Springtime Colours (not the blues) – with photography by Alli Ross

Once again I feel privileged to be able to write about positive mental health. I know lots of people are battling demons and I know I am lucky to be on a continuing journey of happiness and recovery.

Last week was Mother’s Day and I’m lucky with that too – I couldn’t wish for a more qualified mum if I’d picked one out myself. I got her a big bunch of flowers and we went to an ‘Open Garden’ event at Bere ​

Today is April the first, April Fool's Day.  I am not planning on flying to China to meet anybody, I hate flying because of my vertigo, but perhaps I might if I was meeting with a book publisher (I'm almost finished on my mental health memoirs)!

This post is an April Fools joke for all of my Facebook and Twitter friends where I shared a link to this page.  

Happy April Fool's day everybody, have a fantastic week. 

I’d never been to Scotland before and though my uncle, auntie and two cousins live there and have shown enthusiasm in conversations for the place they love, I didn't know anything about Scotland apart from kilts, bagpipes and a wee bit of dram.  But stepping onto Princes Street (the main road) in the centre of Edinburgh from the train station, the first view was spectacular.  An instant panorama of huge stone buildings on the hill skyline including Edinburgh Castle.  It wasn’t like other cities that are often flat with buildings obstructing any ground level panoramas.  The view from the station on the left stretched at least a mile of grand structures on the hill that runs east to west.  In between the station and the hill was Princes Street Gardens.  On the right was no hilltop skyline but massive department stores and hotels, that looked a bit like Harrod’s.  I was surprised and impressed. ​

Good afternoon

I wanted to do a blog post about the things I like best about my life as it is today.  I’m sure it will change in the coming weeks as I have a few exciting things lined up including a trip to Edinburgh on a sleeper train, my first journey of such a kind.  I love trains.  I love planes – ironic as I’m shit scared of heights, but I am astounded at their beauty and engineering marvel.  Every time I take my mum to Heathrow airport as I did last week, they fly directly above while we’re driving and it’s – ​

​“Wow! Look at that.  That is a Boeing 777.” (You can tell from the massive engines, one on each wing, and the absence of winglets for aerodynamic efficiency.  The 777 is the only large plane that doesn’t have

I was first hospitalised at Parklands Mental Hospital in December 2001.  My diagnosis of "cannabis induced psychosis with delusions of a grandiose nature" made for many interesting experiences, especially at the very beginning of my illness.  Lots of real ups and downs.  I've written at length about in my book but for today's post it's a brief view of being sectioned, how I felt about it and the first time I escaped, or "absconded" to use the official term that my supportive team would end up using a few times.  Click on read more to read more. 

Hello everybody, hope you like this post, and I hope that you'll stay on my website for a bit after reading.  
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Working in the NHS on a mental health ward, and paying attention to the news, I am aware of the odd shortcoming.  The NHS takes a lot of flack for it's operational lapses and even some misdeeds and I suspect that some of them are real cases where real change needs to happen.