Todays blogg will be slightly different.

I am Sharon, Pauls wife. And I want to say a little bit about him, stuff which will probably make him blush, well a bit. When I first met Paul he used his pulling technique of showing me his surgery scars (this was obviously a rouse to make sure that I saw his six pack and actually didn't really have much to do with his scars). Altyhough I guess it beats a cheesey chat up line????

To be honest Paul needn't have bothered as having spent a night in the middle of our university campus in the rain sat on a stutue of Archimedes talking about who knows what (we had been at a pary where the alcohol had been freely flowwing) he had already won me over.

This is a brief insight into the start of our reationship. It is also I hope going to inspire others with any ailments be it to do with the heart or anything else to say that you should not miss out on the fun things. Paul (appart from using his heart as a pulling technique) was as up for university as everyone else, he went to the all night parties, joined a football team and got up to the same mischief as the rest uf us, including regularly drinking too much and living off a diet that would make Jamie Oliver choke on his own self esteem ( if you don't know who Jamie Oliver is, and I guess that is anyone from outside the UK his work has now banned pretty much all children from any food other than steamed veg.)

Just to clarify, I am not advocating child obeosity.

Have a good day and Paul will be back tomorrow when he has finished painting the kitchen.

Sharon

Hello,

So, what will you give me for 18 pairs of craft scissors, a small child perhaps.

I am beginning to look for my second trade now; the tendancy is to rush in and try to get 7 trades every week but that would not be sustainable. I aim to slowly increase interest in this project as the trades begin to get bigger.

In other news, this blog now has a wikipedia article about it. I am looking into signing up so I can add links etc. to the article.

Sorry it's a short one today.

Good morning,

There was a question posted yesterday that asked why insurance was a problem when you have congenital heart disease. The answer is that it shouldn't be but it usually is. Congenital heart disease is the number one birth defect and affects 1 in 100 babies born; so you would think that insurance companies would be able to deal with this.

For travel insurance it is simple; they put in a clause saying they will not pay out if it is an existing condition such as congenital heart disease. This rarely bothers me as in Europe we have EHIC cards which means we can get free treatment anywhere in Europe.

Life insurance is a different matter and if you put down that you have a congenital heart defect then they want your entire medical history and in my experience they then pass that around for a couple of months and then decline you. That was my story with Norwich Union who I felt didn't have a clue what they were doing.

I have been given the names of two companies that may insure me by GUCH and I will be checking them out over the coming months but until then I may have to take out a accidental death policy.

If anyone has any advice or anything that worked for them then please give me some feedback by emailing me or commenting on this blog.

Hope the weather is better wherever you are.

Bom dia República Portuguesa,

I have recorded over 100 visits in 1 week now. Thank you also for all of the messages of support that I have been receiving from all over the world.

A little about me now: I was born with a congenital heart defect that allowed blood to flow across my heart in a way it normally shouldn't. I also had a problem with the valve on my aorta (the artery that takes blood away from the heart) which meant blood wasn't flowing as well as it should around my body.

I had open heart surgery twice and was in and out of hospital numerous times as a child. The doctors have patched me up fairly well, but I was underdeveloped as a child, I didn't play sports as much as other kids and used my heart problems to get out of things that I did not want to do.

I remember a turning point in my life when I asked the cardiologist about whether or not I could take a stressful job when I left university. He told me that I should never lower my quality of life because of something I was born with; if there were to be any problems due to me living my life to the full then they would deal with them when they arose. Take the stressful jobs, play sports, do anything, but don't worry about your heart. So I did.

This is just a small opening onto my life and I hope that you will continue to read this blog as often as you can as I explain the everyday things that do affect me such as trips to the dentist, obtaining insurance, etc.

Have a great day.

Another late one I'm afraid today,

Still recovering from the weekend. I will be adding a game today, hopefully; it will be on the right hand side of the screen later on. I hope to be having things that change regulary such as games and features on this blog so I will keep them up for 2 days at a time.

I am really only halfway towards having the blog that I want and I didn't expect to be anywhere near this far after one week so please bear with me whilst I keep introducing new features to it.

There will be more information about me, why GUCH is my chosen charity and hopefully more information about how the trading is going and where I intend to take it next.

Til tomorrow, take care.

What a day I had yesterday,

I promised my brother that I would pick him up from Preston yesterday evening and take him back to Liverpool, I also decided that I would use that opportunity to make my first trade by meeting up with Angela who lived on the Wirral. Angela had generously made the offer of 18 pairs of craft scissors for my piece of old rope.

My wife and I left at 5pm hoping to meet Angela at around 8pm, this was perhaps a bit naive, not knowing where in Preston we were supposed to be going. But, we made it for 8.20pm, so not too bad for 150 miles. The pictures below show me meeting Angela, where we decided that it would be best to cut the rope into small pieces and give every future trade a section of the initial rope.

The second picture is of me at Tranmere Rovers football ground which was a nearby landmark that I thought would look good in my photo album for this adventure.

I am now looking for my next trade. What are 18 pairs of craft scissors worth to you???

Thanks again to Angela for being so generous as to start me off on this quest.

QuickPost from FotoFlix

Posted by pyoungson

QuickPost from FotoFlix

Posted by pyoungson

QuickPost from FotoFlix

Posted by pyoungson

Exciting news,

I am off to the Wirral today to make my first trade; my piece of old rope for some craft scissors. I can't wait. For those of you that don't know, the Wirral is close to my hometown of Liverpool: the home of the beatles and winners of yesterday's FA cup. The Wirral has been home to many famous people such as Ian Botham (Cricketer), Daniel Craig (James Bond), Paul O'Grady (Lily Savage), Dixie Dean (Footballer), Pete Burns (Singer/Songwriter) and The Coral plus many, many more. It is also where half of my family are originally from.

I'm really looking forward to my road trip and hope to have lots of pictures for you tomorrow and my first trade so soon into this project.

I hope you have a very lazy Sunday.