8.55 a.m. Well I have completed the morning walk and enjoyed a full breakfast. Now after a three day break, I find myself sitting in front of the computer and back to the good old blog once again.
Well yesterday I found myself flying out on the 7am first flight to Liverpool to attend Clatterbridge for a CT scan and arrange my appointment times for my radiation treatment. The old blog came in handy, it seems the blog has reached the staff at Ronaldsway as I breezed my way through the security
9.25 a.m. I have completed the morning walk. I waved to all 33 passengers onboard the steam train as it pulled out of Castletown station at 8.05 a.m. Skipper was extremely well behaved this morning and returned to me every time I called him.
It is a beautiful sunny day and I have had my bacon and egg butty sitting out on the deck in my back garden. Tomorrow I will be away fishing early and probably won't get back until late. On Monday I am off to Clatterbridge on the first flight out to Li
8.30 a.m. I have walked through Poulson Park, and on through Golden meadow, the old mill and back home. The early morning commuter steam train pulled into Castletown station on time at 8.05. I had to do battle with the Canadian geese on the bank of the Silverburn on my way in to Poulson Park as Barbara had not fed them on time. The fog has now lifted and the sun is shining. The smell of the hawthorn as you walk through the old mill makes it seem like the Almighty has opened up his own perfumery
8 a.m. I’m just back from my morning walk. It is a miserable day, if you are only using the weather as a determining factor. Apart from the rain, it is an absolutely fantastic day. When I was told I had lung cancer four months ago, and I probably didn’t have very long to live, then every day became fantastic. The weather hardly had anything to do with it. Of course there were bad days when Dad died, however, at that time I was in mid treatment and in my mind, I simply told Dad to nip and put the
8.17 a.m. I’m just back from my morning walk. Today we have a stiff North-easterly blow which is gusting up to about force 6. Well today was the first of the commuter steam trains, which are running from Port Erin to Douglas for the next two weeks. I’m glad to say the first train came through Castletown with a reasonable amount of passengers onboard. Yesterday, as usually on Mondays, off we went to Peel. Now then, I did set something of a record here as it’s the first time I can remember ever go
8.45 a.m. I have just returned from my morning walk. We have a stiff North-easterly, force 6 this morning. I am told that breakfast, bacon, sausage and eggs will be ready soon. It has been an eventful weekend. On Saturday night, Mother was rushed in to hospital. She has a chest infection which the hospital said could be caused by delayed shock after the death of my father. She has kidney failure due to high blood pressure and diabetes. As things stand this morning, she appears to be OK. She will
I’m sorry, I can’t blog today, well not properly at any rate. The gathering went on until 1 a.m this morning when Barbara booted Andrew Qualtrough and his wife Denise out, quickly followed by Michael Quine who staggered out shortly after them.
I am not well. I am going to have my breakfast and go back to bed. See you on Monday.
From a very hung-over Tom with no news from the swaying banks of the Silverburn River
7.30 a.m. I woke this morning from a dream. I was dreaming that I was at sea on my boat the Silverburn. I was sailing alone. I don’t know how I came to be at sea alone on her, but alone I was. I had no idea in which direction I was sailing so I called out on the VHF several times, but there was no answer. I figured that eventually I would run out of fuel and would just have to sit out there until another vessel came to my aid. Well, another vessel did not come to my aid, instead morning did. Tha
8.45 a.m. I am just back from walking Skipper. This week Barbara has a bad back, and so I am walking alone with Skip. This morning we have had Poulson Park all to ourselves. I did forage along the Silverburn for a short distance. However, the only contact I made with life in general was with a couple of pheasants.
Today I want to say a big hello to two new blog readers, new in the sense that they have contacted me, so, ‘hi there’ to Susie in Liverpool. Welcome aboard the blog bus Susie. Rem
8.35 a.m. I am just back from morning walk. We have a stiff South-easterly breeze this morning, probably about force 4/5. The smell of the hawthorn in the lane as you enter Poulson Park does put you in a good frame of mind at the start of your walk. I also noticed the strong smell of hawthorn at Ronaldsway Halt yesterday evening.
I didn’t wake until 6 this morning, which is rather late for me. The radio and TV are full of nothing else but tonight’s European cup final between Manu and Chelse
8.45 a.m. Well I have been awake since 3am. I did not have my 5 tins of John Smiths last night. Instead I had just one glass of Declan O’Sullivan’s very expensive whisky. The dawn chorus began at 4.10 this morning lead by the song thrush. Well I decided it was finally time to put myself on a so-called proper diet. So, I began last night by cutting out the fish and chips. Yes I told Barbara to bring me back a donner kebab and chips from Keigs chippie in Port St. Mary. The donner kebab was giganti
8.45 a.m. I have already completed two walks this morning. A quick trip along the Silverburn, and now we (Barbara, Skipper and I) are just back from a trip to the beach. The tide was about half in, the wind is about force 4 from the Southeast and the sun is shining. The beach was empty. Strange that, as I have walked the beach in the winter, early on dark, cold and windy mornings, and there is usually at least a couple of hardy folk down there. I guess an early morning summer walk is no challeng
10.05 a.m. Just back from walking Skipper and I’m going out in the boat shortly. I have received a letter from Clatterbridge this morning telling me they would like to see me on June 2nd. This will mean a day trip to the Wirral and my 3 week stint should follow about two weeks after. We have now found a caravan site about 3 miles from Clatterbridge, so all we need to do now is sell the one we have and buy another one. Well that might sound a bit daft, it is simply that there is nothing wrong wit
9 a.m. Well, good morning people. I am not sure where to begin this morning. I can only say a huge thank you to all of you who got in touch yesterday with your good will messages. Val, yes I think I know who you are and thank you very much indeed for the bottle of whisky you left on my doorstep and the lovely card. I shall be in touch with you shortly. If there is anyone else who contacted me and I have not returned your text or email yet, then I assure you I will do so today.
Well I am alr
7.15 a.m. I am about to have breakfast and then walk Skipper. It was spicy mackerel on toast today. Yes my big day has arrived finally. I will be holding this blog back until this afternoon so that I can keep you up to date with my news. I woke several times during the night. At around 5am the rooks were making one hell of a din. I discovered later that a baby rook had fallen in to the Silverburn River and the rooks were all encouraging the baby rook back to the bank and eventually to safety. We
8.45 a.m. I have just returned from my morning walk along the Silverburn with Skipper and it is another lovely sunny day. Skipper’s social behaviour has improved drastically lately. This morning he allowed me to talk to four dogs and their owner and then totally gobsmacked me by not chasing the man on the bike we met up with, near the waterfall. As a reward for his good behaviour, he received a sausage from the garage on our way home.
Yesterday I did not become the owner of a new camper van
8.35 a.m. I have walked Skipper and had my beans butty for breakfast. It is another beautiful day. Last night I, boatman Chris and my brother Lenny took Silverburn out for an hour’s fishing in Castletown bay. We caught nothing, so we called in the co-op on our way home and all enjoyed tuna sandwiches for supper. Later I shall head for St.Johns to check out the possibility of buying a new camper van. We are thinking now, if I have to go to Clatterbridge for three weeks, it would probably be bette
9.30. It is a wonderful morning. I have just returned from a walk down through the old mill, and later I hope to go and spend a couple of hours out on Fort Island. On Saturday we put my boat Silverburn through her paces after fitting the new fuel pump. We set sail at 3 pm with Boatman Chris Callow, old seadog Michael Quine, my brother Lenny and me. We steamed up and down Castletown bay for a couple of hours with no problems whatsoever with the engine. Then, as we headed back to the harbour, helm
CHRISTIAN AID WEEK
Between May 11 - 17 are seven days of fundraising that make a real difference to the lives of millions of people in developing countries as we help them help themselves out of poverty.
Last year we raised an amazing £40,000 on the Island matched £1 for £1 by the Government, and this year we need your help to do even better.
This year we are aiming to raise £42,564 from the Isle of Man public to help 7,500 in 10 remote villages in a neglected region east of Mavi
8.10 a.m. It’s raining and there is a thunder storm passing over head. The forecast is for thick fog as well. None-the-less, we shall an attempt to go to sea at about 2 p.m today. We have no wind whatsoever at present and this is the first day this week with no wind. We have GPS onboard and good local knowledge so we should be fine dossing about in Castletown bay. I have just remembered I am not supposed to be blogging at weekends anymore. Well, now that I have started, I shall finish.
I ha
1.30 p.m.Today was and still is I guess, another milestone in my battle against cancer. I had my CT scan this morning and now I must wait until Thursday to find out the results. I find these CT Scans just a bit daunting. Lying on a funny bed that moves along with this big camera thing coming down on top of you, not to mention the damn noise of the thing, is not my idea of fun. I had a wonderful nurse though in Kathleen who is from Stranraer. I feel now that I have more or less come to the end of
8.30 a.m. Another fantastic day begins. I have already walked Skipper, had breakfast, and now after a bit of blogging we shall see what the rest of the day has lined up for me. I have Fred working away in the front garden at present. He is painting the boat and lighthouse, and tidying up the wall. He is on holiday from Liverpool for a few weeks, and was at a bit of a loose end, so I have set him to work. Say hello to him should you pass by. Thank you to all who emailed me the meaning of the word
8.30 a.m. Well yesterday was a bit of a land mark for the blog. We reached 7000 hits since we started back in February, and yesterday we had 150 readers which I think is the highest amount of readers in a day since we began. With the amount of blogs that are printed off for people who don’t have access to computers and the blogs that are printed in Manx Tails, we are now reaching thousands of people each month, a very big thank you to you all.
I am just back from walking Skipper. It is anot
