Mary's New Shoes (A love story)

There came a time in Mary's life that she needed a new pair of shoes. Her last pair had worn out and were falling apart, so much so, that she either walked bare foot or got herself another pair. She found a pair that looked greart and even felt great when she put them on. "Wow", she said and took them home and wore them frequently, enjoying the comfort and support they gave her. The shoes were also delighted to find a pair of feet that fitted so snugly, into it's soft interior

After time though they started to lose their shine and eventually started to lose their shape. Worse still, she found they did not match her accessories or outfits and some days the lining had worn so much, they started to chaff on her toes and later at the back of her heels. There were occasions that they weren't suitable and she'd revert to a comfortable pair and other occasions she would wear them and constantly complain how much they irritated her. Not specidically to anyone, but loud enough to be heard by any one passing or in earshot, and then there were times that the shoes didn't want to be walked in again by Mary, as her feet were the problem due to swelling or fallen arches, but both persevered without question.

Though Mary still loved her shoes that she had acquired she found their were limitations to their usefulness. People would comment how they were not her style and why persevere with shoes you are not comfortable with, so much so that she would bury them at the back of her wardrobe. Then when she wanted to wear them, she wouldn't be able to find them, as if they had gone walk about on their own, only for them to suddenly reappear in the place she had buried them.

Although not being able to wear them for long periods, she still loved them and would wear them in her own private moments for short periods, where she could remove them for moments to ease her discomfort and safe that none of her friends would see her cavorting in these totally unsuitable shoes. This went on for a long long time until the shoes eventually outlasted Mary.

Sadly, Mary left the shoes and was unable to put them on ever again. The shoes now sit in a second hand charity shop, sitting on a shelf and totally unsuited to other people who try them on due to moulding themselves to Mary's feet and will sit there, till they are binned by that shop.

Although Mary found the shoes unwearable, the shoes always loved Mary and Mary never ever threw them away

Man's life changed forever after 'scary' moment in Spanish airport

Harry Trow has kept up his hobbies and took up new ones despite several setbacks liverpoolecho

A man knew something was wrong when he was in an airport heading back home.

Harry Trow, 75, from Waterloo, worked for many years as a landscaper and spent his free time as a footballer. He played in goal for numerous amateur teams, including New Brighton in his early twenties, where he faced off against Liverpool FC reserves in a match that was Kevin Keegan’s last for the side. However, after an accident, he was forced to quit as a landscaper 11 years ago and sought to keep busy in a different way. Speaking to the ECHO, Harry said: “I had just burst a couple of vertebrates and I couldn't walk for a while. I got injections and the only thing I could do at the time was sit on the motorbike, so I went around the world on that

“I was riding around Europe, I wasn't booking in hotels, I was living rough on the street, and I did that because I couldn't afford any hotels or stuff like that on my pension. I couldn't afford a hotel and petrol. I had about £20 a day to live on. “And I felt very guilty that I was travelling around all these places. I'm not contributing to their economy. So I would try to find a charity, based in the country I was going to, so it gave me a sense of ethical purpose.” In support of the Ray Kennedy appeal - a charity that supported former LFC midfielder Ray Kennedy who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in his latter years - he travelled to Spain, bought an old moped and rode it back to England. After that, he could not resist continuing his travels on his trusted mode of transport, where he mixed charity work with playing in goal for whichever football team he could find. Harry said: “I got the bug then. I was off, I went all around Europe. I did Australia, went to the USA, went to Cuba. I did some work for UNICEF. I got wrapped up in an India project about education, which was absolutely great.”

However, bad luck seemed to follow Harry around. He said: “I had a crash about five years back in Spain and my bike was stuck out there. I had to go out there and, and fetch it. I knew all the Madrid supporters and played out there with the Liverpool supporters team a number of times.” Unfazed by the crash, Harry played in a tournament - and ended up cracking his rib while coming down on his elbow on the hard floor they were playing on.

The scariest moment for him actually came three years previously, while he was heading back home to the UK from a trip to Spain. He said: “I was just walking through the airport trying to get to an airport gate. And I was, I was fit as a fiddle walking along and then suddenly I just stopped and I couldn't breathe. And I thought it was like a panic attack, an asthma attack or something. And then bit by bit, it just gets, you know, worse.” It turned out that Harry had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the term for a group of lung conditions that cause breathing difficulties. It's a common condition that mainly affects middle-aged or older adults who smoke, and many people do not realise they have it. The breathing problems tend to get gradually worse over time and can limit your normal activities, although treatment can help keep the condition under control. Harry started smoking when he was 10 years old. He has found living with COPD very difficult at times. He said: “You realise you can't do anything without putting them under pressure. And then you can't do anything at all because you're hanging on to things while you get your breath back. It's this little process, and you don't realise how bad it's getting.” However, Harry claims he does not find COPD too bad unless he has a chest infection. To further complicate matters, he had to have a hip replacement last year, which combined with COPD left him in hospital last week. He said: “My hip was degenerating all the while. I got my hip replacement about 12, 14 months ago now. Then I had muscular problems. So at the end of last year, I had an injection to get my leg working again - that helped. And I was just raring to go, and then I went down with a whole load of chest infections which meant I ended up in the hospital last Friday.” By Tuesday 23 January, he was out of hospital and looking for something to do. Despite being told to take it easy by doctors, and a warning from one anaesthetist that his breathing test results were the worst they’d ever seen in thirty years of surgery, he began looking for a new football team to play in.

On Tuesday night, he posted on X/Twitter: “Seriously, if anyone in Liverpool can accommodate a 75 year old goalkeeper in 5/6/11 a side for one game contact me. Just come through some physical issues and my last game was for Madrid Reds four years ago in a six a side tournament. Still very capable.” Within a day, he had found a new team, thanks to the promotion of his wishes by Andy Heaton from LFC podcast The Anfield Wrap. Last night, he made his debut in goal for a veterans team at Anfield Sports and Community Centre on Lower Breck Road. He said: “Every time I hit the floor, it was tough, but I survived it. Last night was a little bit too intense - it was five a side for one hour. The biggest problem I think I found was the floodlights - my night time vision isn't so good these days. But I enjoyed it. “I asked him [Andy] to publicise it, and it was a friend of his who came back straight away. I was quite amazed, I wasn't expecting to be in action so quickly.”

Despite admitting he would rather have gone back “a bit more gently”, Harry is determined to stay active, claiming exercise is the best form of treatment. He said: “I mean, I've been through so many therapies with all the problems I've had over the past couple of years. One of my things is If you're going to be doing something, make it fun, but therapy is no fun. It's just work with no outlet and product apart from feeling better. Harry with his saxophone Harry with his saxophone (Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)

Harry has now started a new group with people with COPD which will organise and encourage physical activities. Although joking he must be a “nightmare for the medical profession”, he genuinely believes this is the best way to stay positive and keep healthy. “I can't stand sitting around. With therapy, you're doing it on your own most of the time. If you haven't got a big social network, then you're in the house on your own, you get discouraged, and in the end you slide backwards, it’s not going to improve. “That’s why I thought of creating a social group. The important thing is to get the therapy in and make it fun.”

It’s not just old hobbies which interest Harry either. He said: “When I had the news on breathing tests, I bought a clarinet to help me. Never played one before. Now I have two of them and two saxophones.” Harry remains positive despite the setbacks he has faced and has one motto which sums this approach up. He said: “In recovery, set yourself goals but be prepared not to achieve them. It gets you further than no goals at all.”

You can find out more about Harry’s club by visiting its website.

Slugfest in Support of the NHS

This was the year I was re-energising after an accident and a year recovering my bike
However the lockdown made sure this was enforced.
It did help me to find other ways to support charities and I designated myself to use what crazy imagination I have to raise funds for our workers in the NHS who are working without sufficient PPE.
While I believe the government should be providing the adequate safety for our workers, now is not the time to argue but to do our best to make sure they are protected

The project and task I set myself was to complete 25 coloured illustrations of cartoons based on the life of a slug. Please enjoy and if you appreciate my efforts, please donate for this essential support for our frontline workers.
Well I actually completed 30 cartoons and self published as PDF and E-book for download. I also had printed A5 booklets in full colour which are also available to purchase at the link below. I am leaving just the two cartoons as a flavour below the buddhist Gardiners newsletter

Purchase here Slugfest in aid of NHS key workers suffering PTSD

But first a little flyer from The Buddhist Gardeners. Cartoons follow after this

The Buddhist Gardeners Club

The 2020 Slug Slinging Event

 Hello everyone and welcome to this years competition. Enrties must be submitted by end of May with photographs iof all slugs complete with number, location of launch and date launched.

A quick reminder of the rules.

Every slug slung must return before the end of the eleventh month after launch. If not arrived back before the end of the eleventh month, they will be presumed dead, no longer, extinguished and you will be disqualified from this years competition.

The winner will be the slinger of the last slug that arrives back. (remember all slugs must arrive back to qualify.)

Tips for newbies

Types of slingers

The spade and the trowel - quite effective but we strongly recommend wetting the spade as often the slug does not leave the surface and finishes up falling back down the cleavage of an open neck shirt and in some cases splat in the eye of the slinger.

The Catapult.- Wonderful for creating distance but may overshoot the distance a slug needs to return home.

Also a very big danger of hitting a flying bird or an immovable object. While this may be regarded of the said creatures as their Karma it is also yours too in your next life. Be careful.

Plastic 12" ruler - A cheap alternative, but be aware if the ruler snaps the slug could backfire into the slingers mouth. Also even though they are all Buddah nature, you may make skin to slug contact with the slimey fuckin bastads, so at your peril.

All thos unpleasant events are as the Great John Lennon said "Instant Karmas gonns get you"

Let us know if you are thinking of making your own. Last year Samantha engineered a compressed air cannon. Unfortunately the slugs weren't too impressed and demoleculised on launch. Bad Karma Samantha, never mind you might be able to fix it if you feed the poor for the rest of your life.

As I say we have slug face recognition so if you are caught cheating, we imagine you'll come back in your next life as a lettuce leaf and be eaten alive by some of these filthy fuckin slime balls.... er I mean Buddha natures creatures

So long everyone and best of luck.

Yout chairman

Dahli Lama

Voluntary donation click here

Enjoyed it so far.Books available here Slugfest 
All proceeds in support of NHS key workers suffering PTSD and other mental health issues
NHS Support appeal

Thankyou

Burgos - The Town That Will Not Let Me Leave

A Dramatic Escalation of a Minor Event

A link to a Spanish version with a different slant

here

Burgos is renowned for it's morzilla, or black pudding to us English and blood pudding in other parts of the world, but for me I can only think of something darker than the richness of that delicacy and even more sinister than the blackness of my favourite food and that is a Black Hole.

Cuba (part two of the US - Cuba trip))

And so I prepared for Cuba, an experience I was determined not to miss out on. Cuba has always been a fascination for me as a socialist. I was eight or nine at the time of the revolution and was in secondary school at the time of the missile crisis. Although that episode scared me to death, as it did many others, it was a trigger for me in the continued following of a romantic ideal of a small country defying the might of the US. I was also interested in how Cuba was changing, but I had no reference point to compare, so I did some reading in Miami Central library to recap my knowledge and understanding of past events in Cuban/US relations. While in Cuba many of the European visitors and myself, in the hostal I stayed in, discussed the Cuban situation and the rights and wrongs etc. of Cuban policies, laws and regulations, that impact on it's citizens. I am in no way a historian or a master in politics and I realised during those discussions, that small sampling of a few locals opinions could never give a true aspect of life there With that in mind, I will not espouse any views or opinions on the Cuban situation in this blog. Now back to the story............

 

The US - Cuba Adventure (Part 1 San Francisco - Florida)

As you know I came to the US with the intention of buying and riding a bike on either side of a trip over to Cuba. It was a far cry from my original intention to ride the coast of South America, but in an attempt to get there by the cheapest flights, found myself arriving in California with no cheaper alternative to Lima, than I had originally discovered from Europe. Now I wouldn't call it a cluster f**k of events from there on in, but things never worked out as I intended, to say the least and while it was disappointing, it has been quite an experience with some downs and many ups, like meeting up with friends from back home and friends I had made on facebook, who insisted that I call in for a bed and a beer, in LA, Austin and Miami.

First stop in SF with Steve with a couple of the dogs on the beach. Really like this shot

The Ride For Cuba

This years ride was intended to be Cuba. The usual criteria of selecting a charity and raising funds for that organisation after checking where and how those funds are apportioned and also to ascertain what percentage of those funds actually finish at the projects rather than used to administer the organisation.
However it became clear that purchasing a motorcycle in Cuba was not allowed for foreigners, so decided to ride a bike around the coast of the USA. This entailed being in the US for one month purchasing a bike and returning after a visit to Cuba to do my routine checks before actually fund raising
I bought a bike in San Francisco, which required some work before I departed to Miami which unfortunately proved to be too much and would have left me little time to make the journey. Instead I drove a 'drive away' from Seattle to Miami and am now stationed near the airport ready for my departure.
I have identified a charity, http://americasrelief.org/# which is located in Miami
While it's mission statement is commendable, it's claims of the situation and it's influence in helping ordinary Cubans achieve a more open society are just that. There is no evidence to support these claims offered and I remain suspicious of whether it's sole aim is to undermine the island in a subversive manner.
My visit therefore will not be to see where the funds go, but to evaluate the situation there and see for myself on your behalf if the current situation is as portrayed by this organisation

Oslo and the Ride North to Nordkapp

 I had three days with the Von Bargens before flying home for my daughters wedding and decided to use the time to be productive in building them a new garden. It proved to be the beginning of a bigger project down the line which will be revealed in later postings.

Martin is originally from Liverpool, but got curious over his German roots and finished up teaching biology in an international school near Kiel, north of Hamburg. After transferring to a school in Sandvika, west of Oslo, he met his partner Sarah a Canadian from Ontario and now have a two year old son of their own called Lasse.

The Von Bargens

Martin prides himself on his scouse, a dish that is common to Liverpool people and used to describe people like myself. The dish though was originally a Norwegian dish called Lapskaus and was a low cost meal that was probably brought to Liverpool by sailors and became popular with the lower incomes working class of the city.

The Long Ride to Norway

(photos to be added when I manage to download)

I left the Titanic Hotel a new man and flew out to Spain to visit the Moto Almuerzo at La Cisterniga near Valladolid. The Cisterniga Roadsters are old friends from my first ride seven years ago and while I was excited to visit them all, I was disappointed not to be arriving on a bike of my own.
I had made a decision to try and locate another Derbi so that I would have a cheap transport and a shed full of spares if needed. The search was fruitless, but I enjoyed a wonderful couple of days with the gang there, before heading back home to England.

Pride and Predjudice, the Scouse Version

My ride stagnated due to an attempt to ride my classic triumph TRW 500 side valve throughout Europe. After the bike broke down on the first day out which resulted in a major modification, I changed to another old bike to get the ride started, but after a couple of weeks, it became clear that neither bike was appropriate to ride on my £20 a day budget.

A decision was made to downsize and I decided to sacrifice the Triumph which sold at break even after all the expenditure of parts and cosmetic work. My ferry was booked and I had decided to do a 'walk on' rather than lose the money and visit the motoalmuerzo with Cistérniga Roadsters near Valladolid North of Madrid until I got a call from the 30 James Street Hotel in Liverpool, to tell me that I had won a night for two plus champagne gala dinner at their hotel.

I set off last week on the Triumph and got as far as I did a month ago when I broke down, with what I thought was a burnt out clutch. The real cause of the smoking engine was in fact the alternator which is now cinderised. I returned home, sorted the magneto out on the Cagiva and set off once more. It was a blessing in disguise as it was my second attempt to call in on Mark Muirhead, but he has been having a few issues after moving house and it wasn't the best of times to visit. I instead headed for Ben Carley in Denbigh, in North Wales.

The North West of England Visits

Well the ride got underway this week, after a stuttering start and now is the time to start writing about it.
I will start with my departure point, which is in Bradford. Saltaire to be precise which is a national heritage area. Saltaire is a model village built for the workers at Ebenezar Salts Carpet mill. The estate is a compact estate of terrace houses and some bungalows.. While Ebenezar was an abstantee with no pubs on the estate, there is now a healthy variety of dinking holes and wine bars and cafes and the mill is home to the Hockney Gallery.

The Leeds Liverpool |Canal at Saltaire

IIt is a lovely part of the world both for living and for visiting with Ilkley Moor only two odd miles away and some of the worlds best curry houses nearby. We all remember the famous song - 'On Ilkley Moor bar t'at'. (On Ilkley Moor without the hat)
It is within easy reach of the Yorkshire Dales and the North Yorkshire Moors and if that's not enough Bradford has a Sam Smiths pub where you can get the best stout in England for £2.20 I am fortunate that I live with a great couple who are actually older than me and I happen to live in a garden they paid me to install. Kevin Atlins and Inger who is of Danish descent are a great couple and Ingers Herring Xmas's are a delight. There is Herrings with mustard, herrings in curry, herrings in tomatoe, herrings in brine, herrings in herrings....
Kevin is an ex journalist who is a stroke victim the both of them spend their lives filling the cardboard recycling bin. The bottle recycle bin I manage to fill with Kevins help. They are very supportive and tolerant of my oily hands all over the kitchen and have sent me off with a wonderful donation to Project Mala

Finally

After struggling to sort out a mess of a clutch cover modification from previous owners I have reluctantly parked the Triumph while waiting for parts to be delivered and am instead setting off around the north west of England on my Cagiva SST 350 single cylinder two stroke. It is another old bike from 1980 but has an element of fun about it nonetheless.