Tomorrow Wednesday 10th I go for my scans at the Royal Marsden at Sutton and on Friday I see Professor Cunningham at Fulham Road so keep your fingers crossed.
I wonder if there is any significance in the fact that every time I go to the Marsden it snows. The forecast is for 6 inches by the weekend!
Andy
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Sunday, 7 February 2010
More memories
I am writing this at 3 in the morning as I can not sleep for various reasons.
As I said in my previous entry my interest in railways was sparked by the major rebuilding works in Kent and this led on to undertaking many trips by train with a very good friend of mine. We ventured far and wide, the longest trip being to Edinburgh and back for the day. Of course by the time I was a teenager the country was in the midst of the Beeching cuts which were the first attempt to run railways profitably and we travelled many miles on soon to be closed lines and on one occasion we were actually on the last train and saw the ritual coffin being loaded on to the train. This was common practice to indicate that the line was being laid to rest.
One other thing that came out of these 'last' journeys was an understanding of the history of the lines and the reason that they were built. The most common reason was for freight traffic especially perrishable food stuffs, until the advent of the railways it was impossible to buy fresh fish in Manchester for example. They also enabled local populations to travel to major towns to visit markets. In a lot of places there was a duplication of lines by competing companies.
A good example of this is the routes to Scotland, the two main routes to Scotland were the East and West Coast routes but ther was another competitor in the form of the Midland railway who fed up with the delays to ther traffic on other companies lines built the Settle and Carlisle railway which became known as The Long Drag due to the fearsome gradients. It was also the last main line railway to be built purely by manual labour. Despite numerous attempts to close this line it is still going strong today. Sadly it was on this line that the accident at Hawes Junction occured on Christmas Eve 1910, the story of which should be compulsory reading for anyone interested in human nature and frailties.
Over the years I have built up a collection of railway history books, the first one I purchased was History of The Southern Railway all 3500 pages as well as lots of historical timetables which give a fascinating insite into live in previous years. I also read accident reports from the RAIB where incidents on the railway are thoroughly investigated and it can take over a year to be published.
I think that now brings us up to 7th september 1968 the day I joined the South Eastern division of British Rails Southern Region.
Sorry if this has been a rather long (and probably boring) entry but I can not sleep probably because I have a nuclear scan and consultants visit next week and its rather playing on my mind.
Sadly over the years I have lost contact with my friend but if by any chance anybody knows Peter Crouch who was last heard of living in the York area, I would love to make contact again.
Andy
As I said in my previous entry my interest in railways was sparked by the major rebuilding works in Kent and this led on to undertaking many trips by train with a very good friend of mine. We ventured far and wide, the longest trip being to Edinburgh and back for the day. Of course by the time I was a teenager the country was in the midst of the Beeching cuts which were the first attempt to run railways profitably and we travelled many miles on soon to be closed lines and on one occasion we were actually on the last train and saw the ritual coffin being loaded on to the train. This was common practice to indicate that the line was being laid to rest.
One other thing that came out of these 'last' journeys was an understanding of the history of the lines and the reason that they were built. The most common reason was for freight traffic especially perrishable food stuffs, until the advent of the railways it was impossible to buy fresh fish in Manchester for example. They also enabled local populations to travel to major towns to visit markets. In a lot of places there was a duplication of lines by competing companies.
A good example of this is the routes to Scotland, the two main routes to Scotland were the East and West Coast routes but ther was another competitor in the form of the Midland railway who fed up with the delays to ther traffic on other companies lines built the Settle and Carlisle railway which became known as The Long Drag due to the fearsome gradients. It was also the last main line railway to be built purely by manual labour. Despite numerous attempts to close this line it is still going strong today. Sadly it was on this line that the accident at Hawes Junction occured on Christmas Eve 1910, the story of which should be compulsory reading for anyone interested in human nature and frailties.
Over the years I have built up a collection of railway history books, the first one I purchased was History of The Southern Railway all 3500 pages as well as lots of historical timetables which give a fascinating insite into live in previous years. I also read accident reports from the RAIB where incidents on the railway are thoroughly investigated and it can take over a year to be published.
I think that now brings us up to 7th september 1968 the day I joined the South Eastern division of British Rails Southern Region.
Sorry if this has been a rather long (and probably boring) entry but I can not sleep probably because I have a nuclear scan and consultants visit next week and its rather playing on my mind.
Sadly over the years I have lost contact with my friend but if by any chance anybody knows Peter Crouch who was last heard of living in the York area, I would love to make contact again.
Andy
Thursday, 4 February 2010
My kind of shopping!
I had cause to visit a local supermarket today-you probably know it as the one where every little helps.
Well it certainly helped today, I spotted a packet of flaky pastry mince pies reduced from £1 to 40p and being a sucker for mince pies into the basket they went. When I reached the checkout they went through at the original price of £1 and when I queeried the cashier voided the transaction and gave me a refund of £1.20!
As they say every little helps!
Andy
Well it certainly helped today, I spotted a packet of flaky pastry mince pies reduced from £1 to 40p and being a sucker for mince pies into the basket they went. When I reached the checkout they went through at the original price of £1 and when I queeried the cashier voided the transaction and gave me a refund of £1.20!
As they say every little helps!
Andy
Monday, 1 February 2010
This is rather worrying!
Have just heard that one local authority in Kent has arranged for taxi driver application forms to be printed in braille. Think I will get the bus!
Andy
Andy
Sunday, 31 January 2010
Back to the past
To explain my interest in railways I must go back many years.
In 1956 I was living very close to the Kent Coast main line which was in the process of being electrified as part of the 1955 modernisation scheme. What made a lasting impression on me was the section of line between Bickley and Swanley was being quadrupled. This involved massive earthworks and major bridge rebuilding including a five arch viaduct. This was akin to building a motorway on top of an existing road which was still open to traffic.
Not for me was there any interest in collecting engine numbers which I think must be a pretty boring pastime. Instead I developed an interest in the reason why railway lines were built where they were and the impact on the community and also the politics behind them. For instance in Kent there were two major railway companies the South Eastern and the London, Chatham and Dover who were in fierce competition with each other and led to many duplicated routes, even to this day there are 12 routes between London and Dover but try and get from Faversham to Tonbridge is a complicated journey to say the least!
I hope this makes sense and I hope it will help you understand future memories.
Andy
In 1956 I was living very close to the Kent Coast main line which was in the process of being electrified as part of the 1955 modernisation scheme. What made a lasting impression on me was the section of line between Bickley and Swanley was being quadrupled. This involved massive earthworks and major bridge rebuilding including a five arch viaduct. This was akin to building a motorway on top of an existing road which was still open to traffic.
Not for me was there any interest in collecting engine numbers which I think must be a pretty boring pastime. Instead I developed an interest in the reason why railway lines were built where they were and the impact on the community and also the politics behind them. For instance in Kent there were two major railway companies the South Eastern and the London, Chatham and Dover who were in fierce competition with each other and led to many duplicated routes, even to this day there are 12 routes between London and Dover but try and get from Faversham to Tonbridge is a complicated journey to say the least!
I hope this makes sense and I hope it will help you understand future memories.
Andy
Monday, 18 January 2010
The Royal Marsden
Hello
I went to the Royal Marsden Hospital in London on Friday. When I left I was in quite a euphoric mood as they said that depending on the results of a CT and PET scans they could offer me some treatment. On the way home I sent text messages to various friends saying that it was good news.
However what I did not expect was the feelings and emotions I was going to go through over the weekend. For whatever reason I woke up about 1 on Saturday morning convinced that I was going to die soon a feeling that stayed with me the whole weekend. Even this morning I was awake about 3.30 and had a pain in my right side that did not want to go away. Fortunately by the time I got up at 5.30 it had gone and has not come back.
Over the last year I have never had feelings like this and I was struggling to cope with them. I have always tried to stay positive but I can truthfully say it was the worst couple of days I have ever known.
I will continue with some more memories next time but at the moment I am listening to Beth Nielsen Chapman being interviewed by Roger Day on BBC Radio Kent.
Andy
I went to the Royal Marsden Hospital in London on Friday. When I left I was in quite a euphoric mood as they said that depending on the results of a CT and PET scans they could offer me some treatment. On the way home I sent text messages to various friends saying that it was good news.
However what I did not expect was the feelings and emotions I was going to go through over the weekend. For whatever reason I woke up about 1 on Saturday morning convinced that I was going to die soon a feeling that stayed with me the whole weekend. Even this morning I was awake about 3.30 and had a pain in my right side that did not want to go away. Fortunately by the time I got up at 5.30 it had gone and has not come back.
Over the last year I have never had feelings like this and I was struggling to cope with them. I have always tried to stay positive but I can truthfully say it was the worst couple of days I have ever known.
I will continue with some more memories next time but at the moment I am listening to Beth Nielsen Chapman being interviewed by Roger Day on BBC Radio Kent.
Andy
Tuesday, 12 January 2010
Memories
Now that the big freeze seems to be relenting if only for a short while it seems to be as good a time as any to start reminiscing.
To understand my memories and attitudes I suppose you really ought to know something about me!
Well I was unleashed on an unsuspecting world at the unearthly time of 5.11 on the morning of 29November 1951. Like a lot of people I can not say that I remember anything of my childhood before starting school. I can even remember my first teachers name-Miss Williams. Life at home was I suppose fairly ordinary with one major exception. My father ran his own cycle repair shop and even in those days small traders were struggling and my parents spent a long time deciding to sell the shop and take a paid position as a manager therefore ensuring a regular income. In the end they decided to sell. My Mother even delayed buying the Sunday joint until after 4 on Saturday afternoon when the local butcher reduced the cost by a shilling.
Money might not have been plentiful but two things were, love and respect. These two things have stayed with me all my life and they are still very important to me. Love is a strange thing to describe, I never use the word with anything but the utmost sincerity.
Sadly my Father died in 1961 and in the last year of his life he could not manage to climb the stairs and he slept downstairs and many mornings I would wake early and go downstairs just to talk to him. Despite his illness he was adamant that life should go on and not stop just for him, an attitude that I have followed during my illness. Probably every body says this but my Father was a great man and in those conversations he taught me a lot of life skills especially on an interpersonal basis.
After my Father died we spent every Christmas with my Grandmother and I well remember Boxing Day 1962 and when it started snowing in the evening one of my Uncles said 'it will turn to rain by the morning'! Well as history records it did not and it snowed every day until March.
In those days the benefits that are available now simply did not exist and my Mother must have struggled to bring us two boys up. This was something that I was aware of at the time but only realised the enormity of it in later years. Again I have learnt another lesson here- people are more important than any possession. Even to this day my philosophy has been to try and help people be happy and content.
I hope this explains something of my attitude to life and even though my life is fragile due to cancer With all sincerity I hope that part of my legacy will be that I spread just a little love and care.
On the subject of health my appointment at The Royal Marsden is this Friday.
Andy
To understand my memories and attitudes I suppose you really ought to know something about me!
Well I was unleashed on an unsuspecting world at the unearthly time of 5.11 on the morning of 29November 1951. Like a lot of people I can not say that I remember anything of my childhood before starting school. I can even remember my first teachers name-Miss Williams. Life at home was I suppose fairly ordinary with one major exception. My father ran his own cycle repair shop and even in those days small traders were struggling and my parents spent a long time deciding to sell the shop and take a paid position as a manager therefore ensuring a regular income. In the end they decided to sell. My Mother even delayed buying the Sunday joint until after 4 on Saturday afternoon when the local butcher reduced the cost by a shilling.
Money might not have been plentiful but two things were, love and respect. These two things have stayed with me all my life and they are still very important to me. Love is a strange thing to describe, I never use the word with anything but the utmost sincerity.
Sadly my Father died in 1961 and in the last year of his life he could not manage to climb the stairs and he slept downstairs and many mornings I would wake early and go downstairs just to talk to him. Despite his illness he was adamant that life should go on and not stop just for him, an attitude that I have followed during my illness. Probably every body says this but my Father was a great man and in those conversations he taught me a lot of life skills especially on an interpersonal basis.
After my Father died we spent every Christmas with my Grandmother and I well remember Boxing Day 1962 and when it started snowing in the evening one of my Uncles said 'it will turn to rain by the morning'! Well as history records it did not and it snowed every day until March.
In those days the benefits that are available now simply did not exist and my Mother must have struggled to bring us two boys up. This was something that I was aware of at the time but only realised the enormity of it in later years. Again I have learnt another lesson here- people are more important than any possession. Even to this day my philosophy has been to try and help people be happy and content.
I hope this explains something of my attitude to life and even though my life is fragile due to cancer With all sincerity I hope that part of my legacy will be that I spread just a little love and care.
On the subject of health my appointment at The Royal Marsden is this Friday.
Andy
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