Yoolaa

Oil and Water. Sighted and unsighted meeting

29th August 2015
by cliff

OIL and WATER? Sighted and the Unsighted

Are we troglodytes?

I think there is a natural collision which makes it difficult for non-sighted people to join and work with sighted people.

The differences that need to be circumvented:

travelling to a venue i.e. public transport plus walking or car
Getting to a regional meeting locally when the bulk of the public transport links to a hub, like a star formation whereas by car anyone can go across in any direction
counting out change
recognising a face more than five feet away
seeing a smile or a scowl, seeing a laugh
reading the minutes, accounts, letters etc in a meeting
making notes and diary entries
finding the toilets
pouring a glass of water, white wine or a gin and tonic or even milk into a white cup
completing a form
reading my debit / credit card details to key them in or to dictate them
reading non-verbal signs and body language
reading a noticeboard, a label, numberplate, bus tine-table

An endless list, all minor even un-noticeable and normally inconsequential..

Any one of these is taken for granted by the sighted and leaves the unsighted totally at a loss.

AND, my proposition, is that every instance gradually adds to the frustration until the pressure is too much or exhaustion takes over.

Either Explosion or Exhaustion.

……………………

September 2015

What a superb weekend, organised by the Macular Society. There were probably sixty ‘unmsighted’ people there.

Y you can relax in each others company because you largely have the same experiences and togther you can laugh about them. Also suddenly the ‘unsighted’ out-numbered the ‘sighted’.

Oh! The luxury of finding others who can read, but only three paragraphs. Then it’s trashed.

I hate the people who cannot write concisely, who pad everything out so it seems more important and the ones who write long inconsequential introductions.

Umpire for an hour or two once a month, trial basis, coaching provided

27th August 2015
by cliff

Shoreham Soundball Tennis

Umpire and two player volunteers needed
Coaching and racket provided.
an hour or two, once a month
On a Monday evening
We want to get better and to win some matches and tournaments.

We have difficulty seeing the ball, the racket and the net let alone seeing the lines so we need feedback, we need to know if the shot was in or out.

We provide our special balls and 23” rackets, using an orange-ball court.

Please call Cliff Jenkins on 07582 902 922, email cliffofyoolaa.co.uk@gmail.com or
Come and see for yourself
from 5.30on any Monday in September
at Sussex County Lawn Tennis Club, south end of Kingston Lane, Southwick, Shoreham by Sea

Tasty Bites for Tigers, with your fingers!

17th August 2015
by cliff

Feeding Tigers out of your hands, just with your fingers. What a glorious experience.

Dudley Zoological gardens are part of a Save endangered species scheme. As part of this they offer you the opportunity to sponsor a tiger (or other animals) and the experience of feeding them personally, close and upfront.

Dudley Zoo is now beautiful, a gracious and fun place to take children. The animals are obviously looked after with loving care and the keepers are rightly proud of their successes in the breeding programme.

Shall we go again, of course we will.

Will we take our grandchildren, of course we will.

Will we recommend it to our friends and neighbours, of course we will.

Feeding Tigers out of your hands, just with your fingers. What a glorious experience.

Thank you.

Shoreham Soundball Tennis started

14th May 2015
by cliff

Shoreham Soundball Tennis started on 15th June 2015 with our first coaching session.

The fabulous benefits of tackling Sound Tennis include:

Sharing the improvements and the frustration with others

Having a beer afterwards

Making new friends, all like-minded people

Joining in the fun of ‘away’ matches

Getting out of the house frequently

Trying something NEW

Improving Fitness

Improving Visual Acuity – stretching the brain

Losing weight

Helping others

Learning / relearning old skills – muscle memory

Opening yourself to further challenges

Sheer Joie de Vivre, Slf-confidence, and “I CAN”

So what are you waiting for?

AND It’s easy to play “Sound Tennis” if you’ve been a player no matter your standard. Besides nobody can see your goofs. (We’ve all got the same problem.) You’ll soon get into the swing of it.

Go online for ‘Sound Tennis Sussex’ on YouTube and you can see(!) how easy it is(?) Our oldest player is over ninety so there’s no excuse. In the video the first chapter shows B1s, so see them compete…. it’s almost unbelievable. (To keep it fair, they all wear eye-masks, no sneaking allowed.)

There are groups of Sound Tennis players all over the country enjoying themselves, so get out and find them. If you can’t, then email me through the “Contact Us” form and we”ll see how we can help you sort it out.

We also joined in the National Championships in Newcastle in May and are looking forward to more get-togethers including overseas activities.

Love 15

Cliff

Shoreham Soundball Tennis started on 15th June 2015 with our first coaching session.

TaRRa

Cliff

BTW Carers can play as well, so everyone can join in the fun.

Open letter to Macular Society re Lutein v AMD

28th September 2014
by cliff

An Open Letter to the Macular Society about Lutein v AMD

Looking at my local Macular support group only two out of twelve members had heard of Lutein and both used it successfully. The others, ten people had never heard of it.

Whilst the Macular Society on their web site support the benefits of Lutein, their quote is buried deep in the turgid detail of a report by scientists. I quote:

“Research supports the theory that high macular pigment levels may reduce your risk of AMD or its progression.Macular pigment can be increased by taking supplements with lutein or zeaxanthin or by changing your diet to include more of them.” Macular Society website.

What they don’t say is that 50% of users found that their eyes stopped deteriorating. They do not state that there is no scientific or statistical support for these same benefits being achieved by changing your diet on its own.

It is my contention that our Macular Society is letting our members down and allowing thousands of members to suffer continuing degradation of their sight unnecessarily.

If I was a cynical person I might think that this situation has occurred because of the financial support given to the Macular Society by the suppliers of assistive technologies. They have a strategic need to find more people with deteriorating eyesight. [They sponsor our annual conference and advertise in our magazine.] But may be that’s unfair.

THIS NEEDS TO CHANGE.

I Propose a new policy for the Macular Society:

Draft 2 for Lutein Policy for the Macular Society to consider.

(28^th september 2014)

“The Facts about Lutein

It is a fact that our eyes have Lutein in the macula.

The AREDS (Age related Eye Disease Study) found that people suffering from AMD got relief from further deterioration by taking supplementary Lutein (with Zeaxanthin) in doses ranging from 10 to 30 mg per day. There were no no side-effects observed.

There is also empirical evidence and some early studies showing that Cataracts cease growing when using the Lutein supplement.

There is increasing professional support of the results of using these supplements and some eye professionals are starting to prescribe them.

The Macular Society is pleased to see these developments and will conduct its own study of our members to try to confirm, or otherwise, the effects of the use of these supplements. In the meantime it is upto each person to find out as much as they can and take their own decision. We will conduct our own study and then we hope to endorse its use fully.

The Macular Society

Dated:…….

Gluten Free in Hove and Brighton, Sussex

20th August 2014
by cliff

Gluten Free hes in Hove and Brighton, Sussex

Updated 20th August 20114. If I’m in or around Brighton or Hove I have some great restaurants to choose from and I’m delighted to recommend any of them to you:

Donatello’s Italian restaurant in the Lanes. When having Pasta just specify gluten free – just as easy as that,

Also in th e Lanes there’s Cafe Rouge, with great GF Pommes Frites, and there’s another Cafe Rouge at Brighton Marina. (Cafe Rouge have schedule of GF choices for you to select from,) Pizza Express are there nearby with GF Pizzas.

Around the corner we have Zizzi;s with GF Zizzi’s Fish Stew – brilliant.

If that doesn’t suit then try The Cote Brasserie just by the Dome , along from The Theatre Royal. I always have the Steak Frites with a glass of one of their house reds. I choose ‘Lalande’ – beautiful,

If I’m in the area I will always visit the ‘Hoe Kitchen‘. We called in yesterday with our grandson and we had a real treat. My grandson had a decorative amshed potato mound surmounted by a sausage, all surrounded by a moat of green peas They provided toys and a special cutlery set!. My wife had Lancashire cheese souffle with a layered square of winter vegetables. For myself, as GF, I had a steak with deep-fried potato wedges accompanied by a pepper sauce.

——————————————————————————-

28th Dec2013
I still regularly visit all these though I must add another The Pizza Hut just near Churchill Square. I can recoomend the Pepperoni on a cheese and toamto base just askl for extra tomato. It’s excellent value for money.

……………………..

If this article has been of help to you, I’d love you to say thanks by making a small donation to JustGiving for the Macular Society. All the monies route directly to the Macular Society, particularly for research into a cure.
Thank you very much,
Cliff.

What Music means for me

27th January 2014
by cliff

Mmmm!,So the Open University and Royal College of Music have launched the Lstening Experiences Database to try to understand the relationship between composers, performers and listeners.. I think that is much too facile. Take me for example….

NOW Listening to Scott Joplin piano rags. Three styles… The Stuart and Bradley James, the man himself and the music for the ballet Suite Elite Syncopations. All started by buying sheet music at a church Jumble Sale. Wonderful.

A crazy mixture of music experiences.

Now its WOAD...very modern. Powerful guitars.

1170 tracks on my tablet, 2200 on my main computer, most recently from Amazon and Spotify. Prior to that vinyl transfers to dpigital plus CDs.

Started with singing church music then learning to play the piano plus Scout campfires and Gang Shows plus the school choir (Walpurgis Night)

Winning piano competition …. Splfeggio. Marriage of Figaro TV broadcast from Big School.

My sudden interest inreacting to the ideaa of the database was caused by a brilliant concert. Berlin Philharmonic / Simon Rattle/ Prokofiev Piano Concerto No.3 / Lang Lang. Four. Geniuses. Wonderful. The camera work was superb.
NOW listening to it (Prokofiev) and the studio sound is even better.

Also over the last three years ballet from the shoi…..Soshtakovich,Tchaikovsky, Katchaachurian, Stravinskiy, Fuare, Mikus, Delibes, and also Brubeck Linchbury

Then here is West Side Story, My Fair Lady, Cabaret, Mamma Mia! With each of these I became emotionally engaged.

Now Its Raining Men

TIMELINE

1947 Wind up gramophone with Puccini Madame Butterfly, One Fine Day. Then Sunday School and hymn singing starts. AND Frere Jacques, Sur le pant D’Avignon,
Allouette, gentile Allouette,
1948 Started to learn to play the piano, Schubert Mozart Chopin, Bach,
1952 Watched Mikado and other G&S a other amateur operetta’s
1953 Coronation marching bands plus later Military Tattoos and also Colliery Brass Bands,… The Post Horn Ga!lop.
1956 Stopped learning piano. Saw Ruxolf Nureyev dancing Le Corsaire.
1957 Mi!itary band for Queen Sout marchpast at Windsor Castle; Carol singing; Dancing g Rock and Roll,skip Jive; Country Dancing
1858, Week of Operas at the Alec, standing at the back.
1959 Abide with me. family funerals.
1966 Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring at our wedding; Vacationes enan Mallorca… Hava Nagula
1968 Rumania Circocilia and folk dancing
1976 Songs sung in Mandarin, extraordinary, so melifulous
1980 Singing the Marseillaise as we sail into a French harbours. Yacht club Dinner Dances for jive, rock and somtimes even a quick step, waltz.
2010 Found ballet again.Bright Stream, Spartacus, Le Corsaire, Concerto (BRB),
2014 Concert Simon Rartle , Lang Lang, Prokofiev Piano Concerto 3 with Berliner Philharmonic. Bought the down!oad from Anazon.

Stopped Spotify subscription.

Now Spirit in the Sky

Star Wars, Gladiator. Happy Feet animation ballet, Fantasia animation ballet.

Then there is exquisite playing eg Nigel Kennedy, Vanessa Mae, Kyung Wha Chung, Julian Lloyd Webber, Rachmaninov, Bernstein, Ray Charles, Elvis Presley,

And La petite Piaf, Marlene Dietrich, Esther Ofarim, The Carpenters, neil Diamond,

So for me music comes in all shapes and sizes. There are composers and performers and listeners. There are a!so extemporisers ( both jazz and church organ introits) and amateur performers, including karaoke, plus active, participating listenrs eg dancers,skaters and then sedentary listeners. People wander across a few, many or all categories.

My preference is now the combination of people interpreting music in all forms whether skating or stage dancing or ballet or The Prottopopovs, Torville and Dean, Kenneth Macmillan, Frederick Ashton, even the choreographers on Strictly Dancing.

For me for the future I need to crack, the problem 9f sheet music for my digital piano and / or to learn the auto-backing in the CDP 220 and create my own music.

NOW listening to Liebestraum by Liszt

AND the good news is tioday’s break-through because rather than waiting to try to get Musescore.org on my (Ubuntu) computer I decided to adopt a more classic approach by getting a music stand and drilling a hole through my desk so tht the music is directly in front of my eyes. I mmediately rang the RNIB muusic Team to request a copy of large print score for Brahms wltz in A Flat. Let’s see how I get on.

A look back at Snowdon.

27th December 2013
by cliff

It was only when I started looking at Google maps that I realised just how much of Snowdonia I have tramped across. The Glydyrs, the Carnedds, Tryfan and of course Snowdon. I remeber vividly one January, the gale-force blizzard we survived during my mountain-leadership course!

So fifty or so years on and with my poor eyesight I thought I’d better get there whilst I can still see. So the task was to get there, to see what I could climb and then to get back again.

My route was by train via, I think, John o’groats and all points west to Bettws-y-Coed and then by Sherpa bus to Pen-y-Gwryd. I stayed at the same hotel as Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tensng used when preparing for their successful ascent of Everest. Indeed my route would take me directly above the cliffs that they practised on.

I was fully prepared and equipped for the worst weather and of course it was beautiful – I bought a hat!

Of the four paths from the car park at Pen-y-Pass, I selected the most southerly route as it was the most exciting and most beautiful and indeed the least used.

It was all just as I remebered it. Breath-taking, in more ways than one, Hard work and womderful mountains,

You climb up over and dowmn the Clwyds, at about 2700 ft, and then climb up again to Snowdon.

Starting from the Miners’ Track, I branched off and followed the southerly track. Iwalked up and climbed up over the Clwyds and along the knife edge ridge that I remeber so well. It was just as if I’d been there just last week.

In the event during the descent my thighs couldn’t cope with the jarring from several hundred missed foot steps and I limped down my escape path. I spent the next day hobbling and limping between the the bar, the garden and the restaurant on a abeautiful sunny day overlooking these gorgeous mountains. I marked out a flat route, a lap of about a thousand yards which I walked probably eight or ten times and gradually my legs recovered.

I duly returned home (not quite as tame as it sounds.)

An exciting trip to do on your own, maybe a daunting trip if your eyes are out of focus and you’ve lost your central vision. As Gavin a friend of mine says ‘Well. I took some photos and I can now see where I went’.

I have a wonderful shot of the knife-edge that I wanted to see again and of the raw beauty of these wonderful craggy mountains.

ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS and even better for having done it all independently.
10th July 2013
……………………….
27th December.
Six months later I can now see that this expereience has worked wonders for my self-confidence, proving my self-reliance and restoring my self-esteem.
Cliff

………………………….

If this article has been of help to you, I’d love you to say thanks by making a small donation to JustGiving for the Macular Society. All the monies route directly to the Macular Society, particularly for research into a cure.
Thank you very much,
Cliff.

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