A Wonderful Rainbow

I have not long returned from Andrew Harrison's funeral at Nocton in Lincolnshire. I was struck by the huge number of people who attended, I counted 200 in front of me and there must have been a similar number behind. Some of them I knew, and others I didn't, but all had been touched by Andrew in some way during his life. The emotion was real and raw and the enormity of Andrew's loss was etched on the faces of all present.
The service was brief and alternative, in keeping with Andrew's wishes. The coffin was decorated with a rainbow pattern, in keeping with his alter ego, 'Captain Rainbow'. Everything was tastefully done and the applause given by those gathered whilst the coffin was lowered into the ground was fitting and appropriate.
It felt strangely wrong to walk away but I had an overwhelming sense that we were all off to carry on the great work Andrew had done until his passing. I feel confident he would wish us to carry on.
The drive home was solemn I discussed with my colleague how we could affiliate ourselves more closely with SHINE. This is something we are determined to do.
Something rather extraordinary happened as we neared Gedney. A wonderful bright orange sunset appeared behind us, where we had come from and in front of us was the arch of a wonderful rainbow. I looked at my colleague and said 'That's Andrew's work... He's done that'. My colleague smiled and told me she was about to say exactly the same thing.
Farewell Andrew. Thanks and rest in peace.

Tony Nicklinson, RIP

Tony Nicklinson who has suffered with 'Locked-In Syndrome' and constant pain for many years passed away earlier today. Whilst this is very sad and a tragic loss for his family, friends and relatives, there is also relief that finally Tony is free from pain and at rest. I like to think that Tony has passed on to a better place, though none of us can predict the afterlife. He is now where he wanted so much to be and I can't help thinking that his suffering could have been curtailed a lot sooner if those in power had the courage to make the right decisions and place responsibility with the person concerned.
Rest In Peace Tony, and may we learn from your life and help others in similar situations.

A Misleading Provider, Olympic Predictions & A Fond Farewell

A pretty stressful week so far which has been dominated by a red reminder from our new electricity provider for the princely sum of £900. This was actually the first notification of any kind that we owed the money and following a call to them querying the amount where I was asked to provide a meter reading, we then received a revised bill for the ludicrous figure of £1,047!
I probably covered this some time ago, but we decided to switch to NPower due to EOn's inability to distinguish me at my address from my father at a completely different address. This persisted for some time and they managed to confuse the two accounts causing enormous stress. They weren't at all interested in retaining us as a customer so we jumped ship to NPower having been promised by them that they would provide a better service with lower monthly bills. How wrong we were, and instead of realistic charges, we were charged double. What's more, they didn't choose to inform us of these charges until now.
So following another stressful phone call yesterday by me (as the account is in my name), it has been agreed that we get moved to a lower tariff and the debt be added to the monthly payment in manageable amounts. Why they didn't put us onto a lower tariff right at the start I do not know. One thing's for sure though, they will be getting a letter of complaint next week, and if we aren't compensated I'll event be writing to the Ombudsman as this has to be tantamount to mis-selling. NPower... not a good advertisement for you, is it?

As we edge closer to the biggest event this country will ever hold, there are mounting concerns over security provision, traffic and transport concerns and the placing of missile systems in residential areas of London. I find it very had to accept any notion or guarantee that the event will pass without incident. I doubt very much whether anyone will attempt to disrupt the games purposely - I suspect our defences will be one of the few things we would have got right. Instead, I suspect that the event will fall foul to at least one of the following (assuming the weather doesn't ruin the whole thing)...

• Traffic congestion  & gridlocked roads.
• Overloaded public transport system and overcrowded stations.
• Failure of mobile phone networks due to overloading.
• Overloading of Internet services.
• Overcrowding and delays at airports.
• Flooding of road and rail routes affecting transit.

I don't wish to be pessimistic, but I really believe that the impact on our already stretched infrastructure have been hugely underestimated. I wonder how many of these I will be ticking?

Yesterday we held our first A&D Support Group meeting at our new venue, the IVO Centre in Spalding. I hadn't been there before and did have trouble locating it at first (due mainly to an upside-down map), but I was very impressed when I finally arrived. The facilities are excellent and we were able to spent the duration of our time there in the garden, a bonus considering the diabolical weather we have been suffering.
I have a feeling over time that our regular venue at the hospital will fall out of favour and that the preference will be to meet at our new venue. There was certainly a general view that we could all 'be ourselves' and not feel slightly intimidated and restrained by our use of NHS premises. In summary, it went well, very well and the atmosphere was a complete contrast to what we have been used to. The group was relaxed, at ease and unencumbered by their surroundings. I look forward to our future meetings there.

It's difficult to believe that the school Summer holiday period is to begin in a week's time. All over the country arrangements are being made for the six week period and many will be taking time off from work for breaks by the sea or at activity or caravan parks. A very lucky few will be off to foreign shores escaping our wet British Summer and the Olympics.

Many parents of school-age children received letters from Lincolnshire NHS this week explaining where their children sit on the Body Mass Index Scale designed to separate the fit from the Obese. We received one of these letters for our son. He scored 99 which places him at the 'Clinically Obese' level. There is nothing of him. OK, he has a little puppy fat, but that's all. He eats a balanced diet and he is healthy. I really don't think letters like this serve any real use other than to turn people against the government led 'nanny state' that is pervading more and more of our lives. Obesity needs to be tacked at source, namely the food industry. Allowing McDonald's and Coke to be major sponsors of the Olympic Games says everything about our government's commitment to tackling obesity.

Finally, it was so sad to hear that Eric Sykes had passed away this week. I'll always remember with fondness his gentle humour and unique talents, much of which is recorded for future generations to appreciate and enjoy as much as I have. Rest In Peace.

RIP Robin Gibb

So sad it was to wake up this morning to the news that Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees had lost his fight against cancer. Once again, we have lost some very unique talent though we can take comfort in knowing that the music he produced has been recorded to be enjoyed for years to come. I wonder how many of us have been whistling or humming the tunes to some of their many tracks? I know I have.
RIP Robin.

I've been a little disjointed these last few days, busy trying to update my website and spending hours trying to fix a problem I have with the navigation bars. I'd rather not publish the site if part of it isn't working so it is down for maintenance until I manage to fix everything.

I'm hoping to hear something about my volunteering for the NHS in Spalding soon. In the meantime, I've applied for a new role that I discovered on the King's Lynn NHS website for an ambulance driver and carer. It involves driving disabled and vulnerable patients between the hospitals and home and providing basic care where required. There's a lot of training provided and the mix of driving and care would I think be very enjoyable. Early days of course but I'm as always hopeful.

A Helpless Watcher & RIP Whitney Houston

When I think about the current world situation, I feel helpless. The only other time I really felt like this was during the Yugoslavia conflict and civil war in 1991-95. Back then, the tragedy was worsened by the fact that countries of the UN stood back and did nothing. The killing of innocent men, women and children became an all too common sight on our TV screens and it soon became apparent that genocide was taking place practically on our doorstep. As now, much of what we saw on TV and through the media was filtered for mass consumption. But if you ventured further beyond the censored version of events, as I did, the real horror of what was happening could be found. The then young Internet showed photographs of charred remains of those who had become herded into rooms and set alight. I recall also photographs of those trying in vain to escape deliberately targeted in supposedly safe convoys, their charred bodies still sat in the mangled frames of the vehicles. I'll never forget the audio and video clips that found their way onto the Internet, or the patchy broadcasts from radio stations and their cries for help in between bombing raids. For this was a truly horrific time in our recent history and one for which those who governed at the time should be ashamed and accountable for their inaction.
This leads me to the present situation and Syria where the events witnessed all too close to home have a real danger of being repeated. Once again, we find ourselves looking on in sympathy as those opposed to a brutal regime are targeted along with the innocent, old and young. I am amazed that given the conflicts that have taken place on recent history, we have clearly learnt nothing. We have a United Nations which is powerless to act to prevent innocent people from being killed. Surely where there is indisputable proof of such atrocities, this should be justification alone for some form of intervention. Apparently not. So faced with no other option, the majority it seems simply turn a blind eye to what's going on. Is this how things should be? Simply ignore what is going on and hope it all goes away? Of course there is more to it than that and things are never that simple. There are players in this game who have a vested interest (and money) in what's going on. Russia have a significant base in Syria and continue to fund and provide arms to the regime. The biggest fear it seems is the reluctance to upset them, for we all know where this could lead. So we watch on helpless placing our faith in negotiators and hoping for a common sense outcome. The more I try to convince myself of this, the more I think about Yugoslavia and our collective impotence to do anything about it.

It seems that shocking news is becoming more common and I say this we have lost another music icon, Whitney Houston. This follows the death in the UK last year of another artist of the genre, Amy Winehouse. Of course there is much speculation as to the cause of her early death, but addiction is likely to have contributed. We'll learn more during the coming days, but whatever the cause, this is a tragic and shocking loss.

A sad week

This week will I think be remembered for all the wrong reasons. We had the phone hacking scandal hearings at the beginning of the week, we’ve seen evil at its very worst in Norway and now one of the finest singers of our generation has been found dead. Amy Winehouse, Rest In Peace. What a terrible waste of life and talent…