Is Spring/Summer finally here?

Technicalities



Click on this to make it larger.  One
picture I did take with my proper camera.
Look at the twisting road running into the
distance.  I videoed the run back down, but...



I had intended to include a selection of photographs taken from a weekend of cycling in the countryside, along with a short video or two taken from on the bike.  Unfortunately things didn't quite work out.  I managed to clamp the (very small) video camera to the handlebars and even remembered to hit the red button an a number of occasions.  There is also a picture taking mode on the video camera, so I took quite a few stills using the same setup.  Unfortunately, when I returned to base the video simply looked like someone was shaking the camera vigorously the whole time and the quality of the stills was awful.

So not many pictures this week.  I have put in a couple of short video clips taken from the bike, but even these are a bit dodgy.

Here is a quick video of a very famous stretch of road in Tarnaveni that was featured in a 2006 film which includes the name of this particular region of Romania in its title.  The film starred Birol Ünel as Tchangalo (who was actually much better in 'Gegen der Wand' [Head On]- which is highly recommended).

In true GMTV quiz style, the film is either:

A. Transformers
B. How to train your Dragon
C. Transylvania

(legal note - sorry this competition is now closed)

Tales of a constipated cat

Kiki has bought this high tech alarm
clock to wake her for Oliver's nightime
feeds. I did it for the first couple of times
but she is much younger and fitter than me.

A completely bespoke, hand made
kitten enclosure.  Prior to fitting
out with bed, en-suit and dining
area.  I am very proud of this.

Oliver seems to be doing OK.  A few worrying nights and a couple more visits to the Vet.  He has quite a large hernia caused by the car hitting him when it drove off.  His back leg on the side of the hernia doesn't seem to be working.  Vet says that Oliver is too young to do a conclusive X-Ray as his joints are still developing (The Vet did his dissertaion on this subject, so knows his stuff).  There was a nasty tear in the skin near that area - this seems to have cleared up completely now.  We were worried that he hadn't had a poo for several days.  The Vet gave him an enema and things got moving.  However, Oliver didn't seem to be able to push (Sorry, is this too much detail?).  I was concerned that he might have some nerve damage.  Anyway, good news is that he has now started pooing and seems to be propery on the mend.  He is eating well (see video below!).

Club Update

We now have a lovely new notice board outside the club door (one of those posh glass covered ones).  I'm not sure what we will be putting in it yet, but will try and get a photo for next week.

The weather has been lovely.  We do a few 1-2-1 sessions at lunchtime with some patients who cannot cope with being in a group.  All are wheelchair users - see very early blog for details on bringing the wheelchair (generously donated by a previous volunteer) to Romania.  We are getting a lot of use out of the wheelchair and it has been great this week to get some of the 1-2-1 sessions outdoors so that patients can enjoy the weather.

We also had a complete women's session outside on two banks of benches which face each other.  Corina started off a singsong with everyone taking it in turns.  Some of the women became very emotional and tearful at some of the traditional songs which obviously brought back memories of (much) better times.  Unfortunately one of the talents that neither I nor Kiki have is the ability to sing or remember words to songs.  I am desperately ashamed to say that the only song we managed to find that we both knew was 'How Much is that Doggie in the Window'.  I made things even worse by trying to (badly - very) translate it and sing it in Romanian (Cut costa acasta caine en ferestrele?).  Shame on us.

Patients' Voice



Brilliant book - thanks to
whoever left it in the house



I have mentioned Goffman's 'Asylums' book before on a couple of occasions.  He really hit the nail on the head when he talked of institutions like this one 'mortifying the self'.  Patients are stripped of any opportunity to be 'a-self' let alone 'themselves'.  The women have all had the shortest of short haircuts.  I use the word haircut advisedly - a drunk gibbon swinging from a giraffe's neck on a rollercoaster using a rusty hacksaw could have done a better job.  There is no reason for taking away this smallest of personal choices. - Words don't actually fail me, but I won't write the ones that do come to mind...

A previous volunteer left a brilliant book in the house called 'Speaking our Minds'.  It is an anthology of person accounts and opinions of people who experience, or have experienced, mental distress.  I thouroughly recommend this book to everyone - better than any 'professionally written' textbook. - I wonder if it was ever translated into Romanian...

I keep forgetting to provide a link to the charity website.  The charity needs two key things, volunteers and funds.  If you haven't already, I am sure you could help with at least one of those things.  http://www.vfmh.org.uk/.

One last video

Nothing exceptional.  Just a 55 second glimpse into a typical Sunday down our street.  I strapped the video camera to the bike and rode down the road a bit.  Could be any street anywhere.

Answer to last weeks maths problem

Sorry nearly forgot.  To make 200ml of 5% fat milk from a mixture of 3.5% fat milk and 7.5% fat milk you need 125ml of the 3.5% fat and 75ml of the 7.5% fat.  It is much easier if you convert the percentages into ratios first.  I hope you managed it otherwise a little kitten could be going very hungry.

Pe Curand

Paul