Tuesday 17 February 2009

Saturday 7 February 2009

one from the vaults

I was tidying up my study again last night (the clutter only makes me worry I've already started with the 'brain diabetes'), and I found a piece of Mum's correspondence from July '07 in a box I was emptying. It was a letter giving Mum permission to go ahead and remodel her bathroom at her old apartment, with the Leaseholders waiving the fee of £41.12 [story here]. Her returned cheque was attached.

As I prepared to shred the cheque, I noticed something odd about the numbers. Why had Mum put two decimal points? She had written "41.12.0". Looking over to the written side of the cheque, I realised with a shock that here was evidence that Mum was already 'time travelling'. 

Mum had written the cheque out in pounds, shillings and pence. UK currency went decimal in 1971.

If I'd seen this at the time I think I'd have felt a mixture of panic and victory: panic that things were indeed heading downhill and victory that I had some proof to take to Mum's Doctor. Nowadays, with Mum blissfully detached from worldly affairs, I can look at this as a curiosity and smile: Mum's in a good place.

Tuesday 3 February 2009

alzheimer's "is brain diabetes"

Click here for an article on the BBC News website which reports on research into links between Type II Diabetes and Alzheimer's.

A spokesman for the Alzheimer's Research Trust says:
"People with Diabetes are at higher risk of developing Alzheimer's. It is well known that insulin affects how the brain works, and this research adds more evidence to the possibility that Alzheimer's could be a type of brain Diabetes."

Bugger

Guess which blogger was diagnosed with Diabetes in November...

All this time I've been thinking that I was lucky to be an adopted child, with no genetic legacy to worry about from Mum. It seems like Mum was on to something when she suggested that I move into her Care Home with her.

Sunday 1 February 2009

wordle


This is the first time I've followed a "meme" (if that's the right word), but I was curious to see what would come out in the wash if I put the entire text of "Wits' End" through the Wordle "Word Cloud" generator.

The result is fairly predictable and not that revelatory. However, it's good to know that I haven't strayed far from my topic, by the looks of things. I'd say this was a fairly good representation of my jumbled brain at the moment, too.