Archive for June, 2017

Their finest

We went to see ‘Their Finest’ last night. It was a fine hour and a half. The scriptwriters on and off screen had me in the palm of their finest hands. My emotions followed the paths they had dug for me; I was willing to follow – right to the final swelling C major chord of hope for Gemma Anderton’s Mrs Cole. This moment was especially sweet because I know that the composer had chosen C major for this climax, and I was hearing it as intended, just as I had emoted throughout the film as intended.

A Trout Quintet?

No. B flat Trout Quintet.

The Swan

Saint Saens’ swan now swims serenely in A flat major. This change certainly alters the colour of the water.

World No Tobacco Day 2017

Earlier this year I fulfilled a dream – design and produce a T-shirt with messages around reducing the effects of passive smoking on children in Cape Town. We see so much pneumonia, wheezing and uncontrolled asthma produced or aggravated through children being exposed to cigarette smoke in the home. 42% of adult men in the Western Cape smoke and 25% of women – those are the highest figures on the country.

So in March I got the T-shirts made and started to wear one. I have started to give child-sized ones to some of my patients with respiratory problems. I believe that we can empower children to stand up for their right to clean air.

‘Look after little lungs’ is my slogan. This is on the front of the shirt, and on the back it declares  ‘Don’t EVER smoke near pregnant women and children’.

I have had very positive feedback from people in the hospital. Many would like to own and wear such a T-shirt. (Any sponsors out there?)

So when I was asked to be the spokesman for World No Tobacco Day (May 31st 2017) on SABC’s Expresso programme for South Africa’s Heart & Stroke Foundation and partner organisations (including the Western Cape Department of Health which employs me) I could not say no.

Click here to see what I did say – with the help of a couple of friends. [Forgive the lame pun a few minutes in.]

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