Philip (Phil) England

  Rhumatology department at Neath Port Talbot Hospital refered me to the Fibromyalgia Clinic. I had a phone call from the clinic yesterday, and thought I would do a blog to show how my life an Fibro co-exist. I can tell you I have reminders on my phone and bits of paper pinned to the wall. Forgetting what I got up to do is the norm for me, as is forgetting words. Here we go then with the first night time report and the start of the day. Thursday 1st August: A night of interupted sleep, was too hot in the flat to sleep, the downside of a lack of sleep is a body that won't function as it should, so lets see how the day pans out. Pain this morning is at about a 5 out of 10, I took all my dose of Gabapentin yesterday. The day continued, and when I went to bed the pain had risen to about 6 out of 10. Friday 2nd August: In the early hours of this morning woke up to fibro tingling, but because I took all my doseage of Gabapentin, it didn't turn in to much. When I got out of bed my p...

I really enjoyed Nozstock 2024, it was the last one, saw so many friends, made new friends and promoted SA Radio Live on stage as well as my own radio show In The Groove. Doing festivals in a camper sure is a bit of luxury, with my bad back it sure saves having to crawl around on the floor, and having somewhere that is dry from any passing rain shower sure is nice!. Knowing you can close the door and pull the black out curtains, chill and make a cup of tea.... heaven!, and being able to keep the milk chilled.... ohhhhh yes!. The one issue that caused the most stress happened 10 minutes before I dropped off the camper van. I had turned into the wrong road, it was a narrow road, I reversed round a corner and it looked like all was fine, I was about to put the camper into first gear to move off when a woman in a Ford reversed into the side of the campervan door. How did the woman driver not see the van? did she not check her mirrors? did she not check over her shoulder? As any...

 Turkey Mince and Veg This idea come from a few weeks ago, when I was in Tesco and saw minced beef with butternut squash already mixed in to it. First of all chop up some spring onions and three cloves of garlic, gently fry these in a big pan. Add in to this some chives, parsley, salt and pepper. Break up some turkey mince (you can use any other kind you want, I just went for turkey as it was the cheapest at the time) and add this to the pan. At this stage I added some paprika and 2 Oxo cubes. Add to this some swede and carrott mash, mix this in to the mince. Once the mince has begun to brown add a whole tim of chopped tomatos and mix well. Bring it to the boil and simmer for 15 mins, making sure it don't stick. Turn the heat off and keep the lid on. The built up heat will keep cooking the mince and veg. You can serve this up with whole grain rice or maybe some cous cous. I use the microwave pouches as they are more convenient. You will need to bring the mince up to temperature. Th...

 Health Issues: Update Why is my right knee being a pain? It goes weak a lot of the time. I have had to get a crutch because when it plays up I feel a walking stick don't offer me the support that I need. I feel fed up , and when it goes weak when I am in my flat I am trapped inside . Sunday 30th June: Not long up, feeling a bit off this morning, hope that improves. Bit on the achy side, on my scale of 1 to 10, about a 5 Friday 28th June: Covered a show today, but as the afternoon went on my pain went from a 3 to a 7, hope it eases by tomorrow! Thursday 27th June: Pain at about 7 out of 10 this morning, did my Imraldi injection and within a few hours and a few gabapentin later pain had gone down to around my baseline pain level of about 4 out of 10. Wednesday 26th June: Really bad pain day - out of 10, its about a 9. Its more or less all over pain. Monday 24th June: Feeling wiped out, hardly no energy, pain at around a 7 out of 10. Knee really causing issues today, ok one mome...

SCAMMING BA$**** Just had a scammer phone my landline, from visa debit card - how dull do they think people are? My debit card is a Master Card, they don't even know who my bank is! And visa wouldn't phone anyway, the bank would, kept them on the line as long as I could. A bit more about this...... So, I had a scam call on my landline, I knew it was a scam call because they said its 'VISA DEBIT CARD', which I don't have as I have a 'MASTERCARD DEBIT CARD' I kept the scammer on the line as long as I could, I know the longer they are on the line with me, the less time they have to try to scam someone else!  Playing them at their own game, I think I got them confused as they started dithering and then hung up.  They didn't get any numbers from me, they didn't know what number they phoned, didn't know my name or address and didnt know who I banked with!  SCAMMERS really are thick as two short planks! They think they know things but they dont! I am fi...

Sausage & Mash One Dish Meal This is whats needed for this tasty dish, which you need to fry the sausages and onion seperatly before putting it in the dish for the oven. You will also need to cook and mash the potato or cheat and get ready mashed!  Sausage (you can use vegi or vegan alternatives) Onion (spring and regular) Mashed potato (regular, sweet potato or other) To season use salt, pepper, garlic, Worcester Sauce and / or your choice of herbs to make it your own! See the video at https://youtu.be/kV_pb1j6r3Q

Bad Knee Had an awful week with painful right knee on Tuesday, then thanks to painkillers and gabapentin the next day the pain had subsided and my knee was just very weak. I decided to put on a knee support and that helped. I managed the stairs on Thursday, and also decided to give driving a go, as was unsure if my knee was ok for doing this or not, glad to say it was. Friday, and thought my kneee was ok, stupidly decided not to put on my knee support. Drat - thought my knee was getting better, and had improved, had to pop to Morrisons for few bits and it gave way - I may have to decide if I should chance going to do my show or not tomorrow, will have a think and see how it goes, maybe I should have worn my knee support?  In Review: My bad knee this week, and looking how my hips and kness are on a regular basis, along with my back and other health issues really make the need for a ground floor flat or bungallow an urgency. I do not want to be stuck in an upstairs flat and trapped ...