Peter & Paul's plan comes together...........

Finally the Greek wind God's have decided to move slightly west of our area and as the Maple branches settle into a gentle sway, I am able to see the results of P & P's ongoing efforts, against the elements, to create a home ! Slightly more colourful than the other nests, and just a tad away from the rest of the nesting colony, and nestled right up against the wall of my balcony, these two have created a home, boasting privacy, a sunken conversation pit, with a brooding ledge all the other Finches must be jealous of. Their puffed out feather chests indicative of pure persistence and determination to beat the weather Gods. It occurs to me that Peter is missing for the whole of Wednesday, and on his return late in the evening, AND, if I am understanding Finch language, he has spent the day transgressing the city picking up creative interior tips from the Fulham road and Shorditch area. Both of which are home to interior design shops nestled amoungst boutique clothing stores and antique dealers ! It now becomes apparent that Peter studied at the " The Finches School For Interior Design ", a rather posh ornathelogical school situated in the Hampstead Park area where all classes take place in the Birch section of the park overseen by a rather flamboyant Male Finch named Fredrico ! Of Spanish decent, slight gum disease and resides in a Conifer in Joanna Lumleys garden. He battles the turbulence on a daily basis from Stockwell to Hampstead to lecture on the relevance of nesting protocol and raising chicks in an " out of the ordinary nest " P & P spend the rest of the evening debating colour swatches, laying procedures, music for new hatches, dietary needs, health and safety procedures and decide on duck egg blue walls with yellow dado rails to confuse the hatchlings about their size, power and ability to sustain a lifestyle of survival amoungst the fittest in the Finch world of London. Totally intrigued with where the off-spring are going to materialise from, I wheel myself around the corner to the arches, only to find the Finches Sperm Donating Clinic. There......... Set high up in the arch is a small landing perch, with a sign above called " Squirt & Hatch " A rather stern looking female finch handing out bird porn, controls the landing and leaving process ! Quite simple in human terms !, Paul lands, grabs his " Finch Playboy " mag and bottle, assigned to a cubical, seconds later he reappears, hands the bottle to " Sister Stern " who promptly flutters over to the twenty odd female Finches all nesting on make shift nests , pumping out eggs for the Finch community in Southwark who are battling to have " kids ". An amazing sight, these surrogate mothers busying themselves with knitting, painting their nails, reading Vanity Fair, chatting to one another and arguing amoungst themselves about the number of eggs they had produced etc etc etc - poor girls were the ones that were left on the shelf of Finch world !! I await the arrival of the Finch Stalk with eggs to be hatched ! - will keep you posted ! Where did all of that come from????? I, myself am coming along just fine ! Still under the watchful eye of Eugene at the helm, and have recently been told by the care company he will be staying another week as Jeeves 2 cannot make next week. I am elated, but fully understand that it would have been a full month that he has been on duty ! Great for me, but he does need a break !!! Tomorrow sees us making a prawn, muscle and chichen green Thai curry in antissipation of P & D visit on Monday . Neither of which, either of us have done before ! All Eugenes seems to be saying is that the coconut milk will blend all the tastes together - I hope so !! Late afternoon tomorrow, am re-visiting the Soho stomping ground to watch the infamous Molly Mogs show ! Fun, laughter and undeniably opening myself to a barrage of ridicule, as before ! But it is so important to laughter at yourself as long as you are laughing WITH yourself !! The show is completely unrehearsed, and the performer relys solely on the audience to prop the show. The main singer, an ageing character that simply will not allow age and vocals to get the better of him/her !! Will give you the rundown of abuse expected in my next blog. Have to tell you that the fog horn ordered on line last week has arrived. Rameez forgot to research the whole thing properly, and we need a 12 volt battery to charge the whole thing up. Needless today, time was spent on Amazon finding the correct power supply. Reading the gumff of it, apparently the output is sufficient for a motor cyclist to hear the device whilst travelling at 80 MPH !! Those poor pedestrians in my way !!! Will definitely do a You Tube video of moving people out of my May on pavements etc. AND, it comes with pre-recorded versions of animal sounds, various siren alerts, gun shot imitations and nerve shocking alerts ! It is going to be fun, fun, fun........ Ending off again seems so premature, coz as I publisH, there are other things that then come to mind that I wish I had shared. But, suffice to say, keep moving forward, be thankful for what you have, look after your health and inner core !, and mend all broken bridges whilst you can - life is fragile and unpredictable. Posted with love and ongoing good health wishes !!! G.

Need all the following !!!

I certainly don't rate myself as any profound Ornithologist, but good ol' Google has enlightened me with regards to the Golden Finches that have taken up residence in the branches of the Maples that brush against my small but adequate balcony. With the Maples in full leaf now, the bird life has increased and between the train sounds, traffic noise and general London buzz sounds finally we get some bird life in the city !!! Google says...... As with most birds, the male is by far the prettiest of the pair. Against all odds of the Greek wind Gods, this pair have been trying in earnest to build themselves a home for the spring and ever-threatening summer. Problem is...... Both are beautiful and both look like males, so I have named my new house guests " Peter & Paul ". Thinking right out of the box now, and loving my thought processes, makes a good book and fantasy read for the two urban, male , finches trying to set up home and start a family - Is there a sperm donation clinic for Finches nearby ? Or do they do what Maddona and Angelina did and fly to a nearby county, wipe the lice outa the babies eyes, pay a token fee and take babies home ???? Or is there an egg syndicate / Mafia going on right under my nose ? Food for thought ! In the mean time though, I am just going to enjoy the simple beauty of having some tiny wildlife nesting so close ! Will keep you posted on P & P 's family adoption process. The past week or so has seen me gaining a little more mobility, muscle wise, and an inherent attitude to push myself further to the limits in my ongoing quest to find my legs again. Home wise, things have been running really smoothly ! Having had Eugene at the helm for a three week stretch has been amazing ! No deviation from regimes, total dedication to my rather strict routine, and as irritating as it can be, it is at the end of the day...... All for my benefit ! Gotta love him, and the compassion he has for his subject ! Me !! So, we have a good team, apart from the one Jeeves that I am trying to replace for a less complicated carer who continually looks for the short cuts, and has toooo many personal issues to work through. This, will happen, and my pro-active approach in doing so will complete the circle in time ! Last weekend saw myself meeting a friend for a catch up and a few drinks in my old favourite area called Soho. In my legs of past days, this eclectic area of " anything " goes, loads of bars, sex shops, eateries, Funtime drag shows etc etc etc has been a stage drop of many a great time. Heidi's 50th, was probably the last time I was there, where I managed to get us invited to a private club ( whilst having a cig outside ) where we danced until the wee hours of the morning !. My return saw a mixed emotion of self pity, hatred of my condition, u yet and sel fulfilling of worth when barren, patron etc recognised me and were more than eager to help me up stairs etc to gain entry. Our last port of call was the Admiral Duncan pub. Once the target of a nail bomb - years ago, and one of the longest remaining bars. On arrival, the bouncer asked if I would prefer to be indoors ?, but as the sun was out I responded accordingly. He told me that the previous bar had called ahead offering their ramp for me to gain access !! PEOPLE, I am back !!! Leaving Soho, to make my way home, proved frustrating and complicated ! Rameez at the helm, shouting and screaming at hoards of tourists to get out of the way, " scuz uuus " etc etc proved frivolous ! We decided that a loud speaker would be the answer ! Got home, straight onto the net and ordered one ! Awaiting delivery and will definitely let you know the outcome !! Should be loads of fun...... I did post on FB my positive response to my assessment a Alcatraz , my consultant being very happy with the progress of this rebuilding of the body. I will spend a day with the OT's and Physio's, and a decision will be made as to when my next few weeks of intensive therapy will happen. This will evolve another 2 - 3 week admittance to Alcatraz - a thought that churns my weakened stomach muscles, but part of the long term recovery process - My God, I am lucky enough to be considered for further therapy, and I need to remember that ! On a more serious note ! And given the situation that I am in, I need all of you to please follow my blog, and get it out there !! Social media is such a positive thing. I am planning a " challenge ", need funding and sponsorship ! This is NOT an appeal to you as followers, but I am looking at crossing the UK in my chair to raise awareness of SCI, and in particular raising money for kids with this life debilitating condition. I KNOW I can make a difference !! As always, posted and sent with ongoing good health wishes ! G

The East End Rocks !!!

Correct me if I am wrong, but as I remember from a by-gone era of Greek Mythology lessons from school days, Anemoi was a term referred to as the God's of wind. If I am correct, the Anemoi Gods have decided to decend on the east end of London to remind us of the major part of the weather patterns they have privy to. From months of waiting for the trees to leaf and block out my view of the train tracks, these Gods have arrived with a vengeance to remind the tees that, although now in leaf, even they ! Are not safe in keeping their spring camouflage safe !!! Watching the flimsy branches being blown to and fro, desperately holding on to their leaves by every cell, shows determination, and courage to maintain their place in the evolution process of mother nature ! They WILL survive and they WILL hold onto their every new sprouted green beauty that they have waited to do all through the long dreary winter ! The tree's are putting up a good fight and the wind Gods are slowly moving off to somewhere else much to my delight, knowing that the Maples will now continue with their natural screening of the dismal view of the tracks !! Gotta love the inherent seasonal changes of this hemisphere ! Although I can still hear the trains, and the now ' soothing ' hooters ', the greenery is far more appealing !!! Anemoi be gone............ !!!! So an update with the quest to put smiles on people's faces, and play havoc with people's inner beings, Andreas and I exit Bermondsey tube station. Giggling at what we have achieved in our small and perhaps, childish way ! As we exit I see an old fashion ice-cream van, parked to the left of the exit. Conveniently parked in order to catch the exiting hoards, and just off from our regular tree which we have discovered is a suitable place to empty my leg bag. We do the nessessary, and I ask him if he would like an ice-cream ? No thanks he replies, and " anyway, they are £2.50 - a complete rip off " !! I wheel up and ask - " any free cones today " to the started lady inside the van. She takes a look at us and says " yes " !!!! We get a free soft serve with all the trimmings !! Next step is gonna be asking people for £10 in the lift ! He is going to shyTe himself !!!!!! Yesterday saw us exploring the eateries and market like stalls underneath the arches in and around my place. Shesh and Nic had come in to London to spend the day with me. An amazing wander through the age old arches of the east end discovering oyster bars with champagne , cheese stalls, jam makers etc etc etc, all mixed in with antique shops and jewellery stores, breweries and butcher shops - a hidden gem, no tourists, mainly supported by locals - always a good sign !! Rope Street in particular is well worth a visit.. A stones throw from Tower Bridge, and Shad Thames, an area just below the bridge And made up of cobbled streets, modern and old combined architecture, converted warehouses and an eclectic mixture of resteruants all situated on the river. We chose an Italian for lunch. " Ask " - pleasantly priced, good service, value for money, completely chair friendly ( although, most of them are ) and on the river with amazing views of the bridge. Tomorrow sees another day off as it is a bank holiday, but for me, it is change over of shifts for the Jeeves ! So anything could happen !!! Will keep you posted ! Then on Tuesday, it is back to Alcatraz for another assessment day in anticipation of a re-book for further intensive therapy !! Feeling good about it ! With small changes, comes bigger improvements ! Remember to keep the shadows behind you, remain positive in your outlook, and keep moving forward. Posted with love and on-going good health wishes ! G.