Will a little of what you fancy do you some good?

Well, I’m back, back in the UK that is. The rain and wind, and a slightly colder start to the mornings have been invigorating. Kenya was absolutely wonderful, but when all is said and done, there is nothing like your own bed to snuggle into. Last Friday, I only had one work meeting, so I thought I would reacquaint myself with our beach. I was fortunate to enjoy some very ‘emotional’ weather. It’s that combination of wind, rain, and brilliant, brilliant sunshine all in one walk. It makes me feel good.

My walk eventually took me to my favourite people-watching bar, The Shipwreck. Glass of red poured, I was joined by a group of regulars, average age 65 (at least) and all women. They were a hoot! All had an opinion about both world affairs, as much as they had an opinion about local services, neighbours, their last doctor’s appointment, whether they had been over charged last week at the bar and everything else in-between.

Usually, when visiting The Shipwreck, I would have a bowl of cheesy chips with my glass of wine, but recently I have lost much of my appetite. So last Friday, I didn’t. I think I manage my health very well, for a man that is. However, I also know when I need to seek help and I have a forthcoming GP appointment to start that discussion. I’m from the generation that still has faith in medical knowledge and the power of good science to keep us healthy.

Other generations, however, appear to choose other ways to keep healthy. Last week I read about those folk in the TikTok generation, who seem to have developed a blind faith in vitamin patches. These patches are said to provide an energy boost, improve one’s mood and where used in sport, are able to boost performance. Absolute bunkum of course! These so called ‘wellness’ or ‘supplement’ patches can only contain minute amounts of vitamins and/or other substances. More importantly, perhaps, is that there are very few medicines that can be delivered via patches (for example, nicotine patches to aid smoking cessation, or hormone replacement therapies). Our skin acts as an effective barrier to prevent water, bacteria, and most modern medications from entering our blood stream.

As an almost lifetime vegetarian, I would suggest that having a balanced diet full of fresh vegetables is likely to keep you a lot healthier than a few stick-on patches. The exception might be, for example, pregnant women, who might need temporarily, additional vitamin D and folic acid supplements. You would be better spending your money on fruit and vegetables, as you will definitely feel much greater benefits. Fruit and vegetables also provide necessary fibres for a healthy gut, and many contain antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties too.  

Indeed, I read an article last week that suggested that the ‘five a day’ recommendations suggested by the NHS, should, instead, be replaced by eating 30 plants a week. Although on the face of it, 30 plants a week sounds remarkably like eating five portions of either fruit or vegetables a day, it’s not. The 30 plants a week approach is built around six main groups of food: Fruit, Vegetables, Whole grains, Legumes (beans and pulses), Nuts and seeds, and Herbs and spices. It is using these ingredients to create our everyday meals that is the key. Whilst it’s possible to include canned and frozen versions of these ingredients, fresh is better. Immediately that you start using these ingredients to create your daily meals, a number of benefits start to occur. You will stop eating ultra-processed foods as a major part of your diet; preparing a meal becomes a more satisfying and fulfilling thing to do; it’s easier to batch prepare meals, saving time and money, whilst reducing food waste.

Your shopping basket might start to look different, but unless you only eat fresh ingredients, the cost of your weekly shop shouldn’t increase. All my meals while in Kenya were created with these ingredients, and every meal was freshly prepared in front of me, both in the Maasai Mara game lodge, as well as the Nairobi hotel. The exception was Emirates, who kept on serving me completely vegan meals despite my ordering of vegetarian meals. I do like a bit of cheese, and to be frank, a non-dairy cheese board simply doesn’t appeal.

Finally, I came across another exception to the rule last week. It was the 107-year-old Owen Filer, who lives in Cwmbran, Wales. He put his longevity down to living a simple life, working and not over eating – oh, and a diet of fish and chips. Maybe a little of what you fancy really does do you some good?

It happened just like this, a sigh, cry, hungry kiss*

The phrase ‘kick the bucket’ can be traced back to 1785. The author Francis Grose included it in his wonderfully-titled book, ‘A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue’. The phrase ‘kick the bucket’ is usually used to describe someone dying. The associated phrase, ‘bucket list’ is, however, much more recent. Although it can be traced back to the 1960’s, most people connect it to Justin Zackham, and his personal account of things he would like to do before he kicked the bucket. This account was the basis of the screenplay for the 2007 film ‘The Bucket List’ starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson.

A bit of a continuity leap, but stick with it. This week’s blog comes from the Maasai Mara Game Reserve in Kenya. It was one of the big trips still left on Jane’s ‘bucket list’. She wanted to have an ‘Out of Africa’ experience. It is something she has harboured for many a year. The film and book are one of her favourites. Arriving in Nairobi, there was plenty of time for us to visit Karen Blixen’s house (now a museum), whose book the film is based upon. Just being in her surrounds was emotionally moving. She published her book in 1937 under the pseudonym Isak Dinesen. In those days, women were thought not to be able to write! Just how wrong has that proved to be.

The film came much later. It was released in 1985, and starred Robert Redford and Meryl Streep. 

Just as their romance started with a tentative kiss, so did Jane’s and mine. However, that’s where the similarities end. Karen’s life was a troubled one, and ended in a very sad way. Truth be told, it was not because of anything she did. Thankfully, we both feel we are in a very different place. Importantly, and for those who know her story, we flew into Kenya on an Emirates double decker Airbus and not a Gypsy Moth Biplane!

Emirates got us safely over the troubled Middle East and into Nairobi. The service was, as always, excellent. It was Jane’s first experience of having a drink in the bar lounge onboard the plane, something she thought was amazing, and it was. More amazingly for me however, was being able to feed giraffes in a game reserve just outside Nairobi city. It was a conservation centre, where the giraffes could roam free, but every morning they came to the centre compound to be hand fed. To get that close to what is still a wild animal, and to be able to feed them by hand, was simply magic!   

From Nairobi it was a short 45-minute flight to our base near the Mara river. I was the ‘co-pilot’, an experience I greatly enjoyed. Our part of the river seems to be a favourite place for hippos, who can be seen and heard from our sundeck. It has been a brilliant experience so far. The wildness is immense; something we have experienced from the daily safaris. We have seen all the animals we had hoped for, and more. 

For example, although I have kept pigs in the past, there was something quite special about seeing a mother warthog with her young, trotting across the countryside, as you pass her by in your safari truck. There have been some slightly scary encounters though. I have never been just a few feet away from cheetahs, lions, or elephants. We did become slightly blasé about the zebra and Thomson gazelles - there were simply hundreds of both. Our safari guide, Ezekiel was brilliant at finding the animals, often way ahead of other guests. 

Yesterday was World Mental Health Day. The theme for this year was ‘Lived Experience Heard’. I’m always on the look out for something that might improve the way in which mental health care might be provided, and this year’s theme was personified at our stay in the absolutely brilliant Ashnil Mara base camp. We were provided with a personal assistant Edwin, who looked after us all throughout our stay. And he really did look after us well. Over a glass of fine Kenyan red wine, he asked us to tell him some things about us, what we liked, what made us feel happy, and what did we think he might be able to help us with. He was an attentive listener, keen to hear from us how our lived experience could be improved. When he left and over a second glass of that fine red wine, I reflected and thought about the ‘named person’ in the Mental Health Personalised Care Framework. Edwin personified an approach to this role that we should all try and emulate. 

Now coming to Kenya was a Jane’s ‘bucket list trip’. However, it was not my first time here. Some 25 years ago I came to Nairobi to help nurses, who had been educated and trained to diploma level, move up to degree level. It was an experience that has never left me. The project was organised and delivered by the University of Dundee. Time has erased from my memory, as to where the funding came from, but I do know it was a multi-year fund. I was an External Examiner at the university at that time, and I was asked if I would be willing to go out and teach on the programme. I was much younger and more foolhardy then, so I said YES without really knowing what I was letting myself in for.

The 40 or so ‘students’ came from all over Kenya. During the two weeks of taught input, they stayed in what was fairly rudimentary accommodation in the hospital grounds. They were eager to learn and worked hard at their studies. The days were long, but enjoyable, humorous and intense. They could also be at times, very frustrating. There was no white board, digital or otherwise, and teaching aids consisted of slides thrown up using an ancient overhead projector, and that was when the electricity was running! I taught with another lecturer from the University of Dundee. Unfortunately, he got food poisoning in the first few days of our trip and spent a good number of days either in the toilet or in bed. We haven’t experienced anything like that, thankfully.

Kenya was a grand country then and still is now. At a very challenging time in my career, which as I hinted at in last week’s blog, might be drawing to a close, being able to share once more another one of Jane’s bucket list ambitions felt most welcome and appreciated. And thank you to Ezekiel, Edwin and our honeymooning companions Alex and Ricky for helping to make it special.

*Thank you Leonard Cohen

The end is in sight (maybe)

And so here we are, entering the last three months of 2026. The year has rushed past and it feels like we are hurtling towards 2027 and a rather uncertain future. And goodness, over the year so far, there have been some changes to a world with which we might all have felt familiar. The wars in the Middle East feel as if they have stalled, and the war in Ukraine feels like it is escalating with no end in sight. I was reminded (as if we need reminding) of just how long the Russian - Ukraine conflict has been running (as of this morning, it's been1681 days) when explaining why I was wearing one yellow clog and one blue clog.

I first put them on, as a sign of solidarity with the Ukrainian people, in the first week of the conflict, and have worn them ever since. Almost inevitably, when people see them for the first time they do one of three things: women tend to say they 'like my clogs'; men ask why I’m wearing them; others simply look away, don’t say anything and don’t make eye contact. I was at an NHS Alliance Leaders event in London, when I was asked the question, this time, about my clogs.

Now it might have just been me, but for the most part, there didn’t seem to be much energy in the room. To be fair, there didn’t seem to be as many people in the room compared to other similar leaders' events I’ve attended. I could only imagine that, with all the organisational turmoil across the NHS at present, and an ever-increasing demand for care having to be met with ever diminishing resources, many leaders and managers might have difficulty in giving up a day to attend this type of event.

As the day started, the first speaker noted that, as he was speaking, Yvette Cooper (Secretary of State for Health and Social Care) was on her feet speaking at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool. It’s beginning to become clear, as to what she is focussing on, and what her priorities might be. Interestingly, it seems the 10 Year Health Plan is becoming more of a reference point, with her focus very firmly on population groups. In an approach reminiscent of the original NHS ‘cradle to grave’ ethos, her focus is on maternity care, children and young people, the frail elderly, people with cancer, and people with mental illness.

In many ways, addressing these groups is also congruent with the new Prime Minister's commitment to creating a National Care Service. I was part of a breakout groups asked to discuss this ambition. The group was made up of three Mental Health Chairs, and just one Acute Chair. There were two outcomes we all agreed on: the first was a desire to see a modern-day equivalent of the successful ‘Sure Start’ initiative; and to stop thinking about 'frail elderly people' as being somehow a homogenous group.

The elderly are (he says with no tongue-in-cheek intended) an important group in society. Their contribution to the wider society has gone before them, and in so many different ways. As they reach their twilight years, their needs are clearly also going to be different. Some will be frail, but others at the same age, won’t be. Despite not being eligible for a Covid vaccination when I got this year’s flu jab, due to my age, I’m now officially in the elderly age group. Whilst some things now feel more difficult (climbing into a tree to trim the branches with my chainsaw, for example) for most aspects of my life the only difference is I might be a little slower. In some situations, that can be a good thing.

For me, 2026 does feel as if it is rapidly coming to a close. However, there are plenty more things that I want to do before the year ends. Things that will hopefully make me feel good. And that is the thing. I hope that, the National Care Service, when it comes, is underpinned by an unchangeable principle of helping everyone to live their best life, and live well. It is a principal that should apply to us all, whatever our age.

As for me personally, as the year moves to its close, I’m beginning to think about my future. Maybe my working life is also moving closer to an end point – who knows, but watch this space folks.