Titanic Revisited?

Hello again everyone. Life has been so hectic since the holiday I feel I've barely had time to breathe let alone find time to maintain a blog. However, I know people like to keep up with what I'm doing so I've made the time today for a catch up.

Training has been going very well, and with the strong winds we've been having lately I am so glad I have rollers so I can put in the work indoors. However, I do love being outside on the track and doing my long pushes on the road so I will be really glad when the warmer weather finally arrives. Whatever the weather though I am determined to work really hard this year because it's such an important year for athletes.

Last week I had a few meetings in London to attend, one of which was an invitation to visit with Your World Recruitment Agency. It was very interesting to meet all the staff and be shown around their offices. It is always good to see how other people work hard in their own environments. Hopefully they will come to see me in my 'office' soon, though they'll have to leave their smart clothes in the dressing room and be prepared to sweat!

I have been following the tragic events that have struck the 'Costa Concordia' cruise ship. It is so sad that people who set off for a holiday of a lifetime have lost their lives and others have been totally traumatised by their experience. I can't help but think how I would cope in my wheelchair if anything like that happened to me, a whole cruise ship tipping onto its side and lying half submerged under the water. It reminds me of the film,'Titanic'! I hope to God there are no more deaths and the missing can be successfully rescued. Condolences to all those families who have lost loved ones.

Canal Boat Project

Yesterday I had a rest day from training and took the opportunity to take a leisurely cruise on the canal in 'Stort Daybreak', the boat I launched a few years back that began my association with the Harlow Canal Boat Project. Its a charity I'm very close to and try to support as much as I can because it allows people with a disability to enjoy our wonderful network of canals in specially adapted wheelchair accessible barges.

I went along with my niece Sylvia, my son Tim and two of his friends, Ben and Daniel, and we were joined on board by Robert Halfon and his girlfriend, the Project Co-Ordinator Doreen Goodall and her husband, and Mark, a wheelchair shooter. Our skipper was Tom Bilbow,first mate Les Hunt and Michael Motts was the crewman. It was lovely to be in such mixed company and we all had a great time as the barge crunched its way through the frozen over canal. Tim and his friends had a great time helping the crew to work the locks and got a lovely certificate each for their efforts. Mind you, I felt like I was on the 'Titanic' and was on the lookout for icebergs! Thank goodness there weren't any. We had a lovely lunch at Parndon Mill before returning to base. It was a lovely day out and many thanks to Doreen for arranging it and the crew for making our journey a safe one.