Out and About!

It seemed criminal to sit indoors and not take advantage of the sunshine. So we had a nice drive down to Rochester.

I went down there two weeks ago and was struck by the location (only forty minutes from home) and the fact that there was a castle, and a cathedral, both close to the river. I thought it would be ideal for a Sunday jaunt.



Well the sun may be out, but the old adage about "casting a clout" was certainly true! It was lovely and bright out, but definitely a bit on the chilly and blowy side (as you can see, I don't normally look that windswept)

Literally adjacent (if Mark had turned 180 degrees with the camera) to Rochester Cathedral is the Castle. The Cathedral is free to walk round, but they charge £5 to nose around the castle, so we gave that a miss and just wandered round the grounds instead.



The Castle is in the background. Mark looks full of the joys of Spring, bless him!

There was a fire in a pub yesterday, which has resulted in a road closure on the route into Rochester. Getting in was easy, getting out was an entirely different matter, clear road divert directions do not seem to be Medway council's strong point. We moved from the car park at 15.37, and finally got away from Rochester at 16.14. Ho hum...

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Location:Rochester Castle

The Price

"Give me another chance!" she cried,
"I'm afraid it's too late" the Grim Reaper replied
He then said "All sins and crimes must be paid in full"
"What crime? What sin?! I haven't done anything" was her retort.
At her response the Reaper looked most severe.
"Have you honestly no idea why you are here?
Think hard, look back, remember the events.
Can you not think what led to the accident?"
She looked at him blankly, and on her it dawned, it was something about which she had previously been warned.
"It wasn't my fault, it wasn't me behind the wheel. Why am I here, that's not a fair deal?!"
"Arrogance was your sin. You thought you couldn't get hurt, that you were immortal, and so you did nothing.
To be 'down with it' was more important for you, than to be an adult and take a sensible and safe view.
You knew your friend was DUI, but you didn't stop them, even though they were high.
You got in the car and said ""It's perfectly safe. It's cool, it's normal, people do it every day.""
The Reaper then said "For this, four people have to pay"
"Why four? There were three of us in the car today"
At this point the Reaper looked almost sad.
"The fourth to pay will be your Dad.
For you and your friends, your lives are your cost.
For your Dad, it's the memory of who he has loved and lost.
Your price though tragic, is quick and paid today.
Your Dad's pain will be never ending, each minute of every day"
The Reaper looked at the girl, who was stricken with tears,
The reality of it all had now sunk in, and she was frozen to the spot in fear.
She thought back to all the good times with her Dad, of which there would be no more.
She realised how much she had taken him for granted and how she had dismissed his worrying before.
"Mr Reaper, please would you grant me one request?"
And so the Reaper did at her behest.
The Reaper visited her Dad and broke the news the best he could.
Her father was distraught and greeted the news like any caring parent would.
The Reaper said "Your daughter asked me for a last request, and to my word I will be true.
She asked me to tell you how sorry she was and how much she does love you."
To this end I will do what I can to minimise your pain. Your memories of this will be dulled and it won't hurt as much again"
Her father shook his head and through his tears he did reply,
"Thank you for the offer but I must decline, though it will always hurt, I must remember why.
I must remember, so I can spread the word, and help other parents like me.
Whose children think they are immortal, and therefore the dangers they will not see.
How many more of these accidents will it take, before they will understand why?
How much more tragic can the loss be, before they will say 'no' to DUI?"
The Reaper bowed his head, and faded slowly into the dark.
The depths of which for the father had never been so stark.

Never when bringing up a son or daughter should a parent have to expect.
To face the pain of losing their child, knowing there is nothing they can do to protect.
A parent can lay down the rules and by example they can guide. The day will always come when it will be down to the son or daughter to decide.

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Home Again

A brief recap. On Saturday Mark went Ski-ing and Mum and I went to Krystalwelten.

This is the entrance to the "Giant" which takes you through to the Exhibition. We did take some photos, but we were more interested in the Members Lounge and the Shop!

The last time that we went was in 2005. We signed the guest book and sent some photos in for the ladies in the Members lounge to include with our guest book entry.

We went into the Members lounge and I see that all the previous guest books were kept on a book shelf. I looked through and eventually foundour previous entry, dated 03/03/05. Marion (lady in the Members lounge) had kept her promise, and the photos that we had sent in of Mum's collection were in the book along with our entry in book number 15.

Of course we had to write in the guest book again, it would have been rude not to!

Intermittently I had received texts from Mark updating me on how he was getting on. Apparently he had taken a couple of spills, but he was in good shape, so after having spent inordinate amounts of time (and money!) in the shop, we headed back to the hotel to catch up with Mark.

Aside from being absolutely shattered, he was in good shape, and had enjoyed his time on the slopes. The plan was he would go with us to Kitzbuhel the following day (Sunday) and do someskiing there while we looked around and went up in the cabel car.

Sunday morning Mark opted for more sleep rather than breakfast, and when it came to time to get up he decided that his fitness levels (certain aches and pains from excessive exercise the previous day!) weren't up for another day's skiing. In fairness the weather looked pretty poor from a visibility point of view which doesn't make it ideal for skiing when you can't see very far in front of you.

We went to Kitzbuhel and spent the afternoon there. It's a nice resort, and the town is right by the slopes, which would make it better than Innsbruck for skiing as you have to travel out of the town in order to get to the slopes. I wish I had pushed Mark harder to take his skigear with him, as he could have got some time in on the slopes in Kitzbuhel rather than just having the one day's worth in Innsbruck.

Sunday evening we went to the Pizzeria in Innsbruck. Strangely, the restaurant in the hotel was closed, even for snacks, which was a bit bizarre when they had guests!

And He's Off

One of the ideas for coming to Austria was for Mark to be able to do some ski-ing. Regrettably I cant at the moment, being only four months post op, it wouldn't be the wisest thing to embark on, much as I would have loved to have gone with him and done it. Maybe next time, the physio certainly thinks it is achievable.

I pre-booked his ski and boot rental, so all we had to do was go to the shop yesterday once we arrived in Innsbruck. The shop dropped the gear at our hotel yesterday afternoon and he has set off for Axemer Lizum for the day.




As you can see from the photo, Mark wasn't exactly wide awake (not good at mornings, bless him) though it was about 7.15 gmt and he hadn't had the benefit of a coffee at that point. He did look a lot brighter after two coffees and once he got out in the fresh air, though the word "fresh", could also be replaced with "f-ing cold"!

Mum and I are going to head to Wattens today and visit the Swarovski Crystal place "KrystalWelten" and catch up with Mark later.

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Location:Innsbruck

The Second Leg

24/02/11 15:30 Having successfully navigated our way back to Faro and then run the gauntlet of Germans and their suitcases at the check in for our flight to Munich (they are as bad with suitcases as they are with beach towels!) we are now having a quick drink (quick by necessity due to the dreadful organisation and slow attendants at the check in desk) before heading to our gate.

25/02/11 12.33 we survived the flight to Palma de Mallorca and then our connecting flight onto Munich where we stayed overnight at the Novotel hotel, which allegedly was "within walking distance" of the airport. Unless you are into 3 mile hikes complete with suitcases, the Novotel should have been done by Trading Standards for misrepresentation of the truth, and we got a cab. The wifi was also not free as indicated on the website, which was a tad irritating.



It was very late by the time we arrived, so we had a quick drink in the bar before heading to bed. Our rooms were comfortable (the Germans certainly know how to do bathrooms!) and we slept well enough. A shower and breakfast were followed by checking out and getting a cab to Munich station (free wifi!) in order to catch our train to Innsbruck, which is what we are sitting on at the moment, currently about to depart from Kufstein.




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Definition of Chillaxing...

....is lazing on the balcony of our room at the hotel enjoying the view



My own bit of eye candy, bless him!

It is somewhat bizarre to be laying on the balcony in my swimsuit (silly spanner didn't bring any shorts etc, didn't expect it to be this warm!) albeit short lived, as we are departing here tomorrow for Munich, which I think, it is safe to say, is going to be slightly colder than here!

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On The Move Again

It's been nearly four months since I had my knee reconstructed. So far so good. I'm mobile, got virtually full flexion in the knee, I'm walking without crutches and no limp, and the demands of the physio are increasing. My physio is pleased with my progress. I still have a way to go before I'm fully fit, but I'm getting there.

We are flying out to Portugal for a few days and then onto Munich Thursday, travelling to Innsbruck by train on Friday. Short flights are not worth spending a lot of money so by that very limitation, the quantity of leg room is vastly reduced, if not almost non existent.

If you are under 5ft and don't have any issues (like joints seizing if immobilised for periods of time) then Easyjet is fine. When you are 6ft3 like Mark or have a recently reconstructed knee (like me) then spending a couple of hours pinned in one place with little capacity for moving around doesn't provide much comfort, and definitely doesn't bode well for getting much sleep.

A commodity which was highly desirable this morning, having been woken up at 3.30am (yep, 3.30!) as we needed to be at the airport for 4.45am. The gremlin is repressed at the moment, but an afternoon snooze may be necessary in order to ensure she does not escape the tenuous confines which have been weakened by lack of sleep!


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Irrational fear of Deja Vu

My dad who was previously in relatively good health was taken ill on Wednesday 30th June last year. He collapsed out in the garden down by the silver birch tree. He never regained conscious and died in hospital 8 days later.

My mum found him in the garden. She had been out for the morning at her ladies tap class, like she does every Wednesday.

I apologise if that sounds like a very matter of fact way of describing it, but it's the only way I have of verbalising the event that brought my world crashing down without ending up in tears over my iPad.

Since then, if I can't reach my mum on the phone, I start to worry. My mum had security cameras installed on the outside of the house a month ago, for her peace of mind so if she hears anything outside she will be able to check the cameras rather than venture outside herself.

The problem is, we can also check the cameras, and if I can see the cars on the drive and I can't reach my mum on the phone, I do get very concerned. The logical professor sitting on one shoulder calmly reminds me that my mum is in good health and she just may have gone down the road on foot, or she may be having a shower, or have the hoover/hairdryer on and not be able to hear the phone.

The little demon who perches on the opposite shoulder whispers in my ear that we thought my dad was in relatively good health and she may have slipped in the shower or fallen down the stairs, or, any number of things.

The point of it is this; fear of losing a loved one isn't logical, and it can't be alleviated by logic, no matter how hard you try. The little demon whispering in my ear (whose power to worry me has been magnified tenfold by the untimely tragic loss of my dad) comes up with five scenarios of what could have gone wrong for every logical explanation the professor provides for my mum not answering the phone.

As the phone rings and rings, the ice creeps into my stomach, and every time I relive that day that everything went so very wrong, when my mum phoned me at work to tell me Dad had been taken ill. When eventually I do get hold of her (like tonight for example, when she was in the shower) I feel stupid for worrying. "You shouldn't worry about something that might never happen", people say. Thing is, bad things do happen to good people, and nobody is invulnerable. My dad certainly wasn't.

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Remembrance

Dad...so many images come to mind
whenever I speak your name;
It seems without you in my life
things will never be the same.
Some days I hear your voice
and turn to see your face;
Yet in my turning it seems
the sound has been erased.
Who will I turn to for answers
when life does not make sense?
Who will be there to hold me close
when the pieces just don't fit?
Please always know I love you so much
and no one will ever take your place;
Years may come and years may go
but your memory will never be erased.
Today, Jesus, if You are listening
in your home above;
Would you go and find my dad
and give him all my love.

Author unknown.

A New Year. The time to reflect on the past and look to the future. Much as we want to close the door on 2010 as it has been an absolutely horrific year of gargantuan proportions, by doing so it almost feels like we are shutting away the memories of the loved ones we have lost.

To some extent I wish I could shut away those memories, as they still hurt so, so much. Six months on, I still struggle to accept that I will not see my dad again. I have always been a fighter, someone who will find a way to achieve something, no matter how hard, whether or not people tell me it can't be done.

To have to accept that something is inevitable is difficult on a good day. When it's something that has such a high emotional value like the loss of a loved one, the pain just tears at your heart like shards of glass.

New Years resolutions:

To look forward and celebrate each new day.
To try and let go of the little things (this does not mean to stop analysing!)
To learn to cherish the memories of my dad and hopefully let go of some of the pain.
To make my dad proud.


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