The Road goes ever on and on; Down from the door where it began;
Now far ahead the Road has gone; And I must follow, if I can;
Pursuing it with eager feet; Until it joins some larger way;
Where many paths and errands met; And whither then? I cannot say.

[JRR Tolkien, Lord of the Rings]

Wednesday 19 March 2008

Poorliness and Stupidity

Poorliness
Husband has flu. By that I don’t mean that he has a cold, I mean that he has flu.

He is not generally a sickly man. The last time I remember him being properly poorly (i.e. more than a bad cold or a poorly tummy) was in 2001.

On the way back from the Outdoor Show on Saturday he very suddenly started complaining of a stiff neck; it was so bad that we stopped for pain-killers. Ten minutes later he was bright red and sweating profusely.

Five days later he’s still got the temperature, still has the stiff neck, is aching and has no energy. I shipped him off to the doctors, already suspecting the diagnosis that came.

On the one hand it feels like bad timing; I know how long it can take to really get over a proper dose of flu and we’re setting off on our walk in less than four weeks time. On the other hand, better that he gets it now than in four weeks time.

Fingers crossed now that I don’t get it too.

(and yes, he is getting plentiful amounts of sympathy, he’s being excused from training walks and our planned outing this weekend is cancelled)

Maps and Moronity
Alan Sloman today made comment on the Muppetry of going walking across Scotland with only one set of maps between two. His comment has been heartily agreed with over at Blogpackinglight and in a couple of comments.

And so it has been brought to my attention that I am at best reckless and at worst negligent, for Husband and I have never gone out for a walk together carrying a map each. One of us carries the map and to date we have never lost each other. In fact, we have never even come close to losing each other on a walk and perhaps it’s for that reason that I’ve never considered it as a real possibility. Of course, stopping to think about the comments made, I do appreciate that it’s possible.

However, if I have been reckless to date then I am now going to step up to the level of negligence. I have printed out one set of maps for our LEJOG. I have no intention of printing another*.

Having put my hand up and admitted my own stupidity, I will now don my flack jacket and await the attack that I apparently deserve.

(*Okay, maybe I will for the remotest areas)

3 comments:

  1. Thank god hes not got the chicken pox....although it would have been too soon after meeting me for that :-)

    Hope hes well soon :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Taking one map sounds good to me. That way your walk could possibly turn into an adventure!!

    :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Gayle - It's a 'Man Thing.' With eighteen days to the 'off' last year, I came down with a nasty bout of Sparrows Scrabbling Inside My Lungs Disease. Very nasty it was too. No-one was interested; the only comment I got from the petite wifflet was that I "was always ill this time of year, Live with it".

    For your maps, if you are absolutely convinced you won't be separated, why don't you print out the 1:50's for the mountainous bits at 1/100 scale. You really only need this for the mountain areas so not many would be required.

    I think the problems lie with blokes: For instance, Lord Elpus and I can be half a mile apart on our jaunts through the hills - when one stops for a while the other can wanders slowly on, so the overall time loss to stops is not huge. This leads to large separations and the need for two sets of maps. If you and Mick stick together like glue then it is less liely you will need two sets. However you shouldn't discount the occassional accident - where say, the map carrier disappears from view - it is so easily done.

    For the sake of an evening's printing you will have peace of mind.

    ReplyDelete