The family line continues

Welcome to Giles' new baby, a son to continue Keith's family line.

Getting away from it all

One reason for my silence over the past few weeks is that Keith and I decided to 'get away from it all' and take ourselves off to France for 10 days over Christmas and New Year. So we booked a little 'gite' in Normandy and off we went. We left on Sunday 23rd, when I was well into a bad cold and feeling rather like death warmed up. Keith, however was fine - until Christmas Eve, when he picked up my germs, ran with them and turned them into man-flu.

Still, we managed to get out and about for most of the holiday, although photos are not very numerous as we were confronted by thick fog every single day for at least part of the day. Sometimes it was in our area and we were able to drive out of it into glorious sunshine, other days we drove into it but probably our best days were our visits to Mont St Michel and a lovely little beach on Brittany's south coast.

Would we do it again? Probably not but it was a change and a chance to chill out for a while and that can't be bad.

Stroke awareness

This came to my inbox today from TK so I decided to put it here. Everyone reading this will know of someone whose quality of life has been severely curtailed as a result of a stroke, so please take the time to read through this information. Who knows, some day it may enable you to help a stroke victim by getting them the medical attention they need in time.

My good friend sent this and encouraged me to post it and spread the word. I agree.
If everyone can remember something this simple, we could save some folks. Seriously.. Please read:
STROKE IDENTIFICATION:
During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) .....she said she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes. They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food. While she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening. Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00 pm Ingrid passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today. Some don't die.... they end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead. It only takes a minute to read this...
A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke... totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough. RECOGNIZING A STROKE
Thank God for the sense to remember the "3" steps, STR . Read and Learn! Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke . Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:
S * Ask the individual to SMILE.
T * Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently) (i.e. It is sunny out today)
R * Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS. If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 999/911 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.
NOTE: Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to 'stick' out his tongue.. If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other , that is also an indication of a stroke.

New start

Is it really a month since I last posted? After my last post end of term/Christmas/New Year kicked in and life became even more hectic. But more of that in future posts. Today I am off to do 5 hours of counselling (voluntary). It's raining and blowing a gale here but, hey, I don't have to worry about wet playtimes any more... not till I need to go back to supply teaching for some money, anyway.