Health update.

I haven't updated you all on my health for a while so here is the latest on how I am doing and how I am feeling!!!

Well recently, I complained of the now famous "spaz attacks" that run down the left side of my body. I pointed out that these generally only happen when I am in the car and/or singing while in the car and/or talking while in the car. Basically, they happen when I am in the car!!!

These seem to have passed on now, without any medication which is a good thing as it proves that the bod can heal itself still. That gives me a certain amount of comfort in the fact that future troubles wont rely on medicine alone. If I can tolerate it then perhaps it will pass.

What next? Oh yes, if I drop another thing, I am going to catch it on the volley on the way down!!! I just cant seem to hold onto anything, I drop all sorts of stuff but mainly small things and I think this is because I still have a lot of numbness and loss of feeling in my hands. If its small, I don't feel it too well and I think that's why I am getting doing this.

So that also covers the numbness in my hands!!!

My balance is as ropey as its always been. My left side is definitely suspect and for that reason I would still not trust it in a race. I cant walk any further than I could previously without my left side going all wobbly and I suppose it is the fact that these symptoms are here for the duration.

I was quite sad on the sports day, and this will be news to people as no one would have picked up on it but perhaps I am quite matter of fact here rather than deeply personal. I was quite sad because I did not feel that I could take part in the parents race. It was not a running race or anything too strenuous but I just didn't feel the ability to compete, fun or not, I just did not feel mentally right to be there. Its difficult being me, I don't mind telling anyone that.

Then finally...tired!!! Oh God have I been tired but I think its more to do with the last few weeks that actual symptoms. I could be completely wrong though as its a trademark symptom of people in my position. I just haven't stopped and also, I don't let myself stop and furthermore if I don't stop then I get myself into a mess and take it out on the people I love the most and its not their fault so I end up being mad with myself which makes it all worse.

As I get used to all this, I need to change certain things about the way I live my life. Yes, I always talk about weight etc but a lot of healing can be done if you are in the right place in your mind. I need to tell myself that I am not the man that I was 2-3 years ago (although there is no real reason why I cant return to that in time) but I also need to tell myself that I am not currently capable of being the one stop shop solution that tries his best to make every ones life around him easier with himself as the exception. I will in time learn the perfect balance but while I do, please bear with me.

Right, I am going to bed now.

Go on Jay!!!!

Here is one of those moments that you just cant buy!!!

This is Jay in the Sunnymede School Sports Day this morning absolutely romping home in the flat race!!!

What a champ, don't know where he gets his speed from though, his Dad couldn't run a bath!!!

Happy Birthday Mum

My lovely Mum is 61 today and looking healthier than ever!!!

Happy birthday Mum, from now on, all birthdays will be lovely in your lovely new place looking out over lovely Lord Street in Southport!!!

We love you Mum, we have much to thank you for every day and I hope you have a good one!!!

A tale of 2 cars.....

Here is a tale of 2 cars, the 2 cars you see in the picture above.

Now these 2 cars don't know this but they do actually have something in common and that something is that they have at one time or another been my property.

On the left we have faithful FN57 YBM, my current company car used in my employment at Salto and on the right we have fateful DE05 AVV which I leased back in 2005 when I was briefly employed at Neurodynamics.

The picture was taken in the car park of ASDA in Southport this morning. Kerris spotted my old car and I put them together to chat.

Now the story of fateful DE05 AVV is one of the saddest of my working career. I had decided that access control was not my "raison d’être" in life and so I left Securefast and moved to a CCTV company in Cambridge called Neurodynamics. Without going into too much detail, 6 months in I was made redundant after the company changed hands.

However, fateful DE05 AVV made sure that redundancy was not the bain of life that it should have been. I leased the car following some very poor advice and was locked into a contract which would not let me hand the car back in the event of any unpleasantness.

So it was bad enough not having a job but imagine my horror (and Kerris's sheer panic) at finding out that the car would cost ME £7000.00 to relinquish.

Advice followed and lots of it, there was the chance that I could take the car into my new employment at Ingersoll Rand but that door closed pretty soon after the job was offered to me. At that time, I had no option as the Ingersoll Rand job was all that was on the table.

Finally in a "I can only offer you this much and if you don't accept then it will be waiting for you in the car park of the local Tesco with the windows open and the keys in the ignition" moment, Toyota and myself settled at £4000.00.

As you can now understand, I refer to it as fateful DE05 AVV.

Obviously all the malice has passed though as I didn't kick it or run my keys along the paintwork, its someone else's baby now and they might love it.

Kerris disappeared for a moment with some brake fluid though.......

I created a really witty observation.

While in Wales the other day, I recalled the fact that in the Welsh language, if 2 "dd"s are contained in a word, it is actually pronounced "f".

So based on this observation, when Welsh women buy a bra that is size 34DD, are they actually buying a 34F and if so, which is the better from a mans point of view?

Just an observation.

I have travelled a lot of this world.....

Whilst driving the other day on one of my long distance hauls....I was on my way back from Cardiff.....I was trying to think of exactly all the countries I have visited or stopped in on this great planet we populate.

I had a hell of a job recalling them so based on the fact that in 10 years more of my grey matter will be gone, I thought I would list them for posterity in the future.

In no particular order, thus far I have visited......

United Kingdom
Ireland
France
Spain (Tenerife, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria and the Mainland)
Italy
Germany
Greece (Kefalonia)
Australia
Singapore
India (not official though as I did not get out of the plane!!!)
Dominican Republic
Canada

This distance is an impressive 18500 Miles working roughly east to west and it is the equivalent to me driving my car constantly for 6 months.

Being educated in Europe, we believe there to be 6 continents on the planet, Africa, America, Antarctica, Asia, Australasia and Europe, therefore I have visited 4 of the 6. However, if I were educated in America, they believe we have 7 continents as they split America into North and South. In which case, I have visited 4 of 7.

There you go, something for everyone!!!

Happy Birthday Dad!

My Dad would have been, well he is because you don't stop ageing just because you are not here, the ripe old age of 61 today!

Happy birthday to you!

We are thinking of you today, just as we do every day and we miss you.

Recepción al Salto en España

Hopefully that says "Welcome To Salto In Spain" which is where I was from Wednesday to Friday last week.

I had a fantastic time and the fact that there is a big friendly production facility behind our tiny office in Nuneaton gives me a whole heap of confidence for selling the products!!!

I was there for 2 days of technical training with my colleague Rex and we flew out of Stansted on Wednesday night. Stansted was a battle in itself as minutes before arriving, I got a tyre blow out on my car!!! I parked up, surveyed the damage and thought that it was best left to be dealt with when I arrived back on Friday evening.

Anyway, a short-ish flight later and we arrived in Bilboa to be greeted by some maniac in a Merc who gave us a white knuckle ride for an hour over to San Sebastian which is 3 miles from the French border.....its as near as I want to get!!!

So lots of hospitality followed, lots of good food, late nights and long days of technical training before arriving back at Stansted at 11.00PM on Friday night.

Damn....that car tyre!!!

Well I called for help, I was advised that tyre changes cant be done outside business hours so I fitted my spare and had a drive (limited as the tyre had a 50Mph max....I did 70!!!) and arrived home at 4.00AM!!! Up again at 8.30 to take Jay swimming and a late night as we had friends round for a meal!!!

I AM KNACKERED PEOPLE!!!

So tonight should be a nice early one.....we can only hope!!!

Another email to blog!

Right now, Jay and Rosie are having a lovely time at Lligwy Beach on the Isle Of Anglesey!

Mobile Blogging!

This is just a test to see if my mobile email-to-blog feature works from my mobile phone! There should be a lovely pic of Luca and Jay if successful!

Here goes.....

My Wife Kerris....

My lovely wife Kerris has been in turmoil recently.

To give you some background, for over 3 years she has been working at a beauty salon in Formby where she was originally happily employed to work as a receptionist. Under no circumstances was she to do beauty treatments.

The lady who owns the salon was trained by Kerris and had continually asked her to do treatments to help out and has basically crafted Kerris into working full time beauty therapy instead of reception.

So Kerris was unhappy and recently I told her that no part time job was worth getting upset over and to jack it in. She did this and was instantly in more turmoil as she did not have another job to go to and Kerris loves (well she doesn't love) worrying about how much money is coming into the house.

Today, stability was returned as she has been offered a job as a part time receptionist at the local Mercedes showroom. Now Kerris has a Mercedes taste so the job, the atmosphere and the celebrity of being connected with Mercedes suits her well!!!

Well done my love, I knew you were going to get it, they will be so happy with you and I am really proud of you and without going into too much detail, I know that you were not looking forward to the forfeit required if you did not get it!!!

MLA Glass Float

It was a simple question, "How Many Helium Filled Balloons Would It Take To Float An Upturned Wine Glass"?????

A few said 5, I suggested 9 but in reality, it took 45......

Balloon theft was at an all time high!!!

Happy Anniversary!!! 4 Years Today....

4 Years of wedded bliss have passed and still going strong. In fact, as I pointed out in Kerris's anniversary card, our marriage has lasted longer than the national average (3.1/2 years)!!! How many people can say that then!!!

So in honour of this feet, Kerris and I are celebrating by doing nothing!!! Perhaps next year we can do something as its a bit of a milestone but for now, we just need rest most of the time!!!

In homage to the day, here is my favourite piccy. Its not often you see the kids smiling in unison but somehow we caught the moment, if ever a picture makes me smile, then its this one!!! Enjoy.

Master Locksmiths Association Show

Now here is a novel way to spend the weekend.

Salto exhibited at the Master Locksmiths Association (MLA) annual show in Telford. It was a low key affair for Salto. We took very little of our product range and we just wanted to gauge a reaction of the Locksmiths.

So, myself and a colleague (Paul Carr) spent the last 3 days manning the stand enjoying the company of some nice people, some confused people, some rude people and some people who genuinely did not understand where we came from, what we are about and exactly what we are trying to achieve!!!

To be honest, at the end I was knackered, I never sleep well while I am away from home and this was no exception....except it was 3 days long!!! When I woke this morning, I felt like death and did not take well to rising and shining!!!

We did have a decent night at the MLA Banquet though. Kerris came down to join me, looked absolutely bloody drop dead gorgeous and made everyone jealous of me!!! Job done there then!!!

We, by pure luck, were seated with my friends from Lock-Tec for the evening and although the food was rubbish, the comedian was abysmal and Alexender O'Neill was slightly dubious and dressed as if he was just released from Guantanamo Bay we managed to smile through the night and enjoy ourselves. I even won a prize in the raffle!!! Kerris wanted the 2 week holiday....I wont the Paint balling session for 6!!! Sorry Kitten!!!

So, hard work, tiring, fun and over. Only time will tell if the leads we have taken away are any good.

Wondering about the pics by the way? Well obviously the first is the glory that was the Salto stand. The second is living proof that at the MLA Banquet, when wearing a silly fake Viking helmet, you can actually balance an upturned bottle of beer on each horn!!!

Just you wait until I get the movie of "How Many Helium Balloons Does It Take To Float A Wine Glass".

All important stuff this is you know!!!

Privacy...

If you are reading this then it means that you have received an invite from me and created a Google account to be able to continue viewing my blog.

Although I like the idea of blogging, it has come to my attention that sometimes, a little information could add up to be too much.

A few things have always been on my mind about my blog. I never really wanted my employers to know too much about my condition for instance and seen as though I track it here "warts and all", it could give the impression that I am a lot worse than I actually am. Obviously, any comments published are always reflective of my mood at that time and as I look back, I see sadness, joy, relief, desperation and depression. You do not see that mixture of emotions in my everyday life.

Also, I have never openly or maliciously passed comment on anyone within the circle of people I know. I would love to on occasion, but I would rather do that face to face if it was warranted. I don't think this is a place to hang out your dirty washing and I can assure that this wont change. I don't want anyone now or in the future to be offended or get the wrong impression and so controlling who reads this ensures that this continues to be the case. Now if you were a German......

Finally, Kerris pointed out recently that she typed one of our sons name into Google and my blog appeared. These are very dangerous times and I am actually very uncomfortable knowing that people can be tracked in this way. A stranger could fake familiarity in this way so again, controlling who views controls any future problems for my family, my friends, my enemies and myself.

I know you understand!!!!