Last Wednesday Amanda had a trip to London arranged - I use the word 'arranged' in it's loosest context.
She was meant to be leaving around 12pm, heading to a hotel to meet with a lady she met on one of The Journey seminars a few weeks ago.
By 10.30am there was still no hotel booked, and she required two nights, as on the Thursday she was attending a session that included varying holistic therapies, combined with
another Journey session. This would finish at around 4pm. She then wanted to relax for the remainder of the day.
Through a joint effort, by 11am, we'd managed to find a couple of hotels (could only find one night available in each), and by just ahead of 11am, I'd been convinced to accompany the wonderful lady to London. This required a swift rearrangement of my work diary, with appointments being shifted until the following week. Once the accommodation had been booked Amanda 'dreamt' of being on the road just after 12pm, I suggested 1pm was going to be far more realistic... especially as we had to prepare lunch, juices, wash enough fruit and veg to cover the juices for the remainder of Wednesday all of Thursday and Friday morning, then clean the juicer down, and prepare a salad for later. We hit the road at 1.15pm.
On arriving at the Comfort Inn, I grabbed the large piece of wood attached to the room key, and headed along the corridor, into the lift, along another long corridor, round a corner, to the bottom of another corridor, to arrive at room 132, the farthest room from reception. As I went to insert the key card, I stood slightly further away from the door than I normally would (assuming each arm had been stretched by at least 6 inches, having muled my way from the car to the room with almost 30 kg's of groceries, books, work stuff and juicing equipment from car to room), but my the key card wavered a few inches from the slot. Surprised that my arms were exactly the same length I shuffled forward, inserted the key card and shoved the door open with my knee (one of the few parts of my anatomy which was luggage free!). As the bags were painfully, but gently lowered onto the floor I was pleasantly surprised at the airy, spacious room, and the ample surface space available to carry out the Gerson juicing regime. Two more trips from car to room, and we were in. 20 minutes later, I was out. Amanda was meeting her lady in half and hour, and I had to be gone.
Amanda dropped me off at East Finchley tube station, she'd sourced a photographic exhibition for me to see (National Wildlife Photography Exhibition at the Natural History Museum). I was very excited, and had been wanting to see this exhibition for ages! I hustled and bustled my way onto the clammy underground system, and was in the museum within the hour. These museums are vast buildings, with many displays and exhibitions to see. After 15 mins of searching for the NWPE I decided it was time to ask.... Unfortunately the Exhibition had moved on 2 months ago, and was now making it's way across Europe....Disappointed I headed to the other museums, but I was a little tired, and lacking interest. I headed to Leicester Square to find us a show for Thursday night. I then found a pub, to rest my legs in. I ordered a pot of wasabi coated nuts, and a pint of Fosters. The burning heat at the back of my nose caused by the wasabi covering was quenched each time with a gulp of cold, golden lager. I mused at headlines, and watched 20 minutes of news on the big screen.
I headed back to the tube station, and made my way back to East Finchley.
It was a half hour walk from East Finchley tube station to our hotel on the Leisure Park. Once I arrived there I had a vast choice of eateries and entertainment, it wasn't called a leisure park for nothing! The 8 screen Vue cinema and Nando's (spicy chicken, yum!), were the winners. I maintained a brisk walking pace, aware that the dark thunderous looking clouds overhead, looked fit to burst any second.
I decided to head to the hotel room, to grab my laptop to see if I'd had any work emails. I gently inserted the key card, and the door clicked, I prised it open gently, not wanting to disturb Amanda & Anna on their 'Journey Session'. I was greeted with warm hellos - Thankfully they were half way through. I chatted briefly, grabbed my laptop bag then wandered down to the hotel bar. I checked my emails then headed over to Nando's for food. A spicy quarter of chicken with hot piri piri sauce and a huge plate of salad, set me up for the evening. This was followed by Transformers 3D at the cinema, which was entertaining, but about an hour too long!!! By the time I returned to the room it was 11.30pm - Amanda thought I'd gone missing! She should be so lucky!
By 11am the next morning, the Smart Car was reloaded with the Gerson kit and we were off to the next hotel in Muswell Hill. This time I had two flights of very tight stairs to negotiate, but again a nicely furnished spacious room, and once I'd obtained an extension lead from reception, the makeshift juicing platform and kitchen area was up and running.
Amanda had her appointment at 11am, I dropped her off then headed back out to Muswell Hill for a wander about.
After 20 minutes I happened upon 'Planet Organic'. Wow!!! I food deli, cosmetics section and supermarket, stocking all organic and natural produce it was awesome! I wandered up and down the aisles, staring in awe at how much organic stuff there really is available to us - not that you'd know it from our standard supermarkets. I grabbed myself some sushi and headed back to the room to do some work.
I picked Amanda up at 3.30pm, and we headed to Planet Organic, where we grabbed some dinner from the deli. Delicious, fresh and organic - perfect - Amanda was a happy bunny.
We had decided earlier in the day that that evening we would go to see the ballet, Romeo and Juliette or a Westend Show, The Wizard of Oz. The ballet tickets weren't far short of £180.00 so we decided on the Wizard of Oz at the Palladium. On arrival, we headed to the box office, a bit of cheeky banter and.... hmmm... should I class it as flirting.... as the box office chap wasn't just airing on the side of camp, he was theatrically camp, he offered us our £62.50 tickets for £32.50 each! Tremendous. Great show, superb sets.... You may find you recognise one or two songs, but it was still very, very good.
The next morning we had to be on the road early, at 7.20am to be precise. I had a meeting with clients in Upper Brailles at 10.15am. All in all a short but very tiring trip.... Amanda didn't get all she wanted from it, but she still learnt a few new techniques which should help her with her Journey Sessions in the future.
She was shattered yesterday, I did the juicing and bits, Amanda spending most of the day resting in bed.
The lady who owned the Roseview Hotel in Muswell Hill, and beaten breast cancer, she was diagnosed in 1990, had a mastectomy then reconstruction 5 years later. She had no chemo or radiotherapy, though she did have clean lymph nodes. My client yesterday, his sister also had, breast cancer then mastecomy (almost 40 years ago)... she is now 80. I didn't like to pry about treatment, but I just find it incredible as to how common this disease is.
Amanda is doing everything right, the Doctor said her bloods were excellent, and the Gerson Practitioner reduced the juices to 10 a day.... it's looking good. Amanda's big thing though, is dealing with emotions. She feels this is her main stumbling block. Being able to clear her mind and soul of old troubles, deep set wounds, like mental burns. They have sat hidden for years and years, like temporary internet files. If you never clean or update your computer hard drive, it will eventually become clogged. Information moves into the archives, but even the archives can become cluttered with useless, old, damaged information that causes problems even though it is no longer required. It's the same with our minds. Old, traumatic experiences can live in the deepest recesses of our mind, troubling us from time to time when certain circumstances trigger a memory. It would be great if we could install a programme like 'CCleaner' for our minds, it works a treat clearing the crap from our pc's, but our minds are even more complex. This is what Amanda hopes to achieve with The Journey Sessions, clarity and peace of mind.
You'll get there love. It's just going to take work x
I just received a very sad message from my brother on the Isle of Man.
I'd like to pass on my love to the family of Neil Shimmin from the Isle of Man. He suffered a massive heart attack last night and sadly died. Neil was a great man, an absolutley superb footballer and athlete.
He enjoyed a half time cigarette in the changing rooms throughout his footballing career playing for Rushen FC. The smoking didn't seem to affect his overall fitness, he really was superb. I watched Neil hobble off the football pitch at Rushen after a crunching challenge, whereupon he'd broken his leg. He had the heart of a lion..... A few years back, I heard that he walked all the way back from Douglas to his home in Cregneash (which must be at least 16 miles) after completing the Parish Walk (over 80 miles!). The man was a power house.
Rest well Neil.
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