Red Nose Day in London ~

Arriving at Waterloo Station on Red Nose Day

Sophie at St Paul's

Buttoned up smartly with the Beadles of the City of London

With Richard Chartres, Bishop of London and Lady Victoria Leatham, Master of the Drapers Company

And a red nose for the train driver

For links to our HIV/AIDS charity in Africa supported by Comic Relief please click here 

What are you doing for Comic Relief?

It must have been the coldest night of the year - so cold I had to wear a polo-neck jersey under Stella McCartney's Comic Relief T-shirt, but about seventy of us gathered at the River Severn Motor Yacht Club at Worcester.

I managed to get the microphone working and gave an illustrated talk on 'The Secrets of filming Swallows & Amazons in 1973' ~ something described in a section of 'Funnily Enough'.

For details on future talks click here:

We raised £168 and had a lot of fun - as well as a very good meal at the yacht club.

Influence through Art ~

Phylo-sophy illustrated by Caroline Assheton

Tell someone you love them

The best way to keep warm

Invite your friends to something special

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Hot Air Ballooning at Luxor in Egypt, from my perspective ~

Like thousands of British tourists, I too have been hot air ballooning at Luxor while on holiday in Egypt.

It was a fantastic experience, not least because so many balloons went up at once.

I had no idea that there would be 19 passengers in the basket that hung beneath each balloon. We had two pilots, one of whom was British. The equipment looked brand new.

It's a massive set-up with a number of different companies offering daily trips at dawn. It is pretty chilly when you set off, or it is in February.

Some balloons went high, hoping to catch air currents which would take them over the Valley of the Kings.

We were taken low over the sugar cane fields, which I found both fascinating and more enjoyable than flying high.

Most of the other balloons flew at some altitude, the wind taking them over the fields, away from the archaeological sites and majority of ancient temples.

We flew over Luxor and the River Nile. It was beautiful.

You could look into the top floor of people's houses. I was fascinated to see that they kept chickens up on there, often with a great deal of rubbish.

To my relief, we landed safely in a field of stubble. You do think, when you climb into the basket, that up that you might not return alive. By the grace of God, I did.

Sophie Neville in Egypt

sophie@sophieneville.co.uk

Funnily Enough excerpts in iBelieve ~ the Christian lifestyle magazine

~ More extracts from 'Funnily Enough' in this month's iBelieve magazine ~

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Home cures for the relief of joint pain and symptoms of CFS ~

Everyone asks me why I wear two watches. I wear a Bio-flow magnetic leather wrist strap to help circulation, which I find does help alleviate joint pain.

Some people are allergic to ginger but I'm not. I eat as much as possible. It is wonderful for the relief of joint pain and nausea: Ginger jam, ginger tea, ginger biscuits, rhubarb and ginger. New Forest Ice Cream make the most delicious oriental ginger ice cream.

If you grate ginger and garlic in equal proportions and add it to curries or roast chicken you don't taste either too much and yet the result is delicious. I know it is good to recommend eating large quantities of green and purple vegetables with any meal. We have purple sprouting broccoli ready for lunch.

You can also add ginger to the bath. Cut in it long strips if you do, otherwise it makes an awful mess.

Make sure your pH balance is right. I have to avoid acidic foods such as tomatoes and satsumas or counter-act them by drinking a lot of celery juice.

Trampolining? We found the trampoline in South Africa. I'm not that keen on them but they say that it is very good for the brain - especially children's brains - to jump up and down. Have fun!

Home cures for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or M.E.

I take:

Sunlight or cod-liver oil ~ for Vitamin D and joints

Marmite and more Marmite ~ for Vitamin B intake

Epsom salts in long baths ~ for Magnesium 

Prescribed to me by my ME Specialist

Since I am not a doctor I feel uneasy about giving advice to others about how to cope with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. We are all different. However, as someone with personal experience, I cautiously add my sixpence:

Graciously accept everything the National Health Service can offer you.

Ask to be tested (and re-tested) for other conditions such as Thyroid problems, Glandular Fever, Bilhartzia, Tick-born diseases such as Lyme's disease, allergies, intestinal worms etc. I found I had developed a new allergy to mold and so did well in an arid climate, albeit with sunglasses.

Listen to your body and keep still until you feel inclined to exercise. Suggest friends ring for a chat rather than visit until you are up for it.

My life was transformed by having all my teeth crowned. Now free from mercury-amalgam fillings I no longer catch bugs or viruses going around. 

Having taken herbal worming tablets I now buy broad-spectrum Vermox worming tablets over the counter in South Africa and take a dose every year. You would do this for an animal and I have no intention of losing my health to nematodes. Their evidence does not always reveal itself in NHS tests.

I buy Epsom salts for my bath from agricultural suppliers: Scats or the Farmers Co-op. You'll find boxes in the section for horses. Use when you need re-vitalizing rather than before you want to go to sleep. 

We found that acupuncture was not good for ME patients. Spending time on a General Hospital ward was not a healing experience but I concluded that it was important to accept the tests and scans offered to in-patients.