Nothing and something……

As I begin this blog I want to say, please forgive any mistakes, I am actually trying to do this one on my IPad and not the laptop which is a bit awkward.

The other day when thinking about this weeks blog it was suggested I could write “nothing about something”, or was that “something about nothing”? I really can’t remember, so I thought I would write about both “nothing and something.

The nothing is that there is nothing to report on our training front, we have been away to Lanzarote with a few friends, pensioners all, for some R & R. By the time we get home, the baby of the bunch, that’s me, is still 67, next, the birthday girl who turned 68 on Sunday, there is also 69 year old, a 70 year old, and of course, “the auld yin”, bringing up the rear at 71 years of age. 

It was nice to enjoy the sunshine for a week, and a lovely time was had by all, and of course, having been friends for a life-time there was lots of poking gentle fun at each other for the silly things done or said. The most important thing about our friendship however, is that we all know and love the friend mentioned in the Book of Proverbs: “That sticks closer than a brother”.

Perhaps though, on a more serious note, something that has touched us all this week was the message from, HRH Catherine, the Princess of Wales when she anounced that she is undergoing chemotherapy having been diganosed with cancer. Everyone who listened to the message will have been moved by the way she spoke of coming to terms with the diagnosis and having to share it with her young children. Something we are sure that many, many people have had to do.

Of course, this is a timely reminder that cancer knows no bounds, it can, and does, affect the “rich and poor” the “prince and the pauper”. I’m sure all our readers will join with us in wishing her, and also her father-in-law, King Charles well for the future. 

Our hope is that our efforts in walking from Lands End to John O’Groats will go some way to assisting Cancer Research UK, whose moto is “Together we will beat Cancer”, in finding treatments and cure for all types of cancer. 

We would also urge any reader of our blog to respond to any requests from the NHS for the various screening that is offered. We hear on the news regularily that an early digagnosis of cancer saves lives, so it is important to speak to your doctor as soon as possible if you notice something that isn’t normal for you.

All this reminds us though, we are not invinsible, things can and do happen, illness strikes when we least expect it. Sadly this reminds us that we are mortal beings. There was a song years ago: Turn, turn, turn….,

Some of the lyrics are:

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, a time to reap that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to gain that which is to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time of love, and a time of hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

These were, by no means new words written in the 1960’s they were recorded many, many years before in the Old Testament of the Bible.

The book is called Ecclesiastes and the words can be found in chapter 3 verses 1 to 8.

All we can do is encourage all our readers to read them, consider them, and let them speak for themselves.

Finally, please feel free to share our blog or visit our Cancer Research UK page at:

https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/shonaandmike-giving-page-2298439

Alteratively email us at: mrhams64@gmail.com