Category: Health

Mentioned in News

It’s a great place to stay up-to-date on all sorts of important topics. Furthermore, you need a university degree as the bare minimum if you want to write articles for the website. This results in a high standard of writing.

The Conversation

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On the web – 2

The Conversation

I’ve started reading The Conversation, not every item but whenever I spot something that catches my attention. This happened back on 8th April when I added a news item based on a post from ‘The Conversation’. This time I’d like to write about the website itself, not just an item that I read and liked.

The web as intended

I mentioned this in the news item. Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the World-Wide-Web, made his original intentions very clear in his recent book, ‘This is for Everyone’. The web, especially recently, has significantly tampered with and damaged what he had hoped to create. If you read the book you’ll see what he means and how he intends to fix things and is already working to do so.

The Conversation is a website that already conforms rather well to Berners-Lees’s intentions. For one thing it’s completely free to use, like Wikipedia, the Internet Archive, and my own site which you’re reading now. Everything here is free to read, use, copy, and re-use. Check my copyright page for more details.

‘The Conversation’ presents world news and updates and articles on research and development; so it’s a great place to stay up-to-date on all sorts of important topics. Furthermore, you need a university degree as the bare minimum if you want to write articles for the website. This results in a high standard of writing and articles you should be able to trust. There are different versions for different nations and regions, every Conversation page has a drop down list near the top where you can select the version you want to view.

That’s all I wanted to say about ‘The Conversation’. If you subscribe for notifications and read whatever grabs your attention, you’ll stand a good chance of being better informed than ever before and enjoying the process as well. Happy reading!

See also:

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https://jhm.scilla.org.uk/2026/04/01/current-roundup
Another great post

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Helping a charity with lights

At Vale Road in Stratton on the northern edge of the Cotswold town of Cirencester, residents (and one in particular) put a lot of effort each year into decorating their homes and gardens with all sorts of coloured and illuminated decorations. And they invite the people who come to look to make a contribution to Macmillan Cancer Support.

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Image of the day – 181

What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every few days.

Click images to enlarge

People love Christmas lights and decorations, and people hate illness particularly if there’s no cure. So can Christmas lights help people with incurable illness? Yes they can! But…how?

Well, one way is to use the Christmas decorations to raise money for charity, and that’s what one street in Cirencester has been doing every year for some time now.

There’s more inside – a model village!

At Vale Road in Stratton on the northern edge of the Cotswold town of Cirencester, residents (and one in particular) put a lot of effort each year into decorating their homes and gardens with all sorts of coloured and illuminated decorations. And they invite the people who come to look to make a contribution to Macmillan Cancer Support. This charity provides care, help, nursing and support for cancer patients and their families right at the time when they need help most. They will help families care for a mum, a dad, or a grandparent at home.

The heart of the action

If you live in Cirencester or the local area, why not drive out to Vale Road and park in a nearby street like Vaisey Road, Tinglesfield or Park View? (But please don’t block any driveways or park near junctions.) Then walk the short distance to Vale Road. You can pay for a tour of the best of the lights, delight your children (or grandchildren), and help support a great cause all at the same time. What could be better than that?

See also:

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If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

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Fallen tree
Season’s Greetings 2025

Breakfast

Seeds are a good source of protein, healthy fats, fibre, vitamins, and minerals, helping to lower the risks of heart disease, stroke and cancer.

Today I’ll tell you about my breakfast – what I eat, when, and why. If you want to know more, read on…

What’s in it?

The bowl above was my breakfast today and it’s quite typical. Here’s what it contains:

  • First thing into the bowl is always a helping of my own oat-based breakfast mix. I’ll give you the recipe later in case you’d like to try it.
  • Next I add plenty of milk. Oats absorb water and swell so it’s good to provide enough liquid to support that. Usually I use oat milk, but sometimes semi-skimmed dairy milk or a mix of the two.
  • Fruit next. This time I chopped a small banana and added some grapes. Other favourites include blueberries, pear, and segments of satsuma.
  • The final ingredient is a helping of kefir over the fruit (similar to a thin yogurt).
Why those ingredients?

My base mix contains oats, dried fruit, seeds, and nuts. Oats help to control cholesterol, help with blood sugar levels, and support gut health. Dried fruit is a good source of fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants and may reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke. Seeds are a good source of protein, healthy fats, fibre, vitamins, and minerals, helping to lower the risks of heart disease, stroke and cancer. Nuts have similar benefits to seeds.

Milk is good, especially dairy milk, but oat milk is probably better for the planet. And kefir contains a range of microorganisms that are good for gut health.

Timing

I try to eat breakfast no earlier than 10:30 every morning, often later. I restrict my eating time each day, fasting from 20:30 in the evening until breakfast, so fasting for twelve hours or longer. This is called intermittent fasting, and it gives the gut microbes the time they need to clean up the gut before facing the next day’s meals. There are a number of benefits, perhaps including increased longevity.

Recipe for my base breakfast mix
  • 380 g of fruit and nut mix (I use Grapetree Luxury Fruit and Nut Mix*)
  • 60 g mixed seeds
  • 90 g granola (I use Bio & Me Super Seedy & Nutty*)
  • 800 g rolled oats (Ideally use organic oats as they are free of glyphosate residues)

This makes enough for a large container and lasts me for some time.

*It doesn’t matter which companies you buy from, of course; just try to avoid anything ultra-processed and with plenty of different healthy ingredients.

Final thoughts

This is just the pattern I normally follow for breakfast, but it’s important to be flexible about both what I eat and when. If it’s convenient to eat earlier I’m relaxed about breaking my intermittent fasting. If going on a journey, I might eat at 08:00 instead of 10:30. Sometimes Donna I and might have breakfast in town and I’ll choose a full English or whatever I want. And that’s OK, it’s a normal pattern, not an unbreakable commitment.

See also:

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

Seventeen Haiku on Covid

Covid in our land – Let’s be very close friends in – self isolation

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Image 111 – What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every day or so.

Enlarge
(Wikimedia)

A Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry consisting of three lines; the first provides a topic as a phrase (five syllables), then the second (seven syllables) and third (five syllables) form a sentence about the topic. Five, seven, and five is the basic structure of Haiku.

Back in the difficult early months of COVID-19 I began writing some Haiku about the outbreak, social distancing, the way community develops despite difficulties, and hope for the future. At the time I didn’t publish this poetry, but now I think I’d like to – so here they are.

Writing 17 of these little verses (5+7+5) makes a sort of Haiku of Haiku. Read them all if you like, but if you grow tired, skip to The whole story where something magical happens!

Five Haiku

Covid in our land
Let’s be very close friends in
self isolation

Social distancing
Two metres apart is safe
though hearts beat closer

Needing a helper
We’ll support one another
neighbour to neighbour

Encouragment comes
Find something to make us smile
sunbeam in a storm

Compose a poem
So write your best Haiku now
to lift people up

Seven more

Self isolation
A hug is far, far better
but really unsafe

Thinking of others
Ask everyone around you
can I pray for you?

The King of Heaven –
Jesus says to give others
more than they expect

Things my neighbour lacks
If I have an abundance
it’s on offer now

Anxiety gone
No fears brother or sister
what is mine is yours

Loving Tinglesfield
All the people living here
are filling my heart

More strength in numbers
Togetherness is good and
community wins

Final five

Hope among friends
This trouble will not last so
be patient and trust

Patience and waiting
Work for the day when it ends
and have fun later

An end to struggle
The virus is defeated
and it’s street party time

Time of rejoicing
Be loudly thankful and shout
but think of lost friends

Street community
You stood strong as a mountain
now laugh like a brook

The whole story

Now drop the first line of each verse (the ‘topic lines’) and collect up the rest, add a little spacing and punctuation to make prose. This is what you get:

Let’s be close friends in self isolation; two metres apart is safe, though hearts beat closer. We’ll support one another neighbour to neighbour, find something to make us smile – sunbeam in a storm! So write your best Haiku now to lift people up.

A hug is far, far better but really unsafe. Ask everyone around you, ‘Can I pray for you?’ Jesus says to give others more than they expect; if I have an abundance it’s on offer now, no fears brother or sister – what is mine is yours. All the people living here are filling my heart; togetherness is good and community wins.

This trouble will not last so be patient and trust, work for the day when it ends and have fun later. The virus is defeated and it’s street party time, be loudly thankful and shout – but think of lost friends. You stood strong as a mountain, now laugh like a brook!

See also:

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Themed image collections

The links below will take you to the first post in each collection

Cirencester, Favourites, Irish holiday 2024, Roman villa

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If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

Churn flooding

Some buildings, like the lovely, old Cotswold stone house in the photo, were often built quite close to the area of flooding, choosing ground just high enough to stay dry.

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Image 105 – What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every day or so.

Larger view

This view of the Churn flowing through the village of Baunton, a little north-east of Cirencester, shows it spilling over its banks and spreading across a field; this is normal, winter-time behaviour for the Churn for much of its length. Rising near the top of the Cotswolds at Seven Springs south of Cheltenham, it has cut a winding valley running towards Cirencester, the southern half of which is liable to flood.

Some buildings, like the lovely, old, Cotswold stone house in the photo, were often built quite close to the area of flooding, choosing ground just high enough to stay dry. Many other buildings in villages like Baunton were built a little higher still.

Historically, the regularly flooded land would serve as summer grazing and provide a hay crop in late summer. In this way, cattle could be kept on the land with a stock of hay as supplementary feed when winter grazing on the hillsides was prevented by snowfall. Higher (and drier) land could provide other crops like barley and wheat.

South of Cirencester, the Churn joins the Thames at Cricklade, and the combined flood plain is quite extensive. North Meadow on the edge of Cricklade is bordered by the converging rivers and is famous for its huge colony of snakeshead fritillaries By the time the Thames reaches Lechlade, it is navigable all the way to London and out into the North Sea.

When: 23rd December 2023
Where: Baunton, Gloucestershire

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Cirencester

For convenience, here’s a list of all the Cirencester area images:

A417 roadworks, Advent Market, Bishops Walk, Baunton, Canal 1, 2, Castle Street, Christmas lights 1, 2, Church 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Churn flood, Countryside, Fallen tree, Fleece, Gasworks, Gloucester Street, Hare 1, 2, Hospital, Market Place 1, Phoenix Fest, Riverside Walk, Stone plaque, Stratton Meadow, Tank traps, View, Wonky 1, 2, Yellow Iris

Themed image collections

The links below will take you to the first post in each collection

Cirencester, Favourites, Irish holiday 2024, Roman villa

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Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!