An old friend and a blue flag

Joanna and I met on Saturday at the exhibition of my pots in the Craven Museum, Skipton.  We have been friends for a long time and I was her art teacher for a short time.  Joanna was one of the first to sign up as a follower and always responds to my postings. This is encouraging because it tells me that at least one person is engaged with my blog.  David her husband, brought along some very good photographs he had taken of a Jenny Bevan pot we gave them for their wedding present thirty years ago.  It is similar to two of our pots which are on display.  Joanna  is a lovely person and a pleasure to be around.

I had another brush with the NHS this week when I went for my walking assessment for a blue badge scheme.  I have applied for the badge because it offers preferential parking for disabled people.  I have not bothered to apply until now because I thought I didn't think I would be eligible because I can still walk a reasonable distance.  Anyway, I went for my test in Skipton General Hospital Physiotherapy Dept.  As is usual when you arrive and have registered at reception you are told to sit down and wait, in a corridor of course.  As I waited I started looking around at the walls and doors.  The vast majority of the notices pinned up were about missing appointments.  I could not work it out, if you are missing an appointment you'll not be there to read the notices!  The ‘not in a hurry’ mode seemed well embedded - BBC Radio 2 drifting from one office and chatter from the other.  I really felt a spare part.  When I got in to see the physiotherapist she did not know about MSA.  In fact she hadn't a clue, although there was considerable detail of my case in the application form.  She had not got a copy of it which I found surprising.  She was nearly in tears by the time we had finished, but she only writes the report the decision is taken by the County Council.

I do not understand the descriptions of my condition in the letters I receive from the consultants so I'm going to start a list and ask anyone out there who knows about the following terms to reply with simple short definitions in plain English. Of course liberal interpretations are also encouraged from anyone who feels a creative urge.

• orthostatic  hypertension
• pre-syncopal episodes
• REM
• Myoclonus
• Anterocollis
•  Dysarthfric
• Dyshoni
• Congenital strabismus

If it is any good I will make dictionary for us to share!