Category Archives: Uncategorized

New Year’s Day

A bright, chilly day for a walk, with a few others out and about filling their lungs with sharp 2013 air. Definitely a day for a jersey. Happy New Year.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Seasonal Traditions

Everyone has their Christmas traditions. In our household, a Christmas tradition in recent years has been for Hamish, aging literary whippet, with a manly white chest  and so on, to acquire an indisposition of some kind. It seems to be … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Spare a thought or more

Every five minutes someone in the UK suffers a stroke. Of those who survive, it’s all about loss. Many will be left with major problems such as significant physical disability, significant loss of one or more of the senses we … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Cards and messages

It is at this time of year that you know who your friends are. By that I don’t mean numbers of Christmas cards and messages received, though that is part of it. No, I mean the quality of message received. … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Words

I am eternally grateful that the stroke I suffered on 18 July 2004 did not take away my power to speak, reason and understand – in short, to enjoy language. Since that date I have met many stroke survivors who … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Frozen Paws

  Master has taught me a new word – it is “empathy”. So I am posting to let you know that I have empathy with anyone out there in the frozen wastes of north-east Scotland who has had to go … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Cross Party Groups

When our three children were young I remember them discussing the nature of crosswords – along the lines of: Why is mum so interested in cross words? Why would they (ie Mum and Dad) be so interested in angry words? … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

A Compassionate Life

A small group of us have been meeting over the last few weeks to discuss Karen Armstrong’s book Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life. We had previously discussed her book The Case for God and subsequently Richard Dawkins’ book The … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Single rooms in hospitals

There is an interesting article in today’s Scottish Review about single rooms in hospitals. The writer makes the point that there is a cost difference of 15% between building a hospital with a 50/50 mix of 4-bed wards and single … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Stroke and the benefits system

The Stroke Association has a new campaign to draw attention to the circumstances faced by younger stroke survivors. It’s called Life After Stroke. Stroke has a drastic impact on younger people’s finances and relationships. Working age stroke survivors, already forced … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment