Effort Rewarded

[nedd]

I have a choice. I can stay in and resort to head banging or I can go to the Library with man and a backpack.

I opt for an outing as a distraction for tooth ache of the spine. Working on my time tested theory that

"Any effort is always rewarded". One way or another.

We park up and walk along the canal into town. The first thing to divert the mind is a boat named Bump and Grind, a game then thinks I. Better than counting footsteps for distraction. 2 other names that grabbed me were Daydream Believer and Malingera!

At the Library I come across Contented Dementia which I borrowed with my mother in mind and possibly myself. Oh Gawd.

A wheaty bag and the most luxurious fleece jerkin that are on the hit list were tracked down.

But the most distracting and heartening thing of all was the lady in the car park sat in her mud splattered wheel chair fixing handle bars on. She has an electric lift to help her get her wheels on the road and was she just off for a trail ride in the park with her ever so handsome dog for the disabled. For those of you already in possession of wheels this probably won't be a revelation. But for me who has only come across standard models and the jazzed up jobs used in the Olympic. it was so wonderful. Wheels that can go up muddy tracks climb hills and available for Joe public. She confided that setting it up was exhausting but the sense of liberation she felt was worth the effort.

The roar had tagged along and I had to cuddle up with whippet most of the afternoon but I'd say my effort was rewarded by filling my head with distraction with not a bump in sight.

Blast from the past. No of course I am not old enough to remember them or am I?

youtube.com/watch?v=nU615Fa...(Not working as expected?)

[Hidden]

Thanks for the memory of a lovely guy who was a resident in the hospital where I did volentary work as a teenager. he played the Monkeys over and over again sue

[nedd]

They had such a feel good factor.

We could all do with a bit of that.

I wonder what happened to you guy and if he still plays the Monkeys.

[Hidden in reply to nedd]

He was probably in his 50s so i doubt if he is still around. He was a big bloke who decided that it was his job to escort my friend and I to dinner. and then sit outside the dining hall to escort us back again.You try eating your dinner when someone is sitting on the grass in the pouring rain waiting for you. Many a time we went hungry and to think that we were scared of him at first. Do you know we never found out his name. Isn`t that sad..

[nedd]

Oh lord that is sad. I often think there are some things I would do differently. Did your voluntary work lead to a career?

Off to bed now. See you tomorrow.

Nite nite.

[Hidden]

No I wanted to do nursing in the mental health side of things. But by the time I was old enough to start training, I was working as a supervisor in a carpet factory on three times the pay of a student nurse. Besides I liked it there Iv`e no regrets.

[TheAuthor]

Hi nedd

I sincerely hope that you are feeling as well as can be? That brought back memories. I also loved your analogy of liberation! Goethe wrote, 'more are those enslaved who truly believe that they are free?'

I worked in mental health for so many years up until 2010. I felt like Don Quixote, but not shouting and chasing at windmills but as in Cervantes 'bray of last words'. It was so rewarding emotionally and yet, physically devoid of ending.

Thank you for trip down memory lane.

Take care

Ken .

[fenbadger]

That is such a lovely tale. Brings a tear to the eye.

[Hidden]

Will you lot please top talking gibberish, I am not very well up on gibber.