This time of year...

I have for a long time believed that the weather has a direct effect on a person's mental health. Having said that, I've always doubted to what extent I am affected by it.
This week, the weather has been pretty awful. It has been damp, grey and misty. The roads, especially around here, are covered in mud making any attempt to maintain a clean car utterly futile. Anyone suffering from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) will be finding it particularly difficult. I know people who live in dread of the Winter months. Light boxes go some way to lessen the effects and many insist on keeping lights on day and night. It's how they cope.
For me, the current weather conditions do certainly impact on my mood, though I couldn't say by how much. There is an enormous difference between feeling simply down and missing the sun to feeling the effects of clinical depression and the crippling despair that this brings. There is seldom ever a unique trigger that sets off a bout of depression. I suspect it is normally a combination of things that contribute to creating a chemical imbalance. Once started, the effects of the imbalance are impossible to reverse - one just has to ride it out and hope it doesn't last too long.
People I know suffer this condition. I see when they are on a high and I see them when they are at their lowest. There is nothing I can do to lessen the effects or make them feel better. I can only empathise with them. I understand what they are going through.
There are others I know who find the change from long warm Summer days to shorter colder Winter days difficult to cope with. Often sports and other recreational activities with friends are curtailed until the following season and hours normally occupied in such pursuits are instead spent alone. It is very easy to become low and despondent. Add to this Seasonal Affective Disorder and this can be a tough time for many.

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.