Big Issue?

The other day it was suggested by my wife,  that I read a book called "For the love of Bob", by James Bowen.

This then lead on to me reading a second book in the series called "Bob No Ordinary Cat" by the same author

This was a real life story of someone who fell on very hard times in his life,  and was adopted by a cat who he called Bob

While reading this story,  I really got to understand a little about the lives of some of the people  we see on the streets every day selling the Big Issue.

These people are largely ignored in many cases as drop outs, but they are real people with real stories to tell.

These days many of these people  seem  to be immigrants trying to find their way in society, however there are still lots of people, who may well have lost everything in their lives, and are fighting desperately to get some sort of regime and routine back.

Unless you have been in this position, I don't suppose you would ever give them a second thought

I confess that I was a little naive until I started to read this book, and then found it hard to put it down, because it was compulsive reading.

I knew very little about the "Big Issue",  although I have probably read about it in the past, and then its disappeared from my memory like many other things.

But the idea of giving people a role in their lives, providing they are willing to work at it,  is amazing, and I will never look at these sellers again in the same way.

We all deserve a second chance although many never get this.

But reading about how Bob the cat, adopted and supported James was truly amazing.

We had a cat and two dogs over the years, and I was always amazed at how they could detect when you are feeling ill or having a bad day. 

Animals have this amazing ability to understand human feelings, and I guess that is why they are used to support people who are ill, or have long term medical issues.

They always say that a cat picks it's owner, because it's a very independent animal, and I belive that.

I also understand that it's a very intelligent animal and resourceful, and won't allow you into their private space unless they trust and respect you.

They say Men should not cry, but I confess I failed when I read these books, because of the emotion that these books bring.

It's been a pleasure to learn about "The Big Issue" and how other people cope with their difficulties.

Its also amazing how something as small as a cat,, can change things around

It's not my type of book by any means, but it's light and has a lovely story behind it.

Thank you James and Bob

Trying to do the impossible

Even though I was an engineer for 28 years, and could turn my hands to doing most jobs in my early life, things are now vastly different

These days, I usually find that a job that would have taken a short while to plan and do,  can take hours or days to sort out I my brain

I know it's because my brain is failing, but it does not help

When I was at the nuerological department the last time, they said my planning skills are slower that they should be, and that's distressing after having a very active life as an engineer, and being able to sort oroblems out as I was going.

But it's to be expected,  and it explains why it takes so long to write a blog out these days. 

It does not help when I look at things at times, and don't always recognise them as I used to do.

When you look at something that would have been classed as a simple job years ago,  it's now  become a major headache and that has a knock on effect of causing extea stress.

Recently I tried to alter a cupboard, and it took nearly a week to get planned so that I could do it.
Then I realised that I was doing it all the wrong way, by then it had taken quite a while to do.

This sort of thing has an effect on everything I do these days, it's no longer a case of getting up and doing the job as it used to be.

If I cannot sort it out, we pay someone else to do the work rather than making a mess.

I never thought that I would ever get to this position, because I could take on most jobs without giving it a second thought

I guess that I am not alone with this, but it does not help.

Its not easy writing things out, and then not reallly understanding or seeing the obvious later when it matters.

It now takes days to understand and write out things, that I would have done in a few moments. Considering that I used to write reports this is now very hard to accept
But with the use of voice activated software it's made things a little easier, although I find talking to a computer to be very confusing

On social media I have repeated myself so many times that I think it's getting close to the time where I just have to give up, because I don't always see the repeats until it is too late.

That on its own is distressing

For some reason I feel as if my brain is totally doing its own thing at times.

I know that there are people in a worse position than I am so I have to be grateful