Cold and Personal!

Yan advised, that they experienced temperatures of - 11 deg C at the Rally Stage he marshaled in Snowdonia and higher up it was down to -22 deg Centigrade! Now experience of cycling on snow and ice, has taught me to enjoy the empty roads and tracks. Use tyres with a small contact area that pressure melts the ice to give some traction, then proceed slowly and confidently. Now I will add ski goggles and a cold weather face mask too my kit, further consider taking elbow and knee armour, whilst checking to see if my four panniers will hold some more survival equipment?

This afternoon I hitched a lift into Gloucester to meet up with the Grinch. A friend who had wished to accompany me on the trans Wales ride, but since has accepted the Revelation he is likely to die very soon anyway! He had changed considerably during the last few weeks and was shaking all over as he drank a pint of cider. Repeating how Princess, the once love of his life had thrown him out, forcing him to accept what he had become and so choose to come out and tell all that he is an alcoholic, thus to seek help and support in a fight to live.

His doctor has asked him to keep drinking but reduce his intake over the next few weeks, then not touch alcohol for four days before starting on tablets that would make him violently ill after just a sip of cider or wine! The Grinch was told that if he simply stopped drinking, he would fit and have a complete collapse - which with his poor liver and kidney functions would likely end his life.

I had met him the day after Princess gave him up, telling him the same truths and taking his cash to stop the bender he was on. Today, after a long talk I returned his money and gave him my blog address - asking him to start his own blog to record his fight for life and that just perhaps through making daily blog postings he might find some further strength and support.

I then took him to Spencers Deli in Westgate Street where he bought a freshly cooked and plated dinner to take home of Mama's four sausage Polish stew with vegetables and roast potatoes - I believed his promise that he would not stop anywhere on the way back!

Lets hope and pray my friend the Grinch now finds this same strength every day.