I awoke to a rather miserable looking day and sure enough the rain started to fall. The prevailing winds from the Atlantic had bought us a blessing in the form of rain but it is not always seen that way.

I have not been to my coffee morning at All Saints Church in Paulton for some weeks now mainly because I have not been around. I decided to go because I didn’t want to get too much out of touch with the friendly and warm people that I have associated with for ….  it must be the better part of seven years now.

I told myself as I entered the church that I was going to make a difference to someone and I probably won’t know what difference I will make. There are two ladies who serve cake which they themselves have cooked, and also coffee. There is a five week rota so the voluntary jobs are not too demanding.

I greeted one of the ladies serving the coffee to say that I had just come back from Margate. Her eyes lit up and said that many years ago when she was younger they used to go on holidays there every year and loved the walks and the cliffs.   I was able to  update her on the latest and we discussed the proximity of Broadstairs and Ramsgate, both an easy distance away where in my view you could spend a very nice week.

I also had a discussion about stiffness and rheumatism and was it reversible? It seems that insofar as it is due to wear and tear it is irreversible but there are things that you can do, for example exercises, to keep this condition from developing.  The National Health Service here in England seems to be quite strict on this one. They say if you’re joints are stiff for more than 30 minutes after waking up ask for an urgent GP appointment or get help from the NHS 111. If you have joint pain and the skin around it is swollen and feels hot you have joint pain and feel generally unwell and have a high temperature or feel hot and shivery you definitely need help. This is fibromyalgia.

To distinguish on this we have rheumatoid arthritis which is a long-term condition that causes pain, swelling and stiffness in the joints. The condition usually affects the hands, feet and wrists. There may be periods when symptoms become worse known as flair ups or flares. Overall, rheumatic conditions of caused by the wear of articular cartridge, information of a joint, or bone decalsification. Rheumatic pain may occur from the same joint  or from structures around its such as the muscles, tendons etc

Either way it looks like it is not attention seeking to get the opinion of a doctor if you can get an appointment that is.  I have a tendency to leave symptoms until they are at an advanced stage and I have to take notes of them. This is the bad habit that I must lose especially as I get older.

I found that quite a thought-provoking discussion so thank you ladies for sharing that.  One of the ladies had a stiff knee joint but just put up with it I suspect because it would take so long to get the appropriate medical attention

I also had a discussion with someone who asked if I had heard about Doreen?  Doreen is a lady that we could describe as indefatigable. She is always upfront, outspoken,  and with a great sense of humour. Evidently she passed  about a week ago.  Evidently she was having problems breathing so there were a whole lot of conditions that came together and she passed in her sleep. That’s the greatest way to go I think. No pain, no trouble for other people.   As they have not released the body, it is not possible for a funeral to be arranged. It will probably be within the next month or so.

I had a chat with George the gardener and  church warden who said how difficult it was to start the mower, it took him about 20 minutes,  I said it was probably due to the dampness.

I came away with quite a warm glow. I felt that I had made a difference to the morning. Everyone makes a difference but they are not aware of it. I think you can make a lot of difference by just listening to people and encouraging them to talk.

On the way back I filled up with petrol which was 154 pence per litre.  Most of it goes on government tax and profits to the oil companies

This morning’s news

We heard about this dreadful idea of 20 miles an hour limit in cities. While I agree that it should be this low near schools, there is no  logical justification for a 20 mile an hour limit at night with the little traffic around. Basically this is a war on the motorist part of a long running battle to decrease our freedoms  which is now in full swing by those behind the scenes.

Russell Brand

I usually rise between 8 and 8:30 a.m. And while the kettle is boiling for coffee I turn on the news. It’s all about Russell Brand and his naughtiness with various women.  Funny that they start protesting seven years after the event. If it was as bad as they claim, and non-consensual, why did it take them seven years to come out?  It can’t have been that bad.   When women claim it was not consensual I sometimes feel it is a bit of an excuse. The thigh muscles of female are strong, they have to be for the purposes of giving birth, so no means no. It takes two to tango as we say.   Is the sudden reporting of these four now five women an attempt to appease their own conscience for having been weak-minded enough to give in to someone. I cannot comment about the 16 year old girl that Russell decided to take to his flat, with the knowledge of the BBC, who are very good at turning a blind eye

Russell has been very outspoken about the way the world is going at the moment and the various hypocrisies that we are seeing from the various governments.  I don’t think the powers that be are particularly keen on what he is saying.  ‘No good deed goes unpunished’ as someone said. I have watched many Russell Brand’s  broadcasts to his six and a half a million viewers  and find them direct, funny, and full of meaningful content.   My guess is that in a court case most of the plaintiffs will be dismissed for lack of evidence and they certainly should be if Russell’s lawyer is competent, that is if it ever gets to that stage.

Cost of becoming a UK Citizen

Francoise tells me that if she wants to become a British citizen (she currently holds a French passport)  she will have to pay over 1500 pounds so to do.  Strange that at the same time you can get in a boat, arrive, and get all the benefits from living in the UK without paying a penny. Unless you have been living under a rock you will know that this is part of the agenda to destroy the individuality of each country making the way clear for a one world government.  People are still stuck at the stage of saying ” they wouldn’t do that would they?”.  The answer is yes they would and yes they are.

Evening fellowship meeting for our Christian group

This evening we had the first meeting after a couple of months of our Tuesday evening Christian group. We used the time to catch up on each other’s news. I had forgotten about the film strike in America which has virtually bought the industry to a standstill at this has repercussions around the world. One of their members does something called setting up which means you decide the camera shots as part of the pre-production stage of a film. He has been doing this for 34 years and he has had no work this year. He is looking at doing other things including renting large properties for three generations of people who want to go on holiday. This sounds like a capital-intensive medium too long term project and I wish them all the best of luck. Human beings are very resourceful by nature, they have to be, in order to survive so we have a living example in front of us of someone who is going through this process.

We also heard from someone who has an extreme fear of spiders. She was driving her car once when a spider came down from the rear view mirror and she panicked so much that she put the car into reverse, wrecking it.

She cannot even stand pictures of spiders never mind seeing them. I asked her rather cruelly if she  had seen the film Spider-Man and she confirmed that she had not.   There must be some sort of treatment for extreme phobias. EFT  is one such.  How can a memory of something be so powerful that it causes you to behave extremely and irrationally.

The best part of two hours disappeared like nothing so we ended the evening with a Prayer of thanks at about 9:50 p.m. And off we went into the night. I must say I do not like driving at night. My sight is not perfect but hopefully the  operation I’m going to have next week will improve the sight of my left eye.  The worst combination is a combination of rain, mist, and driving in the country at night where the light levels go up and down without much warning.  I narrowly avoided a large lorry  going the other way because I misjudged it’s width.   I must be very careful in future.