Sinistereens, I know you haven't heard from me for a long time, and you may interpret this mail as selfish - it is really, in that I really want to emphasise the importance of David's mail below. In fact I should probably mention I'm the listmum to some of you the newer residents, as I've been so silent for a long time. Hi. Some of you will know that my disappearance from public Sinister life is largely due to the very same illness mentioned below: M.E. (some of you in other parts of the world will see this called CFS, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, CFIDS and other terms). I've had the illness 12 years now, and its severity has worsened a lot in the last year: I'm housebound currently except for doctor visits, and mostly bedbound. I hope some if this explains my disappearance, although I try to keep the mailing list levers running in the background, as well as I can. It may not be forever (the archives may be in trouble at some point, but I'll try and let you know) but you're all quieter and very well-behaved these days anyway. The disease has been much maligned in the UK particularly, and this research may prove vital in proving an organic origin, and pathways to a cure. It's estimated it affects 1 in 300 people in the UK, 25% of whom are severely affected/bed-bound. Anyway, I won't whine on, except to say that M.E. is a very B&S disease to have for some reason as you can see from this mail and David's, so it'd be very on-topic of you to donate, or bid in the auctions. Stuart himself had it as mentioned below, and Ciara and Caleb, who handle it considerably better than me, have it too, as do some others I know who are or were on the list. It's not something you want to get: it can be a lifekiller. I just wanted to add that if you do want to donate, and you're a UK taxpayer, it may be possible to add 20% or more to your donation by giving via Gift Aid. See: http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/developmentalumni/giving/fromuk.html Oh, and Ebay veterans will note that Ciara has zero feedback on Ebay - it's above board, and I'll personally guarantee a refund if you need such a guarantee. Honey x On Thu, 2 Jun 2005, David Moore wrote:

Hi All,

Bit late to tell people on here now, but just in case you don't know, there's an auction at e-bay http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQsassZcmaclaverty at which you could get hold of Struan's silver trews! Or his Dennis The Menace & Gnasher t-shirt, as worn on Top Of The Pops! (Sure beats breaking into his flat to nick his clothes.) Or even a signed original copy of Tigermilk!

Proceeds are all in a vital cause, research into understanding more about ME. All of you on this list know at least 3 people who are or who have suffered from it, so why not get involved?

If you want to contribute or learn more, here are some links posted in another place by the organiser of the auction, Ciara (you know, the IYFS cover star) - I hope she doesn't mind me copying them here:

"If you want to donate to the gene research study directly you would just send a cheque to Dr Gow, dept of neurology, Southern General Hospitals, 1345 Govan Rd, Glasgow, G51 4TF and mark it 'for ME gene research study'.

Another great charity interested in the right kind of biomedical research is MERGE. You can find case histories and sufferers stories. They take online donations

http://www.meresearch.org.uk/index.html

If you want to read my story in more detail (photo too!) here's an article I wrote a couple of years back. Thankfully I have improved slightly since then.

http://www.cfids-cab.org/MESA/adv7.html

As some of you know, I met Stuart in 1991 when he himself was ill with a long term post viral condition. ME can be a spectrum and some people are more severly affected. Stuart would readily admit that my illness was more debilitating than his, but he did have to pace himself and he felt 'flu like' for many years before recovering. Even now, he has to be careful about getting a healthy diet and enough rest. We did a 'best friends' article for one of the Scottish newspapers telling the story of how we became friends when we were both outsiders through illness. It didn't appear on line but I could post the text sometime (?)"

An article about the dire need for cash to fund this research http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/hi/news/5039240.html

The revered name of papercuts appears again on Sinister, but sadly here http://www.papercuts.co.uk/cfs/intro.htm to outline the ME experiences of Sinister Old Boy Caleb Rudd.

Yet another post from me in which I just copy & paste from elsewhere. My lack of originality laid bare once more. Hey ho.

Love,

David Moore Chelmsford, UK +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+