonderland but when you live on a steep hill in the sticks it’s just unpleasant. I don’t know when I’ll see my family and give them their Christmas Gifts, we were supposed to be going this coming weekend but we may cancel as the weather shows now sign of improving. I know there are folks who have been stuck in their homes for longer than I have but it’s hard to believe that we live in the 21st century and that something hasn’t been done to sort out the roads and paths in the area. I have to say a huge thanks to my Twittermates and friends on the John Howe forum who have kept me company online all these days and weeks, you don’t know just how grateful I am to have you around.

Sorry that was so long but that was over 3 weeks worth of news, hopefully next time I’ll be less verbose

Welcome to my blog, something I’ve decided to resurrect after 18months of not bothering. I’m not sure why I gave up with it but recently I’d been thinking I should start again and the first day of a New Year and a new decade seemed an appropriate time to do it.

I don’t imagine for one moment that I shall write deep and meaningful blog posts but I hope perhaps a record of my travels, adventures (if I have any) and life experiences in general. I’m generally a light hearted person so that will hopefully be what comes across to you dear reader(s). I expect there will be the odd rant and complaint but that’s life isn’t it? It’s not perfect and I think it would be pretty dull if we all got what we wanted without having to worry about certain things from time to time.

So, what do I hope to achieve in 2010?

I hope to meet some of my friends from the John Howe forum in USA and Canada.

I hope to meet some of my European JH forum friends again and some that I didn’t meet in 2007.

I hope to meet some more Twittermates who all seem to be a lovely bunch so far.

I hope my broken elbow gets sorted out soon (3 weeks today since the accident) and I can carry on enjoying life unhindered by having an unusable right arm.

I hope to be a good friend and to be able to help those who need me.

I hope to learn how to cope with all this technology we have in the house without getting G to explain over and over again what I’m supposed to be doing.

I hope that at some point I can show Graeme how grateful I am to have him in my life. These last 3 weeks would have been unbearable without him.

I hope to get up on a couple of  the high mountains in Cumbria this year, something I have neglected for way too long.

I hope to get back running as soon as possible and manage longer distances without too much trouble.

Well I guess that’s enough for now. Of course I’d like to see the world without wars, famine and injustice and so on but even I know that’ll never happen but I’d love it if I were wrong

All the best to you and yours for 2010!

I have to tell you something about having a house guest…..it’s great fun

As you know Tree Woman decided to come and stay, we invited her many times but she could never make it. Then she says “Yes” and we start to wonder what it will be like with another person in the house, a bit of an odd feeling when you’re just used to the two adults, the dog and the cat

Well as soon as Tree Woman walked through the door the dog started barking but quickly calmed down and now I think she’s in love with her new friend. Well you can’t blame the dog really, I mean TW sits on the floor and massages the dog for ages, the dog appears to be in a trance like state with a totally happy look on her face, it’s quite funny.

Ok the weather hasn’t been too great for seeing the mountains and the wonderful scenery we have around here but I think TW is having a good time. For us having a house guest is a good thing. We haven’t watched much tv, we’ve listened to the radio or cd’s more than we have in a long time but the main thing is we’ve had to go out when we would normally stay in. Well you can’t have a guest and then expect them to stay indoors the whole time they’re here can you?

We’ve done a little walking through woodland, seen waterfalls and lakes, driven up twisty, steep, narrow mountain passes, tried different tea rooms and eaten out more than we have in the past 12 months I think. G and I know what this country is like and now we’re seeing it through the eyes of someone from an place where things are more organised and easy to work out. TW has been looking at the train services and trying to work out the ticket prices, let me tell you it’s almost impossible, it must be so frustrating for her and we can’t help as we don’t understand the system either. In all fairness it’s cheaper and quicker to fly but it’s not so environmentally friendly is it?

The service in some of the tea rooms and shops we’ve visited leaves a lot to be desired too. If only people realised that if they give good service with a smile they’ll get a better tip, being served my coffee by some grumpy looking person isn’t likely to make me want to return, a clean table would be nice too. Ok I know working in such a place isn’t what most of us want to do with our lives but hey we get on and make the most of it and try and enjoy it. Interact with the customers and work life gets better. I know, I’ve been there, done that etc. You can understand why small places go out of business when the staff are so miserable, go to one of the big coffee house chains and you always get polite and pleasant staff, I understand they may be cursing my very existance whilst they are serving me but at least they put a happy face on to disguise it. In one store that sells mobile phones the assisstant was useless and not willing to help, I could have cheerily slapped her but I might have dislodged the inch thick layer of make-up she was wearing. She was chewing gum whilst talking to us and made it obvious that she just wanted to stand there and look pretty…she made me mad. We didn’t get the problem resolved either.

I know all this crappy service goes on but until TW arrived and commented on it I just put up with it but now I’m thinking that I should start complaining when something is wrong, maybe if more people complain then things will change…I doubt it though.

So you see having a house guest brings different aspects of life to your attention and not all of them are good. On the whole I think it’s been a good thing for G and I to have TW here, it helps because TW is a relaxed person and has just fit in well to our home, we don’t feel we have to be always running around making her drinks and stuff and she’s comfortable enough here to know she can help herself to food and drink when she wants it and just do whatever she feels like doing when we’re at work.

I wouldn’t invite just anyone to my stay in my home but I knew from first meeting TW a little over a year ago that she was a nice person. We only met twice before she came here and but now I feel I’ve known her for a many years, we chat a lot about all sorts of things and it seems we have very similar views, we can sit in the same room and not talk and it doesn’t feel awkward, well not to me anyway. She is a kind soul and it’s great to see her looking relaxed and even with a little colour on her cheeks

I know something…I will miss her a lot when she has to return home

Really it is, or rather was, a beautiful morning here. It’s gone a bit cloudy and gloomy now but an hour and a half ago at 6:30am it was lovely.

I decided to take the dog for a walk, just along the lane and either up or down the hill, the dog usually decides when we get to the end The sun was poking it’s way through the clouds and there was a gentle breeze, other than that the only sounds we could here were the birds. Blue tits and great tits fluttering around, the tiny wren darting about, a pair of mallards flying past, a buzzard, now that made me jump a it swooped out of the tree by the pond! There were pheasant in the field, a hare ran along the lane and into a field and then I spied out of the corner of my eye a young deer. It didn’t see me and I was able to stand and watch it for a few minutes. We wandered on a little more, the dog decided to go up the hill today, and a red squirrel ran right out in front of us, over the road and up a tree. The dog was quite excited by this, good job she was on her lead really.On the walk back to the house the deer was still in the field but it spotted me this time but it just stood and watched as I walked past.

I know some people think that I’m mad getting up early on my day off but I know that I get to see things that will be hiding later once all the noise of the farm gets going and people using the lane to get to work scare the creatures away.

In other news the wonderful Tree Woman is coming to stay She arrives tomorrow, we will collect her from the airport and drive her back up here. Then maybe she’ll get to see some of the amazing things I saw this morning during her time here. We have a few places in mind to take TW, if she wants to go of course, and I called into the tourist information place to get some leaflets of different places she might be interested in. We’ll be sure to take her to some of the places the tourists don’t know about too, nice quiet spots where you hardly see a soul. I’m sure I’ll tell you all about it when the time comes

The crazy lady Cyanure says I have to tell you six not important things about myself, hmmm, that’s not easy is it? I mean what may not seem important to me may be important to someone else and vice versa

Well I’ll give it a go….

1. I like making lists of things and they have to be neat. I like my shopping list to be in order if possible and I don’t like crossings out and other folks adding to my list without me knowing about it….oh I sound like some sort of freak Also I have list for things to pack for holidays, presents to buy, cards to make etc.

2. Although I like making lists I am not a very organised person, I am bad at putting things back where they belong at home.

3. At work I hate it if my workspace is untidy and I do everything in an organised way ( I really am a freak!)

4. This morning I am having strawberry yogurt for breakfast and perhaps some toast and marmalade a little later.

5. I prefer wholemeal brown bread to white bread in UK but when I go to Europe I like most types of bread, it’s much nicer than the stuff in UK shops.

6. I like bumble bees and can spot at least 6 different types in my garden.

Well there you have it, six not important things about me, maybe you learnt something about me that you didn’t know before?

Hey look I’m back, gosh it’s been a while hasn’t it?

I hope you’ve all been well? Me? I’ve been great until yesterday when I had a migraine. I know there are plenty of folk out there who get them and we all suffer in different ways too. It’s hard to explain to someone who doesn’t get migraine what it’s really like though. Often they just think that you’re just exaggerating a headache but as we sufferers know migraine is not just a headache.

Sometimes I don’t even get the headache just nausea and visual disturbance, sometimes I just get the headache, different to a ‘normal’ headache but I can’t describe it well. Sort of a contracting and relaxing dull throb over the whole skull rather than a thumping headache….does that make sense? I know what I mean though. Often if I can vomit then that means I am just about recovered and other times if I take my medication quickly enough I can avoid that misery.

For a few days I hadn’t been feeling my usual self, I was a bit lethargic and fuzzy headed and felt nauseous much of the time, I just couldn’t put my finger on the problem though. Yesterday I went to work still feeling “off” but after an hour I realised that I couldn’t see properly. I rumaged through my bag but I had no migraine tablets with me, I asked a colleague who takes the same tablets (don’t worry they’re over the counter meds) but he had none left either. My only choice was to come home where I knew I had a good supply. I tried to explain to my boss but he couldn’t seem to understand that I needed to go stright away. In the end I got my bag and left without any further explanation.

An hour after taking the tablets, which I did as soon as I got through the front door, it was like someone flicked a switch and the visual disturbance stopped. It’s a weird feeling, you’re pleased it’s gone but you half expect it to come back. Yesterday I had the dancing grey squigglies, a bit like when you are out on a hot day and you see heat haze in the distance. That starts at the edge of my vision and works it’s way from one eye right over the other and then I’m ok. Luckily the tablets got rid of it so I didn’t have to cope with it ll day.

Often sleep is the best thing but I just didn’t feel comfortable, I guess feeling nauseous doesn’t help when you try to lie down. I’m still not sure what triggered the migraine, although I guess it could be stress related. It’s been an odd few days at work, quite tense due to an argument where I stood up for myself for a change instead of being a pushover like I usually am. So maybe that was the cause I don’t know, the main thing is I feel fine this morning, and it’s my day off too

Hey, it’s my birthday, I’m 45 already. Where did the time go? It doesn’t seem that long since I was at school and sitting my exams and yet in reality that was 29 years ago…scary or what?

On a good point I have had quite a good day, although I know the evening will involve several phone calls to and from my family. Hubby has to go on a night shift so any idea of going out to celebrate, or even staying in to celebrate, went out the window a week ago. I’ve had loads of birthday greeting from friends over on the John Howe forum, which really made my day. There has been quite a pile of cards and several presents too….I got Johnny Depp in a box, well Sweeny Todd dvd to be more precise, but that will have to wait a week or so before I’ll have chance to sit and watch it in peace.

One of the best presents was the French version of the book Fantasy Art Workshop by John Howe. I got the book as a gift from hubby  and amazingly he had arranged to get the book signed, how cool is that?   A friend in Paris helped with this gift so I have to say thanks to her and also to JH himself for  signing the book.  Fortunately I have the English version already  so that will help as I try to read and translate from French to English.

There will be more presents on Saturday when my family arrive, I’m a big girl now I can cope if I don’t get my gifts on the big day itself….hehehe.

Well, off to eat more yummy chocolate cake

Today when I got home from work I sat waiting with G for a big delivery. It arrived after a couple of hours waiting and we unpacked and assembled the thing. What was it? I hear you ask, well it’s a treadmill/running machine/instrument of torture, call it what you will

The reason for this machine is that after watching this years London Marathon I decided to enter. I have entered the ballot at least and must wait now until October to find out if I have been accepted or not. In the meantime I need to start some training. From my house I can either run downhill (too easy) or uphill (too hard) and as petrol is so expensive at the moment driving to somewhere more level is not a good thing to do. The treadmill is my birthday present, and part G’s late birthday present too.

So why the London Marathon? It looks fun that’s why. I’ve watched it every year on the tv and said to myself that one year I will run in it. I want to do this before I reach 50, as I turn 45 this year I thought if I didn’t apply now then I probably never would. Also it gives me 5 years to be accepted in the ballot. Along with this I will run for charity, not 1 but 5, for several reasons. The charities will be…

Cancer Research

The Stroke Association

The British Heart Foundation

The Alzheimers Society

Diabetes UK

The reasons I picked these charities are as follows…both my parents have diabetes, the chances are quite high that if I don’t keep on top of my weight and fitness that I will get it too.

Graeme’s grandfather and many friends relations have suffered Alzheimers, it’s a frustrating illness and I wish there was a way to prevent it.

In the UK strokes are the 3rd biggest killer, many people on my post round have suffered strokes, some survived, some didn’t.

Heart problems are also in my family, another reason to keep my fitness levels up, and my Mum and Dad wouldn’t be here if there hadn’t been so much research done in the past.

Cancer affects too many people, again a few people on my post round are battling this and a friend has recently had her grandmother go through a serious operation to remove her cancer.

I’m no scientist and I can’t find a miracle cure for any of these illnesses but maybe, just maybe, the money I raise for these charities will help some clever person to find a cure or a treatment in the future.

If I get a place in the London Marathon then I plan to gather the names of the people I know and also friends relations who have suffered from these diseases and put the names on my running shirt so that all those people know I’m running for them. Having the names on my shirt will be a way of keeping me going through those 26miles 385 yards (42.195k). At the moment I can run the 385 yards no problem, it’s the 26 miles I need to conquer