Saturday, 14 September 2024

 Meade ETX 90 EC motor issues.


Blue connector was completely removed.


That's a bit concerning!


Missing screw to hold the worm in place


Red and blue wire from the blue connector. These came out when I removed the threaded bolt which they were tightly wrapped around. 


Well now I know what was making the rattling sound!


Looks like I need to get a new one...














Wednesday, 19 June 2024

 MEGA MARMITE COLLECTION SALE!

Search Twitter / X #megamarmite

Love it or Hate it, millions around the planet are attracted to Marmite. This collection belonged to my late wife Laura Walker, who passed away in February 2020 from Cancer. She requested that her collection was to be sold off with the proceeds donated to the British Heart Foundation. The images below shows the entire collection available on offer. Prices start at just £10 per item which anyone who collects it will know, is a real bargain! 

If, however, you would just like to make a donation to the British Heart Foundation without making a purchase, you can do so via the Just Giving website here. 

You can read about who Laura was and her journey with cancer here. 

EMAIL ME:   davidwalkerfj@gmail.com   to place your order.





Most items have Marmite inside and the lid still sealed. However, due to the ages of the product, consumption is not recommended. 




The whole collection consists of over 200 items!



Prices start at just £10 per item. If you have any questions, see something that you like or want to reserve something in advance, email me at davidwalkerfj@gmail.com and place your order today!

Shipping may be possible on some items but I discovered that Royal mail prices were a lot more that originally thought, so please be advised that packing and shipping costs could be as high as £15 for a standard 250g jar. Larger items of course will cost more. 

Here's a newspaper article from the Bournemouth Daily Echo on Saturday 22nd June 2024 which does show a few more items to be sold - the story even made front page!



Photo Credit: Dorset Echo

Laura Walker

BBC Dorset ran the story online 25th June 2024. You can view it by clicking on this link here.

Listen to the news article on 107.8 Radio Jackie in London here.

Dorset Echo here.

BournemouthOne.com Radio Station Article here.

BBC South Today early evening News 28th June 2024 


BBC South Today late evening news 28th June 2024 (Short version)


Also seen in the Sun, Daily Star and Mirror Newspapers.

This is a hand held recording of my Channel 5 debut on the Storm Huntley Show 27th June 2024.


 You may be able to get a higher quality image by clicking here.

Like, share and donate, to make Laura's legacy help benefit others! 

Thank you. 

Marmite Collectors Sale

Specialist Jar Price List - based on a 250g sized jar

 

Summer of Love                                                                     £100

Newport number 150                                                             £500

Sun / Superhero’s / Camper Van                                             £50 per jar

Any metal lid jar 2oz                                                                                                     £175

Gene Project                                                                           £50

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road                                                 £150

Rocketman                                                                             £150

Heritage                                                                                 £100

Paddington Bear in a box                                                     £50

Pride                                                                                       £50

Marmighty (with Egg Cup)                                                  £50

Valentine                                                                                 £25

Guinness                                                                                 £25

Brexit                                                                                      £25

Hypnosis                                                                                 £20

Trick                                                                                       £20

Treat                                                                                       £20

I love You                                                                                £20

Large Ceramic Rare Jar                                                         £250

Pin badges                                                                                 £5

Set of 7 Brown jars                                                                 £180

Set of 9 Brown jars                                                                 £200

Tea Pot                                                                                     £20

XO Boxed                                                                                 £30

XO Unboxed                                                                            £25

Jigsaw Puzzle                                                                          £10

Large Ceramic Cookie Jar                                                     £120

Memo Board                                                                             £20

Set of 4 Collectors Spoons                                                     £40

2017 Calendar                                                                         £5

Wooden Cheeseboard Knife Set                                             £25

Cookbook                                                                                 £5

Ceramic “Marmite” Serving Dish                                         £120

Cufflinks (Unboxed)                                                                £5

Cufflinks (Boxed)                                                                     £10

Peanut Butter Spread                                                             £10

St John Skelton                                                                        £60

Compact Mirror                                                                     £15

Classic Cars x 4                                                                     £80 

Ink Blotter                                                                              £40

Salt and Pepper Pots                                                             £30

Sanitarium 250g Marmite                                                     £20

Sanitarium 500g Marmite                                                     £35

No Noise Set                                                                             £50

Sunday, 30 October 2022

Strange lights seen over London 31st October 2013

Earlier this evening I saw something I can't explain. I know that by writing this blog I could be up for a fair bit of ridicule and skepticism but quite frankly, I don't care as what I'm about to describe was nothing short of incredible!

I got off the train just after 7pm at Streatham Common in London, when I became aware of green and turquoise lights in the sky in the distance. At first, I didn't think anything of it as there is usually a lot of activity one way or another, with large planes from Heathrow and Gatwick airports.

The lights started to come closer and at speed, before they then stopped and hovered. Then they darted off at an angle, again at speed, before stopping once more. They dropped altitude and travelled in an elongated letter "S" shape, passing over my head no more than 200ft up. By now I'm transfixed, there was hardly any traffic around and yet, not a single sound could be heard from this thing. The "craft" was probably around three quarters the length of a single deck bus and swept by me gracefully travelling at what I estimate to be between 80 and 100 mph.

It headed towards the common then stopped again, as abrupt as it started. Hovered for a few seconds then darted. First in one direction, then another without slowing down. I'd been watching for around 10 minutes so telephoned my wife who was at home and told her what I was looking at. She agreed to come and meet me as our home wasn't far away. By now the craft is around 200 - 300 metres away, yet the lights are as clear as anything and have risen to somewhere between 800 and a 1000ft.

Moving around, hovering, darting in different directions and completely defying any general rules of flight, the craft then used what I can best describe as white searchlights, as I saw large beams move from left to right reflecting on clouds in the distance. This it did for some time (around 2-3 minutes) whilst all of the time the turquoise lights are still there, now with added, smaller red lights.

Suddenly, all lights went out and became replaced with a single much brighter amber / yellow light that flashed rapidly like a beacon for around 30 seconds. This then stopped and the green, turquoise and red lights came back on again.

All the time this is happening the craft is either hovering or moving at speed left and right without a second to pause from one direction to another. By now my wife is almost with me, so I briefly glanced around to see her. Literally, two seconds later I looked back, but to my dismay this thing had shot out of sight.

Scanning the skies we both see it again, only this time it had to be the best part of over half a mile away. A single red dot in the sky, which then slowly over a period of around 5 minutes came towards us. The light was steady, its speed and direction almost constant and at first I thought it was just another plane. The height by now had got to thousands of feet over our heads, when instantly, the red light disappeared, the green and turquoise lights came on again, and the whole craft dropped like a stone out of the sky. It raced through the atmosphere and in the space of just a single second the craft stopped abruptly, around 800ft high - less than a couple of hundred metres from where we were stood.

Again, it hovered before gracefully going off, back in the direction it had just come from. Twisting and turning until it went out of our sight beyond some houses. We waited and continued to scan the skies, but it had gone.

Did anyone else in the Norbury, Mitcham, Streatham or Streatham Common areas remember seeing this spectacular event? There were cars, buses and the occasional pedestrian, surely someone else can verify that they saw this too?

I'll leave you to make up your own mind, but I know what we both saw that night and I know that neither of us were able to logically explain it.





Tuesday, 26 May 2020

The online predators who tried to make me a target.

I’d like to say I’m able to see the good in people. But in recent times I’ve discovered new depths that a predator will turn to. Back in February I lost my wife to cancer, and since her passing I’ve now twice become a target on social media, from scumbags posing as young women who want to, “get to know me more”.

The first was obvious and I could smell a rat within five minutes. “She” had only two photos on her Facebook profile. The images showing a curvaceous young girl probably in her twenties wearing skimpy clothes that barely touched the edges. She said she was a hairdresser from Texas who claimed to have lost both parents at the age of four. And the only thing that would make her happy was “a real man to make her feel like a queen”.

Now I may be vulnerable right now, but I’m not stupid; so, decided to play along and waste their time. For the next hour we chatted, and I fed her a pack of lies saying I was 98 years old, live in a straw house on Bodmin moor and take my annual holiday in Azerbaijan. But no matter what I threw her way, she still came back professing my profile photos made her have special feelings towards me. It was a complete crock of s**t!

However, this was a children’s playground compared to my next stalker. Here, with just a single photo on their LinkedIn profile they amassed over 500 connections. This one was more subtle than the last and the conversation was slower. They initiated the dialogue stating they were bored due to lockdown and just fancied a chat. I’m far from looking for a new partner but I am lonely, especially in this wretched lockdown. So a chat with a connection on a professional business platform was a welcome relief. Over the next few days, we would each leave the occasional message as they tried to gain my trust. But when I started to ask more about them, I began to get suspicious with their answers, and it wasn’t long before the same pattern started to emerge.

The person in question went by the name of Malissa, and said they were a 33-year-old travelling nurse from Canada. However, a quick search of their profile photo revealed two interesting things. “Malissa’s” LinkedIn photo is identical to a Facebook profile under the name of Alia dating back to 2016. Further research however reveals the actual person in the profile photo is 36-year-old American born Playboy model, Sara Jean Underwood.

I’ve notified both LinkedIn and Facebook that this photograph is being used on these popular platforms so hopefully they will take appropriate action. As for “Malissa”, I told her I was going to write this article and asked why she had made a fake profile. Within minutes, it was amusing to see her side of the conversation had disappeared, and the profile was instantly deleted. In the meantime, for anyone else who thinks they can take advantage of someone who is recently widowed, my advice to you, is don’t waste your time with me!

I’m now having to readjust back into the single life once more and deal with my loss. My wife was the most wonderful person you could ever meet. She was kind, funny, warm hearted and generous. Now I have a massive hole in my heart that will never properly heal. She may not physically be with me, but I will still always love her, until the end of time.

To see more about how cancer in the family really affects your life, click on the link below to follow my wife’s journey as she dealt with dealing with this wretched disease.

Saturday, 19 October 2019

Cancer is Hell. Documenting Laura's Journey.



This, is Laura Walker. In November 2018 Laura was diagnosed with stage 2 bladder cancer and an operation would be required to remove the full bladder. On New Year's Eve, she underwent an 8 hour operation to have her bladder removed along with a full hysterectomy, 56 lymph nodes and a section of her lower colon. The surgeons then re-fashioned her colon to make a new bladder for her called a "Neo Bladder". The pictures below start from New Year's Day 2019. 


 24 Hours after the operation and Laura is sedated in the High Dependency Unit of University Hospital Southampton.

 Receiving her second blood transfusion. The first was during surgery.

 3 days after surgery and she takes her coffee for a walk!

 Hospital food. At this stage Laura has a daily restriction of just 750ml over a 24 hour period.

 She went into hospital with just the one blue bag, but came home with a total of seven bags containing all of her medical equipment that she will need for the upcoming weeks. 

 9 days after the operation, she breaks free from hospital!

 Just six weeks later and the first of her Chemotherapy treatments start. 

A cannula is used for the drugs to enter the body. Depending on which part of the cycle, treatment can last up to five hours at a time. 

Gemcitabine and Cisplatin Chemotherapy drugs. 

Shortly after Easter and Laura is admitted to hospital with sepsis.

 Although the china tea cups and cake provided by the hospital volunteers do try and help make you feel at home!

Meanwhile, this is David's view at various times of the day and night.

 These machines regulate the flow of the drugs into the body and have a really annoying beep which never seems to stop. 

Laura's daily intake of drugs. 

Instead of using a cannula, Laura now has to receive all treatment through a picc line in her arm which is inserted into a major vein for several months. However, due to various issues, a total of three picc lines were used throughout Laura's treatment.


The chemotherapy drugs are now starting to show on her skin and hair, along with some weight loss. 

 But she still has her sense of humour.

 One of many trips to to A&E in the middle of the night. This one was due to severe dehydration.

 A typical menu.

 By May the effects are really starting to show. 

After a large spike in body temperature, we are in A&E again. This picture was taken around 5am.

 Laura in an isolation ward as she is neutropenic. By the time this picture was taken, she had already spent nearly four weeks in isolation on three separate occasions and received 2 more blood transfusions.

 Another trip to A&E. This time at 3am.

 June, and Laura stays in bed all day to save up enough energy to watch the Kaiser Chiefs at an open air concert that night. It was worth it!

 Early July. The weight loss is now very significant with over 23kg gone in just 5 months. Chemo treatment has been stopped early after 5 complete sessions as it was deemed to be doing more harm than good at this stage. 

Mid July and SUCCESS!!! After her first scan, Laura is given the "all clear" and can now say she has beaten Cancer! Happy doesn't even come close...


3 months on and Laura has permission from the hospital to act as an ambassador, giving people an insight and to tell her story. She now helps others around the world to make their own informed choices and a better understanding of what to expect. Here she can be seen here talking to someone from Canada who had some questions regarding upcoming surgery. At the end of just an hour on the phone, they felt happier and more relaxed, ready to face the enemy that is cancer.

Unfortunately, the story doesn't end there. In late October 2019 we had a significant blow, as more cancer cells were detected in her liver. Despite further treatment, in December 2019 she was diagnosed as terminally ill and the effects on her body took its toll. On 1st February 2020, Laura gave her last breath in the hospice at Salisbury surrounded by her husband and family at her bedside. Our lives have been torn apart by this wretched disease. 

She was my life, my rock, my soulmate. And someone who will always remain deep in my heart. I don't know what the future is going to hold for me, but I do know that from now on, life will be very different. Prior to her death, Laura asked for people to make a donation on her "Just Giving" site, which was to raise funds for the charity Fight Bladder Cancer. A few of us managed to get this sorted and were thankful for everyone who donated, as we managed to raise somewhere in the region of around £20K (if memory serves me right). In addition, Laura also asked me (David) to sell off her beloved Marmite collection which totals nearly 300 items! A separate blog for this can be seen by clicking this link here of which the money raised from this sale will go to St Raphael's Hospice in South West London. The details of which can be seen below. 

Our heartfelt thanks go to all the staff at University Hospital Southampton and also to Salisbury district hospital. During that time we estimate that Laura has been treated by over 400 medical professionals from District nurses through to Porters, A&E staff, X-Ray teams, Ward staff, Laboratory technicians, Surgeons, Consultants and more. 

But equally, we'd like to thank the unsung heroes. These are the people who by making a completely selfless act saved the life of Laura. It took seven people donating their blood to help keep her alive. The NHS require over 135,000 units each year, so if you can spare just 15 minutes out of your day then please give blood and help save someone else's life today.


General statistics:

  • Laura was treated by over 400 medical staff.
  • The 24 hour oncology emergency number was called 12 times resulting in 10 emergency trips to hospital.
  • All visits to A&E were after 10.30pm and usually lasted a minimum of four hours at a time.
  • The longest wait was 18 hours due to a massive bed shortage in Salisbury hospital who had an outbreak of Norovirus.
  • Around 55 additional trips to hospital were made for routine appointments and treatment. This isn't including all visitations by David while Laura was in hospital for prolonged stays.
  • Approximately £400 was spent in car parking fees.
  • Over 2000 miles were driven to and from hospital for appointments and visitations. This equated to six tanks of fuel at a cost of just under £400
  • Seven people gave blood to save one person's life. 
  • Although no actual figure is disclosed, it's estimated that the cost of the chemotherapy drugs run into the thousands of pounds per treatment. 
  • Three picc lines were used during treatment

If you were affected by this story and would like to make a donation at your nearest blood bank, then we'd love to hear from you. So far we are aware that all of the blood which was given to Laura has now been replaced by the generosity of family and friends who we think are awesome. And if you know someone who would benefit from this blog then feel free to share it with them. Just copy the link in the browser and paste it on your social media or any groups that you belong to. 

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For details about St Raphael's Hospice in South West London, click on this link here.

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Laura was also an advocate of the British Heart Foundation, of which David managed to raise approximately £6500 (including gift aid) for them by selling off some of her Marmite collection as per Laura's wishes. If you would like to make a donation to the British Heart Foundation, then you can do so using the Just Giving website click on this link here.


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Or copy and paste the full link into your browser here 
https://www.justgiving.com/page/david-walker-1719265653224

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The more that Laura could help others, the more it gave her the strength to carry on each day. She was a truly incredible woman who I loved dearly with all my heart and more. We never know what's coming round the corner, so hug your nearest and dearest, tell them you love them and NEVER waste a second to enjoy your life together.

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Leave a message in the comments section below and share this blog with all of your friends.

Quick links:

Macmillan Cancer Support https://www.macmillan.org.uk/

University Hospital Southampton http://www.uhs.nhs.uk/home.aspx

Salisbury District Hospital http://www.salisbury.nhs.uk/Pages/home.aspx

Blood donation info https://www.blood.co.uk/

Bladder Cancer Support Group http://actionbladdercanceruk.org/find-a-support-group/

Cancer Research UK https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/