of this light hearted shilly-shally.
This is supposed to be a walking blog. I think.
And, as usual, you would be correct.
To recap. Earlier this year I was told that if I didn't stop drinking, lose some weight and get more exercise, I would be dead within months
. Now, when your window cleaner tells you something like that it gives you a bit of a fright. I sought a second opinion. I sought several second opinions. Most agreed ; in fact the lady in the papershop gave me days instead of months. Only the bloke in the off-license disagreed. As a last resort, I ambushed Doc Holiday as he was putting his clubs into the back of the Lexus in the Health Centre carpark I took his " whatever" as being the final word on the matter.
Now it occurs to me that some of you may not appreciate what I was giving up here, due to your being unfamiliar with Scottish licensed premises. This may help.
I live in a hilly place, so training walks were easy to find, but not so easy to do. I expected sore muscles and joints, but not dizzy spells and being unable to stand up at times. Dumyat (a hill) had been my end of summer target, but I managed it quite easily by May. Other short and medium term targets proved more elusive. Progress has been hindered by my accumulating more injuries than the Rangers squad in an international week, and the long time they seem to take to heal. However, so much for history. A new year approaches.
I' m going to be more positive. Hill walking/climbing is 30% in the legs, 30% in the lungs, and 40% in the head. (or some such numbers). The plan is to do serious damage to the Donalds this year. I've done lots of them before, but, not having a bagger's gift for record keeping or that drive that makes him go for that far-off outlier at 3 o'clock on a November afternoon, I never finished them off. So, start from scratch again, I think.
The there is The Project. I had given this up as beyond me, but, as I can't seem to interest anyone else in doing it, I may have to do the bugger myself. Perhaps as day walks, but maybe...... If things go well, you may hear more of The Project. However, One Small Step at a time.
Wooah! That sounds scary. I had a similar moment quite a while back: http://alansloman.blogspot.com/2006/11/binge-walking-start-of-1993-not-great.html when the Doc said that If I didn't change things he wouldn't be seeing me again. "Ungrateful bastard!" thought I... "I pay his bloody wages"..
ReplyDeleteHe read my mind and said - "No, Al, unless you take these pills You'll be dead."
"What flavours do they come in?"
Good luck with the project OM. We'll be with you for every small step.
ah yes, Donalds. Some of them are really easy. For a handy list, let's have your bank account details and pin numbers......
ReplyDeleteOthers are a bit tricky... Curleywee comes to mind.... strange name.....
Alan. Thanks for that. It's reassuring to know that you will be with me if I need help, say, crossing a fence.
ReplyDeleteMike. Yes, I remember some "easy" Donalds from the eighties, but, as they say in these parts, "Auld age disnae come itsel"
Regarding the request for bank details: funnily enough, I got a similar request recently in an email from someone called Meki N'Kipe who was looking for help in getting £9m out of Nigeria.
No relation ?
Handy facility for logging your Donalds (not normally a painful experience) at Scottishhills.com . Loads of info on walking routes there too.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the walking in 2011.
Thanks Ken.I'll try that, but my problem always seems to be at the writing-up/data entry stage, and I end up with a carrier bag full of scraps of paper covered in dates/times/GRs.
ReplyDeleteI hope you and your family had a good New Year and that you are on the road to recovery. We must meet up sometime and do, say , the first two-man Zimmer powered assault on Ben Ledi!