As you probably know I have been looking after geoff since he came out of hospital and I haven't had much time to either blog or read them as well.
However, I managed to read one of favourite blogs the other night and I must admit I found it fascinating.
The blog I'm referring to is David Farleys.
He did a blog about a man called Chris Cole who is the founder of Cross Rhythms of Plymouth community radio stations. and he recently wrote an article in a newspaper about the
"Anti American feeling"
His first words were:
"An American is English or French or Italian Irish, German, Spanish,Polish, or Greek."

When I read what he had to say about this I kept wondering what this reminds me of and I must admit it took me a while to realise that it was the lyrics of that great song by Donovan.
"Universal Soldier"
"He's a Catholic, a Hindu, an Atheist, a Jain,
A Buddhist and a Baptist and a Jew."

Now, I know he was not referring to anybody who may have been in a war, past or present, but his words just echoed the words to this song.
Anybody is American and anybody can be English or French or Italian or German, Spanish, Polish or Greek.

Please read Davids blog (April 16th) and see if you agree, do you think it reminds you of Donovans Universal Soldier?

Below is the words to Donovan song 'Universal Soldier' so you can see the similarity of Chris Coles words and the song.

I cannot get this out of my mind and been singing this song ever since!

Universal Soldier.


He's five feet two and he's six foot tall,
He fights with missiles and with spears,
He's all of thirty-one and he's only seventeen
Been a soldier for a thousand years.

He's a Catholic, a Hindu, an Atheist, a Jain
A Buddhist and a Baptist and a Jew
And he knows he shouldn't kill and he knows he always will,
Kill you for me my friend and me for you.

And he's fighting for Canada
He's fighting for France, he's fighting for the U.S.A.
And he's fighting for the Russians
And he's fighting for Japan
And he thinks we'll put an end to war this way.

And he's fighting for Democracy, he's fighting for the Reds
He says "It's for the peace of all"
He's the one who must decide, who's to live and who's to die
And he never sees the writing on the wall.

But without him
How would Hitler have condemned him at Labau?
Without him Caeser would have stood alone
He's the one who gives his body as a weapon of the war
And without him all this killing can't go on.

He's the universal soldier and he really is to blame
His orders come from far away no more
They come from here and there and you and me
And brothers can't you see
This is not the way we put an end to war.

I have been given this award by deb. Thankyou for that. I also would like to apologise for taking so long to respond.

Here are the rules for this meaningful award:

The aims of this award:
As a dedication for those who love blogging activity and love to encourage friendship through blogging.

To seek the reasons why we love blogging!

Put the award in your post as soon as you receive it.

Don't forget to mention the person who gave you this award.
Answer the awards question by writing the reason why you love blogging.

I love blogging because I love the contact with other bloggers, always interested in what they have to say, be it personal, political or just in general if they have had a bad day at home or work. There are so many varied and interesting blog sites.
I love blogging because it allows me to have my say on different things going on in the world.
I have done some serious political blogs but I have also done some not so serious blogs and hopefully made you smile.
I just love it!

Here are two people I have chosen to receive this award:
David Farley. and Kippers Dickie.

This bl***y computer. Honestly, I was just about to do the tagging blog I had received from deb (thankyou for that )when I suddenly realised I cannot print pictures like I used to and whenever I try to blog it just well, blows up.
Not literacy I must admit but really, these things!
On saturday a friend came round and stayed for about 3 hours trying to sort it out, and he did, but now we don't know where we are with it.
He's changed everything.
I know he meant well and he explained everything to us but now he's gone............GGGGRRRRR............
You know what it's like.
So, please bear with me. Hopefully I will be with you soon.
I can read yours, I just can't do mine.
Someone trying to tell me something, don't you think??!!

LOL

I have just been tagged by deb.

I'm glad to say that geoff is home.
He is doing very well although rather tired at the moment. He had to go back to the hospital yesterday morning for a blood test. When you are taking warfarin you have to have blood test everyday as they have to check for blood clots as these tablets can cause those. He is also on beta blockers.
Again he is doing fine.
His next blood test will be monday again at the hospital but what they have suggested is that geoff goes to our doctors surgery to have them. So, he will be going to the doctors and talking to them about this.

The doctors explained that they don't really know what caused his heartbeat to react the way it did, they have suggested that it may have been that because geoff was so ill with those viruses back in the winter, he had two viruses then, and his bad stomach problem (acid and wind!) that it has stressed his heart, and it was just a 'bleep' but told us not to worry about it. Well, as you can imagine, you can't not worry about it. But you try not to get too stressed about it.
However, he is being monitored so that makes us feel better.

He will just have to take things slowly, and rest for now.
I must admit that the doctors and nurses have been wonderful.

Anyway, will be blogging again soon, once we get back into routine.
Thankyou for your support.

I said I would give you an update on geoff, well, he's still in hospital.
The reason is because his heartbeat will not settle down, one minute it's normal (80 is normal) and then the next hour it races back up to 145-150. He is still wearing the heart monitor he was given on thursday.
He's keeping cheerful but you can see he is rather worried and like he said to me he's afraid of having a heart attack.
On saturday geoff had a bad night, he couldn't sleep and was feeling anxious. The nurse on duty asked geoff what was wrong and he told her he was feeling anxious. She listened and then went off, she came back with a cup of tea and she sat there at geoff's bedside and even held his hand while he told her of his fears.
She explained that they could not bring his heart rate down quickly it has to be done slowly and he is now taking warfin (???) which is in fact rat poison. That will slowly bring his heart rate down. He has to have 2-3 blood tests everyday because warfrin could cause blood clots.
She also explained to geoff that if there was just a bleep on his monitor they would be there like a shot, he is being watched 24 hours a day.
Geoff felt a lot better after they talked, it put his mind to rest, he settled down and slept for 2-3 hours, which is good for geoff he usually only manages a couple.
We are not sure when he is coming out, they want his heart rate to be regular for 24 hours before they will let him leave the hospital. So, we will have to wait and see.
Anyway, geoff will have a nice (?) surprise when he comes home because I've painted the banisters and the front door. I've never painted before so ..............
(It's a little messy actually, but that doesn't matter, does it? LOL)
Anyway, once again, will let you know what happens and will keep you informed on his progress.