On Sunday November 29th it will be my 58th birthday. So what you might say we all have a birthday every year!
Well this time last year I did not imagine what the next 12 months would bring including a week long spell in intensive care when they thought I would not live longer than 24 hours. My disease has now been classed as incurable but I am actually going back to work on Tuesday 1st December. Mind you I have 31 days holiday to use up by the end of the year! On a five day week that is going to be interesting......
I am pleased to say that I feel very well and even my GP says I look disgustingly healthy so instead of sitting round at home vegetating going back to work was an easy decision to make.
As it is my birthday I thought I would take the opportunity to say a very big thank you to all my followers and say a very large THANK YOU to you all. Your support has has been very important to me and has helped me through some black times.
As a professional railwayman the news of the train crash in Russia saddens me especially as it appears to have been caused by an act of terrorism.
I do not know if the person who left an anonymous comment a couple of weeks ago about the Bluebell Hill Ghost entry I made back in February is reading this but I am not certain if he is interested in just that incident or ghosts in general. If it is in general I have recently been reading about a ghostly apparition following a railway fatality in Northern England.
Andy
Saturday 28 November 2009
Saturday 21 November 2009
If you do not like the word....
I am slightly amused by a news item today.
One of the leading insurance companies has just launched a competition to replace the word pension as apparently the younger generation consider the word has connotations with getting old. The prize is £4953 the amount of state 'pension' a single person receives! Why change a word that surely everybody knows and understands. No matter what you call it you should start saving for it about 10 years before you are born to enable you to retire in a modicum of comfort in your old age.
Mind you certain words in the English language conjure up images which are not strictly true. For example the word spinster means an unmarried woman but can conjure up images of a Miss Havisham kind of character.
On a personal note I saw the consultant at Maidstone Hospital the other day and he is suggesting that I return to work. As a result I am seeing the company doctor next Tuesday. The consultant said that I look very fit and healthy and am not exhibiting any symptoms of NHL there is a good chance that the Ofatumumab is still working on the tumour. Time alone will be the answer to that one I think. I have a CT scan booked on December 21st and see the consultant on January 5th.
As for going back to work it sounds like a good idea as I have 30 days leave to use up by the end of the year!
Andy
One of the leading insurance companies has just launched a competition to replace the word pension as apparently the younger generation consider the word has connotations with getting old. The prize is £4953 the amount of state 'pension' a single person receives! Why change a word that surely everybody knows and understands. No matter what you call it you should start saving for it about 10 years before you are born to enable you to retire in a modicum of comfort in your old age.
Mind you certain words in the English language conjure up images which are not strictly true. For example the word spinster means an unmarried woman but can conjure up images of a Miss Havisham kind of character.
On a personal note I saw the consultant at Maidstone Hospital the other day and he is suggesting that I return to work. As a result I am seeing the company doctor next Tuesday. The consultant said that I look very fit and healthy and am not exhibiting any symptoms of NHL there is a good chance that the Ofatumumab is still working on the tumour. Time alone will be the answer to that one I think. I have a CT scan booked on December 21st and see the consultant on January 5th.
As for going back to work it sounds like a good idea as I have 30 days leave to use up by the end of the year!
Andy
Saturday 14 November 2009
The Ghost of Bluebell Hill
Back in February I did a blog entry about the ghost on Bluebell Hill. I have just received an anonymous comment on that entry so I am going to reply through here in the hope that the reply reaches the right person.
I must first of all point out that I have only lived in the Maidstone area since 1990 some 25 years after the fatal road crash which is supposed to have caused the haunting. Therefore the only information I have about the incident is what is freely available on the internet and I have no pictures other than those that are available on the websites. In my original posting I did cast doubts if this crash was the cause of the haunting especially as the sightings vary from a 10 year old girl through a young woman to an elderly person.
Sorry that I can not be any more help and I hope you manage to pick this message up.
Andy
I must first of all point out that I have only lived in the Maidstone area since 1990 some 25 years after the fatal road crash which is supposed to have caused the haunting. Therefore the only information I have about the incident is what is freely available on the internet and I have no pictures other than those that are available on the websites. In my original posting I did cast doubts if this crash was the cause of the haunting especially as the sightings vary from a 10 year old girl through a young woman to an elderly person.
Sorry that I can not be any more help and I hope you manage to pick this message up.
Andy
Tuesday 3 November 2009
High speed, fireworks and football!
A strange combination maybe but thats whats happening.
On Saturday I went up to London and back on South Easterns new high speed train. It travels at 140 mph and the journey from Ashford to London takes 37 minutes as opposed to the hour plus taken by conventional trains. As it was only a preview service the train was not full but when full service starts on December 13th it should attract a lot of custom. Not being full I was able to sit back and enjoy the ride which was very smooth and quiet.
This coming Sunday I am going to the firework display at Leeds Castle advertised as the loveliest castle in the world. It always amazes me that some people think that the castle is situated in Leeds Yorkshire but it is actually in the village of Leeds in Kent. The only other thing Leeds in Kent is famous for is the regularity of HGVs getting jammed together when trying to pass on the road, it is time that Maidstone had another bypass with east/west and north/south links.
As for football despite drawing 3 all with Hartlepool my club Brighton and Hove Albion sacked there manager who had been there for all of eight months. I will be the first to admit that our results this season have been lacklustre to say the least and at the moment we are only one position above the drop zone. However as a small club with a limited budget and no proper home ground we can not go out and get the players we want like Manchester United et al can do. Lets hope the new manager whoever he (or she) is can work miracles. Incidentally have you noticed how few women are involved in football management?
Andy
On Saturday I went up to London and back on South Easterns new high speed train. It travels at 140 mph and the journey from Ashford to London takes 37 minutes as opposed to the hour plus taken by conventional trains. As it was only a preview service the train was not full but when full service starts on December 13th it should attract a lot of custom. Not being full I was able to sit back and enjoy the ride which was very smooth and quiet.
This coming Sunday I am going to the firework display at Leeds Castle advertised as the loveliest castle in the world. It always amazes me that some people think that the castle is situated in Leeds Yorkshire but it is actually in the village of Leeds in Kent. The only other thing Leeds in Kent is famous for is the regularity of HGVs getting jammed together when trying to pass on the road, it is time that Maidstone had another bypass with east/west and north/south links.
As for football despite drawing 3 all with Hartlepool my club Brighton and Hove Albion sacked there manager who had been there for all of eight months. I will be the first to admit that our results this season have been lacklustre to say the least and at the moment we are only one position above the drop zone. However as a small club with a limited budget and no proper home ground we can not go out and get the players we want like Manchester United et al can do. Lets hope the new manager whoever he (or she) is can work miracles. Incidentally have you noticed how few women are involved in football management?
Andy
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