Hello all
Thank-you to all who have enquired how my leg is.
The answer is that my leg is much better, thanks to modern medicine and extensive rest. The swelling and redness is all gone and I feel much better in myself. As well as having a bad leg, I think I must have been pretty tired as I have been falling asleep at the drop of a hat.
I quite like sleeping, so I feel good about the extra kip that I've had.
So, as I am feeling better, all I need to do now is test out my leg by doing a walk.
And..........
On Sunday I joined my friends Helen and Liz for the walk from Mount Batten to the Yealm estuary. Unfortunately the weather was a bit damp, but once it had cleared up a little, we had very good walking weather. Helen and Liz are very seasoned walkers having done many long distance walks over the years. They are walking the Pembroke Way later this year so were happy to walk with me as part of their preparation.
The walk had many views back towards Plymouth Sound but because the visibility was poor there was little point taking any photos, but I did take one of two Royal Fleet Auxiliary Ships which were anchored inside the breakwater. I spent a lot of time on RFA ships in my merchant navy days. The two ships I served on were RFA Regent and RFA Tidesurge.
The role of the RFA ships was to follow the Royal Navy ships around the oceans of the world and supply them with all the things they needed so that the Navy ships didn't need to spend time in ports. This meant that it was necessary to transfer goods and, in the case of Tidesurge, fuel while sailing along side by side at sea. This was exciting and dangerous work but I loved my time on these ships and visited many countries of the world while on them. It was a very happy part of my time in the merchant navy.
Both of the two ships are no longer sailing and were scrapped many years ago.
It is a terrible photograph but here are the modern day equivalents.
I realise that I have written about my time in the merchant navy a few times during these blogs. Funnily enough, in my everyday life, I very rarely think about my time as a seaman, but being so close to the sea for the last 6 weeks has jogged my memory in a big and unexpected way. I expect there could be some more memories to come as I make my way along the coast towards the finish in Dorset.
As we walked along Helen, Liz and I chatted about walks and walking experiences we had in common. One thing that came up was about how tired a person can be at the end of a difficult and long day walking. All three of us have memories of the hysteria that can result from tiredness, especially when with friends who we feel at ease with.
Laughing hysterically at events and nonsense is the most joyful thing to do. I can remember occasions when I have had to crawl out of the room in order to remove myself from the source of the hilarity so that I could stop laughing. Sometimes, just making eye contact with a fellow laugher is enough to start another, sometimes painful, bout of giggling.
I used to work with a chap called Colin and there were times when we would laugh for 30 or 40 minutes without any idea what we were laughing at. One of us would have to go out of the room in order for it to stop, but sometimes that didn't work. I would imagine Colin laughing in the next room and it would start me off again. This meant that I was in a room on my own squealing with laughter while he was doing the same in another room. Anybody walking into either of the rooms would find a rather distressing and worrying sight, and sound.
Happy days indeed!
It is without doubt a true statement that "laughter is the best medicine".
Thank-you to all who have enquired how my leg is.
The answer is that my leg is much better, thanks to modern medicine and extensive rest. The swelling and redness is all gone and I feel much better in myself. As well as having a bad leg, I think I must have been pretty tired as I have been falling asleep at the drop of a hat.
I quite like sleeping, so I feel good about the extra kip that I've had.
So, as I am feeling better, all I need to do now is test out my leg by doing a walk.
And..........
On Sunday I joined my friends Helen and Liz for the walk from Mount Batten to the Yealm estuary. Unfortunately the weather was a bit damp, but once it had cleared up a little, we had very good walking weather. Helen and Liz are very seasoned walkers having done many long distance walks over the years. They are walking the Pembroke Way later this year so were happy to walk with me as part of their preparation.
The walk had many views back towards Plymouth Sound but because the visibility was poor there was little point taking any photos, but I did take one of two Royal Fleet Auxiliary Ships which were anchored inside the breakwater. I spent a lot of time on RFA ships in my merchant navy days. The two ships I served on were RFA Regent and RFA Tidesurge.
 |
| RFA Regent |
 |
| RFA Tidesurge |
Both of the two ships are no longer sailing and were scrapped many years ago.
It is a terrible photograph but here are the modern day equivalents.
____________________________
As we walked along Helen, Liz and I chatted about walks and walking experiences we had in common. One thing that came up was about how tired a person can be at the end of a difficult and long day walking. All three of us have memories of the hysteria that can result from tiredness, especially when with friends who we feel at ease with.
Laughing hysterically at events and nonsense is the most joyful thing to do. I can remember occasions when I have had to crawl out of the room in order to remove myself from the source of the hilarity so that I could stop laughing. Sometimes, just making eye contact with a fellow laugher is enough to start another, sometimes painful, bout of giggling.
I used to work with a chap called Colin and there were times when we would laugh for 30 or 40 minutes without any idea what we were laughing at. One of us would have to go out of the room in order for it to stop, but sometimes that didn't work. I would imagine Colin laughing in the next room and it would start me off again. This meant that I was in a room on my own squealing with laughter while he was doing the same in another room. Anybody walking into either of the rooms would find a rather distressing and worrying sight, and sound.
Happy days indeed!
It is without doubt a true statement that "laughter is the best medicine".
_______________________________
The Great Mew Stone is a constant presence along this stretch of coastline.
______________________________
The Yealm estuary is one of the most delightful and picturesque places on the South Devon coast. It is a pity that the weather did not enhance the photos, but here are a couple of pictures.
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| Liz, me and Helen |
Helen's husband (and my friend) Nick met us at Noss Mayo and transported me back to Mount Batten to collect my car. It was a tiring drive home to Crockernwell, but I started thinking about memories of hysterical laughter and started myself giggling as I drove along.
The one time I thought about was when Jennie had bought two new pillows for our bed. They were extremely plump pillows. We got into bed and as our heads sunk into the new pillows we realised that we were unable to see each other. We started laughing and couldn't stop.
You had to be there!
Or maybe not!
Take it easy.
Rob
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