Moving Swiftly on…

My late mum was the fount of all knowledge when it came to family history. She knew the names of all the distant cousins; who was born out of wedlock; who had died before their time and why; who had problems with alcohol; who was concealing their extra-marital affairs; who was LGBT in an era

Oi! Pedro! …No!

I’ve admired your films and enjoy them for their melodrama, irreverent humour, bold colour, glossy décor, quotations from popular culture, and complex narratives. I appreciate that desire, passion, family, and identity are among your most prevalent subjects in your films and I recognise that your work represents a cultural renaissance that followed the end of

Under the radar

When I reached the age of thirty, I was helping my father-in-law do some gardening when I bent over to pick up a leaf and I felt a twang somewhere in my lumbar region. This twang put me completely out-of-action for a week or so afterwards. My GP had simply smiled and said, “welcome to

Hi! How are you?

“I’m pretty shit to be honest. I’m in the crap gap. “Sorry, I should explain. It’s that time between my medication wearing off and my next dose or infusion. I get an infusion every six months… “In hospital, yeah. I have to go to Sheffield for it. I get a day off from work for

An assault on the senses

I’ve looked deep into the eyes of the MonSter. When I did, everything shimmered with radiating rainbow coloured clouds. Whenever I glance to the left, he wiggles his outstretched claws and warps the atmosphere so that everything I see, I see twice. When I stroke my hands across his shaggy hide, my fingertips often tingle,

“C’mon get in the car. Let’s go for a ride somewhere…”

“So, where are you guys from? “The UK? Do you guys know Totten-Ham? “See, I follow your soccer and I support Totten-Ham Hotspur. I’m a Hotspur fan. “Do you know why I support Hotspur? “Well, I’m a fan of the Dave Clarke 5, and they’re from Totten-Ham, and they support Hotspur. “Do you know the

A gift to medical science

One of my new year’s resolutions (made in April or thereabouts) was to keep in touch with people more; become a little bit less of a hermit, and generally be more sociable. Those of you who know me well, might think that a bit of a tall order, but I figured the COVID lockdown hadn’t

DVLA 2022

Like most MSers in the UK, I have to renew my driving license every three years. What should be a simple job – where I tell the licensing authority (the DVLA) that nothing has changed and I get my licence back – often turns into a year-long tug-of-war between me and the authorities. Because you’re

The Magical Brain

Blimey, this feels a bit like a newsletter, but I think there’s a few updates and loose ends on recent posts to tie up, so here goes: Fampridine I have my first official batch of fampridine to help with my mobility. As mentioned before, I hadn’t really noticed how much it was helping me walk

Fampridine trial thoughts

I’ve just come off my trial period of Fampridine and I’ve decided to carry on with it. Fampridine is a potassium channel blocker which ultimately means that messages can travel along nerves more efficiently. It’s prescribed for MS patients like me, with a walking disability. It’s something I would take alongside the other medications I’m