28 Aug 2007

Scooter Event Heaton Park 2007






19 August 2007






Well we had planned the scooter event for some months we had a venue, we had the riders, and we felt that we would make some money as well's publicise our organisation.









I had acquired my own scooter back, charged the battery and was ready for the day, unfortunately on the day it had already started raining as I set out, when I arrived at the Park, the other participants were already there, apart from the two who sadly could not make it on the day, despite this we set off with waterproof capes on along the course.







The course that we took was over areas that I had not previously seen in the park, as usual Brian was there to supervise, provide food and drink, and to chat to in the course of the adventure, as well as to take interesting photos of the event and the surrounding countryside.







At times the weather seemed to improve slightly, and the rain stopped, but then would swiftly continue again, despite that we all seem to be in quite a positive mood as we continued our journey round the park.




Although I was sat down for the duration of the course my legs still ached as did my bottom, so for the next few days yet again I was totally exhausted and even worse I had no sponsors so had raised no money, but least had taken some photos and supported the rest of the participants, my feeling after the event is that we should return yet again next year hopefully with more people in better weather.

Sadly Daves' Deterioration

28 August 2007

Sadly over the last few months, my friend Dave's health has deteriorated, and I have seen a bright intelligent man get worse and worse, that much so, but now just lies in bed unable to speak, eat, or drink and my feeling is that soon he will no longer be with us.

I have to say, but I found it very difficult, to cope with this change, in particular I felt hopeless, because there was nothing I could do to help him along this path, at the same time I have seen my friend Anne spend eight hours a day with him, reassuring him, as well as comforting him, through this period, as he has got worse.

Unfortunately, in the not too distant future, we will be sorting out his affairs, as well as those of his friend, who also died recently, which is a reminder to me that I need to do some forward planning to avoid the same problems if anything happens to me.

Trip To Isle of Man






29 July 2007

Well hello again readers, sorry about the delay, but here we go, the trip to the Isle of Man bye Jeff and Geoff.

We had been planning this trip for some time, on the day it was a bright sunny day, the trip up to Heysham was no problem and it was interesting to watch the way HGV trailers were loaded on the ship by little portable tractors, also how many vehicles were actually loaded onto the ship.

On the trip over we were both tired so we spent most of it fast asleep in the lounge, not realising how much we would need that rest over the next few days, eventually we arrived at Douglas and drove over to see Rod and Lyn at their home, from where they took us to view the place we were going to stay for the next few days.

They then took us for a meal out, on the way back to our accommodation, Geoff explained that many years ago, he had wanted to put a property in the area and believe it or not it was the site that the property we stayed in was on, very strange.The house was very pleasant with everything we needed, including separate bathrooms for each of us.

The following morning we returned to Newby to have a look at the task, which originally was to remove the asbestos soffits, and replace with UPVC, Rod explained that there was woodworm in some of the timbers and also the felt needed replacing as well as the lats, we now realised that the task was going to be much bigger than we first thought, it was a beautiful morning, so undeterred we sorted out what we needed from the builders merchants and set off.

I was already thinking what a lovely place the area was, and that this would be a nice easy pleasant task as we drove for materials, at the builders yard, it started to go wrong, because most of the materials were not in stock and now it was agreed we would re roof the whole of the garage, which is obviously going to take a lot longer.

Having looked at how much I have already written I have decided to cut short on a lot of the detail about what followed, I have to say that the meals that Lynn provided were great, despite her health problems, the setting we were in was beautiful the company was good, other than that though, it was a downhill path all the way.

Nobody told me, about the rain, nor about the wind, both of which we have problems with for the duration of the task, and how much it would affect our ability to carry out the task, nor did they tell me about the attitude of the local builders merchants, who were into maƱana every time we went to them, nor did anybody tell me about Rod's need to keep tidying up all the time, in particular just after I had left stuff that we needed out for the next part of the task.

Sadly we never got to see the island nor go for a boat trip, nor did we manage to have any relaxing time apart from at mealtimes, although we have been promised this for the next trip.

The one thing that did happen in the course of the exercise, was that my arms ached, my legs ached, and had bruises in places I do not wish to repeat the whereabouts of.

Generally we achieved the task, with minor cosmetic stuff to be done by Rod after we had left, having said that on the Monday we worked until 4 p.m. then drove down to Douglas, again slept on the boat to arrive totally exhausted home at 1:30 a.m. the following morning, it took me nearly 2 weeks to recover from this, which is interesting because normally my ME would have kicked in and that would have been me for a month or two.

Well Geoff and I hope that some time we will get back there and truly see this beautiful island at our leisure, maybe next year.

Sorry About The Delay

28 August 2007

Well hello readers, sorry about the delay in putting the next post on, but a series of things have delayed this, so thanks very much for your patience and interest.

These have included a trip to the Isle of Man, details of which to follow, another bout of Man Flu, a deterioration in the health of my friend Dave, an accidental overdose of medication, Gay Pride in Manchester and a poorly computer.