71 year old Sir Ranulph Fiennes finished the Marathon des Sables...
He described that penultimate day's walk as "more hellish than Hell". I suppose this means I can't complain about the one night we spent sleeping out on the trip...
It was great though, the whole thing, including sleeping out (the teepees were quite nice really, and the barbecue was delicious), despite the blisters, which everyone got but only Sherlock complained of. Note to Mycroft and Greg: there is such a thing as being too stoic. Then again, Sherlock probably complained enough for everyone - well, perhaps complained isn't the right word, so much as discussed. There was more interest than whinging, and he wanted to show everyone the huge one on his heel. And why don't dogs get blisters? Well, he probably wouldn't either if he walked everywhere barefoot. He wanted to try. It didn't last long.
The wall was...really something. It looks fairly ordinary, but the more you walk along it and think about how long it's been there, what's happened since it was built, the more it has a sense of presence, almost like a living thing. Or at least a collection of human experience contained in stone.
We're home now. I always feel a bit strange coming home from a trip, like part of me's stayed behind. It's always a transition. Trying to catch up to my normal life again. Doing the laundry usually sorts it out, but I still feel a bit absent today, and it wasn't for lack of laundry (believe me, there was a lot). I'd like to go back there at some point.
101 comments:
next time we should carry all our gear. I'm pretty certain that will reduce the washing at least a hundred-fold.
I am somehow seeing 'more hellish than hell' and thinking it still hasn't put you off though.
Well, if a 71 year old with heart trouble and a bad back can do it...
....can do it but nearly have heart failure and give up and say it's that bad....
And I wasn't that stoic - believe me, that had nothing on walking the beat in new boots!
But he did make it!
he probably had a whole team of people dedicated to helping him! Not just a camel chasing him on.
Being chased by a camel would probably be pretty effective, you must admit.
the camels wouldn't get too close to you in case you turned on them and started trying to rustle them...
I'm fearing Sherlock seeing this: http://www.sciencealert.com/world-s-first-head-transplant-volunteer-could-experience-something-worse-than-death
"a hitherto never experienced level and quality of insanity"...oh dear.
yeah, they've never been in this flat...
That is entirely disturbing.
fA, thanks for the mono sympathy. I got laid off from my new job on Thursday, so sadly I will have plenty of time to recover.
Sorry about the job, Becca, but also glad you'll have time to get better without pushing yourself back to work too soon. Best wishes on the health and the job fronts.
It's a glorious day here :)
Ahh, Becca. It's a shame about the job, but a complete and unhurried recovery will probably be better in the long run than trying to go to work when you really shouldn't be. Small comfort, I know. Hope your ankle(s) take the opportunity to fall into line and respond appropriately to rest and/or therapy.
I doubt Ranulph Fiennes as one to look to to define 'do able' as I'm sure he had a medical team as well as his trainer, and he certainly isn't someone who errs on the side of common sense. But one can't argue that you don't have a lot of years and a better medical baseline going for you, John.
Just don't wait till your husband has any of his own medical issues to try it. The stress of rooting you through it could be hard on him!
I'll just echo Becca & say the head transplant story is so disturbing.
fA
This is how I think our little four legged friends also think:
http://diary.tickld.com/x/cat-dog-diary
How very true on those diaries. ;) I'm assuming you're now worried regarding the potential for an assassination attempt like the one which was foiled. I think keeping in with the more favoured captor is your only chance. Good luck. :)
Ha! Precisely why I prefer dogs to cats.
fA
I hope you've enjoyed the start of the second week of your holiday Sherlock, I smiled to myself this morning as my mum and nieces got up for school while me and mine stayed in bed :-D
yes and tomorrow Lestrade isn't working and we're going to plant peas and beans.
That sounds brilliant Sherlock, I hope the weather is good for you and that you can convince someone to provide ice cream or cake for recovery after the hard work :-)
yeah, the weather better behave!
And I have to say RIP for PC Wylie. Not just a copper, but a biker too, killed on duty in an RTC today.
And do you have good gardening weather today? We've a nasty rainy day here, but it's properly spring-warm--here's hoping you've got the sun, too!
Stunning weather here. Glorious. We have had to eat ice cream is so hot.
Well, needs must. :)
peas and broadbeans in, canes all put up and ready for those beans to get growing!
Sounds like a major amount of gardening work got done!
Are you straight line or teepee men?
I'm glad you've had good weather for it and ice cream :-)
We have gone for straight lines, partly because many of our canes had been stolen by Sherlock to form a teepee for HIM not for BEANS (imagine the scorn in his voice when it was suggested he could make them for mere beans...) but we may need to add outriggers if the beans get too big!
A teepee for Sherlock sounds quite fun, every boy should have a den ;-)
A teepee with beans growing on it would be awesome, though...
S
I've always wanted to do a sunflower or morning glory house, myself.
morning glory, eh?
...cat face is like a small furnace, and is insistent on sitting on me and John. Do not need a hot water bottle in this weather.
If she'd like a short trip to America, I could use some heat! (It was warm here earlier, but hot it is not. :))
You are entirely mistaken, L, you do need a furry hot water bottle. Being support for one is your current role in life.
I'd say it's nice to feel useful...but I know she just regards me as a lumbering slave, here to feed her, be a warm thing to sit on, and occasionaly disentangle one of her claws from something, although when I do that she somehow makes it seem like she's only got tangled to give me something to do...
Oh for heavens...I even vetted that comment multiple times!
:-)
Kestrel, there is no winning! (There are far too many slang terms and double entendres possible, bless the inconsistent glorious mess that is the English language.)
fA
Very true, fA, how wonderful the river of the English language is & how delightfully depraved are we who frolic on its banks & dip our toes into every double entendre we can find with glee. ;)
Hope everyone has had/is having a great day, especially those who've been off to enjoy it the most. :)
at least you didn't say you'd always fancied a morning glory tent, Kestrel, just a more solid erection, in form of a house...
Sometimes i really do wish i hadn't chosen to spend my days in the company of death quite so much.
I could still have been doing landscaping...out in the sunshine...
It does seem an odd decision when you look at it like that Greg!
I hope you're having a touch of spring fever rather than a particularly bad day, L.
(We've got a gray, might-rain-anytime looking day here, but it's supposed to get nicely warm--almost hot tomorrow. Spring really must be here!)
Yeah, nothing too bad, just one of those days where I'm juggling bodies who no one seems to be missing, families who are missing someone but there is no body, and families who are very definitely missing someone, and there's a body in the fridge. And it was such a beautiful day, too.
There should definitely be a rule that there should be no crime on lovely days!
listening to TMS while I've been in the office has helped give the impression of summer, despite the Yard not being the most summery place.
and I'm going to have to stay in the office until this match is over, can't bear leaving it tfor the journey home
Worth sticking around for :-)
definitely!!
Morning all. Hope you're enjoying the last day of your hols, Sherlock. Is everyone else off too & plans for the day under way or is that evil necessity of work rearing its ugly head?
Planted some spuds yesterday so feeling the effects of digging now but pleased its finally done. How are your window boxes coming along, has anything popped up yet?
Have a great day everyone. :)
We're all off, decided to get out on the bikes. Big lunch, weather not too bad and nice to spend time together
Sounds like an excellent way to spend a day!
(I guess that means Sherlock hasn't outgrown his gear just yet. I was wondering about that the other day.)
well, we're home. Villa won, which I think I'm glad about? Rossi is doing well, and Hernandez caught fire, which makes up for the empty quiet flat...
Sherlock wants to build a scarecrow in the form of death for the allotment (don't think that's a good idea) and dig a secret passage down into the tube system (ditto).
What would a scarecrow in the form of death look like? Because I think it would have to be a form of death that critters would recognize to work at all, and I wonder what death might look like to animals and birds. (Aside from anything vaguely human-shaped.)
oh, he was going for a traditional skeleton-in-a-black-shroud-with-a-scythe. I think it would kill our elderly fellow allotmenteers rather than scare off any pests.
Heh! I don't think a skeleton-with-scythe would necessarily scare the beasties. Maybe an owl, now...
is he after expanding your allotment empire by doing away with the neighbours? ;-)
I'm glad Villa won, it gives your lot more of a chance and it'll take their mind off the league which is good for us :-D
I'm sorry the flat has fallen quiet again but not long to half term, which is what I'll be telling mine when I try and drag them out of bed in the morning ;-)
AnonyBob - I hadn't even thought of that! Probably!
And yeah, time is flying by.
Rossi won in fine style. Excellent.
Digging a secret passage towards the tube system could be an absorbing long-term project, lacking a backhoe or other mechanized digger. Probably not a very safe endeavor after the first few feet down, though.
fA
well, Mycroft sorted John and I out with Whatsapp this holiday, and I already love it. It means that instead of sitting in the office wondering if John is just staring into space, dazed and confused, in this first Day of Silence after the holidays, I get little photo messages all day. Mainly things like 'WHAT is THIS???' and a picture of something green and disturbing, from Sherlock's room. And 'How long has this been in here??' as half a (rather mouldy) banana and sugar sandwich is discovered in the pocket of one of MY hoodies....(not put there by me, I hasten to add! Although John didn't believe that either).
So yes on the "dazed and confused" and no on the "staring into space" (because, staring at app)! Well done, Mycroft.
I am wondering about the advisability of donning some protective gear before cleaning behind Sherlock. He's awfully interested in scientific experimentation. It may simply look like ancient snacks, but what if he's trying to grow something? ;-)
fA
Oh no, I'm certain he is always trying to grow/culture/observe things. But sometimes...he also just gets distracted and puts things down. Or..in my pocket, apparently.
It's a place.
So, my on-call doctor thinks I've strained an achilles. There was lots of prodding and frowning (him) and yelping and squirming (me), and then rubbing-in-of-ibuprofen-gel (him on me) and more frowning (him) and threats to make someone refer me for a scan (also him.)
If only criminals gave you the opportunity to do a little stretching and warming up before running away from you.
Ouch. :(
(I'm so glad you have someone who will see to it you do the right things to let it heal!)
Hope you heal right up. I know there are limits to how careful you can be, but try not to get into one of those cycles where you keep re-injuring it when it's almost all better. (Criminals are thoughtless bastards, that's true.)
fA
Hope the heel is a little better for a night of resting. Is your on-call doctor making you take some time off to keep it up or are you straight back into the fray. Here's hoping the criminals are a little more considerate today if so.
Enjoy your day everyone. :)
Since it would surely benefit the criminals as well if they were to do such stretching exercises, maybe there should be an agreed countdown period for both sides to prepare. Although I agree it would be simpler all round if they didn't bother running in the first place.
Is not too bad - bit stiff and tender (said the actress to the bishop). Putting up with a lot of comments about old age at work now...
The youth these days have no respect for their betters...
Cue all 'old age & guile will win over youth & energy' sayings.
fA
As Sal will doubtless tell you all shortly, this time youth and energy caught a criminal, while age and guile limped back to the car.
And Nicky sent me this, asking if I was injured dealing with a rogue swan.
http://www.thepoke.co.uk/2015/04/23/reason-to-england/
Trust a sibling to raise the overall level of respect!
fA
Thank you, Nicky, you brightened my day (and my mom's, too)!
And here's tonight's unsolved murders we're appealing on - 40 years old, these two! Would love to solve them.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/5W0495Rj87L7D0jL7PhgHgr/1975-london-double-murders
Enjoying TMS - although the English team have all changed their hats for luck, and the commentators haven't known who's who since...
Life and learning march on - Sherlock is sporting an impressive black eye and cut on the side of his face from attempting to jump off a small bank on his bike... fearless kids, eh? He accusingly pointed out that we do jumps when we go on the dirt bikes. We do. They have excellent acceleration and suspension...his bike does not.
Ah, Physics in action, not quite the learning that one would like for kids but some things cannot be told, they have to be found out.
Is he the sort of kid who's stoic or the sort that's rock hard until he's hurt and then feels sorry for himself?
I think he knows a lot about physics...but still somehow believes he can defy the laws? Or just massively overestimates his pedalling speed... ;)
H'es stoic about stuff like this. First thing he asked John is if he'd need stitches (no) - because he wanted them. He only loses a bit of stoicism if it really hurts - like his arm - and it means he can't do things he wants.
Poor kid, but it comes to all of the physically adventurous ones. Glad it was nothing worse!
-fA
Ouch. I imagine he visualized just how it ought to go, and feels quite indignant that that's not how it went.
I hope your Achilles' tendon is healing well, L.
It's doing okay, thanks. Bit tender still. Sherlock is rather proud of his shiner I think.
A black eye is quite dramatic!
I managed to do something painful to my wrist last week when disassembling my parents 40-year-old stereo system, but it doesn't look like anything at all. :) (the brace the doctor is having me sleep in is impressive, but no one but me sees it.)
No fair, RR! Injuries should come either with a good dramatic/funny story or some obvious physical manifestation that might induce sympathy!
fA
fA--preferably both! ;D
John is getting itchy feet, knowing thousands of people have done the marathon here today. He's gone for a run. Sherlock's dangling from a climbing frame. I'm nursing a coffee sitting on a swing.
You're far and away the most sensible Greg ;-)
I hope you enjoy your run John :-)
ha, I'd rather have been running! or even dangling from a climbing frame. But Sherlock informed me I was too old for everything apart from swings and roundabouts...and doesn't that sum up life.
Anyone who wishes to help the rescue efforts in Nepal, but cannot donate/wishes to do more, you can help map the destruction for the rescuers here:
http://www.tomnod.com/campaign/nepal_earthquake_2015/map/3f8x23y37
Thank you for that, Mycroft.
When my son fell off his bike at about Sherlock's age, having been told not to do what he'd done, and gave himself a nose bleed, I told him not to drip blood on his white shirt. Better to learn this sort of limitation at the age when you mostly still bounce rather than when older and you don't.
SH, you put me in mind of the time I threw a box of aluminum foil at my sister. It was a lovely throw, excellent follow through and arm extension, with the unfortunate consequence of dragging the entire length of the cutting edge across the web of my thumb. My mom's response was to tell me to 'stop bleeding on the rug'.
I do feel like a slightly bad role model, for messing about on the bikes. But yeah, he's bounced back. No doubt told everyone at school he jumped a 200 foot gorge or something.
Kestrel, you have reminded me of the time I threw a juice glass at my brother from across the kitchen table, to have it shatter on the wall about 4 inches from his head. I was somewhere between 9 and 12, I think, & never did anything like it before or since. Though I wonder what ELSE I've forgotten entirely.
And why I've spent so much time wondering where my daughter's temper comes from . . .
fA
aaaaah, beautiful day. I would have taken you all a lovely pic of some swans...but someone forgot to charge their phone last night.
I wouldn't have taken a picture of the legs we pulled out of the water...
legs??
sorry you forgot to charge your phone, I like your pictures :-)
...I don't suppose you meant frog legs...
no, human legs. As yet unknown owner.
I'll make sure to get some others, AnonyBob - pictures that is, not legs!
Delightful spring outdoor activity, pulling limbs from bodies of water. Somehow that's not the antidote to boring paperwork I'd wish on anyone.
fA
You weren't on the trail of swans to make sure they weren't being rustled by that notorious camel thief, were you. Once someone starts down that road it's hard to stop. ;)
Hope you have more luck with the legs and find both the rest of the victim & the culprit quickly.
How's the shiner shaping up, Sherlock, is it still black or has it changed to multi colours now? Are you keeping a chart of its progress? :)
AnonyBob - are you in luck or what. Had a very cute visitor to the crime scene today. (Not John, sadly, but almost as cute.) I'll try and get a post up soon with a pic.
Joolz - I think Mrs H would get her Majesty onto John if he started rustling swans ;)
Sherlock's eye is a bit greeny-blue now, looks like a right little fighter :)
Yay pictures :-). Sorry your visitor wasn't John though ;-)
Has Sherlock been monitoring his eye through hourly photos or just daily?
I hope everyone has a super day :-)
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