Welcome to my blog. It varies how regular I write posts here. I sustained a 'Traumatic Acquired Brain Injury', and a six month coma from a 'road traffic accident' whilst cycling, in October 2006. I spent the following 4 years (22-26yrs old), in a combination of hospitals and rehabilitation homes. Now, I have been living independently in Surbiton, England since October 2010. This blog begun life in December 2010, as i realised that there are many people worldwide that i want to share experiences with. I know that, as a wheelchair user, I am obviously not as mobile as i wish, so, use the internet to connect to you. I enjoy letting my thoughts represent through type. I type honestly. As numerous readers, as well as email recipients, will understand, I find typing to be very therapeutic. Thank you :)
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Friday, 27 July 2018

a 'British mistake'

A classic Bauhaus, modernist designer, Le Corbusier was visually aware of Modern Graphic elements of everything...


‘Satisfied Mind’ -

I hail this song big. It is one of my favourite tunes performed by Jeff Buckley. Good friends will know just how highly I rate, the late Jeff Buckley. The song did not appear on his mesmeric album ‘Grace’, but is the final tune, provided as final song on posthumous album ‘Sketches...’. 
This song was written by Joe "Red" Hayes and Jack Rhodes and was first a No. 1 country hit for Porter Wagoner in 1955 and later recorded by numerous country, folk and pop performers including Ella Fitzgerald, Glen Campbell, Ian & Sylvia, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson.



These past three weeks have seen Le Tour De France shown live on ITV4. I applaud the presentation of such a sporting event live on ‘terrestrial TV’. I am very aware that it may not  make ‘prime TV’. Relying on advertisements, ITV must carefully select which adverts best suit an audience of cyclists. I find it so depressing, the amount of adverts for ‘Life insurance’ and ‘Accident Compensation’...
This whole concept is found deeply contentious by myself! 
  • Are all cyclists prone to accidents?
  • ‘Compensation’ is paid by someone whose fault it is, but NO-ONE INTENDS AN ACCIDENT.
  • Money cannot solve everything.
  • No-one is to blame for an accident.
  • 'He needs his money to pay funeral costs' are the words of one advert! Whatttttt?!!

A ‘British mistake’!
The above sentence describes a big problem, for us, this year. This weekend is the culmination of a magnificent for British fans, edition of the Tour De France. The yellow jersey and 2-of-the-top-4 positions, held into the final weekend of LeTour! Probably the biggest day of the year, for cycling-fans, is the last day of the Tour de France. Mark Cavendish won the gold-medal at the World Championships, a few years ago, but most other major British success has been at ‘Le Tour’.
The RideLondon cycle event is a major success, increasing support of the sport in Britain. The stupid mistake, this year, was to arrange it on the same day as riders hit the Champs-Elysees, completing the Tour de France! If I was a professional racer, I know where I’d rather be! Only a fan? Probably same answer (even if TV has to let me watch)!

I listen to my iPod, but only recently have I recognised that my love of my music is weakening. ‘My music’ explains ‘my collection’. It is fairly up to date, but I realise that I have failed. I download music, and simply add it to a ‘2018 playlist’. Then, I am lazy, and just press play. ‘Shuffle mode’ maybe. We cannot let Apple or Spotify, (or whatever) ruin our lives! We all must be consciously aware of what we are listening to! We no longer are allowed the tactile love of a record sleeve/cover. We no longer have to leave house, to get it. We no longer have the love of perusing through our own, or a friends, record collection. Friends cannot spend time assessing each other’s music collections. However, it is no wonder we are all falling into the same pitfall. We are hearing an album, but do we actually get to listen, or are we just experiencing sounds of a playlist? Beware, it is human nature to always take the easiest option, but we risk the destruction of something we all love!
Realistic Recovery = Remove Playlists.
Maintain MP3 player or iPod, just force ourselves to select what we listen to (listen to the music how it was designed to be listened to)!
Shuffle destroys.

I am currently reading a piece by George Orwell, written mid 1940’s. Yes, midway through the Second World War, of last century. It could be argued that war has always existed. Everyone hates it and denounces such conflict. It could be argued that humanity has progressed mentally, but still wastes resources conflicting itself. We are all too clever for this, surely? Many elderly politicians, who lived predominantly in 20th century still exist in their bubble, enforcing their old views of national divisions, on the people who now live in a new millennium. Humanity is slowly recognising there is a larger, more threatening problem that we all face. You can help.

It is hot. Turning a fan on, to cool down causes me great mental confusion. Yes, we cool down, but I feel mightily offended by everyone’s lack of realisation. Realisation that it is a loop. A fan requires an electric power supply. We are using electric energy from finite  resources, fossil fuels. By continued consumption of fossil fuels, we are heating our climate up. We are losing so much, and will continue to spiral out of control.

PB 
San Pellegrino

The same drink was had for a second time. So delicious, I bought one in celebration!

Yesterday, I was allowed to congratulate myself. I had cycled on my gym-bike (pedals), achieving my goal! I had set a PB having tested myself every weekday during a ‘Grand-Tour’. I had tested myself successfully, during the Giro d’Italia (May), and now achieved the same distance ( plus a 30m improvement) in July. I ride 100% for 20minutes. Interestingly, I have achieved my goal on the last Thursday of each event! Starting from fresh, it seems take me 2 weeks, 5 days of training, to peak.


mmmmmm. My Bialetti Moka
;)








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