The title of this week’s Easter blog is a sort of tribute to Professor Stephen Hawking whose funeral was held yesterday. A true giant. His genius will enable new technological discoveries and facilitate taking humankind into the future. His ashes will be interned in Westminster Abbey alongside those of Sir Issac Newton, Charles Darwin and James Clerk Maxwell. All scientific legends. So this week there are sprinkles of scientific references highlighted with a *  amongst my daily life!

The fine detail of our bathroom rebuild has been occupying my mind recently. Yes, this is the sort of mathematical challenge I now face, planning such events. Living with MND, like Stephen Hawking did, intellectual challenges keep me invigorated, although not as quite as earth shattering as his.

Like Professor Hawking I do sit and ponder the wonders of the Universe and imagine how exactly we can fit a bath and shower into a space, that according to the masters of the planet (Occupational Therapists) is not possible. Determined to prove the whole of our county healthcare wrong, I have embarked on a 3D wonderland of imaging. And according to Stephen’s theories, if we can rotate our bathroom at the speed of light, anything is possible!

Whereas Stephen was dealing with singularities* and event horizons*, I am dealing with things such as shower tray alignment and drainage. But knowing that the butterfly effect*, the theory that one change in one part of Universe might have disastrous effects elsewhere, I am taking great care.

Therefore I decided to measure the gap between our current bath and toilet. Instead of using a tape for measurement* I used my body! This was not on purpose. I slipped as I was getting out of the bath and fell in the space. This gap was NOT as wide as my body, but I managed to “pop” through it, rather like a wormhole*. Once on the other side, I assessed the damage. Fortunately, it was only bruised ribs. Again I was reminded of the continued focus that I need to havemwith progressive MND. I think I got cocky with complicated my exiting-the-bath-balance-routine, and obviously lost that vital bit of attention for a couple of seconds. Perhaps I need a gyroscope?*

I have been out a fair bit using my scooter, including this trip to Waitrose (my American friends think – Whole Foods Market type shop). I parked up by the roast chicken section. Jean was off buying the eggs. The chicken or egg, which came first*.

On being asked what I would like, I asked could I sit inside, as it looked so warm there! Look, there’s a space to the left of BBQ thighs! I reckon I could squeeze in. And I can keep an eye on the chickens for you?

Speaking of Waitrose, here’s is a very specialised use of a Waitrose spring water bottle.

No, it’s not an enema kit! This is a useful little exercise trick I picked up after my heart bypass operation. Breathing exercises are mentioned by many physios but in reality they are a bit boring as they don’t involve a machine and so they get forgotten. Using a little bit of flexible plastic pipe inserted into a bottle 3/4 full of water creates an interesting little exercise device. To use, take a deep breath and blow for as long as you safely can. The bubbles make it fun, and you can feel and hear how well your breathing is working, noticing a sound change when your lungs are near empty. This is so much better than just breathing and trying to exhale a whole deep breath. Try it, my fellow MND folk. It’s good for keeping your Vital Capacity* as high as possible because our breathing can be affected at anytime.

Before anyone comments, I believe this will work with any plastic bottle, not just those from Waitrose! Although I have not tried! So please don’t assume it will!

Another trip with the scooter took Jean and I along a beach wall walk, and we finished with a nice sandwich at a local seaside cafe. Here are the remains of my sandwich, with only the rabbit food garnish left.

Lord Bragg is actually selling meal plates embossed with an image, on one side, of garnish! What an idea. No one ever eats that stuff anyway. What a guy!

Finally this week Lord Bragg has sold me yet another amazing device. Bragg’s Shaving & Male Grooming glasses! The other day after shaving I thought I looked like this….

But no! Adorning a pair of Bragg’s shaving glasses after my next shave I could clearly see the missed grooming faux pas!

What a handy tool. Thanks Bragg! You really have brought a paradigm shift* in business thinking!

And now it’s Easter, which of course means eggs. Lots of them. What should I eat first, the Chocolate chicken or the chocolate egg*?

The answer is the egg (according to science)!

Back soon readers. Have a great Easter.

Yes I am back almost immediately (tomorrow Easter Monday) with a short opinion post on a Paradigm shift that is coming to the world quite soon and that is Personalised Medicine. We are moving from Clinical Judgement to Evidence based medicine. This change is a major revolution as it will enable greater efficiency of healthcare, but will also bring absolute definable changes in the roles of doctors and consultants. That is as political as I will get and I will talk about the subject in relation to MND, of course.