Dorovitch forgot! How dare they! Don't they realise The importance? Telephone calls, Explanations, "We'll send them today" - No apology! Tomorrow is specialist day. To know is to be prepared, Not surprised. And their response was, "Get them from your doctor" Your GP. GP means money, More than specialists charge. No reason to see GP - Even if he is good, And looked after children When critical and growing. Don't they realise The importance? Of results - when it Is not going away. Sailor Time and tide will wait for no man, saith the adage. But all men have to wait for time and tide. Charles Dickens ... View more

Sitting and waiting. It has been a longtime, Since I wrote, Like this. The last time, I sat By the old river Thames, Tate Modern 03. I was not waiting then. For mail from pathologists, Late, late mail with Results. Will it be the Footman, Eternal snickering again As he holds my coat? I wait. Or will it be the same - So I can catch the wind, Trim sail and remain, Sane? Sailor I am no prophet - and here's no great matter I have seen the moments of my greatness flicker, I have seen the eternal footman hold my coat, and snicker, And in short, I was afraid T S Eliot "The love song of J Alfred Prufrock" ... View more

Hi to all those out there. For the first time for quite a while the boat got wet today! Unfortunately there was not much wind. At the start of the race there was a bit of wind and it was good to feel the boat responding, to hear the noise of water under the bows and the sails responding well. Then the wind dropped out and it became a real drifter. In a drifter I can sail well but you have to keep very still, crouched up in the front of the boat and watching the sails and the wind markers intently, every slight puff of wind you have to trim the sail, head up as high as you can go and work the boat constantly, using as little rudder as possible. well after an hour of this and having completed the first triangle of the course, my hips were protesting loudly, my legs were screaming with not having moved, and the intense concentration was getting a bit too much, so I bailed out while I was still enjoying it. Got to shore, packed up the boat and watched for another hour until the committee boat put up the shorten course flag. That meant that most boats would be out there for 2 1/2 - 3 hours. Bit too much for me these days. Who else finds that living with cancer means you get tired a lot sooner? So it is time to sit down with a good single malt and watch The Bill Cheers Sailor Boats, like whiskey, are all good. R. D. Culler ... View more

Hi Everybody It is great to be part of this site and a privilege to take part in some of the discussions. Some of the entries have raised that 'What if' question so I would like to adjust my sail a little bit and add my perspective. A long long time ago my eldest son died. We were pretty distraught by that. Many years later we found out that there was a genetic issue in the family that the older generation didn't talk about. The younger generation do and make sure that they have all the tests available. So there area lot of 'what if's' there. My youngest son has had a pretty troubled existence and has a problem that has only recently been properly diagnosed. If there had been a diagnosis, and goodness knows we tried to get one, when he had been at school and there had been intervention then - who knows? I have a cancer that has a strong family link, yet no one in the family has had that cancer. There is another cancer that runs through the family and I have been monitored for that for the past twenty years. So is my cancer the result of something else, like a chemical exposure. Lots of 'what if's' there. The problem is that if we went down these pathways we could end up becoming quite bitter and twisted people. I have seen it happen with others. So we have always taken the attitude that going down the path of the 'what if's' is not worth it - that way lies madness. Does that say we stoically accept what has happened. No way. We work with what we have been given, try to make the best outcome from that. We try to ensure that we keep the boat of life, well trimmed, sailing to it's best, and performing as well as it can under the conditions. If a roque wave swamps us, we bail. If we get a knock from the wind that sets us back, we retrim the sails and try to make up the distance. We keep going. So, I've adjusted my sail and that's my contribution. Cheers Sailor I keep sailing on in this middle passage. I am sailing into the wind and the dark. But I am doing my best to keep my boat steady and my sails full. Arthur Ashe ... View more