Ctrl and F5 refreshes a web page when F5 doesnt.

They don't sell Lucozade in boots any more.

It runs out of the laceholes.

Polytetrafluoroethylene is a synthetic fluoropolymer of tetrafluoroethylene

Actor Joe McGann suffered severe depression while starring in 90s hit sitcom The Upper Hand


He says low moods run in his family but that he is now depression free after moving to the country and using naturopathy

88 Shares

Better: Actor Joe McGann is free from depression
As a kid, I always knew my father was in one of his black moods because you could feel it in the air as soon as you came through the front door.

When he was at his lowest he was diagnosed with schizophrenia, although we were never sure if he had it or not.

There are theories that depression can be learned behaviour but I also think there’s probably something genetic. All of my family have been touched by it in some way or another at some time in our lives, and had horrible low, illogical moods.

If I had them as a kid, I shrugged them off – you’re more easily distracted when you’re younger and your inner dialogue isn’t so in-depth.

I used to lose myself in books and that would be my quiet time. But later in life things become different and you look for other ways to deal with it – in my case I self-medicated.

I’d try to drown my sorrows with alcohol, which never works.

I’ve had several very low times but the worst was probably when I was starring in the BBC1 sitcom The Upper Hand in the 90s.

I had this horrible situation where I was more successful and recognisable than at any time in my life but felt the most wretched I’d ever felt. I couldn’t go anywhere and hide as people would recognise me all over the place.

That’s when I really started to address my problems as an adult. I started visiting various therapists and found cognitive behavioural therapy very helpful.

It gives you a set of tools by which you can alter your reasoning with yourself and stop the dialogue that constantly demeans you – the voice that sits on your shoulder and tells you that you’re worthless and that there’s no point in trying.

I stopped drinking, too, and don’t drink at all any more as it’s a depressant and I know what happens. It’s fair to say that I’ve had my share and I became dependent on it for several years to the extent that once I’d started I couldn’t stop.

It’s not easy to give it up. I did four-and-a-half years sober then thought I’d be fine to go back to social drinking – but it got worse than ever. So I stopped completely and I’ve been sober for nearly a decade.

When we were growing up in Liverpool, I used to look across to the mountains in North Wales in the distance and wish I was over there looking back. I remember the first time I went to the hills with the Scouts, I found a joy and freedom. The scale of nature makes me feel comfortable and to feel like a very small person in a very big place makes you realise that your problem isn’t really all that big, which is very humbling.

However big the inner dialogue is – it’s all you hear sometimes when you’re depressed – you can stop this notion of being absolute master, judge, jury and executioner in your own world and nature has always helped me put everything into perspective, to recognise that there’s something bigger than you.


Realising I really needed to live in the countryside came at a great point in my healing. My wife Tam and I moved to rural Hampshire and we now live in a little cottage surrounded by 5,000 acres of forest, which has been a life-changer. When I was at my lowest I couldn’t get out of bed – the black dog would sit on my chest and I wasn’t able to get up. But now to be able to roll out of bed, go ­downstairs and out into the most ­magnificent nature makes me want to get up in the morning.

For a little while I was on Seroxat ­anti-depressants and they definitely gave me a level playing field that provided a breakthrough. But because I’d taken the route of self-medication before, I didn’t want to be narcotised into health.

I wanted to be well and with the help of my wife, who’s a naturopath, I realised that nutrition and the right kind of diet can give you all the supplements you need. It can alter your body’s chemistry to an extent and stop you slipping into serotonin depletion so you crave the wrong things as comfort.

Diet has become incredibly important to me now. It’s about fuel but also ­nourishment and being connected to the seasons, which has a real grounding effect.

Every morning Tam and I take the dogs for a walk with a basket to forage for green plants that we then juice. We pick things like nettles, which are a source of vitamin C, cleavers – or sticky weed – which cleans the lymphatic system. Wheatgrass and barley grass are superfoods and the latter has protein and chlorophyll to aid the digestive system and alkalise the body.

I drink purified water and add things like maca – a Peruvian root – to smoothies as it’s very good for mood balancing.

The outcome is that I’m 55 and as fit and well as I’ve ever been. I can’t remember the last time I even had a common cold.

I can measure my happiness by my weight and for the first two series of The Upper Hand I was about 18st – but my natural weight, which is what I am now, is about 15st. My depression was the weight I was carrying around, ­metaphorically and physically.

All of those things combined have led me to a place where I don’t know whether I’m free from it for ever, but should an episode arise I know I have the tool kit to dispel it – and I’m not scared of that.

I haven’t had a depressive episode for more than eight years and it’s like having a new life sometimes. I have a better sense of self and self-worth, I have confidence now rather than the attitude that I’ll fail.

You're having a Giraffe surely CMAT???

I learned today that no matter how often I get my cash in ahead shanghai9 will always outdraw me.

what did i learn?

old folk dont know of these ventures - the guy will be warm for winter now

While taking Mrs S to the airport at 5am, I learned that I still love driving in the early hours.

yes it is.


Gary Rowett is a dirty Judas ****

Today i learnt that learned is american english and learnt is british english.

Today i learnt that you can pay in a cheque with just your debit card and also you can take a picture of a cheque and pay it into Barclays without leaving home.

.
http://www.barclays.co.uk/MobileBankingservices/MobileChequeDeposit/P1242668620764

Muslims love New ham shocker

went for a walk on a pebble beach today and near the edge among the shrub found over 50 stunning flay agaric fungi. Never seen these outside a wood ans particularly near birch trees. Never realised they'd grow in a marine environment. Remarkable scenes.
Have brought some home.