weekends packed with barbecues, Park gatherings, wonderful weddings and this weekend went to watch the screening of https://www.picturehouses.com/cinema/Phoenix_Picturehouse/film/donmar-presents-julius-caesar

please do catch it at a “picture house” on 12 July if you can, it is definitely well worth it!

CNN showtimes and links to online version to follow

Prawn Amela

something we experimented with today and it was delicious:

butter
onion
coriander
(Cook for ten mins medium-high heat)
garlic
dried mushrooms
paprika
Coconut cream
(Cook for 5 mins low heat)
large prawns
(Cook for 5 mins low heat)
salt
Pepper

Mint to garnish, serve with rice or toast

watch this space!

I have been doing some reflection seeing as it is ten years post my injury. Ellen Nabarro and I have a surprisingly good standard of living with lots of excitement great friends and family. Unsurprisingly, life is still not simple but we seem to manage with internal and external support, our core strength comes from each other and the amazing bond we have. I feel blessed every day for my wife, she is truly my heaven sent angel. I still dream as a more able-bodied person and I doubt that will ever change, my memories of being a fit and healthy able-bodied person seem both recent and ancient at the same time and whilst I know this is me now and that was me then, the same person, the 2 parts of my life are so disjoint that it does feel like some kind of rebirth / different life. Warm wishes and positive vibes to all, remembering those precious departed and giving thanks for the pleasures I am given every day.

Wonderful trip to Florida, Jaime & Matt had a picturesque intimate wedding which we all enjoyed thoroughly despite me getting stressed about my immobilised wheelchair. after a couple of days relaxing with the bride, Groom and respective families, we stayed to enjoy seeing Saint Petersburg whilst the newlyweds travelled to Miami and then a Caribbean cruise for their honeymoon.

Soaking in the sun and white sandy beaches was bliss, a welcome strong wind kept me cool.

Wheelchair emergency was quelled after a day and a half of being driven/pushed around (not so fun) when we enlisted the help of a friendly local wheelchair engineer (who seemed to be able to do anything asked of him). The problem stemmed from a broken cable receptacle/connector/header that had come off the circuit board inside the wheelchair control box (HMC magic drive). This part had been on the blink for a while so I knew it was coming at some point. It finally gave up when I (gently) reversed into a handrail at the wedding dinner reception.

Cliff (the engineer) was able to solder the connector pins back to the board with wires. A micro fuse on the integrated circuit had been dislodged from the circuit board and Cliff managed to secure it back on due to a clean break and some quick-acting adhesive.

Making the chair work again was a big relief after many hours of ringing around to find an engineer or a soldering iron.

Hit some good bars and heard some good live music, then at the end of the next night, chair stopped working again. the next morning, Cliff (the saviour) again came to our aid and fixed the cable solder joints he had made with epoxy resin so they would not come detached.

With that final fix, all been going well and good until now (fingers crossed) but I did have a very suspicious package (all taped up with tape and exposed wires) when going through customs.

Finding a taxi back to the airport from Saint Petersburg beach bank to Orlando International airport was also nontrivial, so we spent about 4 hours looking for a suitable taxi. In the end we luckily found a friendly driver who lived local to take us.

#Condor / #ThomasCook flight back was fine, after a bit of persuasion we had been upgraded to premium economy which was a lifesaver because the chair could recline and the seating was more spacious.

now back after a sleepless night, to sleep …

Ellen, myself, Angela and Gosia arrived in Saint Petersburg, Florida. smooth trip with #NorwegianAirlines not bad considering they are a budget airline. Ground-staff both in #GatwickAirport and #OrlandoInternationalAirport excellent with transfers, friendly Thai air hostesses.

Amusingly when I asked for some water on the flight, one of the hostesses told me I could go and get it for myself at the end of the asile, when I explained that I couldn’t she went off in a huff but did come back later with the water. Then when we were waiting for the aisle chair to disembark the aeroplane, after all other passengers had departed, she came and apologised profusely, almost crying, saying that she hadn’t realised I literally couldn’t move and that’s why she had refused to get me the water. She was very sweet about it.

Now to enjoy the wedding of the wonderful couple Jaime Buckingham & Matthew Beattie.

really enjoyed our trip to Thailand to visit Ollie (brother), Rin (his wife) and Sophia (their daughter). sampled culture and nightlife, excellent fun and very eye-opening. enjoyed learning about Buddhism and Hinduism and some Chinese history. trips to temples beaches and gardens. lots of time with family and friends and some surprise encounters with friends new and old out on the town. incredible accommodation at Oliver and Rin’s house, fully made accessible for us with lovely swimming pool and life-saving air-conditioning. time spent in surrounding areas of Bangkok and Pattaya. thanks and love to all involved: Oliver Rin Sophia Ellen Gosia Aga Raj Louisa Mum Mark Ice Guy Matty [+parents] Steve Julie Kun-Pa Rose Ram Martin

travel was expensive with adapted van and compulsory driver! Eva Air decided that we needed to dismantle wheelchair so that it was less than 100kg, power to Ellen Gosia and Aga for being the mechanics to do this

photos on flickr + facebook

Great trip to #Colorado, productive discussions at the Intel “Intel Manager for Lustre” face-to-face. Awe-inspiring views of the Rockies in the sunshine and great treatment from #BritishAirways on the trip back (thanks Jeff). We were kept waiting for a while on arrival for the wheelchairs and transfer, but unfortunately it is a common occurrence. Next adventure is to Pattaya, Thailand in February to visit my brother and his family.

excited about going to Pattaya, Thailand to visit my wonderful bro, his beautiful wife Rin and sweet baby Sophia

we have the carer a-team on board; Aga and Gosia, Ellen and I super excited

trying to arrange some scuba-diving out there, with help from Mark Slingo, maybe at the Pattaya Sheena Mermaid’s diving centre

February here we come

off to the Regain sports charity dinner on Saturday which promises to be a cracker

Super excited about dad’s campaign running for WHO DG, great watching his performance at Chatham House on the nominee panel, using his extensive experience and quick thinking to answer some tough questions.

Incredible weekend at the Cybathlon, overwhelmed by the courage and determination of athletes, encouragement and support from crowd and staff and general atmosphere of warmth, inclusion and goodwill.
Unfortunately I did not start the BCI race in the competition, in the end the organisation decided against giving me an exception to allow me to compete regarding my pacemaker. It was uncertain whether I would be allowed to race given my pacemaker is generally non-pacing and I am not dependent on it, the rules state competitors must not have a pacemaker but we were told an exception might be made.
Nevertheless we have really enjoyed the weekend and it was an inspiring event. an unforgettable experience being part of #TeamImperial
Congratulations to Johnny for getting silver in the FES bike category, great performances from Kevin, Siva and team.
Highlights for me definitely included the Exoskeleton A final (link) and wheelchair obstacle course A&B finals (link).
We did get to do a BCI Time trial race in the stadium after hours thanks to negotiation skills of Aldo and generosity of the organisers, although we were underprepared this was still a good team experience.

Photos to follow on Flickr…

Currently disqualified for having a pacemaker, waiting for the results of an appeal. we will know by 8pm. Stadium looking impressive and some incredible technology around.

If you want to watch the brain computer interface race with me competing for Imperial College London at the Cybathlon (bionic Olympics) on Saturday

live stream is on their homepage: http://www.cybathlon.ethz.ch

programme for times is here: http://www.cybathlon.ethz.ch/en/for-visitors/programme.html
please distribute to anyone you think might be interested

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/haiti/article105003956.html