Good morning folks. I woke up at 3a.m this morning and the dawn chorus was at full pelt. At present the birds have got a long day. They are on the go from 3am now until around 10 p.m. At least next week the days will begin to shorten for them.
I was talking about telephones yesterday and I have not finished rabbiting on about them yet as I owe the telephone a great deal. For the last 15 years I have made a living from answering the telephone both at the Royal Bank of Scotland, and through m
Good morning folks. Its 8.45 and it is a beautiful sunny day with a stiff north-westerly breeze. Yesterday we went on our usually pilgrimage to Peel and of course I got my fish and chips. Next week I hope to carry out a full survey of the fish and chip shops on the Wirral.
I sat on Peel breakwater yesterday and enjoyed a cup of coffee with the father of Wendy, who is a regular blog reader from London. I fired off a text message to Wendy as I chatted with her father. It got me thinking about
9.20 a.m. I have just enjoyed mackerel on toast for breakfast, after my morning walk along the Silverburn. I spent all afternoon yesterday trawling around Castletown bay looking for callig and mackerel. I can promise you that all, the callig and mackerel that went for an afternoon swim yesterday afternoon, all returned home safely.
A couple of years ago, my financial advisor advised me that I should make an investment over a five year period in a certain building society. I took his advice,
9.35 a.m. I have just returned from my morning walk. Today we decided to walk around Langness. I have not walked the whole Langness since I became ill last October. I did not know then that it was in fact cancer I was fighting as cancer was not diagnosed until February. I do recall trying to walk Langness back in February, and only getting about 200 yards before having to turn back to the car park. Today for the first time since Mr Cancer came along, I have managed to get all the way around in a
8.35 a.m. It’s a beautiful day. This morning I shall head out to the flying club for breakfast. I am just back from my morning walk, this time along the banks of the Silverburn. I am thinking seriously of lifting Skipper’s asbo, as he has not chased anyone now for about a month. However, maybe I can’t quite trust him just yet and I will wait until I return from Clatterbridge. If he behaves himself over there and does not terrorize the caravan site or add anyone on Clatterbridge’s patient list, t
9.15 a.m. Yes I am late today folks. This morning I went walking on Castletown beach in the rain. It is still raining as I write and according to the men at Ronaldsway, that is the way it will remain until late this afternoon. By this evening it will be fine. The weather seems to reflect life in general. How often did you get up and get off to a bad start! How often do you hear someone say, “Take no notice, I’m having a really bad day” It doesn’t have to stay that way though and often doesn’t. J
8 a.m exactly. I have just returned from my morning walk. It is a little on the breezy side but still sunny and rain is on its way according to the weather man at Ronaldsway.
We have more or less sorted out my holiday over on the Wirral now. We will stay on a caravan site in a town called Meols, which is on the northern coast of the Wirral. It was proving to be a bit of a problem getting someone to look after Skipper for nearly a month and as Orry the parrot, not to mention the rabbits, hen
8.55 a.m. Well I have completed the morning walk and enjoyed a full breakfast. Now after a three day break, I find myself sitting in front of the computer and back to the good old blog once again.
Well yesterday I found myself flying out on the 7am first flight to Liverpool to attend Clatterbridge for a CT scan and arrange my appointment times for my radiation treatment. The old blog came in handy, it seems the blog has reached the staff at Ronaldsway as I breezed my way through the security
9.25 a.m. I have completed the morning walk. I waved to all 33 passengers onboard the steam train as it pulled out of Castletown station at 8.05 a.m. Skipper was extremely well behaved this morning and returned to me every time I called him.
It is a beautiful sunny day and I have had my bacon and egg butty sitting out on the deck in my back garden. Tomorrow I will be away fishing early and probably won't get back until late. On Monday I am off to Clatterbridge on the first flight out to Li
8.30 a.m. I have walked through Poulson Park, and on through Golden meadow, the old mill and back home. The early morning commuter steam train pulled into Castletown station on time at 8.05. I had to do battle with the Canadian geese on the bank of the Silverburn on my way in to Poulson Park as Barbara had not fed them on time. The fog has now lifted and the sun is shining. The smell of the hawthorn as you walk through the old mill makes it seem like the Almighty has opened up his own perfumery
8 a.m. I’m just back from my morning walk. It is a miserable day, if you are only using the weather as a determining factor. Apart from the rain, it is an absolutely fantastic day. When I was told I had lung cancer four months ago, and I probably didn’t have very long to live, then every day became fantastic. The weather hardly had anything to do with it. Of course there were bad days when Dad died, however, at that time I was in mid treatment and in my mind, I simply told Dad to nip and put the
8.17 a.m. I’m just back from my morning walk. Today we have a stiff North-easterly blow which is gusting up to about force 6. Well today was the first of the commuter steam trains, which are running from Port Erin to Douglas for the next two weeks. I’m glad to say the first train came through Castletown with a reasonable amount of passengers onboard. Yesterday, as usually on Mondays, off we went to Peel. Now then, I did set something of a record here as it’s the first time I can remember ever go
8.45 a.m. I have just returned from my morning walk. We have a stiff North-easterly, force 6 this morning. I am told that breakfast, bacon, sausage and eggs will be ready soon. It has been an eventful weekend. On Saturday night, Mother was rushed in to hospital. She has a chest infection which the hospital said could be caused by delayed shock after the death of my father. She has kidney failure due to high blood pressure and diabetes. As things stand this morning, she appears to be OK. She will
I’m sorry, I can’t blog today, well not properly at any rate. The gathering went on until 1 a.m this morning when Barbara booted Andrew Qualtrough and his wife Denise out, quickly followed by Michael Quine who staggered out shortly after them.
I am not well. I am going to have my breakfast and go back to bed. See you on Monday.
From a very hung-over Tom with no news from the swaying banks of the Silverburn River
7.30 a.m. I woke this morning from a dream. I was dreaming that I was at sea on my boat the Silverburn. I was sailing alone. I don’t know how I came to be at sea alone on her, but alone I was. I had no idea in which direction I was sailing so I called out on the VHF several times, but there was no answer. I figured that eventually I would run out of fuel and would just have to sit out there until another vessel came to my aid. Well, another vessel did not come to my aid, instead morning did. Tha
8.45 a.m. I am just back from walking Skipper. This week Barbara has a bad back, and so I am walking alone with Skip. This morning we have had Poulson Park all to ourselves. I did forage along the Silverburn for a short distance. However, the only contact I made with life in general was with a couple of pheasants.
Today I want to say a big hello to two new blog readers, new in the sense that they have contacted me, so, ‘hi there’ to Susie in Liverpool. Welcome aboard the blog bus Susie. Rem
8.35 a.m. I am just back from morning walk. We have a stiff South-easterly breeze this morning, probably about force 4/5. The smell of the hawthorn in the lane as you enter Poulson Park does put you in a good frame of mind at the start of your walk. I also noticed the strong smell of hawthorn at Ronaldsway Halt yesterday evening.
I didn’t wake until 6 this morning, which is rather late for me. The radio and TV are full of nothing else but tonight’s European cup final between Manu and Chelse
8.45 a.m. Well I have been awake since 3am. I did not have my 5 tins of John Smiths last night. Instead I had just one glass of Declan O’Sullivan’s very expensive whisky. The dawn chorus began at 4.10 this morning lead by the song thrush. Well I decided it was finally time to put myself on a so-called proper diet. So, I began last night by cutting out the fish and chips. Yes I told Barbara to bring me back a donner kebab and chips from Keigs chippie in Port St. Mary. The donner kebab was giganti
8.45 a.m. I have already completed two walks this morning. A quick trip along the Silverburn, and now we (Barbara, Skipper and I) are just back from a trip to the beach. The tide was about half in, the wind is about force 4 from the Southeast and the sun is shining. The beach was empty. Strange that, as I have walked the beach in the winter, early on dark, cold and windy mornings, and there is usually at least a couple of hardy folk down there. I guess an early morning summer walk is no challeng
10.05 a.m. Just back from walking Skipper and I’m going out in the boat shortly. I have received a letter from Clatterbridge this morning telling me they would like to see me on June 2nd. This will mean a day trip to the Wirral and my 3 week stint should follow about two weeks after. We have now found a caravan site about 3 miles from Clatterbridge, so all we need to do now is sell the one we have and buy another one. Well that might sound a bit daft, it is simply that there is nothing wrong wit
9 a.m. Well, good morning people. I am not sure where to begin this morning. I can only say a huge thank you to all of you who got in touch yesterday with your good will messages. Val, yes I think I know who you are and thank you very much indeed for the bottle of whisky you left on my doorstep and the lovely card. I shall be in touch with you shortly. If there is anyone else who contacted me and I have not returned your text or email yet, then I assure you I will do so today.
Well I am alr
7.15 a.m. I am about to have breakfast and then walk Skipper. It was spicy mackerel on toast today. Yes my big day has arrived finally. I will be holding this blog back until this afternoon so that I can keep you up to date with my news. I woke several times during the night. At around 5am the rooks were making one hell of a din. I discovered later that a baby rook had fallen in to the Silverburn River and the rooks were all encouraging the baby rook back to the bank and eventually to safety. We
8.45 a.m. I have just returned from my morning walk along the Silverburn with Skipper and it is another lovely sunny day. Skipper’s social behaviour has improved drastically lately. This morning he allowed me to talk to four dogs and their owner and then totally gobsmacked me by not chasing the man on the bike we met up with, near the waterfall. As a reward for his good behaviour, he received a sausage from the garage on our way home.
Yesterday I did not become the owner of a new camper van
8.35 a.m. I have walked Skipper and had my beans butty for breakfast. It is another beautiful day. Last night I, boatman Chris and my brother Lenny took Silverburn out for an hour’s fishing in Castletown bay. We caught nothing, so we called in the co-op on our way home and all enjoyed tuna sandwiches for supper. Later I shall head for St.Johns to check out the possibility of buying a new camper van. We are thinking now, if I have to go to Clatterbridge for three weeks, it would probably be bette
9.30. It is a wonderful morning. I have just returned from a walk down through the old mill, and later I hope to go and spend a couple of hours out on Fort Island. On Saturday we put my boat Silverburn through her paces after fitting the new fuel pump. We set sail at 3 pm with Boatman Chris Callow, old seadog Michael Quine, my brother Lenny and me. We steamed up and down Castletown bay for a couple of hours with no problems whatsoever with the engine. Then, as we headed back to the harbour, helm
