I woke up this morning at 5.45. The rain was hammering down then and that is still the case and the time is now 9 a.m. I have not walked Skipper yet as I am hoping the rain will take a rest soon. However, Manx rain is pretty fit and has lots of stamina. Today I am tired before I have even done anything. Since returning home from treatment I have noticed that I tire easily these days. I am usually all in after a moderate walk of about 2 miles or so. At present I have done nothing at all and yet I am tired. I know though that I must pull myself together and walk Skipper before giving in and lying down again. I will feel better once I have done something, I just don’t feel as guilty having a lie once I have walked or pottered about doing small jobs around the house. Sleep like money, will all the sweeter be when it has been earned. Today is going to be a first for me and Barbara. Later this afternoon we will visit the prison. Neither of us has ever visited a prison before. We had a young lad we will call Martin working for us. He only came about once a week, and tidy up the garden, swept out path and washed down the decking. He was and hopefully still is a very agreeable young lad. Nothing was ever too much trouble for him, and he did whatever we asked of him. He even used to take me out on my tandem. I don’t know what on Earth happened to Martin once he left us, but it seems he became a totally different boy. He is now on remand for a series of offences and generally behaving like a right little toe rag. It is difficult to believe that this quiet, extremely obliging young man that turned up to do work for us every week, keeps pressing the self destruct button on such a regular basis. The police say that when they arrest him he is so co-operative and well mannered; they are at a complete loss to understand what it is that is driving him. I doubt that I will be any the wiser after my visit today, and I am sure it won’t be a pleasant experience for either of us. Anyway I shall report tomorrow on how we get on. The rain has now stopped so we shall now take Skipper for his morning walk.

I have now returned from the morning walk. The rain held off until we got out of the car and walked through the gate, then started again in earnest. The ground along the banks of the Silverburn is soggy and the long grass is wet. The rain has a south-westerly stiff breeze to assist it in making your walk as uncomfortable as possible. I will now have a half hour sleep as I have now earned it. Okay, my half hour turned in to an hour, but I now feel much getter.

I am writing Fridays blog as Thursday unfolds. It will in fact be Friday when you read this. It is now 5.40 p.m and I have just returned home from the prison and walking Skipper. I was told by the prison to arrive 10 minutes before my visit time which was 2.45. We arrived on time and once the locked doors were opened and we passed through, we were taken into another room and asked to place all our possessions in a locker. This included my hankie, wallet, mobile phone, and even my hat. We then passed through to the visiting room. This is a medium sized room with about 12 tables. The prisoner sits on one side and you on the other. Martin seems in good spirits. He told me he had had plenty of time to think about things and promised me he would never be back here again. Well, I hope not but at present I can’t be sure of that. I get the impression that whatever young Martin is today, he might well be someone else tomorrow. He does have a girlfriend, and she has been to visit him so he does have a certain amount of stability in his life, and more importantly something to work for and above all, hope. I really do hope he pulls himself together and we will do whatever we can to assist him with this. I have asked him to make me a lighthouse with matches. Making items from matches it seems is part of the therapy in there. We will visit Martin again soon.

Well folks, this just about concludes my day today. I shall now have tea, a pair of Moore’s kippers, and chill out for a while, before retiring to bed.

Until tomorrow then people, this is Tom Glassey with News where time doesn’t matter, on the banks of the Silverburn.