Its been a while but we are moving on with our new website, As well as the archive for our newsletters, (which will be available as web pages and PDF's) we hope to bring lots of new information on all aspects of living with Parkinson's and have it in one place so you can find it easily.

We would like to introduce two new email addresses for contacting us.

For all newsletter enquiries its       [email protected]

For all other enquiries its       [email protected]
 

Virtual Fitnfab is up and running via 'ZOOM' conferencing app. The app is available for PC, laptop, smartphone and Tablets

Angela will send you a link if you want to join in, It's free but as Angela has paid to have an uninterrupted professional conference session a small donation would be gratefully received (a post-emergency bucket will be available after the emergency!)

Currently two sessions a week Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10:30 am  A mix of social and light exercise.

Get your FitnFab fix twice a week.  on your PC, Laptop, Tablet, or smartphone. As you can see here, if you have a laptop and an HDMI cable, you can put Angela up on the telly too!

Email    [email protected] to receive an invite link

We are doing the right thing and abiding by the Governments Guidelines and our communal walks are now cancelled. We urge those who can exercise safely (with a family member) to continue with a single exercise no more than once a day if you can maintain 2 metres from other people.  We urge you to stay safe during this very trying time.
 

As the year 1968 slipped away, I must comment on the matter of spending winter, Christmas and New Year in 70 - 90 f degree heat with 70% humidity; it was very surreal at first. I was busy with closing 2 JWS (Jungle Warfare School) which was put on temporary hold when two platoons turned up. We were instructed to issue vehicles and requested kit to them and they were to be based at the almost empty JWS camp.
All went as required with as little fuss as possible, we were given no hint of what was afoot. I carried on disposed of all items as we had now been given instructions to close 221 BVD as well. All stock was to be moved to Singapore. The personnel were also to go to Singapore or back to Blighty.
Christmas came and went, and the start of the run down began, then vehicles and equipment were returned by the mysterious platoons, some were now decorated with holes in them; quite clearly from bullets and/or grenades. No questions were allowed, and no reasons supplied. It later transpired that two platoons of SAS, who along with Malaysian special forces, had put down an insurgence of communist terrorists on the Malaya/Thai border (Remember this was at the same time as the Vietnam war).
Tina now informed me that she was pregnant again (our fourth). She was given the option of going home but it would have meant giving up our abode and I would still be in Malaya. She took the option of staying. It was around this time that she had one of her happenings...
One Sunday morning I was playing with the boys in the garden. Tina was sitting writing a letter in the sitting room. All of a sudden there was an almighty scream, so I rushed inside. Tina was sitting at the bureau just pointing and she was as white as the proverbial sheet. What she was pointing at was sitting on her writing pad, it was dark-ish brown in colour with very hairy legs and about 8 to 9 inches across. It turned out to be a Malayan Brown Widow spider, apparently quite rare as myself, my boys and a couple of chaps who killed it were discussing. Tina was not amused and made it known, but it was still interesting.
As time passed, we were moved to Singapore. If we had thought our house in Johore was palatial, the one in Singapore was another step up, but totally different. In Johore it had been all about space, here in the new one, known as ‘Air View Towers’, it was luxury. There was 40 flats or rather apartments and we were on the 4th floor. On entry to the apartment on the left, was a small room especially for slippers, we always had to change footwear on entry (there were enough extra slippers for 10 guests). The first sitting room was around 20 x 20 foot containing a 3-piece suite of rattan cane with very comfy cushions and a couple of Afghan rugs. The next room was a dining room; oak dining suite decorated in a lemon-coloured theme including the walls and window drapes. The first sitting room was in rose pink. Then there was the kitchen which was a good size with an island in the centre and all the latest mod cons. We had two bathrooms both with mosaic tiles, one in yellow, one in green and both with showers. Then we had another large living room, complete with furniture, 3-piece suite, tables etc. There was an entry through the French windows to the front balcony with rattan cane furniture on it. There were three bedrooms all carpeted and furnished complete with mosquito nets. Also, there was a room next to the front entry for the Armah (servant).

We also had use of a swimming pool in the basement and also the use of a gym/workout room. There were only 6 military families in the towers, the other inhabitants were Singaporean, Chinese and as I recall, Swedish and French families. The rent per annum was $25,000 Singapore, to us £4 17s 6d a week. I never did find out how much the army had negotiated the contract, but it would have been a lot more than that. The military wives thought this accommodation was unbelievable, this was living at it's best.
Two or three times a week we would be invited to events by some of the residents and Tina and I did attend a few, We also went to the Raffles Hotel (where Tina imbibed a couple of genuine Singapore slings, but it was expensive so most of our visits were to the Union Jack Club (military) opposite, great pool and good food. Sometimes we would go out to the Mandarin Hotel that would be around midnight on a Saturday. To say we were enjoying life would be an understatement, Tina always said that this was the best place she had ever been to and you can understand why. 
There was only one problem while we were there: At the rear of the towers was a small Chinese canyon (village) where there was a shop that sold ice poles which the kids loved. One day the two eldest came home from school and then pestered Tina for ice poles. they went by themselves to get them. This meant they had to go out the back of the towers through the elephant grass following the trails to the Canton. It was an adventure, especially when Carolyn would ask for
the ices in Chinese. She had learnt words like please and thank you, she was now 7 and the couple who owned the shop loved it. Well, as they were running to the shop Bob fell straight into an ant’s nest, within seconds there were ants crawling all over him. Carolyn started screaming, I happened to be on the rear balcony on the first floor, I jumped from the first floor, around 20 foot, and sprinted to him (I could then). I picked him up and by now he was covered by hundreds of the ants, all biting as I could now feel. I got him back to the rear door of the block where there was a hosepipe connected for the
cleaner. I hosed him down then got him up the stairs to the shower. No lasting damage was done, except that he still hates ants and remembers the incident vividly, even though he was only 4 at the time and is now 54.
This was a slice of life that you don’t see in a travelogue.

Until the next time, Doug

 

“YOU GAIN STRENGTH, COURAGE AND CONFIDENCE BY EVERY EXPERIENCE
IN WHICH YOU REALLY STOP TO LOOK FEAR IN THE FACE.
YOU ARE ABLE TO SAY TO YOURSELF,
‘ I HAVE LIVED THROUGH THIS HORROR.    
I CAN TAKE THE NEXT THING THAT COMES ALONG .’     
YOU MUST DO THE THING YOU THINK YOU CANNOT DO.”  

Eleanor Roosevelt
 

 

Oscar Wilde once said 'Life imitates art far more than Art imitates Life. It seems the current situation is no different. Life, as we are now living it, is imitating art.  The video below shows how that is. I particularly like the last two images as they show how life should resume, hopefully very soon.
 

 I'm normally a social girl
 I love to meet my mates
 But lately with the virus here
 We can't go out the gates.

 You see, we are the 'oldies' now
 We need to stay inside
 If they haven't seen us for a while
 They'll think we've upped and died.

 They'll never know the things we did
 Before we got this old
 There wasn't any Facebook
 So not everything was told.

 We may seem sweet old ladies
 Who would never be uncouth
 But we grew up in the 60s -
 If you only knew the truth!

 There was sex and drugs and rock 'n roll
 The pill and miniskirts
 We smoked, we drank, we partied
 And were quite outrageous flirts.

 Then we settled down, got married
 And turned into someone's mum,
 Somebody's wife, then nana,
 Who on earth did we become?

 We didn't mind the change of pace
 Because our lives were full
 But to bury us before we're dead
 Is like a red rag to a bull!

 So here you find me stuck inside
 For 4 weeks, maybe more
 I finally found myself again
 Then I had to close the door!

 It didn't really bother me
 I'd while away the hour
 I'd bake for all the family
 But I've got no bloody flour!

 Now Netflix is just wonderful
 I like a gutsy thriller
 I'm swooning over Idris
 Or some random sexy killer.

 At least I've got a stash of booze
 To while away the time
 There is wine and whiskey, even gin
 I’ve even got a lime.

 So let's all drink to lockdown
 To recovery and health
 And hope this bloody virus
 Doesn't decimate our wealth.

 We'll all get through the crisis
 And be back to join our mates
 Just hoping I'm not far too wide
 To fit through the flaming gates!