Travelling is arduous even for the best prepared, keeping tabs on passport, currency, boarding cards and so on. Flying is, of all transports, perhaps the least passenger friendly. There is no time to make oneself comfortable while being herded like
Grand Rapids Diary 4
It’s the same every year. We put everything we have into this meeting – RALLYING TO THE CHALLENGE – each year. We burn the midnight oil. We meet and greet, we talk, we listen. And while the meeting goes on,
Grand Rapids Diary 3
You forget how tough these conference trips can be. Late nights and early mornings are okay when you’re young. But as the years mount up, each exacts a heavier toll. As you know, well those of you that read my
Grand Rapids Diary 2
Where were we? Oh yes, I remember – in Grand Rapids without our luggage. I’m pleased to say that the luggage did eventually show up, late morning and somewhat battered. But to be honest my sense of relief simply having
Grand Rapids Diary 1.
Yes, it’s time for the annual tickling of the Parkinson’s brain cells that we call RALLYING TO THE CHALLENGE. It’s a meeting where, although primarily for patients, is amply supported by our clinical colleagues. But for me, RALLYING 2019 has
Haircut
Yes I know I’ve said this before but in case anybody missed it or is new to my blog, I grew up in Yorkshire in the 1960s and 1970s. Specifically I grew up in Doncaster, the erstwhile self appointed capital
The night I witnessed history
I remember being suddenly awake, with my father at the foot of my bed. “Jonathan” he said, almost in a whisper “come and watch this”. It was the middle of the night, way outside any normal television hours. Broadcasting in
A rather difficult child
My mother, God rest her soul, never tired of telling me, albeit often with a laugh, that I was a “rather difficult child”. Always highly strung and prone to exaggeration, this was a statement born out of weariness. No longer
Talking and listening in medicine
We hear a lot spoken these days about the importance of patient involvement in clinical research. Not simply in the sense of being subjects in clinical trials, important though that is, but in the sense of providing intellectual input into
Defining friendship
What is friendship? For one reason or another I found myself thinking a lot about this over the last few weeks. On the one hand it seems to be an unnecessary question – we all know what friends are, don’t