10 Days on The Rock

The Rock, as I affectionately now know my birth place, the Isle of Man was, for the last 10 days our home once again.  On the right you can see a typical days weather for the island.  Amanda had me standing on those steps in the distance with my fishing rod!!!  Whilst I told her to hurry up, she was telling me to wait, as she didn't know how to work my camera.  Wait!!!???  Look at it!

An extremely stress filled 190 mile drive
to Heysham saw us just making the ferry 45 minutes late for check in, but 15 minutes before the ferry left the port..... 3 minutes before they closed it to cars, as on this occasion the Smart Car was travelling with us too, the idea being this would afford Amanda some independence to get around when and where she wanted, without having to rely on me, or indeed be stranded at my folks house, or her folks house. It worked out very well.

The main idea behind heading back for 10 days was
 my involvment in the development of a Tourist Fishing Brochure/Guide Book for the Island and I needed to capture some nice scenic images, and some good fish pictures. This meant I was often out before sunrise, and back just before sunset, flitting home inbetween times for a bit of lunch or a snack. We brought a huge box of organic fruit and veg with us too which lasted a few days!

Amanda and I were treated like VIPs by my Mum. She was amazing. Every night she had a hot water bottle tucked up in the bed for Amanda, and most mornings she was up just after me (I'd usually left at about 7am, and returned for my second breakfast at about 9am, before heading out again) making Amanda's morning juices. What a star! She had jacket potatoes ready on call, and fresh salad ready in the fridge, we hardly had to lift a finger between us. Thanks Mum.

Amanda managed to get out for a long walk with Cheryl & Sandra, whilst I was out chasing salmon and sea trout on one of the Islands intimate little rivers. I even bumped into them that morning, and the chances of that were very slim, as there was only one little section I was fishing that morning that wasn't in amongst gorse, shrubbery and brambles! So it was a lovely surprise to see my beautiful wife striding toward me with her two pals. Amanda spent much of the week sorting out her Dad's place, and getting in touch with the authorities to enable him to move into more appropriate accommodation for his now disabled needs. She cleaned, tidied and moved all the junk that had managed to accumulate over the years in cupboards to the bin outside. She must have spent 4 of the 10 days we were there just sorting her Dad out. Once again putting other's needs ahead of her own. But that's Amanda. I managed to capture some lovely images of the rivers and the odd sunrise, when the wind died down from it's 55mph peak on days two and three of our trip. It remained very windy throughout the 10 days, and the rain I required to improve the state of the rivers didn't arrive until day 8..... Cutting it very close indeed. I was lucky enough to catch a beautiful sea trout on day 9 of being on the island. I was even luckier that Amanda arrived on the scene just after I'd netted it, so could take the photographs before returning the fish on it's journey upstream. She'd gotten lost on the roads on the way, and then on top of that had the task of trying to find me amongst the conifer and gorse maze which lined the river banks..... Once I'd landed the sea trout, I climbed out of the river, ran through the maze of prickles and yelled for her, she yelled back somewhere amidst the undergrowth. Eventually our eyes met, and I shouted in breathless excitement that I'd caught a sea trout, and it was resting in the net. I think she was excited at my excitement! She took some lovely shots too, thanks hun.

Whilst on the Island on this occasion I ate a lot of meat, I have a particular penchant for lamb..... we ate out with Amanda's family one night and I had lamb shank, and then when my brother's wife Tina cooked for us one evening I was lucky enough to be presented with another lamb shank, having hinted earlier on in the week..... then Amanda's Mum knowing I love lamb, also prepared a delicious roast lamb for the family! I was an hour late for that one..... I was desperate to catch a salmon and having met up with a good fisher friend of mine, Kelvin, at his house, we decided to walk a couple of stretches having one last try before dark. I'd given Amanda my phone, so had no way of telling the time, apart from the fact by the time we'd finished it was almost dark, so I knew I was pretty late. Amanda knows I hate being late for anything, which then left her worrying that I'd been washed away in the flooded rivers. Poor love, didn't mean to make her worry. A little thoughtless of me. I slapped my own wrist for that one. Dinner had been kept warm by Colleen (not literally, she used an oven I believe) and once I'd explained I thought dinner was at 7.30pm and not 6.30pm she was fine..... I think that's classed as a white lie.... I played along for a while but Amanda, her sisters, my brother in law, her stepdad, nephews and nieces all knew the real story.... My obsession for fishing, my healthy addiction for the outdoors had retaomed me in a strangle grip, forcing my arm to keep casting the worm into the fast flowing water in search of a salmon. Sorry Colleen!

Anyway, apart from the wind and rain, the warm hearts of our families made it a wonderful trip.

The night we arrived back in Banbury, Amanda climbed into bed, and with a sorry little expression said, 'Where's my hotwater bottle?'...... She had been totally spoilt by my Mum, we both had been. Amanda mentioned about us moving back for a while, and this was been discussed in more detail. I think the main stumbling block is the fact that it's so difficult to get lots of organic produce. The Manx Tesco isn't that great for it unfortunately. The main reason for considering a move is the fact that Amanda is not that happy in the house we live in, she doesn't have 'a good feeling' about it, the kitchen is pokey and dark too and when we have to spend so much time in it, we would like it to be much larger and lighter, so I think we are ready to make a move. Amanda would like to be near water, so we could be moving to Wales for the winter, or a big river somewhere! That would be nice! Maybe in the Wye Valley somewhere like that......

I recently received and email from a lovely chap we met at the Penny Brohn, he had recently gone to Reno to meet an old friend for a few weeks. His pal's girlfriend turned out to be a 50% native American, a healer and empath. He said she had quite an effect on him, and is now planning to make regular 6 monthly trips back to Reno for healing. A changed man from the one Amanda suggested healing and body mind work to whilst at the Penny Brohn. He virtually cut her down in mid sentence, stating it wasn't his thing, and he was ok thanks. Ha ha! His blinkers have been removed too! He also said that the NHS have been a real let down to him. Supplied him with chemo treatment and pain killers, slap him on the back and sent him on his way. He now deals with Barts and the Philadelphia Cancer Centre in USA. It's tough finding out your own route with the cancer fight, but I'm really happy that Jules is finding his.

Amanda is continuing on the Gerson path, though it is a more relaxed one now. This makes her more relaxed too. When we asked the Gerson Practitioner to send the supplement and vitamin order to the Isle of Man as we were going to be there for 10 days, the opening sentence in the reply was, 'I don't recall you telling me that you were going on holiday. As a Gerson Therapy practitioner I would naturally advise against that at this early stage, but it is too late to worry about that now. The schedule seems to be more successful when it is not interrupted with traveling, missing fresh juices and enemas, etc, etc. This is most important in the early days when the healing mechanism is still compromised.' Hmmmmm positive and helpful? No, not at all..... The Doom Mongerer speaks.

Rather than stating positives he always has to state the negatives. Amanda has learnt to deal with this now..... Usually by not speaking to him! Ha ha!