Archive for the ‘My life & thoughts’ Category
Word of the day: Twiddlemuff
November 30th, 2022 by Roger Darlington
A Twiddlemuff is a double thickness hand muff with bits and bobs attached inside and out. It is designed to provide a stimulation activity for restless hands for patients suffering from dementia. I came across one today while volunteering in the Older Persons’ Unit of St Thomas’ Hospital in London.
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Are we inching closer to a cure for dementia?
November 22nd, 2022 by Roger Darlington
This article offers some hope on the intractable and growing problem of dementia. For almost five years, I have been a participant in a long-term health study with the acronym CHARIOT PRO which has been studying the possible connection between dementia and a protein in the brain called beta amyloid. That study is about to […]
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Holiday in Chile (10): back to Santiago and home
October 30th, 2022 by Roger Darlington
On Friday, we took the first of three flights to get us back to London. The flight from Punta Arenas to Santiago involved some excitement even before we boarded as, for three of the group (including Silvia and me), seats were only eventually allocated at the boarding desk. None of we three sat together. The […]
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Holiday in Chile (9): Punta Arenas
October 28th, 2022 by Roger Darlington
The rest of Wednesday was free so we spent the afternoon relaxing in our hotel room and the evening having a meal in the hotel while the weather – in true Patagonian style – blew a gale and poured with rain. Indeed it rained ALL night. Essentially our Chile holiday was over. For the next […]
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Holiday in Chile (8): Torres de Paine National Park
October 26th, 2022 by Roger Darlington
It was a fabulous day (Tuesday) as we spent our time travelling to and around Parque Nacional Torres del Paine. We knew that it would be cold in Patagonia, so I wore a thick shirt, a jumper and a padded jacket plus scarf, gloves and hat. In fact, it was not that cold today and […]
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Holiday in Chile (7): on to Patagonia
October 26th, 2022 by Roger Darlington
On our last morning in Puerto Varas (Monday), just after after 10 am local time (4 pm London time), we learned that back home in the UK there was only one nomination for the Conservative Party leadership election so now Rishi Sunsk is Prime Minister – the third occupant of No 10 in two months […]
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Holiday in Chile (6): the Lake District
October 24th, 2022 by Roger Darlington
Using Puerto Varas as our base, Sunday was another wonderful day in which we visited three major locations In Chile’s endlessly picturesque Lake District. Although it was chilly in Chile at first and certainly up the volcano, the weather was otherwise excellent. First, we drove over to the Osorno Volcano and up a very winding […]
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Holiday in Chile (5): San Pedro to Puerto Varas
October 23rd, 2022 by Roger Darlington
Friday was a day of leisure and it was an opportunity to explore the little town of San Pedro de Atacama. Overlooked by the Licancabur volcano, the town itself only has a population of about 2,000. Essentially it is one Main Street, which is essentially pedestrianised, with a few smaller streets running off it, plus […]
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Holiday in Chile (4): more of the Atacama Desert
October 21st, 2022 by Roger Darlington
Today (Thursday) was spent exploring more of the Atacama Desert with particular reference to the salt flats. Valentina told us the salt flats of the Atacama Desert are the largest in the world after some in Bolivia and Argentina respectively. We set off south and eventually stopped to look at some salt flats by the […]
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Holiday in Chile (3): the Atacama Desert
October 20th, 2022 by Roger Darlington
It was a very early start to Wednesday and I mean early. In Santiago, Silvia’s alarm went at 4.30 am and mine at 5 am. The group left the hotel at 5.50 am with a packed breakfast and headed to the airport. We flew from Santiago in the centre of the country to Calama in […]
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