In general, I don’t know very many proper “writers” within the compass of Parkinson’s. Among my own circle I would list Leslie Davidson (obviously), Pete Langman (ditto) and Heather Kennedy (obviously if you know how we both work). There are
The wine shop
For the last goodness knows how many years I have made an annual ‘pilgrimage’ to 3 rue Sainte Claire in the mediaeval town of Dinan in North Brittany. At that address, behind a modestly unassuming shopfront is an Aladdin’s cave
Canada diary 6: The shortest day
Sunday dawns. After the previous day spent in the North watching bears, today’s inevitably anticlimactic. I pack my cases, check and doublecheck. Everything is hunky-dory – gifts for the kids and from my friends and hosts. I have fallen in
Canada Diary 5: Bears!
You think you’ve seen it all. You think that you know about animals by seeing them in a zoo, digesting the paragraph or two of information in front of their cages, jostling with the crowds to see the more exciting
Canada Diary 4: A Lesson in Humility
On the whole I don’t play board games. Sure, I will break out the Monopoly at Christmas or play Trivial Pursuit with the kids. But that’s about it. With one exception – Scrabble. I love Scrabble. It reminds me of
Canada Diary 3: Tourist
A day of tourism covers today’s agenda. We park downtown, then head to Canoe, a well respected local Victoria harbour seafood joint, by watertaxi, bobbing along against the tide. I choose seared Haida Gwai halibut on petit pois and rösti
Canada Diary 2: Cassie and Missy
I know I keep banging on about it but sleep is everything for me. Too little and my waking world disintegrates in a cornucopia of cognitive chaos. Too much and…well, I can’t remember when that last happened. Sleep deprivation is
Canada Diary 1: The Longest Day
Up in plenty of time to get to Gatwick. Probably enough time to walk to Gatwick, having been woken, as so often, around four by animals outside. This time it’s the sound of copulating hedgehogs in the road outside. Time
Snake oil or the elixir of life – telling the difference
Let me just say right away that I have a limited tolerance for outlandish claims made without adequate scientific support. Very limited tolerance. In fact I would go so far as to say that I’m practically allergic to pronunciations like
Better patient advocacy 5: The return of the Jedi
Let’s recap. In part one (standing on the shoulders of giants), I suggested that, although we had unalienable rights to represent ourselves and our interests, we often fell short of our scientific colleagues by failure to build upon existing knowledge