So, here we are on September 1^st. Another summer is drawing to an end. Some of you will say, “What summer?” Ok, the weather might not have been as good as we might have wanted it to be, none-the-less, another TT has past, another tin bath event has gone by, two agricultural shows, the Southern 100 and the Manx Grand Prix to mention but a few. All these events are hallmarks of our summer. Strange though isn’t it. When we wake up on Christmas morning and the sun is shining, and there is no snow or frost, we don’t end up saying what Christmas. My summer has more or less petered away. I spent the whole of mid summer over on the Wirral being treated for my lung cancer. Of course I am so grateful for all that was done for me at Clatterbridge. I spent the rest of the summer trying to cope and deal with the side effects of radiation. I hope that I am now through the worst of that. Well, now that I am pulling through and hopefully on the mend, my boat Silverburn has decided to call in sick. Her gearbox has gone and I am told it might cost around £600 to replace it, but that’s the thing with boats, or anything else for that matter. They get sick, like a clutch in the car goes on the blink or whatever and we just fix it and pay the bill. It’s a shame we can’t just do that for humans. A new gearbox is just what I need right now, and I would gladly pay £600 if I could just go back to being able to walk 5 or 6 miles a day again. However, I don’t wish for such things as I am just so grateful to be still here and be fitter, much fitter than I ever expected to be. This summer writing the blog has been a huge tonic for me.

Yesterday, I spent a very pleasant hour with Dorothy and Charlie Lambert from Merseyside. I would not have met these lovely people had it not been for my blog. Tomorrow I will spend a very pleasant couple of hours with Wendy and Sean from London. I would never have met them both if it had not been for this blog and I would never have written a blog had I not managed to end up with lung cancer. So, yes it’s true, it’s an ill wind that blows no good, and it takes a lot more than the weather to spoil or make your summer.

Until tomorrow then folks this is Tom Glassey on the banks of the Silverburn searching in vane for a secondhand gearbox.