It is 8.10a.m., and I have walked Skipper and had breakfast. Shortly I will head to Nobles for my last chemotherapy session. It has been raining heavily during the night. I heard it bouncing off the conservatory roof at 3 a.m. Thankfully it had stopped by 7.30 when I wandered along the Silverburn with Skipper. I met no-one today, so no-one got chased, although he did give the 7.40 a.m. plane to Liverpool a good run for its money. Yes he still chases aircraft with a passion.

Now let me say hello and welcome to Steve Orr in New Zealand who contacted me yesterday. Steve is a Scot who was brought up in Castletown and now lives in New Zealand. Steve likes to think of himself as one of us Castletownians. Steve, it is a much greater honour to welcome somebody in to our fold who wants to be one of us, than it is to be merely born here.

I would also like to say hello to Janine Sprialis. Janine is also a former Castletownian, now living for the past 30 odd years in South Australia. I must say, when Castletown’s Kids fly the nest, they don’t half do it in style.

I have received a couple of emails asking about the Beautiful Isle of Somewhere. This is in reference to yesterdays blog where, I finished by saying I was on course for the Beautiful Isle of Somewhere. The Beautiful Isle of Somewhere is a hymn. I have always loved the words of this hymn so I now enclose it below. You can download the music from the internet. I don’t consider myself as a religious person, however, I do believe in God, just not a personal one and one that is more embracing than to only recognize Christians.

Can I please enter a plea here to our well meaning Christian friends! Please, no phone calls or emails trying to save me? I am not worth it and I really do enjoy being a free spirit. Time has beaten me now though and I have reached the magic 300 words. 300 words is the minimum amount of words I set myself for writing the blog each day. Also it is now time to get ready to head for Nobles for that last chemo session.

Somewhere the sun is shining,

Somewhere the songbirds dwell;

Hush, then, thy sad repining,

God lives, and all is well.

Refrain

Somewhere, somewhere,

Beautiful Isle of Somewhere!

Land of the true, where we live anew,

Beautiful Isle of Somewhere!

Somewhere the day is longer,

Somewhere the task is done;

Somewhere the heart is stronger,

Somewhere the guerdon won.

Somewhere the load is lifted,

Close by an open door;

Somewhere the clouds are rifted,

Somewhere the angels sing.

This is Tom Glassey, with News at 8.30, still on the banks of the Silverburn River, but heading toward 7 Nobles hospital.