Steve from England

Been having a few posting issues recently, hopefully I should have it sorted soon.   At least there is one new one to read!”"

According to pictures I have, my diary and my Facebook page … nothing significant happened in 2015 until June … really? OK, So I dug a little deeper. I started the year off suffering from depression, that might have lasted a while as it seems I also went to the doctor for it and had some CBT along the way, this might explain why I seem to have been in a coma for the first 6 months. It does seem like my stubbornness turned things around though because in June life changed. After the mess that was my failed relationship with Jo I was really very nervous of starting anything again with someone who wasn’t British and, as I find it rather difficult to form a relationship with British guys I’d all but decided that being single was me set up for life. But, right at the start of June, Dennis reached out and, to be honest, I gave him a very hard time. All my anxieties about what happened with Jo got landed in his lap. It would be fair to say that I was rather mean. Thing was though, he seemed s...

I believe this is the single greatest issue for carers. They (we) stop being and individual and become someone’s Carer and little more than that. It’s almost worse than owning a dog! Invites dry up because of concerns the Carer might being the person they care for. The Carer doesn’t get a break because the person they care for is always there. No phone call is ever private, if they can read then nothing written or typed is private either. Everything, and I mean everything, is about the person being cared for. Going out the house is a messy business, it needs to be well thought through. Actually, I am about to be interrupted again so will need to stop … … life is like that. Grabbed moments in between intense moments of Caring. I am not even talking about hands on physical caring but more the complete lack of ‘self’ type of caring where the Carer has long since allowed themselves the luxury of putting themselves first because, even if they are doing something for themselves, they are ...

Sure, I was ill but it was still a lovely visit to see Dennis and the family in the Philippines. The illness wasn’t in any way pleasant, quite horrible. Even though I seem to be clear of tummy issues I still feel exhausted every day, it’s going to take a while to clear my system I think. I created a video of my experience … it’s not long because I never intended for the trip to be a sightseeing holiday, it was just a getting to know you sort of thing. The flight home went without any issues apart from just being too damned long! 3 hours waiting around in Manila then a 4 1/2 hour flight to Beijing. I had nearly 3 hours there before an 11 hour flight to London. I cleared the airport within 30 minutes and then another couple hours to get home. In all it was nearly a whole day to get from A-B. Of course, it’s rather a long way, about 7000 miles in a straight line so it’s never going to be quick. I reckon the quickest it can be done on a direct flight is maybe 20 hours. I’ve included t...